Years ago, I was at Fazio's Frets 'n Friends (music store) in St. Louis... I walked in the door and Brian Vaccaro, a jazz guitarist and the head of the teaching department at Fazio's said, "Hey, Bluegrass man! Listen to this!"...
They had Bela Fleck playing on the store CD player through a concert-sized PA system... Bela was playing "Ballad of Jed Clampett"... and I immediately noticed something was awry...
I was hearing diminished chords and riffs all over this Scruggs classic...
Now, there normally aren't diminished chords in bluegrass... so this jumped right out...
The seed was planted...
Here is my rendition of 'Ballad of Jed' with a simple diminished chord substitution on the A chord...
There is also a 2-measure diminished lick substitution in the tag ending...
It sounds very colorful and really... to my ears... sounds like it belongs there... what do YOU think?
All of the diminished chord and lick substitutions are visible on the second and lower staff... I left the A chord in the rhythm... it still sounds right...
Ballad of Jed Clampett with Diminished Chord Substitutions - Tabledit
Ballad of Jed Clampett with Diminished Chord Substitutions - MIDI
See attached PDF sample...
Tom
www.banjotom2.com