A Non-Drunken Sailor Approach to A Minor Tunes - Backer Corner with Matt Heaton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOrn0qjuktc
[00:04] Hello, it's Matt Heaton here and I'm uh.
[00:08] Hello, it's Matt Heaton here and I'm uh addressing a few topics that were raised over on the virtual guided session Facebook page.
[00:14] Uh this one comes from Mark.
[00:16] He was asking if I could do kind of a a more thorough breakdown of an A minor tune.
[00:21] Uh and I will do my best.
[00:23] I'm going to I'll I'll do uh the fair-haired boy, which is a jig in a minor that appears in the inharmony collection if you want to do a deeper dive.
[00:32] I'll try and play it for you.
[00:32] Just get your get the idea.
[00:40] [music]
[01:02] [music]
[01:14] something like that.
[01:17] Um, so the tunes in a minor,
[01:19] a minor, uh, and if you, you know, the basic thing to know about minor tunes is if you're, you know, the the the sort of bare minimum that you have to know is you're probably going to be playing a minor one chord and you're going to be playing a major flat 7 chord.
[01:35] Uh, major flat 7 chord sounds really weird.
[01:38] It's just a major chord that is a whole step below the one chord.
[01:41] So, A minor and G, uh, or if you're an E, E minor and D, or if you're in D, D minor and C, G minor and F, that sort of thing.
[01:52] Those those chord pairs tend to make up the bulk of what's going on.
[01:54] However, if you if that's all you do, it can get a little a little repetitive maybe
[02:08] like you know after like a few minutes of that would probably go a long way.
[02:13] Um so the first thing we want to try and do
[02:16] so the first thing we want to try and do is think about you know what else can we throw in there?
[02:21] One thing that I am a big fan of is just different voicings of chords.
[02:28] So, um the in that da in that little third measure,
[02:39] I do a kind of I I'm d I'm putting a C below it.
[02:50] I'm not playing a C chord.
[02:52] I'm playing a A minor with a C in the bass.
[03:04] maybe I am playing a Ca,
[03:12] right?
[03:14] So that's C G over B than a regular G.
[03:20] C [music] G over B than a regular G.
[03:24] Uh if I voiced that higher
[03:25] da [music]
[03:28] [singing]
[03:33] or [music]
[03:37] I don't want to get too in the weeds.
[03:38] I don't want to get too in the weeds about the voicings, [music] I don't think, but but um I'll talk about that.
[03:42] think, but but um I'll talk about that.
[03:45] a moment at the end the in the B part.
[03:49] Um [music]
[03:52] that phrase I mean you could make an
[03:55] that phrase I mean you could make an argument for it being the same as the
[03:57] argument for it being the same as the first part, but just for the sake of of
[03:59] first part, but just for the sake of of variety actually um threw in an E minor
[04:03] variety actually um threw in an E minor [music] there.
[04:05] [music] there. [singing]
[04:07] [music] Right.
[04:09] [music] Right. [singing]
[04:13] [music]
[04:18] So, that's a minor five chord in the
[04:20] So, that's a minor five chord in the key.
[04:22] key.
[04:24] Um, the thing you want to watch out for is don't don't don't be throwing no uh major E major chords in there.
[04:29] That's that's that's not what we want.
[04:34] Um, so
[04:41] Right. So without really changing position like you've got
[04:54] you could approach approach it by a little half step passing chord
[05:02] D over F sharp takes you to the G.
[05:06] Uh why can we do that? because this tune is in the Dorian mode and it has an F sharp in it.
[05:14] Um, so you can you can play a D over F# chord quite nicely.
[05:18] Um, but the the main I guess my overall
[05:22] but the the main I guess my overall approach once you figure out sort of the basic big chunky chords is how can you connect them or voice them in a way that makes kind of a line that makes something sort of interesting happening so that you aren't just going like big chunky chord big chunky chord.
[05:41] Um, now I mentioned so these these higher voicings that I'm so enamored with.
[05:45] Um, this this is my like excuse me, if someone yells A or A minor at me in a session, this is the thing I'm going to play first.
[05:55] It's um seven uh on the fourth string.
[05:57] So, open A string, seventh fret, ninth fret, 10th fret, open, right?
[06:03] Uh you can equate this shape to a D chord, right?
[06:12] Um, it is currently neither major nor minor.
[06:15] But here's the beautiful thing.
[06:17] You can reach so many different things without really leaving the shape.
[06:19] If I wanted to do that,
[06:26] the there's my C.
[06:29] So now I have a C over um C over A, sorry, A over C chord.
[06:36] And that takes me down to a G over B, which takes me down to my G.
[06:43] Um,
[06:49] Right.
[06:51] Or I could play
[06:55] Whoa.
[06:58] What's that?
[07:02] So up here I'm playing goes where I started.
[07:04] If I play this note here on the 10th fret on the fourth string, that makes it that's a C natural.
[07:12] So I get my whole minor like fully minor chord.
[07:14] And then I slide these two down.
[07:17] So that's uh nine and seven, which that's a G chord, or it's two notes of a G chord.
[07:26] two notes of a G chord.
[07:31] this is five uh fifth fifth string 10th.
[07:36] this is five uh fifth fifth string 10th fret fourth string.
[07:38] fret fourth string ninth fret and the open G.
[07:46] And the nice thing about this is it it's kind of high and spooky.
[07:56] it's kind of like high and spooky versus this which is more low and driving.
