help with some theory - Too High

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 10:27 am

ummm....i'm sort of going out on a limb here because i know a lot about sections of theory, but my knowledge is so incomplete that i get confused easily...plus i dont have my guitar with me so this is to the best of my memory...

but in the song Too High....the chorus has a C and a D....so that would imply that the song is in G (or Em i guess), right? plus it starts out on a G. BUT...the verse is Bb, Ab, G, Ab....but the Ab and the Bb are not in the key of G...what's going on with this? is the verse in a different key?

because he also has that octave G droning during the Ab, Bb on the verse, which is even more confusing, unless he is playing it lorcrian (sp?) or some weird shit....

that is all....

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 10:51 am

dont try to hurt yourself too much dude

it simply changes keys, i dont know the song, but from the chords you gave it changes keys. the verse is in Ab if the chords are Ab, Bb and G. its not illegal to change keys in the middle of a song

and why did you think it was in locrian?

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 3:10 pm

because it's not chords. the verse is individual notes:

Code: Select all

Verse
Let bass notes ring and alternate pick the 5's
E:----------------------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------------------
D:-----5--5-5-5------5-5-5-------5--5-5-5------5-5-5--
A:----------------------------------------------------
E:-6--------------6----------4--------------4---------
   3   2  2 2 2   3  2 2 2   1   2  2 2 2   1  2 2 2

E:----------------------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------------------
D:-----5--5-5-5------5-5-5-------5--5-5-5------5-5-5--
A:----------------------------------------------------
E:-3--------------3----------4--------------4---------
   1   4  4 4 4   1  4 4 4   2   4  4 4 4   2  4 4 4

but with a G ringing throughout. and i didn't mean locrian specifically, i just pulled a random mode out of my ass....because here it looks like the G is the 3rd degree of some scale....with Ab being the 4, and Bb being the 5....but then how does that make sense with the Am, C, D chorus?

i have trouble fitting that together....unless of course it does change keys. in that case, what key is it in? still Ab?

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 6:28 pm

Jay wrote:because it's not chords. the verse is individual notes:
Code: Select all
Verse
Let bass notes ring and alternate pick the 5's
E:----------------------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------------------
D:-----5--5-5-5------5-5-5-------5--5-5-5------5-5-5--
A:----------------------------------------------------
E:-6--------------6----------4--------------4---------
   3   2  2 2 2   3  2 2 2   1   2  2 2 2   1  2 2 2

E:----------------------------------------------------
B:----------------------------------------------------
G:----------------------------------------------------
D:-----5--5-5-5------5-5-5-------5--5-5-5------5-5-5--
A:----------------------------------------------------
E:-3--------------3----------4--------------4---------
   1   4  4 4 4   1  4 4 4   2   4  4 4 4   2  4 4 4
but with a G ringing throughout. and i didn't mean locrian specifically, i just pulled a random mode out of my ass....because here it looks like the G is the 3rd degree of some scale....with Ab being the 4, and Bb being the 5....but then how does that make sense with the Am, C, D chorus?

i have trouble fitting that together....unless of course it does change keys. in that case, what key is it in? still Ab?

you are right about the scale degrees, i was assuming which chords were which. but from the tab i can tell now

its in Eb

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Sat Nov 01, 2003 9:10 pm

so is it just that the verse is in Eb and the chorus is in G?

sigh...i hate theory. do they have like "music theory for dummies" or something?

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 10:25 am

Jay wrote:so is it just that the verse is in Eb and the chorus is in G?

exactly

dixiechicken · Post by **dixiechicken** » Sun Nov 02, 2003 11:03 am

They do have music theory for dummies...actually.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:38 am

maybe i should buy it.

gravedigger · Post by **gravedigger** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:25 pm

this is not a very good example to discuss theory over. Like Jay said, the verse section is not chords but simply notes or intervals I should say. then the chorus is Am, C, F, D, Em then intervals again that lead into that verse G octave. so in my opinion the song is in......G or maybe Gm. probably both.

yeah that's it both!

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:28 pm

gravedigger wrote:this is not a very good example to discuss theory over. Like Jay said, the verse section is not chords but simply notes or intervals I should say. then the chorus is Am, C, F, D, Em then intervals again that lead into that verse G octave. so in my opinion the song is in......G or maybe Gm. probably both.

yeah that's it both!

i dont see any Gm in the song, if i could get a full tab, i could tell you exactly whats going on

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:55 am

the full tab is on the site...

gravedigger · Post by **gravedigger** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 7:44 pm

all i know is that it's definately not in Eb. the verse is either Bb or Gm. come to think of it, I believe its valid to say that the whole song is in Gm.

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:29 pm

i think its safe to say that it doesn't stay diatonic to any key at all considering it has every single note in it besides Db. aint no scales with eleven notes

if you broke up by parts you could stick each part in a few different keys

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 10:25 am

how can any of it at all be in Gm? it's got an Ab in in the verse, and the chorus has C and D.

fatjack · Post by **fatjack** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 5:41 pm

Jay wrote:how can any of it at all be in Gm? it's got an Ab in in the verse, and the chorus has C and D.

its not exactly G Minor in the parts he's talking about. it would be G Phrygian