The ShadowMusic Web Community

A question from someone (not me!) who plays guitar...

"There is one chord in Maroc 7 I have trouble with, it's an A#m with an E in it, making it (I think) an A# diminished chord. When I play it, it sounds totally correct but the voicing that Bruce Welch uses is a real mystery to me, wrapped up in some 60s tone I simply can't reproduce. Any covers of Maroc 7 I've heard on YouTube, none of them play the chord correctly I think and it's masked by the Hank part."

Can anyone here answer or comment on that? Also, I am going to assume that the Shads never played Maroc 7 live, although I know they performed it on TOTP. Was this mimed and is this footage still in existence? Thanks.

Is it possible to state the number of seconds into the recording where this chord appears, please?

Do you or your friend hear the same (correct) chord and voicing in either of the backing tracks published by Legend or Ian McCutcheon?

Or, for that matter, within the full "demonstration" versions by either act?

As it happens, I also have a version from 1997, recorded by "The Apaches" (also somewhat prophetically known as "Shades of Grey", though an indeterminate number of) on a CD entitled "20 years Of the Shadows" (Going For A Song (UK) GFS 032, stereo). I'd also ask whether the chord is audible there.

I have checked carefully through my database, but cannot trace a live version of "Maroc 7" by The Shadows.

Here is a response I've had to my request for further details...

The chord is when the main theme (melody) begins (not the C7 intro).

Melody we have: F, Eb, Bb, F, ?

I'm pretty sure the ? chord is Bbdim (an E on top of a Bb flat chord, a Bb diminished chord), that's what I'm hearing anyway, just no idea where Bruce is playing it.

On the Legend version, I'm sure he (Ian? Short bloke with grey hair?) plays a Bb minor chord which works, but I don't think it's the exact chord on the original.

It would be nice if there was some original sheet music out there.

Naturally, as I wouldn't know a C chord from a Z chord, most of the above means nothing to me. Hopefully the experts on here will be able to deduce what he's on about. I too had wondered about sheet music...

drakula63 wrote:Here is a response I've had to my request for further details...

It would be nice if there was some original sheet music out there.

Hi Chris,

I have sent you an email.

Ulrich

The chord is a C7 with the Bb in the bass. The melody is adding another note - D# - which would make the total chord C7#9. You could finger that x3234x. That isn't the chord that Bruce is playing in the original record though. It sounds to me that he is playing a straight cowboy C.

It says "Bbm6" in the original sheet music...

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/203477848056?ha ... SwzZxgs82Z

I'm not sure how you would finger that, though.

Following on with this, can anyone say what key this is played in? A basic question, but I'm trying to get my head around simple music theory and it's a bit of a struggle. If my understanding is right (and I don't think it is!), then going from the flats & sharps in the chords, it's in B flat, changing to G.

Cheers,

Cliff

Moderne wrote:It says "Bbm6" in the original sheet music...

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/203477848056?ha ... SwzZxgs82Z

I'm not sure how you would finger that, though.

It may be worth mentioning that in a recent interview with Bruce (on Youtube somewhere), Bruce talks about his knowledge of chords, and claims that he simply plays whatever sounds nice, adding notes to basic chord shapes as needed, and often doesn't know the name of the resultant chord. He demonstrates one of his favourite sounding chords, and then says he has no idea what it is. The interviewer identified it as some exotic variation of a B chord (suspended/diminished with some numbers- can't remember). With that in mind, it's no surprise that some Shadows chords are tricky to identify.

In the same interview, he also claimed that he never plays full barre chords, leaving out the low "E" string as "that's what the bass player is for" . I have to say, I like his style and admire his total lack of pretentiousness.

Cliff

The song is in the key of F major. Only altered notes would have a sharp, such as #9.

UlrichS wrote:

drakula63 wrote:Here is a response I've had to my request for further details...

It would be nice if there was some original sheet music out there.

Hi Chris,

I have sent you an email.

Ulrich

Thanks. But nothing has arrived.