Chapter 9 Flashcards
Descending Bass, Inversions, and Aug Chords
So common is this idea in pop that Chris Ingham awards it the tag: ‘Descending Elaboration of Static Harmony’ (DESH’) which
reflects the fact that the chord is kept constant while the bottom line drops down the major diatonic scale from the root down to the 5th. The bass line carries the song on its own and is not reliant on activity in either the chords or the tune.
The simplest chord that can form the static hannony of a ‘D ESH’ is a major triad. However, in practice, some liberties can be taken according to the key the song is written in, particularly given the inherent quirks of the guitar. With an open -position D chord , for example (as in ‘H er Majesty’), it requires a contortionist to ring out each of the chord tones , 1- 3- 5, while also playing the bass descent. Never mind, the fleeting droning open strings add spice even if, technically, they take us away from truly static harmony.
In any case, simple simultaneous movements in chords add interest to the progression, as we can hear with the few extra fills that McCartney adds in ‘For No One’, another blatant manifestation of the Diatonic Major descent , heard earlier on Revolver.
Major scale theory tells us that the ‘correct’ chord on the 7th degree of the scale should be a diminished triad, or perhaps a m7b5 if
we add a seventh to the stack. But we have long since ruled this chord too dissonant for pop or, as Rooksby puts it succinctly, ‘horrible to sing over’. The chord is therefore typically substituted in various ways, with The Beatles showing us the three most important options when using this specific line.
The next table sets out the three most common options for harmonising the ‘7’ (for a run in the key of C). It also indicates in each case the simple root position triad before confirming the implied inversion in the context of the run. For tracking the bass note in relation to the chord is essential to understanding advanced chord substitution in pop sequences .
Harmonising the ‘7’ (B) in the Diatonic Major Descent
For an example of the next option, the V chord , take a look at ‘ All You Need Is Love’. Again the bass descends from the tonic to the relative minor, but now the linking ‘7’ is harmonised by the simple dominant triad of the key which must now appear in 1st inversion to keep the required F# in the bass. The basic chord sequence can be thought of as
just ‘ I- V -vi’ and, in a band setting, the guitar player might well just play a basic root position D chord. But for solo acoustic renditions, the ‘slash chord’ D/F# is the secret to maintaining the voice leading.
Here, therefore , is another outing for Paul’s I-iii ‘formula’. Though now, in the context of the ‘7’ (the D# bass note), we find the chord as a 2nd inversion ‘slash’ chord.
Having seen some alternatives for harmonizing the ‘7’ , understanding the options for the next two destinations, ‘6’ and ‘5’, should be straightforward.
That just leaves the chord choices for the ‘5’.
A stylish alternative is to use the iii at this point. While ‘Real Love’ shows how it can provide great harmony over the ‘7’ , (in 2nd inversion), it also fits the bill perfectly over the ‘5’, this time in Ist inversion. A fine example is ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’ which features Fm (in the key of Db) at this point in the very same descending run.
The IV chord is an obvious example. After all, the interval structure in the run (half step, whole step, whole step) is the same from both these starting points with in the diatonic structure of the major scale. So, while the table uses the formula 8- 7- 6- 5 in relation to the IV chord (Bb), equally a songwriter could conceive it as 4- 3- 2- 1 in relation to the original I chord (F major). Either way, McCartney was hip to this symmetry by the time of ‘Hey Jude’.
Just as we ‘truncated’ the original descent in ‘All You Need Is Love’ to take us only as far as the relative minor , so The Beatles often used what can be seen as ‘4 - 3- 2’ to take us to the relative minor of the IV. In the verse of ‘Two Of Us’ , this idea provides the only embellishment to the basic tonic - to - subdominant structure seen back in Chapter 2.
In this way the IV - ii move is merely a ploy to extend the subdominant harmony. The moving line here neatly reflects the lyrical
theme of ‘returning home ‘ - in deft contrast to the static images of ‘riding nowhere’ and ‘not arriving’ that fall on the initial bars of the extended tonic.
