cool things to play over a G to B minor progression.

[Ridge runner]

My dad recently learn this old Mo Bandy song called "Cowboys ain't suppose to cry" and it has this part on the sub chorus that goes like G to B minor then to C to Amin..then ya capp it off with C to D then back to G...kind of pretty really..reminds me of Puff the magic dragon hehe..but anyways I'll like play the highend of a G chord then for fun hit harmonics at the 7th fret on the e,b,g strings spelling B minor. Maby somebody knows something better perhaps?

[chubbsdarcy]

Wild Horses by the Stones kinda follows that kinda progression by times...

[Ridge runner]

yeah there's a part on Rush's "Trees" that does as well or maby it goes like D to Bmin been so long since I play or even heard it really.but I just think "Puff the magic dragon" every time I hear G to B min for some reason..

[Budda]

Maybe try Bm Pentatonic over the G to Bm and Am Pentatonic over the C to Am Part? Then, back to Bm Pentatonic over the D, and finish with Em Pentatonic over the G.

Another tactic, play with a GM7 Arpeggio over the G to Bm Part. It contains the Notes of both Chords.
Over C to Am; play an Am7 Arpeggio. It contains all the Notes of both Chords.
Over C to D; play a ii V of Am7 to D7. This will yield a "Jazzy" type of feel as you head back towards the G.
Then, maybe back to a GM7 Arpeggio over the G.

[Chris S.]

Or try exploring a G major scale... CS

[Ridge runner]

Hey Budda those are nice..I'll play with em so they don't sound like an arpeggio or scale..I do play the majorscale/minor pent thing..it's just we do so many songs and I wear it out..so that's why I ask for ideals and not just the obvious anybody can do that..No what I've been playing with is this...getting more bluesy rock licks bends in a country context. so I'm just not limited to bouncing around on the scales just tired of it..for example..you know GnR's "patience"
solo..the part that goes
-------------------------------
-----5-8-----------------------
--b7-----RB7-5----4-7----------------
----------------B7----RB7-5--------
------------------------
-------------------------
This is played over C then G..yet here we are in the Aminor box..and we can take the ideal farther by playing the last lick on the A & D String this would be our 5th chord lick..finally resolving back to G again..just looking for little useful patterns that quickly become part of my bag of tricks that you whip out when in doubt..lol..

[Al Watsky]

G to Bminor is a nice change.
If you think of the Bminor chord as its relative major, which is D major, you can look at the progression as G to D.
I V in the key of G or if you prefer play as though the D were the one chord and the G the four chord. I IV in the key of D.
Lots of things depend on context.
You can play a mess of Bminor pentatonic over the change or look at it as D petatonic.
Thats the most basic approach.
In the key of G, Bminor is the III chord. I - III is sorta "static" sounding. I can be seen as a Gmajor 7th in 3rd inversion. I - III have a similar chord function.
So taking a different point of view will change the sound of your solo's.

[Larry F]

Try thinking about the chord tones and how to embellish those:

G B D
B D F#

Writing out seven note names:

A B C D E F G

Modifying them to correspond to the chord tones:

A B C D E F# G

This equals the G major scale:

G A B C D E F#

Or the D major scale:

D E F# G A B C#

But not A major since G is natural. And not any more scales following the circle of descending 4ths: E (needs G#, D#), B (same, plus A#), F# (same, plus E#).

Going back to the G scale and moving in ascending 4ths: C (has F natural), F (same, plus Bb), Bb (same, plus Eb), Eb (same, plus Ab), Ab (same, plus Db), Db (same, plus Gb).

If you know your scales, then the steps outlined above can be done in less than a second, if not seemingly instantly.

Moving on, the context of the other chords naturalizes C# to C. Therefore, the only major scale that fits everything is G major. I know it was mentioned above, but I wanted to show how to arrive at that.

Now that we are in G major, try:

G major pent = G A B D E
D major pent = D E F# A B
E minor pent = E G A B D
A minor pent = A C D E G

Again, these were mentioned above, but I wanted to show how to arrive at them. You could also experiment with non-diatonic notes like G# and Bb, but watch out for semitone clashes with G B D clashing with G# (Bb, the minor third is a possibility) and B D F# clashing with Bb. The note F is a little funky, but can sound interesting against G B D as the dom 7th and B D F# as a flat 5th.

The problem is that these chords share two chord tones, so don't really progress that much. If one was a dominant-type chord, then all kinds of substitutions are possible.

Lastly, the notes A and E are fairly consonant with both chord, even though not chord tones. Andy Summers would use these.

[warmingtone]

I don't know this song, but always here the start of "Lay, Lady Lay" (dylan) when I hear this kind of change (I-iii)...ie A - C#m - G - Bm

But the idea of harmonics is good, as mentioned there is very little change between these two chords and being essentially G (or G to Gmaj7 1st inversion) and I assume the nature of the song...the harmonics thing is always a good move

say....

------|--------------------|-12-----------------------|---------------12-----|-------------------
------|-------------12----|------*7b8r7-------12--|-------12-------------|-7--5-----------
------|--12------------7-|-----------------7---------|--12--------------7---|-------5---------
---5-|----------7---------|-------------------7-------|------------7----------|----------------
------|--------------------|----------------------------|-----7-----------------|--------------------
------|--------------------|----------------------------|-----------------------|------------*3---

all harmonics................bend behind nut..................................last note not harm.

This kind of thing makes a pretty melody, the 'nut bend' thing is always fun with harmonics and that thing in the third bar is a cascading scale/harp thing that I like. Most importantly these kinds of string skipping allows for the notes to bleed. Little details can make the difference, such as the first two notes, that 5/d string is a high G that could also be played on 7/g string, but that would not allow the notes to bleed together as well...you see that the idea is to have everything ring as much as possible (like the sustain pedal down on a piano).

Also, note that harmonics can seem anti-intuitive...the lower the frets, the higher the notes. It's worth looking at what notes harmonics really are in relation to each other. You might also want to explore the harmonics around the 4th fret and even higher (or lower frets) on electric guitar, as well as the more obvious 5th, 7th and 12th fret stuff.

Jeff beck is a master of this kind of thing of course.


Other techniques like this can be done with open strings and fretted notes, especially in the key of G.

But as I say, not familiar with the song, is it simply going back and forth between G and Bm, or is it going on to the C and D chords each time around?

[Ridge runner]

yeah the way my dad play's this song it just does the G to Bm once on the sub chorus,it don't bounce back and forth and the Harmonics do sound nice..I was just wanting to mix it up a bit and not hit em all the time..we play alot of songs with simple progressions and I use the harmonics to great effect..like on "sunday morning coming down" ect..another thing I've been able to do is chord subs a bit..like on "Silver wings" he'll hit an F#min down at the 2nd fret..but I'll hit and F#min9th up at the 9th fret..
or like say on "neon moon" when it goes from G to the forth chord C..I've been sliping in CM7..

Recently I was talking to a really Good steel player and he try to tell me..that M7 shouldn't be used for a 4th chord cause it's not correct..and I'm like yeah whatever..

[Ridge runner]

those are cool Warm..don't know that I remember all that though or have time to slip it all in..one thing though is we play country with a clean tone mostly..I guess I could use a tubescreamer..but harmonics at the 5th fret on the high end don't all ways cut thru like on the 12 and 7th fret for me..I know they would distorted but I may have trouble getting 4th fret harmonics to sound as well with a clean tone..
I've thought about telling all them old folks at the VFW..no George Jones tonight..we're Gonna be playing a Little JIMI!!!