The Little Wing Chords You've Never Heard (Eric Gales)

[00:00:01][music] [music] [music] >> Hi, my name is Abe Allam and today I want to talk to you about an amazing reharmonization that Eric Gales did over the tune Little Wing. I've got a free tab with examples linked below of his reharmonization. I've also got a link to the original performance in the description below. So, the reharmonization happens over the last four chords of the tune, which the last four core The last four chords are G sus, >> [music] >> F sus, C, >> [music] >> and then D.

[00:00:58]This is what the reharmonization sounds like.

[00:01:08]>> [music] >> Now, one thing that you may have noticed instantly is yes, it's the same exact chord voicing across the guitar neck.

[00:01:19]So, learning this is going to be really simple. I'm going to show you the voicing and then I'm going to talk about why it sounds so good and works over this tune.

[00:01:29]So, the first chord is a G sus chord.

[00:01:33]Often it's written on a lead sheet as a G chord, but Hendrix, every single time this chord comes up, whether it's the intro, the verse, verse two, or over the solo, always plays the chord like this.

[00:01:47]>> [music] >> Or some variation of that. In verse one, for instance, he goes like this.

[00:01:57]>> [music] >> Okay, and that by the way is one of my favorite Hendrix voicings. You can check out my favorite Hendrix voicings in this video uh linked right here. So, what Eric Gales does to reharmonize this part is instead of making these simple sus chords, he makes them sus nine chords. Now, what's the difference between a sus chord and a sus nine chord? Well, a sus chord could be a simple triad. A sus nine chord contains more than three notes, and it typically contains the dominant seventh of the chord, making this no longer just a triad or like a variation of a major chord, but instead a dominant chord.

[00:02:38]Now, with the dominant chord, that means we're sort of implying a totally different tonality. I'll talk about that in just a moment.

[00:02:43]But, the voicing that he uses is this one.

[00:02:46]>> [music] >> And notice my index finger just slides down a fret. So, in time, it sounds like this. Two, three.

[00:02:58]>> [music] [music] >> And if I were to play the rest of the progression in context starting from let's just say the B minor chord of Little Wing, >> [music] [music] [music] >> and then we're at the top of the form there, okay? So, it's one, two, three, four and one, two and three, okay? So, it happens on the and and then the downbeat.

[00:03:45]>> [music] [music] [music] >> By the way, if you're playing this by yourself, that's a great way to add some variety and excitement. Um whether you're playing it just totally solo guitar or just with a vocalist or something like that.

[00:04:12]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Now, when it comes to improvisation or soloing over these chords, of course, there's more extensions in the chord which lends itself to have like a jazzier feel. So, you could solo over it in like a jazz guitar type way like this.

[00:05:06]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Or honestly, you could just play the same kind of blues ideas that Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan play over these chord changes and just the changed harmony enough will make your ideas sound a little different to the listener.

[00:05:34]>> [music] [music] [music] >> What's really interesting is changing the C chord to a C sus 9 chord.

[00:06:00]That's the big harmonic change. Why does it work? Well, going from F sus to uh F9 essentially.

[00:06:12]And then going to this C sus chord, >> [music] >> I'm going to try to explain this as simply as possible.

[00:06:19]If you look at your hands, it might even be easier to see the notes.

[00:06:22]Um F sus to F9 is a lot like C minor to F7.

[00:06:31]>> [music] >> And then C sus is a lot like B flat major with C in the bass.

[00:06:41]So, it's really there it really sounds like we're just playing a 2-5-1 to B flat.

[00:06:49]>> [music] [music] >> You hear how they sound basically the same?

[00:07:00]That's the biggest change, but the reason he gets away with it is because it sounds like 2-5 to B flat major.

[00:07:11]Okay? And the five chord always pulls towards the one. So, F is the five of B flat. It's going to sound like it wants to resolve to B flat. And um while we aren't actually playing a B flat chord, the only reason it's not a B flat chord is because the bass note is C.

[00:07:32]But it has all the other notes that a B flat chord has. Okay? Check that out when you start playing this.

[00:07:37]All right, I hope you have enjoyed this quick lesson.

[00:07:41]And next time you play Little Wing, try to throw those changes in.

[00:07:46]The cool thing is the bass player can just play along and you'll sound like you're doing something super hip. Again, the tab is in the description. Follow for more videos like this. Take care.