For song & album requests and to support my channel and musical projects, please consider joining my Patreon (I can't monetize my videos): www.patreon.com/iximusic 🙌 You can also commission me to analyze your original music or do a piano cover. 🎹 And I teach private & group lessons, do film/video game scoring, and music transcriptions 🎶 TIPS: www.buymeacoffee.com/iximusic 💄

Alternate title: "I Triad, But I Gave Up"

Reznor builds a sandwich, takes out the filling, and keeps the bread. Your ears determine the content.

5 piano notes in and I am instantly comfy and safe. I have gotten through so, so much listening to nin

A real key to Trent is that everything always sounds amazing & is played with impeccable feel - studio or live. That gives him the ability to create incredible focus & tension with what some might consider simple parts &/or harmony. He's very smart as a composer. The listener can easily digest what they're hearing & the (strong) feelings evoked by the listening experience are immediate.

Trent is a perfectionist, but not to a detrimental level. He knows exactly what he wants to say and how to make us feel and he does so in a powerful way. A dream of mine would be to have dinner/drinks with Trent and Maynard; that would be incredible.

Nobody gets “less is more” like Trent. Really cool to visualize it on the keyboard. Thanks

As NIИ fan I really enjoyed all of your break downs of Trent's music. Thank you for all of them ❤

The Frail is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. It's hard to dig deeper than that. Deep within his distorted and dissonant world there's this gem, hidden. Safe, untouched, true and frail.

The less-is-more approach to harmony has been a game changer for me as a guitarist. It's what gave me the understanding to go from a solid basis in chords to writing proper riffs

Trent Reznor is a GENIUS and he saved my life more times than I can count with his music.

I may be wrong about this but I think the reason I've never liked Cash's version of Hurt nearly as much as Trent's is that Cash filled in those blanks in the chords that were better left without the implied notes. Thanks for posting this!!

I'm glad you said porpoise. I sing it that way every time I hear Every Day Is Exactly the Same.

Whoa that fully chorded version of Truth has strong Badamalenti vibes. Would fit right at home in Twin Peaks.

I have known NIN for years and have always loved their style, but their music never really grabbed me until recently when I revisited The Downward Spiral and started paying closer attention to these details. Rediscovering music is such a beautiful thing.

So when do we get a dark and moody album like this from you with your vocals?! All Trenty styled with your own twist.

I think the secret to chord voicings is that the lowest and highest note always stick out to our ears. Leaving out the middle "fillings" leaves room for imagination.

I love how ambiguity (as a concept) can so easily be imbued by dropping the middle of these chords

Trents ethereal writing and melodys are what pulled me in all those years ago and inspired me to write my own compositions. Thanks for this breakdown.

Trent Reznor and Phillip Glass always seemed, somehow, on a similar wavelength of some kind. Minimalist music is quite beautiful when composed well. There is something ancient to the simplicity of minimalist music, and Reznor obviously had and achieved some aspirations to score multimedia products, and create some kind of cinematic music for the sake of music itself.

I love it! Thank you. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around theory and piano and this helps a lot😀

Those first three notes I instantly knew what song it was, my dude trent is so insane at composing

I remember first time I listened to the fragile. I didn't get it, but there was something in the noise. Took 3 listens and then it strikes you. Trent plays with destroying everything with noise, and then he can bring back the underlying harmony by the turn of a knob. And the underlying stuff is just so minimalistic and beautiful.

Thank you so much for your videos! They always get me out of writer’s block just by the way you talk about music❤️

With Trent’s art it is all about the spaces between. It’s the mystery.

I've always listened to a lot of their lesser known stuff, thanks for posting this, glad to see other musicians perv on his music.

So this got recommended to me and I liked the title.. now I've been through the full downward spiral.. she's making me appreciate my favorite music all over again.

Thank you for this explanation and sharing your knowledge . I never realized why his piano parts had this particular feel to them. Sometimes the trick to writing something incredible is to keep it simple and play what you like. He is a master at that. 🙏🏻

Trent Reznor is like the musical MacGuvyer. He does the thing and it saves the day.

THE FRAGILE is one of very favorite recordings. The entire album is beautiful, emotional and provoking.

