Excellent observation……. I was learning a song the other day, it was in the key of B, I thought that I was hearing a B in this song. So I rewind the video and grab a harp. It just does not fit. What the heck. So I grab a guitar By the time I get the guitar pluged in and play along, I am hearing a B chord! So one more time rewind the tape. I am hearing an Ab what the hell. This is difficult. These chords do not fit. how the hell are you supposed to figure this stuff out?
So I get to the end of the video and I notice she has a capo on the guitar. Sounds like the key of B I go back to the start, and there is no capo! She starts off best I can tell in Ab.
Who the hell plays in Ab……..
If you listen closely you can hear when they modulate, you can see her give the nod. You can see the other guitar player, mr marinelli playing in B. if you watch carefully you can see her slip a capo on.
This song came out way before youtube. You would need to either have perfect pitch, or play a instrument other than harmonica to figure this out. And even then. Lol ……… its no wonder I would sit this one out when called.
My guess is, she has tuned her guitar to open Ab…. Who the hell does that? no one. This has given me a giant headache. Next time I see her, I will stick my tongue out and make a face at her.
Here is George Smith -the tune is "I Don't Know"-in A flat. George is playing a D flat harp in second position.
Last Edited by tmf714 on Jul 09, 2017 1:28 PM
thanks for that tmf... i love youtube... that's a great george smith tune.
the bonnie raitt song i knew i could find a tutorial on how to play it. but i really wanted to learn that by ear.
it was a stumper, when it modulates to B it threw me. what is amusing is the next song i wanted to learn from itunes was sam myers i've been down so long...
man i had to work hard to find the key! it appears that they tune down a half a step... but not quite... it is in Ab! took me a long while to figure that out.
when the band tunes down a half step and the tape is not at the proper speed the pitch is somewhere in between. with a guitar you can tune to the tape, with the harmonica you are pretty much screwed.
Nice observation valley duke! I was not thinking of it in those terms. Good thing because I would have gotten that wrong. Aflat minor is the relative minor to the key of B
But this is in Aflat major. To B major
Another song that modulates like that is Zz top La Grange.
Sorry shakey, I was trying to use humor, it fell flat. You are 100 percent correct it is G#. There are a million and one reason to call it that and only one reason to call it Ab. We had a similar discussion re: this same subject not too long ago.
First of which is the song modulates to the key of B The key of B has 5 sharps.. G# has six sharps. Just for that alone Is enough to call it G#
"I don't think of it as tuned down." Its def tuned down -your dropping the E strings to D and the fifth string from A to G. She def likes open G -but plays in open tunings of A,E and D as well.
Last Edited by tmf714 on Jul 12, 2017 3:27 PM