The 8- 7- 6- 5 formula has stood the test of time in rock and pop , as Chris Ingham points out , mentioning a range of songs
including a trio from the ‘DESH-meister’ himself , David Bowie: ‘Changes’
The 8- 7- 6- 5 formula has stood the test of time in rock and pop , as Chris Ingham points out , mentioning a range of songs including a trio from the ‘DESH-meister’ himself , David Bowie: ‘All The Young Dudes’ and ‘Oh, You Pretty Things’.
The 8- 7- 6- 5 formula has stood the test of time in rock and pop , as Chris Ingham points out , mentioning a range of songs including a trio from the ‘DESH-meister’ himself , David Bowie: ‘‘Oh, You Pretty Things’.
To that diverse list must be added the 1994 Oasis smash hit, ‘Whatever’ , in which Noel Gallagher delivers another ‘8 - 7- 6- 5’ (followed by a textbook IV -V-I cadence) as the repeated intro and verse motif
In this way the descent reveals itself as the ‘Runaway’ /’Three Cool Cats’ trick explored in Chapter 6, which Lennon worked into songs ranging from ‘I’ll Be Back’ to ‘I Am The Walrus’ (the latter in major, and with its coda using the descent from two different
starting points).
3) The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
Just as The Beatles broke free from diatonic boundaries with their basic chord shapes , so ‘borrowed’ and modal harmony would find its way into some of the most distinctive descending lines in their catalogue. ‘Chromaticism’ is the key to understanding a select group of lines that ‘fill in’ the gaps in the diatonic runs detailed above, while keeping the overall principle of a line effortlessly heading ‘south’ from the tonic. Tweaking these major and minor runs in subtle
ways helps bring dozens of Beatles songs into our songwriting framework.
The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
With F# now joining the F natural in the sequence , we are back in the mixed- mode territory of songs like ‘Wait’, which feature
both the natural and flattened 6th notes in their structures. In the same way we can think of this hybrid line as a ‘Dorian
embellishment’ of a standard natural minor line. .
The following chart summarises the run , focusing again on the relationship between the basic chords and the bass notes and inversions implied
The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
This hybrid bass run would emerge as a highly popular and successful line in both rock and pop. Jimmy Page exploited its folky possibilities in ‘Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You’, the acoustic mega -ballad on Led Zeppelin’s seminal 1969 debut , which cycles hypnotically around this descent (continuing on to ‘5’, E in the key of A minor).
The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
In a similar genre, Aerosmith’s haunting ‘Dream On’ features intricate harmony that suggests the run in the Fm verse , before opting for a ‘regular’ Aeolian run in the chorus.
The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
It also surfaces distinctly in a pair of cult songs - ‘In A Broken Dream ‘ by Python Lee Jackson (a.k.a. Rod Stewart)
The Dorian/Aeolian hybrid descent
(8-b7-6-b6)
and Chicago’s ‘25 Or 6 To 4’ (A minor).
Back in the sixties, The Kinks’ ‘Sunny Afternoon’ found Ray Davies descending the same line in ‘DESH’ fashion, with a D minor chord holding the fort while the line continued its descent down the natural minor scale all the way to the tonic.
There are various possible interpretations of the implied chords of ‘Lucy’, given the beautiful, sparse theme melody which, as a verse counter -melody, is our only guide. The third chord, in particular, could be seen as an A6, or its relative minor equivalent, F#m7 . However, we have chosen to label it D/F# for the purposes of creating handy reference points within our overall framework. For not only are the 3rd and 5th of D major easily identifiable, but the inversion is identical to the one we pointed out on this same
scale degree in ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Finally (and perhaps most usefully) it helps us make the connection with that early Beatles favourite device: the IV - iv’ minor drop; as that is , effectively, exactly what we have here - except that D and Dm are now both in 1st inversion. Given Lennon’s history with this move (, If I Fell’, ‘In My Life’, etc.) we could speculate that these were the
‘original chords’ that George Martin refers to in his memories of the Summer Of Love.
