I'm working on both of these songs on keyboard and need some help.

DMSR.

I have what I believe are some of the main riffs:

Intro riff:
single note phrase built around these notes: B-B-B-C#-B--E--E then "answering" it with G#-G-F#--E--C#

Main Synth Riff:
C# in the bass on the 1 beat

And then for the synth "hits" on the 2 and/or 4 of the measures I use a chord that is some kind of F#7 (I think). I'm voicing it this way starting from low to high E-F#-A#-C#

There is another chord that is kinda like the turnaround, or it kinda ends a section....it's played 4 times on the "and" beats and then resolves back to the chord above. It sounds like it's "up" from the F#7 above. I"m using something like F#-B-C#-E but I dont' think it's right. (dont know if this makes any sense).


HEAD

TO be honest I haven't really gotten very far on that yet

Somebody? Please! Otan? TheAudiance? I just need like 1 or 2 chords

I'm not at an instrument right now, but I think the chord you're thinking of would be a G#9 chord. It should be the dominant or V chord in whatever key you're in, which seems to be C# from what you're saying, or G# B#(or C)D# F# A#.

I'm pretty sure Head uses the same 3 chords, but I don't know offhand what key it's in. Prince uses a lot of 9th (for the turnarounds), which in the key of C would be C E G Bb D and minor 7th (which I think most of Head is)--C Eb G Bb. There's a bit more to it than that if you wanna be proper, but I'm trying to be simple about it.
[Edited 1/14/05 13:34pm]

Here's the bassline for "DMSR". It's spot-on with the album, so I hope this helps. The song is in Db.

<
Thanks for everybody's help.>>


http://www.prince.org/msg...sg_2045654

For some reason, I'm thinking "Head" is in A, but I haven't played it in forever, so don't quote me on that. I've got the sheet music at home for "Head" and I'll check it out for ya.

Crap, the bassline copy didn't post. Let me re-type it for you:

Db-B-E-Gb-Ab-Db. The Db-B is a pulloff and is part of a Db-B-E triplet. Check the link in the above post for the entire thread.

Hell, I just noticed that you posted in that thread, asking the same question. Sorry, disregard. You already know everything I know about DMSR, but I'l lcheck on Head for you.

RodeoSchro said:

NP, thanks.

I play keyboard (actually took bass for a few months and want to pick it up again) so I"m not sure how to interpret that bassline (i.e. a pulloff).

Is the B above the Db or below?

Also, my main issue now is figurinmg out that other chords that resolves to the Main synth hit.

andyman91 said:

So what are the 3 main chords you mean? i7th (in DMSR case the F#m9) to the Dominant V9 and what's the 3rd chord?

GaryMF said:

I think DMSR only has two chords--I for the verse and V for the turnaround. It may vamp on I and IV on the 1 and 3 beats, though. So c#m to F# on the verse and G#9 on the turnaround. I'm a bit confused though. I would think c#m7 is the I chord because that's what's played on the 1 beat, not f#m9 like you say is played on the 3

Head has the I IV and V chords(actually there is another which I'll call #IV). When he says "Full of spunk" the chords are IV #IV V. So if the key is A like Rodeo says, I would play D9 D#9 E9 there.
[Edited 1/14/05 14:26pm]

andyman91 said:

I'm going to have to do this when i'm at home on the keyboard .

But what I was playing was a C# in the bass on the 1 beat. Then playing a F#7 (not minor) on the 3 for the synth/horn hit, voicing it as E-F#-A#-C# so the C# is the tone you hear on top. I think technically when you play a F#7 over the C# in the bass you the whole chord together is a C#m9.

I'm going to try an upload the segment that I'm calling the turnaround... which you say is the G#7. More later.

Thanks!!!

GaryMF said:

That makes sense. I need an instrument, too. Then it'd be easy.

OK I'm back.

I also uploaded some snippets to make this clear. I think you are right about the G#9.

Snippet 1

Here I'm playing the C# bass note, and the F#7 as the synth hit on beat 2. (I now realize it's not a C#9 cuz that would be based on F natural7 on top... so this must be IV chord as you suggested... the F#.

The synth riff line based around the notes G#-G-F#-E-C#.

The chord I was asking about is the very end of the snipped. I think this where the G#9 comes. I'm voicing it F#-A#-C-E (you could play the G# too in bass), and then resolve back to the chord above. So the top tones go from E to C#.

It sounds good on my keyboard, but not sure it's what they're playing on the record. Maybe it's just that it's so layered it sounds thicker??

Gimme some horns!

This is from the historic Avenue performance. Prince keeps calling for those funky horns. Is it just kinda alternating between the 2 chords above?

Piano Solo!
From the same perf, Lisa or Fink then does this cool piano solo. I think it's based around the C# but I haven't figured it out yet.

Any comments or suggestions are extremely welcome

Okay, when I play it on guitar it's G# C F# B E. Not sure what you call that chord. G#7+9b13 maybe

Actually I played it on the keyboard with just G# in the bass and C E G# in the right hand. For some reason it doesn't sound right on piano the way I voice it when I use more of the chord.
[Edited 1/14/05 19:46pm]

andyman91 said:

You mean that last chord in the snippet 1 right? for some reason i like it with the Eb or D# in the top.

Do you know how to play the "gimme some horns" part?

I'm gonna have to listen to that another time. I'm bout to go skiing!
Good luck

I think I kind of over analyzed this. It sounds like the chord is simply a G#augmented chord, G# C E, like I said above. I think on guitar I play it with an augmented 9, or B. But playing a C and a B in the same chord can be tricky, so you have to space them right. That's why the plain Aug chord sounded best to me on piano.

As for the other snippets, the chords are the same as the main part of the song (C#m7). They're just throwing some melodic layers over it. I can't hear exactly what the synthesized horns are playing but it's something based around B A# G# A# B... That's a recurring theme in Prince's music. He uses a flattened 7 and a natural 6. It's a dorian mode. It fits with the C#m7 F# chords.

Same with the piano solo, chordwise. Actually that kind of sounds like the solo to Sexy Dancer.
[Edited 1/17/05 11:43am]

The chord played during the syncopated riff is (right hand playing these notes starting from lowest to highest) G# A# C# E


Your welcome