I agree! It's super common in rock... maybe more common than the use of major scale! Leonard Bernstein refers to rock music when he is talking about mixolydian.
Trust me, he knew. His composition style was full of these little details, he just inspired all the genius people working with him to deepen the idea. From Space Oddity to Killing a Little Time, he masterminded everything. Pure deity.
I think it's entirely possible that Bowie knew exactly what he was doing. If you see some of the chords he uses in the context of guitar (with which I believe he did most of his writing) as opposed to a piano there are a lot of chord shapes that are quite exacting and specific. It feels very deliberate. And when you also consider the many fantastic musicians he worked with, Nile Rogers springs to mind, I think it all adds up to some very carefully crafted songs, which would be a large part of why they're so enduring. Great video as always.
Happy someone said this, David Bowie 100% knew what he was doing he was not only fluent in guitar and wrote in it, but also wrote a lot for piano, he also knew how to play saxophone and many more instruments. He was also very familiar with music theory, a good example being Life on Mars, his use of line cliché and the repetition and intentional break show lots of intention behind the music theory.
I agree with you ,but too often people get sidetracked about whether or not the use of modes, or whatever, was intentional or not. This particularly happens when I discuss the Beatles. People go on about whether the Beatles 'knew about theory' which completely misses the point of what theory does and what my videos are about! Theory describes what music is doing... it doesn't prescribe what music should do... so it doesn't really matter if the writer knew what they were doing or not when I'm looking at their music and describing what I see
I totally get what you're saying here. And I also really liked the video you did on the Beatles. And I think that Modal analysis actually takes on a deeper level when one compares acts that didn't likely specifically know what they were doing and those that did. Each has different but equally interesting properties. To me it's like comparing Pollock and Da Vinci, the instinctive versus the meticulous (which makes me wonder what you think of Elvis Costello's music). It speaks to the various qualities of Quality. @@DavidBennettPiano
I think the Nile Rogers connection is interesting. Because that is one ridiculously competent guitar player and he's spoken at length about the state of Let's dance when Bowie first played it for him. My feeling is that Nile owns a lot more of that song than he gets credit for. Not to take anything away from Bowie.
Absolutely spellbinding exploration of Bowie's music (and the genius of his many collaborators, of course) I suppose I'd just become rather deaf to the 'tremble like a FLOOWAH' moment in Let's Dance after hearing it so many times, it was so interesting to hear how it 'should' sound. I'd love another vid about him, though I'm sure there are just too many other topics to put time into. Amazing work, truly.
Fascinating. Have always loved Bowie's chord structures and use of melody. Look at "Sons of the silent age"! It takes you through a wonderful and strange musical landscape.
Considering he took his name from the American Bowie knife, I use that for pronunciation. But if there's anyone I would think wouldn't need a disclaimer about possibly not knowing anything about the theory behind his music, Bowie would be one of them. He started getting into music by learning the Jazz saxophone, so I think it's pretty certain he had at least some idea of it.
...and his last album and arguably songs like "Sue," are possibly a very deliberate statement by Bowie to clear any doubt about his 'jazz ear.' Not to mention, 'Bring Me the Disco King,' which could have been easily penned by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. His late period co-conspirators were straight up jazzers: Tim Lefebvre and Donny McCaslin. As per his reading and music chops playing alongside the likes of Rick Wakeman, I'm sure he picked up enough theory and texture to know what he was 'hearing.' As per his modus operandi in the studio, I liken it to somewhere between Duke Ellington and Andy Warhol. Thereabouts. But then again, he would assert and rarely compromise what he 'heard.' In the Lodger album he's collapsing and splicing many genres. Check out the song 'Move On.' It's straight up Buddy Holly but what is happening rhythmically is totally subtle and unique. I believe it's before Yasasin on Lodger. (A sea shanty/reggae tune employing a major western tonal center but then 'settling,' into a middle eastern, quite possibly, Turkish mode.) Quite different modal textures and rhythms. And the theatricality of it all. Programmatically, Bowie quite intentionally ordered the songs to make strong juxtapositional and contrasting statements. Much like a painter would put three canvases together to make an overall statement. Now THAT is quite rare too. I believe John Lennon and the Beatles were quite deliberate in doing this sort of thing too. With characters like Bungalow Bill, Sexie Sadie, Maxwell of silver hammer. All very theatrical characters. Not just thinking about the song key order or whether the tune ended a fourth or a fifth above the next one, but perhaps more likely 'scene order.' It's an almost theatrical way and very visual approach to creating rock tunes. They probably lifted it all off 'Uncle Ray' Davies, all said. I mean, c'mon, 'You Really Got Me,' and 'All Day and All of the Night,' early heavy metal/punk. Not enough is written about poor Uncle Ray. After all, he is the master of the three minute novel? ruclips.net/video/W3OY1bbRgTY/видео.html
I think I once read that he himself doesn't care whether people call him Bow-ie or Bo-wie, but I'm also quite sure he used the latter pronunciation himself.
