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Old 02-19-2010, 05:10 AM   #1
onewayout
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Default Need the chorus chords for Superstition

Hi Keyboardists.....

I just can't figure out the the chord structure for the chorus part of Stevie Wonder's "superstition" I'm a guitarists so have some patience with me... you know "WHEN YOU BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT YOU DON"T UNDERSTAND......."

I'm trying to recreate it on my midi keyboard...Please lemme know if you can not only give me the chords but all the notes in each chord....thanks a bunch, jeff
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Old 02-19-2010, 05:24 AM   #2
stupeT
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Should be:

Dsus4
Dm7
A7+5
G-5
D7-5
G7
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Old 02-19-2010, 05:26 AM   #3
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I donno squat about piano chords but I found this:

Code:
...SUPERSTITION... by Stevie Wonder
------------------.................

*from 'Talking Book' (1972)*


*CAPO 1st FRET*

(Original Key: Ebm)


Intro:

Dm  G7 (x8)

Verse 1:

           Dm       G7  Dm
Very super-stitious,
G7                Dm    G7  Dm
 Writing's on the wall.
G7          Dm       G7  Dm
 Very super-stitious,
G7                Dm   G7  Dm
 Ladders bout' to fall.

G7                  Dm   G7  Dm
 Thirteen month old baby,
G7                 Dm     G7  Dm
 Broke the lookin' glass.
G7              Dm        G7  Dm
 Seven years of bad luck,
G7                       Dm   G7, Dm  G7
 The good things in your past.

Chorus 1:

            A7       A#7b5
When you be-lieve in things,
         A7          G7b5            G7
That you don't under-stand, then you suffer.
(n.c.)                 (Dm)
 Superstition ain't the way.

Interlude:

Dm  G7 (x2)

Verse 2:

           Dm       G7  Dm
Very super-stitious,
G7                  Dm     G7  Dm
 Wash your face and hands.
G7             Dm      G7  Dm
 Rid me of the problem,
G7           Dm       G7  Dm
 Do all that you can.

G7            Dm        G7  Dm
 Keep me in a daydream,
G7             Dm     G7  Dm
 Keep me goin' strong.
G7               Dm      G7  Dm
 You don't wanna save me,
G7         Dm    G7  Dm  G7
 Sad is my song.

Chorus 2:

            A7       A#7b5
When you be-lieve in things,
         A7          G7b5            G7
That you don't under-stand, then you suffer.
(n.c.)                 (Dm)
 Superstition ain't the way.

Interlude:

Dm  G7 (x4)

Verse 3:

           Dm       G7  Dm
Very super-stitious,
G7               Dm   G7  Dm
 Nothin' more to say.
           Dm       G7  Dm
Very super-stitious,
G7                  Dm     G7  Dm
 The Devil's on his way.

G7                  Dm    G7  Dm
 Thirteen month old baby,
G7                 Dm    G7  Dm
 Broke the lookin' glass,
G7              Dm        G7  Dm
 Seven years of bad luck,
G7                       Dm    G7  Dm  G7
 The good things in your past.

Chorus 3:

            A7       A#7b5
When you be-lieve in things,
         A7          G7b5            G7
That you don't under-stand, then you suffer.
(n.c.)                  Dm  G7
 Superstition ain't the way,  no, no, no.

Coda:

Dm  G7

(Repeat to Fade)


CHORD DIAGRAMS:
---------------

   Dm      G7      A7     A#7b5   G7b5

 EADGBE  EADGBE  EADGBE  EADGBE  EADGBE
 xx0231  323000  x02223  x10130  3234xx
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Old 02-19-2010, 05:29 AM   #4
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Seems there are musicians among us after all!

A fine question that really made my day, and a refreshing departure from the usual fare of "What can I do when my quad-core maxes out at 134 tracks of audio" and "Can you please comment on my latest hip hop mix / rap lyrics [sic]".

Too bad I am not good enough to answer it on the fly, but it seems like this has already been taken care of ;-)

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Old 02-19-2010, 06:49 AM   #5
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Well, I've always played it in the original key (Eb minor), and I don't agree with the prior posts as all.

I play

| Bb13 B13 | Bb13 A13 | Ab 13 | Bb7#9b13 |


The first one I spell Ab D G, then that just moves around chromatically.

That last chord I spell Ab D Gb Bb Db, which is gonna take two hands, but hopefully you have two.

It's really just the V chord moving down to the IV chord with some chromatic wiggling around, then the V chord. With some Stevie Style.

OT but permit me to gloat: I saw Stevie in concert when he came to town last year, and he still played this, and he still used a real Clavinet.
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Old 02-19-2010, 06:55 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the all new rob View Post
Well, I've always played it in the original key (Eb minor), and I don't agree with the prior posts as all.

I play

| Bb13 B13 | Bb13 A13 | Ab 13 | Bb7#9b13 |


The first one I spell Ab D G, then that just moves around chromatically.

That last chord I spell Ab D Gb Bb Db, which is gonna take two hands, but hopefully you have two.

It's really just the V chord moving down to the IV chord with some chromatic wiggling around, then the V chord. With some Stevie Style.

