Brian wrote the song in 20 mins. He must of been in one of creative cycles as he says. I love the sudden crazy interlude then the 4 part vocals happen and the whole thing comes together again like magic.
5:10 I interpret it as "If yer wanna be a spaceman....Eight days a week! And if the band you're in starts playin' different tunes, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"
Great writer and perhaps an even better arranger both vocal and instrumental.. It is said that Brian Wilson and John Phillips were the two best vocal arrangers of the last 60 years. Phillips was a seriously bent guy but the vocals on those Mama's and the Papas records were unbelievably beautiful and Brian may have used studio musicians for the first instrumental tracks but those boys were talented singers and gave Brian a lot to work with.
I don't think our brains fill in the thirds, but when you play chords that correspond to a given key with out the 3rd, it does imply the key, and that's what you perceiving, The reason you may have a problem with ambiguity of the two chord is likely one of two things. It's probably the most common secondary dominant, so in the key of G heating an A major before a D happens a lot. The other, depending on the order on the chords the progression could be perceived as A mixolydian- like an A/G/D/A progression which one of the most commonly used modes in pop and rock.
James, your ability to help us gain some understanding of why certain techniques do what they do to our listening experience is peerless. Please do it more. Linking it to intriguing material is a bonus.
As per the Oasis song: I use that chord shape when playing solos. Particularly in songs in a minor key. You can move that chord shape around to do all sorts of wonderful things
These theory vids are brilliant. A lot of the topics I know of, but you're adding a new perspective on them. Actually inspiring me to try these tricks in a tune. Great stuff!
You are absolutely one of the best teachers of songwriting techniques and appreciation anywhere...thank you so much for this one...I have learned it a few ways for guitar but no one else has so clearly explained what's actually going on...Steeley Dan uses slash chords too...keep up the great work man❤
Hi James, I recently stumbled across your channel, looking for a deeper analysis of some Beatles' songs. Your videos are extremely helpful. I have noticed some gaps in my knowledge of musical theory. Your explanations are so detailed, well paced and stating the obvious. And stating the obvious (explaining parts that most users already master) is a completely underestimated foundation of teaching. Firstly it activates the area in the brain where related knowledge resides. Secondly it builds confidence in the viewer that he is not completely without knowledge, which thirdly reinforces the span of attention. I love Rick Beato's channel, but when he explains songs, I get completely lost. Thank you again for all the hard work you put in.
I have to say your channel is mindblowing good! Ive learned so much from you and you give us hope as musicians and songwriters. This is the good side of RU-vid as a platform for knowledge sharing. Keep up your stellar work and know that is deeply appreciated!
One of the more amazing tricks that Brian pulled in this song is getting back to the home key after explicitly changing key at the vocalized bridge. The melody transpose up a fourth (opening with G/D as compared to D/A). That key change is obvious. But somehow, after all of that, he subtly ends back up in the home key in a way that still floors me every thing I hear it, and I’ve been listening to the song for 40 years. Genius.
Brian Wilson was the master of key changes and making them feel seamless. This song from 1970 is another great example: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Oe6y_7NnLFU.htmlsi=KsrqRW9zhn85opgq
Great job making this concept so accessible. The song has always haunted me but I never attempted to break it down. The anticipation of tension and release, that magical effect when familiar melodies grab us, with this song is brought to a whole new level, it’s not just a brilliant moment, it’s more like a kind of secret sauce that captivates our musical souls. Sparks shall be flying!
There are 2 different types of slash chords. I've always found that calling them the same name is a little confusing. D/A, for instance, is a (consonant) inversion of D. In the same way, B7 over A is an inverted B7. On the other hand, G/A is an enriched (dissonant) A7sus4. Its bass note is a non-chord tone... or the only chord tone depending on how you see it.
Some of this was covered by our Church lead guitarist. He said 4 finger G, C, ect. Holds it together part of the Worship Chords, I get it better now thanks to you and he.
So glad you covered the beach boys James. Great video. Hope you can cover more of Brian Wilson especially, and his relationship with Dr Eugene Landy as it’s fascinating and would love to see your take on it.
Brilliant.… I’ve always elevated this song to equal to the best songs ever written (“the Long and Winding Road“, “here there and everywhere“ - all three cluster at number one for me… With perhaps one or two more). Thank you for your diligent, well-elucidated presentation. Cheers/ Slainte. 🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸. 🎸👨🏼⚕️🫶✌️♾️
Wow, this video was amazing! I truly appreciate the deep delving into theory and also into the practicality of these concepts. Bookmarking this for the next time my songwriting needs something extra … or, maybe that’s *every time! Cheers!
