Radiohead Have Written THE MOST CONFUSING Easy Guitar Riff
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 03. 2023
- Printable Tabs available here! ► www.mymusicsheet.com/nikolagu...
Subscribe For More Content! ► bit.ly/3x15FcL
Support The Channel 🙏
• Patreon ► / nikolagugoski
• Justin Guitar App ► bit.ly/3Enq56S
• Merch ► nikola-gugoski.creator-spring...
• Guitar Pro 8 ► (10% off with promo code NIKOLA) www.guitar-pro.com/#ae584
• Learn Guitar Theory ► hooktheory.com/affiliate/246....
Follow Me On My Socials 📱
• Instagram: / nikola.gugoski
• Facebook: / nikola.gugoski
Original Music 🎵
• Bandcamp: nikolagugoski.bandcamp.com/re... - Hudba
![tattoo printer tutorial[제품단순선물]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g40_GwEJak0/mqdefault.jpg)
Hi, music teacher here. I adore this song and this is a great guitar cover. I've had 3 coffees and have been nerding tf out on this... So here’s how to understand the rhythm of this beautiful guitar part. Heads up, that this is quite advanced. If you struggle with it, it would be worth practicing some rhythm fundamentals, and watching some videos on how to play polyrhythms as that will help tremendously.
There are 2 concepts we can learn from it - push beats (or anticipations), and superimposing odd groupings of eighth notes into even bars of 4/4. This is a lot of info, so I apologize if it’s confusing! It’s worth spending a bit of time on each concept before moving on. A good idea is to learn from these concepts and integrate them into your own songwriting or playing, and see what cool things you can come up with - the possibilities are endless.
CONCEPT 1: Push beats (anticipations)
Crazy as it may seem, each chord in this changes every 4 bars. It’s actually just a 4 chord progression. Simple, what?!?
Notice that some chords will change early, on the “and of 4”, and others will change even earlier on beat 4, and some others smack on beat 1.
These can be called ‘pushes’ or ‘anticipations’ in music, and are a common rhythmic device to create rhythmic tension and excitement. Changing chords or catching hits early like this creates a sort of ‘lurching’ effect that results on a feeling of increased momentum into the next bar. Changes or strong hits on beat 1 feel much more grounded and predictable. This rhythmic device is what creates this sense of unpredictable rhythm in this guitar part, despite the chord changes actually being in even groups of 4. The fast tempo adds to this erratic sensation, as well as mixing the timing of the entrances up. If all the chords entered just on 4, or the and of 4, they wouldn’t sound as unpredictable.
To understand, first COUNT with the video.
Each chord goes for four bars of 4/4 time,
Count “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +”
These counts go at the same speed as every guitar note, and the hihat - they are fast, not slow! Try slowing the video down if it’s too fast. Notice that each chord changes after 4 bars of 4/4, and notice them enter on different counts prior to the downbeat.
The chords in order of being played in this video -
1. Fades in on an F#m7
2. Amaj - enters on ‘and of 4’
3. Gmaj7- enters on beat 1 (start counting here if you had trouble getting the count in at the start of the video 0:09 )
4. Emin7 - enters on beat 4
5. F#min7 - enters on the + of 4
6.A7 - enters on beat 1
7. Gmaj7 enters on beat 4
CONCEPT 2: Superimposing odd note groupings over even bars of 4/4
Another (deeper) way of understanding the rhythm of this, is that one guitar part (the guitar at the top of the video) is playing groups of 3 eighth notes, while the lower guitar is playing groups of 5 eighth notes. As there are only 8 eighth notes in a bar, these repeated groupings create interesting patterns that weave in between each other in a totally transfixing way. Let’s start with the group of 3 to keep it manageable. If you struggle with this, try to just stick with this before moving on to the 5, as the 5 is a little more tricky. The 3 starts with a high note, and you hear this as a melodic accent (loud note). The idea is to hear that accent every third eight note. If I take a bar of 3/4, this is easy to understand. COUNT and TAP this SLOWLY a few times before you continue. Try to feel the cyclic nature of this rhythm by repeating it many times.
ONE and two AND three and
ONE and two AND three and
Etc.
notice that the pattern resolves every three beats. This is a 2/3 polyrhythm, because we are evenly fitting two notes (the accents) over three beats (one, two, three).
Now for the tricky part. If you now put it into 4/4 time, interesting things start happening, because the ONE that we accented on the second line, is actually now beat FOUR. It will in fact take 3 bars of 4/4 to resolve this pattern. Try and count along with this, and tap your lap when you see an accent written in capitals. Take it slow.
1. ONE and two AND three and FOUR and
2. one AND two and THREE and four AND
3. one and TWO and three AND four and
ONE…. Etc.
It's cool, because the grouping of 3 is what determines the placement of the pushes in the chord changes that we were talking about earlier. You'll see that the chord changes cycle between beat 1, beat 4 and the and of 4, in the same way they do here.
This is what happens in this guitar part which gives it that swirling and unresolved feeling, which ties in so wonderfully with the uneasy quality of the song and the lyrics. In the case of the song, these accents are played by the highest note of the finger picking cycle of three. Against the pulse of the bass and snare drum, this creates a 2 over 3 polyrhythm. If the pulse of the drums weren’t there, we might not call it a polyrhythm as there would not be “many rhythms”.
The higher guitar part is using the same concept but playing groups of 5 eighth notes instead of 3. This can be a little more tricky to understand, but let’s give it a shot. Earlier, to hear the groups of three, we considered a bar of 3/4. Here, as this is a group of 5, we can consider a bar of 5/4. An easy way to think of a rhythm of 5, is to break it into a 2 and a 3. Have a listen to the highest notes of the finger picking pattern - these are the notes that are accented. A group of two, then a group of three.
ONE and TWO and three AND four AND five and
ONE and TWO and three AND four AND five and..
Etc.
Repeat this many times. It’s about to get tricky.
To put this into a bar of 4/4, what used to be FIVE will now be ONE. I.e, we are taking away a beat. This will resolve after 5 bars of 4/4. Count it out at your own pace, and take it slow. Tap your lap on the accents. Repeat it a few times and you might start to hear that overlapping pattern.
1. ONE and TWO and three AND four AND
2. one and TWO and THREE and four AND
3. one AND two and THREE and FOUR and
4. one AND two AND three and FOUR and
5. ONE and two AND three AND four and
1. ONE etc…
This 5 pattern seems to follow the 3s. When there's a chord change, which are determined by the rhythm of the 3s, it looks like the 5 pattern resets to the beginning rather than completing it's own cycle. That's just from what I can see in the video though, i don't know about the rest of the song - I'll have to have a listen.
Sorry if this is super confusing to read. Comments are a hard medium to teach over! If you are confused, study ‘odd groupings imposed over 4/4.’
For my own indulgence and because I’m bored and love this song, here’s a harmonic analysis too. Lol, sorry for the mental overload, I just get really into this stuff.
The harmony adds to this uneasy feeling.
Harmonic Analysis-
The song is in D major.
The here are the diatonic 7th chords of D major. If you are unfamiliar with this, try watching videos explains diatonic 7th chords. Here they are with their chord functions (numbers) next to them-
I. D major7
ii. E minor7
iii. F# minor7
IV. G major7
V. A dominant7
vi. B minor7
vii. C# minor7b5
This chord progression never resolves to the I, giving it that swirling and unresolved feeling.
Emin7 (ii) F#min7 (iii) Adom7 (V) Gmaj7 (IV)
It’s a 2 3 5 4 progression. Note how the V builds a strong sense of wanting to resolve to the I, but instead we’re treated to that beautiful hanging IV chord… major7 chords are beyond beautiful right!!
Lol I just spent like two hours writing this on my phone and it’s starting to lag out because this post is so large. Biggest I’ve ever posted on CZcams. Hope this helps!! Beautifully played, Nikola. :)
You are amazing man
@@momiamalvada1967 Eyy thanks man! Glad to help :)
This is amazing. This song has confused me for so long. You explained the polyrhythms so clearly. Thank you
Great comment, thanks for typing it out!
@@MichaelLCusimanogreat to hear!!
