Mariya Takeuchi – Plastic Love

 

Mariya Takeuchi - Plastic Love

Takeuchi @ discogs.com 

    Intro!

||Bbmaj7    /A        |G-6     Fmaj            | Eb9    Bbmaj  Cmaj             | Dmaj                        ||

              

Triad riff during Bbmaj, Cmaj and Dmaj is:  A F D A, G E C G, F#.

 

              

              

Verse!

||G-7                       |C7b9(13)                  |A-7                                      |D-7                                |

 |G-7                       |C7b9(13)                  |A-7                                      |D-7                                 ||

              

This repeats a few times!  It’s a II V III VI in F major, neat jazz functional harmony!

 

               The segment where a sliding 4^th guitar riff comes in, the chords change up to:

              

||G-7                       |Eb13                  |D-7                                       |G9                                    |

|G-7                       |C7b9(13)                  |A-7                                      |D-7                              | |

              

Still largely in F major, however the chords that don’t “fit” are Eb13 and G9!  The Eb13 could be considered modal interchange from F minor (Aeolian).  Eb13 = bVII.  It’s a little wonky but really I think we’re just looking at Eb13 being a color chord that resolves half step down to D-7.  And G9 is acting as the V chord in a II V, where D-7 is the II chord.  So that’s like a II V from the key of C major, but since D-7 is in both C major and F major, the II V mini progression fits in that way.  Another way to justify throwing in dominant chords where it sounds good LOL.  But then the G9 resolves itself by going to G-7, and then we’re back in normal F major land.  The bass walks us from the D-7 by way of D, E, F, where F is the V to the next section (which starts on Bbmajor).

              

 

Chorus?!

||Bb major                      |C major               |Bb major                 |C major                     |

|E-7             A7               |D-7                        |Bb maj    C maj      |A-          D-                  |

|Bb major                      |C major               |Bb major                 |C major                      |

|Bb maj       C maj        | D major              |                                |                                   ||

              

               The E-7 A7 again is a little II V jazz action thrown in to resolve to the D-7.  E-7 A7 is borrowed from the key of D major, but instead the chords resolve to D minor.  

    The final 4 bars is our triad pal from the intro, wrapping up this city pop delivery evenly!  Enjoy!

Junko Ohashi - Telephone Number

 

Junko Ohashi - Telephone Number 

Ohashi @ discogs.com 

 

Intro has brief C octave Db Octave, leads into:

 

||A-11/ D             |  D7sus                    |A-11/D                      |Gmaj     F13 E13 Eb13 D13||

 

               Guitar palm mutes funky D, E G, over A-11.  D, E, F# over D7sus.

               The 13 chord section is those syncopated full band hits!  Ah Oooooooo!

 

 

Chorus:

 

Ooooooooooooo, five six seven oh niiiine!  The melody (in context of G major Key) is 5, 4, 3, 2, 3!  Is she singing a phone number or shouting her music theory?  The main note she holds over the A-7 chord (the “ah, OOOOooo!” is D, so that colors 11 on the A- chord.

 

||A-7                       |D9                        |Gmaj7                       |E-7                                        |

|A-7                         |D9                        |Gmaj7                       |A-7 B-7  B-7  C#-7   Dmaj  ||

              

Bass plays a funky formula of root, octave sliding up to 9 and back to octave. 

              

 

 

Verse:

Verse mostly is the same as the chorus.  Twice through A-, D7, Gmaj, E-, we get this new bit:

 

||C-7                       |C-7                      |B-7                                 |E7b913                           |

|A-7                         |A-7                      |D7                                  |D7                                 ||

 

                Full band hits on D7, “Loo-vin’, youuu!”  Notes F#, G, A.

 

                E7b913 is rly fun, can voice it as 0x6769 on guitar!  Not too tricky to grab and sounds SUPER sophisticated ;)

 

    Ta-daaa~  Enjoy!