Lou was famous for talking shit every time he opened his mouth though. A lot of his songs (especially in the VU days) contained modulations and modal interchanges. Candy Says, Who Loves the Sun, the Sweet Jane bridge, New Age, What Goes On, Beginning to See the Light, She's My Best Friend, etc.
Ok surely he can stretch these out to a whole video: After Hours I’m sticking with you Who Loves The Sun? Sweet Jane Candy Says Modern Dance Endless Cycle
Yes, "Perfect Day." It was not a V-I or a I-IV-V structure and Lou Reed used key changes throughout. The intro is modal. I think he knew more about music than he let on.
I heard Bowie in an interview where the person interviewing him pronounced it "Bough-ie" (as in when the bough breaks the cradle will fall...) and Bowie corrected him and said it's "BOW-ie" as in a bow tie.
the musicians who worked with Bowie in the early 70s said he used strange sequences of chords so sometimes it was a bit tricky for them to play them and a jazz musician who worked with him in the last album of his life said he was amazed by the fact he came out with very strange chords and sequences so we can say he knew what he was doing.
Glad you did Alladin Sane and looked into some of his stuff. I would suggest you do a few videos of long form in rock and roll and pop - especially as long forms were explored quite a bit starting with The White Album until about the early 80's (Thriller probably being last big commercial song that has a long form). You could focus on how harmony keeps rather long forms tightly together For Bowie, try "Station to Station" or again some his earlier work - "Belway Brothers", "All The Madmen". Check out some of Meatloaf's extended songs. Early Emerson Lake and Palmer (about 1972) might be quite interesting. Finally a video on musique concrete, tape manipulation offers much - you can start with Tommorrow Never Knows from the Beatles, one of their best songs and feature musique concrete and manipulation of sound through tape looping and relay and distortion (the seagull for example originated as Paul McCartney laughing). This song was inspired of course by the experiments of classical composers such as Stockhausen and Lucier (I Am Sitting In A Room being a great example of how by simply having a person saying the same phrase through a microphone in a room the words become completely distorted). later on you have the work of Brian Eno (Here Come he Warm jets - his first solo after his work with Roxy Music) and of course Pink Floyd. This might be a completely new series for you and little outside your focus but might be worth checking out anyway.
Very cool. One of my favorite artists. Nice to see Bowie’s modal magic up close. I’ve heard Bowie pronounce it Bo-ee. If you do more Bowie theory videos, unpack Hunky Dory! What a great record. Thanks for this!
I heard his wife Angie in an interview today say "Bow-ie" (not Bough-ie). Tell you what I think. I think you're phishing for comments mate ;) Another great video!
I 100% am fishing for comments. I know it's pronounced 'Bowie' because I checked before I made the video. I just find it weird that people say it differently.
The mixolidian mode is the least surprising, considering that Bowie was a massive fan of blues throughout his youth. Thank a lot for the thoughtful analisis; would kill to get any info like this about his Berlin albums and 1995 1'Outside. Thank you.
As the Hyperpope of the David Bowie inspired Cult “Plastic Soul” the official way to Pronounce “Bowie” from David himself is... “However you want, I know I am not sure.” Thank you and find out more at Cult of the Month: Where You Belong!
My 3 main points are: Good vid (Y) What kind of psychopath calls a gif a jif? If you need inspiration for analysis, Tool are a band full of mad time sigs and cool modes.
Bowie consistently used tonality and modality in interesting ways throughout his whole career and was well aware. He definitely studied some theory as part of his early training in various instruments, but given his usual methods of randomizing and found poetry for writing lyrics, it's very likely that he did compose by ear and didn't bother analyzing it beyond “it works”. He still worked very collaboratively, so he surely knew how to name the stuff he came up with.
