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fretted. The following diagram illustrates this. The root note needs to be fretted, or you will be moving chords over a
pedal note. You can hear this effect in songs such as 'Man On The Moon, 'Sugar Mountain', 'Miss World' and 'Love
And Affection'.
ABBREVIATIONSRoman numerals I VII
indicate chordrelationships within a key.
m maj minormajor
Song sectionsbr bridge :
c ch codachorus
hk i introhook
pch v versepre-chorus
Most of the chord-sequence examplesare standardized for comparison
intoFamous songs referred to in C or A minor. C major
orthe key of the original recordings A minor are not necessarily in.
Moving Chords over a Pedal Note
A pedal note is an effective compositional device. It's a note, usually in the bass, that remains the same while chords
change above it. This creates a more ambiguous sequence than if the bass note changed for the root note of each
chord. If the pedal note is the same as the key note, it is called a "tonic pedal"; if it is named after the fifth note of the
scale, it would be a "dominant pedal".
Songs that use a tonic pedal include 'Alright' (Cast) v, 'One To Another' (Charlatans), 'Peaches' (Presidents of the
USA), 'Gimme Some Lovin", 'We Don't Talk Anymore' ch, 'Everything I Do' v 1, 'Everybody Wants To Rule The
World' v, 'Express Yourself' ch, 'Dancing In The Street' v, 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore', 'You've Got Your
Troubles', 'Everlasting Love', 'Substitute' and 'Let Me Entertain You'. Minor-key examples include 'I Know I'm
Losing You', 'Green Manalishi', 'I've Never Met A Girl Like You Before', 'Sweetness Follows', 'Running With The
Devil' and 'Fire'.
'I'll Never Fall In Love Again' has a dominant pedal. One of the most unusual pedals I've ever encountered is in The
Banshees' 'Nightshift', where over an A pedal the chords change from Am to G#m. 'To A Flame' has a Cmaj7 Fmaj7
Cm Am sequence over a C pedal.
The problem for the guitarist is that changing chords over a static bass note creates considerable fingering
difficulties – unless the pedal note is the open E, A or D string. This is one instance where triads can help. You can
form triads on the top three strings and have a D pedal, or strings 2-3-4 with an A pedal, or strings 3-4-5 with an E
pedal. The key could be either major or minor. In guitar music, pedal notes are almost invariably on one of these
three open strings. Triads often feature in the intros to songs. Examples would include 'Hold Your Head Up', 'Over
The Hills and Far Away', and 'Blowin' Free'. For More information see page 14 for the triad boxes.
Inversions
A simple major or minor triad has three notes, 1 3 5 or 1 b3 5 (C E G or C Eb G). Most guitar chords are in root
position, with the chord-name note lowest in pitch. But what happens if one of the other notes is lowest?
An "inversion" is a chord whose root note is not the lowest. The first inversion puts the third on the bottom: C E G
becomes E G C. Compared to root chords, first inversions sound mobile. The bass note wants to either rise or drop
back.
First Inversions
First inversions are useful in descending or ascending sequences and increase the possibilities for using only three
chords in the harmony. Minor chords can also be inverted. C minor is C Eb G, so we can play it as a first inversion
by making Eb the lowest note. Inversions are usually notated as "slash chords", with the bass note written after the
root: C/E or A/C#.