Help needed!

[Zaney]

I'm playing octaves that for the most part follow the guitar chord progression. However, I am playing an F# when the guitar plays an Eb minor chord. Our guitarist says this is not musically correct. Is he right? Here is the chord progression with bass octaves next to it:


Guitar Bass

C# C# octave (2 bars)
F minor F# octave (2 bars)
Bb Bb octave (2 bars)
Eb minor F# octave (1 bar)
C - Ab Ab (1 bar)


Cheers

[FretlessMainly]

Well, technically the minor 3rd of Eb is a Gb, which is enharmonically equivalent to an F# (at least on a fretted instrument), so perhaps the confusion is in mixing sharps and flats. In any case, you are playing the correct note if you want the minor 3rd of Eb, but refer to it as a Gb.

That said,your progression uses sharps in the first few changes and flats in the latter sets - this implies some actual key change from a sharp key signature to a flat key signature, which may or may not be the actual case (it doesn't appear that way, especially since you don't flesh out the functions of the chords - is C# a C#Maj7?, for example). Better to use either sharps or flats through the changes unless there is a noted key change to justify use of both.

[mambo4]

as FretlesMainly points out Eb min /Gb is not technically "incorrect", since Gb is a chord tone of Eb min.
But in my experience, band mates will balk at the bassist playing the 3rd of a chord where a root is expected (much more than the 5th)

the real question you both need to ask is not "who is correct?" but let go of trying to be right and ask "does it actually sound good ?"

[FretlessMainly]

Well, the OP did post that "Our guitarist says this is not musically correct."

To answer the questional literally, the answer is "yes," as long as you consider the F# to be enharmonically equivalent to a Gb, which, for all intents and purposes, it is.

If the guitarist meant that it is not stylistically appropriate, then that is a different matter and not the subject at hand.