Members raggety Posted June 16, 2005 Members Posted June 16, 2005 so i was playing the chords Em7- A- Cmajadd9- C- G and i was trying to find the key of the chords, which i would guess is C. but my question is what would sound good to solo over it? like say if i wanted to use a Minor scale i wouldn't use a C minor scale since the tune is in C, as the key is C Major or would it be some other minor scale that i would use? like for example the minor pentatonic. or maybe a dorian mode but which one to use ? is there a way to work this out, other than playing up and down the neck until ya find some notes that sound OK ?
Members UnderTheGroove Posted June 16, 2005 Members Posted June 16, 2005 Those chords don't all fit into one key. You could think of the progression as E minor with the exception of the A chord. The A chord would fit in E dorian. That means over the A you are going to switch from the note C (the flat 6 in E minor) to C# (the major 6 in E dorian). E minor pentatonic will work over the whole progression, so that is a more simple approach.
Members raggety Posted June 17, 2005 Author Members Posted June 17, 2005 Originally posted by UnderTheGroove Those chords don't all fit into one key. You could think of the progression as E minor with the exception of the A chord. The A chord would fit in E dorian. That means over the A you are going to switch from the note C (the flat 6 in E minor) to C# (the major 6 in E dorian). E minor pentatonic will work over the whole progression, so that is a more simple approach. yeh, i worked out the A doesn't 'fit' but it sounds great after the Em7. maybe EM pentatonic would be easiest ?
Members dirtylobster Posted June 17, 2005 Members Posted June 17, 2005 Originally posted by raggety so i was playing the chords Em7- A- Cmajadd9- C- G and i was trying to find the key of the chords, which i would guess is C. but my question is what would sound good to solo over it? Em7-A is a ii-V in Dmajor.C-G can be seen as a IV-I in G major (or a I-V in C major but that sounds a bit odd).So, over Em7-A, use D major (E dorian & A mixolydian) and over Cadd9-C-G use G major (C lydian & G ionian).D major has the notes D E F# G A B C#G major has the notes G A B C D E F#The difference is the C/C#, right? So E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) would work over the whole thing since it doesn't have a C or C#. is there a way to work this out, other than playing up and down the neck until ya find some notes that sound OK ?Your ear is always a good guide, but I'd suggest to learn the theory behind different keys.EDIT: Oh yeah, a reason why I-V in C major sounds 'odd' is that C major has no flat or sharp notes as D major has two sharps. G major is closer to D major so it's a more of a 'natural' modulation.
Members UnderTheGroove Posted June 17, 2005 Members Posted June 17, 2005 raggety: I didn't mean to imply that it doesn't sound good. There are a lot of great songs out there that use chords that move outside the key. Take a look at the progression to Hotel California sometime. Dirtylobster gave you another option to cover the changes. We all agree that using E minor pentatonic is the easiest way to cover all the chords, but following the changes sounds very cool. Give it a try.
Members raggety Posted June 17, 2005 Author Members Posted June 17, 2005 Originally posted by UnderTheGroove raggety: I didn't mean to imply that it doesn't sound good. There are a lot of great songs out there that use chords that move outside the key. Take a look at the progression to Hotel California sometime. Dirtylobster gave you another option to cover the changes. We all agree that using E minor pentatonic is the easiest way to cover all the chords, but following the changes sounds very cool. Give it a try. its okay man i knew what you meant Following the changes is what i'm trying to learn/teach myself at the moment...its difficult but i aim to keep plugging at it
Members dirtylobster Posted June 19, 2005 Members Posted June 19, 2005 Originally posted by UnderTheGroove We all agree that using E minor pentatonic is the easiest way to cover all the chords, but following the changes sounds very cool. Yeah, and you could extend the Em pentatonic with the 9th (F#), which is a cool sound over Em, and it's also the colorful #11 over C (which makes it lydian). Experiment. Play only chord tones over the progression. Play only thirds; G over Em7, C# over A, E over Cmajadd9 and C, B over G to get the sound of these notes. Try other chord tones. Roots are very neutral. Listen to how the sevenths sound. Try passing tones. Play a C on Em7 that you resolve to a C# on A.
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