Elizabeth Reed

[decker12]

I saw that the chords are actually Am9-Am-Am9-D6

[GuyB]

When you see A dorian, it's the same pool of notes as G (Ionian), B phrygian, etc. But the main thing, at least the way I see it, is that the "home base" is A (and not G), the place where the phrase will bring you, the tone center.

[M-ster]

E.Reed is based on A dorian. The note "A" sounds like home. It is "1." The backing harmony (the chords) tell you it's dorian, because they contain the F#.

Yes, the notes are the same as G major and all of it's other modes. Don't confuse modes with positions, like most guitarists do ... (We tend to equate position changes to different modes, generally because of the way we first encountered learning the two.)

decker12 has the intro chords right, except I think they're just playing a straight D triad (not D6). I was listening to this:

@54ul - Often, Allman tunes have a diatonic harmony a third above the melody. That's generally what is happening on the Liz Reed melody.

All the folks who jumped in on the "C major" tangent did not bother to listen to the track and incorrectly jumped on the Cmaj7 chord (in the OP's suggestion of the progression) as being the tonic. Those comments were irrelevant to the discussion. (Not a flame ... just saying. )

[kenbennett]

So we're all agreed about A being the keynote. The A is minor. D is major. E is dominant 7 with #9.

Duane and Dickey start out playing in unison (organ plays the chords)

In the middle of the third time through they split into thirds, one playing the melody, the other a third above it (Duane plays the melody notes B A G F# G A E, Dickey harmonizes with D C B A B C G).

Then instead of just going to the kick on the E7#9, they play a longer line, still in unison, that goes into quarter note triplets ascending on a diminished arpeggio. They're playing parallel minor thirds, one starting on A (4th string, 7th fret), the other on C a minor third up.

The last triplet in that sequence is descending. The high guy comes down from F# on the 14th fret of the E string (F#, Eb, C).

The feel changes...

Now they are playing mostly in thirds. The high part is very easy to hear. They go up three frets and play the same thing.

The beat breaks down. In fourths this time, one guy starts on G# (1st string, 4th fret), the other is below him on D# (2nd string, 4th fret). Sounds exotic.

Eighth note triplets, lower guitar goes, E Eb D C B G A. The guy above him says A G E Eb D B C.

Kick the E dominant, AND SOLO over Am to D sort of changes.

The scale most used is A dorian with the addition of an extra note between the fourth and fifth: A B C D Eb E F# G A

I call it a Blue Dorian. In one book I saw it listed as one of the Bebop scales.

That YouTube video brings it all back. The parts were easier to pick out on the record.

[James Gallagher]

I agree with the above assessments from a theoretical perspective.

However I personally "hear" the changes as em, am, em, bm. Since the em is an enharmonic equivalent to the CMAJ7 it is really mincing hairs. It also depends on how you want to look at the pedal tone.

Either way the tonal center is clearly A and it is mostly played in the A dorian mode so no arguement.

[jster]

Seems like you guys have made progress on how to play it. The prettiest thing I can remember is the two different chord voicings for the dreamy little bit before the run down that leads into the solos. One uses three note chords. The other uses three or four note chords. If you get really stumped I'll try and remember it for you.

Back in the late 70's in high school, we had a band and we used to play a pretty damned good version of this tune. There were about three practice rooms above a bar. One day, I went out to go to the bathroom while we were practicing it. And the band in the next room was also doing a pretty damned good version of this tune. lol. This was all very far from the South.

[guitarplayer007]

I played that song for years growing up, its either A pentatonic or in the Key of C, either way works

[mike g]

It is clearly A Dorian

[James Gallagher]

Totally agree, A dorian, except perhaps when you hit the E7, and when you play the diminished run. Otherwise A dorian all day long.

[New President]

Does anyone have any idea how the harmonies are based on this song? This may be a stupid question, but how are the harmonies done? are they played the same way just higher up in the fingerboard or are they based off thirds? Bear with me, my ears are not as trained as some.

I'm responding to an old post but there are new posts in the thread so I don't feel I'm reanimating a zombie.

If you're talking about the head, the two guitars are playing parallel thirds all the way, in the scale. If you play the same number of half-steps apart (same number of frets higher up), it will almost always sound awful (many exceptions to that "rule" though).

Most rock tunes of that era that were minor were played using Dorian mode. (Carlos Santana did a massive amount of Dorian mode work.) You can certainly play other minor scales on that tune but it sort of turns it into a different tune.