What would you play over this Progression:D

[windfeld]

Hi guys

I would love some input. What would you play over these progressions:

E7 - G - A


A9/C# - C/D - C9 - A7 - B7


A/B - G/A - G6 - A6



You guys usually are good at this:D. hehe

[derekd]

Two answers. If I was just handed it on the bandstand, I would arpeggiate thru it. If I had a lead sheet and or recording, I would spend some time experiementing with different scales, licks, parts of solos I already know, and parts of the melody, that sort of thing.

I am guessing you are looking for specific scales over particular parts of it. If so, I know others will chime in.

[russ6100]

If you post a chord progression that is completely divorced from the actual music, i.e. no context, it's nearly impossible to point you in any direction regarding note choices.

How about style / genre?
How about instrumentation?
How about tempo?
How about the ambient temperature / humidity in the room? (kidding!) :D

[windfeld]

This is the chords in the actual music. It is funk/soul, tempo around 100, and it is played either as a trio or with keys too:D. hehe

I would love to hear how you guys would approach it:D

[Old Tele man]

...my response would be: "...follow the bass player!"

...why? well, to quote Mr. Michael P. Wolfsohn: "CHORDS rule the MELODY, but BASS [over] rules the CHORDS!"

...the above quote comes from page 93 of his book, Ultimate Guitar Chord User's Guide, 1992, Hal Leonard Publishing.

[jads57]

Actually Melody is King, then the bass helps determine the harmony. But I`m w Russ6100 on this one, it really depends on the groove,tempo,how many bars per change,or how may chords per bar. The first part looks kind of like Soul Man Steve Cropper type of changes, but the next part doesn`t seem to make much sense harmonically. Especially the C/D to C9,usually a Dsus11(c/d) resolves to a dom 7 so Dsus11/ D9. And then I don`t get the descending sus11 chords to a major6. Try to post a track we can hear if you can.

[russ6100]

jads57 wrote:
Especially the C/D to C9,usually a Dsus11(c/d) resolves to a dom 7 so Dsus11/ D9.Sus chords or dominants can go anywhere really. It could be a case where you have some functional harmony going on in the beginning, then some non-functional stuff later. Look at how the sus chords move in Maiden Voyage, for example.

[windfeld]

It is the ray charles track "I don't need no doctor"... This is the John Scofield version with John Mayer... Why I didn't I write that to begin with? :D. hehe

I'll write the chords in the right context. There is a - between each bar. I am not 100% sure about the chords, but this is what I was able to pick up:D. Each time there is 3 chords in a bar, the firsh chord is on the first two beats, and the next two have one beat each. The feel is kind of slow shuffle funky... I hope this makes sense:D.

Intro

E7 G A - E7 G A

Bridge/chorus

A9/C# C/D - C9 A7 B7 - E7 G A - E7 G A

A/B - G/A G6 A6 - back to the intro/verse thing...

[russ6100]

what CD is it off of? or is it YouTube?

[windfeld]

There is a version here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gkTF-vZ_bM

I transcribed it from the scofield album " that's what I say", but this sound like the same..

[russ6100]

You hear what Sco's doing? He's just jamming in E. Sometimes with a bluesy flavor, sometimes more major-sh. He's really not making a point to outline any of the chords like the D/C, which is kind of C Lydian sound.

And the A/B - G/A chords are just Asus and Bsus, functioning like the IV7 and V7, which again, he's not going out of his way to outline.

Don't over-think this one.

[bjjp2]

Hi guys

I would love some input. What would you play over these progressions:

E7 - G - A



"Freebird" licks.:dude

[jads57]

Theres a tutorial video of the changes by someone else when you go the above Youtube link. Sounds fairly accurate! Although I think instead of G6/9 it`s Gsus 2(9)

[Shiny McShine]

Nice tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qUFoxYvaeM&feature=related

I'll work on it on Monday.

Basically, it's in the key of E but it's a blues piece and the tonal center wanders around dominant a lot.

[Megatron]

The first riff there I'd probably treat the way I would Purple Haze.....essentially it's the same riff. E Blues. And mix in a lot of E Dorian(basically the D Major scale). I know E7 isn't Diatonic to the key but I'd atleast start there. Honestly there are a lot of things you could do there.

[dewey decibel]

Hi guys

I would love some input. What would you play over these progressions:

E7 - G - A


A9/C# - C/D - C9 - A7 - B7


A/B - G/A - G6 - A6



You guys usually are good at this:D. hehe


If you watch that video they're just soloing over the E7 - G - A part. And over that part, I wouldn't even think of those chords as "changes". It's more like a riff, they're soloing over a riff that's implying an E blues feel. That's all it is.

[windfeld]

Yeah, but I am really interested in how you guys would approach the other chords... If you are thinking scales and not arpeggios... At the moment I just arpeggiate through them:D

[dewey decibel]

Are you confused by the slash chords? I don't feel like listening to the tune again, so I'm not sure where these other chords really fall. But This is how I'd look at it:

Think of the whole thing of as a blues. The first section (E7-G-A) is the I7 chord. This next section is a move to the IV7 chord:

A9/C# is just an A9 chord with a 3rd in the bass, so it's basically your standard IV7 chord. C/D and C9 sounds complicated and there's a lot of ways to think about it. Have you ever seen a blues like this?

E7 | A7 | E7 | E7 |

A7 | Amin7 D7 | E7 | E7....

That's basically what's going on here. That move from A7 to C9 is pretty much the same function as going from A7 to Amin. After that rather than going to D7 to get back to E7 you have the IV7 V7 turnaround to E7.

Then the next section you have A/B - G/A - G6 - A6. We could get really deep and complicated with this, but if you look at the tune and the genre it's not necessary. A common thing when you have "jazzed up" blues is the combination of more interesting harmonies underneath the same basic pentatonic lines. E minor pentatonic will work over all four of those chords, and IMO the tune was written with that in mind. So like I said, the whole thing's just a blues.

[mc5nrg]

Hunt up the Humble Pie version.

[jads57]

After playing the progression a few times , I `v e come the conclusion it really is just a fairly basic blues w/ a couple of harmonic substitutes. The D flat minor 7(#11) leads to the D sus11 which basically a IV chord. Then he just basically uses sus 11 chords for the V change. It`s actually very clever! Check out different versions of this song from Humble Pie to the original by Ray Charles which actually is a minor blues.