Country chord question

Subject: Country chord question
From: jofield
Date: 20 Jul 00 - 11:51 PM

There are two old country standards I like to fool around with, and either can be played with the usual three chords: "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down", and "Fraulein". But on either, one could also throw in a 2-minor for a measure between the 1 and the 5. I suspect that the original versions had no minors, but does anyone know for certain? And if you do these tunes, do you put in the passing 2-minor?

Just wondering,
James.

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 01:24 AM

Yes I like to use the 2-minor chord in Fraulein, and any other passing chords when I play alone. Who cares how the "original" recorded version was? Do it the way YOU like. However if you are playing with others, they may like to know about your version ahead of time.

The first recorded hit of a tune is often not the "original" version as written anyway. If it's a well known song, it has also probably been covered in various keys and arrangements as well.

So just play the way that works best for you! == Johnny in Oklahoma City

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 01:55 AM

I've heard Harlan Howard play the song and he used no minors. He tells the story of listening to a couple fight in a bar (Harlan's main songwriting studio) and the woman angrily walked snorting to her supposed husband, "Well pick me up on your way down." He wrote it down on a napkin and carried it around for awhile and then wrote the song.

Harlan Howard may be the quintessential C/W songwriter. A heavy drinker and smoker and an inveterate bar stool occupant, he used his experiences and observing troubled people to write some major hits. His then wife, C/W singer Jan Howard did the demo of "I Fall to Pieces" and wanted to record it, but Harlan saw it as a Patsy Cline song and at first Patsy had no use for it.....had to be "sold" on one of her biggest hits. I hear she didn't like "Crazy" at first either.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 02:09 AM

Go with what Banjo Johnny said. If it feels and sounds right to you, play it thata way. Unless you're playing to a crowd that demands exact covers of the originals. All the best. Seamus

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: catspaw49
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 11:55 AM

Sorry Seamus.....I agree with you too. I was only responding to the idea of whether of not the minors were original. Play it how you like it!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: Jim Krause
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 02:01 PM

Boy, this thread hits pretty close to home! I have been known to politely and diplomatically ask for the iim chord change in strategic parts of tunes, and also have been known to say the I, vi, ii, V⁷ are some of my favorite progressions. For those who don't recognize it, these are the old doowop/rock'n'roll chords that went to sooooo many songs of yesteryear. One of my pickin' pals knows when the @#!&%! chords are coming by the look on my face when we play together. Luckily, he's pretty sharp about this sort of thing, and takes it good naturedly. I only got into trouble once at the Augusta Heritage fiddle workshop in Elkins WV, though. That's another story. Soddy

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: Fortunato
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 02:04 PM

Jofield, I think of chord additions or substitutions, or passing chords in a simple country song as 'arranging the song'. E.G., I play an arrangement of Hank Williams "You Win Again" that includes a 2 chord. (I think I heard it from my first 45, one by Jerry Lee Lewis on the back of "Great Balls of Fire" while a child. The version I heard by Hank just didn't sound right without it to me.) So I announce the 2 chord before beginning the song in a unrehearsed situation. To my ear if the 2 chord doesn't change the melody so much as augment it. Frankly I can't hear a 2-minor in Fraulein, but I might if you sang it to me. In short if the chord addition or substitution augments or 'betters' the song in your ear then it is arrangement, not right or wrong. In my opinion. regards, Fortunato

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: jofield
Date: 21 Jul 00 - 08:26 PM

I remember the Jerry Lee version of "You Win Again" very well -- I was a teenager. With his rolling piano, and the way he drags out "you take true lo-oo-ve", there has to be 2-chord in there. Hank uses a more traditional two-step, and I don't miss the 2-chord at all when it's done that way.
In general, I'm agin extra minor passing chords in country tunes -- anything that sounds schmaltzy gets in the way of the blues and is a detraction to me. To see how out of hand this can get, check out Mac Wiseman's little minor tag on his version of "Jimmy Brown the Newsboy".
And speaking of that tried and true R&B progression, which I remember as: 1,6-minor,4,5 -- this happens to work for me for the first part of Jimmy Rodger's "Carolina Sunshine Girl".
"(C)Moon, (Am)moon, (F)I can see you (G7)sinking (C)low,(Am)
(F)You make me (G7)think of my (C)sweetheart (Am),
The (D)little girl that I love (G7)so.", etc.
Who woulda thunk it?
James.

Subject: RE: Country chord question
From: GUEST,Banjo Johnny
Date: 22 Jul 00 - 01:51 AM

Another great passing chord is the II7 slipped in just before a V chord. It is a secondary dominant seventh.

On the other hand, with a real simpleheimer tune, it is usually better to pound out I IV V really strong. Just depends on the song. == Johnny