Lee Barry Composition Diary

  Sometimes two pieces of music can be played against one another.  These are two tracks from Music For Places II .  You can try this yourself by playing the following links in separate browser tabs:  Cold Caldera Atacama Left and right can get along if the keys are close, if the possible dissonant intervals are less probable, and that there are no rhythmic grids that could clash. (Different tempos never get along)

What I've always liked about DADGAD (other than a more easily playable F chord) is the use of open strings against fretted notes to get 'chimey' chords, without hand contortions.   Here are a few of my favorite go-to voicings:     Harmonic Cycling in DADGAD     The cycle consists of shifting from a first inversion major chord to a first inversion minor, then moving the pattern up in minor thirds (3 frets), then descending in major seconds (2 frets).   You can listen to online at Musecore . The harmony is complex but the fingering is extremely easy, and are essentially barre chords where only one finger changes position.    Transpositions very often result in strange enharmonic spellings, and in this case, wraps around on an enharmonic spelling on G# and Ab.  The bass can follow the guitar, or play a combination of roots and inversions. It functions more as a melody. Other instruments can also weave in similar counterpoints by choosing an...