Frank Zappa's Favorite Chord Progression 

Freak Out, what a masterpiece!

Thank you so much!

I'm so jealous! The Ritz show is my all-time favorite FZ show!

@@TylerBartram it absolutl is and I was standing 3rd row in front of Unce Frank.He was extremely loud but the sound was clear and and well balanced.Frank was on Fire that night with his guitar,during Drowning witch,he was going crazy feeding back and controlling it. I'm not a big Hendrix fan ,but I could swear I saw him flying around the room when Frank used Jimis old burnt guitar on Drowning Witch DeMeola as special guest ,Vai in the band. Really the sound was incrediblely clear and your heart was pounding with the mudic.Frank definatly made the walls crack. My friend and I couldn't even talk about it for 2 days. The only thing I Saud to him was "do you realize we just saw the greatest Zappa show there will ever be. He agreed and we just drove the hour home not talking and just getting high.When his older brother came back from Florida the next week oh how we teased him about him missing the greatest Zappa show ever.

@@TylerBartram Oh yeah! Al DiMeola playing on Ride Like the Wind sung by Brian Peters the drum roadie. Tax the churches! My favorite also.

Well he still got more complex over the years if you look at his orchestral works and synclavier pieces

@@Zappafantrust I think more adventurous rather than complex. The Synclavier allowed him to realise the music he hoped to achieve with orchestra and rock band that eluded him until then (he said do in an interview I saw a long time ago now). Maybe complex was the wrong word to use.

Drowning Witch would be an amazing breakdown.

Kinda of fully formed? Zappa would've hated that description. He was of course different things at different times. The less complex his rock band became the more complicated his classical work became. You might want to check out what Boulez is quoted as saying about the quality of Frank's composition.

@@JohnLloydDavis "It could be argued with a lot of musicians that they start simple and get more complex (like the Beatles for instance)" That is misconception about The Beatles and their growth as composers/tunesmiths. "She Loves You" is their early song but from the drum roll at the start to the last Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the first 12 seconds they use 11 of the 12 notes in music. It is G-F#-E notes in them Yeah Yeah, Yeahs refrain Ex, F# in 2nd Yeah is non-chord tone. It is chromatically against supporting chord and it creates dissonance that is resolved when a chord tone resumes on the following 3rd Yeah. Edit: They, Lennon-McCartney were doing all kinds of clever things from early on.

Definitely did! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aLNRhSZKzYo.html&feature=share9

Yes, good observation. And you alluded to an important distinction which is that he uses that progression (which Brett Clement calls the "Lydian-Mixolydian Oscillation") more for his solos - Inca Roads, RDNZL, Outside Now, Son Of Orange County, etc. - as opposed to the Black Napkins progression which seems to be a device used mostly elsewhere (unlike Any Kind Of Pain, for example, which uncoincidentally is one that does not change the mode each chord, making it easier for Zappa to solo over). So definitely on the surface the Lydian-Mixolydian Oscillation would be a good choice as the "favorite" (and that's just a silly word I used so people will click on this) considering it's strong association with Zappa and his solos. But with over 30 examples of the Black Napkins progression I'd say it certainly challenges that claim!

​@Tyler Bartram My ear hears the similarity between the Inca Roads vamp and the "major down to minor" (any kind of pain) vamp. I've always thought of the latter as an 80s reharm/sub of the 2nd chord. I.e. F - G is now F - Em7. To me it still has the ascending quality because the 2nd

@@fuzztony3940 Yeah, good point about the relative major/minor there!

No one but Frank could have done that solo. Every note is perfect.

Thank you for watching! Yes, a good example that definitely escaped me. Early Mothers are a bit of a blind spot for me sometimes!

If you have time, listen to that version of Low Budget Orch. It’s pretty different to the Studio Tan version. The latter is probably;y more successful and unified, but the earlier version has many charms. Nice work Tyler. Thanks for doing it. @@TylerBartram

I'm super high rn I hope this isn't too direct @tyler ily for the zappa analyses videos

@@lemming7188 Lol you're good. Please keep the recommendations coming!

~ Ripped. *

Thanks! Most of the music in this video was transcribed.

As evidenced by showing an example of sus2 chords while I say that - complete with the voicing underneath. There are times where we see just R-5 or the 4th instead of the 3rd as well.

Elaborate

Good question... 🤔

V to I probably

l-lv-v?

No, I didn’t. Revised Music for Low Budget Symphony Orchestra is how FZ titles it on his score (which I used for this video). That name also appears on the Orchestral Favorites anniversary record but was changed for the Studio Tan album.

That's fine. It just means you still have things to learn in life. As we all do. Isn't that a wonderful prospect? :))

I appreciate that! I'm very set in my "this must be one video" ways but it seems like people would enjoy them broken up into parts.

@@TylerBartram I don't see the benefit in multiple clips when the full video is already broken into chapters and viewers have a pause button if they need a break.

@@lepoisson more monetization

@@SpanishLibertarian Sure, but that's a separate argument. The original comment said that it's too much/too quick to digest. To which I said just hit pause.

I'll respectfully disagree here. The long, uninterrupted format allows for the depth of discussion. This is my favourite RU-vid channel for this reason! I'd literally buy these documentaries on DVD, they are that good. Please, Tyler, don't just become another "content creator". As Frank would say, "Keep what makes you unique."