My Problem With 4 Chords by The Axis of Aweseome
Vložit
- čas přidán 1. 02. 2019
- I have a little problem with the video: 4 Chords by The Axis of Awesome
You can see the original video: 4 Chords by The Axis of Awesome Here:
• 4 Chords | Music Video... - Zábava
Humorously, yet vocally and artisticly superb! It only triggered "musicians", who teach, bust into monologues, and have been outed like a magician in the slightly less magic circle! They didn't "explain" how the artists adapt vocally - they demonstrated it! Some fill with the imstruments, some fill with the voice. Your Journey argument is weak, because you can sing to journeys "riff" with all of the other songs - as demonstrated! It may have been comedic, but their vocals were superb! Your twist and shout - supported your strawman argument; yet also proved their point! Come on pal - give in to the awesome of axis! Awesome video brother, and I learnt a lot!
Benny actually made a video of his own entitled “Six Chords” which included songs with variations of the I V vi IV progression, such as I iii vi IV and I V ii IV
Is that one where he used the piano that is powered by air?
Strange that you made that comparison, I always found La Bamba and Twist & Shout to be similar musically
Great now i'm not going to be able to unhear that
Agreed. Very similar.
I loved this video honestly i understand that im not no music genius but this made me show love to the people that put their time into making the song their own its crazy how much it has changed over the years i play the songs a complete different way and its sad.
Not picking, but you really just made me realize how close La Bamba and Twist & Shout are sonically! Now I’ll forever pair them in my head, when for 40 years, I had never paired them before. But really, I do get your point. Thanks!
me too :) & my parrot loves twist & shout, so I'm going to try playing La Bamba to him too now & see if he sings along with that too :) His other favourite is ABBA, particularly Mamma Mia, not sure if there's any similarity between that & twist & shout or not, I am kinda curious now (especially if my parrot likes La Bamba too)
My only point is: I don't think that The Axis of Awesome was ever really trying to make any actual specific point, like expose popular songs. I think it was more showing how you *can* play all those songs with the same 4 chords, in the same way, not that they *are* played like that. But also keeping them in the same phrase and such so that their song keeps its own recognizable sound.
And *if,* mind you this is my theory, *if* that's the case then it works well, because I never happen to mistake any portion of this song for the song they're playing.
Note: this comment was more incited by your title of "my beef with" when it doesn't really seem like you have any beef, it's more of a "why A of A, 4 Chords isn't exactly accurate" which is understandable.
Recall, A of A makes funny music, it's kinda the schtick they've got goin.
this is so true -it was an act of comedy and its message is truly
Awesome and the music played is really nice to listen to -its very easy to tap along on the keyboard
they were just trying to make people laugh and have a good time, this video is just absurd clickbait
I honestly find both these videos to be informative, though in different ways. For someone who might be an aspiring musician, understanding that there are (probably) hundreds of songs built on four chords makes learning them fairly easy, so that if they're playing rhythm guitar or simply adding in the chords on keyboards, they're likely not getting frustrated. Yet, it's like stating what most cars have in common: four wheels, an engine, transmission, yet a Ford doesn't have as much horsepower as a Ferrari.
Depends on the Ford, I mean the 427 and 428 Cobra Jet engines were packing some serious horsepower.
I like the car analogy! I was thinking someone could make the same type of video with food; take flour, water, salt and sugar... half the Joy of Cooking tome could be played into a similar medley... from Twinkies to Egg Foo Young, just add a few other ingredients and spices... akin to melody, tambour and rhythm; the distinctive flavors in music that massively differentiate all of these songs!
Agree with most of what you said. I'm surprised you missed that this "building block chord progression" concept is hardly new, though. In most 50s and early 60s rock songs, for instance, the I-vi-IV-V progression was highly dominant. And it continues today...the progression from Axis of Awesome, they are used extensively in Disney films. "I'll Make A Man Out of You" from Mulan,, "Let It Go" from Frozen, "How Far I'll Go" from Moana, are just a few Disney examples that use the same chords.
