Nice one Michael.. I've played in a SD "tribute band", (Nearly Dan) in the UK for over 20years. So many great songs & sophisticated chord progressions. Enjoy the show..
Saw you at The Stables in 2018, then the next week flew to New York to see Nightfly live at the Beacon Theatre. Both shows were fab! Look forward to seeing both again soon!
Thank you for putting yourself out there! Most RU-vid videos are either carefully rehearsed or heavily edited, but watching you piece this together and dissect it out was very educational and hugely fun.
I went from Steely Dan in my high school days , to a Dead fan in my 40’s. Both incredible bands. Steely Dan way more technical though. Both touching on morbid subjects. Examples: Dead : “Me and My Uncle”- about killing your uncle Steely Dan: “Do It Again” - in the morning you go gunning for a man who stole your woman
I was conceived on Dead tour, grew up a snobby Deadhead, was introduced to Aja on a couple gel tabs senior year and everything changed. Long live the Dan
Just finished one book on Steely Dan ("Major Dudes") and now into my second ("Steely Dan: Reelin' In The Years"). Needless to say, I'm a fan. Love all their work, and although I listen to all their albums, 'Aja' is probably my most listened-to. But, wow, what they did over the years. Just incredible.
lol i really don't believe that Jon plays E/G cause that would sound like shit. Sure you don't mean Em/G - which is also called G6. That would make more sense tbh :P
Right on! My dad’s favorite, and we saw them together at the Greek in Berkeley. The Nightfly and Aja were played constantly in our house while growing up. Hope you have a great time!
Steely Dan is one of my favourite bands ever!! It takes a lot of courage and nerve to disect any steely dan song live without previous preparation. I enjoyed your video very much!!
Wow, that is so cool! Very impressed with how you dissected this in real time and gave us all hope that it is not impossible!! I am a "late in life and struggling" guitar player who does not take well to lessons on anything, but I may have to take some of your courses based on your enthusiasm and teaching style!! LOVE IT!!! BTW, great McCarty 594!!! Just got my first PRS in February this year (McCarty 594 HBII) and have since purchased two more (custom 24's) because of how incredible they feel/play/sound! Incredible machines! Now, on to trying to play at a fraction of your skill level!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Time to brush up on mu chords, which Steely Dan used a ton. Add the 2 to a major triad (add9). Often moved the 3rd to the bass and used a ton of sus2 chords. By far one of my favorite bands of all time. Brilliant writing, performing and engineering. The Royal Scam is in my top 10 albums of all time.
A “mu” chord is simply an inversion of an add9 chord in which the 9 is voiced between the root and the 3rd. In even simpler terms, if one thinks of it as an add2 chord, it eliminates the inversion/voicing part of the previous explanation. Never understood why such a big deal was made over a common, four note chord voicing 🤷🏼♂️ I honestly think it just makes non-musician fans of Steely Dan feel like they are hip to something no one else understands, and so they shoehorn the damn “mu” chord into any conversation they have with musicians when Steely Dan is mentioned🤦🏼♂️
This is only the second video of yours that I've watched but I can see and feel the passion you have. Amazing! You're a phenomenal musician. Subscribed.
Hope you enjoyed the show. Saw them here in Nashville years ago... incredible!!!! Been a fan for years, and kudos for taking on one of their songs. Thanks for making their chord/song structure understandable for us wannabe non-guitarists!
Great effort Michael. I hope you enjoy the show man! I've seen them three different times and they've been one of my all time favorite bands since "Can't Buy a Thrill" came out. R.I.P. Walter Becker.
Love your deconstruction technique! I always start with the bass notes too...and then I'm usually stuck and search for the RU-vid video, lol! I'll try and start finding the thirds based on your advice! Hope you have a great time at the show!
15 thousand views in 11 hours and only four hundred likes???? Come on peoples...just hit that like please. Mike's not just working for it, he deserves it. P.s. hope you enjoyed the show:)
Great to watch you walk through this cold. Lots of helpful tips! Been a Dan Fan from the very beginning when my brother introduced me to them. The Steely Damned down in San Diego do and incredible job on their stuff (17pc band!) and Hank Easton is a beast on all the guitar work!
Nicely explained, Michael! Steely Dan uses the most dense progressions in pop/rock, which is only one of the reasons that I think of them as the American version of the Beatles for their songwriting. Great to hear you, as always!
Man you are amazing mike. Im a guitar player but never really got into the serious side of playing like knowing every chord and note. Maybe its time to start learnin!
Thanks Michael, this is excellent. Enjoy the show tonight. 13 piece band that absolutely swings. I'll be at the MAYO in Morristown NJ on 11/4/21 for Gaucho + hits night.
I love this channel - Michael's skill is amazing and his enthusiasm is joyous. But man! I just hope I live long enough to get to the point where I can understand half of what he is saying :)
Mike, you might look into "The Dukes of September" tour from a couple years ago. It's all over youtube. It consisted of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, and Boz Skaggs doing some of their greatest hits. AND Jon Herington doing all the lead guitar solos.
