Black Pumas "Colors" theory question

addedc

addedc

Experienced
Just trying to follow a friend's advice and learn the Nashville numbers for every song we are playing. This one has me stumped.

The chords are F#minor, A maj, E maj, F diminished, repeat.

I though diminished was usually a 7 chord. I looked online where it says that this tune is in the key of C#. But that doesn't make sense with a major A and E . Anyone have any guidance here? By the way it's a good tune and you can rip a good solo with the diminished section.
 
That's "Time", Pink Floyd. Maybe not explicitly playing that Fdim, but using the F as a passing tone from the E to the F#m chords. Yeah, you can solo all over it in F#m.
Or you could look at that F as the 7, if you played in F# harmonic minor. (I think. I'm not great with theory.)
 
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C# minor... AKA, E Major, contains Amaj, Emaj, F#min, C#min.

However, not the Fdim...

But, the Fdim has the same notes as Emaj except the F vs E note.

So the E to F helps the resolve to F#.

I'd probably approach this as F#min with a little "flavor" ;)

F# harmonic minor would also cover it except you'd have A augmented instead of Amaj.

Where's @joegold when you need him?

He'll probably explain where I'm all wrong :)
 
Great tune! I would suggest that you could think of the Fdim as a C#7. Also, it's in the key of F#m rather than C#. Then you would write the numbers as i-bIII-bVII-V7 (depending on which numbering system you use). :)
 
You can usually think of minor keys as having a variable 7th (and often 6th) degree. Using the natural minor scale until a V or vii° chord leading back to i is a pretty common thing. The F note is really E# in this context.

There's a C# as the top note in the guitar part throughout so the full band harmony ends up being F#m, A, E6, C#7/E#.
 
Bakerman said:
You can usually think of minor keys as having a variable 7th (and often 6th) degree. Using the natural minor scale until a V or vii° chord leading back to i is a pretty common thing. The F note is really E# in this context.

There's a C# as the top note in the guitar part throughout so the full band harmony ends up being F#m, A, E6, C#7/E#.
Click to expand...
Bingo! C#7/E# is the right one.
 
unix-guy said:
C# minor... AKA, E Major, contains Amaj, Emaj, F#min, C#min.
However, not the Fdim...
Click to expand...
That's not how I'd think of it.

Key of A major.
F#mi = vi
A = I
E = IV
F° = F,A♭,C♭ and D for F°7) = A♭ dim = G♯ dim = vii°

This also feels right given that the first two chords establish the key center of Amaj/F♯mi

So I'd say, simply:
Major: 6,1,4,7
or
Minor: 1,3,7,2
 
Admin M@ said:
That's not how I'd think of it.

Key of A major.
F#mi = vi
A = I
E = IV
F° = F,A♭,C♭ and D for F°7) = A♭ dim = G♯ dim = vii°

This also feels right given that the first two chords establish the key center of Amaj/F♯mi

So I'd say, simply:
Major: 6,1,4,7
or
Minor: 1,3,7,2
Click to expand...
My reference to C# min was about the OPs comment regarding the key being C#...

I also mentioned F# minor as my view of the key ;)
 
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