I want to cover the "Livestudio Mix" of this song with my band. This has slightly more complicated chords than the album version, but I'll start trying to pin-point them now.

I'd be very grateful if the musicians here could do the same, so that we can compare our results in the end.

Btw, I love the song and especially this version of it. Perfect smooth soul/pop!

Cheers!

Dave1992 said:

I want to cover the "Livestudio Mix" of this song with my band. This has slightly more complicated chords than the album version, but I'll start trying to pin-point them now.

I'd be very grateful if the musicians here could do the same, so that we can compare our results in the end.

Btw, I love the song and especially this version of it. Perfect smooth soul/pop!

Cheers!

Somebody's Somebody is one my all time favorite Prince songs and makes me love Emancipation even more...I always wished that the song had more PR, more radio play, more concert support and especially more video play, because I love that video. If you really love the song I know you and your band will do a outstanding job. Even though, I have never heard the "Livestudio Mix" but if you feel that version, I know you will do it justice...so have fun doing your Thang and make Prince and you pride

[Edited 5/17/11 11:01am]

Are there really no musicians on here who also care about the craft or songwriting?

Quite disappointing; I always thought that this is what forums like these would be here for.

Well, this is what I gathered from my first proper listen:

G/A Am7

Dm Dm7add9

G/A Am7

Dm7add9 Em7add9 Fmaj7 Gm7 G#maj7

.....G/A................Am7

It's two o'clock........in the morning and I just can't sleep

Dm...........Dm7add9

Outside the rain is pouring, I'm lonely as can be

...

I love this song and the video. Its sweet that it ends with him thinking of Mayte.

Hello Dave1992;

I am listening to the song now and I would advise u 2 start with the bass line and then u will have a better idea of how to build the correct chords, or at least name them correctly.

Ok here goes...(ps I'm a little tired and listening right now)

Bass from the beginning of the (livestudio mix) standard tuning...

A C E (the repeated fill after the snare) basspart syncs with the bass drum kinda like a swingin eighths feel

E A A E G A / D D A C D /

more in a minute

Hey again once u get a feel for the bass part the first few bars is what is above...move on to fillin in the upper chord voicings which can vary from player to player my Dadd9 might be a different voicing then yours or the piano/keys player for that matter.....

to simplify the first part it is an A minor chord but the upper voicings suggest a suspension.

Try (on guitar or piano) Am chord at the 5th fret, but add a D on the 3rd string(g)

so the voicing you will get will be from 6th string to 1st thickest to thinnest,

A - E - G- (D)-E-A which in scale degrees would be Root,5th, 7th, 4th, 5th doubled, Root doubled.

Those are the notes from the A minor scale used to make the chord. Prince leaves out some of the notes or moves(orchestrates) them to other instruments, in this case keys, guitar and bass.

So the guitar could play A-E-G-(D) .... which is root, 5th, 7th, 4th but the 4th is up the octave so that actually makes it the 11th so u have R,5,7,11 but in order to correctly name a chord u need at least the 3rd and the 7th of the chord to properly name it. But good arrangers/orchestrators, try to imply these missing notes, if you will.

so now for naming the chord , u basically stack the thirds to name it and u stack them in order, scalewise.

So this chord if we stack could be Amin/add11 or Amin11 or Amin or if u want to be picky Aminsus4 depending on which voicing you choose to use. on guitar it would be Amin11.

If u played an Aminor chord in first position at the first fret u could see how u could add the melody notes in to fill out the melody of the song ala an acoustic version.

Fret an Aminor chord but change the C on the 2nd string to a D on the 2nd string. So now u could play D, open E string, C while strumming the A minor chord to fill in the melody.

Prince does this a lot also Hendrix and Vai etc. So you have the bass part the chord and the melody all at the same time. THAT IS JUST THE FIRST CHORD LOL!

