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The Allman brothers changes, Stormy Monday

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  SaxPunter 
#1 ·
So this tune comes up at the blues jam a bit, and the changes are nice. There seems to be hundreds of opinions on what they should be online. Which version do you use, how do you play over them? And also how do you think about it in terms of I VI etc?

Cheers
 
#3 ·
At a jam almost anything can happen with this tune, so best to keep it fairly simple. Most of the time, here is what I encounter when someone calls Stormy Monday or "Stormy Monday changes".
Just off the top of my head:

/ I7 / IV7 / I7 / I7 /

/ IV7 / IV7 / I ii / iii biii /

/ V7 / bVI7 V7 / I7 IV7 / I7 V7 /

I think the Allman Bros did something different in bars 9 & 10: / ii-7 / iv-7 / or something like that. But I don't often hear anyone doing that. If you're soloing on the sax, you can just use your ear there.

The I ii iii biii in bars 7 & 8 are the defining feature of Stormy Monday Blues, although ironically T-Bone Walker didn't do that (he played it as a very basic "I-IV-V" blues).

Maybe someone else can fill in what I missed or got wrong here!
 
#4 ·
Thanks JL, this is the notation I was looking for as it makes the most sense to me as I like to do the maths of it all.

I've seen that "flat chord" concept before on eha thrill is gone ( a flat 6 chord I think?)

So in the bar 7 and 8, where the ii and iii chord is harmonised to the key, how do you think about the biii? Say the ii is Dm iii is Em, do you just think Ebm for the biii chord?
 
#5 ·
I've seen that "flat chord" concept before on eha thrill is gone ( a flat 6 chord I think?)

So in the bar 7 and 8, where the ii and iii chord is harmonised to the key, how do you think about the biii? Say the ii is Dm iii is Em, do you just think Ebm for the biii chord?
Yes, bVI7 chord (some call it a #V7, same thing).

And yes in the key of C, Ebmin7 would be the biii-7 chord.
 
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