What are the Gloria chords?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by drad dog, Apr 16, 2019.

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  1. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    A refugee from another thread where it was "off topic."

    I hear E D A. I don't hear E Em D A. How many here can hear a minor chord? How many can't? No shame.

    I've looked at a number of live performances by Van Morrison.
     
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  2. Doctor Fine

    Doctor Fine "So Hip It Would Blister Your Brain"



    Yeah.
    I hear the E minor.
    It's clear as a bell.
    E-Em-D-A.
    That's the way the ORIGINAL goes.
    Later versions and covers sometimes ignore the Em.
    Those versions all go E-E-D-A.
    What's the big deal?
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2019
  3. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I think sometimes you just hear the root/ fifth, leaving major / minor determined by surrounding voices/instruments... E A D but if you hear E minor so be it
     
  4. swandown

    swandown Under Assistant West Coast Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I always thought there were two guitars during the first part of the song.
     
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  5. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    In the first seconds I hear a stuttered E chord (x4) on rhythm guitar, no minor third. There are 4 beats of the E chord, and each one is missing this aspect of the minor chord that you are hearing.

    Now play the song with 2 hits on the E and two on the Em. Do you want to get up and play that?
     
  6. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    According to wiki there might have been two drummers, a first for UK rock. If there was a second guitar it would have been Jimmy Page.
     
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  7. Doctor Fine

    Doctor Fine "So Hip It Would Blister Your Brain"

    I want to get up and play (two hits EACH)
    E.
    Em
    D
    A

    Nobody said you can't play the song some other way.
    I just like doing it the ORIGINAL way.
     
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  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    No minor chord, 'cumon. You're thinking of LOUIS LOUIS.
     
  9. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    E minor is there. Clear as day.
     
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  10. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    A sloppy E can turn into an E 5-note power chord which can then fool some into thinking it's minor.

    No G natural, no E minor. Period.

    That said, Robby Krieger plays it straight E major and that's the only version I care about, so :D y'all can fight about the VM version all you'd like.
     
  11. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
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    I can hear the G# going to the G natural very clearly.
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host

    Yes.

    Geez, people, play it how you want but there is no minor in Gloria as written. Play it with a minor, if it sounds wonderful to you, cool.

    And once again, there is a minor on the 5 chord in LOUIE.
     
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  13. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Even on my cheesy little Android speaker in a busy Starbucks I can hear the Em! It is clear as daylight, to me. The second pair of 8th notes ...

    Not everyone hears it. Most bar bands, in fact, play it E-E-D-A, to my (useless) annoyance. I annoy other guitarists in bands I'm playing in (or messing around with) that are about to do "Gloria", instructing them to lift their fingers there. :D

    Glad this subject came up, it's been bugging me for ages.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2019
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  14. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    Some people have better ears than others.
     
  15. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    I looked for Mae West doing it, w/no silent consonants, but alas cannot locate. I think it was mae west.
     
  16. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Laurel! Yanni!!
     
  17. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    On this forum, I won't make that claim ...!
     
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  18. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    NO MINOR...
     
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  19. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    "Original" having a non standard definition here I assume. When you play the minor do the people say "Why are you playing Louie Louie?"
     
  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    but, its a fact jack! ; )
     
  21. ShockControl

    ShockControl Bon Vivant and Raconteur!

    Location:
    Lotus Land
    Being able to tell the difference between gear does not correlate to pitch.
     
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  22. Finchingfield

    Finchingfield Forum Resident

    Location:
    Henrico, Va
    Unbelievable, you loin sumfin every day!

    But the version I now here with the E minor is this, it's an 8 chord sequence, with a little sloppiness thrown in, sumfin like this:

    E down stroke - E up stroke - Em down stroke - Em up stroke
    D down stroke - open strings up stroke - A down stroke - open strings up stroke

    It's there !!
     
  23. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    True. I figure my 50+ years as a working musician generally stand me in good stead ... just not always.
     
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  24. Archtop

    Archtop Soft Dead Crimson Cow

    Location:
    Greater Boston, MA
    Gloria as played by whom?

    If you mean the original version posted by @Doctor Fine, I hear two guitar parts on that. One is riffing in open position and the second is chording; possibly at frets 7 and 5 but more likely in the same position as the other. The guitar that is riffing clearly plays (starting on the and of 1) G# G G# A A G# over the "E to A to D and back to E" chord change.

    So it's more complicated than asking "what are the chords?" The guitarist who is chording is simply playing the E as a dyad with octaves (I refuse to use the term power chord because it's an oxymoron): E E B E (or something akin to that) and the second guitarist (the one riffing) is creating the harmony with a simple melodic line that changes the "E" from an E Major to an E minor and then back again.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2019
  25. bhazen

    bhazen I Am The Walrus

    Location:
    Deepest suburbia
    Shadows Of Knight appear to do it E-E-D-A. I suspect that's how a lot of you heard it for the first time, on American AM radio ...?
     
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