Also “Song for Sonny Liston” by Knopfler uses one chord (check out the live Roadrunning version)

#playwithskooveandkorg interesting video. Congrats on your channel! I find all your music theory videos interesting and engaging. Best of luck with your channel!

Thanks for the vid and give away. Just might make a monochord song. #PlaywithSkooveandKorg

So you’re telling me if I comment #PlaywithSkooveandKorg I’ll also be able to play piano just like David? Awesome video as always!

I need that piano #PlaywithSkooveandKorg

Velvet Underground had some one chord songs, if I remember correctly... and the famous "ostrich guitar"

Who could argue with the genius responsible for Lulu

It's strange that he should say that. Lou Reed chord progressions rock, but they're not always simple. Perfect Day stands out. Sweet Jane must be one of the most recognisable chord progressions in rock music, it's not jazz but it's not two chords either.

@@joecordingley7071, it shouldn’t be taken literal.

@@joecordingley7071 True! Perfect Day has a whole bunch of chords.

😃😃😃

this person gets it (:

@@DavidBennettPiano 😃😃😃

Yes and no. David Bennett is only ever going to use classical music analysis on all types of music, and there are many times when you'd miss the point ... ever notice that many of these songs which "only use one chord" are from African or Indian music traditions. Using only one chord would almost never pass muster in classical music - even "Bolero" is pushing boundaries. And am a little surprised that nobody's picked anything from techno or jungle to analyse over here. Many - not all, but many - elements from R&B and Jazz will use concepts that are entirely foreign to classical music and using classical music analysis is a bit like forcing a square peg into a round hole. Also isn't the changes to "Tomorrow Never Knows" modal?

The central insight of pop music is: "is this catchy? Will somebody like it, will people latch on to it?" Classical music theory will tell you which chords are being played, it will teach you how to communicate some (not all) of the features of the music to somebody else. But it will not answer any of those questions at all.

i’d say a lot of this is up for interpretation. in my opinion a lot of these songs do have more chords

This.

That's the way they did it in delta blues too. Variations on the same chord. The thumb acting as bass with fingers playing the melody. It sounds intricate but then again playing a one chord isn't synonymous with easy (necessarily). In fact it's really hard to pull off, especially if it's not a ballad. What do you do when you come to the chorus? I agree with you.

you can play infinite bass lines using a single chord. You can also play a chord several ways as well. A single chord doesn't limit you as much as you'd think. But it's hard to write a symphony with 1 chord versus a 3 minute radio song. Or a song a DJ spins.

Same thing with the pop examples.

I find those kinds of videos to be really antisocial in nature, if not just tacky and immature. They don't feel like edutainment so much as one-sided conversations talking about some passionate opinion without the burden of letting someone else talk (they remind me of that line in The Producers, "SHUT UP! I'm having a rhetorical conversation with you!!"), or even standup comedy where you don't have to respond to the audience. I don't think of David's videos as edutainment, they're just really, really good educational videos. He said something in one of his more recent videos about how professionals "practice until they can't get it wrong," and he's clearly someone with enough personal experience as a professional musician that he doesn't need to be overly passionate or make jokes to prove his point. He proves his point just by demonstrating what he knows.

Yes

Best 3 rules for making KZfaq vids, 1 no long movie style intros 2 get to the point 3 don’t try being funny! This is a great example of doing it right

Yes, great stuff with excellent examples

😂

Or maybe its modulating between an inversion of a 9th and a min9th chord. Cardi B is a next level music theorist in the post-post-harmony paradigm and we all haven't caught up yet.

well maybe because that song sucks

Not only it has no chords... it actually has NO MUSIC whatsoever

I'm glad I can "chime in" on this no chord discussion. I remember when Rihanna submitted that "work work work" song and everyone said it was smart, that was the beginning of the end. Yes it has 3 chords at least in that song, but it was basically a psy op until each time it happened.

Oh are you a funk musician?

@@georgeantonioandrei8570 I dont think I qualify for Funk, I am just not very good at playing with the keyboard/not very versatile with my guitar yet and I like to sing along, so probably that is why I gravitate towards that. That said, I really just feel like some Chords have an almost hypnotic quality to them if played with little variations for a while, which I really enjoy.

@@Srynan this is the exact mentality that even some technically fantastic musicians take years to figure out. Never lose it

And a house doesn’t have to have a roof, or a car wheels. But it sure helps!

@@janetownley lmao music is not a car

Paul McCartney was quoted in the mid-1960s as having said that he believed one could “hear an entire song in one note if [we] listened carefully enough…” If only I had that clarity ha ha ha! It does give a glimpse of how he views music as it comes through him. I think I would have to become a few shades more clever than I am ha ha. You are right - I believe it is a feeling more than anything else… Merry Christmas.

@@johndrowe5281 Hahaha what a concept!

@@Ioganstone he may have been a wee “under the influence” when he said that🤷🏼‍♂️… Slainte!Cheers!😉😎🎸👨🏼‍⚕️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@@johndrowe5281 Sounds like some acid trip gobbledygook to me.

