Jump to content

Vultures by John Mayer - solo in a different key?


Recommended Posts

  • Members

When I initially heard it, I thought it was out of key. Then heard the song plenty of times and it sounded just fine. After a few weeks of gap I was listening to it again and that part sounds off key again. :eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...
  • Members

You may never see this post, but I've thought that since it came out, and have never had any one ever agree with me. It's like that some in the verses, too; it's like he sings and plays in the 4th key (respective to the 1st). As in, if he's playing the background/rhythm in E flat, then he sings the verses and plays the solos in A flat. The chorus is good, but the verses and solos are just soooo annoying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Sounds like key of A to me.

 

A - E - A - E - A - E.........eeeeaaaaghhhhh!

 

F#m pentatonic works. He accents the Ab note but it's the E chord.

 

Simple mindless two-chord wankery but it works and Johnny gets laid by hot chicks.

 

Katy-Perry-boobs.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
You may never see this post' date=' but I've thought that since it came out, and have never had any one ever agree with me. It's like that some in the verses, too; it's like he sings and plays in the 4th key (respective to the 1st). As in, if he's playing the background/rhythm in E flat, then he sings the verses and plays the solos in A flat. The chorus is good, but the verses and solos are just soooo annoying.[/quote']It sounds fine to me, although the bass line of the verse does make the harmony a little ambiguous. It's basically F#m7, beat 1 being an F# bass, but beat 3 and 4 feature 8th notes on A-E-B-F#, or A-E-E-F#.

The solo is on this sequence, and mostly uses F# minor pent, so is right in key. However, there is a G# note in the backing on beat 3, turning the 2nd half of each bar into a kind of Amaj7 or E/A sound.

It might depend, therefore, on how you are hearing the backing harmony. Eg, that G# (along with an E in the harmony and bass) might persuade you that the key is E major - and therefore F# minor pent (with its A note) is going to sound off key. And indeed, any time he happens to hit an A note higher than that G# is likely to sound off - and in fact he does this at around 2:03, resolving a phrase to an A note right as you get that G# in the backing; and hits an A note again at the same place in the next bar.

I suspect this is the kind of clash you're hearing.

But the central harmony is F# minor (or F# dorian), in which both G# and A ought to sit comfortably. (An F#madd9 chord sounds fine with G# and A next to one another.)

IOW, it's not that he's playing in the wrong key, but just not taking much care over the notorious "avoid notes".

In the vocal on the verse, he also sings F# minor pent, but seems to be careful to resolve phrases down to F# on beat 3.

 

As you say, the chorus is good, but there the harmony is much clearer: A major, with a melody exploiting that maj7 (G#), moving to an Amaj7/B (B13sus4). That B13sus is also suggestive of an overall E major tonality, but that's not actually what's happening in the verse.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
You may never see this post' date=' but I've thought that since it came out, and have never had any one ever agree with me. It's like that some in the verses, too; it's like he sings and plays in the 4th key (respective to the 1st). As in, if he's playing the background/rhythm in E flat, then he sings the verses and plays the solos in A flat. The chorus is good, but the verses and solos are just soooo annoying.[/quote']It sounds fine to me, although the bass line of the verse does make the harmony a little ambiguous. It's basically F#m7, beat 1 being an F# bass, but beat 3 and 4 feature 8th notes on A-E-B-F#, or A-E-E-F#.

The solo is on this sequence, and mostly uses F# minor pent, so is right in key. However, there is a G# note in the backing on beat 3, turning the 2nd half of each bar into a kind of Amaj7 or E/A sound.

It might depend, therefore, on how you are hearing the backing harmony. Eg, that G# (along with an E in the harmony and bass) might persuade you that the key is E major - and therefore F# minor pent (with its A note) is going to sound off key. And indeed, any time he happens to hit an A note higher than that G# is likely to sound off - and in fact he does this at around 2:03, resolving a phrase to an A note right as you get that G# in the backing; and hits an A note again at the same place in the next bar.

I suspect this is the kind of clash you're hearing.

But the central harmony is F# minor (or F# dorian), in which both G# and A ought to sit comfortably. (An F#madd9 chord sounds fine with G# and A next to one another.)

IOW, it's not that he's playing in the wrong key, but just not taking much care over the notorious "avoid notes".

In the vocal on the verse, he also sings F# minor pent, but seems to be careful to resolve phrases down to F# on beat 3.

 

As you say, the chorus is good, but there the harmony is much clearer: A major, with a melody exploiting that maj7 (G#), moving to an Amaj7/B (B13sus4). That B13sus is also suggestive of an overall E major tonality, but that's not actually what's happening in the verse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...