Re: [LAU] [Absolutely OT] - for musicians only

On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 05:53:10PM -0500, frank pirrone wrote:
> fons@email-addr-hidden wrote:
> > Hello musicians,
> >
> > Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother' ends with two repetitions
> > of the main theme, with full choir, brass and everything.
> > The bass is:
> >
> > E G F C, E G F C, E G A B, E G F# ?????, E G F C etc.
> >
> > It's the F# ????? - the surprising modulation just before
> > the theme repeats - that I'm after. Most PF harmony is quite
> > straightforward but this one defeats me... Anyone knows this
> > chord progression ?
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> >
> Wouldn't that be in the key of E, Fons? If so the F# is the II chord,
> which would typically resolve to the IV, or B7 in that key. That
> wouldn't be a modulation, it would be a "turn-around," and especially so
> since the progression continues on with another E.
>

Good call. The II is used in jazz and gospel, IIRC. Zappa did some with it too: the Inca Roads guitar solo vamp is I-II.

Rick Wright was the only original member of the Pink Floyd who had formal music schooling, and he was also a jazz fan. David Gilmour might have had some training; I don't remember.

To drift even farther off topic: I've noticed that people who do not have formal music schooling tend towards chromaticism, and make it work in interesting ways. Speaking of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett didn't have any music schooling, and "Interstellar Overdrive" is highly chromatic. As are a lot of Radiohead songs-- no music school for Thom Yorke (Jonny Greenwood was the only member who had music training). I was stunned some years ago to find out that the progression of the verses of "Morning Bell" was A minor to A MAJOR. It totally works. Also, a friend and I learned "Pyramid Song" years ago, charted it out, and discovered it's actually in 4/4: the phrases are highly syncopated but they add up to 8 (IIRC) bars of 4.

The guys I'm working with do lots of chromatic stuff, but it doesn't sound avante-garde at all, it sounds like funk/rock, which is what it is.

Maybe one of the Pink Floyd members decided to just throw something different in there, randomly, just for fun.

-ken
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Received on Thu Jan 14 04:15:03 2010