Kenichiro Isoda - プリオシンの浜辺 (With Wave)

 

Kenichiro Isoda - プリオシンの浜辺

Kenichiro Isoda @ discogs.com

 

Divine celestial shores of Ico’s Afterlife.  Each dispersing powdered sand rings out and on.  Vanilla scented breeze and decades of ocean, breathing with ease.  Magnolia birds lounging in air stretched to infinity.

 

 

1.   プリオシンの浜辺

 

               Introduction is arpeggios on Fmaj7, E-7, D-7, Cmaj7.  Then Fmaj9 arpeggios flourishing (F A C E G, perhaps up and down many octaves) and then on to the form:  

 

||Fmaj7#11                          |                                        |                             |                                 |

|Cmaj7                                 |                                       |                             |                                 |

|Fmaj7#11                           |                                        |                            |                                  |

|Cmaj7                                   |                                     |                             |                                 |

|Bbmaj7                                  |                                    |                             |                                 |

|Ebmaj7                                  |                                     |                            |                                 |

|Bbmaj7                                  |                                    |                            |                                  |

|Ebmaj7                                  |                                      |                           |                                 |

|Abmaj7#11                           |                                      |                           |                                  |

|Ebmaj7                                  |                                      |                          |                                  |

|Abmaj7#11                           |                                      |                           |                                  |

|Ebmaj7                                  |                                      |                          |                                  |

|Dbmaj7                                  |                                      |                          |                                  |

|C-7                                          |                                     |                          |                                  |

|Dbmaj7                                  |                                      |                          |                                 |

|Cmaj7                                   |                                       |                          |                                 ||

               Then back to the top, including introduction.

 

               With Wave is made up of 4 pairs of chords, each one playing twice.  Example, the Fmaj7#11 and Cmajor7 chords alternating, then a pair of Bbmajor7 and Ebmajor 7 chords, etc.  Looking at key changes, the first ¼ of the song is in the key of Cmajor, the second ¼ is Bbmajor, third ¼ Ebmajor , then Abmajor, until that Cmajor chord resolve at the very end, which is kind of its own thing.  But each major chord can stand on its own as is and they all transition nicely as they weave in and out, so key analysis might be needlessly complicated!  ANYWAYS ON TO THE FUN STUFF.  Here are some fun guitar voicings I like for this song:

 

               Fmajor7:      xx3555          x87980 or  x87987    xx3210  or  xx3010

               Cmajor7:     x32000         x35453

               Bbmajor7:   x1303x  or   x1323x

               Ebmajor7:    xx888(10)        x65333

               Abmajor7:   4x554x     or  4xx543

               Dbmajor7:  x4x564

               C-7:             x3x343

               Cmajor:     x35553

 

               All these chords are good stuff!  And of course each shape is shiftable on guitar.  So if one rly rings true for you just slide that pattern around the fret board to get the other chords of the same type!

               Some melodic notes of interest, a lot of the melodies appear to be minor pentatonic mode stuff happening over its corresponding major chords.  So the melodic segment over the Fmajor7#11 chord starts out B A G E, D E G E, which outlines E minor pentatonic scale, which would be the VI mode of the G major scale, but in this case it’s being used as the III mode of the C major scale, and being played over the IV chord (Fmajor7) at that.  So it’s technically “incorrect” but since the pentatonic modes only have 5 notes, they leave out a lot of the true key defining notes, so they can overlap in other keys since the scales offer more tonal space.  I HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE LOL.

               And we see the same thing during the Bbmajor7 segment, the melody is: A G F D, C D F D.  Same pattern as before.  This is D minor pentatonic melody.  Lots of fun stuff like that happening in this song!

               So if you’re gonna rip it over this song, E minor pentatonic, D minor pentatonic, and C minor pentatonic will sound pretty magical over these chords changes J

 

 

2.     Still Silent -for S.A.-

 

Curious soapy iridescence giggle through the breeze.  Bubble feathers lilt in sun.  They resound through time.

               I read on discogs.com this is a tribute to Satoshi Ashikawa's "Still Park".  Totally you can hear it, the same vague unresolved feeling, and someone on that site pointed out it’s even got the same melodic theme.  Still Park, Still Silent.

