# what is this substitution called/ whats this ?



## johnfkingmatrix

hopefully i dont get in trouble for asking about songs from the wrong genre lol but idk anyone else who knows theory well. I was trying to reverse engineer this song and i hit a road block

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/guns-n-roses/yesterdays-chords-12732

i think i figured out its in Eminor /Gmaj key ?

The verse does typical V IV I stuff, then the chorus switches to relative minor for ii iii IV I
.. but in the solo there is a c# chord in there which is out of key and sounds really interesting. 
The best theory i have is that c# is a NOTE from the G blues scale

http://www.scalerator.com/?optionsD...&root=G&pattern=blues&tuning=ADBbEbGC&size=50

but this raises a few more questions 
-Why would it be the blues scale from the relative major, not the minor key ? (e blues)

-i understand that the NOTE c# is found in the blues scale, but how do they extrapolate which c# CHORD to be playing (minor major diminished etc?? ). the c# CHORD they use is not in that scale.

-is this a common thing, whats happening, how do i conceptualize this so that i can incorporate whats happening into my own stuff, rather than just going " wow thats interesting " and moving on. i really wanna grasp the "sound" thats happening here, and put a theoretical name to it!

- im really interested in how he would choose to solo over this, since i know during the solo you generally think of each chord as its own key, and can either safely stay within the songs key, or choose notes from the current chords key (right?) .. but.. c# pops up and thats obviously going to clash since its out of key.. so during that c# if i was soloing over it.. all of the sudden i have to be in c# minor?

its a lot of questions i know, hopefully there is a simple answer. as always much appreciated to all for answers !!


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## Bwv 1080

It comes from Slash’s years of study with Barry Harris on the use of 6th diminished scale

Seriously, this is Guns & Roses just chill, you can’t explain everything with some deep theory

Functional harmony is not important for rock / pop songs - they just cycle a few chords that may or may not all fall in a particular key

A basic beginner mistake is thinking that every note has to be derived from some scale - you can use all 12 notes within a perfectly conventional tonal piece, provided you resolve everything properly - Mozart was a master of this.


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## johnfkingmatrix

Bwv 1080 said:


> It comes from Slash's years of study with Barry Harris on the use of 6th diminished scale
> 
> Seriously, this is Guns & Roses just chill, you can't explain everything with some deep theory
> 
> .


hahaha thanks for finally giving me an answer.

i guess its true that they probably just do stuff randomly until something sounds good?

i know it probably seems like over-analyzation, i get he probably didnt do it for a theory reason.. im just trying to quantify the sound that im HEARING, so in the future I PERSONALLY know " ok thats ____ " or i can recreate it, because i know what it is.

so if u were to sum up what im hearing here.. would you just chalk the C#m in measure 33-34 up to "blues scale chromaticism" ?

You mentioned something about diminished work, but it doesnt sound like someone hitting some diminished scale?

Thanks for helping me


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## Bwv 1080

Yes most all the chromaticism in rock comes from blues scales


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