Dude..!!! You definitely got dem chops..!! I kinda use the same method as you to figure out tunes .. BUT.. it’s like you’re strolling in the park.. and I’m crawling uphill through broken glass on my belly..😳..!!! But it’s a ton of fun..!!
Love your channel and learning from you. I am bass player that doesn't play the guitar and still learn learn lots. I feel you did get off easy on this. So much more to Steely Dan than this song. Keep going, do another one!!!! Thanks for everything!
Watching your process on these is so incredibly helpful. Thank you. Is it me, or around the 17 minute mark did it sound like one of the backup guitar players stomped on some distortion and their tone got a little unwieldy on one of those hits? Lol. This one was a fun ride. I hope you have a great time at the show, brother.
Hey Michael, you're solid. Honest figuring it out cold is a great lesson for people who haven't reached this level yet. It just takes time doing this over and over until you just recognize licks and progressions, as they are usually just variations on something you've learned before.
Thanks for the breakdown! I wonder how you would approach Steely Dan’s “Black Cow” off of the Aja album. Tons of changes and really cool inversions. A daunting song for sure!! Thanks again Michael!!
I had the great fortune to attend two Steely Dan concerts when Walter Becker was alive = mind blowing. Black Friday is certainly a familiar Bluesy shuffle, but those expanded choruses and swells are quite another story!
One of my all time favorite bands. My dad got me into them. Lucky to have seen them play several times. Their stuff is hard. Too hard for me, wild ass jazz chords and quick changes. Damn brilliant tho.
This is so much like me every week preparing for gigs. I do weddings and each week I get and email with a list of songs and if I don't know any, I have to learn them. Then I have to show up at the gig ready to play it with zero rehearsal.
I seen SD at the Woodland pavilion in Houston a couple years ago and was awesome. The funny thing i will never forget is my manager wife also went to the show to see Elvis Costello but did not stay for SD, she said they were not relevant any more 😂😂😂😂 oh and EC was still relevant.. lol
Thank you, Michael! Great educational video. I just don't understand this small number of viewers ... A must "lesson" for a little more experienced beginner (minor/major, 1 and 3, G/Em, etc.). It is always interesting (in my opinion) to be able to see when someone else experiences the music of others. Especially like this in "real-time" with instructions and explanations. Music is such a subjective thing but at the same time lives on clearly determined rules that make the process of creating/learning so interesting. It is always a combination of "those 8(12) notes" that become something else in our hands ...
Michael, Don't be surprised when one of these iconic groups calls you up and says "we would like to talk with you".... perhaps uts already happened? Love your channel!
I suggest hearing Larry Carlton on Steely Dan's "Third World Man". John Harrington the guitarist who tours with the band said it is his favorite Steely Dan song to play.
Well done! Not the SD song I’d suggest for the crazy chords; maybe the simplest one but hey, you did a great job. Try “Your Gold Teeth 2” or anything off the Aja album. You really hit on a SD idiom when you found A/B.
12:20 often easiest solution is the realest one 1 more half step down so there’s 3 half step stairs in a row (d#, d, c#) keeping the sus and same shape when your pinning just moving the bass note down along the a if you wanna keep the b in the bass on the e string by all means. 20:00 sounded pretty close 👏👍🤘
Great video Michael as always You should check out John Mayer with Keith Urban on cat crossroads. Any song of that concert is just mind blowing Cheers from Portugal
We've sure come a long way from picking up the arm and hoping to put the needle back on the record correctly without damaging it. Really enjoyed this clip.
You almost got it at the end at 20:00, the E note stays on the top of the chorus chords. A G6 F#7 Ebm7(okay no E on that one) A/D A/B. Play those with the E note on top, except the Ebm7 (or is it an Em11? x6667x) has the Gb on top. Those horn stabs try a D xx777x chord which makes the E7 an E11. Some Steely Dan Voicings D/A x57655 Aadd9 x02420 with the whole tone rub between the 9 and 3rd, B7#5 7x788, Bm7b13 7x778, A/B 7x765. Love their chord progressions, still trying to figure it out after all these years. And I'm Reeling in the Years
You need to check out Tanner Usrey - Josephine. I know how much you appreciate the structure of a song and how the song lyrically stands out and that’s one of those songs!
I really enjoy watching you learn songs by ear and deconstruct the parts in the learning process. I used to do that years ago, albeit on simpler songs, and at a much slower pace, but it’s nice to know I was on the right track … even if you’re light-years ahead of where I was at my best. Then I got busy making an aviation career, just retired, and starting to get back into playing just for the fun of it. Enjoying your videos!! if you have any questions about aircraft systems or aviation, let me know!!🤣
Walter Becker (RIP) has some good solos, but mainly plays Rhythm and Bass, especially on the early albums. The really great guitar work is from Jeff Baxter, Elliot Randall, Dean Parks, Denny Dias (check out Your Gold Teeth II and Aja) and Larry Carlton.
My first time viewing one of you videos. Extremely educational for me. Thank you. Am now a Subscriber. Learning tunes /licks by ear has long been my downfall.
While I am a big appreciator of them (I grew up with their music), 'Reelin' in The Years' will foreverandaday come to mind when the band's name is invoked. (Definitely on my all-time best pop songs.)
