I tried to learn Wake me up when September Ends as arranged for Solo guitar by Ulli Bögershausen, and played by Sungha Jung. When I looked up the tabs, I found two different version for a distinctive chord movement at the end of the verse, namely where the lyrics go "[...] when september ends [...]". According to some sheet music, its played over an Cm, following a C major chord.
As you can see the phrase "Wake me up" is sung over an C major, but then it switches to a Cm, hence has a d# note, but a d note is sung in the melody. This gives a very special sound, but why does this work out, when according to music theory and the circle of fifths C major and C minor are not close to each other, hence should sound dissonant and unpleasant (even more so with the d versus the d# note)?
In the original the guitar plays:
Somehow surprisingly for the Solo guitar version, I found two version. The one I most often found is
Here in the last measure a D# is played as lowest note, and a G# in the bass, and in the melody an a note sounds, so deviates from the original. Another transciption is
Here no d# note, but a g# note is played. Maybe this seems to be the sole reason for the sharp sound.
This all works out, and it is difficult to hear the difference when you listen to one piece, I can only hear it when I play both and compare, but then it also sound quite similar. Despite it being very different. So why does it work out, in such different transcriptions? And why does this "musical move" works out in general? Is there anything behind it that could explain this...
The sources of the various tabs and sheets:
Also, this guy seems to play the first version, whereas this guy seems to play the second version, but both sound right.