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To: mattstat

C, Am, F & G played in 4/4 sounds like about 80% of the music recorded between 1955 and 1965


2 posted on 07/18/2010 7:40:27 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Obama. Chauncey Gardiner without the homburg.)
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To: muir_redwoods

Bands like ZZ Top built a 30 year careers and made a fortune using only 3 cords.....


13 posted on 07/18/2010 7:53:19 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Stop the insanity - Flush Congress!)
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To: muir_redwoods

E, D, A.......rinse and repeat. A true staple.


36 posted on 07/18/2010 8:25:41 AM PDT by RightOnline
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To: muir_redwoods
I don't know if it was as high as 80%, but a lot of slow songs during that period used "four chord turnovers", as they were called.

Having played in rock bands from about 1960, through my teen years, through the Air Force years, and off and on since that time...both lead guitar and later keyboards, I can attest to that fact.

About 90% of old rock and roll songs were three chord blues riffs (i.e. tonic, subdominate and dominate).

The Beatles came along and changed all that, using chord progressions seldom heard of before their time.

But, music is for the listeners, and the old rock and roll music was....FUN. Yes there were mundane and simplistic lyrics...but one of the basics of the most popular songs was getting the listeners and fans to sing along. That's where the simplistic lyrics came in...people love to sing along and they don't like complicated lyrics.

Some of the most popular songs had very simple lyrics, like "Hanky Panky"...a really stupid song, IMNO...however, we did learn it, and when we played it live venues "Hanky Panky" would always fill up the dance floor, and you could see many of the dancers "mouthing" the lyrics...FUN stuff.

If classical music was the "limo", and pop standards was the Sedan...the old Rock and Roll was the old jalopy with a rumble seat.

Back to four chord turnovers...The Righteous Brothers blockbuster "Unchained Melody" was 4-chord turnover, as was "In the Still Of the Night"...and many more Doo-wop songs.

For a "formal" musician to cast aspersions on 4-chord music and old rock and roll is ironic, as the little rock songs have sold millions compared to the lackluster sale of their music.

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a lot of different kinds of music; my take on it has always been, "I like some of all kinds of music, but I don't like all of any of it."

I don't like RAP, however, to me RAP is just "bitching to a beat"...no music involved.

I know, I know...let me be the first ... I guess that makes me a "racist"...(hell, I'm white, breathing makes me a racist to those who use that word to control people.)
44 posted on 07/18/2010 8:37:31 AM PDT by FrankR (It doesn't matter what they call us, only what we answer to....)
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To: muir_redwoods
Link to the Pachelbel Rant
57 posted on 07/18/2010 9:18:11 AM PDT by SC Swamp Fox (Aim small, miss small.)
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To: muir_redwoods; mattstat

I dont think they could say that about Frank Zappa, but he was also a composer along with being a virtuoso.


77 posted on 07/18/2010 5:33:59 PM PDT by valkyry1
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