I remember being pleasantly surprised when I finally realized this song had two guitars playing two very different parts
There is also a third guitar that comes in right when Thom sings “I’d be crazy not to follow”
3
4
5
6
One of the most beautiful progressions I've ever heard.
Radiohead is good at that. Present Tense is my favorite chord progression in any song, courtesy of Jonny Greenwood.
Meh.
You should listen brazilian music like Clube da Esquina
Mid af
How many progressions have you heard
You don't realize how weird this is until you try to learn it. How do they even count this live?
Watch Tom trying to count at the beginning of Videotape.
Great Vid bro!
No wonder it's called Weird Fishes 😂 Sounds great!!
Try singing and playing it 😂
Radiohead = Math Rock Confirmed
@El dog that's some next level shit haha 😂
finally someone mentioning how confusing this is !! could you upload a video of each parts separately ? i’m sure it could help tones of confused radiohead guitar fans haha
I was actually trying to tab the whole song but there are parts I can't quite figure out. I'll eventually post a full song lesson 🙂
@@nikolagugoski thanks for the answer ! it’s understandable that you have to take some time haha hope to see a full tabed version one day
They have a knack for making odd chords and progressions all fall into place. Just enough "relief" when it settles on certain chords... then back to the slight anxiety. I love it... such a good band. This particular progression never actually feels "grounded" on its own, but when you add Thom's vocal notes it resolves beautifully.
9 mo late but whatever, in music theory using “odd chords” or melodys that sound like they shouldn’t belong or you weren’t expecting can give stress you out subconsciously, likewise, calm songs use progressions and melodys that you can predict what happens next
Been waiting for you to cover this! One of my favourite guitar parts ever. The mix of both guitars is stunning and I'll never know how Jonny comes up with his parts. Great job 😄
Thank you Stephen! I actually tried to tab the whole thing but there are parts that I can't quite figure out. It's definitely a weird fishy song haha :D
It’s his massive jaw brain 😊
This song drives me so crazy. I have seen various videos regarding this song but i dont think anyone has ever wrote it down correctly. It would be so fulfilling if you somehow manage to do it!
as far as i can hear, it's mostly a polyrhythm. one guitar is playing 3+3 to get to 6 and the other is playing 2+2+2 so it never really feels like the meet up despite being in the same time signature. i'm not sure if that's right as it's just what i'm hearing, but may help to think of certain parts of the riff that way ✨
@@kevinwilliams8849 It's not a polyrhythm, since the time signature is the same for both parts, and they switch at the same time. A polyrhythm would be two different time signatures/rhythms playing on top of each other, within the same length of time. It just sounds like there are more bars than four, before switching/looping back.
@@kevinwilliams8849 The other guitar is playing in 5, not in 6. But it resets after 4 bars so it's not going in 5 the entire time
It’s called polymetre not polyrhythm in this case
@@KimStennabbCaesar isn't what you described actually a polymeter vs a polyrhythm? I actually get a little confused trying differentiate the two lol
We played this live on our concert last week, truly an amazing song and you don't get the weird time feel until you try to play it. The _"I get eaten by the worms"_ part was my favorite, I played it higher on the bass and we did 3 voiced harmonies it was wonderful...
This song started out as a composition by Jonny called "Arpeggi." It was just a musical composition at first, so it was naturally layered and had multiple instruments playing in harmony. It must be amazing for Thom and Jonny to get to write with each other. You have one who can create something this beautiful, and then Thom can take it to another level with what he does and with that voice. Radiohead is a gift from the gods.
Exactly what happened with Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin
The name of the song is Weird Fishes / Arpeggi.
Thank you!
please add song title on these videos next time. I love your covers
Man you are a legend. thanks for doing what you do
If you like progressive heavy metal/post metal. The band Intronaut uses poly meter and polyrhythms, the music is all over the place, but it grooves so well.