And the legacy of the Rock Descent didn’t end with the sixties. Down the years it has been pivotal to songs like Neil Young’s
‘Needle And The Damage Done’, which opens with a ‘Dear Prudence’ -style descent (again around an open D-chord);
And the legacy of the Rock Descent didn’t end with the sixties. Down the years it has been pivotal to songs like Paul
Weller’s ‘The Changingman’, where the run ( in C this time) neatly captures the lyrical theme of ‘shifting sands’ .
the Rock Descent lives on in quasi-psychedelic songs of the new century like Oasis’s ‘Who Feels Love?’. listen how the ‘ 8-b7-6-5 descent (from a G
root, at 2.47) contrasts with the pedal- tone structure of the verse, thereby neatly encapsulating two of these pioneering sixties ploys
III one song.
And the legacy of the Rock Descent didn’t end with the sixties. Down the years it has been pivotal to songs like Something In The Air’, Thunder clap Newman’s 1969 classic, featuring another unmistakable ‘8-b7-6-5 descent
The Chromatic Descent
8-7-b7-6 - in Minor
Here we have, visually at least, the simplest moving line formula so far. Descending down a diatonic scale is hardly rocket science, but ‘Michelle’ glides romantically in consecutive semitones down the chromatic scale. This creates one of the most soothing of structural descents and one that , understandably , has proved irresistible to listeners and songwriters.
The Chromatic Descent
8-7-b7-6 - in Minor
Rarely does a year go by in pop without this run imprinting itself on our subconscious. Vying with ‘Michelle’ for
immortality is none other than Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway To Heaven’,
The Chromatic Descent
8-7-b7-6 - in Minor
Rarely does a year go by in pop without this run imprinting itself on our subconscious. Vying with ‘Michelle’ for
immortality are Leon Russell’s ‘This
Masquerade’ , Jim Croce’s ‘Time In A Bottle’, Morris Albert’s evergreen standard, ‘Feelings’ and Tom Petty’s ‘Into The Great Wide Open’.
The Chromatic Descent
8-7-b7-6 - in Minor
Rarely does a year go by in pop without this run imprinting itself on our subconscious.
TV advertisers like this run too , with Fiat’s use of ‘Music To Watch Girls By’, complete with its signature ‘ 8-7-b7-6 ‘ run in G
minor , fuelling
The Chromatic Descent
8-7-b7-6. How does it work? Harmonising the ‘7 ‘ - The major / minor seventh chord
In most cases, the songwriting interest is down to the subtle tension that arises from the chord that is implied when harmonising the ‘7’. Unlike the other three members of the run , this note is not diatonic to either natural minor (Aeolian), or any other of the minor modes (Dorian, Phrygian or Locrian), for in each of these , the seventh degree is always flattened.
Here ‘s an example of iii minor unfolding with the Chromatic Minor Run : Notice that the essential chromatic line is identical (although, because of the more static bass on B on this occasion, the final chord now remains as a Bm6).
In ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’, a dominant chord, whose root is a fifth lower, appears in place of the minor 6th :
Sometimes the ‘ 8-7-b7-6
‘ run can be heard briefly in various truncated permutations to add fleeting interest to a minor chord. For
example, listen out for the ‘8- 7’ drop (complete with the dissonant m/major 7th chord), in the following Beatles moments:
the intra to ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ (unfolding as a vi)
Sometimes the ‘ 8-7-b7-6
‘ run can be heard briefly in various truncated permutations to add fleeting interest to a minor chord. For
example, listen out for the ‘8- 7’ drop (complete with the dissonant m/major 7th chord), in the following Beatles moments:
the verse of ‘Blackbird’ (as a vi)
Sometimes the ‘ 8-7-b7-6
‘ run can be heard briefly in various truncated permutations to add fleeting interest to a minor chord. For
example, listen out for the ‘8- 7’ drop (complete with the dissonant m/major 7th chord), in the following Beatles moments:
the second bridge of ‘I’ll Be Back’ (as a ii)
Sometimes the ‘ 8-7-b7-6
‘ run can be heard briefly in various truncated permutations to add fleeting interest to a minor chord. For
example, listen out for the ‘8- 7’ drop (complete with the dissonant m/major 7th chord), in the following Beatles moment
the bridge of George’s ‘You Know What To Do’ (as a ii)
OK, SO a iii minor chord spelt: ‘G#m /major7th/D#’ (G- sharp - minor -major- seventh in second inversion) technically takes in this single, stunning sonority. But rather more concise is ‘D# aug’, a major triad with a raised (or ‘augmented’) 5th built on the very root we want and containing all the necessary notes.
