Words when you play your Guitar

[jeff <jdworks@execpc.com>]

><< Another guitar related question:
> Is the guitar part at the beginning of REM's "What The Frequency, Kenneth?" 
> the same as the beginning of "Baba O'Riley"?
> 
> -cory
>  >>
>it kinda sounds a little bit like Sweet Jane by lou reed ,also
>- -andrew
>


Subject: "Kenneth" and "Baba"
>
>"What's the Frequency Kenneth" is in the key of D and "Baba O'Reilly" is in 
>either E or F depending on which version you listen to. Therefore they are 
>to the same although both songs are based on standard, very simple power 
>chord progressions which accounts for a similar "feel".
>
>Andy
>

   Hey guys:
    i figured someone else would've piped up on this by now, but since it's
been quiet, i'll give it a shot. i am a guitar player, i do not own
"Lifehouse Chronicles" yet so i can't answer that one, but here goes:

   The intro to "What's the Frequency, Kenneth", the main riff of "Baba
O'Riley" and the entire song "Sweet Jane" all are a 1-5-4 chord progression
(a collective "HUH?"). i'll try to explain without all the musician jargon
usually floated by arrogant pricks. In a standard, major scale ("Do, Re,
Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Doh!") Think of "Do" as 1 and "Re" as 2, etc. "Doh!" is
the same as "Do", except an octave (8 notes) higher. Starting on "Doh!" and
going down to 5 ("So") and then 4 ("fa"), you get that progression. You can
start on any note (E, A flat, D sharp, whatever) and play that progression.
Andy's right (or at least i think he's right) when he points out the songs
are in different keys (they start on different notes) but the progression
from those notes is the same. Some other examples of this progression: "Bad
Moon Rising", the verses to "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, "Welcome To
Paradise" by Green Day.
   Here's the single most common progression in rock and roll: 1-4-5
(Do-Fa-So). It's magic. It's everywhere. It is the blues, basically. What
do i mean? Think of "Twist and Shout". Dig out "Who's Last" if you have to.
But the main riff (after "Well, shake it up baby now...") is 1-4-5-4-1.
Same as "Louie Louie". And "La Bamba". And "Johnny Be Goode", "Tutti
Frutti", "Great Balls Of Fire", "Jailhouse Rock". "Long Live Rock" is just
that, also, as is Zep's "Rock and Roll", and of course "Road Runner". They
all sound different because the melody the guitar plays (the Riff) is
different, but the chord progression is the same. Listen to the chorus of
Boston's "More Than a Feeling". Its all 1-4-5. And "I Can't Explain" is
just that, backwards... 5-4-1-5. Which, incidentally, has been in a million
songs, also... think of "Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors. It's nearly
identical, just strummed slightly different.
   Songs use the same chord progressions that other songs use all the time,
and it doesn't necessarily make them copies, though. Like "Magic Bus" uses
the exact same progression, and rythym, of "Bo Diddley", "Hand Jive", "One
Bourbon One Scotch One Beer", "Who Do You Love", "Not Fade Away" and any
number of other Diddley-style songs. Most rock fans don't realize it, but
Bo Diddley didn't create the "Bo Diddley" beat. He copied it from other
folk and blues songs and popularized it. Not to diminish his talent at all,
it's just that progressions, rythyms, melodies and such are as old as the
hills and people just re-discover them, personalize them, and play them in
new ways. And that's what the Who did, so fucking brilliantly. 
   Anyway, sometimes your ear will pick up similarities and sometimes it
won't. i hadn't really thought about "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" until
Cory brought it up, but i realized right away what progression it was. As
Pete says... It's all the same note.

   Sorry about the examples used herein, some may seem odd, but they were
the best ones that popped to mind while writing this. i'm SURE that there
are many, many, many better examples out there that will make people
understand what i'm trying to say even better. This is the best i can do
off the cuff, hope it sheds a little light...

 peace&anarchy, jeffree