What's ironic is that while are many songs that genuinely loop on either the Twelve Bar Blues, Bebop Changes (I vi IV V), or the Pachabel Canon progression, relatively few use I V vi IV *even twice* in succession, and far fewer that use it as anything that could reasonably be called a loop. Amazed, by Lonestar, which wasn't mentioned in AoA, is interesting because it effectively uses the pattern twice consecutively in one key, once in another, and twice consecutively in a third, before ending with a Mario cadence (the first thing that isn't a I V vi IV in some key).
Have you seen Rob Paravonian’s Pachelbel Rant? Similar idea as the Axis of Awesome video, different point.
Very informative. I didn't know about the consistent similarity to the songs depicted in the Axis Of Awesome video, you can definitely tell the songs are on a bare bones style with a sped tempo. Subscribed. Maybe gotta get out a guitar and start learning. 😀
Ah I know this one’s been cooking for a while - great to see it finally done.
I just went over to the Axis’ video. One of the most liked (650+ likes) comments reads “does anyone realise this is exposing the music industry for its lack of creativity?” So while the intent may have been to entertain in an amusing way, the message has been a little lost in translation on some of the audience.
Keep up the great work TJ - these in-depths are a great watch.
Thanks. I think a lot of people have missed the point of my video now though and just think I don’t get that it’s funny (deep sigh LOL)
So in a nutshell:
These songs can all be played using those 4 chords
But those said chords weren't the only and prior way those songs were played.
Thanks you saved me 15 minutes of bs
@@moop6667 It's not just BS. There's good examples and learning points.
Thank you for making this video, and sharing your expertise! I found this very informative! You did a great job balancing what is funny in the axis of awesome video, and what musicians really do
You’re welcome. Glad it was helpful!
Good stuff! Much of this resonated with me because when I saw the Axis of Awesome vid... it was definitely amusing... but in many ways it's an oversimplification. That's OK, it brought me to this vid which I completely enjoyed and subbed the channel. Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
In short, chord progressions are the foundation of a song and the layers and melodies are the signature riffs that set the song apart.
It's all pachelbel's canon ..hahaha
You, YOU are my new music teacher.
When I first watched the A of A video years ago I picked up on the fact they'd cast them all into the same key, but didn't think about the phrasing and such that you pointed out. 👍
Same here, I noticed #1 that they just played the generic progression after starting w/Journey's iconic riff, and then half the songs were just the same progression, but the actual songs are in different keys. But in the end I get what they're saying, they're just using humor to highlight and demystify basic music theory.
Another excellent, balanced, informative and entertaining video!
Thank you sir. Good to hear from you
I never leave comments on CZcams but I wanted you to know that ve been trying to study music theory all day and this is the most information that I was able to process to help me understand music theory bar none thanks man you rock
You are welcome. Glad you found it helpful.
The original Axis of Awesome 4 chords was part of their stand up show, where they talk about not being famous, and Benny points out it is because they haven't written a 4 chord song yet. The intention is less about it being the same chords and more about a format. Also, your La Bamba example whilst spot on about personalisation, there are plenty of people that learn to play songs on guitar to sing along as basic chords, and never advance to the actual version of the songs. You are of course correct, but it doesn't change the fact all of the songs can be put over a basic 4 chord progression. Still a good video regardless, and maybe more informative to those with less musical education.
Almost none of the songs use a four-bar loop. A much more common pattern is an eight-chord loop whose antecedent phrase is I V vi IV, and whose consequent phrase varies. In the case of "Don't Stop Believin", the antecedent is I V vi IV, and the consequent is I V iii IV.
"In the Axis of Awesome 4 chords, they talk about not being famous, and Benny points out it is because they haven't written a 4 chord song yet."
Only to proceed to include Birdplane in the mash up, one of their most famous songs, which uses this exact 4-chords sequence.
the original viral video you mean? They'd been perfoming it for years before that, first paying public performance was at a university review, with Benny dressed as Mozart
@@mehere8038 yea, the original viral video I did mean.
I really do appreciate yourdeep understanding of this Awesome set of songs many thanks -so so interesting
Thanks.
Why make a fuss over the obvious? The Axis of Awesome never implied that these songs were all the same. They were simply having fun pointing out songs using the same basic pattern.
If it's pointing out the obvious why get upset with it?