Bowie had various versions of his most popular songs, and he changes modes as cats come in different colours, 'Loving the Alien would one where changes it out. The man who sold the world is so well crafted it can be interpreted and swapped out modally. Seu Jorge does a great take of Starman ruclips.net/video/spctmJo9BPg/видео.html (the Life Aquatic movie soundtrack, great stuff) Bowie could have gone on to pursue more jazz like takes and he was there, before he died, its too bad, Id say his best work was some of his last pieces. Love your channel
I think he chose bow like the tie, but that he also gave up and got back to making the music. The book "The complete David Bowie" by Nicholas Pegg is a great resource into his music, by the way!
You are so good! These are fascinating. Please more Bowie. I liked your video on 3/4 as well. Do you know if Sound and Vision slips into 3/4 for a single measure? Finally, it's a hard g in gif ;)
Any idea what his writing method was? Guitars are prominent in most of his songs, and these examples, but few rock guitarist would comfortably choose these progressions. It sounds, to me, like the melody is written first, and the instruments work around Bowie. I suppose piano could come first, but these never feel like "piano" songs.
His main instruments were saxophone, piano, and guitar, but he wasn't a virtuoso on any of them. I think he used all of them, and electronic tools later, to work out his ideas before handing them over to band members who were experts with their individual instruments. And he gave fabulous soloists like Mike Garson room to improvise, within the structure of the song.
Maruka1 I wouldn’t say that Bowie was a virtuoso. But a key to Bowie’s fantastic work is his ability to collaborate... whether it’s Aladdin Sane with Mike Garson, Heroes with Brian Eno, Life On Mars with Rick Wakeman, Let’s Dance with Nile Rogers...... Almost every Bowie hit was contributed to by somebody else who took it to the next level and helped Bowie remain fresh and interesting.
I think most of his songs were written on guitar... I know that “Let’s Dance” originally sounded like a folk song on acoustic guitar and Nile Rogers turned it into the funky classic we know and love! Some Bowie songs were written on piano though... like “Life on Mars”.
Typically if he was writing the melodies and lyrics on his own he would plunk out his melodies on something he could sing along with as he worked. He would sometimes have one or more of his band come up with a riff and he would put lyrics on top of it ('Fashion' is one of these, as well as one of the tracks John Lennon helped him with if I recall correctly), but there was never really a preferred instrument he always used. Saxophone, ukulele, guitar are usually prominent sources in interviews about him by other people, but if you listen to some of his bass melodies you can hear some piano influences too. Lastly: as much as I love Bowie as a monolith of a musician he was heartily a collaborative artist. He was always looking for the next new sounds and finding the artists who MADE those sounds. He cultivated an image of a lone rock genius, but some of his most iconic tracks came about because of collaboration. He watched and learned from them while they worked with him and occasionally he would distance himself from them and move on, having learned everything he wanted to 'keep.' This isn't to say he wasn't brilliant (he was!) or concealing the contributions of these other artists, but the image of a single singer who did it all is a cultivated one and not too much the reality of his career.
He was quite good on the guitar, if you think that he wrote and played the "Rebel Rebel" riff, which is exceptional and not really that intuitive to play/compose.
I really like in your videos how you show the alternatives, of how things would sound if you just followed the rules of the key/mode. It really drives home the point and helps explain why these songwriters are so good.
Brilliant video - extremely insightful as are all your videos and great for the musician who is looking to take things beyond the basics. I've subscribed. Thanks.
Thanks for this analysis. And whilst I understand this video, as a teenager (when I had zero musical knowledge) I always felt that the transition from Aladdin Sane to Drive in Saturday was somehow perfect. It released that sense of strange confusion and darkness. Aladdin Sane is a masterpiece.
Great explanation if only you was my music teacher at school, wasn’t it Nile Rodgers who composed that song ? Would you consider doing a video on Nile Rodgers
You're doing a fantastic work here, I love popular music, andI love Bowie's music as much as anyone else, but being able to see the songs you love under a new light really made my day. Great stuff!
very great video and very interesting topic !! I'm also under the impression you are now much more skilled in video editing than 6month ago !! Thank you, cheers from Paris :) Louis
really interesting, Ive never seen a music channel be so clear about illustrating theory with examples a more casual listener might know! I was always obsessed with "Zeros" from the unpopular never let me down album but I would love any more Bowie, Zeppelin, Rush, Kate Bush...