OT but permit me to gloat: I saw Stevie in concert when he came to town last year, and he still played this, and he still used a real Clavinet.
At least I can confirm that the original key is Eb 8) I just transposed it for the sake of easiness.
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Old 02-19-2010, 06:57 AM   #7
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... and another view on this

I've played this in numerous bands for years in the key of E.
The chords I play over the section you mention are B7 C7b5 B7 A#7b5 A7 then B7#5, see picture below



You can add a #9 to the last chord as well. And maybe the #5 in the last chord could also be viewed as a b13.

Apart from the last chord, that's the same as ppwazzup's post, except his chords are for the key of D.

Or course there's no guarantee I'm playing it correctly, just because I've been playing it that way for years
This is what my version sounds like:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTGCM9ka8aI

Pete
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Old 02-19-2010, 07:01 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stratman;456503
Or course there's no guarantee I'm playing it correctly, just because I've been playing it that way for years :)
This is what my version sounds like:-
[url
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTGCM9ka8aI[/url]

Pete
Fairly close and the brass is spot on. And the singer is even better then little Steve...
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Old 02-19-2010, 07:04 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by onewayout View Post
I'm trying to recreate it on my midi keyboard...
Here's a meta-solution to the problem:

Re-arrange the song in early Human League retro style - that would relieve you of polyphonic worries.

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Old 02-19-2010, 07:14 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by El-Rallef View Post
Here's a meta-solution to the problem:

Re-arrange the song in early Human League retro style - that would relieve you of polyphonic worries.

El-Rallef
We're only human, born to make mistakes!
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Old 02-19-2010, 07:40 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stupeT View Post
We're only human, born to make mistakes!
Yeah - but that was from the later "We have polyphonic synths now" phase...

;-)
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Old 02-19-2010, 07:55 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by El-Rallef View Post
Yeah - but that was from the later "We have polyphonic synths now" phase...

;-)
Tall tall tall, I wanna be tall tall tall, as big as a wall wall wall, I wanna be tall... With big concentration, my size increased... now I'm 40 stores high - at least!

(monophonic phase!) 8)
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Old 02-19-2010, 08:41 PM   #13
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onewayout sent me a message asking if I'd post a midi of this, and here it is. And audio too just to keep anyone who'd like to hear it from having to load up a sequencer.

https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/284877/superstition.MID
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/284878/...ition-demo.mp3
(I had to play the fun part too, c'mon)

A couple notes: The functional part of the chords in the bridge is the
| Bb7 B7 | Bb7 A7 | Ab7 | Bb7 |

and you can play just that, without, any flat fives or thirteenths or other extensions, and it works, so don't worry. The b5 extensions that some of the other posts have will also work fine, and what I posted originally is just how I always played it, and the lesson is that the extensions aren't as important as the basic chromatically moving dominant seventh chords.

The midi file is what I'm playing on the clavinet VST, which is GSi's die funky maschine ZD6, which is far and away the best clav VST I've found, althouth the free proteus has a usable one too (minus controls that make it work like a clav).
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Old 02-19-2010, 09:40 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stratman View Post
... and another view on this

I've played this in numerous bands for years in the key of E.
The chords I play over the section you mention are B7 C7b5 B7 A#7b5 A7 then B7#5, see picture below



You can add a #9 to the last chord as well. And maybe the #5 in the last chord could also be viewed as a b13.

Apart from the last chord, that's the same as ppwazzup's post, except his chords are for the key of D.

Or course there's no guarantee I'm playing it correctly, just because I've been playing it that way for years
This is what my version sounds like:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTGCM9ka8aI

Pete
+1...always done it in E for convenience (for the guitars, not necessarily for the keys... )

http://www.kcgroovetherapy.com/sounds/Superstition.mp3

Scott
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Old 02-20-2010, 12:05 AM   #15
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Dang, I guess I had no idea you were in KC area, Scott. I'm gonna have to check out one of your shows.
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Old 02-20-2010, 12:57 AM   #16
onewayout
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Quote:
Originally Posted by the all new rob View Post
onewayout sent me a message asking if I'd post a midi of this, and here it is. And audio too just to keep anyone who'd like to hear it from having to load up a sequencer.

https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/284877/superstition.MID
https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/284878/...ition-demo.mp3
(I had to play the fun part too, c'mon)

A couple notes: The functional part of the chords in the bridge is the
| Bb7 B7 | Bb7 A7 | Ab7 | Bb7 |

and you can play just that, without, any flat fives or thirteenths or other extensions, and it works, so don't worry. The b5 extensions that some of the other posts have will also work fine, and what I posted originally is just how I always played it, and the lesson is that the extensions aren't as important as the basic chromatically moving dominant seventh chords.

The midi file is what I'm playing on the clavinet VST, which is GSi's die funky maschine ZD6, which is far and away the best clav VST I've found, althouth the free proteus has a usable one too (minus controls that make it work like a clav).
ROB SWEEEEEEET! Thanks and thanks for the plug in recommendation....I was using proteus and tik clav and trying to mix them together but it wasn't really there....I love ur sound man!
He is INCREDIBLE....(-' Thanks again for all the post this place ROCKS!

Last edited by onewayout; 02-20-2010 at 02:55 AM.
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Old 02-20-2010, 01:25 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stupeT View Post
And the singer is even better then little Steve...
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