Here is a re-working of the chord structure of Hey Joe, made famous by Jimi Hendrix. Its an interesting chord progression as the first half of the progression is in E Aeolian and the second half is in F# Aeolian. They share a D Major chord which allows the progression to pivot around this chord. At the end of the analysis is the studio version I use in the demo.
Hey Joe chords are:
C G D A E
E aeolian part:
C G D
F sharp Aeolian part:
D A E
So to mess about with this, using The Mode Decoder, I have created a chord progression modulating between E Aeolian and B Aeolian (which pivots around the chord Bm instead – like this:
First 3 chords – E Aeolian
C G Bm
Last 3 chords – B Aeolian (which shares the Bm chord – and pivoting on it instead of the D as in the original)
Bm F#min A
To solo to this, solo with our old friend ‘minor pentatonic position 1’ on frets 12, 5 and 7 (as you would for for E Aeolian) but end the phrase on a Db note!
Finished progression:
C G Bm F#min A