Danse Norvegienne Harmonic Study

zeddyfree

That is some good additional info I can work with. I've got the basic major and minor triad arpeggio's down and also the diminished run and harmonic minor on V7 in minor keys. Uptil now I've mostly practiced improv on easy songs like minor swing and minor blues with just those shapes and some 'borrowed' licks.

I guess the next step would be to add color tones to my arpeggio's (like the 6th and the 7th) and learn dominant arps? I can use Stephane Wrembels book as a reference.

Another question: do the A7, B7, D7 in this song function the same? I should use a dominant 7 over it? I ask this because I understand that in minor keys the V7 resolves nicely to the I and using something with the 7 like the diminished arp or harmonic minor scale sounds cool. I love that sound.

Thank you all for you time. Just learning from books and dvds without the option of asking a teacher is not always easy.

dennis

the possibilities are quite endless, but here's a good starting point for arpeggios to work out over each chord ... Chords surrounded by * * indicate chords that are non-diatonic (borrowed from anotther tonality)... btw this is the kind of info that i will include with each song in my upcoming playalong series



-Dmaj7: D F# A C#

Gm:

-Gm6: G Bb D E

Bm:

-Bm7: B D F# A
-Dmaj7: D F# A C#

Em:

-Em7: E G B D
-Gmaj7: G B D F#

A7:

-A9: A C# E G B
-C#m7b5: C# E G B
-*A7b9*: A C# E G Bb
-C#dim7: C# E G Bb

F#m7b5:

-F#m7b5: F# A C E
-Am6: A C E F# (same as F#m7b5)
-Amadd9: A B C E

B7:

-B7b9: B D# F# A C
-D#dim7: D# F# A C

D7:

-D9: D F# A C E
-F#m7b5: F# A C E
-*D7b9*: D F# A C Eb
-F#dim7: F# A C Eb

G:

Gmaj7: G B D F#

-------------

work out a few positions for each of these chords, you'll notice there's lots of repetition so it's actually not as complicated as it looks...

your goal should be to be able to navigate freely with these arpeggios, and later on, as your ears improve, you can figure out other substitutions , like i said the possibilites are near endless... this is a really good starting point in my opinion...

zeddyfree

Thanks a lot! This is exactly the kind of information I am looking for at this point in my studies
Will your playalong series be available on a song by song basis, or as seperate packs or one big pack? As downloads?

Off to practice!
....

Phil

Glad to see this post on one of my favourite tunes. Here's a wonderful version by Stu Blagden Trio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-nHmzj5vok

Also a great version on Colin Cosimini CD "Janine"

There are many great recordings of this tune, not least by Django himself who I have at least 2 different versions from...Cheers Phil

gotgenes

I prefer to use the chords Dennis posted when I play this song, however, going back to harmonically interpreting the original chart posted at the top of this thread, that Eb dim in bar 5 is much more easily interpreted as a VI7(b5)—a B7b9 with the D# (Eb enharmonic) in the bass, than as a I7(b9)—a D7b9 with the Eb in the bass. B7(b9) is the V of the Emin7 chord which follows, so it makes more sense from a resolution standpoint. A VI7 leading to a ii minor is a very common progression, whereas a I7 leading to a ii minor is uncommon.

klaatu

I'm trying to figure out the chords in the intro. Here's what I think I'm hearing:

#1: D6/9 (no 3)
5
5
4
X
5
X

#2: Fmaj13 (no 3)
X
3
5
3
5
X

#3: Could be interpreted as Bm11 (no 5), or E7sus.
X
3
2
2
2
X

#4: A7

Any other ideas?

Craig Bumgarner

What I use is pretty simple: D6/9, D9 (5x455x), Em (open) and A7 (5x565x). At least that is what I call them, I have only a limited knowledge harmonic theory, so maybe these are improper names for the key.

klaatu

Yes, those chords certainly work. Django seems to have played it differently in different recordings. The chords in one I am listening to seem to have more complexity.

spatzo

Hi Dennis,

On my opinion there is just no difference between the analysis given at the beginning and yours, there is nothing "wrong" by the way in what is first given by Lemanouchebien.

- No difference between harmonic fonction of Gm and Gm6 even with major seventh and ninth in melody (the feeling is minor tonic)
- No difference between Eb° chord and B7b9. Eb° is just an inversion of the chord with omission of the F#m7b5 usual preparation
- No difference in the last transition between G to Gm and G to Bb° (diminished chord built on the third of Gm) because it is just a slightly different harmonic path, you can also find here G to G#° to D/A

Of course anyway Eb°7 is not I7 and Bb° is not V but this might be clerical errors

I think that the notion of "true chords" or "good chords" is a true limitation of any possible evolution of this style of music.

Best

dennis

the difference is subtle indeed but it's still there... of course anyone can choose to reharmonize the song as the please... but people using the chords are likely to get a few weird looks from other players at jam sessions

of course, it's important to be open minded, but the notion of saying you can do anytihng without knowing how to use information is even more crippling as it tends to make the player "lazy" about practicing and studying... I'm not accusing of that of course , but in my experience having taught 100s of student , a lot of the people of the "forget all the rules, don't bother studying x gutiarist" camp have always proven to be the ones who have difficulty playing (!!!).

Of course you can do anything u want, but with that comes an enormous amount of practice which comes from starting with a narrow-minded view and gradually ,as the ear improvies, breaking down each wall one step at a time.... django himself is proof of this, if you look at how his recording history, and the evolution of his playing... bireli is another example...

A lot of the people who are against "so and so rules" seem to think that django and bireli were simply born with this genius (they probably were born with some sort of genius, but they definitely worked really hard)