jimbyjoe Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 greetings, despite me bragging before about me having perfect pitch, sometimes (for unknown reasons), it fails me, as in i can't figure out a chord etc (100% of the time you can play any note on a piano that's in tune and i'll tell you what note it is). the song "stay this way" by the brand new heavies - i'm trying to figure out a chord. it's only one. the verse is: Cm9 ***unknown*** Abmaj7 Gsus7 anyone able to help me? (i think the existing chords are correct). the bass note of the unknown chord is an A. does anyone else listen to them heaps like i do? pray for peace, k "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Fortner Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 I actually play this tune in one of my bands. Played it last night! The chord in question is Am9, which I voice as Cmaj7. Though this song is not the best example, Brand New Heavies are masters of close voicings. I've definitely had to put some time into deciphering their progressions. Stephen Fortner Principal, Fortner Media Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted December 2, 2001 Author Share Posted December 2, 2001 steve, thanks for that - i actually figured it out today!! what other BNH stuff do you play? i've got "trunk funk - best of" and some of the remixes on it are fantastic. "forever" remix is so much better than the original. it makes me cry every time i listen to it because it was the last song i listened to just before i proposed to my now wife on the beach underneath the moonlight pray for peace, k "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaGe Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 On the same token: I checked out Jill Scott "A Long Walk" and noticed some very interesting close-voicings and basically the song is (apart from the bridge) running on one chord (Bsus9 I think, man I wish I could write songs like that, modal is the way to go!). Funny, I didn't notice that until I tried to pick up the progression ... They use some nice voicings, make extremely good use of tension/release and got me hooked up on that new "Philly sound". Any thoughts [ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: RaGe ] [ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: RaGe ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted December 2, 2001 Author Share Posted December 2, 2001 excuse my ignorance, but what exactly are "close voicings"? k "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaGe Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 Open voicings: The voicing's notes are spread on one or even two octaves Close voicings: The voicing's notes are "cluttered", usually within a 5th Waddya think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricG Posted December 3, 2001 Share Posted December 3, 2001 To jimbyjoe If you just own the "trunk funk" album you should pick up the "brother sister" album. I tnihk that´s their best album, with (almost) just strong songs. I find BNH´s music very interesting to play in my band. If you have sugestions for similar band I would love to hear about them. Allways interesting to discover new bands If it´s possible you should check out the Norwegian band "D´sound." They have a similar sound, and lots of nice voicings/ chord progressions. Their first album "spice of life" is my personal favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted December 3, 2001 Author Share Posted December 3, 2001 eric, i do have brother sister as well. 10 ton take is so kewl and groove. i got the keyboard solo down after a little while. i would love to see top 40 songs get that similar influence. steve i agree with you about the close voicings - they truly are great at it. pray for peace, kendall "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicWorkz Posted December 3, 2001 Share Posted December 3, 2001 Originally posted by RaGe: They use some nice voicings, make extremely good use of tension/release and got me hooked up on that new "Philly sound". Any thoughts Good thing Iam in Philly, huh? Much of the voicings you are hearing in neo-soul are basically variations/combinations on gospel and jazz chords. You won't find too many songs written on a major scale-most stuff adds the minor, and sticks around C#, Eb, F, F#, Ab, and Bb. Not too much in D, G, A or B, although I've been hearing some stuff in E and Em. When I chord, most times I am using both hands to fill out the voice. I usually (not always, depending on voicing and inversions) play the root, 5th and 7th (skipping the 3rd) in the left hand in my voicings. My keyboard isn't in front of me, but from memory try this simple 3 Eb chord prog: Gbmaj7/Eb7 Fm7 (voiced as Ab/F playing the F in octaves) Bb9 (voiced as Dm7/Bb) so the final two-handed chord would be Bb-D-F/A-C-D-F. You could resolve a melody to the C, D or F depending on where you want to go. Give it a try. The trick to close voicing are the inversions. Playing a Dm chord with the F on top is much different thant playing the first inversion. I like playing chords with both hands, but sometimes you need to invert chords and omit notes to keep things from getting muddy. "A Long Walk" is so simple, it's stupid-the only thing moving is the bass line for the most part. [ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: MusicWorkz ] [ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: MusicWorkz ] Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaGe Posted December 4, 2001 Share Posted December 4, 2001 In the case of "A long walk" I won't call it stupid It's genius! Just one chord man, one damn chord! I can never find any