Why does this E sound like it fits in the G Minor key?

aceover9

New member
It will be quite obvious early on that I'm not super versed in this stuff. Learning bit by bit (and no time on the schedule to take a class before anyone asks).

So there's this sequence of bass notes (unfortunately I'm not at liberty to post the actual track) that are each held for a four count. The sequence is:

D# - D - G - G - D# - D - G - G

Over those bass notes is a guitar playing power chords with each chord/harmony being held for a four count. The sequence of those notes is:

D#/A# - D/A - A#/F - -D/A - D#/A# - A/E - G/D - G/D

where the notes with slashes between them are played at the same time as a harmony.


So as I said, I figure the song is in G Minor which does not contain an E in the scale but for some reason an E seems to fit here. Are my ears just going crazy? What's up with this? Is this something that could work/ Is the key changing? I know that there are some ways you can introduce other notes outside the key in this way. I'd really like to understand it or know if it's something that one would change. I'd hate to think this has to be an error and end up limiting possibilities as a result.


Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
 
A true power chord has no 3rd, so it could be major or minor, depending on what else is happening and/or implied. Where is the E chord? Or do you just mean that if you put one in, it sounds like it would fit? Your "slash" examples-- What does that mean exactly? Traditionally, "D/A" would mean a D chord with an A in the bass, but some people mean that differently. When you say, "played the same time as a harmony," what do you mean? A harmony to what? Those bass notes? Or a vocal harmony, or something else?

Sorry, a little confused by your post, which makes it hard to give an accurate answer...

GJ
 
Yeah, sorry. My notation is trash as I'm just making it up. The notes with slashes in between them are just two notes being played together. So a "D/A" is just a D note and an A note being played at the same time as a power chord. Which is basically the harmony I refer to (I'm just calling a power chord a harmony of two notes). The "A/E" power chord is the source of the confusion as an E doesn't fall into the G Minor scale from what I know and yet it sounds like it fits in the melody. I hope that's a little easier to understand. Thanks for the reply!
 
G minor but with E instead of Eb is called G dorian mode.

It's not that unusual, dorian mode would be considered fairly typical in funk
 
The E note is a 5th above A. It would make an A minor with a C as the 3rd, or an A Major triad with a C#. The E is not in the G minor scale, but fits because of the A chord. As scrapheaper mentioned above (beat me to it! Doh!), if used as an altered not in the scale, it's a fairly common mode.

GJ
 
Well D# is Eb so those are fine. And A# is Bb so thats fine, but the E... might be from scrapeheapers explanation. As long as you keep using E and don't randomly throw an Eb in, it should still work. Does the song give a funky vibe?

You can change a note in the scale to get a more advance feeling, like blues and funk. But i'll test this out when i get my keyboard back. How does it sound?
 
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Thanks everyone for the insight. I'm glad to find out there is a logic going on there. I'll have to read all the helpful comments closer when in front of a keyboard. The A chord explanation makes sense since the song sounds like it's dipping down to A territory at that moment. As to the last question, the song doesn't really have a funky vibe until the very section I'm describing so that's more information that falls in line with what people here are saying. Thanks for all the insight and feel free to expand this thread with more info.
 
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