It is one of my top 10 songs of all time. I was very happy to see Brian Wilson and his band play all of Pet Sounds on its 50th anniversary back in 2016. I do love The Beach Boys and Brian is such a genius. As much as his song writing is unique and artistic, there are other songs that are just as great from the other members.
Brian is a special songwriter and it's wonderful to hear the lead vocals from Dennis, Carl and the others too. We wouldn't miss them out as they added their wonderful tones for the classic BB sounds along with him.
It is such an emotional thing when his health was worse after his scarring drug experiences. Love & Mercy is a fantastic film and I recommend it as well.
@@TheStrongBoyz19 yes I've seen it absolutely brilliant film - love the 2 time periods thing and for me it came really close to capturing the brilliance of Brian in the studio
Utterly brilliant video, James. It's a regret of mine that I didn't learn the guitar as a boy, but my lack of understanding regarding musical theory did not hinder my appreciation of your analyses thanks to your excellent explanations. Although I am not a musician, I fancy myself as a musicologist of sorts(!) when it comes to The Beatles and Queen, in particular. Your education about Brian Wilson's masterpiece here was enlightening and appreciated; any videos on my favourite bands will be devoured!
Totally agree but it's them harmonies for me. What completely changed me with the beach boys was listening to Pet Sounds Acappella. I downloading once n now I've lost but yh the whole thing with no instruments is just 'wow' n for me 'don't cry put your head on my shoulder' is right up there as well. Naive lyrics but truly sublime and from the heart. I listen now lol
One of my favourite ever songs is by the Beach Boys, but I can’t remember the name for the life of me! It’ll haunt me now until I can ask my wife. She never forgets, anything 😊 Edit: it’s “I can hear music”. Check out the extended version.
Nice analysis, James. Here's my harmonic understanding of the verse and chorus. I will add Roman numeral figured bass in parenthesis to show chord function. 1. "I may not always love you, but as long as there are ... " A three chord progression in the key of F# Minor. Key of F# Minor: D/A (VI 6/4), B Minor 2 (iv 2), F# Minor (i). 2. "... stars above you..." A transition chord preparing/moving into the key of E Major: B Major/A (V 6/4/2) 3. "You never need to doubt it, I'll make you so sure about it ..." Key of E: E/B (I 6/4), A Diminished 7 (iv 6/b5/b3), E/B (I 6/4), A# Half Diminished 7 (#iv 7/b5/b3) 4. "God only knows what I'd be without you ..." Key of E: A Major (IV), E Major/G# (I 6/3), F# Minor 7 (ii 7), E Major (I) 5. Summary: A. I perceive the verse in two keys: F# Minor for the first three chords, and E Major for the last five chords. B. The refrain continues in the key of E Major for four chords. 6. Comment: Although harmonic changes in popular music are most easily understood with chord symbols, Roman numeral figured bass is a helpful auxiliary tool to display chord function and progression within a key.
An analysis that is clearly and simply stated and is very useful to apply to songwriting. Thanks. I have only ever used 'Slash' chords playing one or two covers and have known them as Poly Chords. I picked up the Asus2, used for the first time in one of my songs, 10 years ago. I had been playing Gordon Lightfoot's 'The Wreck Of The Edmond Fitzgerald' for I'm not sure how long? ....maybe 30 years. Asus2 is the starting chord of this song. The chord progression in all 14 verses is Asus2 - Em - G - D. It repeats right through, with a turnaround between certain verses. It's a story telling song, using brilliant lyrics and so is suited to the repeated chord progression. If you like great story songs, if you follow the story, you will never get bored with the repeated chords. They complement the story, but never take attention away from from the story. By the way and I hope this doesn't confuse you; Gordon uses these chord shapes but raises the pitch (and changes the key) by using a capo on the second fret, on his Gibson 12 string guitar. My favourite performance of this song was in a concert that Gordon and the band played in Reno. It's on RU-vid. For my song I used the standard guitar tuning of E A D G B E. The Asus2 is fingered on the second fret. You fret the D and the G strings, taking D to E and G to A. So the notes of the chord are E A E A B E. This gives it that ambiguous ethereal sound that I love. I wrote the song using the chord progression Em Asus2 on the verses, just these two chords repeated, 4 bars of the Em and 2 bars of the Asus2. For the chorus I used a different chord progression. It starts with G, goes to G7 and uses 3 other major chords including the leading note chord, and two minor chords. So the verses are simple using two chords, one ambiguous, and the chorus is 'busy' and lifting, using 8 chords with a bit of a surprise, using the leading note chord F. The keys used are Em and the relative major G.
