Flicking My Pick -- Theory help please!

[swampstomper]

I'm working on Flicking My Pick (Jethro) because I like the tune, because it's good training in arpeggios, and also because it helps me learn some jazz theory. I have the Jethro Method (Mel Bay) book and and working out of that; I also have the Tiny Moore & Jethro cut from "Back to Back".

So far I've only been able to analyze the A part, and I have most of the theory down, I think, but still some confusions. I hope one of the theory gurus can help me. Then I'll see what I can make of the B part (seems to modulate keys but I'll figure that out later).

Key is Ab but I will write also using roman numerals, capital for major, small for minor... I think I am doing this right (self-taught, so not sure)

Chord progression is (one chord per half-note)

Ab Ab0 Bbm7 Ab0 Cm7 Bm7 Bbm7 Eb7
Ab Ab0 Bbm7 Ab0 Bbm7 Bbm7 Eb7 Ab

I Io ii7 Io iii7 ??? ii7 V7
I Io ii7 Io ii7 ii7 V7 I

Questions:
1. the basis is the jazz-standard ii7-V7-I, right?

2. where I've written "Io" I mean I-diminished (normally written with the o as superscript, sorry can't do that here). The chart in the Mel Bay book says Bdim7 but the notes are: B - D - F - Ab which is Bo.

But, since B is not in the Ab scale I rewrote this as Ab - B - D - F which is Ao.

Several questions about this point:

2a. Am I correct that this is just the diminished chord? Why do they write Bdim7 instead of just Bdim? Is it because Bdim would just be the B - D - F?

2b. Am I then correct to use Ao instead? What is the function of this chord here? It seems to me a substitute for Ab7: the root stays the same but the top 3 notes all diminished. This chord can of course be called Ab0, B0, D0, F0; the name should depend on the function, right? I realize the arpeggio starts on the B so I guess it sounds like Bo, but is the harmonic function more as Ab0?

3. The function of the iii7 (Cm7) is as a substitute for the V6 (Eb6)?

Cm7 = C Eb G Bb ; Eb6 = Eb G Bb C

4. I am really confused by this one: what is the function of the Bm7? and how do I write it in the I/i style notation? It's between iim7 and iiim7, no two-and-a-half allowed. Would I write iii7b?? I understand it is a walk-down: Cm7 Bm7 Bbm7: which sounds plenty cool. But what is the theory here?

Many thanks in advance to anyone who takes on themselves to enlighten me in my tenuous path to greater theoretical understanding.

[mclaugh]

I'll take 2a and let the experts haggle about the rest. I think you're wanting to add a minor 7th to the diminished triad to make a dim7 chord, but you need to add a diminshed 7th, which is one flat lower.

B-D-F = Bdim, a diminished triad.
B-D-F-Ab = Bdim7, a diminished triad with a diminished 7th added.
B-D-F-A = B half-diminished 7th (notated with the superscript o with a slash through it), a diminished triad with a minor 7th added. Jazz people usually call B 1/2-dim7 Bm7b5.

Hope this helps, good luck with the rest.

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

Questions:
1. the basis is the jazz-standard ii7-V7-I, right?

2. where I've written "Io" I mean I-diminished (normally written with the o as superscript, sorry can't do that here). The chart in the Mel Bay book says Bdim7 but the notes are: B - D - F - Ab which is Bo.

But, since B is not in the Ab scale I rewrote this as Ab - B - D - F which is Ao.

Several questions about this point:

2a. Am I correct that this is just the diminished chord? Why do they write Bdim7 instead of just Bdim? Is it because Bdim would just be the B - D - F?

2b. Am I then correct to use Ao instead? What is the function of this chord here? It seems to me a substitute for Ab7: the root stays the same but the top 3 notes all diminished. This chord can of course be called Ab0, B0, D0, F0; the name should depend on the function, right? I realize the arpeggio starts on the B so I guess it sounds like Bo, but is the harmonic function more as Ab0?

3. The function of the iii7 (Cm7) is as a substitute for the V6 (Eb6)?

Cm7 = C Eb G Bb ; Eb6 = Eb G Bb C

4. I am really confused by this one: what is the function of the Bm7? and how do I write it in the I/i style notation? It's between iim7 and iiim7, no two-and-a-half allowed. Would I write iii7b?? I understand it is a walk-down: Cm7 Bm7 Bbm7: which sounds plenty cool. But what is the theory here?

There are always different ways of looking at things, but for me, the real action for me in that tune is the sliding thirds (C-Eb) to (B-D) to (Bb-Db) and back up (and then down again in the first phrase).

So the 2nd, 4th, and 6th chords are passing chords between the I-ii-iii-ii structure. In other words, not every chord for me has the same theoretical weight, if you will.

I consider the cm7 to be a substitute for the I, not the V; more like a AbM9/C type of feeling.

The boiled-down structure I would build from would be I-ii7-IM9-ii7-I-ii7-ii7-V-I, where that's four beats per chord except the last V-I which is two beats per.

Then the in-between chords guide the note choices. You could call them flat-iii dim and flat-iii m7 chords if you need a simple label, but i think there is a better way for the second chord at least:
Ab - Fdim7 - Bbm7 - Bdim7 - Cm7 - Cbm7 - Bbm7 - Eb7

so there's a vi-ii in there now, and if you imagine the Bdim7 to be a somewhat of a V sub, then you are left with a basic I-vi-ii-V loop (again, that's taking a lot of the details out of the tune!). That Fdim gets ugly in this key, of course: F-Ab-Cb-Ebb.

Why bdim7 on the way up and Cbm7 on the way down? There's a school of thought that suggests sharps for leading tones on the way up, and flats on the way down. The down side is that you're left with two different spellings of that passing third. Probably the book takes a simpler approach and kepps things in one flat territory for simplicity. You could use a different approach, as well.

Still, at some point, I step back and weigh the different chords and focus more on the horizontal aspects for those in-between chords (sliding thirds, in this case).

Cheers
Mark

[Mark Robertson-Tessi]

There's a school of thought that suggests sharps for leading tones on the way up, and flats on the way down.

Just to illustrate that point better, here's a picture of the individual lines as they move around through the chords.

Cheers
mark

[swampstomper]

McLaugh and Mark,

Many thanks for the input. For the simple question of 2a. I think I understand the explanation, it follows what I suggested, that Bdim is only the triad, and if we want the 4th note it adds the diminished 7th (bb7) so we write Bdim7. So far, so good. And we could write that as any of the 4 notes: Abdim7, Bdim7, Ddim7, Fdim7.

I did not realize that the 0-slash notation (which I was trying to show with my little 0) was not bb7 but rather just b7. How is this Bmi7b5, let me see: B (1) D (b3 = minor) F (b5) A (b7). Cool.

I was following in part the Mel Bay's Guitar Journal Chord Book (by William Bay) -- because of course the guitar allows more extensive vocings. He calls R-b3-b5-bb7 just "diminished" and uses the little 0 (no slash) for what you call dim7. He never has a 3-note diminished chord, so no conflict there. He has the same idea as you for the mi7b5, which indeed he writes also as slash-0-7 (but does not use the word "half-diminished").

For Mark's answer I have to sit down and study, many thanks for the insight, I will come back when I've managed to figure it out. I get the idea that not every chord has the same weight in the structure, after all we use passing chords in blues and bluegrass without ever naming them. I will see how I can expand the I-vi-ii-V loop can be expanded to the full tune.

Ah, the genius of Jethro!