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What do you think the rst chord of Stella by Starlight (in
Whattypeofchordsareusedonlyinjazz?
Bb) is, and what scale would be used over it? (I've heard
Howdoyougetchordsofasongbyknowingits
conicting opinions.) scale?

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Whatkeyisthischordprogressionin:Em,D,Bm,C?
3Answers
WhataresomeofthebestlyricsinHindifilmsongs?

Matthias Orgler, More than 30 years experience in music as a musician, MD, WhatscalecanIuseforasolooverachord
composer and booker progressioninthekeyofC(thechordsC9M,F9M,
AnsweredJun9,2016 AM,andG)?
Thanks for the interesting question!

The rst chord (an Em7b5) is clearly the beginning of a ii7b5-V7b9 progression in D minor.
You could look at the D minor as a kind of relative minor to Bb major (I dont know the
English name for this relative minor a third up instead of down).

Although my explanation could suggest the D minor scale, I personally like to play the G
melodic minor scale here. This also gives me the F#, the natural 9th in Em7b5, and I like
that sound :). I often voice this chord with a D/Emb5 upper structure voicing (with the A on
top as the melody note).

I dont think there is a right or completely wrong scale to play here. As in all music, it
depends on what you want to achieve. If youre in the mood for some crazy outside playing
for eight bars only to bring it back home on the rst occasion of the Bbmaj chord in bar 9, by
all means use the Eb dorian scale :D.

Maybe others here of more interesting suggestions of how you could play over this chord?

336Views2UpvotesAnswerrequestedbySteveRoberts

RelatedQuestions MoreAnswersBelow

Whatisthenameofthesongthatbreaksyourheart?

Whatisthebestsongyouhaveeverheard?

Whattypeofchordsareusedonlyinjazz?

Howdoyougetchordsofasongbyknowingitsscale?

Beenadrummerfor20yrs,startedplayingvibes,whenplayingbyearitsoundsgood,when
usingchordscalesitsoundssilly.WhatamIdoing...

Dylan DeFeo, Freelance Keyboardist/Musical Director

AnsweredJun10,2016
For me, I tend to shake it up. Its an Em7b5, which makes it conducive to the E diminished
scale, but I also like to explore G minor or Bb major over it (the key/relative minor of the
song) because the chord is over E. With G minor it adds the 6th, with Bb major it adds the
#11. Depends on if you want a minor sensibility or a major one.

Theres really no one way to solo over the chord, its whatever you feel would work for what
you want to express. But, the chord in context to the rest of the progression might aect
your choice. Like the Em7b5 goes to a A7b9 in the next measure, which is a minor ii-V
change. Since the rst chord has that Bb and the second one has an Ab, sometimes I like to
incorporate both accidentals to highlight them. Ill do a Bb major run over both chords, or I
might even run up or down the G locrian mode or phrygian mode over both chords to
incorporate them, and then itll also give it that modal feel. I dont know many folks that do
Stella in a modal way, its kind of older school and I think people prefer to keep it that way,
haha! But in truth, its jazz- if it sounds cool, anything goes. Locrian denitely gives it a
darker modern feel, and phrygian gives it an exotic feel.
Its all experimenting! But take note of the key signature and see what piques your interest
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within that context, look at the chord itself and see what piques it in that context. Then SignIn
branch out. If youre trying to express a certain feeling, maybe youd want more dissonance
and use a scale that clashes a little. Its all a matter of seeing whats right for you. Like I said, RelatedQuestions
I tend to shake it up.

242Views1Upvote Whatisthenameofthesongthatbreaksyourheart?

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Christopher Smith, musician and teacher of music
Whataresometopsongsthatonlyuseonechord?
AnsweredJun9,2016
Chord scale theory is not meant to be authoritative. It isnt meant to force you to play Howdoyourememberchords/scalesforthepiano?
something. Its only a way to let you know what might sound similar to another similar
Whatkeyisthischordprogressionin:Em,D,Bm,C?
situation and allow you to come up with some choices that you might like. It DEFINITELY
does not say, This is the one and only way to play this. No doubt all of the answers you WhataresomeofthebestlyricsinHindifilmsongs?
heard could be used, and there are probably some others as well that could work nicely.
WhatscalecanIuseforasolooverachord
Now, that being said, it might be useful to know how the beginning progression of Stella progressioninthekeyofC(thechordsC9M,F9M,
actually works. AM,andG)?

The original piece was a cue from a movie, The Uninvited (1944) with music by Victor
Young. The rst chords as they appear in most fake books are

Em7(b5) A7 Cm7 F7

You might wonder, as many have, what the heck a II-V in D minor has to do with the key of B
at and how does that move to Cm7 (the chord in the 3rd bar).

Youngs original chord for the rst two bars was B at diminished7 (with an implied major
7th A because of the melody.) There are only three diminished seventh chords (each one
with four possible roots) and thus only three functions.

1. The most common function of a dim7 chord is the one whose root moves up a
semitone to the root of the next chord, like Bdim7 to C (or Cm). This functions as a
tonicisation of C, just like a secondary dominant chord does (or applied
dominant depending on where you went to school), so just like G7(b9) resolving to
C (or Cm). You would treat a Bdim7 resolving to C exactly as you would treat a
G7(b9) in the same situation. Sometimes the root of the dim7 chord does not appear
in the bass (see many Jobim tunes) so an Fdim7 moving to Cm/Eb functions exactly
the same as G7(b9)/F moving to Cm/Eb. These are called inverted chords because
the bass note is not the root.

2. Another function is the common-tone diminished chord, where the root stays on
the same note. It sounds like barbershop harmony when it is the middle chord of
dominant prolongation, like G7 Gdim7 G7, or in the well-known Fats Waller or
George Gershwin walk up like G7 Am7 Bbdim7 G7/B (where the Bbdim7 is really
the Gdim7 in inversion). You can use it on tonic chords as well. Try the opening of
Misty as Bb13(b9) to Ebmaj7, then try it again but use Bb13(b9) to Ebdim(ma7)
and resolve it to Ebmaj7. Delicious! Notice that Ebdim(maj7) looks exactly like a D
triad with Eb in the bass, or D/Eb. This is just another way to write the same chord
symbol. The last chord of Horace Silvers Strollin , the last bar of the rst A
section of Ellingtons In A Sentimental Mood, and the punch chords just before
the theme starts in Miles Davis famous version of Monks Round Midnight are all
example of this chord in action.

3. The last function is the diminished 7th chord whose root moves DOWN a semitone
to the next chord, usually a IIm7, but always a minor 7 chord. It often shows up in
this progression:

I bIIIdim7 IIm7 V7 (like The Muppet Show theme, or the second theme of In The Mood),
or as

IIIm7 bIIIdim7 IIm7 V7 (like Kerns The Song Is You, or Hello, Dolly where the lyric goes
nice to have you back where you belong.)

There is no law that says that the rst chord has to be there at all, so a tune COULD go
directly to the bIIIdim7 chord. In the key of B at, that would be Dbdim7. If you inverted
that chord, it would be Bbdim7. Voil! That is the rst chord of Stella!

So how did we get Em7(b5) A7 instead? Well, jazz musicians are notorious for not reacting
well to unfamiliar chord types. In fact, most jazz musicians can improvise their rears o
beautifully on II-V-Is in major or minor keys, which means m7, m7(b5), dom7 with and
without variousSearchforquestions,people,andtopics
alterations, maj7, and m6 or m(maj7) chords. Give them anything dierent SignIn
from that and they scratch their heads a bit. Otherwise ne musicians stop to take a breath,
or simply play a chord outline whenever they see a dim7 chord, which is pretty dumb, RelatedQuestions
considering that it only takes a short time to understand them.
Whatisthenameofthesongthatbreaksyourheart?
So some jazz musician looked at Bbdim7 (really, Dbdim7 in inversion) and deduced that it
could be treated like my example 1 above, as an A7(b9) chord (even though it was really my Whatisthebestsongyouhaveeverheard?
example 3). Pair that up with its related II chord and you get Em7(b5) A7(b9), which any jazz
musician can play on with ease. Whattypeofchordsareusedonlyinjazz?

So it comes down to what do you play on the rst chord of a II-V in D minor? Well, you can Howdoyougetchordsofasongbyknowingits
scale?
treat the whole two-bar passage as if it was the rst chord, Em7(b5), and treat E locrian or D
harmonic minor as if those scale were the diatonic scale of the moment. You can treat the Beenadrummerfor20yrs,startedplayingvibes,
whole two-bar passage as if it was A7(b9) and play D harmonic minor on it (being careful not whenplayingbyearitsoundsgood,whenusingchord
to emphasize the D). You could also play the A altered scale on it. Or you could play a scalesitsoundssilly.WhatamIdoing...
diminished scale (A half-whole; make sure you start with the correct interval!) or if you are
Whataresometopsongsthatonlyuseonechord?
thinking of it as a Dbdim7 chord, use Db whole-half (which gives you ALL the same notes as
if you were thinking of A half-whole!) Howdoyourememberchords/scalesforthepiano?

TL;DR version, play whatever you would normally play on an A7 about to resolve to Dm, and Whatkeyisthischordprogressionin:Em,D,Bm,C?
it will work ne, which is why they changed the chord to start with. Jazz musicians dont
want to have to analyse in this kind of detail just to play a nice tune. WhataresomeofthebestlyricsinHindifilmsongs?

381Views5UpvotesAnswerrequestedbySteveRoberts WhatscalecanIuseforasolooverachord
progressioninthekeyofC(thechordsC9M,F9M,
AM,andG)?

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