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Something a little different today: I look at Sonny Rollins’ solo on “Neighbours” and how you might approach it on guitar. Check it out!

[youtu.be]

For those interested in following me down the rabbit hole of Sonny Rollins’ solo on “Neighbours,” here’s an addendum to yesterday’s video: [youtu.be]

A friend of mine takes an even closer look at that crazy “outside” line that Rollins played.

And ... back to regular programming, here’s Episode 4 of Riff Cousins.
I look at Keith’s use of pedal tones. Song examples: HTW, Flip the Switch, Slipping Away, and Something for Nothing.

[youtu.be]

To cleanse the palate of any negative vibes toward Ry Cooder, I delve into his slide part on “Sister Morphine.” Open G, capo 2. Check it out!

[youtu.be]

Time to give Mick Taylor some love. Here I look at some tasty lines MT played in Dorian mode as well as the natural minor scale. Check it out!

[youtu.be]

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Palace Revolution 2000
I have always considered the A chord in 'Hand of Fate' as one of those implied minor chords that you mention. It's a taint chord, LOL
You can bar it in 2nd fret, but you can't really play that C# note on the B string.

It sounds weird with the minor third as well. Almost too emotional or something.

Hi Scott,
Really enjoying this video series. Great to have a channel focusing on the details of Keith's playing.
Keith has a way of implying chords without using the 3rds in order to make them fit into the riffs. That A in Hand of Fate that has already been discussed is one example but also Little T&A doesn't sound to good if one plays the A chord with a third, be it minor or major. Nothing really fits but that makes it interesting.

But don't you think that the implied Bm chord in the Em-D-C-Bm movement you explained in the second episode is actually a B dominant chord with a major 3rd? I think this is the typical Andalusian cadence, massively used in Flamenco. When you play a B7 you can actually play the whole chord without it sounding weird. But of course there are variations of that movement when the song has a minor V-chord instead of a dominant one.

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MonkeyMan2000
Hi Scott,
Really enjoying this video series. Great to have a channel focusing on the details of Keith's playing.
Keith has a way of implying chords without using the 3rds in order to make them fit into the riffs. That A in Hand of Fate that has already been discussed is one example but also Little T&A doesn't sound to good if one plays the A chord with a third, be it minor or major. Nothing really fits but that makes it interesting.
.

Great way of putting it. I discovered the same thing on piano years ago, playing just the pinky and thumb, leaving the chord undecided or 'open' if you will

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Nikkei

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MonkeyMan2000
Hi Scott,
Really enjoying this video series. Great to have a channel focusing on the details of Keith's playing.
Keith has a way of implying chords without using the 3rds in order to make them fit into the riffs. That A in Hand of Fate that has already been discussed is one example but also Little T&A doesn't sound to good if one plays the A chord with a third, be it minor or major. Nothing really fits but that makes it interesting.
.

Great way of putting it. I discovered the same thing on piano years ago, playing just the pinky and thumb, leaving the chord undecided or 'open' if you will

That's the barre chord translated to piano

PR2000,

The great thing about Keith is that he never gives you more information than is absolutely necessary. The minor chord does sound weird in HOF. Try it in How I Wish and You Don’t Move Me — there it sounds fine.

MonkeyMan, Great note. You could *definitely* talk me into a B7 in Struggle. But on Hold Back, with Mick’s melody and the standard tuning fills, that one still sounds minor to me.

You're right, I sort of had Struggle in mind when I wrote my post. That second part of Hold Back where the song is using the descending major scale of G starting from C is definitely a Bm anyways...

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MonkeyMan2000
You're right, I sort of had Struggle in mind when I wrote my post. That second part of Hold Back where the song is using the descending major scale of G starting from C is definitely a Bm anyways...

You make a great point about the Andalusian cadence in Struggle. Keith’s acoustic fills in that song are kind of Spanish-y. That sound has been inside him since he was a young boy!

Yes! This is a characteristic of his later day recording style, throwing in an acoustic playing some of that stuff here and there. It expands the harmonic soundscape beautifully and he uses it very delicately. If think you even hear some of that in Robbed Blind and Amnesia. Also on electric during live performances he sometimes did some fast Spanish-y runs on Waiting On A Friend, I think...great stuff..(.and you hit the nail on the head with bringing up such discussions about music during this time and making these videos, great to have a bit of fun )

Oh man, the solo and fills he plays on Robbed Blind are some of the best lines he’s played in the last 25 years. Everything about that track — the up-close vibe of the recording, the lyrics, the acoustic guitars — is standout stuff.

Stay tuned!

(I amended my description of the vid to account for your B7 correction.)

The spanish fills in the live versions of Waiting On A Friend and Rock And A Hard Place deserve a mention, too. Really give the songs flavour.

The peculiar thing in the former song is that it's not a song in minor. However, Keith sort of treats it as that anyhow, albeit steers clear off the worst disharmonic "traps" he can go in.

Good stuff!

