You can apply this concept to your own playing by figuring out what chords you are playing over, working out what notes are in the chord and planning your phrases out to land on either the 3rd or the 5th of the chord. These are great notes to hit, as sometimes landing on the root note of the chord can sound a little too obvious. Let’s start with the intro lick:Īs you can see from the tab above, Harrison has a great habit of landing on chord tones for the majority of his solo, favouring 3rds and 5ths in particular. We will also analyse Harrison’s note choices and how they relate to the underlying chords. For this next section, I wanted to provide you with the tab for both the lick at the start of the piece, as well as a complete tab for the perfect guitar solo after the chorus. George Harrison’s guitar playing on “Something” by The Beatles is simply immaculate. The second time round, we return to the original key of C instead. We then have another temporary key change a whole tone lower to the key of G, with chords I (G) and V (D) respectively, before modulating back to A. the chorus starts off on chord I of the new key, before moving to the same chord with a G# in the bass, creating an Amaj7 sound (A, C#, E & G#.) This unusual bass note helps create another smooth, descending bassline from A, to G# through to the F#m chord, which is chord VI in this key, before finally arriving at F#m/E. The key of A Major is the relative major of C, which is part of the reason it sounds so good. ![]() Here is the scale of A Major harmonised in triads: A The chorus of “Something” features a great modulation to the key of A Major. The G in the Am7 chord then descends another semitone to F#, with the root note also changing to D, giving us the D9 chord seen in bar 9 (D, F#, A, C, E.) Chorus The G# then descends another semitone to G in order to create Am7 (A C E G.) This is a very common chord progression and can also be seen in the jazz standard “My Funny Valentine”, “Stairway To Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and the James Bond Theme, to name a few. The octave, A, descends a semitone to G# to create AmMaj7 (A, C, E, G#) which is borrowed from the A harmonic minor scale. Next, we have the relative minor of C in A minor in bar 8, as well as another fantastic example of the chromatic embellishment of static harmony concept from before, this time with the 3 different A Minor chords in bars 8 and 9. I prefer to see both these chords as creating another perfect V-I cadence to the G chord in bar 6, as D is chord V in the key of G Major. This is to create a smooth bassline which descends from F, to E and then to D in bar 5.īar 5 contains both D and D7, which are also not diatonic to the key of C Major. Here, the 3rd of C, E, is placed in the bass. ![]() F is chord IV in the key of C, which then moves to chord I again with C/E. It is in fact the dominant chord of F in bar 4, and it exists to create another perfect cadence to this chord. While the basic C major triad remains the same throughout each chord (C, E & G) the octave in the first C Major chord descends a semitone from C to B to create the Cmaj7 (C, E G & B) before descending another semitone from B to Bb to create the C7 chord (C, E, G & Bb.) You can see this concept in “I Just Called To Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder and “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer, which both feature similar chord progressions.Īs you can see from the chart above C7 is not in the key of C Major, so we have another borrowed chord. Here, we have a fantastic example of a music theory concept known as “chromatic embellishment of static harmony.” To put that simply, we have a C chord which remains static throughout, with one note moving inside the chord each bar to create a new chord type. The verse begins on chord I, with 3 different C chords in C, Cmaj7 and C7. ![]() We also have a really nice bassline that descends through F, Eb, D and finally landing on C for the verse, which feels very natural and part of the reason why these chords were chosen. The G7 sets up a perfect cadence to the first chord of the verse, C, as it is the V chord in the key of C. Finally we have a G7 chord with its 5th note, D, in the bass. Immediately, this is followed up with an Eb chord, which is borrowed from the parralel minor key of C Minor. Harrison starts out on F chord, which is the IV chord of C. Here is the same scale harmonised in 4 note chords as an additional reference: C Here is the scale of C Major, harmonised in triads as a reference: C Although it is primarily in the key of C Major, it makes use of plenty of borrowed chords, as well as a nice modulation in the chorus. “Something” by The Beatles features an extremely sophisticated chord progression, with some advanced music theory concepts which you can borrow to use in your own compositions. “Something” Chord Progression – Music Theory Analysis Outline
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |