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
    If it sounds odd, that might be telling you something. You can't be hearing it "in there" if you want to skip it. IMO you are hearing a change where there is only a guitar commenting and moving from one place to anohter, one note out of a large band. The actual change is just after that whenn it goes into the E7 chord. This is MHO. For now of course.
     
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  2. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I don't know about that. I have almost perfect pitch...unfortunately. There is no G natural at the 8th note to my ears. It is not clear as day to me. Think about it.. why would the guitar player even think about going to the flattened third?
     
  3. SRC

    SRC That sums up Squatter for me

    Location:
    New York, NY
    "If it sounds odd, that might be telling you something" - that doesn't make sense. I'm not testing this out with a guitar. I have good pitch and I'm listening to the first bars of the recording. It sounds odd to me right there. It's not that the idea in theory is odd. It sounds odd to me literally. And of course I can be hearing it "in there" if I want to skip it. It's my personal taste. The guitar progression sounds more sloppy than bluesy, going from major to minor in the span of the first two beats. But that's what the effect is, when he's going from G# to G natural in that short time.

    There is no E7 chord in there. That would mean you need to have the E still in the bass and a D ringing somewhere. That never happens in the riff. It might sound good if you've got your guitar in your hand and play it that way, but that's not what we're talking about, right?
     
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  4. SRC

    SRC That sums up Squatter for me

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I don't know what you mean by "G natural at the 8th note." The G naturals are played as eighth notes.

    Again as with drad dog, you can't ask something like "why would the guitar player even think about" playing E minor, because that's just speculating. The E minor sound is there for one beat due to a clear G natural on the second down beat that, if it is meant to be an incidental passing tone, it's still a full beat. I doubt he thought about it in terms of what chord it is. He just played it, he must have liked it. But they must have quickly realized it was weird, because I've checked a few live versions with Van from the 60's onwards and nobody bothered to repeat this weird little thing the original guy did.

    EDIT: So I would say the eternal or canonical chords for Gloria could be considered E E D A since that's what it quickly evolved to. But what's on the original is like that sheet music posted above, there's a brief E minor sound due to the use of open strings. Accident, intentional, or not, something that goes G natural B E over an E root has to be termed E minor.
     
  5. douglas mcclenaghan

    douglas mcclenaghan Forum Resident

    I wonder if any of the countless bands who played this song ever had the discussion happening here. It's been fabulous.
     
  6. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Ya know....I can't hear those open strings. If that did happen I would agree there is an E minor. However, I don't hear the open stings. These guys were the first punk rockers.....three major chords and that was it. Sorry..no G natural anywhere to be heard. Everyone is confused with the dropped third in Van's vocals.
     
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  7. Mai Tem Baht

    Mai Tem Baht Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phuket
    Have you listened to the loop? The G is as clear as day.
     
  8. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    sure is - no doubt at all
     
  9. icirider

    icirider Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    I never noticed it before but I’m certainly hearing the open g string as well.
     
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  10. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    No G, No Em. If a blues lead line or vocal line hits the b3 momentarily, that does not make the chord minor, it makes the melody bluesy.
     
  11. Mai Tem Baht

    Mai Tem Baht Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phuket
    Have you listened to the loop of it - post #86.

    The G is as clear as a bell. In fact, it's clear on the studio original.
     
  12. icirider

    icirider Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, GA
    The loop is the smoking gun. I do agree that it’s just down to getting to the D chord more easily (freeing up the index finger for the mini-barre or fretting the a on the g string), but that’s an E minor.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
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  13. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    Honestly no because it was a link that was going to make me click accept on some stuff and not just let me hear it, at which point I did not care enough. I am going on original YT link posted at top of thread.
     
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  14. Mai Tem Baht

    Mai Tem Baht Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phuket
    You really should try to hear the loop. I'm sure you'll change your mind when you hear it.
     
  15. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    it's a clean link and it's not going to make you accept anything - it just comes up, you click the mp3 file name and it plays.

    Listen to it and learn
     
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  16. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    It makes me accept terms of service from an unknown entity
     
  17. Cheepnik

    Cheepnik Overfed long-haired leaping gnome

    Yes, the Em is there for a millisecond, but AFAIK Them were the only ones ever to play it that way.
     
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  18. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
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  19. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
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  20. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Counterpoint:



    The Doors playing Gloria, Robby Krieger playing E E D A rinse and repeat. No accidental open strings implying an E minor, and it still cooks.

    Also, uh, NSFW.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  21. I've just transcribed what guitar and bass play on the first two measures of the original recording, which is the overall idea throughout. The E minor is very clear.

    [​IMG]
     
  22. SRC

    SRC That sums up Squatter for me

    Location:
    New York, NY
    That is awesome. That strikes me as even more accurate to what I'm hearing than the earlier transcription.
    Can I ask what software you used to render the chart?
     
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  23. Sure! I've been a Finale user since 1998. Glad you like it! :)
     
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  24. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    I always assumed the E was a "power chord", ie there's no third to decide if it's minor or major.

    Either way I've never heard anyone play it like Billy Harrison did on the record. Always sounds wrong.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  25. George Blair

    George Blair Senior Member

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    As a guitar player, my opinion regarding the playing of this song is to think as little as possible. I doubt there was ever a discussion, or even regard for how to strum the E when the original was recorded. It's a groove not a dissertation.
     
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