The Regular Friday Post
Rando lyrics: "I got to move on I got to travel Walk away my blues"
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, "Blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me", is from the song “Someday Soon”, a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Ian Tyson and recorded in 1963 with Sylvia Fricker. The song is most well known for it’s 1968 cover by Judy Collins, with numerous other artists covering it as well. Credit: Wikipedia Link: Someday Soon
First: Apologies if your Friday post last week had the word [COPY] in the title. I use the previous week’s post as a sort of template by saving it as a draft (which automatically inserts the word “COPY”), deleting the content but saving the various section heading and common elements so I turn out reasonably consistent posts for each day. The word [COPY] stays in so I know I’m still editing, then when I’ve proofread and adjusted things enough, I remove the word [COPY] and post. Sort of like releasing the parking brake before heading down a steep hill, I imagine. Got in a bit of a hurry last week and failed to release the final safety……sorry.
“One more thing”… before we get to it today. I’m a Mac guy, have been for years, with Powerbooks, iMacs, MacBooks, iPhones, iPads, whatever. I was a Mac guy when Steve was there, then not there, then there again and things were insanely great, and still were even after Steve passed away. I’m still a Mac guy. I record in Logic Pro X, I’m writing this newsletter on the MacBook Pro I use for recording and writing songs and copyrighting them. A couple of days ago, I did a normal thing. I upgraded my iPhone to iOS 17. And… poof, notifications stopped functioning. Lots of things I was used to with Apple products, such as them “just working”, suddenly didn’t. Then, my iPhone stopped connecting to my WiFi, for no apparent reason a day or so after the upgrade. My MacBook and iPad (not upgraded to new OS yet) still did, just fine - nothing wrong with my WiFi or WiFi provider. I searched on those devices to find a solution, and did: Shut off the iPhone using the menu “Shut Down” function, not just holding down the side buttons. Then shut down and restart the WiFi modem. When the modem reboots, restart the iPhone. Yay, I have WiFi access on my phone again. If you’ve experienced these issues, maybe trying this procedure will help, but that’s not what this rant is about.
We trusted you, Apple.
Steve and Steve with Woz really did do insanely great things. We trusted the rest of you to design and make things that made life easier and more productive because they “just worked”. A lot of engineers and design folks at Apple have stoked our imagination and productivity with insanely great innovation. What happened?
Why can you no longer pull off a simple OS upgrade without major heartburn for your users?
Also, this isn’t about me being pissy - when I searched for a solution using my not-upgraded devices, I found numerous articles with headings like “How To Solve Problems With iOS 17 Update On iPhone”. Obviously a pretty widespread problem. Fortunately, at least a few of them (none of them service announcements from Apple itself) provided solutions.
Do better, Apple, with who you’ve got, or get someone else who can.
Unless maybe, you want me to buy someone else’s stuff?
Thus endeth the rant…..
Welcome to the Regular Friday Post!
Friday posts are about playing and music theory.
Link> Dominant 7 Chords
So, since I’m kind of already in rant mode, I want to disagree with the title of the linked article (when you open it, it’s not what I titled the link) right up front. What’s a Seventh (7th) chord? What’s a Seven (7) chord? For our purposes here, a “Seven” chord (7 Chord), is a triad chord with some flavor of a seventh interval note above. What does that mean? Seven chords come in different flavors - Major7s, minor7s, Dominant7s, Majorminor 7s, b7b5 7s and probably others I don’t remember right now. What’s the difference? Part of the difference can be the character of the triad below - is it Major, minor, b5, augmented5? What about the 7 interval above the triad? Major, minor?
What’s the difference in a 7 chord, vs a 7th chord? In music theory we start with a note, any one of the 12 notes in Western music and build a scale off of that note. A Major scale is always built the same way of Half- and Whole- step intervals. Chords are then built off of the seven notes that occur at those intervals, according to the formula for the key. The most basic is a triad chord, consisting of the root note, which is one of the 7 diatonic notes in the scale, to which is added a minor or Major third interval, and a Perfect fifth interval. Whether the chord is Major or minor depends on where the root note of the chord occurs in the scale. If the root is the Tonic (first note), Perfect 4th (4th note) or Perfect 5th (fifth note), the resulting chord is Major (meaning a Major third in the triad). If the root of the chord is the second note in the scale, the third note in the scale or the sixth note in the scale, the chord is minor, because it will have a minor third in the triad. If the root of the chord is the seventh note in the scale, the resulting chord will be a “diminished” chord, meaning it has both a minor third interval and a minor fifth interval in the triad.
Thus for our purposes here, a “7th” chord is a diminished triad rooted on the last (7th) note of the particular scale, and may have a 7th interval of some sort as well, or not. But a “7 chord” is any triad chord in the key with a seventh interval of some flavor above.
Other writer’s mileage may vary, but that’s how I’m doing it, because it makes sense to me. If you’re playing with others, come to some agreement on the naming before you get too far into rehearsal/performance so you’re all thinking the same way.
