Chord Of The Week 4/2/17 In Memoriam John Wetton - an F#7/E from "In The Dead Of Night" by UK

bigjon

Contains bonus Allan Holdsworth and 4th mode of Harmonic Minor content!

I couldn't let the death of John Wetton go unmarked, as he contributed amazing vocals to some seminal prog-rock tracks which include the juiciest selection of chords imaginable, in particular "In The Dead Of Night" by UK which launched the outrageous guitar-soloing of Allan Holdsworth into the wider consciousness of the rock world, particularly a Mr Eddie Van Halen . . .

As a result this week's chord is a cheeky cheat as it's not a guitar chord at all, instead it's the keyboard chord that Eddie Jobson plays under Allan's solo at the point where the harmony veers off into wild territory and Allan Holdsworth kicks in the afterburners in his solo to match. It's at 4:02 in the youtube video below, where after two bars of Em7 the harmony changes to

F#7/E: 044320

This is a third inversion of an F#7 chord containing the notes
root F# xx4xxx
third A# xxx3xx
fifth C# xxxx2x
seventh E xxxxx0

In the context of the Eminor parent key, the E is obviously the root note, the F# is a pretty unremarkable 2nd, the C# is a natural 6th which is a bit unusual for Classically-based prog-rock where a b6 of a minor scale is more common, but the stand-out note which tweaks the ear is the A#, which is the #4 of an Em scale.
Putting these notes together with an Em7 chord we get E F# G A# B C# D which is a Dorian minor scale with a raised 4th, 1 2 b3 #4 5 6 b7.

The 3-semitone gap between the b3 and the #4 is characteristic of the Harmonic Minor scale, so it is no surprise to discover that this is one of it's modes, namely the 4th mode of the Harmonic Minor centred on B. However, just like the equivalent 4th mode of the Melodic Minor, the Lydian Dominant 1 2 3 #4 5 6 b7 (the Overtone scale or mixolydian #4), the parent key of Bm is not in view at all here, so it is best viewed as a scale in its own right, not as a mode of another scale. In fact I reckon it's best to treat the Dorian #4 as a minorised version of the Lydian Dominant scale, as that is the most fundamental musical parent scale which can exist, being composed of the lowest 6 different harmonics of a fundamental note being sequenced within an octave, hence its alternative name the Overtone scale.

So try adding a 7th chord built on the second degree of a minor 7th root chord in your compositions and solos, and see where it takes you!

You can hear the chord (and Allan Holdsworth's E dorian #4 scale wild soloing over the top) at 4:02 in this video

bigjon

Chord Of The Week Index updated with 183 discussions at
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/598/chord-of-the-week-index

Humbucked

Thanks for sharing.