With the bass line now on its way, a further drop to b7 sees a D major chord with an implied added 6th reflecting neatly the B note in the melody (the F# in the counter -melody matches the major 3rd of D). Similarly the ‘6’ is now a major triad due to the E# counter-melody which creates a major 3rd in relation to the root of C#. Indeed, the counter -melody tracks the descending bass precisely, using this same interval, thereby enjoying its own chromatic drop which can be captured as ‘ 3-b3-2-b2
against the bass line of 8-7-b7-6
After the opening C minor , let’s start by appreciating the chord on the ‘7’ , which appears as an augmented chord rather than a ‘m /major 7’ as we might expect in a minor setting. A close look at the construction of the ‘G aug’ shows that it is indeed an effective inversion of the cm / major7 - and, therefore, a substitute.
Similarly when looking at the ‘6’, we find the organ playing not a C minor 6th as the source of the A note (as in ‘Michelle’), but a D minor chord in 1st inversion. However, with the bass now playing a D note itself, we can still happily view the overall chord as being in root position. Again, The Common Tone Substitution Rule means that we hear Dm as an acceptable alternative to Cm6.
Harmonising the ‘6 ‘: reconciling. Mr Kite’s Dm
All three augmented chords are just inversions of each other , for reasons that can be best understood with reference to its ultimate source: the Whole Tone scale. This spacey- sounding sequence is an example of a symmetrical scale, so called because the distance between every note is identical (in this case, a whole tone or ‘second’ interval).
While this theory hopefully explains the background to the chord, in practice, as we have already seen, the augmented chord can in many cases be seen as effectively identical to the minor / major 7th with which it enjoys such a close structural relationship. The chorus of ‘All My Loving’, which neatly uses the device as a spicy link between a minor chord and its relative major , bears this out.
This linking device was another idea that The Beatles were clearly absorbing from the favourite covers of their formative years . It’s a move that can be heard most clearly on their Live At The BBC version of the Goffin & King classic, ‘Don’t Ever Change’.
Soon The Beatles were using their new-found trick in the most stylish of contexts, such as the cool coda of ‘From Me To You’. It’s the same linking principle again, though , not content with the major tonic they arrive at, The Beatles fool us all by plunging back to the relative minor , leaving us hanging ‘in the dark’ many years before the Em close of ‘Cry Baby Cry’.
The Beatles resurrected this linking principle on ‘That Means A Lot’ (as heard on Anthology 2), in a coda that cycles around the same three -chord sequence as ‘All My Loving’.
While classical buffs may dismiss the start of’All I’ve Got To Do’ as just a fancy sound gesture , there’s no getting away from some of the other brilliant ways in which The Beatles put the augmented chord to work within the main structure of their songs. A look at a textbook trio - one each, appropriately, from Paul, John and George - finds them at the very height of their songwriting powers.
This is important, because it demonstrates a pivotal songwriting function of the augmented chord that each of the Beatles
songwriters intuitively mastered in this trio of songs. The chord serves to lead the listener from an upbeat , major tonality towards darker , minor territory by ‘previewing’ a note that will soon be subconsciously interpreted as the minor 3rd of the parallel minor. The following chart attempts to depict this ‘half -way house’ as F gives way to F minor.
The matching of music and lyrics that this achieves is similarly inspired, at a stroke conveying the change in mood not just from ‘light’ to ‘dark’ but, more specifically, from optimism to pessimism. The words expressing achievement (‘fixing’, ‘filling’ and ‘painting’) all fall in major before immediately giving way to the singer’s inclinations of wandering self- doubt. While the song’s parallel major chorus delineates the structure more obviously, this ultra-subtle take on the switch is in a class of its own.