Great video! I have a question that I had ever since I first heard the 4 chord demonstration. Why do you think so many songs use these same 4 chords? Is there something about them? Or is it just laziness or building upon prior work and then adding a creative variation? It seems to me like those 4 chords have some effect on the listener that the artists build into their songs. I'd love your opinion on this TJR.
ya i still hear Journey both ways lol
No. Someone who's musically ignorant (e.g., me) will not be thinking "they're just playing different lyrics over the same chord progression"; we'll instead be thinking "what's a chord? and what's a chord progression?"
Great video! Very informative :)
The fact that other musicians have pointed out the exact same thing that Axis of Awesome have really lends credence to their argument. Not to mention Blues Traveler hit on it back in the 90s with their song "Hook." They literally wrote a song saying, essentially "It doesn't matter what the lyrics are, as long as I use certain chords, you'll listen like the sheep you are." Of course, they used Pachelbel's Canon in D's progression, which has also had rants done on it with how many songs can go over it. They even have the line "if I'm feeling stuck and need a buck I don't rely on luck because the Hook will bring you back..." I mean, this is not really a new concept.
I don't think most people believe that the songs are exactly the same, regardless of their music literacy. It's just like no one would ever argue that "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" and "The Joker" are the same, yet the bassline for "The Joker" fits so bleeding well over "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" it's scary (try it out some time, it's actually really fun--do the Petra version, though, the usual "worship" versions are too slow to be of any real use to anyone).
Yes, different keys, different riffs. But at the end of the day, the progression, i.e., the skeleton of the song, is the same, and that's why you can transpose it to other songs so easily. The melody line doesn't really matter. The progression can be played any which way you want it, sing the melody over top of it. I've done it a hundred times at a hundred coffee shops with Pachelbel's Canon, long before I knew about Axis of Awesome. I'm reminded of that Antonio Banderas movie "Take the Lead," when he's trying to teach a bunch of kids to dance. He can't with traditional music, but when one of the students lifts the "underbeat" of the song out, and changes things around just a tiny bit, they're all suddenly aware of the similarities between the music he uses and the music they normally dance to.
Great video though, and great way of breaking it down. I tend to disagree, because again, I've seen too many other musicians comment on the very same phenomena, have observed and played off of the phenomena my own self, and have had musically illiterate people in my life take notice of it as well, but you absolutely have a great way of presenting the information.
At the church I used to go to, they would often use the Joker intro for Lord I lift your name on high.
Keep in mind that Pachelbel’s Canon has a similar Chord Progression to the Axis of Awesome Four Chords
"Don't Stop Believin'" without that bassline sounds like Paul McCartney's "Too Much Rain".
But still the fact that song got them internationally known with over millions of views kinda proves their point lol
When I started playing guitar using my ears, I can play any song with these four chords, G-D-Em-C...ALL SONGS...only when I studied more on music theory and shredding that I got to use other chords progression...again if I will use my ears , I still come back to this chords progression.
i really like this video, thank you for sharing sir
You are welcome.
Excellent explanation!
Well, my beef with TJR, is the constant fading while he is speaking. More cutaways than Family Guy.
Not only what you say, but there is something that actually resonates with us with this chord progression.
Glad you clarified - the songs aren't as obvious as AoA would make them apparent.
Those guys *were* funny, were they not ?
Chords, as well as tones and notes, have been limited for years. It took thousands of years to develop them and only 200 years to completely exploit them all. It is like a language with a minimum set of letters. In many languages "no" is "no", and "ow" is what you say to express pain. Yet these languages developed in isolation, in many instances. However, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was only ever contrived in one language. It is how we get uniqueness from "su", "per", "cala"... Fill in the rest of the "pleasant" sounds that we use to make our words... Things like "grvdlx" will just never find a place in pleasant sounding vocabulary or songs. Unless it's heavy death-metal from the 90's.
@@JD_Mortal Where did music originate from. Who was the first person to have enough time to think, I am going to make noises with this >fill-in-the-blank< because it sounds good. Then string noises together. Probably someone with a hunting bow. How they entertained themselves in the bush, waiting for game to wander by.
I enjoyed your dissection of this matter. Humbling; it yet represents rearranging the deck chairs on an industrial behemoth. Nuance and signature riffs aside, the obvious creative influences stem from those basic progression(s)- alone-. So im thinkin; the powdered sugar on the basic cake recipe: causes more of a Pavlovian response than, well you speak to...also the commercial sales morphine have a stultifying but sexy appeal no?
