The Axis of Awesome 4 Chords

[Spudman***]

Check it out

[Ch0jin]

Haha, I just saw them do that live at the Melbourne comedy festival.

Makes this guitar playing, song writing thing seem pretty simple really

[sunvalleylaw]

Pretty funny! I was thinking about it, and this vid does not mean that all 4 chords were the same necessarily, depending on what key the original was in, does it? It is really the chord structure that is the same. And that is true of a whole bunch of rock music. I looked a little, as I don't know theory enough to tell the structure by my ear, other than to know it was not a typical 12 bar blues based on I, IV, V. I found something saying the structure that is common to all these songs is the I, V, vi, IV chord structure.

So you can take "With or Without You" by U2 in G, and match it up with "Self Esteem" by the Offspring in A, but put them in the same key, follow the same structure, and you are there.

I realize this is probably obvious to you as to how they did it, but I had to figure it out. LOL!

[Ch0jin]

SVL. Yeah you spotted it. In reality they fudge it for comedy.

When I saw them do this live they played the magic 4 chords on keys first (without naming them) and then later when the guitarist joined in, I kept watching and whilst he -mostly- played the same 4 chords, he did throw a couple of others in from time to time.

Still, if you're not too familiar with music it's pretty impressive. (in other words I dug it hehe)

[tot_Ou_tard]

Very cool...

but whatsa chord? I gotta get me some.

[evenkeel]

Very cool.

I have not done it in ages, but I used to do Tom Waits "Downtrain Train" and morph it into..
Blowin in the Wind,
Luka,
I think we're alone now
Let it Be
My Way
I wanna be sedated
and the ever popular Louie Louie

So was is bloody songwriting so damn hard???

[marnold***]

I first realized that when listening to my Mom's 50s compilation records. I did my own medley of "The Bristol Stomp" and "Angel Eyes." Reminds me of what someone once said about CCR: four great guys, four great chords.

I remember at one point being impressed with an acoustic player would could play a seemingly limitless number of songs. Later I realized it was basically the same six or seven chords that were used in each one.

Back when I was in school, the band I was in learned "Sweet Home Alabama." The singer/guitarist then wanted to play "Werewolves of London." The rest of us complained that we didn't know it. Once he told us it was the same song, basically, with slightly different syncopation, we played it well. Nobody would ever have known that we technically didn't know the song.

[Tig***]

That was creatively cool and interesting!

It reveals the cornerstone of pop music:
Comfortable Familiarity
(NTTAWWT - not that there's anything wrong with that)

Edit: Forgot to post this shirt:

[duhvoodooman***]

Back when I was in school, the band I was in learned "Sweet Home Alabama." The singer/guitarist then wanted to play "Werewolves of London." The rest of us complained that we didn't know it. Once he told us it was the same song, basically, with slightly different syncopation, we played it well. Nobody would ever have known that we technically didn't know the song.

This was obviously not lost on Kid Rock, either. Amazing what you can achieve these days with a bad haircut, funny hat, bourbon endorsement, and the recycling of other people's old hits....

[sunvalleylaw]

Twist and Shout/LaBamba

[guitartango]

Back when I was in school, the band I was in learned "Sweet Home Alabama." The singer/guitarist then wanted to play "Werewolves of London..

Cream's "Badge" middle played by Beatle George has the same chord prog as More than a feeling /Sweet Home Alabama. Did George come up with this first or did another band invent it ?

-------------------------
------------1-----------
----2-----0------0--0---
0-4-----2------0--------
------3------2----------
------------------3-----

[Bluenote]

Viva la pop hit machine! If I could sing I would now feel much better about my guitar playing. By the way, nice shirt Tig.

[Algonquin]

Great post! Here's another cool video that rhymes off popular tunes with similar melody lines

[sunvalleylaw]

I love that one too David! Cracks me up that you can find something similar to that chord structure in so many songs. And Tig, I love that shirt. If anyone runs across where to get one, let me know. I think I might need one.

[Ro3b]

I found something saying the structure that is common to all these songs is the I, V, vi, IV chord structure.

So you can take "With or Without You" by U2 in G, and match it up with "Self Esteem" by the Offspring in A, but put them in the same key, follow the same structure, and you are there.

But did you notice? Starting with "Save Tonight" through "Canvas Bags," the video picks on songs that go vi, IV, I, V (or i, VI, III, VII, depending). Self Esteem is in that second category. It's the same four chords, but starting in the middle of the sequence. Pretty slick!

This video illustrates why it's more important to know the function of the chords in a song than the letter names. A, E, F#m, D doesn't tell you much, but if you know that those chords are I, V, vi, IV, everything becomes much more clear. I think I'll be showing this to my students, actually.

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks for pointing that out. I thought I noticed something changed at one point, but had not figured out what. I know enough to know there are chord structures, but am not comfortable enough to really use the function of those structures, at least much beyond a I, IV, V blues.

[marnold***]

This video illustrates why it's more important to know the function of the chords in a song than the letter names. A, E, F#m, D doesn't tell you much, but if you know that those chords are I, V, vi, IV, everything becomes much more clear. I think I'll be showing this to my students, actually.

Always wondered, never asked: is the vi in lower case to indicate that it's minor? If so, what do you do with the VII since it's actually diminished? You could "wing it" a bit with a minor, though, I suppose.

I'm so used to blues that is I-IV-V, and metal which is basically power chords played in the minor scale of your choice that the extra Roman numeral confuse me a bit.

[Spudman***]

This is so cool. I've just written 12 timeless hits using this formula. Watch out world.

[Tig***]

And Tig, I love that shirt. If anyone runs across where to get one, let me know. I think I might need one.

Here's the one from the picture I posted:
http://www.zazzle.com/g+c+d+now+start+a+band+gifts
Check out some of the others on the page, too.

Edit: I just saw the $29 price for the shirt! Geez, are they nuts?!