Free Digital Sheet Music

Usually it is not a good thing to catch Dengue Fever unless it is the LA based band that mix 60s sounds with Cambodian pop. I’ve been giving their latest album Venus on Earth a good play in the car on the way to work and have fallen head over heels for the band. It is a strange brew and never mind most of the vocals are in Khmer. The exotic vocals of Chhom Nimol mix beautifully with the psychedelic inspired work of the rest of the band. Zac Holtzman plays most of the guitar on the album and is a very tasty player. I’ve been intrigued by some of the simple but very effective parts on the opening song Seeing Hands. So lets dig a little deeper into the guitar parts. Seeing Hands is based around the G Dorian mode with some extensions. The opening guitar motif is as follows: ---------3------------------------- -3-3-3-4---3--3-4-4-4-4-4-3---3---- ----------------------------5------ ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Zac is playing the fifth and then going to the raised fifth. This is what gives the into that very exotic sound as it is moves the tonality out of the key centre. Just before the vocals enter the song Zac goes to the following: ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ ---0-3-0-5-0-5b6-5-3-0---0-3-0-5-3-5-0---- -0---------------------0------------------ ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Here, he is showing us the raised 4th (or flatted 5th) with the bend up the C#. The licks pivoting around the 5th show some street smarts and show that tonal conventions are best practiced in breach rather than observance. The song continues in G. The ‘chorus’ is simply F - Bb - G - F and then hanging around in Bb for a bit which builds to a nice, euphoric tension. Like a lot of nifty guitar parts that sound cool and out there, there isn’t that much to it. There is a vocal part by Nimol in the song that sounds distinctly Asian. It is echoed on the guitar by Zac at 2:27 into the song. I though it was some wonderful new mode but have a look the notes Zac plays. ------------------ -------6---------- -3-5-7---7-5-3---- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------ Just bloody G Dorian. You’ll find the same notes in a blues or rock song. It is the phrasing that gives it the foreign sound. A lesson in that cool guitar parts don’t need to be fancy in technique or notes. Anyway, check out Seeing Hands for yourself.