Changing a chord sequence

Although this blog entry has nothing to do with Greece, we'll see that indirectly it does.

Towards the end of April, I started work on a new song. The chord sequence for the first few bars comes from the song which I play at Passover: I don't remember now whether this was done consciously. This sequence is Am - AmM7 (or E aug: it's A minor with G# in the bass) - Am7 - Am6 - FMaj7 - BbMaj7 - Am. The first five chords have a descending bass line: A G# G F# F. After developing this sequence into a complete song, at one stage those chords have an ascending treble line: A B (first two chords of 'Stairway to heaven') C D E.

I worked hard on the song's arrangement which was completed in the second week of May. After writing the words, I tried to record a demo version to take with me on holiday, but my voice was completely out. But I did listen to the song along with its companions several times and discovered to my dismay that I had used the initial sequence in the bridge of another recent song. Ooops.

What to do? It occurred to me one evening in Gavrio that instead of having a descending bass line, I could have an ascending one: G G# A Bb, making the chords C - C+ - C6 - C7. Not having a piano on hand made it difficult to check whether these chords would work. Later on I realised that I would also have to change several cadences, as these are mainly E Am; now that the song is in C instead of A minor, these cadences would have do be G C.

Last night, whilst waiting for my motorbike to be returned from its holiday (during which the carburetor was changed), I made a copy of my original MIDI file and started editing. There are all kinds of subtle changes which need to made apart from the gross changes. First I am editing the piano part, then the bass, then the synths and finally the fills. I am leaving the middle sections as they were.

There are a few odd chords in this song: there has 'always' been a G augmented chord in the song (this came about because of a missed transcription, but it's actually a much better chord than what it was supposed to be) and now there is a C augmented to join it. Along with that odd AmM7 chord, there is also an FmM7 chord: this came about by playing an FMaj7 chord, then making it minor: the E at the top is unchanged. Even stranger, the notes sung over this chord don't belong to it!

I've got lots to do at home so I don't know how long it will take me to complete the new arrangement (it's going to be called 'Andros changes'). I'm also not sure whether the tune should stay as it was or should move a little; the sequence CDE is concordant with both Am and C, but following that is supposed to be an A again, which will be somewhat 'tangy' over the C. On the other hand, EFG is also possible but unfortunately is the tune in the bridge, so using it in the verse will remove any contrast. At the moment, changing the tune is an academic exercise as I can't sing at all (I can speak but my voice is very quiet).