Inversions, Pedal Tones, Cocteau Twins

I’ve been playing around with chord inversions and pedal tones, two great ways to bring new life to stale chord progressions. Here’s a fun little piece I threw together that sounds great on a 12-string acoustic. It reminds me of the outro to Cocteau Twins’ “Fotzepolitic” from their exquisite Heaven or Las Vegas release:

E--10-9--8--7--6--5--3--
B--10-10-8--8--6--6--3--
G--11-9--9--7--7--5--4--
D--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--
A-----------------------
E-----------------------

Strum real loose — you want that D string to resonate like crazy. If you bar the top three strings with your index finger, you can alternate using your middle finger on the G string and your ring finger on the B string while working your way down the neck. Pretty slick.

Here’s another way to play this progression that’s a little more economical but not as much fun:

E--5--5--8--7--6--5--7--
B--7--5--8--8--6--6--8--
G--7--6--9--7--7--5--7--
D--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--
A-----------------------
E-----------------------

Happy playing.

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