I don't think Trent does this on porpoise either! 🐬

I think you nailed it. Trent seems to like the tension and suspense that the space invites in the way he plays and composes. I don't know shit about theory, but his music has always struck a chord in me to draw me into his space if that makes any sense. It's like he's telling a story that involves more people, but only from his perspective, while leaving room for interpretation within that perspective. May sound a little weird, but that's the way I see it.

It's crazy how I could identify each of the songs in the intro from the very first pair of notes. Iconic.

I think the emptiness fits his style. It's so much less crowded than the full chords.

love your analyses! Thank you!

You spoil us. Side note I need to write more music with chords and implied harmony.

as ive said before, i love watching you appreciate Trent. i have no musical talent or music reading ability but im fascinated by your explanations. It would be amazing to see you interview Trent, with a piano or keyboard and him talking you ( and us) through his tunes.

Very cool. Trent has been a real favorite , for me, for decades. His music has a beautiful, haunting quality. A true genius. I've been fortunate enough to be able to see NIN 4 times. Thanks!

What a great video! I always loved the sound of NIN so much and I still wonder what it is, that hits me so hard in Trent reznors music and feels so strange and familiar at the same time. You have such a wonderful way of combining your feeling for music with a great theoretical background! And the "missing" tones seem to be a great explanation for some part of what's going on there. If you have a creative mind and ear, less can really be more and like in this case it can bring the freedom to make music sound different any time you listen to it, depending on your mood and thoughts. Thank you ❤

I think some of the "emptiness" of the chords works well with soundtracks for film as well because it is the bare minimum to get the message across, creates a lot of tension but also leaves enough headroom for other sounds to come from the film or game scene

He has very interesting, kind of mystical phraseology. Your perception of missing parts and what's implied is very apt in describing that. When you said "parallel motion", I was like; yeah. It evokes a sense of hidden beauty, which kind of makes everything sound more beautiful to me. Idk, I'm stoned.

Thank you so much for your videos and effort!

This was really lovely. As a long time NIN fan and musician it was great to see someone passionate break down these songs. Thank you!

I adore your speaking voice, and your knowledge of music. Perfect harmony.

lovely insights… thank you

I keep going back to NIN, with more info from you and finding out different elements/ layers I had never noticed.

So glad to see another one of these videos 😊 the last bit was really good

ears, emotion, discernment ....YES.....he paints colours that leave your emotions to fill in or be filled with a harmonic detail...from little...he is a bonsai master of chords and progressions.

My god im dying i enjoyed this video so much. Making me want to learn more of these songs on piano!:]

Well done! Very deep. Thank you!

You are amazing. Please keep doing these. I've always loved Trent Reznor's instrumental parts.

This is great, thank you so much. ❤🎉

Brilliant explanation of Trent’s composing style. Great job.

Nice video. Trent is one of a kind. I like the fill in the space thought. Enlightening my dear.

As a “musician”, NIN has always been in my top five influences. However, I never truly realized until I watched this video just how influential Trent’s compositional approach was in terms of scale, chord formation and progression, and other tonal aspects of music theory. I’m self taught on everything. The only music theory I have any technical education in is rhythm so I always thought it was just his aesthetic (which I definitely ape all the time lol). But, I play guitar primarily and just realized that I do that exact “implied chord” thing as almost a hallmark of my playing/writing. I always thought I was just being lazy lol. I guess that might not be too novel for guitar playing in general but I do know a lot of super “orthodox” players that scoff at that kind of approach and insist on full chords and running through scales at all times. Just a testament to the power of brilliant, intuitive musicians such as Trent and music in general. Thanks so much for posting this video! I love your content and I always learn so much!

This made my day. Thank you for existing and loving music from the mastermind Trent Reznor

Just wow. I cannot express how I love these tracks. Especially the Ghosts album(s), which is clearly the compilation of different sketches and snippets.

In art it would be lost and found edges, fascinating to see it in music. Thanks you for this, it takes nothing away from the feeling of having my soul wrung out to be able to peek under the musical hood.

When I first brought home my piano I plunked out Non Entity (live solo) and the Still version of The Day the World Went Away from And All That Could Have Been, which is an absolute gem. I’d love to see you break that down through to the end. So much going on. Love your work! 🎉

Love this! Thank you

No apology required; I've missed your NIN content! Love you, gurl!