Thank you for all your lessons with tab
What! No tabs. Love your content Nikola ♥️
No counting just feeling and practice
thats why I love RH riffs. Simple looking but hard in reality. Look at Street Spirit. It's so simple, but picking it correctly is really really hard. and Jonny does it perfect for 4 straight minutes. he's a god
edit: thanks to some replies I was FORCED to go back & watch EVERY live "Street Spirit" performance I could find. And it varies as to who plays what part when. Sometimes Thom starts & Jonny comes in. Others they are both playing it. But in my investigation I have determined that I am playing the hard way, that they are actually in some sort of alternate tuning making it look very easy. But in conclusion I have also decided that EVERY member of Radiohead is a god and should be worshiped as such.
It's normally Thom who plays that part throughout the song and Greenwood does overlaps and plays keys. You can see it in basically every performance video ever of that song. It's still very hard to play consistently for the duration of the tune!
It’s thom and Ed on street spirit, Jonny joins in near the end
It's regular standard tuning, and he plays it with a pick and sings. Takes coordination and he's got plenty. Check out some of the bass he plays with the smile while singing at the same time.
Top layer is three notes repeating the triad or the general figure over and over (so 3/8 or triplets within a quarter note time signature, however you wanna digest it) -- and the bottom layer is in 5's, 5 notes per figure, so its a polyrhythmic whole.
One part in 3's, other part in 5s, sometimes the 5s has two different figures, so one time its a certain figure in 5, second time around its another figure in 5. The threes stay the same bar to bar though.
Incredible....
I think when people break down Radiohead's music. It becomes evident what genius there is in it.
lovely. i was feeling like covering this song, your cover will help me out ^^ thanks
I learnt it ages ago and got stuck with the time and i just listened to the song loads for a few weeks then when i came back to it it felt easy because i wasnt focusing on counting i just knew how it was supposed to sound which is how they will play it live from muscle memory rather than counting especially as Radiohead has loads of weird timing stuff that they play with a lot of passion so having to count while performing would take away from that
damn, how do you get that sound? very nice playing btw
Beautiful…. Love that album!
Deservedly one of the best Radiohead tracks ever. The gem of In Rainbows, the coveted childof Street Spirit and Let Down.
you know this is an entire song on its own right ? jon greenwood made this piece called "arpeggi" as in "weird fishes/ *arpeggi* " of which thom yorke decided to incorporate it into the weird fish, you can listen to jon's guitar performance of arpeggi.
It was actually originally arranged for six ondes martenot(s?), and subsequently rearranged for three guitars. But here is the performance I was thinking of czcams.com/video/R9bPMnFCj68/video.html and it's not six ondes at all, so now I'm having a major Mandela effect moment.
Bro never heard of King Crimson
Teach this to students all the time, it’s actually pretty simple but sounds beautiful!
This song is so damn beautiful. Well done!
I saw them do this live on that tour in west palm beach and the part they screwed up was actually the ending. They actually played the ending section again, after Thom called them out, using his best German(?) or possibly French(?) general accent. It was extremely formative to see even a band of that caliber is made up of humans.
beautiful riff btw
Yeah, it sound awesome
gotta include the bass. sounds so good
It's so beautiful. That's good musicianship.
And then the third guitar kicks in and it becomes even worse
Absolute beauty of a song, can't find the tabs for this, are they still live somewhere?
Dude great transcription
I mean, It’s just 4 chords literally, non odd time signatures or whatever… and yet the pattern drives you crazy. This is why I love this band, their songs just feel very straightforward and melodic until you try to play them. Same for the let down arpeggio.
“Everything in its right place” is their music
Those groupings of five are nutz, I never heard them before!
Full ver Please
I heard this for the first time prob like 2009ish when I was 11, Blew my mind then, blows my mind now. Radioheads discography is outstanding but in rainbows has such a specific vibe to it.
Jonny Greenwood performs Electric Counterpoint solo for fun. We never stood a chance trying to be like him.
I think we can all agree lok 👍 thx bro much Love Fam and God Bless
In the deepest ocean,,
❤❤❤Radiohead
Tuve que versionarlo con un antiguo grupo de versiones de Radiohead y es realmente difícil. Al final lo memoricé pero otros guitarristas lo traducen a un 4/4.
I dont know this song, but if you put the title of it in the video title or description, I could go listen to and maybe learn. Wouldn't that be swell.
