F minor 9

The last dying rays of the twin setting suns glinted from the Wizard's spangled cape as he turned back into the cave. From within the depths, there reverberated the large and whooshy sounds of the sorcerer's massive bank of Casios.

"Aha," frowned the goblin, "he be in a mid-seventies mood, if that F minor with an F bass note is anything to go by." He sucked pensively on his clay pipe. "The way you have to play it is as a downward glissando, bringing each subsequent note in slightly behind the one preceding it. Takes him back to the days of Genesis and Supertramp..."

C AUGMENTED 9th

A CHORD stolen from beneath the fingers of Hendrix, J.J.Cale, and James Brown amongst others; the aug 9th can be used to replace either the root or fifth chords in blues. Play an ordinary C7 style open chord, then add in a D sharp on the B string, which gives you the 9th raised (augmented) a semi-tone. Nice, isn't it? Hendrix used it on 'Purple Haze', though he played it in E.

Books

Wild Animals - The Story Of The Animals by Andy Blackford (£7.95)

This is a story that'll draw you in - not only because it's about the "naughtiest and raunchiest" pop group of the Sixties (weren't they all?), but, more importantly for us, and unusually for most biogs, the music-making is never far from the surface. There's plenty of relevance to the 1980s, too, not least the group's tug-of-war between what they really wanted to play and pop success. Well written, and a lot of good, unusual pics.

Electronic & Experimental Music by Thomas B Holmes (£9.95)

Tackling electronic music as one enormous subject, even in a 280-page book, is tackling a lot. Better on early 20th Century technology but weaker on more recent innovations (Yamaha's revolutionary DX synths are absent, for example), this paperback includes an involved history of the music itself plus a discography that might get you into something more unusual than Talking Heads (who are here as "an adept blend of rock and abstract electronics"). Tough going in places, but worth a look in the library.