@@dimlightbulb10 he said it prior to LSD, but one never knows what else was being inhaled or ingested. Perhaps, in his defence, he may have been using a wee hyperbole 😊🫶✌️♾️. 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I thought that was a weird way to explain it too. A chord itself is a harmony just by virtue of being a chord.

Dawg I love your Instagram page

You have the best music meme page

I didn’t know that, I thought the melody was the chord progression

yeah, that's cos their brain never pushes the brakes

Great song and album.

JLH was the GOAT when it comes to just boogyin' down on one tonal center.

Let that child boogie woogie!

@@lyleswann6296 it’s in him and it’s got to come out

I love how the first comment is a John Lee hooker based comments as that’s who I Thought of straight away regarding one chord

Oh he was the man.

No ...maybe the vocal line but the bass walk weaves through chord progression

@@jayrussell3796 You've got it backwards. Neither one is completely pure but it's the guitar that changes and the bass mostly keeps the same riff. Don't let the bass runs fool you. A bass run isn't a chord, it's a series of notes played in sequence. Stay in the same key and you'll be just fine. You can make a chord on a bass, but that isn't the case here. And there is no such thing as a chord in a vocal line.

@@ElSantoLuchador as a guitarist and a piano player, if I can play over the song and change chords without it sounding like crap, there's a chord change there. My opinion. It sounds like a chord change, so it is a chord change, whether music theory says so or not.

Yeah I was thinking of that. It's a weird one. I feel like there are some "implied" chord changes by the interactions of a melody and two drones. But they're kind-of ambiguous.

I did not catch a reference to any country/bluegrass which has one chord songs

I think when an example of a genre of music, i.e. rap, can be described as being a 'zero chord song', we can pretty confidently describe it as zero music, or non music.

@@zootsoot2006 I disagree, in my biew music =/= how complex the harmony is. So much rap music with simple harmony is rich with lyricism and rhythm (among many other things) that makes it incredible to listen to , and undoubtedly music.

@@-cjb-5048 The most primitive of music then.

Oh, that's what you had to do WAP, didn't you. You had to go that far. Look where you are.

Interesting Great and unique band, very loud live!

To Be Kind is just so good

So true!

Technically it's a two-chord song, but with the 2nd chord only appearing at the end of each line (more pronounced in the chorus than in the verses), it does SOUND like one chord.

If you're British..isn't THAT your culture? Does your race mean more than your country?

@@olliefoxx7165 Race is actually one of the big parts of identity to a lot of people. Also if they don’t live in India, of course finding something to connect them to that part of their culture is going to be big. If they live in Britain, than they already know about that aspects of their culture. Also it makes sense that their race would mean more to them than nationality, because they have a long line of Indian ancestry.

@@olliefoxx7165 Also....with your logic, both them being British and Indian should both be important, because they are both British and Indian.

@@lexdraws1729 So you're saying their nationality and culture isn't as important as their race. Your logic is race trumps nationality and culture even if you never had any or very little to do with the region where your race originated. India is a country not a race it is a country and a sub continent. British isnr a race itst a country. What you're saying is a very racist mind set. Personally I don't care but it's normally people like you that deny the same logic to white people. You are using your racial identity as the most important thing about a person. There are tens of millions of blacks in America that have never seen Africa which is a continent. Even the black people in Africa have their allegiance and identity to their tribe then their nation. Australia is predominantly white. Are they Australian or European or white?

@@olliefoxx7165 I never claimed that. I said their race can be important to them because that’s where their ancestry and family culture lays in. Also said that if they don’t live in India, finding out and connecting more to their Indian side can be huge. Since race is a large part of identity. Also Indian people are Asian......Hence why I brought up race, “British is a race” Lol British is a nationality, not a race. How is me saying I understand why someone not living in a country many family members came from, and learning aspects of that part of themselves and it being important, racist? I never said anything about hating or disliking white people. “People like you”....you’re acting like I said we should harm whit people. All I said is it’s understandable why people want to connect to all aspects of their culture they don’t know much about. Didn’t claim racial identity is the most important thing about somehow, I said race is a large part of identity to a lot of people. Look it up. Also you’re Australian example, they are Australian because that’s a nationality, they can’t be European because they aren’t in Europe, and if their racial ancestry is white they’re white.. I feel like you took unnecessary offense to what I originally said.

Thank you!

@@DavidBennettPiano which are your favourite music channels on KZfaq, David?

@@danielkoschalka3955 Adam Neely is king. But I also love Rick Beato, Charles Cornell, Andrew Huang, Rob Scallon, Listening In and David Bruce to just name a few!

@@DavidBennettPiano I'm pretty sure you'll find this channel interesting - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ibB3opig1ZPOeZs.html - this video is a musical analysis of All is Full of Love by Bjork, and she has done something along those lines for the new Radiohead release too.