Good call, Brian Wilson certainly ascended the heavens, how about Steely Dan for musical ambiguity and slash chords, sone of their songs definitely have this quality, agree?
The fact that it has a “7” in its name should tell you that it’s more than a 3 note chord; 1=root(vital), 3=quality(ie major or minor), 5=optional (just colour, but recommended for richness) and 7 for determining dominant or major 7th (dominant leads to 1, major 7th is stable...).
Very interesting points! I personally feel that despite the use of slash bass notes, the verse is split between two keys, D and E, with bar four marking the transition between the two. I wrote this very brief summary of God Only Knows for a BBC website about great songwriting: "Brian Wilson’s talent is nowhere better displayed than in this gorgeous verse, which moves flowingly through two keys and four sweeping phrases, with the bass on fifths and thirds, gaining a sense of romantic reassurance as it progresses to the chorus. The outro canon is Beach Boys’ heaven, the voices crossing in a tapestry of parts, saved from excessive sentimentality by the nifty use of the barber’s shop flat seventh." And yes, the chorus is definitely in E. The clever use of the G chord at the end of the first chorus takes us back down to D for the second verse.
Another great vid man 👌 also, I get that the Pet Sounds cover is, aesthetically, a bit odd, but I'd say probably Dark Side and Pepper aside, it's right up there as one of the most instantly recognisable album covers of all time 🤔
But Brian wrote this via a piano, he had more scope to the dynamics on a keyboard than the guitar. The softer tones collided within the whole spectrum he had to work with. Adding the vocal harmonies also gave it further dimension. Add this to a stereo mix and you have it all.
Absolutely bang on! It’s actually the E major version which is used in Eight Days A Week. The E minor version is like the intro to Maggie May by Rod Stewart.
This video is gold. You show history of music, connect it to Oasis and in the end, you teach us something. The comparison between the chords without/with the bass notes is so great and teaches so much. Thanks for always going a step beyond, your Sherlock Holmes skills, storytelling, music knowledge and love for Oasis are all in the mix.
It’s his best video. I think it’s the second best video about music I’ve heard in the whole year. And the reason why second is because I’m a Strokes head and so that Room On Fire making of wins.
Major II often sounds "right" because it's often used either in a V-of-V formation (that is, the dominant 7th OF the dominant 7th of the main key: i.e., D7 to G7 to C) or in a sort of abbreviated form in which II creates a descending chromatic melody (the g in C as I, the f# in D as II, the f natural in F as IV).
That's interesting. When you were playing the 2 chord, I did keep hearing it as major. I wonder if that's from listening to the Beatles and Oasis for so long.... It's a trippy song. I always thought it was beautiful, but hearing it sung a capella in Bioshock Infinite reduced me to tears....💔
1. Totally agree. It's probably the greatest song ever written. 2. To my ear it is in E. E is always home. I always say the key of a song is the one that if you can imagine a live band playing it what chord would they choose to end on and to me that is definitely E.
I love FMaj7 and CMaj7… and all Maj 7th chords… I totally agree with you about the ambiguity and the mystery of that song that Melody and the underline chords, it is really beautiful
I always point to that song as a brilliant example of atonal music. Most people think "atonal" is the same thing as "dissonant", but it simply means the song lacks a clear tonal center. Lennon's A Day in the Life is another example of atonality in pop music -- it kind of lives ambiguously between the keys of Gmaj and Bm before moving to E (but still using the borrowed flat-7 chord, Dmaj). Brian, John and Paul were just that brilliant!
Elliott Smith was briliant at having ambigious tonal center and has a lot of songs that do so. Listen to "Everything means nothing to me" or "Speed trials" as an example
Surely we don't know if Brian Wilson was responsible for the bass line. He had session musicians, like Carol Kaye, Ray Pohlman and Lyle Ritz, who contributed to his compositions.
Thank you for this enlightening video. I now understand what that certain something is in great songs that evoke emotionally. I’m not talented with song writing, but I’ve inadvertently added some of this to my version of some covers. I now know why and can do it more purposefully.
By the way, the chord he’s showing you IS NOT a 2 chord. A, E, A, D, G is A7th sus4. The G note is the 7th in the scale and D note is the suspended note. If were a 2 chord, the notes would be: A, E, A, B, E. This chord is a moveable chord by the way.
in western music there are at least four types of chords: major minor diminished and augmented. And then you've got all the chords with the sevenths added and all the other extensions
As for slash chords, my limited experiments here show that playing the second note of the scale in the bass of a chord produces more harmonic tension than more typical devices such as sus4. If you maintain that unrooted bass for a long time, the eventual resolution is more powerful.
