1-6-5 blues

Jonathan Shacklock · From: London, UK

I'm working up a steel part to a cover of the Stones' countrified blues Sweet Virginia which follows a 1-6-5 progression (in D: D-B-A) and I'm finding the 6 Major chord a little out of my comfort zone. Going directly from 1 to 6 to 5 every time (it's a repetitive song) is becoming a bit predictable so I think I'm looking for some cool passing chord moves to add some occasional spice. Any suggestions gratefully received.

David Doggett · Posted 12 Oct 2007 2:05 pm

Um, well, don't know if this will help, but I consider that song as a IV II I progression in the key of A, rather than I VI V in the key of D. So for me, you are just going from IV to I with the II being a passing chord, although a very strong one. The II can also be considered a suspended 2 resolving to the I. The interesting thing about this song is that the melody is ascending while the roots are descending. I don't really hear it much as a blues. IV II I is a classical music progression that goes back at least to Beethoven and was also used by Dvorak. But because it is blues-rock, you can use IV and I blues licks over those chords.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

love the song, love the album its on

Key of A. On a regular guitar capo at fret 2..then CAGD chord shapes over and over...my knowledge of theory is really poor and it becomes like math to me once the capo is on there so i have no idea what numbers those chords would be.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I agree with David's interpretation of D B A as IV IIm I in the key of A.

There are a lot of ways to add passing chords or tones. I kind of like a diatonic descent IV IIIm IIm, which would be D C#m Bm - perhaps even a chromatic descend D C#m-Cm Bm. Another option would D C#dim Bm, which sounds similar but has a slightly different feel. Similarly, one can move that C#dim down 3 half tones to the comparable A#dim, but sounds different because the move to the Bm is upward instead of downward. The issue is how to handle the voice leading, and what else is going on that might conflict with it - especially the vocalist. I'm very wary of getting fancy over a vocalist.

After that, I like a Cdim as a passing chord to the A, which I would probably then play with the leading voice as the 3rd, C#. For example, if I was leading with the bottom voice, it would be the third inversion.

Sometimes, instead of playing a passing chord, a single passing note or notes works better. Again, it matters what other players are doing, or whether it's a vocal section. Sometimes I have to lay off passing chords or even notes because they conflict with other things going on. If they leave me a lot of room (not very often these days), great. Otherwise, I think less is generally more. In fact, on a song like this, I am usually expected not to get very fancy.

Steve Norman · From: Seattle Washington, USA

what about 5th fret 865ab(IV) -5thfret 765ab(IIm)-up to the 8th fret 865a/f(I) ? kind of a throaty church organ resolve...
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Here's the progression:

Jonathan Shacklock · From: London, UK

Thanks guys, this has really opened up the song for me. I tried out all your ideas this morning.

Embarassed

I think I started on the wrong foot (partly by working out the harmonica intro on in A and thinking to myself: it's crossharp [key of D]). With the first chord being D I really had myself fooled. I guess the key centre generally has more to do with the resolving chord than the opening one...?

Dave M (and Steve), I'm not sure about the IIm. I really hear it as a II Major but I think I need to try the minor out against a backing track. You are right about keeping it simple, the last thing I want to do is over-play, one or two quick stepping stone chords is all I'm after for the whole song. For example, one I've just found is IV > VI > II > I (eg 5AB > 5AF > 7 > 5) with just one beat on that passing VI. My theory isn't good enough to know if that's an accepted way of doing things but it sounds good to my ears.

b0b, I can see I need to know my A+F's a bit better than I do, thanks for giving me a couple more positions to work on. This really links in with that recent thread.

Ben, put down that six string and have a go at this thing on steel, it's great fun. Very Happy

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Yup, the original chord is definitely Bmaj, but when I've played it arranged so that I felt I could add anything, the minor worked better, to my ears. It does change the harmonic feel of the song, but it's still recognizable as "Sweet Virginia". In fact, I think that if one plays it major, some of the passing chords I suggested don't sound as good to me. I'd probably just stick to passing notes. To me, typical harmonized passing chords tend to clash with that Bmaj - just my tastes, I guess.

To me, if playing this as a cover song, I probably wouldn't add anything. To me, an important part of the feel of the original is the space and lack of harmonic sophistication. I would only reharmonize if I felt free to arrange the song a bit.

Steve Norman · From: Seattle Washington, USA

If you have a guitar playing the bmaj chord, I wonder if playing a g#m under it would sound, could make a cool 6th chord sound
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b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

If you're soloing, you can actually just think of it as IV IV I I. It gives you a lot more freedom, and it won't sound wrong in this kind of song. Maybe hit the II chord in the 3rd line for dramatic effect.
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Jonathan Shacklock · From: London, UK

Less is more, I absolutely take your point Dave, I'd be the last person to want to ruin a perfectly good song with a lot of fancy-pants chords.

I'll probably end up just doing the fills where Booby Keys played on the original. In fact I've already started trying to approximate some of his licks, which is another fun exercise. Some of the sax fills translate surprisingly well to steel guitar.

I'll keep working on these ideas, thanks again.

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