Members playst12 Posted January 14, 2014 Members Share Posted January 14, 2014 I've just begun to study basic chord theory and I have question about this chord progression in Steve Vais song.A: | Em(add9) | % | Fmaj7(#11) | % | | Em(add9) | % | Am(add9) | % | | Em(add9) | % | Cmaj7 | % | | Fmaj7(#11) | % | Em(add9) | % | Song seems to be in E minor. But how the second chord relates to this? Is Fmaj7(#11) borrowed or parallel chord or something? What makes the chord fit even it doesn't seem to be in E minor at all?Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted January 14, 2014 Members Share Posted January 14, 2014 BydoEmpire wrote: I bet the melody highlights the F# or F depending which chord it's over. This is For the Love of God, right? Hm, there's no F or F# in the main melody, but the line over the Fmaj7#11 does highlight other chord tones. Interesting there's no G in the main melody, either, but it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BenTunessence Posted January 14, 2014 Members Share Posted January 14, 2014 Is this from "For the Love of God"? That chord progression looks familiar. Like Bydo said, the F comes from the Phrygian mode. Looking at the notes in the F chord, the only note not from E minor is the note F.Technically, you could call the F chord a "Neapolitan chord", which is a major chord built on the flatted 2nd degree of the scale, a half-step above the root. It's job is to resolve down to the root, which it does in this chord progression.Vai likes those #11 sounds, so he just spices up the Neapolitan chord with the note B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tricky Posted January 14, 2014 Members Share Posted January 14, 2014 Cool explanation Bydo.I'm also a relative newbie on the journey towards theoretical knowledge and am wondering if this example may also be "thought of" as as Secondary Dominant? IE V/v ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted January 15, 2014 Members Share Posted January 15, 2014 D'oh, meant to just reply with that and somehow just edited my original response into oblivion... oh well... Tricky wrote: I'm also a relative newbie on the journey towards theoretical knowledge and am wondering if this example may also be "thought of" as as Secondary Dominant? IE V/v ? F would be the secondary dominant of a Bb, which isn't a diatonic chord in E or Emin, so I don't think that's it, but maybe it's some kind of substitution. I could certainly be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeremy_green Posted January 15, 2014 Members Share Posted January 15, 2014 That progression is in E Phrygian (same notes as the key of C) - no sharps or flats present. The #11 (#4) pushes the Bb up to a B natural. The Cmaj7 (and Amin) reinforces this tonality.Typically that #11 screams Lydian - especially where Vai is concerned. But this chord progression works because it is diatonic. I haven't analyzed the melody - but I suspect Vai treats each chord as a pseudo key change... or he may not and just stick to chord tone-y type stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Burninator Posted January 15, 2014 Members Share Posted January 15, 2014 jeremy_green wrote: That progression is in E Phrygian (same notes as the key of C) - no sharps or flats present. The #11 (#4) pushes the Bb up to a B natural. The Cmaj7 (and Amin) reinforces this tonality. What about the add9 in Emadd9, isn't the an F#? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members playst12 Posted June 2, 2014 Author Members Share Posted June 2, 2014 Isn't that Fmaj7(#11) sort of outside chord and since melody works for that part it doesn't matter? As I recall someone answered here something about that earlier (and made a funny comment about that vid also but I cant find that post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted June 3, 2014 Members Share Posted June 3, 2014 That progression is in E Phrygian (same notes as the key of C) - no sharps or flats present. The #11 (#4) pushes the Bb up to a B natural. The Cmaj7 (and Amin) reinforces this tonality. Typically that #11 screams Lydian - especially where Vai is concerned. But this chord progression works because it is diatonic. I haven't analyzed the melody - but I suspect Vai treats each chord as a pseudo key change... or he may not and just stick to chord tone-y type stuff. Interesting and a good point - although the Emadd9 contains an F# - but it's not a completely diatonic E Phrygian progression.It's also worth noting that F natural is the flat five substitution for B natural (the dominant in the key of E) although I don't see the Fmaj7#11 being used as a dominant chord in this instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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