Why ii is ambiguous. A possible pointer : Consider building quintal chords from piles of perfect fifths 15 2 6. The 3rd comes in next but its relatively insignificant. A 69 (no 3) chord captures the quintal quality as effectively as one including the major third. Starting with a major scale, ii is unique in allowing both quintal 69(no 3) and quartal m7/11 chords. The latter are clearly minor sounding, and the former have more of a major character, despite lacking a 3rd.
Great video mate - i think that there are still people doing this kind of thing today but it does feel more rare. Macca used to do the same thing when he would play basslines with notes that introduced ambiguity.
I guesed the song when I saw the title. There is a video of Carl singing it on his own on RU-vid it has (intimate setting) in the title and I suggest you give it a watch as it is incredible.
Wishing you will read this. On God Only Knows I beg to differ: first, you (and maybe other writers you've cited !) seem to only explore the possibility of A major and E Major, ignoring (staying in a tonal point of view) F#m and Bm. But the melodies in fact make in clear: - the first line (2 bars) alone suggests clearly B minor (B-D-F# with C# as a passing note). And the chords? E7/B is in fact a Bm6 (E is barely heard or important, but would be 11), and the bass makes the melody suggestion clearer: we are in B minor. B is a very clear tonal center to my ear. - the second line (bars 3-4) is going to V in B minor (F#m), modulating (you know think Bm was in fact the IV). The first chord and melody also make it clear (F#-A-C#) and B/A is... another kind of strange F#m6 chord! An exercice to "prove" this: replace the chords by "Bm | Bm6 | F#m | F#m6". You've have a simplified version of the same emotions! That's a problem for with slash notation: very efficient but can be misleading for analysis - actually only your ear analyses well The following (bars 5-7) is a quite abrupt modulation in E Major (I-Valt-I). All that said, all those chords are magic, it's a following of unusual colors and complexities, though creating something evident and is of course a masterpiece. Only disagreeing with the "bi-tonal" interpretation! There are tonal centers here (moving, like in most complex chord progressions).
2 chords are beautiful. Technically, it’s a sus2 because the 3 note becomes the 2 note. The sus moniker is dropped for whatever reason. Anytime you see sus, (suspended) it means the 3 note has been replaced by the 2 or 4. Not to be confused with add9 which is 1, 3, 5, 2. So an add9 is the full chord with a 2 added. As far as the 3 note becoming the 4, lets take Asus as an example. The 3 note becomes a 4. Any time you see the word sus (suspended) it just means the 3 note has been replaced. Pretty simple.
Saw Brian's photo, so wondered for a moment and decided it had to be "Good Vibrations". Tho I was a west coast teen during those years, I was much more into the Beatles. Good Vibrations made me sit up and pay attention...
After watching this video, a most curious thing occurred. I paused to absorb the video in its totality and as a wave of wonder washed over me I sighed and swept my hair back with my hand at the same time. This is the strange part. It seems the top of my head was missing. Momentarily alarmed, and I brushed my hand up there again to confirm what my hand had told me. It had returned, but I haven't been quite the same since. Learning something new and at the same time so interesting to oneself does that very rarely. Thank you, sir!
Please focus more on brian wilson. I love oasis and the beach boys but brian is a much better composer and songwriter and no one has come close since. The best video ive seen to explain the fact that god only knows has no defined key. Bravo
Well done. Sus4 and slash chords are blends, so of course you’ll get an ambiguous tonal center. Wilson’s genius was making it musical for the Western ear. BTW: it’s pronounced res-PIT. 😊
I really like your recent videos, delving more into the theory behind why we find these songs so powerful. I have to ask though, where do you get your b roll? Is it all AI?
I'm not going to go through the whole song but in my theory class I believe the first chord would be called a cadential 6-4 chord because the A in the bass is actually on the 5th scale degree of D so it is in the dominant , 6 --4 because the D above the A is a 4 and the F# is a sixth interval away fron the D (Hence a six four chord .).So it might be seen as a double suspension of the 4 and a 6 that resolve to the C# and the E respectively. before cadencing on the D, If memory serves, it sounds like the first piano chord of Bridge over Troubled Water. Anyway, this idea of a 5 in the bass is skewed because it is a cadential V chord resolving usually to a 1 as in classical music. . The following sections are a type of circle of fifths .Yes it does sound ambiguous starting on a cadential chord almost like you are walking in on someone already thinking about something and you missed the prologue .The melody coming in after the downbeat also suggests a reflective pause ,like in For No One by McCartney .
