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This is a Chord (2016)

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Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#61

Post by tastysandwich »

Every time I think that I'm not good enough at guitar to write songs, I leaf through one of my songbooks and find all the fantastic, catchy songs with three basic chords.

I just can't get into guitarists like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc. I can't even get into John Mayer (though he can be more tasteful with his improv). It's all just a big dick-measuring contest. Believe it or not, this is not meant to be ironic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46qjDJ0lLdE

Give me Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell - all fantastic *songwriters*. The Beatles have so many simple songs - eg Blackbird (simple two note chords), Twist & Shout (three chords), etc, but they're all beautiful and will live on forever. I cannot imagine people listening to Steve Vai in 50 years, because I can't imagine why people listen today.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#62

Post by tastysandwich »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #16
michaelcampbell wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That reminds me of another yarn: Rock Music: 3 chords played to 1000 people Jazz Music: 1000 chords played to 3 people

And then someone like Jacob Collier comes along and we don't know what to say anymore because language just does not apply to such a phenomenon.

He's clearly a musical genius and his ability to harmonise is beyond words.

However when I first listened to him, my reaction was "this is very impressive, but I don't know why, I just don't feel it". What struck me was that when I read up on him a bit more, that was a pretty common reaction among people.

I don't really have the words to describe any of this. There's just something missing there. Soul. Which is a strange thing to say, because he probably does pour his heart & soul into his songs.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#63

Post by andrei_says_ »

tastysandwich wrote: post #62
andrei_says_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then someone like Jacob Collier comes along and we don't know what to say anymore because language just does not apply to such a phenomenon.

He's clearly a musical genius and his ability to harmonise is beyond words. However when I first listened to him, my reaction was "this is very impressive, but I don't know why, I just don't feel it". What struck me was that when I read up on him a bit more, that was a pretty common reaction among people. I don't really have the words to describe any of this. There's just something missing there. Soul. Which is a str…

I hear you - some pieces are overly… technical.

Some others however are full of emotion and definitely include soul.

His joy of music is infectious.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#64

Post by medler »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #53
medler wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Collier has an impressive knowledge of music theory but for me music is about emotion and expression, and I’ve never been able to find much of either in his compositions or performances. Just my 2 cents.

I'm with you -- I find his dozen layer vocals unenjoyable. However, it can play many instruments really well. Here is a video from a jazz trio rehearsal though that I keep coming back to every few months simply because I enjoy the sausage being made. Keep in mind he was 19 or so at the time. Anacona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIaL4Q1LnuA

I enjoyed that a lot, thanks. No doubt he’s massively talented. I do wonder if, just as it takes a certain amount of education to appreciate classical music, there might simply be a certain education or ear required to appreciate Jacob Collier that I lack.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#65

Post by technodelic »

sambapa wrote: post #5

That's quite an unusual collection of chords, maybe because B major chord is too hard for beginners. I-bIII-IV is some Bela Bartok-level shit.

That's assuming E is the root. The order it's listing chords is I-V-bVII, which isn't that strange. Pretty familiar sound in pop music.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#66

Post by sambapa »

technodelic wrote: post #65
sambapa wrote: post #5

That's quite an unusual collection of chords, maybe because B major chord is too hard for beginners. I-bIII-IV is some Bela Bartok-level shit.

That's assuming E is the root. The order it's listing chords is I-V-bVII, which isn't that strange. Pretty familiar sound in pop music.

I think it's best to begin at the beginning and learn to hear tonic, subdominant and dominant. After that you can pretend that you're Radiohead.

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#68

Post by cramjabsyn »

p_j_w wrote: post #39
cramjabsyn wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess D would make more sense than E, but also G E A sound great in a progression

>I guess D would make more sense than E Just learning to play the guitar myself and at least personally, have found D to be a pain in the ass of a chord shape. I can switch between A, E, and G all day long, but throw a D in there and I have to slow down and be a little more intentional. Muscle memory will happen, but for the combination of my brain and that shape, it happens more slowly. I don't think I'm the only on…

It’s a pain at first but it will come in time. This is true for barre chords like F and B too.

The cool thing about the D shape is you can move it up the neck. Move it up 2 frets and its a an E, 1 more and its an F. And so on

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#69

Post by hayley-patton »

veganjay wrote: post #33

Reminds me of this poster: http://www.southendpunk.com/html/damnadv.html "The Damned can now play three chords. The Adverts can play one. Hear all four of them at..."

There is a line in How Music Works by David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, talking about the album Remain in Light (IIRC) "While punk rock was celebrated for needing only three chords, we had now stripped that down to one."

Re: This is a Chord (2016)

#70

Post by azan-n »

arrakeen wrote: post #28
andrei_says_ wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then someone like Jacob Collier comes along and we don't know what to say anymore because language just does not apply to such a phenomenon.

had to look this guy up and watched the video for "All Night Long". with audio only, this is pretty much just a sample-heavy jazz-pop cover that would be indistinguishable from just a regular multi-track recording. i'm assuming what makes him special is his video approach where all the "samples" are shown as video clips of the musicians performing them. i'd probably describe the approach as "an actually talented vers…

an actually talented version of pomplamoose

I did not expect this at all.

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