All right, rant over, what is a Dominant 7 chord? It’s basically a Major triad rooted on the Perfect fifth of a scale with a minor 7th interval above it, that is, stacking intervals from a particular Perfect Fifth root to the Major third above that root to the Perfect Fifth above that root to the minor 7th interval above that root. Why does it have to be the chord rooted on the Perfect Fifth of the scale? Because classic music theory says there can only be one Dominant chord in a key, be it a triad or 7 chord - the one that is rooted on the Perfect Fifth of that key. Why? It has to do with the musical tension that is created as a scale progresses from the root note to the higher pitched notes, and the fifth interval of the scale being the more or less “perfect” and thus “dominant” tension, with the subdominant IV chord being “sorta”perfect, too, just not quite as perfect in tension. I guess.
What does it all mean? Especially, what does it mean in 12 Bar Blues when every chord is a Dominant chord but any particular key can only have one Dominant chord, rooted on the perfect 5th of the key?
It means, we sure like breaking the rules… 12 Bar Blues
Blues “changes” as they may be called rather than keys (because they’re breaking all the “rules” of a “key”), are a staple of modern music and if it breaks the rules but sounds good, we do it. Thus non-diatonic notes and chords in scales and keys and some number of different “dominant” chords in musical progressions where the “rules” only allow for one per key are a part of our musical landscape - 8 bar blues, whatever - take a look at the Wikipedia article linked in the paragraph above (12 Bar Blues) at how many variations there are. Yeah, we break the rules a lot, with impunity and we enjoy the results. Just make sure all the folks you’re playing or collabing with are thinking the same…..
Some Links for today:
This one really belongs in the Thursday posts, but I missed it yesterday, so I’m crossing the streams….again…. Copyright Infringement Notice
It looks like this. I’d strongly recommend you consult an attorney to help guide you if you learn of someone using your copyrighted material without permission or compensation.
A couple of videos from Soundfly, a site that is coming up with some very interesting stuff lately, I especially like how the first one fits with the rule-breaking thoughts above:
Space Saving Disclaimer!: This Substack, (not just the first one!) is free, always will be, none of the people or companies or products I link to or write about pay me a damn thing. Neither do you unless you buy my song(s) (See what I did there?). Some stuff may be copyrighted by somebody else…whatever. “Fair Use” doctrine for “educational purposes” (Link: Fair Use) applies, suckers! No stinkin’ AI here unless it’s in something I link to. So.
Michael Acoustic
Thank you, new Subscribers!!!!!! Mika, the Cat, welcomes you!!
This Week’s Conversation With Mika:
Mika: “Yeah, so?”
Pretty short conversation, actually….
A Song To Play - Thanks to fellow Substack writer Steve Goldberg of “Earworms and Song Loops” - which is fabulous and you should go subscribe right now! LINK> Earworms And Song Loops
Last week’s rando lyrics featured the Brian Fallon song “A Wonderful Life”. Mr. Goldberg sent a link to a great cover by Mr. Fallon of a song by The Clash, “Lost In The Supermarket”. I like the cover so much (yeah, in large part because I’m an unabashed Brian Fallon fan…), it’s today’s A Song To Play:
Note the lyrics from Genius below reflect the original song as performed by The Clash as Track 8 on the 1979 album “London Calling”. Mr. Fallon’s cover is somewhat different lyrically (same lyrics, as far as I can tell he didn’t add any, just a different lyrical arrangement, which isn’t uncommon in live performances) but I happen to like it. I am unaware of Mr. Fallon ever recording the cover for release, and I assume without knowing the performance above was not released elsewhere other than YouTube. (If you know differently. please let me know!) A note on the Chordify chord chart - it appears to me Mr. Fallon is playing the song in the Key of CMaj, probably to fit his vocals - the song was originally written in the Key of EMaj, and would need a capo on the 4th fret to play in the original key but with the chord shapes listed below. I personally would certainly follow Mr. Fallon’s lead and transpose to CMajor with no capo, but your mileage may vary.
Key of EMaj (original) transposed with capo here to chord shapes of CMajor. You can just leave the capo off and play it in C if it fits your vocal range better, or if you like, you can find the original in EMaj on Chordify or likely also on Ultimate Guitar (both require a subscription). Common 4/4 time, pretty quick 150 BPM.
Lyrics Credit, Genius: Lost In The Supermarket
[Chorus]
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
[Verse 1]
I wasn't born, so much as I fell out
Nobody seemed to notice me
We had a hedge back home in the suburbs
Over which I never could see
I heard the people who live on the ceiling
Scream and fight, most scarily
Hearing that noise was my first ever feelin'
That's how it's been, all around me
[Chorus]
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
[Verse 2]
I'm all tuned in, I see all the programs
I save coupons from packets of tea
I've got my giant hit, discotheque album
I empty a bottle, I feel a bit free
The kids in halls and the pipes in the walls
Making noises for company
Long distance callers make long distance calls
And the silence makes me lonely
[Chorus]
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
[Bridge]
And it's not here
It disappeared
[Chorus]
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
[Bridge]
I'm all lost
[Chorus]
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for the special offer
Guaranteed personality
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options)
What I’m Listening2: So, after ranting about Apple, I was pleasantly surprised by a Spotify feature. New to me, but not actually sure it’s new, maybe I just haven’t noticed it. Probably AI driven, but it’s done right, at least - this is a great mix of songs and artists I love to listen to. Hope you will too….
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
Good stuff, Michael. Please, write about the Crossroads some day, and the Delta bluesmen. (Robert Johnson).
Great post again, as always! Even the music theory stuff that goes over my head makes me feel smarter. And thanks for sharing the Brian Fallon clip and giving me the shout out!