UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45
My latest pop transcription and misheard chords - Space Man Sam Ryder
What's Hot
I thought I'd have a go at this great pop tune.
So I got the lines of the verse as
E B F# G#m
The 'official' tab has this as
E B D#/G G#m
Bit annoyed with that error on the third chord as I thought I could hear it clearly. Also not sure how they think it should be voiced.
Quite pleased with myself for getting the last line of the verse with the IV chord major to minor trick, so
E Em B for the last line of the verse.
Then it goes to the high pitched chorus. I quickly got the fact that it starts on an E and ends in a C#m, but couldn't get the passing chord in the middle. I had a variety of options, one of which was G#m (also had
, so for each line of the chorus.
E G#m C#m
Unfortunately the official tab says E B/D# C#m. I can console myself that B/D# looks a lot like a G#m.
Then I had real trouble with the run down at the end of the chorus - never really got it together and always come a cropper with those chord runs in songs. At least I knew the end of the chorus lands on B.
I didn't go near the middle 8 as I had run out of energy by then.
Any thoughts anyone? Particularly interested to hear about strategies to work out those faster chord runs at the end of the chorus.
By the way, great pop song and great pop album.
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For the chorus there’s another 1st inversion. The progression is E - B - C#m, but the B chord has its 3rd note on the bottom to get that downward tune (E D# C#). I’d play the E chord as x7999x, and the B as a G-shaped barre chord without the bottom note - x6444x, or x6447x - and then C#m as x46654.
In the “searched around the universe” section (fuck me, I’ve JUST realised this is the very song I was unsuccessfully searching for in my own thread just the other day!! https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/245694/what-s-that-song#latest )
Anyway, it’s F# - D# - G#m - G#m - C#m
^ That D# is the secondary dominant in 1st inversion again - in other words D#/G.
Then in the “nothing but space man” bit, at the very end of the C#m he plays a D# quaver before the E chord. I’d personally just play that as a single note - you don’t want a full chord cluttering it up. You can even miss it out entirely. So then it’s a full E chord which I’d play as 07999x to get that low E sounding because it’s such a massive chord, then as in the chorus, a B/D# (x6444x) then a C# x4666x (but major this time). I love the swapping of the frets on those two chords. Then F#, then B.
Firstly, the II is a major chord (C#), so this is another secondary dominant cadencing to an F#, before the proper V-I to B. I’d do a C#7 here - x4646x.
Then it’s the V chord, the F# (or F#7).
Then it would be the I chord, but the II-V-I isn’t completed, so the B isn’t played, we go back to another chorus starting on E. At the very end of the song, the II-V-I is completed, finally.
I need some time to digest all of that and incorporate it into my listening.
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I think it is easier to play the D#/G as 10 888, but you can't really slide from G to G# as you are starting from the wrong finger. Assuming that most players play as economically as possible I'm guessing that was the way that it was written.
Still a lot more to work on on this one for me.
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but I really highly recommend getting the C shaped chords under your fingers - I use them all the time, they’re fantastically useful.
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But just to offer an different set of ears and a different brain, my first instinct on the D#/G was to think Gdim7 (or F#7/G if that makes more sense).
Whenever I hear that instant "tension", I always start thinking dominants or dim7 chords and they're often hiding away in there somewhere.
Or Gdim6, which is D#/G.