Excellent breakdown. Im not sure but surely this kind of musical ambiguity is found in most classical music. Also ambiguity as a feeling is created in many different ways like changing the modality of a piece of music. Also using pedal notes (open string tunings) or using micro-tonalities even as broad a technique as glissandi create ambiguity. I think you can go back to Bach to find much of this feeling in counterpoint where musical tension or ambiguity stays pretty present. I think its a common technique in writing underscore or film soundtracks where ambiguity is often key to what works. It would be great to know where wilsons influence comes from especially as he is a bass player and the beach boys were all about complex harmonies where typically tensions are created in a similar way say in choral music.
Something you didn’t mention, was that this uncertainty around the tonal center sort of mirrors the uncertainty in the lyrics, ie what would he be without the person he’s singing about…it’s uncertain. Having said that and as fascinating as this topic is, I do wonder if Brian was actually consciously intellectually planning all of this or if he just had a unique melody come into his head and that was the genius of the composition, versus trying to be clever and creating a song without a tonal center. Being a songwriter myself, I would tend to think that the melody came to him and he worked out the chords later and it just happened to turn out that way regarding subversion of key, but I guess you never know. My advice to young songwriters would be to let the melodies come to you and not to try and get too intellectual or clever clever around the chord progressions. As you said in your video, music at it’s very core is about transferring emotion and I think the organic emotion that comes naturally to a songwriter when creating a beautiful melody is more ultimately important than any intellectual cleverness one could construct. But maybe a bit of intentional cleverness around tonal center can enhance the song at times. I do see that as well. I guess what I’m saying is that the tonal ambiguity is an ingredient and it shouldn’t be overused. I would also say that while it could possibly make a good song better, it could never make a bad song good. Thanks again for the great video… and let’s all keep saying our prayers that Liam and Noel don’t beat the shit out of each other before they get through the first show.😂
Great video. I especially enjoyed the background regarding the tonal ambiguity of the two chord. (I heard it as major!) There are a couple of chords in God Only Knows that I think you don’t have quite right. I’m not an expert, these are just my ears. E7/B in the first line. You mention it could be called Bm6. I think it *is* Bm6. But I’m not hearing an E in it at all when I listen to the backing track sans vocals B7/C at “you’ll never *need*) I simply don’t hear a B in that at all in the instrumentation. Yes in the vocal on “doubt” but not in the accompaniment. I hear all of the rest of the notes of that chord though. C-D#-F#-A, which form a Cdim7 chord. (strictly speaking, Cdim7 would be C-Eb-Gb-Bbb, but I chose to write the enharmonic equivalent with sharps) And in the next line, “I’ll make you so *sure*) comes the most magical chord in the whole song. It’s C#m/A#, otherwise known as A#m7-flat5 or A# half diminished.
I saw Brian last night in a dream. He was a toddler and was sitting on the kitchen countertop at my grandparents house. He did not speak, but I knew who he was.
Curiously, I find myself perceiving the implied chord to which a ii (or II) sus chord would hypothetically resolve to be the major, not the minor. In one way, this makes intuitive sense, because the journey the voice leading needs to take to resolve is a semitone rather than a full tone. But on the other hand, you would expect the brain to default to the (much more culturally ubiquitous) Ionian mode than the less stable Lydian mode that a major II chord implies.
This is your best video, very instructive. By coincidence I've just been learning How Long by Ace for a band I'm in, the intro and verse uses a G/A to A sequence, the first time I've had to use this. I've always thought that a chord sequence is mathematical, dictated by the melody of the tune, is this so or does the songwriter have some choice?
Maybe you are thinking too diatonically. Slash chords are not supposed to be viewed like this. Maybe some Barry Harris; family of dominants and jazz theory will help you to understand the implied movement here. It’s very common in modern jazz. This is a wonderful example of a pop tune using more advanced harmony. Unfortunately, one of the very few.
Great video 👍 One of Oasis' greatest legacies is the journey they took you on, once you started investigating their influences - Oasis - Beatles - The Who/Kinks/Small Faces... Eventually ending up with the Beach Boys, and this masterpiece 😍
It amuses me to see how Noel Gallagher seems to have writen Cast No Shadow. I know a bloke shied him the techneek for making chords sound like a 12 string and he used it on Wonderwalls four chord progression. And look at what the last chord is. It’s the A7sus4. He took the last chord looking for what else he can find and saw it was good with that to a G. I’m only guessing of course. But sometimes things like that happen. We know how The Strokes 12:51 affair happened, Nick Valensi forgot that effect was still switched on and they thought it was awesome. And then that spilled over, doing what the Strokes did on The End Has No End chorus.
You should look at Stevie Wonder's "Send One Your Love' from The Secret Life Of Plants". That is also a master class of deceptive key center. As is his song "Overjoyed". Masterful.