It's called Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
@@nikolagugoski thanks
@@nikolagugoski ....just put it in the description
He specifically didn't put the song name anywhere to drive engagement
This reminds me of “red light” by the strokes. That song has some funky riff timings and notes with 2 lead riffs overlayed to produce an interesting sound.
Such a killer tune
would be nice if the song name were to be in the description or name of video, its a bit frustrating when they dont name it
The song name is Weird Fishes
You from the pablo honey album also has a confusing time signature
one of the songs that i can cry all the time when i listen
When there will be the Guitar lesson with the Tab?
Tried to tab the whole song, but in the studio version I can't really figure out what Johnny is playing. He is kind of changing things a lot. Also the last part was hard to figure out. Watched a few live shows but can't transcribe it properly
"The hardest easy song" was how I described learning Thin Thing-The Smile on guitar
amazing!!!!
The part at 0:15 is so sick
If I'm not wrong, this was inspired by Electric Counterpart!
Thank you… so much
Didn’t even think that there’s a Radiohead song that could confuse Nikola. 😂
nice jazz!
You've never heard Thrak-era King Crimson, eh?
It sounds like you’re using a delay pedal on some weird hybrid dotted eighth setting with double head tape echo but without a pedal
amazing
Thank you!
I count it as 7 bars of 4 then 1 2 3 and. Then repeat
I don't understand what is confusing about this guitar part. Both guitars are playing consistent 8th note triplets in 4/4 time with zero variation in meter, no polyrhythms, and no deviation from the constant 8th note triplets... not even rests.
Wow... Just... wow...
I love in rainbows
Sounds awesome! How did you put the drums in?
Thank you! I isolated them from the original track with some software
@@nikolagugoski Hey, I use RipX, is yours different or have you tried a few or anything? Which one is the best?
Perfect 🙏🙏🙏🌹🌹
Radiohead, always innovating.
what's the name of the song? sounds so good
in rainbows is the name of the album (fantastic album you should listen to all of it) but the name of the song is Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
haha I knew it was Weird Fishes before even hearing it
i mean, it's a weird fishes arppegi
the best radiohead song
i think Paul Newman (the band) have already made this kind of riff
does it have any effects?
Okay this and also pretty much every ttng song 🤣 except confusing, and difficult
so much work put into all this...but what's the song? thx
It's called Weird Fishes
Polymeter!
que hermoso
If you count paying attention to the high notes it feels like a weird 4/4 with additional beats - I am very rudimentary - so, in essence, it's like learning a 4/4 pattern sometimes with added beats (and I think it also falls short sometimes and maybe feels like a 3/4 move. Does this make sense? Sos how do you guys feel it? I'm sure we all have our own ways.
The pinned comment explains it 😁
that's why they are The Radio
is it in 3/4?
Well played, but Jesus man tune that high string lol
Wait what's so confusing? Is it the "polyrhythm" ?
One can clearly hear in this riff that Greenwood is a Steve Reich fan)
never really liked in rainbows much but it's funny to think one of their easiest songs to play on drums is one of their hardest on guitar lmao
Really tweedles the ol' sack
Then Thom's guitar comes in
no doubt, it’s confusing as fuck. only reason i can play it is because i’ve listened to the song probably a couple hundred times in my lifetime. it’s been burnt into my brain
seems post/math rocky
If you ask Google to name this song, it tells you it's Zależy Mi by Stanislaw Sojka
It's called Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
2 Wandering intertwined
This is not a riff, it's a lead part with an accompaniment. And there's nothing confusing about it, it's just chords being arpeggiated.
Read the pinned comment 🙂
This sounds like something by the Kings of Convenience - another band that sounds very simple until you try playing it.
what song?
I don't want to be that guy, but I've never found it particularly complicated...
After seeing their performance on Jools Holland, I was just blown away by this song, it's possibly my favorite song from Radiohead now.
Jonny greenwood…. Genius
If you like this, go check all Toe's discography
Johnny Greenwood 😫😩😩😩
What song is this? Sounds dope
It's called Weird Fishes/Arpeggi