So what?

[bush-man]

I've been messing around with this Miles Davis classic. Just from memory, and I am hearing the key of D. I know it's in the Dorian mode. Anyone know of a chord source for the piece?



russell

[Peter Hackman]

basically it's AABA, A=D dorian (white keys), B= Eb Dorian (mainly black keys).
The piano (on Kind of Blue)
used chords made up from the scales (in the studio, live
performances were much freer), like adgb, gcfa (possibly
an extra note one fourth below:eadgb). There's really no definite
chord structure, but in a string band context you might want to
impose one. I think it's essential to the modal feel to use
m7, M7, and 11 chords, not triads. Alternations of variants on em7 and dm7
(like the chords above), Fmaj7, might go a long way.

On Bruno Råberg's web pages there is one document
demonstrating how a bass player might approach a modal tune,
which could give you some ideas to work on.
I have ideas about possible contributions from the guitar
(impossible to detail here) and they would drive a chording mandolin player
crazy. I really believe there's room for only one chord player
on a tune like this. I like things like dm69, C69,E/f, C/d,aug5 chords,
D/c.




http://www.orbismusic.com/enter.html

click educational->lessons

[jefflester]

In it's most basic form (which is about all I can handle :-), it's just Em7/Dm7 and then Fm7/Ebm7 when it modulates up the half-step. There's a TableEdit file at mandozine for an Emory Lester version that follows this, and that's also the same as the Garcia/Grisman version.

[johnbaxter]

I'm not sure how accurate these tunes are, but here's a source for chords for "So What".

http://www.usd.edu/~tgannon/chrd/chrdprog.html

Here's another I use (doesn't have So What):

http://www.ralphpatt.com/Song.html

[MDW]

Or you could go here and download PDF's with Grisman's solo as well a Jerry Garcia's solo as well as MP3s of said solos. Lots of other cool stuff there as well.

http://acousticdisc.com/music_studio_files/

[250sc]

I play it like jefflester.

[Perry]

So What is Dm for 16 measures Ebm for 8 measures and then Dm for 8 measures then repeat. Play a C major scale over Dm play it up a half step over the Ebm chord. And as John McGann said "season to taste"

So you see you will have Dm for a 24 measure in a row. There in lies the challenge (for me anyway). First keeping place in where you are in the tune, second playing variants of a C major scale for 24 measures and keeping it interesting. For
a master clas sin that check out Miles' solo.

Regarding chords there was a thread on the Cafe where John McGann laid out some grips for playing So What chords voiced in fourths ala Bill Evans. It is well worth looking up that thread and checking it out. I've got, and am getting, a lot of mileage out of those voicings. Thanks John!

[tstackho]

For a great mando version, check out Emory Lester's track on "Cruising the Eight".

[Peter Hackman]

I deliberately contrasted "string band" with "jazz" as the approaches
to harmony and rhythm would (generally speaking) differ a lot.
Hackman's Theorem: You don't strum a piano. In a jazz group
with bass, drum and piano you can achieve a very free, ambiguous
and flowing feel over a modal base. Of course, just having
a guitar instead of the piano, a strong walker, and percussion would work
just as well, with the guitar playing high non-functional stabbing chords.
But if the guitar is to carry the beat things start to get hairy
or boring.

In such a setting I would simply not choose that number!

[bush-man]

Thanks all for some interesting tips and pointers. Lots of info just following some of the suggested links.

"Regarding chords there was a thread on the Cafe where John McGann laid out some grips for playing So What chords voiced in fourths ala Bill Evans. It is well worth looking up that thread and checking it out. I've got, and am getting, a lot of mileage out of those voicings. Thanks John!"

I couldn't find this in a search. I seem to have trouble using the search function on the site, I am either too specific, or too broad. Can anyone point me to that thread?

As an aside, I never thought that So What could be an effective string piece untill I heard a Grisman/Garcia recording of it. That is what got my interest started. I never thought outside of the box. The Miles version live from 1964 at NY Philharmoic Hall is one of my favorite recordings of all time. That quintet cooked!

russell

[Perry]

Here the thread

scroll down for the post about 4ths...very cool chords