how long can you play just one chord, varying the rhythms, arpeggiating it, strumming, picking, whatever?
how long can you come up with different beats or create new ones?
it's not really a new exercise, but the bo diddley beat is one chord. the riff to 'american woman' is one chord. one chord played right can be powerful. it's a great way to learn to play when your theory of knowledge is limited.
then, go with two chords. vary the changes. get interesting. beat the crud out of one chord and then arpeggiate the other one really prettily. etc.
learn to play the guitar like it was just invented and you're in charge of learning to play it. then you will understand why people play the way they play.
I read something somewhere recently about funk jams and how a lot of them are just one chord. Can't remember where it was I read it, but I guess that one chord has to last until you really can't take it any more.
I guess if you're getting paid for being on stage playing it, that one chord can stay interesting a whole lot longer.
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
I don't know if it is interesting or not for the others, it was very interesting to me and I think it also was it for Dogbite. I collaborated with him in one of his songs recently and we only use one chord. The feedback was very positive and the people do not seem bored. :mrgreen:
one chord can last forever and still work for me. James Brown is good at it.
I read something somewhere recently about funk jams and how a lot of them are just one chord. Can't remember where it was I read it, but I guess that one chord has to last until you really can't take it any more.
I guess if you're getting paid for being on stage playing it, that one chord can stay interesting a whole lot longer.
A :-)
I've observed several of these, including at the past Riverside Jam. They always seem to be in Em. Very interesting and energetic when done by people who know how.
Supposedly, as a bass player, I'm supposed to be able to do this for hours, but I do prefer chord changes.
My daughter and I play this game with current hip-hop songs on the radio, trying to see if we can find the chord change - any chord change. We (they!) fail much too often.
Well, a lot of rap/hip hop backing tracks are actually a loop of a single bass riff, so it's perhaps not surprising there are no chrod changes.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Anybody remember Harry Nilsson? "Coconut" was a top 10 hit with one chord...
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
John Lee Hooker could keep one chord interesting all night.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
As far as playing them is concerned, I eventually find all one-chord songs boring.
As far as listening to them is concerned, although a good one-chord song does entertain me for a while, eventually I find them boring.
It's not that I have anything against them, but I've been playing multi-chord songs for so long now that I get tired of staying in the tonic -- that's just my personal taste YMMV.
Personally, I liked James Brown better before he started doing the one-chord stuff. His first "Live At The Apollo" (1962) album is to me the best live R&B show that I've ever heard on CD or Vinyl. Highly recommended. http://www.amazon.com/Live-at-Apollo-James-Brown/dp/B0001JXQ7O/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227195053&sr=8-1
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
Anybody remember Harry Nilsson? "Coconut" was a top 10 hit with one chord...
Yes indeed! Coconut was the first finger picking song I learned. I did it to practice for Dust In The Wind. Coconut is 3:57 of C7. I still like to do it because its just so kooky. My 15 year old stepdaughter comes running in at breakneck speed if I'm playing it. :D C7
e|------------------------------------------------|
B|-------1-----------1---------1----------1-------|
G|-----------3---------3------------3----------3--|
D|-------------2----------------------2-----------|
A|-------3-------3-------------3--------3---------|
E|------------------------------------------------|
ad infinitum (or ad nauseum)
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Anybody remember Harry Nilsson? "Coconut" was a top 10 hit with one chord...
You mean he had another hit on top of "Without You"?
Wow.
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Can't say as I've heard of "Without You," but "The Coconut Song" was a big hit.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Anybody remember Harry Nilsson? "Coconut" was a top 10 hit with one chord...
That album, Nilsson Schmilsson, had 2 one chord songs that charted. :)
Coconut was top ten and Jump Into the Fire went to #27.
:)
Don
I love the bass in Jump Into The Fire.
The third single, "Jump into the Fire", was raucous, screaming rock and roll, including a drum solo by Derek and the Dominos' Jim Gordon and a bass detuning by Klaus Voorman.
Source: Wikipedia
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
A couple of years ago I went to... not a jam, but neighbors and friends get together for Blue Grass (well, anything really) in nearby Maryland. I was a true beginner then.
Two of them played this great little song and when they were done I ask what the chords were and they said "Just the G chord". Blew me away.
Bob Jessie