Well done and said.
I am sure they didn’t get into it because they need to keep it funny. It’s a comedy act. This song is a great way to introduce the concept of harmony to a student. Thank you for your video!
I appreciate that you recognize it's not their responsibility to give the other side of the story as the song and video are meant for strictly comedic entertainment purposes. However, I think the issue most people are having is you saying that you claim to have a problem with the video itself when the individual is the one responsible for whether or not they take it seriously.
It’s just a video title. I think the problem is taking the title too seriously.
I think your video was worth watching. I'm a huge AoA fan, but it's good to know where the joke stops
I thought it was , they contain the 4 cords. Never said he couldn't add a little extra.
The Axis if Awesome never claimed all of the songs were identical or didn't have unique riffs or other uniqueness. They just said they have the same chord progression and then played it in a manner that helped demonstrate that.
LOL I think I acknowledged that.
@@TJRtheOriginal Then what was the point of your video?
I think you must not have been paying attention. Some of the songs don't really use that chords progression, or they've taken a tiny clip of the song where it plays those chords but it's part of a more intricate chord progression.
The truth is that if a composer strays too far from the traditional western chord sequences which are predominantly I IV V, which was used by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, then you're getting into music that is either modern classical, like Elliott Carter and Luciano Berio, or modern all-the-wrong-notes jazz. The masses will not accept this type of music.
p.s. a fun video to watch, TJR.
In other words, there's more to songs than the chords.
Yes. And there is more to the songs than what they are telling you in their video. To watch their video, you would think that all the songs have only those same for courts over and over again and nothing else.
@@TJRtheOriginal It´s a comedy act and not an education video. Explaining the theory behind it and what makes it work is a good thing, but you took it way too serious man.
When I first clicked on the link I expected to be strongly opposed to the ideas expressed because the nature of “four chords” (in my mind) was just a way to show that many songs use the same progression as a basis of their melody but nevertheless I tried to come in with an open mind. To some extent I still believe that it IS a good way for people with no music theory background to see that many pieces of music (old or new) are based on a similar foundation whether it be a 12 bar blues, 1-4-5-1, 1-5-6-4, etc.
I was pleased though that I was able to be swayed because it makes a good point to explain that each individual song uses various bridges, solos, keys, progression changes and inverted chords to separate itself from other songs.
Thank you for swaying my skeptic mind and let me apologize for coming in with a negative bias about this video. These are the types of videos that truly make me grateful that smaller channels like yours exist to show that the loudest and most popular channels do have flaws to the points they’re trying to make.
Thanks for watching and subscribing. I do hope to become a bigger channel in time 😄
1:07 "I found this video to be fun and enjoyable". THERE! You got the point of their video. Now move on..
I mean, Let it be and some others were stuck in there for laughs, but the joke is on the 300 songs that are just derivative on the progression.
So you've seen an issue that doesn't exist. We know they simplified and transposed the songs to fit as needed for their comedy routine. This technical breakdown, whilst correct, just seems wholly unnecessary.
You’ll be shocked when you realise they’re using a different instrument over the chords as well (the voice)
No, not everyone knows that.
Excellent video. I would only prefer that instead of Twist and Shout/La Bamba, TJR would use as examples two songs that have the same four chords progression as in the Axe of Awesome video (Twist and La Bamba have a similar but not the same chord progression as in the Axe video, and it is a three chords progression, not a four chords one).
Well the same folks who are Shocked by all the 4 chord songs...would be floored if you told them... There is an exception, Most of the songs you like are actually 3 chord songs. As the man sez I IV AND V.
One interesting aspect of the Axis of Awsome 4-chord video is the realization that you can just learn a few chords in the guitar or piano and then proceed to play and sing along most songs ever written. Yeah, not with all the nuances that make each song unique, but good enough to be able to have fun with friends. There are 7 notes in a mode's scale. If you learn the major, minor, and major with 7th minor version of each (that's just 21 chords total), you can play almost any song in any mode (just in 1 key per mode). If you want to be a REALLY GOOD amateur, take all 12 notes and learn the major, minor, major with 7th minor, sus 4 and sus 2 of each of them and you can now play a close-to-real version of about any song (again, talking about the chord progressions, not baselines, riffs, etc that make the song unique), in any mode, in any key. That's 60 chords total. You can learn that in 1 or 2 weeks.