I enjoy his music. The piano parts in some songs seem classical. Thanks for posting this explanation. They are very unique. great band.

What's beautiful is if you listen to the expanded melody Trent plays on Live: And All the Could Have Been's - The Frail the chords line up closer to your demonstration.

I felt a deep satisfaction after playing Ghost 34 today, thank you for the lesson IXI!!🙏

It’s cool because I’m someone who writes dark cinematic music like this, and I’m also like Trent not a “chord-based” music writer, as you said; I tend to leave out chord information, or use “empty” chords. I really appreciate you describing and codifying this compositional style that I just kind of developed intuitively myself.

i love your videos im not a native english speaker i wish i could say how much i really like your explanations with musical terms, keep doing that

Great insight, that helps me understand more. It also reminds me of some radiohead songs at times.

I love music and I love your enthusiasm and how dissecting this video is. I wish I understood half of what you're fired up about 😂

Absolutely great!

Please, please give me more of your analysis of Trent Reznors music. This was amazing! Thank you so much!

Cheers, this is so insightful and well explained. Ghosts V was my first experience listening to NIN and I was completely blown away. It was one of the best experiences I've had listening to music. There is such little information about that album available, if you ever dropped an analysis on any of those tracks I would love to hear it!

The porpoise joke sent me! Hahah, lovely work, as usual.

The extrapolations are so Radiohead it's scary. Especially in the Ghosts example. I've followed Trent's musical career since '89s 'Down In It', and it still boggles my 'fragile' little mind that all of that comes out of one man's head. A gifted genius, for sure.

when the music is happening and a car goes by it sounds like ocean samples that are meant to be there.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed the satie like qualities to his music

Thank you for this ❤

Thank you for making this video. All of these songs are my go to when I wanna listen to him.. (whenever it's not the Broken short film, even though it's there too I think 😭) so it's cool to investigate why that is.

This is a great video ty

Oh please don't stop with the Reznor analysis ixi, I need this on a personal level.

Reminds me of playing the balalaika. Only 3 stings and two are E in unison. So, lots of inferring (4+ note) chords with three notes and being forced to invert the chord.

Great video! Could you make a basic music theory video and how it pertains to NIN and industrial music in general?

Josh Homme does this on guitar. His entire career is based off of it. Thanks for the breakdown

Trent's approach to piano is sick as hell and I appreciate that this video is just an excuse to think about that a lot

One of the funnest things I gathered from this is to experiment with boycotting thirds!

All you need is two ears and a heart. Love your videos!

pretty nice, thanks

Thank you!

Thanks for the Satie and Debussy drop, checked them out and your opening up a whole new world for me, appreciated. :)

I think it's also important to look at the melody when determining implied harmony. Don't get me wrong, I think all your analysis was spot on here. As usual. But I can imagine a scenario where a D and F are played on the piano and you initially hear it as a D minor chord. But then the melody enters and it plays a G and a B. Suddenly you've got a G dominant chord. Then the melody moves to Bb and you've got a Bb major chord. And this is all without that initial D and F ever changing.

Yo.. I love your music.. you know what’s up. Could you ever cover the social network!? That’s my favorite score, of all time! Keep it up 🤘🏼

Fascinating video! Loving music but having zero music theory training makes this ever so interesting. I enjoy the idea that Trent's "missing notes" create that peculiar sound that is so recognisable in his music. I find that especially interesting with regards to loss and absences in his music in general. Thank you for this video! I discovered your channel this way and I can't wait to see what other videos you have.

With your voice and talent with the keys, you should make your own music. I’m a fan

"the tension of the chord, you just need these" mind blown

You gave me a groove for a song. Much love

The fragile is my favorite album ever im thinkin.

Awesome stuff here

I appreciate this

Removing/reducing things always seems to be really effective. Josh Homme talks about this a lot as well. Why use many word when few do trick?

The fact that Trent uses chords so sparingly really puts emphasis on them when they're used.

I believe I can see the future, as I repeat the same routine... I think I used to have a purpose, then again, it might have been a dream... I think I used to have a voice, now I never make a sound... I just do what I've been told I really don't want them to come around oh no I haven't listened to NIN for a little while (I've been on an Aurora / Nordic Folk Music kick), but they've been such an indelible part of my life that I could hear the song in my head just from the intro... lol