               This one’s a breeze.  The basic recurring melody is C down to F, G Bb down to D.  The last bit outlines G- triad!  Cool!  The chords are as follows:

 

||Fmaj7(11)          |                                       |                                 |                                       |

|Bbmaj6              |                                       |                                 |                                        |

|Ebmaj7              |                                       |                                 |                                        |

|Bbmaj6              |                                       |                                 |                                        ||

 

               That’s really it.  What’s wonky about this one is that first Fmaj7(11) chord.  Usually we see major7s with #11, but not this time.  I worked out a voicing on guitar, x8896x.  It’s a little funny coz we’re getting that 4^th scale degree (the 11) into the I major7 chord, which normally doesn’t happen.  It’s like combining a Sus4 chord with a major7, the 4 and the 7 usually don’t go together in this context.  But when it does it’s like a freshly cut lawn, edgy and fragrant with foliage.

               For the Bbmajor6 there are some 4thy Harold Budd harmonies happening in there!  If you’re jamming over this, try it out with xxxx33 to xxxx11.  It’s D and G sliding down to C and F, over top the Bbmajor6 chord!  Also a good voicing for this bit is x1301x.

               Not much to say over the Ebmajor7!  That could be considered an anchor point, since the other chords are somewhat unresolved and floating.  The Ebmajor7 is the most standard chord in this piece, not really any funny extensions going on here. 

 

 

 

3.     Land Scape -for J.C.-

 

               Intro chord is somewhat vague and just in general floats around the Bb major key, but seems to slightly anchor on a D-7 chord (D F A C).  When Isoda is ready to break into form he starts touching on Bb notes to set up the following chords:

 

||Bbmaj13                |                                     |                                         |                                          |

|Ebmaj7#11              |                                     |                                        |                                           ||

              

The harmonic rhythm I notated isn’t exact, but idea is that Isoda bops back and forth between the two chords.  During the Bbmaj13, the left hand (if played on piano) is Bb D F G A D.  All notes ascending the arpeggio.  Then he does Bb D F G A G.  Almost the same thing, just stepping back down to the G note after the A note.  Sounds somewhat like Bjork’s “Cocoon”!  On guitar an approximate voicing is x1523x.  It’s quite a stretch, but sounds super chill!

               Other notes of interest, during Bbmajor13 chord Isoda plays a lot of A minor arpeggio influenced melodies, so that’s touching A, C, and E notes overtop the Bbmajor13.  Those notes functioning as the 7, 9, and #11.  BOOM, most of the upper extensions right there.  Also he plays some C major (C E G) arpeggio melodies too, which adds 9, #11 and 13 colors.  I think a big component in general with this chord is the G and the A notes being so close together, gives it a cushy cozy kind of squeeze.

On to the Ebmajor7#11 chord!  The left hand pattern I gathered is: Eb down to Bb, back up to Eb, F G A.  Then Eb Bb Eb F G C.  Similar pattern as the previous chord. 

After Ebmajor7#11, back to that intro thang with floating D-7.  Not tooooo much else to say about this one.  Very cozy and drifting.  Good piece to sleep to.

 

 

4.       ジョバンニの悲しみ

 

               Okay!  With Wave is ending with a classic rock ripper.  Pull out your Paul Reed Smith’s and channel your inner Santana.  Isoda is celestial harp jamming on F#-13 AKA F# Dorian mode!  The sky winks, the waves chuckle.  This tune is a celebration, an honest dance, a union with the universe.

               F#-13 arpeggio is F# A C# E G# B D#.  Play what you wish!  F# minor pentatonic works rly well too.  I’m curious how C# minor pentatonic would work over this! 

               Saxophone comes in !  Plays some melody like G# F# B, A B C# D# E G# F# D# C#.

 

With Wave, where heavenly ghosts play.  Luminous, pure tropics.  Transparent gelatinous fruits from pale sun worn trees.