All good points. And yes, you could definitely have a lot of fun by learning those five chords.
I just wanted to point out that “the devil is in the details” and I am glad that you got that. A lot of viewers didn’t.
@@TJRtheOriginal ... Oh, absolutely. I loved your video. Your choice of Richie Valens' version of La Bamba and The Beatles' version of Twist and Shout was particularly interesting because I always thought (past tense) they were so similar, the chord progression of course, but also similar riff, melody, rhythm, that it was strange that there was no copyright war between then. Then I learned that La Bamba is a very very old Mexican folk song of unknown authorship, and it was among the first songs in Spanish to be ever recorded (I think that the first recorded version was recorded in an phonograph (cylinder), so yea, no copyright there. When I was a kid I played and sang with my brother and cousin, and some times we "performed" for our family. One day we did Beatles' covers, including Twist and Shout which, in joke, after the first 2 loops of chords of the intro with the riff (walk), the lead voice (my cousin) would start "Para bailar la bamba" to which my rother and I would reply with "shake it up baby" :) Yet, today you demonstrated how they ARE indeed different songs, and not a copy, as each of them has the unique details that make them, well, unique.
I feel like a lot of the dislikes could have been avoided if you reframed the video as "expanding on and explaining 4 Chords" instead of "My Problem with..." As many rightly pointed out, Axis is a comedy group, they were just having fun and also understood, they had to play with the phrasing to deliver their point to a layman audience. Your video would be a helpful entry for more interested in music to understanding that video. If you had framed that pedantry on a more positive basis, I'm sure this video would have been a lot better received.
Thanks for bringing this up. But I think I was very clear in my video that I understood what the axis video was and that it was meant to be humorous. I mentioned this several times. I think the people who voted thumbs down, would have done so, no matter what.
@@TJRtheOriginal well it feels like you only made that really clear by the end of the video. It's not surprising that there'd be some who would see the title and watched the first few minutes and reached the conclusion that you were being overly pedantic and self serious at a comedy act.
Axis of Awesome wrote a hit with 4 Chords lol
Yeah it's true that many of those songs are actually wildly different and the axis of awesome is zoning in on the parts that sound similar while converting all to the same key and changing the tempo to coerce it to sound similar. Does anyone actually think Don't stop believing sounds anything like Tracy chapman's "fast car?"
Exactly. Thanks for your response.
I've been to concerts where the Top 40 Band didn't play a single song in the "correct key." As a musician this was frustrating as all hell.
Those songs still sound pretty simaler.
It's the chord progression. And that point was explained: same key, phrasing, tempo and choosing samey segments. Of course, pop is usually samey and derivative and once you're looking for samey bits you can find em anywhere
Can you do a video debunking knock knock jokes next? 🙄
Your point is well made and I can see you're trying to be fair about all this. However...
Nuances aside, the Axis of Awesome are making a valid case and I have to say I'm still with them on this matter (to say any more would require a much longer conversation)
I completely agree...and as a seasoned guitar player ...i know you are correct...but we do know it was just for entertainment purposes right?
I did state that a couple of times, in the video
Actually in the version with a live crowd is at a COMEDY festival! Some folks get so bogged down with analysis OR MIDI... They don't spend enough time playing and having fun!
@@TJRtheOriginal I do find everything you say 100% Accurate and Correct, It's all in the nuance of each artists/band's 'product' . As much as that even with the same song, I'm sure you, Scott Joplin and J.S.Bach (Joplin's Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather) Would all play _The Entertainer_ accurately from the same piece of sheet music- You would hear 3 different 'products' (for lack of a better word)
We know it on this video, but the comments of the AoA video give us an small army of people outraged that the pop industry is manufactured noise, as if a song was nothing but a chord structure with words.
if you use the original journey intro left and right hand you can sing 100+ songs. so whats the problem here ?_? ^^
The Axis of awesome are a comedy act, they're not supposed to be taken seriously, and anyone trying to take them seriously misses the point entirely.
I think I mentioned numerous times in this video that they are just as you described them in your comment.
So no point was missed on my part.
