Melody Line in bVII / 降七級上的旋律線

Welcome to Soulless Project, this time in techniques from songs, we are going to use St. Vincent’s Happy Birthday, Johnny as a example to talk about melody line in bVII.

In the A section, most of the chords are in the key of Bb, except Ab, which is bVII in this key. There are different ways to write melody when you encounter this kind of borrowed chord. So let’s look at the A section to see how St. Vincent deals with it.

The notes in the 3rd and 4th bars are Bb, C, D,and F. The same group of notes as in 1st and 2nd bars. But the difference is, in first two bars, this group of notes sounds like normal major scale, while in 3rd and 4th bars, this group of notes sounds more Lydian with the Ab chord being played.

You can deem the melody line using the major pentatonic scale of 2nd degree of Ab. Even more the major pentatonic scale of the 5th degree of Eb, since Ab Lydian is the 4th mode of Eb major. 

So, now we know that, when we encounter bVii chord in a progression, we can just use the major pentatonic of the I to create some Lydian flavor.

If you are interested in using different pentatonic scale in the same chord, you can check out the video I made before to try out more. Otherwise, I will loop the A section for you, when you encounter the Ab chord try to use Bb major pentatonic to create some interesting lines!

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這次Techniques From Songs將以St. Vincent的Happy Birthday, Johnny為例，來談談在降七級和弦中的旋律線。

在A段，多數的和弦都在Bb大調的順接和弦中，除了Ab和弦是這個調的降七級。面對降七級這種借用和弦時，有很多方法可以寫出旋律線，在這裡，我們就看看St. Vincent是怎麼做的。

在Ab和弦的第三、四小節中出現的音分別是Bb、C、D、跟F，跟第一、二小節是同一組音。但不一樣的地方是，在第一、二小節，這組音配上Bb和弦，感覺起來會是自然大調音階；在第三、四小節，這組音配上Ab和弦，感覺起來會有Lydian的風味。

我們可以視這段旋律線為使用Ab大調第二級和弦的大調五聲音階所編成，甚至想成Eb大調第五級和弦的大調五聲音階所組成。因為Ab Lydian即是Eb大調的第四級調式。

因此，現在我們知道，當遇到降七級和弦時，可以使用第一集的五聲音階應對，來產生Lydian感覺的效果。

我將在影片最後做一段A段的Loop，試著在遇到Ab時，使用Bb大調五聲音階，來產生一些有趣的句子。假若對於這種在同一個和弦使用不同的五聲音階的主題有興趣的話，可以參考我之前做的影片。