Additionally Family from her Vulnicura album is an F chord i believe

For sure! 😃😃

TNK is an early example of what the Germans later called "krautrock", which is basically the link between rock and electronic music, as the latter took the krautrock sound and transposed it to drum machines and synthesizers and made synthpop all of a sudden.

so you dont do the Bb in the chorus?

you know, when Lennon goes: it is shi - ning... is it shi (Bb) ning (C). Bb - C. Fundamental chord change in the song, though short lived. There is no "question answer" if you play C all the way!

Yeah definitely. Some of the notes in the vocals are implying quick chord changes. I think it's a stretch to say some of these songs have only one chord.

@@redhorsereincarnated5040 whilst I don’t know if it is a “stretch” or not, I certainly understand what you’re saying and I agree…

Yes, most of these examples are not just one chord, just very focused on one chord

I stopped asking myself ''Is this a chord?'' long ago

I agree

In "Tomorrow Never Knows", I am pretty sure the B-flat major chord occurs over the C bass note (not really over the C chord, which doesn't sound good). So, the full chord is BbDF/C. That's a slash chord I suppose. The Bb is the minor-seventh of C major; the D is the major ninth (second) and the F is the perfect eleventh (fourth). I've tried playing this song with the melody + chords together on the piano, and CEG+BbDF sounds abhorrent at this point in the song (for reasons that should be obvious), whereas C+BbDF sounds perfectly fine. (I mean, this is basically shown in the David Bennett video anyway; he has the C bass note tied underneath the Bb major chord.)

I didn't previously know this song was originally written by the Beatles, but I've heard it before from the movie "Sucker Punch", which featured a very highly-produced arrangement/cover of the song. In the Sucker Punch version, you can hear that they've accentuated some of the subtle chord changes that occurred in the original song. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rd6lqtZ5tLW-qGQ.html

its the 7th.. so definitely a second note, or chord change, like you say. "It is not dying

they do something very similar in "Love you to". It revolves around the same base chord, stuck on the root note.. then the "chorus" comes and they swiftly change to the minor 7th to add some weight to it, quickly coming back to the root note. (in that bit "Make love all day long, Make love singing songs")

I would think of Bb/C as a C9sus4. Definitely a 2-chord song from my point of view, although only from modal interchange, so to say.

Definitely one of my favorite Beatles songs. I know a lot of people that hate it for some reason though!

Love You To is a great eastern song by The Beatles too

@@carlneoh5843 2nd best Indian-inspired Beatles song

Check out Popol Vuh - Hosiannah mantra

My fourth favourite Beatles song.

That doesnt deserve a mention, technically it isnt music

Also The great Curve

@@punkillo All hail Fela Kuti, the inspiration for much of Remain in Light.

That whole album

@@zachary963 In spirit maybe, but not really..."Born Under Punches" has chord changes (think of the "All I want is to breathe" part), "Once in a Lifetime" goes back and forth between two chords, etc.

@Royce Grubic Awesome, thanks for the recommendation!

Jesu is such a great band

I can use the original versions of Beatles songs if I keep them below 5 seconds long (hence the really short clips in this video!). I would have used covers but there isn't really good cover versions out there of Within You Without You and the other Indian-inspired Beatles tracks 🙂

Cheap Trick had an exquisite cover of Within You Without You on their Sgt. Pepper full album live disc. They had some guest musicians perform it, so it wasn't actually Cheap Trick.

@@DavidBennettPiano This makes me wonder why you don't use covers of the Bob Dylan songs mentioned. As you can hear, his voice had become harsh and croaking by the time he wrote the songs you included in this video.

Nazareth did an amazing full band version of Hollis Brown...

although it does change from A to A7 for the "Brother" lyric

Yep. Its based on a root note, being C, and then in the "chorus" they take it down to Bb (it is shining.... is it?) to then come back to the root, as to confirm the first sentence (it is! shining..). C...c. c c c .. C.. ..... Bb ... C...

not doing the overlaid Bb sounds "wrong" because this would leave out this "question and answer" mechanism which is a common way of expression in music, and instead it would simply sound "flat" and truly monotonous.

the only reason it would not qualify as a real chord change is because by it being only one note apart from the root, it doesn't feel as tense as a dominant 5th or a 4th or even a 3rd would feel like. But as you point out, if that change weren't there the song suddenly feels pointless and unappealing. The fact you can feel the tension and the release, and how you definitely notice it when it isn't there is more than proof that there is a "real" chord change going on. And that change pretty much "makes" the song.

Thank you for watching! 😃

Good question! It’s a bit of both. When I notice something interesting whilst casually listening I will take note of it, and then later when I want to make it into a video topic I search for other examples 😃

@@DavidBennettPiano thank you for replying!

There has got to be movement in other elements of that, well, movement of that cantata.

What’s a double pedal

@@MIGUEL-1984 ur mom

@@MIGUEL-1984 1st and 5th notes playing constantly.

I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady. Am7, A7, A6, A...

Beat me to it!

Jump Into the Fire is an all time great song.

@@anyway96 Harry had dozens of great songs that are hardly known. Anyone who likes The Beatles would LOVE Harry’s albums.

@@KevyNova I even prefer him to the Beatles.

I’m not sure about Political World. I can play it with two. But it’s close.

Thank you Aaron!