melody on one chord LOL! It seems that "neo-soul" uses even more than closed voicings (i am talking about the main keys part): common tones, thirds omissions and yes, jazz alterations ... and the harmony don't seems to move much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Botch. Posted December 4, 2001 Share Posted December 4, 2001 I've never heard of BNHs, will check them out at Amazon this afternoon, thanks for the tip! Other close-voiced chord practitioners would include later Police, Steely Dan, Utopia, Joni Mitchell, and Ricki Lee Jones. After struggling for a week to figure out Vince Guaralni's "Christmastime is Here", I broke down and bought the sheet music yesterday, lots of tight chording there too. I've got SO much to learn yet!! Botch "Eccentric language often is symptomatic of peculiar thinking" - George Will www.puddlestone.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbyjoe Posted December 5, 2001 Author Share Posted December 5, 2001 musicworkz - i saw a chord you posted - Gbmaj7/Eb7 i've never played two chords at the same time like that. i have learnt to play a chord with the root, 5th and 7th in the left hand, but is playing a totally different chord in each hand - is that a common jazz thing. i know that Gb and Eb are related by major/minor stuff. thanks for your input too. pray for peace, kendall "Consider how much coffee you're drinking - it's probably not enough." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicWorkz Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 Originally posted by jimbyjoe: musicworkz - i saw a chord you posted - Gbmaj7/Eb7 i've never played two chords at the same time like that. i have learnt to play a chord with the root, 5th and 7th in the left hand, but is playing a totally different chord in each hand - is that a common jazz thing. i know that Gb and Eb are related by major/minor stuff. thanks for your input too. pray for peace, kendall I guess it's a jazz/gospel thing, no different than chording with the left and soloing with the right hand. That first chord is really an Ebm9, I just wrote the voicing as two different chords to show how to voice the left hand. When I started filling in the middle of the root and the 7th, I would hear some of the jazz voicings I liked. Then I wanted to see what types of chords I could get with 10 fingers and learned some pretty neat tricks. Experiment and see what you come up with-you might write the next neo-soul hit . [ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: MusicWorkz ] Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones_dup3 Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Hey MusicWorkz what are some good live albulms (neo soul)? I have Erykah and Jill,also the Roots. Also websites that or anything dedicated to this genre of music? I am also into to that Philly sound, a lot of James Poyser's stuff. I may tkae a trip there being that I'm in Maryland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ungas_01 Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Originally posted by MusicWorkz: [QB] I guess it's a jazz/gospel thing, no different than chording with the left and soloing with the right hand. That first chord is really an Ebm9, I just wrote the voicing as two different chords to show how to voice the left hand. When I started filling in the middle of the root and the 7th, I would hear some of the jazz voicings I liked. Then I wanted to see what types of chords I could get with 10 fingers and learned some pretty neat tricks. Experiment and see what you come up with-you might write the next neo-soul hit . Hey musicworkz! youre a cool guy.. im into that stuff too...(BNH, stuff) i even got the new album of dsound (the one with the "talk and talk" single).. thing is, im not really quite "at par" with how to "improvise" on chords, progressions etc... all i know are the basics (like the seventh, minor, maj7th etc).. im kinda unsure where to use the others (like diminished, aug etc- you know, those kinds of chords) thats why i only stick to the basics, especially when it comes to gigs... generally, improvisation is what i really lack... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicWorkz Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Originally posted by bones: Hey MusicWorkz what are some good live albulms (neo soul)? Bones, you hit the big three (EB's Mama'a Gun is a wonderful example of neo-soul at its best). I've known James for years (since 1986 when we started playing together in college and we're still good friends today) and you can't meet a nicer brotha. He is THE epicenter of neo-soul when you start credit-digging. There is a large body of live work available. By its nature, most neo-soul will have live instrumentaiton, but that isn't always the case. You might want to add the following to your collection: 1. D'Angelo-Voodoo 2. Amel Larrieux-Infinite Possibilities-as I've said before, perhaps the most under-rated but slamming neo-soul CD out there-i never take it out of my changer 3. Angie Stone-Mahoghany Soul-this is her new one and it is hot Listen to CD's by India.arie, Zhane, Common, Musiq Soulchild, Bilal, and Jazzyfatnastees to round it out. The strength of all these CD's comes from the musicianship behind the tracks. The cats producing this stuff aren't studio wunderkinds-they're bonafide musicians with some SERIOUS skills. Come thru Philly on a Tuesday night and we'll swing by Black Lilly (a weekly, Roots-produced open mic and new talent showcase-everyone from Janet Jackson to Puffy have been thru on a give night) so you can get a feel of it. There is a lot of new stuff in the pipe-line, too(Glenn Lewis, Kindred, Jaguar, Flowetry, Jasmine and a host of others) that will be dropping CD's in the next few months (Heineken Foundation's Red Star complilation is worth buying, if only for the remix of Jill Scott's "A Long Walk"), so stay tuned... Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicWorkz Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Originally posted by Ungas_01: Originally posted by MusicWorkz: [QB]all i know are the basics (like the seventh, minor, maj7th etc).. im kinda unsure where to use the others (like diminished, aug etc- you know, those kinds of chords) thats why i only stick to the basics, especially when it comes to gigs... generally, improvisation is what i really lack... Ungas, thanks man! Sometimes, it pays NOT to get too technical-just play. If it sounds good, and you want to find out what you did, then go dissect it. Most augs, dims, flats, sharps, adds etc. are used as passing tones moving from one chord to another (i.e. A(b5)add6/Eb to a Fm7), so there are plently places to put them. Half the time, I don't know what the hell I'm doing anyway until I need to add antoher part, then I have to ask myself what I did . Experiment until you find something that works. [ 12-06-2001: Message edited by: MusicWorkz ] Yamaha (Motif XS7, Motif 6, TX81Z), Korg (R3, Triton-R), Roland (XP-30, D-50, Juno 6, P-330). Novation A Station, Arturia Analog Experience Factory 32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ungas_01 Posted December 7, 2001 Share Posted December 7, 2001 ic... thanks man... ill keep those things in mind... hey! i think amel larieaux is one cool artist... our bands vocalist listens to her a lot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makash Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Hi JimbyJoe, I also love Stay This Way, could you give me the full list of chords? I don't have perfect pitch unfortunately! According to my ear, it's: Verse Cm9 Am9 AbM7 Gsus4 Chorus CM7 Cm7 F/G, CM7 AbM7 Gsus4 What about the breakdown/bridge? I just can't find it. Do you think all this is correct? Over the years, I found that Acid Jazz songs are difficult to play alone on an acoustic guitar (orchestration is so important), but some are quite nice to play/sing: recently I've played a lot "Pieces of a dream" (Incognito), or "There's nothing like this" (Omar). They work pretty well. I can send the chords (with my tweaks) if someone is interested. Best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountFosco Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 What a great thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makash Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 @CountFosco Isn't it a great thread? Me having the naive optimism to think that after 17 years without any new post, I can get this thread back to life! Well, my love for BNH and the likes will be with me until I die, for sure, man. Their groove is ETERNAL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobadohshe Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Whoa Kawai C-60 Grand Piano : Hammond A-100 : Hammond SK2 : Yamaha CP4 : Yamaha Montage 7 : Moog Sub 37 My latest album: Funky organ, huge horn section https://bobbycressey.bandcamp.com/album/cali-native Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 @CountFosco Isn't it a great thread? Me having the naive optimism to think that after 17 years without any new post, I can get this thread back to life! Well, my love for BNH and the likes will be with me until I die, for sure, man. Their groove is ETERNAL. Well, given that you're asking for info from a user who last posted in 2004, I wish you luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doerfler Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Their groove is ETERNAL. maybe so, but he people who post on this forum are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulf Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 I was just about to post about my surprise that someone still listen that much to BNH, when I realized how old the thread is. But yeah, Brother Sister is actually a great album. Rock bottom bass Fakebook Pro Sheet Music Reader - at every gig! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Clark Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Love me some Heavies. Soul, R&B, Pop from Los Angeles http://philipclark.com Cannonball Gerald Albright Signature Alto, Yamaha YC73, Fender Rhodes, Roland Juno-106, Yamaha MX61, Roland VR-09, MicroKorg XL, Maschine Mikro, Yamaha Reface CP, Roland MKS-50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makash Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Woah, great to have so many active and involved people here! Though I was a heavy BNH listener in the 90's (I am 46) I wouldn't say I am still, even though I'll never stop loving them. Only lately, I've been exploring acoustic covers of this genre. I am very heavy on Brazilian music (especially bossa nova), playing and singing with my nylon string Tak EAN60C; I love funk and soul playing on my metal string Tak EAN40C. But Acid Jazz requires so much orchestration, acoustic renditions are tricky, I feel; only some selected tracks can be interpreted alone, without losing the harmony, the groove. The common point of all these genres? A lot of Major7 chords! If I upload clips on YT, I'd be happy to have this forum's honest appreciation on does it work? Doesn't it? Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Used to play this song. Still love it. [video:youtube] The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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