Post 600: GETTING THOSE DARNED CHORDS RIGHT - 'LOVE SONGS OF THE NILE'

'What chord were you playing in Bar 3?' the pianist asks the banjo player.

'C minor.'

'That's odd. It's Eb7 in my book.'

Conversations of this kind can be heard constantly at rehearsals - and even at performances. The trouble is that so many thousands of chord books have emerged over the decades. Some of them have been commercially published. But most have been painstakingly built up for their personal use by individual musicians over many years, during which their repertoire has constantly increased. Here is the hand-written chord book belonging to a banjo-playing friend of mine. As you can see, it's alphabetical and loose-leaf, so he can easily add new tunes to it from time to time.

So every musician has his or her ever-developing chord book and they all like to think their chords are 'right'.

One of the problems is, of course, that there can be alternative chords in so many places in most tunes. Such alternative chords can sound correct if the entire band agrees to use them. And the truth is that there is much similarity between certain chords. For example, Bb major has much in common with G minor 7th, so it's no surprise when those chords are used by different players at the same point in the tune.

Another problem is that - over the years - the chord sequences of many of the good old tunes from a hundred years ago have been simplified for traditional jazz purposes. For example, in some of those tunes, the composer may have used four different chords over the four beats of a bar. But the chord-book writers have substituted just two chords - for two beats each. Or they may even find it possible to get away with just one chord for the entire bar.

Maybe one day a definitive 'correct' chord book for the hundreds of tunes we play will be produced. But I doubt it. While we wait, there is always something of interest to be found by those of us who enjoy investigating these matters.

I am largely self-taught and have always regretted not having had some music education that would have introduced me to more of the theoretical stuff. But even I find alternative chord structures fascinating.

Love Songs of the Nile is one of the tunes that throws up a particularly interesting conflict of opinions. It is a beautiful tune I first came across when I heard that very fine English trumpeter Cuff Billett playing it with his band in the 1990s. I also enjoyed hearing the late Lionel Ferbos singing and playing it at The Palm Court in New Orleans very shortly afterwards. I still have a treasured CD of his band and I'm pleased to say it includes that song.

Love Songs of the Nile was written for a 1933 film called 'The Barbarian'; and it was sung in the film by Ramon Navarro. The composers were Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. (Nacio Herb Brown also wrote You Stepped out of a Dream and You Were Meant for Me.)

The chord problem arises in the Chorus. Assuming the tune is played in the key of C, some chord books have Bar 9 on the chord of F and Bar 10 also on F, while others prefer Ab and Ab7 respectively. There's a similar problem with Bars 13 and 14.

To my ear, the versions using Ab and Ab7 sound better. In fact, John Dodgshon of California wrote to me about this very matter and he is convinced that this is the correct version, meeting the intentions of the composer. Here is the lead-sheet John has kindly sent me. It includes the Verse.

Post 299: MORE CHORD SUBSTITUTION AND SIMPLIFICATION

I have previously mentioned that you can sometimes simplify matters by playing a basic triad major chord instead of the minor 7th of the note three semitones below it.

For example, play C major triad instead of A minor 7th. (Nobody will notice!)

Banjo-playing friends have since reminded me of two more similar tricks. One friend said 'Because we have four strings, we often play partial chords, as the full chord pattern on each inversion would stretch fingers beyond human limits at times'.

TRICK ONE

The music calls for a Diminished Chord. Instead, play the 7th of the chord one semitone below it. But LEAVE OUT THE BOTTOM NOTE. For example, for F diminished, play E7th (but leaving out the E at the bottom). It works.

For C diminished, play B7th without the B;

For F# diminished, play F7th without the F, etc.

TRICK TWO

The music calls for a Minor 7th with flattened fifth (sometimes called the 'half-diminished' chord). Instead, play the Minor 6th based on the note three semitones above.

For example,

For Cm7-5, play Ebm6;

For Dm7-5, play Fm6;

For Gm7-5, play Bbm6;

etc.

Tricks. But you will get away with them.

Post 298: MAJOR 6th AND MINOR 9th

Think of a chord containing the notes C - E - G - A. Which chord is it?

C6th, of course. But it is also the chord of A minor 7th (in its first inversion).

Knowing this can be very helpful if you are trying to keep your playing as simple as possible or if you are improvising over a chord progression at high speed.

You can make things even simpler if you omit the 'A' in the chord above. Your audience will not notice. It means you can play the chord of C major when the music asks for A minor 7th. And you will get away with it!

Obviously this applies right through the scale. Examples:

For B minor 7th you can substitute D major.

For C minor 7th you can substitute Eb major.

For D minor 7th you can substitute F major.

For E minor 7th you can substitute G major.

For F minor 7th you can substitute Ab major.

And so on.

In traditional jazz, you come across the progression:

VIm7 / I  |

This is exactly what I'm discussing. It's good to know you get away with playing it simply as:

  I  |

But please keep this secret just between you and me. I don't want to be accused of encouraging laziness!

And we don't want to get into Big Trouble with the British government's Jazz Band Regulator - OFFSTOMP.
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P.S. Since writing the above, I have received this helpful message from Tom Corcoran:

This is an interesting post about chords that are technically different but sound the same. One of the first things uke players learn is Am7=C6, which is the four open strings in standard uke tuning.

This website has some good information on synonym chords (that's a new term I just learned). I now see why Am7=C6; both chords contain the same notes, but in a different sequence. The diminished chords on the uke are also a good example of synonyms where the same chord shape and position can apply to four different keys.

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Thanks, Tom. I like that notion of 'synonym chords' - it's new to me too. And that is a website we can certainly recommend.

And from Edward Desenne I have received this contribution:

I play both alto and soprano sax and clarinet, both transposing instruments. That means that if I play a minor third below concert pitch on my alto sax pitched in Eb I will play the same note as in concert pitch.

To play a C Major chord in concert pitch I need to finger an A minor 7th chord as notated in music on my alto sax, which is a tricky chord to finger on alto saxes, which is played more easily in second inversion. However if I wish to play an Eb minor 7th concert pitch chord I just play up a minor third a Major C chord on my alto sax, it's easiest natural scale.

That is why the easiest, natural scales for the alto sax are concert Eb, Ab Bb, E, F but the clarinet, trumpet, tenor sax and all instruments pitched in Bb only need to rise one whole tone in order to play the same note as in concert key. The fingering for playing most scales on tenor sax is much easier on alto sax and with a larger tonal range over the octaves, but sometimes the pitch of the alto corresponds better to accompany the female voice. End of my lecture!!!!!!