So now u could play this chord at the 5th position(5thfret6string) add the D the first time then take it out the 2nd time So ...A minor/11 followed by A minor AEGC (correct orderACEG)

Then follow that chord with D minor 9th 3rd position DFCE (inside 4 strings) no top no bottom string fingering is 2nd finger D(5th fret 5th string, 1st finger F (3rd fret 4th string)3rd finger C(5thfret, 3rd string )and 4th finger E 2nd string 5th fret. and u have a Dminor9th chord.

ok i'm need a smoke but i will try to help you out more when i get some time

btw I have been playing guitar for about 40 years and I am a schooled music teacher professionally so feel free to ask, it's just if i have time can I answer.

Oh and yes a long time ago there were a few players that shared stuff about songs but they kinda dwindled away.

Anytime Peace

Another voicing is to use the Dminor9th shape and do it at the 12th fret first for Aminor9th then slide down to the 5th fret for Dminor9th different voicing same movable chord shape.

Anytime Peace

[Edited 5/18/11 20:48pm]

Hey!

Cheers for your help, 'tis very generous.

I have absolutely no problem with the bassline or other melodic parts or the inversion of the chords played on guitar, keyboard. I'd like the general chords that synth strings could play in the background to "shape" the chords even further.

I usually name the chords in a way people do in central Europe (where I come from), so the third actually is indicated in every chord.

I get what you mean, but the inversion and exact way to play won't be a big problem; I'm just trying to pin down the overall harmonies you hear when you listen to the bass, the guitar, the synth and the pads all at once.

Thanks again!

Hello again....another late night for me...I feel like it's 2:00 in the mornin lol

Anywhoo you are right in what u say...I was just refering to the 3rd and 7th (theory-wise) have to be there to really name the chord or else it becomes ambiguous.

Often in Jazz a lot of upper extentions are used to imply chords i.e if the piano player is hitting a G note an octave above middle C and the bass player is hitting the root of an F major chord the G note will still fit or sound ok.

I don't know if you are hip to Chick Corea but players such as him (Jazz pianist) often will layer simple triads because the secondary triad ultimately becomes the upper extensions of the first triad...i.e, play a C major chord with your left hand and another triad, say a B major with your right hand (on piano of course, guitar that might hurt!) so you can say your playing in C major but because of the secondary chord your ears might believe otherwise.

This is called bitonality and is used a lot in jazz but has also found its way into mainstream pop because a lot of jazz arrangers are out of work lol

Check out some Babyface instead of normal major and minor triads he does similar to Prince and uses jazz type voicings or extends the major/ minor sounding chords by adding the upper extentions.

There was a guitar player issue years ago that or maybe Guitar World that had an interview with Prince and they had some musical examples that showed this technique.

And Wendy and Lisa re-iterated how cuz Wendy was jazz trained she influenced a lot of Prince's chords.

Look at the opening of Purple Rain...the very first chord and subsequent ones could be done with purely major chords but the upper extensions are added and they give it a totally new flavor.

any ways back to Somebodies Somebody....It's in the key of A minor and and the synth line the high one is just doubling the guitar line up an octave outlining or arpeggiating an A minor chord

A-C-E-D-E-C / G-G-F-E-D-D-E-C/ melody wise and the underlying chord on keys seems to be an Aminor followed by a GMajor A minor Dminor so it seems like a blues in A but with tritone substitutions on every other chord (which is replacing the normal progression chord by the chord built on the 5th of the original) once again a jazz technique.

hope this sheds a little more light.

If your covering the tune i would just suggest go for feel and what sounds right if the melody is there and the singing is spot on nobody in the audience is going to care if the 3rd chord is a tritone substitution or a regular major/minor chord

peace and good luck

Cant help ya, but I will chime in and say that I love that version.

Hi Dave,

Have you tried asking on the Chords/tab website?

http://prince.forum9.biz/

Bluegtr - hey how are you doing!? you used to help me with a chord or 3 on NPGMC - good to see you !