Just bought a songbook for The Allman Brothers. Blue Sky is shown with 3 #'s in the signature, indicating the key of A. However the chord progression is E major, B major, A major, D/A throughout out the song. The main riff begins on E major and ends on E major (the note, not the chord).
So I wondered, E is the 5th interval of A, so maybe it’s E Mixolydian so the key signature shows A? But the main riff includes a G#, and if the song is E mixolydian, that should be a flat 7, or G, not G#.
Or, maybe the song is simply in the key of A and the chord progression is V, II, I, IV - but II is major?? The key center definitely feels like E, but I can’t figure out why the Key Signature isn’t matching.
And G# is very much part of the E Mixolydian scale! E is the 1 and your flat 7 would be the D-chord. In E major there would be no D chord, there would be no D, only a D#. G# is the 7 of the A major scale but you have to start counting on the E as 1 and then up.
Duh - that makes sense about the G#, and I knew that but got confused… these modes take a minute to get ingrained… I appreciate the reply Molly. Seems to me like E Mixolydian as well, and that’s the approach I was taking. Until I was viewing the new Justin Solo Blues Course and he’s showing a progression with E7, and he called it out as really E Mixolydian (as opposed to E Major Scale). So I looked at the key signature, and there are 4#'s, indicating key of E. This is actually what caused me to post my question – if Justin’s example is technically E Mixolydian, shouldn’t his key signature be A with 3 sharps? Instead he shows 4 sharps. BTW - the reference is to SOLO BLUES - SIX LOW & SLOW PRIMER on Justin’s new Solo Blues Course.
I have not watched that lesson yet but just quickly glanced over the tab and I see a natural sign in front of most D-notes - there are a few exceptions in bars with chromatic runs. So I guess it’s an editorial choice - put 4 sharps to show the tonal centre (E) but then naturalise all D-notes, or put 3 sharps to show which notes have to be played sharp but they are not indicating the total centre. Never thought about this choice … too much tab-only reading these days After some pondering I think I prefer (slightly) Justin’s approach to show the tonal centre, but it comes at the price of having to put all the natural signs.
I like Justin’s approach as well. It does feel like editorial choice. But my oh my, how challenging to figure all this out if you’d never attempted to study any theory concepts. Thank goodness for Justin Guitar, right? Thanks again Molly - appreciate the insight and help. Best regards.
I’m not an expert in reading notation, but I’m pretty sure that Blue Sky is in the key of E.
The main chords are E (I), A(IV), and B(V). The D/A is a borrowed chord that is only used in passing. If the key was E mixolydian, you would expect the B to be a Bm.
The solo is primarily using E major pentatonic scale along with the A note and occasionally using the D# - all notes of the E major scale. If you try playing the D note during the solo, it does not sound good.
All this leads me to thinking that the song is in the Key of E.
Hi Rob. I agree the song feels like E Major. The chord progressions and riffs all follow E. But the key signature is definitely A Major with 3 sharps. That’s what has me scratching my head. The song book is a Hal Leonard songbook. So maybe it’s a typo??
It is a typo on the sheet music. When I read your post my first thought was Blue Sky is in E(big Allman Brothers fan) so I looked it up. Every piece of sheet music I could find on the internet has 4 sharps.
The D chord is probably what cause the typo because it’s the 4th of A but in Blue Sky it could be a borrowed chord or flat 7
If you learn lots of ABB songs you’ll find a lot of Mixolydian and Dorian modes or the minor pentatonic scale with the 9th added. Dichey Betts add the 9th a lot in his solos. This gives that distinct sound to his playing.
Wow, it’s hard enough to figure all this stuff out - throwing in a typo as a curve ball really keeps you on your toes!
Any way, thanks for asking the question because it gave me a good excuse to dig into this great song and apply some newly gained music theory knowledge.
Thanks Stitch for checking the other sheet music to verify.
In all this I have one big question. If a song is being played entirely in Dorian, or Mix, does the key signature always indicate the base key? For example, if a song is played in G Mix, would the key signature indicate key of C? No sharps/no flats? Is there generally any notation on the sheet that the song is to be played in G Mix? Or whatever mode is intended ?
Like I said in an earlier reply, if someone didn’t know anything about modes and was trying to apply chord progression logic based on the key signature - it would surely be confusing if the song was actually being played in D Dorian.
Still - I love this stuff. Twists my brain in knots sometimes but it’s great mental exercise.
For me, there are two different ways to look at it, theoretical and practical.
From the theoretical point of view, modes are based off of the key signature. So, for instance, D Mixolydian is a mode of the G scale - it uses the same notes and the same chords as G - but we are using them with a different way - a different mode.
From a practical point of view, I think of the D Mixolydian scale as as a D Major scale with a flattened 7. This means the when I’m playing a lead, I can use patterns where D is the 1 and then just flatten the 7th note.
I play by ear (product of the 70s) and don’t read music so I really can’t help with that. What I do know about modes is each has a very distinct sound so that is my clue when figuring out music.
How I was taught to hear mode is was to play a one chord track and play the modes over them one at a time and you will hear how they change the mood of the track. Just like Major is happy minor is sad.
The only modes I really use is Ionian(major) Aeolian(minor) Dorian and Mixolidian. But I don’t think of the as mode, I just see thm as different notes.
The Dorian is the minor pentatonic with the added 6 and 9 and the Mixolydian is the Major scale with the flat 7 so the easiest to learn
I usually don’t post other teacher’s lessons but Justin and Marty are friends so I think this should be OK. Jessica uses the Ionian, Mixolidian and Dorian and you can really hear the difference and it’s fun to play. I play it on my accoustics.
After some pondering I think I prefer (slightly) Justin’s approach to show the tonal centre, but it comes at the price of having to put all the natural signs.