[08:03] which is more low and driving.
[08:05] And it's good to have it's good to have a bit of both, right?
[08:06] I mean, it's nice to uh as many different um as many different ways to play a given chord as you can figure out, you will use them all.
[08:20] um the having access to a good variety of ways to play say an A minor chord or a G.
[08:28] to play say an A minor chord or a G chord or a D chord.
[08:31] Uh do not be satisfied with only one.
[08:33] You you need you need them all.
[08:35] Uh you don't need like a chord dictionary with every possible chord in every possible key.
[08:40] You just need to start with like one chord and find some different ways to play it and then find another chord and find some different ways to play it and then figure out how you can connect them.
[08:50] And the more you do this, you're going to find patterns like that, you know, reappear over and over again.
[08:57] But I digress.
[09:00] Uh, the one other thing that you can sometimes get away with in an A minor tune is, um, we already did a a little D chord, but that was just kind of a passing chord, right?
[09:11] You could do a D chord as a big old substitution, maybe.
[09:17] Um, so in the the the B part of this tune does a thing that a lot of A tunes uh do and it it it hangs out on this high A,
[09:29] right?
[09:33] Um, which you know makes you think that
[09:35] Um, which you know makes you think that it would probably be E.
[09:37] it would probably be E.
[09:40] What if you put a D chord, a big D.
[09:44] What if you put a D chord, a big D.
[09:52] You can, you know, sometimes you can get away with that as a substitution.
[09:57] D,
[10:04] but I wouldn't stay there for long.
[10:07] Uh, why does that work?
[10:07] It It works because there's an A in the D chord and there's an A in the A chord.
[10:15] And that's really the only reason.
[10:15] It's um it doesn't work everywhere.
[10:22] And it's not like you you it's one of those it's one of well like like everything you got to try it and if it works then it worked and if it sounds
[10:30] it works then it worked and if it sounds terrible it didn't work and don't do terrible it didn't work and don't do that again.
[10:32] Right.
[10:34] Um the other substitution that shows up a little more that's a little more like the kryptonite nuclear option is an F chord.
[10:36] There is no F in this tune.
[10:38] Um this is this tune has is again has an F sharp.
[10:42] So if you play an A an F chord, it's pretty striking.
[10:45] Um, does that mean you should never ever ever do it?
[10:49] I wouldn't say that.
[10:53] I mean, it it could work.
[10:55] Uh, but you need to be aware of the fact that you are making a bit of a statement.
[10:59] Um, so if the B part, if I'm, you know, D.
[11:01] Right.
[11:03] Something like that could work.
[11:06] So I did an A F over A.
[11:34] So I did an A F over A. Slid that up to a G over A and
[11:37] Slid that up to a G over A and got up to an A. Just a normal A minor
[11:40] got up to an A. Just a normal A minor chord here on the fifth fifth fret. Um I
[11:44] chord here on the fifth fifth fret. Um I I always tell people that the
[11:47] I always tell people that the playing say for example an F chord this
[11:50] playing say for example an F chord this it's it's a chord built on the flatted
[11:52] it's it's a chord built on the flatted sixth of the scale. Um so an F chord in
[11:55] sixth of the scale. Um so an F chord in the key of A minor. Uh a C chord in the
[11:58] the key of A minor. Uh a C chord in the key of G for example. I'm sorry C chord
[12:01] key of G for example. I'm sorry C chord in the key of E minor. Um, these things
[12:05] in the key of E minor. Um, these things are like uh they're like
[12:09] are like uh they're like cur swearing in polite company. Like if
[12:12] cur swearing in polite company. Like if you're the type of person who never ever
[12:15] you're the type of person who never ever ever swears, no foul language ever
[12:17] ever swears, no foul language ever escapes your mouth and then you know you
[12:20] escapes your mouth and then you know you hit your finger with a hammer and you go
[12:23] hit your finger with a hammer and you go and you know let forth a stream of
[12:25] and you know let forth a stream of profanity. Uh it gets people's
[12:28] profanity. Uh it gets people's attention. People know that you're
[12:29] attention. People know that you're upset. Uh whereas if you sw if every
[12:33] upset. Uh whereas if you sw if every other word out of your mouth is,
[12:34] other word out of your mouth is, you know, F this and F that, then it doesn't really have that much effect.
[12:39] So if you're always playing F chords all over the place in in your A minor tunes, you know, it's it's probably too much.
[12:50] But if you save it for that special moment, you know, like you're in the set, you're playing away, you've played this tune three times.
[12:57] Oh my gosh, we're playing it a fourth time.
[12:59] I'm gonna do the F chord.
[13:01] That's kind of the place for that.
[13:06] So anyway, uh I hope that this is somewhat helpful about this is some of the ways I think about like a minor.
[13:10] And again, they're all different.
[13:13] You got to approach each one on its own terms.
[13:16] I mean, there are definitely things that will think, you know, things that work in more than one situation, but because it works in one tune is no guarantee it will work in another tune because they are different tunes.
[13:28] So, the the biggest lesson here is uh learn the tunes and you could start with that one, which is the fair-haired boy in the
[13:35] one, which is the fair-haired boy in the key of A minor.
[13:38] Uh so, thank you very much for watching to this point.
[13:40] If you have any questions, uh if I just serve to confuse things further, uh ask a ask away in the comments and I will do my best to to help.
[13:48] And um take care.