I think the individuals who are missing the point. Are the ones who can’t grasp that another side of the story needs to be told. And that the Axis of awesome video (as funny as it is) can be misleading to anyone who has no musical education (something widespread in the United States).
My video is giving the other side of that story.
it is not disparaging of the Axis of Awesome nor is it saying that their video was not entertaining or funny (which it is).
But they are un intentionally giving a slanted point of view to the uneducated.
I am just filling in the gaps
Thank for your comment
This is a great and much needed explainer for what Benny was doing. I didn't understand how he was making so many clearly different songs line up well enough that it was enjoyable to listen to. I'm no musician but I could easily tell those weren't the notes that went with the songs they were singing...but it somehow worked.
I'm guessing just as you adjusted the key to suit your voice, they may well have legitimately used the key they did if they were covering the songs individually rather than parodying them? The difference being that for a cover they would actually play the parts of the song they cut out to make the parody work?
I originally came here to call him a hater...... but now I’m very intrigued and impressed cuz of his musical talent and skill... I subscribe now 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Modern songs are protracted jingles. Ludwig Van wrote music.
I understand your concern, but I'm not a musician, and I could easily tell that all the songs were in a more simplified version of their original songs, and I could easily see how that may also seem misleading. I took what they were doing as both a sense of humor, and as inspiration. Me seeing how 'similar' some of the songs were, yet still different and popular in their own way, makes someone like me, who's not that musically talented feel like they could make a hit song. I did dislike your video, but please don't take it as an attack on you or your channel, you seem like a great content creator, and I'm just giving you another perspective, because we're all different, and we all have our own thought process.
They should have also included songs like Hook by Blues Traveler and stuff like that a Similar Chord Progression like what Hook is based off of which is Pachelbel’s Canon which uses similar Chords
And I think they should have also included songs that are fully based on Pachelbel’s Canon like One Tin Soldier or Welcome To The Black Parade and Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space and Don’t Look Back In Anger and Out Of My Head by Fastball and the First Noel
You should talk about how they didn’t include songs with closely related chord progressions like Pachelbel’s Canon
Probably because another comedian, Rob Paravonian, did exactly that (Pachelbel Rant) years before. It wouldn't surprise me of AofA got the idea for "4 Chords" from that classic, only using another common chord progression out of respect or to dodge allegations of plagiarism.
Really interesting. I get that music is a soulful thing, but that "understanding it" is a deeply intellectual pursuit is worth acknowledging.
It is both. Thank you.
You created a problem for yourself that AoA never even touched on. The reason they didn’t touch on that is simply that the song is only about the chord progression being used in so many popular songs.
Only..the..chord..progression!
Nothing(!) else!
Music is a shared language in which we all use the same music.
If you take
I V vi IV
And break it down further you get
Tonic/ Subdominant /
As the deepest level , here is the next level higher
{ Tonic/ Dominant/} Tonic/ Subdominant
So the first portion of {Tonic / Dominant}
Is simply an expansion of { Tonic}
Since every chord has a dominant that goes with it .
This means
The purest version of the progression is
Tonic/ Subdominant/
But it also means that almost EVERY song in the world can be played with the progression.
So in summary the axis of awesome video is pointing out that as with our spoken language , music is also a shared langage.
And then your video points out the other price of information that's important here.
That even though we have a shared language , we still have a way to speak originally with it as well.
Thanks. Best comment of the day. Some people completely misunderstood my intent with this video, but you nailed it.
Honestly, La Bamba and Twist and Shout are like the two closest songs you could have chosen... Not sure if they demonstrate the point in the best way, since their melodies and rhythms are also very close to each other. If you played Twist and Shout on guitar, I could easily mistake it for La Bamba. Maybe not exactly Ritchie Valens's version, but I might still think it's a cover of La Bamba.
A lot of the 4-chrod songs on the other hand have more unique signature parts (like the bassline of Don't Stop Believing).
It's also worth pointing out, though, that there are also plenty of really generic pop songs that use those 4 chords that are much more difficult to tell apart. While the progression has been used in great songs, it has also been used in a lot of really boring and generic sounding songs. And especially during the peak of the progression's popularity, there were a lot of those generic ones. There is also a reason why some people complain about the progression. While it isn't the progression itself that is the main issue, it is still an important part of the "generic pop sound" of 2000s-2010s pop music, a bit like trap hi-hats are an important part of the "generic pop sound" of late 2010s and contemporary pop music. It's a musical element that can be used tastefully, and it's popular for a reason. But when something becomes popular, people also start "abusing" it more and more.