Love Is Strong (as you already covered, Mel), is another good example of his pedal tone, btw. Eileen, too.

I think this deserves its own episode. I forgot how much fun it was to ponder this stuff. Thanks, guys!

I also think "Struggle" has those'Spanish' overtones. And I do hear the B7 implied; especially in those pauses before it goes back into the Em riff.

I thought 'Main Offender' was full of pedal tones. "Eileen" is a great example.
But IMO the duo of "Running Too Deep"/"Will but you won't" exemplifies it even more. Those two are so similar in their respective intros, only to branch off later in the song. RTD has that "Must be Hell/Honky Tonk Woman type throb going; where the note is actually played. And it is a major key song, a white key song.
What I love about WBYW is that end section, where it builds and Babi starts howling. In that section there is a pedal tone droning under it all. But while it is also in G, in that part you get the Bb in there; giving it that faux minor feel, that we have brought up in this thread several times already.
Keith should have a mode named after him. A Quasi-mode.

Thought of some additional Spanish-y lines from Keith: everything he did on nylon string guitar in 1989-90. Paint It Black improv before intro, obviously. Less obvious: Ruby Tuesday. Listen to Flashpoint version (Tokyo?). His playing is gorgeous.

A little detour — Piano for Guitarist Dummies, episode 1. Too many great piano parts are never transcribed or analyzed because they’re “hidden” in guitar-driven music. ... included are bits of Angie, Loving Cup, Wilco’s Shot in the Arm, and Bruce’s It’s Hard to Be a Saint ... Check it out!

[youtu.be]

The guitar intro on Sliver Train seems to fit the pedal tone that you describe.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about guitar/stones intricacies, MelBelli; very generous of you.
Rockandroll,
Mops

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rollmops
The guitar intro on Sliver Train seems to fit the pedal tone that you describe.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge about guitar/stones intricacies, MelBelli; very generous of you.
Rockandroll,
Mops

Thanks, man. There are a lot of pedal tone examples. When making these videos, it’d hard to know when to stop!

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MelBelli
New video: I-IV hammer-on moves in standard (Beast of Burden, Almost Hear You Sigh, Whip It Up, It Means A Lot):

[youtu.be]

Keith does a fourth in standard, sometimes, in Gimme Shelter live.

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Rocknroll1969
I am sure Keith Richards played Twenty Flight Rock in open G in 1981

He did.

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MelBelli
Oh man, the solo and fills he plays on Robbed Blind are some of the best lines he’s played in the last 25 years. Everything about that track — the up-close vibe of the recording, the lyrics, the acoustic guitars — is standout stuff.

Stay tuned!

(I amended my description of the vid to account for your B7 correction.)

When I first listened to CROSSEYED HEART and heard Robbed Blind I was stopped in my tracks: it's the best thing he's done since Take It So Hard. I dunno. That's a whole mess to get into - point is, it blew me away. It's beyond a killer song, playing, everything.

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MelBelli
A little detour — Piano for Guitarist Dummies, episode 1. Too many great piano parts are never transcribed or analyzed because they’re “hidden” in guitar-driven music. ... included are bits of Angie, Loving Cup, Wilco’s Shot in the Arm, and Bruce’s It’s Hard to Be a Saint ... Check it out!

[youtu.be]

What is interesting also in Nicky's parts on 'Loving Cup' is that those 6ths that you're focusing on in the intro, he basically keeps playing that part through out the song. It's always a variation on it, but every time those drawn out notes "come on up', or "face full of mud" come around, he is playing that underneath.

Nicky had to have been a huge inspiration for anyone in the studio. Especially in those years for the Stones when all the stars aligned perfectly for them.

Great thread.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-04-18 20:34 by Palace Revolution 2000.

Still don't know who plays the steel drums in Loving Cup.

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Palace Revolution 2000

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MelBelli
A little detour — Piano for Guitarist Dummies, episode 1. Too many great piano parts are never transcribed or analyzed because they’re “hidden” in guitar-driven music. ... included are bits of Angie, Loving Cup, Wilco’s Shot in the Arm, and Bruce’s It’s Hard to Be a Saint ... Check it out!

[youtu.be]

What is interesting also in Nicky's parts on 'Loving Cup' is that those 6ths that you're focusing on in the intro, he basically keeps playing that part through out the song. It's always a variation on it, but every time those drawn out notes "come on up', or "face full of mud" come around, he is playing that underneath.

Nicky had to have been a huge inspiration for anyone in the studio. Especially in those years for the Stones when all the stars aligned perfectly for them.

Great thread.

The major-6ths are all over Lennon’s “Jealous Guy,” too. Nicky was a beast. ... I neglected to mention/explain that, on “Angie,” when he moves to a B and G#, that’s not a 6th, but rather a minor 7th. Mea culpa.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-04-18 20:56 by MelBelli.

This one’s for you guys: KR Riff Cousins Ep. 5, wherein I formally issue a correction to Ep. 2 and talk about some of my favorite of Keith’s Spanish-y moves.

[youtu.be]