Chords for Donald Fagen talks about JOSIE pt 1

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ There's another kind of blues, _ _ _ minor blues, _ so you start with very primitive sort of blues
like they play in the [D] Delta. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
I _ [Gm] want to jazz that up a little bit, right?
_ _ [Ab] Make a figure out of it. _ _
_ _ [G] _ So we started playing [D] a little_
_ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ Then we ended up simplifying it because we didn't want to have too much going on under
the vocal melody.
You wanted a vamp to set up the whole groove.
Yes, [Ab] really a vamp, so we ended up with something [Dm] like this.
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ A lot of space, a lot of space there.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ [D] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] Did you have a specific bass line going when you were doing that?
Yeah, well you know what usually would happen in the studio is _ the bass player _ had on his
chart there was a simple bass line written out of some sort and he would develop it in some way.
_ Walter would hear some of it. _ _ _ _ _
Walter, being a bass player, if he wasn't actually playing on the date he would _ _ _ _ _ go out
and say if Chuck Rainey was playing he and Chuck would get together and just play around
with it a little bit and come up with something for each section that _ _ interacted _ _ _ nicely with
the rest of the parts. _ _
There's some things you can't write out I think, or maybe you're not worth writing out
in a sense _ _ _ on the _ _ _ lead sheets.
You want to _ write out enough so the song is_
Just the intention and then kind of_
Right, and then _ that's why _ _ you hire certain guys, you know they're going to take what's
written and do something interesting with it.
We ended up with [Gb] a bass line _ that goes along with this.
Maybe you could play a little of it or simulate it in some way.
[C] _ [D] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
[F] _ [D] _ _ [F] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[F] _ _ [E] _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [Em] _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ [C] _ [F] _ [D] _ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [F] _ [D] _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [D] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ [G] _ And that's the _ way the parts go together.
That's how the vamp sets up. _ _ _ _
[Dm] So _ _ _ parts from a blues, this little turnaround _ _ _ made up of chords that sound [N] like _ _ this.
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ _
[C] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
What [Ab] are those?
_ Is _ _ [G]
that like a C major 7th?
Kind of a C major 7th?
[F] _ [C] Well_
It really is, yeah.
_ _ [G] It's a G _ triad over C which gives you kind of a G, a major 9 sort of with no [C] third.
And [F] then you just take it down here and then you repeat the [G] same [C] thing _ [Eb] _ down in that spot there. _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ And you might ask, well how are these related to the blues?
Well, they're not actually.
_ But it goes right back into the blues.
There is a way in which they are.
I think that, _ for instance, a typical [E] blues in D will use [Dm] a lot of _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ D, F natural, C natural,
especially that kind of swampy blues. That [G] was_
_ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
[F] _ _ [D] _ Right, that was a modal_
[G] _
Exactly, a modal [Dm] sound.
And in a way, the bass line here you're playing, _ if you add these triads, [A] say you have a [D] line [F] _ _ [C] _ [D] like_
This is a [G]
blues, bluesy sounding thing.
If you put some triads on it, for instance.
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
So in other words, [D] you're using [F] this _ [D]
blues notes_
It's still kind of staying within the scale of D minor and stuff.
Precisely, you're using these as [F] your bass line, [G] but then [Bb] you're adding [F] other _ [Ebm] triads on [D] top of it
_ [Bbm] _
_ [G] and ending up with the [Ab] full turnaround [C] again _ [Bb] is_
_ _ [F] _
_ [Eb] _ _ It's [Dm] back into that. _
[F] _ _ _ Exactly.
_ Then it gets bluesier [D] again because it [G] goes_
Exactly, when you go up to the fourth, _ _ _ _ it's a very [Gm] bluesy thing.
And then back to these [A] triads again, [Bb] right? _ _ _ _ _ _
_ And then [Dm] back _ to_ _
[C] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Dm] That's different though, that [C] one.
_ [G] _ _ _ _
It's different because of this F sharp, but [D] notice _ the bass line though. _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ It's right [F] ahead blues.
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [G] _ [Dm] _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ [Dm] _ _ Right, very basic. _
You're putting major [C] chords over, that's [D] it. _
Exactly.
[C] _ [G] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
That's it.
[Ab] So _ you put it together, we'll put a little _ _ Gregorian, sort of _ swampy introduction on it and we [D] get this. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[Db] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [A] _ [C] _
_ [D] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ [C] _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
[F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
[F] _ _ [Am] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[F] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [D] _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [D] _ [F] _ _ _ _
[Gbm] _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [C] _
[Bb] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _