Whats the theory behind "Black"?

Dogman3

Mike solos over Dsus-C-Em, but he's using some sort of scale throughout in the Key of E I believe, but I'm unsure of what sort of scale it is. Help?

ianvomsaal

Black starts in the Key of A-Major/F#Minor and then modulates to E-Minor/G-Major.
I believe Mike's solo is just played within the pentatonic scale of the modulated key.

Dogman3

Why and how does it modulate to E minor?

Mike_Muse_Rage

The verses are in A major, the chorus is in E minor. Mike solos over the chorus chords.

ianvomsaal

Dogman3 wrote:

Why and how does it modulate to E minor?

Take a look at the music - The tune switches keys in the chorus (it goes from 3-sharps in the verse to 1-sharp in the chorus).
And with a little music theory, you know that 3#'s = A.Major (or it's relative F#Minor) AND 1# = E.Minor (or it's relative G.Major).
You can pretty much modulate a key down by removing sharps (or flats) without it sounding to abrasive - but it's modulating the
key up that might not sit well with some listeners (adding a sharp or two when there wasn't one sometimes sounds disagreeable).
Corroborating this as you see, some people didn't even know that the key had changed at all

Dogman3

Ah, I see. Yeah, I get it. But say I don't have sheet music to determine the amount of sharps, and whatnot. Than how would I determine what to solo?

opsopcopolis

Its just the E pentatonic scale:

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12--15----

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12---14

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12---14

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12---14

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12---14

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-12---15

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With some minor notes in their, all based around the riff:

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---12--13--15---13---12--13--12

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Which means you can throw in some minor notes like:
--12-14-15

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12-13-15

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11-12-14----

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ianvomsaal

Dogman3 wrote:

Ah, I see. Yeah, I get it. But say I don't have sheet music to determine the amount of sharps, and whatnot. Than how would I determine what to solo?

I typically use Ionian (Major) or Aeolian (Minor) MODES to figure out my key if I don't have the notation.
You've got 12 places to try since there are 12 total notes in music (including all the sharps/flats). Just
work your way up the fretboard playing either Major/Minor MODE until you find a place that works well.
It may take you a few times around to actually find the place that works the best - then of coarse you
can just blues/pentatonic it out - Here you go: http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/ianvomsaal/Scales--Modes-Diagrams-Fingerings.jpg