Georgia on My Mind

[DennisW]

Hi there, I'm having a bit of trouble analysing Georgia's chord progression. The first four bars go like this:

Fmaj7 | Em7b5 A7 | Dm Dm/C | G/B Bbm7 Eb7 and back to Fmaj7

I've read somewhere you could see the Dm | G/B as a I | IV in dorian, but I don't quite get this yet. And I just don't know where the Bbm7 Eb7 come from (II V in Ab?).

Also, I don't know how the diminished chord in the first two bars of the bridge fits in:

Dm A7/C# | Dm/C Bdim7 (aside from supporting the descending bass line of course)

[m78w]

I use a little different changes that might make things easier.

For the first four bars I use:

Fmaj7/Em7b5 A7alt/Dm7/Bm7 Bbm7 Eb7/ etc

or this for the last 2 bars.

Dm7/ E7#9 Eb7/ etc

For the bridge I use these changes

Dm7 Gm7/Dm7 Bb7/ etc

MW

[m78w]

Also to answer your questions about the changes mentioned above, the G/B can be subbed by any chord with a B in the bass and G in the melody, so A Bm7(b6) or E7#9/B would work well as well as others.

For the bridge, the chords you have are being used to create the descending bass line. The Bdim7 is a sub for the original chord, Bb7. The Bdim7 is like a Bb7b9 without the Bb in the chord, B D F Ab, or b9 3 5 b7.


MW

[Sailor]

I like to use;

FM7 / Em7b5 A7b9 / Dm7 Cm7 F7 / BbM7 Bb6 / Am7 D7b9 / Gm7 C7b9 /

FM7 F#dim / Gm7 C7 C7#5 /

Sailor

[Abel Z]

A seasoned old fellow once told me "when in doubt(about progressions) leave the altered chords out ..what you should try is to get an overview ..and you'd be amazed how many songs can be reduced to a few chords...and then you add notes and make it your own... Georgia very quickly the verse. F /A7 /Dm/ Gm Bbm/ F E7/ Gm /C C7/ F ..middle 8 : Dm / Bb/ Dm /G/ repeat then gets out on Am/Bm/C C+/ back to verse ... get hold of this THEN start adding Major 7s and + and m7 13 on chord V etc ..Have fun..

[pierre richard]

I use A7-9 - A7 - A7+5 - A7 (one beat each) in the second measure...
Dm - Dm/C - Gm - Bbm in the next...
Any variation can be used as long as the hamonization includes the melody...

time on the instrument... pierre

[DennisW]

Thanks for your replies, I really like some of those reharmonisations. In the meantime I figured out those chords (G/B Bbm7 Eb7) can be seen as modal interchange, as in seeing the Bb-7 Eb7 as the IV bVII taken from aeolian (meaning you can just play F aeolian over them I assume?). The G/B would be taken from F's parallel lydian scale then? I'm not too sure about that one.

I still don't know where that B°7 comes from in the bridge, but then again I don't understand where diminished chords actually do come from (except in a Rythm Changes like this: Bbmaj7 B°7 C-7 C#° etc).

[Av's Dad]

So happy to see this discussion. That G/B chord has never sounded quite right to me. I thought it was just me. Lately I've been subbing Bm7b5 to E7 (or Bb+4) but have always subbed something in there. I use a Bb13 too for the G/B usually subbing a C13 over the Cm7 & sliding down chromatically with an E7b9 after the Bb13.

At least I think that's it. I'm away from ny guitar & can't check it (work).

Gary

[Gerard45]

I play it this way:

[mike g]

Originally Posted by DennisW

Thanks for your replies, I really like some of those reharmonisations. In the meantime I figured out those chords (G/B Bbm7 Eb7) can be seen as modal interchange, as in seeing the Bb-7 Eb7 as the IV bVII taken from aeolian (meaning you can just play F aeolian over them I assume?). The G/B would be taken from F's parallel lydian scale then? I'm not too sure about that one.

I still don't know where that B°7 comes from in the bridge, but then again I don't understand where diminished chords actually do come from (except in a Rythm Changes like this: Bbmaj7 B°7 C-7 C#° etc).

Hi DennisW
The G/B is basically a G7 chord--at that point there is a G in the melody--you can sub the Bmin7b5 (which is the same as a G9 with the 3rd in the bass). We see it is preceded by a Dmin so what we really have here is a ii-V in the key of C. Think D dorian or G mixolydian.
What follows is the Bbmin7-Eb7. I think of that as the IV minor. A very common tonality in popular music. Intead of thinking F aolian I would think Bb dorian or Eb mixolydian (same notes) if we must think modaly....Whats important is to establish the change from the D note (the 3rd of the Bmin7b5, or the 5th of G7) to the Db (3rd) of the Bb minor (7th of the Eb7)
As for the Bo7 in the bridge that is also a G7 chord (also preceded by a Dmin...)theres that ii-V again in C!
I've attached a pdf with some pretty good changes. Try to look for all the ii-V possibilities and I think your improvisational skills will grow with the simplicity of it

Hope this helps, once again only my opinion and take on it
Good luck, Mike

[brendanmarkhall]

Hey I was reading the post and wanted to let know that Dixon Nacey does a great podcast where he breaks down the parts of the song.

The website is: Free Jazz Guitar Lessons Online. Video lessons, tutorials, transcriptions and more!

and the podcast is here:

iTunes - Podcasts - Jazzguitarlegend.com: Learn Jazz Guitar with Dixon Nacey, Online Video Lessons and Tutorials and Membership Community. by Dixon Nacey and Brendan Hall


Hope that helps.

[pingu]

Originally Posted by DennisW

I still don't know where that B°7 comes from in the bridge,

It sounds/feels like E7 to me leading to the Am .........

[pauln]

G/B sounds wrong, maybe it's a typo... should be a chord that "fits" better like G C F Bb (quartal)

[bobby d]

There are many versions of this song. I've only played it this way with someone that used the same sheet music. Ray charles doesn't even maj7 the F chord, but plays it stock from what I hear. I like pretty much any version because it's a great song no matter how you slice it.

I love the intro Jerry Reed does on Georgia!