hvyj
1274 posts
Mar 05, 2011
11:42 AM
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I was fooling around with the Leslie Gore tune "You Don't Own Me" (recently covered in an NFL clothing for women commercial that's been airing regularly). It's in G minor (with minor I and minor IV chords and a major V chord) and i think it modulates up a half step before the end of the tune. Listening to the lyrics it's hard to believe it was a hit in 1964--beat out for #1 on the charts by "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" which was the first American hit by a well known English band.
Anyway, I enjoy playing in minor keys and I like using 5th position for tunes that are in a natural minor key or in a minor key where both the I chord and IV chord are minor. But since 5th position is actually Phrygian mode, you've got the flat second at draw 5 and draw 9 which is a note I would usually avoid. But every now and then when i would sometimes hit that note by mistake it might sound ok depending on when i played it.
Well, in the course of fooling around with "You Don't Own Me" it just dawned on me that this note also happens to be the flat sixth of the IV chord which is a usable note on the IV chord for natural minor material or other minor material in which the IV chord is minor. So, it's not ALWAYS an avoid note. Live and learn....
Btw, in searching the web to find chord charts for "You Don't Own Me" I learned that it was written by the same guys who wrote "At the Hop" for Danny and the Juniors several years earlier. Hard to imagine material by the same writers that is more thematically diverse.
Last Edited by on Mar 05, 2011 11:56 AM
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