trying to make sense of this modulation..

It's not totally off the wall.

If I'm reading it right with the tuning, you've got:

C-Eb-G =Cm
G-B-D = G
B-D-F-Ab = Bº7
C#-E#-G# = C#

That Bº7 is a big clue here - diminished sevenths are often used as pivot chords between keys, because any note in the chord can be considered the root.

So take a look at the notes in the first three chords:

C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B

That's your basic C harmonic minor scale, and every chord fits.

Now think about how a fully-diminished seventh works. It's a chord with tension, so it wants a dominant role in a progression. In the key of Cm, Bº7 is the same as G7 - with a lowered root; since the tension of the V7 comes from the tritone between B and F, both of which remain in the chord, so you've got a substitution for G7.

Fully diminished sevenths are often used to change keys, because they're symmetrical chords - any note can be considered the root. So our available roots here are B, D, F(E#), and Ab(G#). Following the same logic - that a º7 can stand in for a 7th chord with the root a half step higher, this chord can be also used in place of C7, Eb7, or F#7.

Let's call it Eb7. And let's call the C# chord by the enharmonic name Db. We've now changed keys, and gone from V to IV in the key of Ab. With both IV and V, we'd expect to see Ab major next.

Now look at the next notes (the last ones in your tab) from the standpoint of Ab... you've got: Ab-Cb(B)-Eb-Gb. Abm7, a shift to the parallel minor.

Not a usual pattern, but not randomly chromatic either.

As I see it (bearing in mind I just woke up :lol: ) the 9th fret arpeggio is the dominant 7th chord (G7) followed by the tonic chord C minor (fret 10) - so up to that point there is no key change. After this it gets interesting as next is a chromatic chord (fret 11) which is the flatted supertonic major (Db) leading to an ambiguous diminished chord containing the tritone F - B which can resolve in two standard ways.
1. - It can resolve normally to the expected tonic chord, Cm in which case no modulation has taken place, just a couple of chromatic passing chords.

2 The tritone (F-B) can be respelled as F-Cb and resolve to Gb major, which could indicate a complete key change (modulation) or a brief transient key change (tonicisation) to that key.

But you stopped just before the chord of resolution, so we don't know if it modulated or not. I suspect option 1 is more likely and the next chord is C minor.

this chord can be also used in place of C7, Eb7, or F#7.

thats an augmented Cmin shape...I got lost here about how you got these notes?

i'm not so much curious in why he did it, so much as im trying to expand my theory knowledge for my own writing. but i think i've realised that you don't necesarily need to follow the notes in Cmin to stay in Cmin, especially if trying to modulate, there's a fair amount of chromatics involved, is this often true..but probably rare?

Uh - there's no such thing as an augmented minor. Augmented chords are two stacked major thirds, like C-E-G#. If you mean a minor with a raised fifth (C-Eb-G#), that's just an inversion of a major triad (Ab-C-Eb).

I'd started out by saying "if I'm reading it right with the tuning" - like Fretsource I was replying right after waking up. So I'll try to be really careful this time, since once again I just woke up :)

Here's your tab; I've added the notes above it:

C G Eb G Eb C C G G D B G B D G D BAb F D F Ab B Ab
D-10p5--------10-10p5-17p12----------12-17p12-9p6------6-9p6-
A--------6---6-------------------14----14-----------------8---8
F-----------7------------------------14-----------------------9
C
G
C

The Bº7 runs from the second D string p12 to the end of the first line: D-B-Ab-F-D-F-Ab-B-Ab. Using B as the root, you have B (1) - D (b3) - F (b5) - Ab (bb7), which is three stacked minor third intervals, a fully-diminished seventh chord.

I then compared that to G7:

G7 = G-B-D-F
Bº7 = B-D-F-Ab

You can see that a fully diminished 7th is the same as a dominant 7th with the root raised by a half step - in this case, raising it from G to Ab makes it a º7 chord.

Since the chords are symmetrical, the pattern 1-b3-b5-bb7 can be built on any note in the chord:

Bº7 = B (1) - D (b3) - F (b5) - Ab (bb7)
Dº7 = D (1) - F (b3) - Ab (b5) - Cb (bb7, enharmonic to B)
Fº7 = F (1) - Ab (b3) - Cb (b5) - Ebb (bb7, enharmonic to D)
Abº7 = Ab (1) - Cb (b3) - Ebb (b5) - Gbb (bb7, enharmonic to F)

Here's the part where the early morning got to me... I'd gone the wrong direction with two of the roots. These chords would stand in for Bb7 (root raised to B), C#7/Db7 (root raised to D), E7 (root raised to F), and G7 (root raised to Ab).

So I had the G7 right, and the C#7 right - which made the analysis right - but I probably screwed you up with the other two.

And no, chromatics aren't rare in minor keys... because you have multiple minor scales. Dorian raises the sixth, Harmonic raises the seventh, Melodic raises the sixth and seventh, Phrygian lowers the second... but they all still have a minor quality to them.

Hi NoteBoat - I thought it might be interesting to compare our analyses. Mine also suffered from half-awake inattention; only in my case it was early afternoon, rather than early morning :oops:

Chord 1 = C G Eb G Eb C C G = C minor - tonic chord

Chord 2 = G D B G B D G D = G major - dominant chord

Chord 3 = B Ab F D F Ab B Ab = Bº7 = Strictly a leading tone dim7 although I called it dom 7. I was analysing it as a rootless dom 7b9 - Anyway both chords have the same dominant function here, agreed?

Chord 4 = C G Eb G Eb C C G = C minor - tonic chord. No modulation has taken place up to this point.

The final part - I analysed as two chords (chords 5 & 6) because I felt the phrasing suggested a possible change of root.

Chord 5 = Db Ab F D F Ab Db = Db maj - the flatted supertonic (suggesting a modulation might be on the cards)

Chord 6 = Ab Eb B Ab F - I wasn't sure of the best way to name this chord. The tritone B-F was its strongest feature and so I was tempted to think of it as a leading tone dim7 although it has no 3rd, D. The chord would then probably resolve back to the tonic chord, C minor - indicating NO MODULATION throughout the entire section.

But then I thought maybe chords 5 & 6 are better analysed as just one chord as follows:

chord 5 = Db Ab Eb Cb Ab F = Db9. So, not a change of root, but a change of function from flatted supertonic to secondary dominant, suggesting an imminent modulation to Gb major.

Either way, we're left on an unresolved tritone. To answer Linguos's question regarding modulation, we'd have to say it all depends on the next chord, wouldn't you agree?

I completely agree.

I tend to avoid labeling a chord as "dominant" in the technical sense - any chord built on the V - because folks who don't know the terms for scale degrees become easily confuse the term with "dominant seventh".

I think our analyses are really the same... and it all does depend on what comes next. It's not a modulation until you settle into a new key, so we're both speculating at the end of the tab :)

well the final note is D, theres three final notes after the last arpeggio i listed... it goes B C# D

btw, NoteBoat, may i ask where you learnt theory at? school possibly? i can keep up with what you're saying, though a bit confusing, I've been studying theory for maybe 5 days now :P, and my only source is online... i suppose i should take some theory classes at school

Yeah, I mostly learned in school, at DePaul in Chicago.

If the last three notes are B-C#-D, the D doesn't seem to fit. If my analysis is right, and the last chord in the tab is Ab7, the B would be a chord tone (written as Cb), the C# would be the tonic for resolution (written as Db) - and then it walks up a half step. The Db would be a leading tone, moving into the key of D - but it's an odd way to end things.

And if you're keeping up with things here after 5 days, I'd say you're doing pretty good!