As part of the students learning at City of Bath College the instrumental tutors perform to the class presenting them with a close look at the structures, techniques and musical approaches that different genres of music demand.
This term we are looking at Motown, the genre that brought us legendary artists such as Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Jackson 5 to name just a few. Today we performed Stevie Wonders ‘Superstition’.
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Performing: Lee Risdale (Vocals), Clive Stocker (Keys), Tom Gardiner (Drums), Duncan Kingston (Bass), Richard Perkins (Guitar).
I talked specifically about the chord movement in the chorus of the song. This progression mixes Dom7, Dom7b5 and Dom7#5 chords to produce a chromatic line that shares two lead common tones – F# and E – that the horn section play. See my explanation in the video below:
This is my arrangement of the chord progression in the chorus:
Notice the common lead tones (F#) between the B7, C7b5 back to the B7 again, and then between the Bb7b5 and A7 (E), which the horns play as their melody in this section.
Check out these versions of ‘Superstition’:
- Superstition (Original) – Stevie Wonder: YouTube Link
- Superstition (Live) – Stevie Ray Vaughan: YouTube Link
- Superstition (Acoustic) – Adam Rafferty: YouTube Link
