Inner Urge in E

Inner Urge in E

Joe Henderson's post-bop minor composition challenges soloists with Altered dominant tension and Lydian color against a searching E minor center. The harmonic ambiguity rewards players willing to push beyond conventional minor vocabulary into genuinely exploratory territory. The Bmaj7#11 – A#maj7#11 – G#maj7#11 – F#maj7#11 – Am7 – D7 – Gm7 – D#m7 – G#7 – C#Maj7 – Em7 – A7 – DMaj7 – F#m7b5 – B7b9 changes develop command of altered harmony and the kind of harmonic courage Henderson embodied.

Inner Urge in E

E major is arguably guitar's most powerful key. The open low E and high E strings ring sympathetically as the root, while the open B provides the fifth. This triple reinforcement gives E-based riffs and chords unmatched depth and volume. E is a beginner-level key on guitar because both the low E and high E strings ring as the root, and the open B is the fifth — three open strings reinforce the tonic chord. Beginners will find this key approachable since most chords use open voicings with minimal stretching.

Voice Leading

The bass line moves through B to A# (descending half step), A# to G# (descending whole step), G# to F# (descending whole step), F# to A (ascending minor third), A to D (ascending perfect fourth), D to G (ascending perfect fourth), G to D# (descending major third), D# to G# (ascending perfect fourth), G# to C# (ascending perfect fourth), C# to E (ascending minor third), E to A (ascending perfect fourth), A to D (ascending perfect fourth), D to F# (ascending major third), F# to B (ascending perfect fourth). A half-step bass movement creates a strong leading-tone pull that demands resolution. The root motion by larger intervals (fourths and fifths) gives each chord change a strong, decisive character. When the progression loops, the bass returns from B to B by unison.

Scales for Improvisation

E major pentatonic works because every note is either a chord tone or a safe passing tone — there are no avoid notes. For soloing, this means you can play freely without clashing. Over dominant seventh chords, E Mixolydian adds the flat seventh for an authentic blues-rock edge.