Self Taught??

mr dave · 10-20-2009, 03:06 AM

you're right from the technical standpoint, but using your book example again, it can be argued that the same basic stories are being told with different characters (man vs. nature / man vs. machine / man vs. self / etc.)

the same applies to pretty much all song based music. the notes and styles might be different but the underlying formulas remain.

you could try breaking free from that and playing improv on purpose for records but Ornette Coleman already beat us all to that one 55 years ago.

while there's certainly more people who chose to listen to the 'weird' stuff on purpose now rather than to be content to simply hear it within some other form of media, it doesn't change the fact that it's pretty much all been done before in one way or another.

Daktari · 10-27-2009, 02:07 PM

Hi there,

I have just been browsing through this section and on a similar subject to the Pachalbel Rant as posted above. The guy has obviously researched and found examples of songs using the same chord sequence as in Pachalbel's canon. If we transpose that up to the key of Gmaj it would be:

G, D, Em, Bm, C, G, Am, D...... and so on and on..... That's what a canon is. A building variation on the same set of chords repeated over and over. And as he demonstrated, there are loads of modern songs that follow that same progression.

For relative beginners who are looking to learn new songs, here are a few more:

G, Em, C, D...... This simple sequence was very, very popular in 1950's and early 60's songs. Might not be the exact same key but the relative chord changes were used many hundreds of times and are still popular today. Two examples: Dream by the Everley Brothers and more recently, One Love by U2.

Right now the most popular sequence of chords is:

G, D, Em, C. Play around with that sequence and it seems like half the stuff on the radio features that very progression. As heard in No Woman, No Cry by the great Bob Marley, Halo by Beyonce and hundreds of others from Taylor Swift to Greenday. It's all just variations on a theme.

As a beginner, if you learn the three above mentioned chord sequences, maybe in a few different keys and you will have a huge collection of songs to go at. With a little time you will be able to recognise all the songs that use them.

All the best, Gordon.

10-27-2009, 02:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Daktari Music Addict Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Originally from Lancashire, England, lived near Largs, Scotland and now live in Rocky Face, Georgia Posts: 154	Easy chord sequences to fit hundreds of tunes. Hi there, I have just been browsing through this section and on a similar subject to the Pachalbel Rant as posted above. The guy has obviously researched and found examples of songs using the same chord sequence as in Pachalbel's canon. If we transpose that up to the key of Gmaj it would be: G, D, Em, Bm, C, G, Am, D...... and so on and on..... That's what a canon is. A building variation on the same set of chords repeated over and over. And as he demonstrated, there are loads of modern songs that follow that same progression. For relative beginners who are looking to learn new songs, here are a few more: G, Em, C, D...... This simple sequence was very, very popular in 1950's and early 60's songs. Might not be the exact same key but the relative chord changes were used many hundreds of times and are still popular today. Two examples: Dream by the Everley Brothers and more recently, One Love by U2. Right now the most popular sequence of chords is: G, D, Em, C. Play around with that sequence and it seems like half the stuff on the radio features that very progression. As heard in No Woman, No Cry by the great Bob Marley, Halo by Beyonce and hundreds of others from Taylor Swift to Greenday. It's all just variations on a theme. As a beginner, if you learn the three above mentioned chord sequences, maybe in a few different keys and you will have a huge collection of songs to go at. With a little time you will be able to recognise all the songs that use them. All the best, Gordon.