Music Lesson: Double Agent

Next up is a tune called Double Agent.

This actually started life as a piece called Private Dick. For some reason, the title didn't catch fire, but I've since made some modifications conceptually, not compositionally. Originally, I kind of thought of it in detective terms, but I realized that because the harmonies are kind of convoluted, it really is more of a spy story, kind of more Len Dayton than Raymond Chandler.

Opening

I think the opening is just a little vamp over an E minor 6. Getting into the melody at 6, what you've got here are all these "double 07" chords, as I call them.

• It's a minor chord with a major seventh and a ninth:
  • E minor nine
  • Major seven
  • Then to a B
  • Back to the E minor

It's just really oscillating between the E minor and the B chords. Each time you get to the chord, it has a little bit of a different character to it.

Again, there's a minor nine with the major seven, all really based around the melodic minor.

Quick Note on Melodic Minor

Just a quick note about melodic minor:

• Major sixth and major seventh on the way up
• Minor sixth and minor seventh on the way down

What that gives you is these kinds of chords where you have, for example, a D sharp and a D natural both in the same chord. That's because what you end up with is a chromatic scale. If you add the blues flat five, you really only have two other notes left out of the minor, out of the chromatic scale, to complete it. You could probably do that, and then you have a complete chromatic scale.

B Section

The B section starting at 22 is a C9 chord just moving up chromatically with a lick in the middle.

That's right, is what I do there. Then back to the song.

Sometimes it slides up like that and then it vamps. If that, it does that vamp before the solo, that's what I do on the recording.

Improvisation

Over the changes, just improvising over the E minor to B, that's a whole other video.

Getting into teaching improvisation here, the C9 augmented 11 is something I love. Just the modality of this, something along those lines over the changes, maybe throwing in the occasional chord. You still want to keep that swing groove going, etc.

Then coming back on that bridge section, which would be the sign that happens at measure 22. Actually, you know, I think I would come back with the theme at 6 with the sign.

Otherwise, it's pretty straightforward.

Ending

The ending, just give it a bit of a shake on that last chord.