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Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/73729
JackJack - Posted - 02/02/2007: 12:57:41
Our guitarist/singer has a new song.
The chord progression goes E - F# - B. I figured I would capo in A with the drone string tuned to A, and play the chord progression with postions D - C - A. Is this correct? Seems if I did it this way, we'd be playing in the key of A.
Jack
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How do you keep a banjo player in suspense?…
davidcava - Posted - 02/02/2007: 13:07:46
Hi Jack, placing a capo anywhere on the neck doesnt change the key that a person wants to play or sing a song or a tune. You can approach the way you play out of the key of E with any corresponding postion...with capo..or without. Hope that helps. David www.musicmoose.org
tallface65 - Posted - 02/02/2007: 13:40:32
When I play songs in E, I capo up two frets and play out of D. so I play D, G, A positions capoed up two frets goes to E, A, & B.
tallface out
Edited by - tallface65 on 02/02/2007 13:41:23
Mr. Disco - Posted - 02/02/2007: 13:46:28
Capo-ing to second fret not bad. D-E-A is the progression two half steps down from E-F#-B (not D-C-A).
Shalom.
-- Mr. Disco
Westvon - Posted - 02/02/2007: 14:08:55
[quote]Originally posted by JackJack
Our guitarist/singer has a new song.
The chord progression goes E - F# - B. I figured I would capo in A with the drone string tuned to A, and play the chord progression with postions D - C - A. Is this correct? Seems if I did it this way, we'd be playing in the key of A.
Jack
You'd be in the key of A if the chord you start out with (root chord) was A. When capoed in A, and with playing the chord positions D - C - A your "actual" chords would be E - D - B. Maybe I don't understand what you mean, forgive me.
David Russell
http://www.hotbanjolicks.com
http://www.myspace.com/westvon
arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/02/2007: 14:11:33
Jack - I have a two-part answer to your question, but first I have a couple of questions for you. Are the chords you mentioned the only chords in this song? If so, is this progression the only progression in the song, or are do these chords appear in a different order elsewhere in the song? I'll come back to this question in the second part of my answer.
First, to play the chord progression E - F# - B using a capo at the second fret - which is what I assume you mean when you say you would "capo in A" - you would have to use the chord formations D - E - A. Assuming this song is in the key of E - and it may well not be in that key, which I'll get to in a minute - the chords E - F# - B represent a 1 - 2 - 5 progression (in the basic 1 - 4 -5 progression in the key of E, the 4 chord would be A). If you choose to capo at the second fret, you can retune the fifth string to G#, or spike the fifth string at the ninth fret to get the B note, or you can leave the fifth unspiked to produce a neat dissonance, depending on the mood of the song. You can also forget about using a capo and simply play the E - F# - B progression by finding those chords anywhere on the neck. If you do that, which would be my personal preference, you have the same choice as before as to the fifth string.
However . . . .
The progression E - F# - B also represents a 4 - 5 - 1 progression (an inversion of the basic 1 - 4 - 5) in the key of B. In that case, you could still do what I suggested above, but you could also capo at the fourth fret and use the standard chord formations for the key of G. You really need to determine what key this song is in. That's why I asked you those two questions earlier. If these are the only chords in the song, given the feel of this progression, my guess is that the key is B. If there are other chords in the song - especially if there's an A, which is the 4 chord in the basic key of E progression - then it's more likely to be in the key of E.
And while you didn't ask this, whatever the key, if you want to play the melody, especially in Scruggs style, first find the correct chord progression and then try to find the melody notes within that progression. Try to fit your rolls around the melody notes, and in doing so don't become fixed on any one particular position on the neck in which to get a particular note. Look for the same note elsewhere on the neck, and try to find the position where it's easiest for you to incorporate the melody into a roll. Fool around with partial chord formations - you don't necessarily have to form a four-finger chord or even a three-finger chord when playing the melody in Scruggs-style, in fact at times you can simply fret the melody note alone, without any other notes in the chord. It's a lot of fun to work out a melody like this and it quickly gets you to learn the neck.
Sorry for such a longwinded response, but your question is not as simple as it seems at first glance.
Arnie
Edited by - arnie fleischer on 02/02/2007 14:12:07
BanjoGeek - Posted - 02/02/2007: 15:27:14
I'm with Arnie, At first glance I was thinking the key must be B.
However, depending on the melody, the F# would be a secondary dominant (the V of the V chord) and could very well be used in this guys progression. Who am I to argue with art
My laptop has five strings.
Chuck
JackJack - Posted - 02/02/2007: 15:42:05
Thanks for the respone ya'll.
Thanks fro the correction, capo'd in A, the F# would be an E position not a C, my mistake.
Arnie, that's pretty much the whole song. No other chords, the progression is like a blues progression, only inverted (E - F# - B - F# [would that be 1 - 3 - 5 - 3? I never learned the number rules]). I'm going to have to take some time to process your response.You turned on a light bulb and I gotta check this out a little closer and play around with it on my banjo when I get home.
I'll re-post after I mess around with what you proposed.
Thanks,
Jack
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How do you keep a banjo player in suspense?…
arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/02/2007: 16:17:59
Jack, that's 1 - 2 - 5 - 2 in the key of E, or 4 - 5 - 1 - 4 in the key of B. The numbers come from the place the root note of each chord has in the scale of the note that defines the key. Thus, if the key is E, the E scale is E(1) - F#(2) - G#(3) - A(4) - B(5) - C#(6) - D#(7) - E(8). If the key is B, the B scale is B(1) - C#(2) - D#(3) - E(4) - F#(5) - G#(6) - A#(7) - B(8). By the way, what's the name of the song?
Arnie
1935tb-11 - Posted - 02/02/2007: 16:49:54
sometimes i capo in A and play d positon
and sometimes i capo in B and play c postion
just depends on the song
terry m
n.c.
4 longs and 1 short=banjer ring !!!
Scruggsnut - Posted - 02/02/2007: 16:56:06
quote:
Jack, that's 1 - 2 - 5 - 2 in the key of E, or 4 - 5 - 1 - 4
Edited by - Scruggsnut on 02/02/2007 16:58:15
JackJack - Posted - 02/05/2007: 16:21:38
This last weekend, I could only get an hour of practice in so I tried the capo on the second fret and the 5th string tuned to a G# for our last practice. Sounded good. I'll try the fifth string spiked at the ninth fret to get the B note next time and see what that is like with the rolls. Thanks for the advise Arnie.
As for playing without a capo and leaving the 5th string out all together (as Scruggsnut suggested) what kind of roll would be done with that?
Jack
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How do you keep a banjo player in suspense?…
arnie fleischer - Posted - 02/05/2007: 17:07:12
Whatever you want. Try them all and see what sounds good (or bad) to you. Give a listen to Don Reno some time. He never used a capo and on some songs never hit the fifth string. Isn't it fun to fool around with this kind of stuff? The worst that can happen is you won't like the results. The best (and more likely) result is that you'll come up with arrangements that are really your own.