Their similarities are why I choose them. Because the Devil is in the details.
Id agree that yes these songs are all different in the way they are sung and played. Lyrics and music can both be twisted and blended to fit in other songs. The ford chord progression just happens to be a common attribute between them. Like saying you WOULDNT believe how many songs have guitars in them.
And yes unless your brain has been exposed to music methods of composition you can think that these are all using the same pattern with different lyrics.
But that's the thing with lyrics. They are just there to give the instrument of your voice some thing different and to tell a different story. Anyone who's ever been to church knows you can sing or say anything to a melody.
This song is just a fun mash up with pop songs Whos lyrics lend meaning and flow with one another.
I'm a piano teacher and songwriter, and I just explained this earlier today in a very similar way to how you broke it down. Thank you. I will use this video as a positive implement to my leasons.
Great 👍
I'm not going to speculate how many people think there's nothing new about all the songs using the same cord progression, but having spent over 7 years playing drums, even I know the songs are significantly different and not just copies of each other. However it does bring up the idea of originality and the ability to be allowed to re-use that cord progression. Imagine if the first song that used it had copyright/trademark over it. We wouldn't have tons of other enjoyable songs. Other creative areas though, are hindered by such restrictions.
This is true, but I took this all on board when first seeing the AofA video. It's just a cute lil jokey thing.
And I do acknowledge that it is a jokey thing. But for a lot of people Who may not be musically educated, this video could miscommunicate The wrong idea
This week, 2023, Ed Sheeran won his copyright infringement lawsuit in the USA with use of one of their videos of The Axis of Awesome 4 chords song...
100% agree... however enough with Em C G D do you agree? :-) I know you agree;-)
PS i just sang James Blunt Beautiful to La-Bamba! I'm the "goat" lol!
I agree with you but the video was great and I loved it.
No argument. It is a great video. And in no way, am I saying that their video isn’t.
@@TJRtheOriginal So is yrs good,its analytical and tells us to make common chords progs in a unique way.thanx
you should rename this video to: how to ruin every mashup ever made in 15 min
Loved your video as much as the axis of awesomes. Have to say that if you don't play an instrument, their video is just entertaining. If you do or have, ever played an instrument, it is still just entertaining but you understand that you are getting the pastry and no meat in your pie!
Well said! I love your analogy of “No meat in your pie”. 👍
There's also the thing about most pop songs being written by the same two dudes
This is mostly true about a lot of contemporary pop.
I watched the entirety of this video and I think I came out the other end as a less fun person.
YES!!! I can die happy now! 🤣🤣
Well first of all I am sure, that they decided to play "don't stop believing" at first because they don't sing it. The voice also changes the melodie of a song, but that doesn't mean it changes the chords. A decade ago, it cages me as a songwriter in a mindset, that there is no way to find something new because everything is still existing. Also when I wrote smth. new and my band said, well that sounds like "..." but I never heard that song. Than I was trying more and more to find smth. new with more and more chords, no chance. Well sometimes there is smth. new but still remembers on smth. else. Also to change the tune doesn't make it different. If you cover a song you change the tune that it better fits to your voice. Simply said this happens to nearly every chord pogression, no mather if it's 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. chords... but the most of the famous songs have this 4 chord thing and on this perspectiv they're still right. (Sry about bad english - it's not my main language, but i guess you see my point)
Not only that, but they ensured their opening monologue was short enough that they wouldn't have to vamp on the 4-chord pattern because the Journey song (like nearly all of the songs in their list) doesn't use a four-bar chord loop; if they played the first four measures of Don't Stop Believin' more than once, that would have been obvious.
If the Axis of Awesome had given the full picture, it would have lost its humor. It's only comedy.
Have you heard the Beatnix version of Stairway to Heaven (what if the Beatles did Stairway...)? If not, you should check it out and give your evaluation.
