Robert Abate plays “Wreslin’ With The Devil”
“Wreslin’ With The Devil” is one of those tunes that just popped right out. Melody, chords and lyrics took about 5 minutes
Robert Abate plays “What’s Goin’ On”
This is one of many wonderful Marvin Gaye tunes, it was released in 1971.
https://youtu.be/nJL11leHEc8
Robert Abate plays “LISTEN TO THE FALLING RAIN”
Jose Feliciano lived for a time in Detroit where he met his current wife Susan Omillian. He also studied classical guitar at the Joe Fava Studio with Jack Moncreif memorizing further into each piece at his lessons with Jack’s help. I had heard thru the musical grapevine that he had also performed at Cobb’s Corner in Detroit’s historic Cass Corridor.
Robert Abate plays “LISTEN TO THE FALLING RAIN”
Green
Recently I was approached by Michigan poet Robb Astor to provide a musical background for his written in Tanzania poem “Green”, here’s what we came up with:
green, how green
leaves of banana trees
fields
where crowned cranes danced
fields how yellow
dabs of yellow dappled fields
of african daisies
fireflies green with light
in darkness
shone stars i did not know
had never seen
rigel kentaurus
canopus
aldeberon
how we lay those nights
beneath the stars
show me you said
the southern cross
lost in interstices
of sky above the alleys
a green dress
satin shining in the shop window
your eyes in the glass
beneath old electric speakers
wired in the heights of marinets
the fullness of your hair eclipsing
clouds of magellan
how you danced
in midnight streets humming
that sappy bollywood music
the silhouette of you
beneath the screen and me
but oh how far from green i’ve wandered
how far
alcor
mizar
how cloudy my vision
all things colored
even the black mold
clinging to white stone
ruins where i used to sit
in forlorn grasses
drawing doorways in time-worn walls
Playing Melodies With Chords On The Guitar
This concept is very useful to guitarists regardless of any particular style or genre of music being played. My explanation will be as simple as possible to include as many players as possible and their varied levels of music theory knowledge. Yes, it is helpful to understand music theory when playing the guitar.
First it is important to understand that any chord that is played is in a certain key that is based on a certain scale and the chord is in a certain position in that key. The most common scale used in Western Music is the Major scale. The example that is going to be shown will the use an Am7 chord in the key of G Major. The Am7 chord is based on the 2nd note in the G Major scale and the G Major scale uses all natural notes except for an F#. The natural harmony of the G Major scale is: Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Em7, F#dim7, Gmaj7. For you theory beginners an Am7 chord is not always in the key of G, which is another discussion.
What we are going to do is to follow the notes of a G Major scale up the 1st string on the guitar placing inversions of an Am7 chord underneath the melody note using all of the notes in the key in the melody including the notes not found in an Am7 chord. Using this concept on the chords of the tune you are playing with the proper melody note will enable you to play melodies with chords on the guitar.
It is best to use 3 or 4 note chords when doing this and obviously you can use the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings for your melody note.
These kind of musical devices can be daunting for a person who hasn’t done them before, don’t let the difficulty scare you off. If you need to find a good teacher who knows his stuff who can take the time with you to explain what you don’t understand. Begin working. You can do it.
Dominant Chords An Augmented 4th Apart In The Root
The most powerful and most used progression in music is dropping a 5th in the root. Anyone has merely to play a Dominant chord of a key followed by the 1st chord or Tonic of that key to understand why the monks of Europe in the Dark Ages named the 5th chord of a key Dominant. It is an inherent rule of music that the Dominant chord leads to the Tonic. Anyone can hear the settling of the tone center when this particular chord change is played.
For this particular example of chord substitution I’m going to use an E7 going to an A7 resolving to a Dmaj7. The A7 chord in this progression is going to be substituted by an Eb7 chord which is the same chord type an augmented 4th away in the root. You can hear in the example that this is a pleasing similar sound. I don’t know why this works but it does. It also happens that the 3rd’s and 7th’s of the A7 and the Eb7 are the same notes reversed in position, making the different chords quite alike. What you can realized out of this harmonic device is a chromatically descending chord progression that is different from the cycle of 5th’s with the same amount of solidity and power. When using this device you must adjust the chords to reflect the notes of the melody that are happening when the chord substitution is being played.