The first five chords are descending minor chords. Though the melody is simple, the chords used to harmonise it are on the complex side. It’s pretty likely that Thundercat added this interval by ear because it fits the chord so well. This is the b5 interval of the C#m7b5 (C# E G B) so it helps accent the outside chord. This is the main ‘outside’ chord, so Thundercat throws in a G natural note from the regular old D major scale. The melody uses non-pentatonic notes in bar 4 to add some colour over the C#m7b5 chord. The sung notes are pretty colourful over the underlying chords, with the F# and B over the A chord to imply a jazz-favourite A major 6/9 chord and an E and A over the Dmaj7 chord to imply a colourful Dmaj9 sound. This is a less common way to harmonise than the more popular thirds harmony. The harmony is in fourths, meaning the higher note is a fourth interval (5 semitones) above the lower note. Some highlights of the melody are the harmonised notes at the end of bar 3. Although there are a few outside chords, you don’t have to change scale notes if they’re only passing chords. Like Them Changes, the key is simplicity. The vocal melody to Dragonball Durag is almost entirely composed of notes from the D major pentatonic scale. Again, this is an unresolved dominant chord, thrown in for colour and tension.
The section ends with C#m7b5 | F#7 which is a IIm V leading to Bm, which is the relative minor of D major. These are more diatonic chords in the key of D major and the sequence ends with a classic jazz IIm V I leading to the D chord. The next part of the Dragonball Durag chord sequence is Gmaj7 | F#m7 | Em7 | A | Dmaj7. Note that dominant chords don’t have to resolve as a V – I, they can be used just to add tension. The E7 chord at the end of bar 2 is a II7 chord used to create more tension at the end of a phrase. All of the guitar chords here are voiced in 5ths, for example, the first chord is a G5 power chord (G and D) played over an E bass note which creates an Emin7 chord (E, G and D). These are all diatonic chords in the key of D major and the bass line is simply ascending the D major scale starting from E. The first part of the chord sequence is Em7 | F#m7 | Gmaj7 | Asus4 | Bm7sus4.
The song is similar to Them Changes in that it employs a catchy melody over jazzy chord changes and a grooving drum beat.
You don’t need to worry about whether the extension notes fit within the song key, the idea is that the dominant chord should sound dissonant but be resolved by the chord following it.įor a full breakdown of the instruments and production of Lava Lamp, check out Noisechest’s Lava Lamp deconstruction!ĭragonball Durag is from Thundercat’s latest album, 2020’s It Is What It Is. The /E means that the bass note is an E, which makes it a slash chord.Īdding extensions like #5, b5, #9 and b9 are a great way to add a jazzy sound to dominant chords. The #5 means the fifth is sharped the fifth of F#7 is C#, so it’s raised a semitone to D, which is sung in the Lava Lamp harmony vocals. Long chord names can look scary, but it’s telling us that it’s an F#7 chord with an altered note and a different bass note. Lava Lamp is in the key of Bm, with a chord progression of Gmaj7 | Bm11 and the sequence ends with an F#7#5/E chord. The chords are almost entirely diatonic but the loop ends with a particularly spicy secondary dominant chord which I’ll have a look at. Again, you can hear the three-part harmony vocals more clearly by isolating the mid and sides of the mix as the vocals are alone in the sides of the mix. Lava Lamp showcases Thundercat’s melodic side with layered harmonised singing. It’s easy enough to write weird chord sequences, but it’s a much harder task to come up with a catchy, simple melody over the top.
This mixture of complex chords and simple melodies is one of Thundercat’s signature tricks.
It can be easy to overthink things when working with complex harmony, but here Thundercat shows us that the simple approach is often the best one. He doesn’t adjust any of the notes to fit the outside Gm7 chord because it’s only a passing chord. This keeps the melody catchy and easy to sing along with while still working over the jazzy outside chord progression underneath. In contrast, the vocal melody in Them Changes is simple and uses notes almost entirely from the Eb minor pentatonic scale. It’s a common jazz track to approach a chord chromatically from one step below (or above) as it adds chromatic tension with an easy way to resolve it. The Gm7 is the most ‘outside’ chromatic chord in the sequence, and it works because it chromatically shifts up a semitone to Abm7, which is in-key. The chords that are diatonic are the Cbmaj7, Abm and Ebm11 chords. Analysed with Roman numerals, the chords are VI, IIIm, IVm, IIm, Im.