Or almost on its own - for Lennon fans can rightly point to the conceptually identical effect in ‘I’m So Tired’ , and within arguably an even more subtle harmonic framework.
following chord, F#m , to restore it. The song continues to slip in and out of consciousness as the F natural in the Dm introduces an Aeolian b6 note that, together with the C natural now in the melody, is now at odds with the F#m in the previous bar! Hence both the ‘E aug’ and Dm chords are heard as delicately borrowed from the parallel key of A minor, which directly explains the sleepwalking effect of the progression.
Meanwhile, George Harrison had yet another take on the same overall principle as ‘Fixing A Hole’ and ‘I’m So Tired’ in ‘Old Brown Shoe’. Though this time the ambiguity is with relative - rather than parallel - minor.
As with ‘Fixing A Hole’ and ‘I’ m So Tired’, ‘Old Brown Shoe ‘ creates a perfect match between music and lyrics. Cadencing on the
relative minor (rather than the tonic) at the end of the line ‘it won’t be the same now’ is already clever enough. But ‘warning’ the
listener ahead of the punchline ‘I’m telling you’, by means of this C note in the augmented chord, is another touch of Beatle genius.
Because the term ‘augmented’ centres around the 5th degree of the chord , the major 3rd remains untouched, meaning that the alteration can equally be applied to a major chord. Again, The Beatles demonstrate the sound on two songs on Live At The BBC. Dig out ‘Don’t Ever Change’ once more, and refer now to the intro (and the bridge, which sees the same idea transferred to the subdominant).
Exactly a year after The Crickets reached NO.5 in the UK charts (June 1962), The Beatles were recording ‘I’ll Be On My Way” , a lennon -McCartney original that opens boldly with the same augmented run.
With the action taking place in all these cases from the 5th (rather than from the root), this line can be difficult to visualise at first. The following chart focuses purely on the relevant notes ‘in play’ in these various songs as they rise up two semitones before dropping back one.
The Augmented ascent and its variations are another useful songwriting trick for ‘buying time’ - especially on the tonic - and have a tradition dating back to Tin Pan Alley.
By the time of the White Album, George was using the same harmony for the chorus of ‘Savoy Truffle’ as the switch to parallel minor unfolds over an E minor chord.
Lennon was still taken with the sound of the augmented chord in this context as late as 1980, in the opening line of ‘ Just Like Starting Over’.
But with the augmented line underway, why stop at the 6th ? After all, The Beatles had also been enjoying a four-step variation that takes the Augmented Ascent up to b7 on their early live renditions of ‘Raining In My Heart’, popularised by Buddy Holly. The song is a surely the ultimate blueprint for the line with harmony and melody working symbiotically, ascending hand in hand.
It is this Raining in My Heart variation of the Augmented Ascent that would be developed by The Beatles in two particularly powerful instances . The
chorus of ‘Hey Bulldog’ finds Lennon doing the same climb on Bm (at 0-5:2), before immediately raising the stakes and repeating the idea a fourth higher on Em.
As in all these cases the moving line occurs within the internal harmony rather than in the bass. But ‘Hey Bulldog’ works
particularly well as the ‘coiled spring’ effect of the line appears to get ever tauter, the jump of a fourth giving the illusion of drifting further from the anchor.
Contrast Hey Bulldog with the instrumental bridge link in ‘Glass Onion’
The same internal harmony is clearly in operation over the bass pedal as Lennon’s already disturbing atmosphere becomes ever moodier, but now it is being harmonised within a song structure that implies chords beyond the straight minor tonic. The following chart shows how the middle two members of the run find support within F and D7 chords, that contribute to the song’s thicker
harmonic texture.
As with the 007 line in ‘ (Just like) Starting Over’, so Lennon would use the same four-note climb in his solo years, this time on
‘Isolation’, on the Plastic Ono Band album.
The colour of the #5 is still there , with Paul taking a melodic jump to add poignancy to his question. But the harmony no longer
appears to be fighting that upward current , and the descent now adds a familiar air of inevitability to the flow of the music (and perhaps also to the plight of the characters in the song).