And I completely understand that (And I think I made that clear in my video too). I have heard the Beatnix version of Stairway To Heaven and I LOVE IT! 😍
If that’s the case, than why did Vanilla Ice have to pay royalties for Ice Ice Baby, and why can’t these artist do some thing more unique than just modify the same chord over and over again? Also, if I add a spoiler and new rims to a Ford Mustang, it’s still a Ford Mustang.
Vanilla Ice didn't use a similar chord progression to "Under Pressure" They literally used a sample of the audio of Under Pressure. The copyright of a song consists of two different things. One is the intellectual property of the song, In other words the melody, the lyrics and all the riffs that are unique to that song and the other is the actual recording of that song. so in addition to not being allowed to copy somebody's words or melodies you're also not allowed to take the actual recording and sample it without permission. Usually you won't get sued for using the same chords as another song because they can't prove you copied it because there are too many songs that use the same chords but the baseline on Under Pressure with the rhythm is so recognizable that you'd probably get in trouble even if you tried to do your own recording of the line.
Ok we get it not all the songs sound exactly the same and are not played in the same exact key
This is a very good video and it makes sense, but have you seen the copyright lawsuits lately? It seems you can actually copyright chord progressions now! It's actually gone mad, money grabbing by corporate entitles and the gullible juries fall for it. Music is eating itself.
The lawsuits are 99% ridiculous.
My first language is Spanish and that was pretty good 👍
You have to remember that 4 chords is a song itself, not kist a demonstration. Of course they have to reduce the variation, otherwise it'd be a mess.
It's interesting you ripped the songs apart. But the point is...the same four chords. I don't care how you play them. They still are the same chords.
The devil is in the details
Technically that is not correct just because he isn't playing the riff it is actually sang so the vocals are the key riff weather sang aloud or played on an instrument. Hence your argument falls down and crumbles same as work it on out and la bamba vocals are the riff.....
No. You missed the point. The devil is in the details.
don't be a buzz kill
A good point well made. They’re still awesome tho. Rock on 🤘🏾
I don't really understand why you would have a 'Problem' with the video. You are right to say that there are a lot more sophistications and variations to the tunes, but you also miss the key point that lets them stretch the chords into a full video. They start playing I V vi IV, then go double time, then delay two chords to change to vi IV I V, then go half time again, giving them 4 distinct chord progressions to tie in.
I don't see it as saying that Artists are 'trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes by all writing lyrics to the same chord progressions' as you define it. I see skilled Musicians using their knowledge of Music to play tricks on the Audience to get bums on seats. Bravo all around. I use this song in my teaching all the time to demonstrate easy ways to get more out of the 4 chords.
I think you are taking the title just little too seriously LOL
@@TJRtheOriginal Well, I am Autistic, you did call it that, and you then repeat it several times in the video lol - if this is a double layer windup - that you are winding us up about Axis of Awesome winding people up, then well played sir! I am gullible, and you ellicted a good long comment :)
I just stumbled of both vids today.
I agree in the points you made, but hey, they were in the "comedy music" corner. Do you really expect they can put on the "fine" points
It's very simpified and even I as a non musician thougt: 😎, but there has to more behind it otherwise we would have been flooded with new bands just playing this progression.
From my point of view:
Commedy has the right to simplify and often thats what makes it commedy.
My Impression was: you judge them like they wrote a a final study about this topic, but they are just entertainers.
Sorry if it came off that way. It was never my intention. My intention was to tell the other side of the story.
This particular video of TJR effectively is an example why comedians aren't allowed to be funny anymore.
Unless you say they are....Right?
All they really did was show how buskers etc have been doing it for years.
And that is good point.
You just spent 16 minutes plus all that time editing a video explaining what 90% of people already know. I feel like it’s common sense. They aren’t saying every song is played the same. Just use the 4 core chords. Just having fun with it.
It seems there are some people who benefited from his explanation.
You are making the mistake of taking it seriously, just sit back and laugh.
Did you even watch my video? More than once, I stated that their video was about the comedy and that it was funny.
Saying like any two songs with the same chord progression are the same song is like saying any two humans are the same because they have the same skeletal structure.
That comparison is exactly correct
You make great points, but you are taking the skit way too seriously. Axis of Awesome clearly did this more for comedy than to make a statement about the music industry.
I never said they weren’t.I did acknowledge that their video was funny. I just thought the other side of the story should be told.