the same chord shape-different musical contexts

Bones

Maybe he just knew it as a 7th chord and not a 'dominant'. I'm sure Bireli knows plenty of chord names....??? I bet if you put a grille in front of him he could hold down the rhythm chair NP.

Buco

That's what I mean Bones. I watched an interview where Bireli didn't know what the interviewer meant when asked about the tritone substitutions.
It's clear to me that these guys learn aurally and visually. They learn music directly from music and through music.
But are you telling me that if you asked Paulus to play you Am then Dm he'd reply what are those?

wim

Buco wrote: »

...one of my big "aha's" was when I started to realize that the root of the chord doesn't have to have a tonic note in the bass

Indeed, sometimes you don't even need the tonic note at all!

You can give glimpses of the underlying harmony using simple triads or diads, picking a few interesting 'colour' notes from the underlying function of the chord (e.g. a 3rd and a 7th).

It's like how a talented artist can sketch a few simple lines onto the paper, and still communicate some complex emotion. When you look at the page literally, there's just some little pencil scratches. But when the important lines are there, put in exactly the right places, then the brain fills in the rest.

Like a great novel or film, omitting some info and offering some "hints" can sometimes give a better result than spelling everything out.