I have a new song I'm working on where the chorus goes ends on a bVII, bVI, bVII progression in the major key, after having used no non-diatonic chords throughout. I'm thinking this would be considered simply "borrowing from minor", not a model switch otherwise? do you know of other songs that do something similar I know the Beatles did an Aeleon accent of simply bVI, bVII, I, but can't find this in any other popular song soundcloud.com/happyrondrums/breathe-breathe-breathe-rough-demo-1
Superb video. I've been listening to Bowie for nearly 50 years. As someone with a minimal knowledge of music theory I've always been intrigued at how Bowie's songs work. Even the melodies are very unintuitive for me. Try singing or humming many of his songs. Often you hit a note where you have to make a very conscious effort to follow the tune. One comment mentioned Bowie's jazz beginnings. In the exhibition David Bowie Is there is an old battered copy of the Observer Book of Music that he and a Dek Fearnley read to teach themselves how to write the arrangements. I also remember in the 70s Bowie using his own musical notation with his band. Btw the prounouncition is the first with the long o in Bowie. This is definitely how the man himself pronounced the name.
Wow! You could have been writing about me. I also remember an interview some time in the 70s when Bowie mentioned his own notation system. The book on music theory also caught my attention at the David Bowie Is exhibition. There are a lot of string and brass arrangements on World of David Bowie. Later Mick Ronson would take that on.
I agree that Bowie may well have had a feel for some of the methods he used but as you say from the David Bowie Is exhibition he did study composition to do the string arrangements on his early work. By the time of Hunky Dory he was working with Rick Wakeman and Aladdin Sane with Mike Garson. Both of those albums are very piano dominated by these two extremely competent and classically trained pianists. Ronson was another classically trained musician.
Very interesting. As I get older I listen more and more to classical music and less to pop music. But I never get tired of Bowie's music. I'd like more videos on his music. Would be interesting with an analysis of some of his more recent songs from for example Heathen and Blackstar.
that pitch shifted bowie line sounded freaking hilarious
Like an Anticlimax!
It was worth waiting for. I saw your comment first.lol
gruforevs C U R S E D
Where?
I know, right!
I like to think of Mixolydian as “rock major”. 🙂👌
I agree! It's super common in rock... maybe more common than the use of major scale! Leonard Bernstein refers to rock music when he is talking about mixolydian.
Major Tom..😊
Lol you guys have no idea what the hell you are talking about
That's pretty much what it is. I think of it exactly the same way.
@@spritualdiary Can you hear me?
It's pronounced 'Bowie'. Hope that helps. Great vid.
Nah dude, definitely 'Bowie'.
@Sonny Pickering Exactly! I was thinking the same thing.
I always pronounced it "Bowie". As in Bowie. Am I doing this right?
Bowie Wowie, guacamole!!!
Wait, are you saying Bowie, or Bowie?
Trust me, he knew. His composition style was full of these little details, he just inspired all the genius people working with him to deepen the idea. From Space Oddity to Killing a Little Time, he masterminded everything. Pure deity.
He knew all these music theory ideas in his mind, but I doubt he knew the names of them. I’d say he just understood them!
Amazing stuff, David was such a brilliant composer. Could you do the same video for Björk?
How she uses Locrian... :D
@@thiagoskapata he oready did that
I think it's entirely possible that Bowie knew exactly what he was doing. If you see some of the chords he uses in the context of guitar (with which I believe he did most of his writing) as opposed to a piano there are a lot of chord shapes that are quite exacting and specific. It feels very deliberate. And when you also consider the many fantastic musicians he worked with, Nile Rogers springs to mind, I think it all adds up to some very carefully crafted songs, which would be a large part of why they're so enduring. Great video as always.
Happy someone said this, David Bowie 100% knew what he was doing he was not only fluent in guitar and wrote in it, but also wrote a lot for piano, he also knew how to play saxophone and many more instruments. He was also very familiar with music theory, a good example being Life on Mars, his use of line cliché and the repetition and intentional break show lots of intention behind the music theory.
I agree with you ,but too often people get sidetracked about whether or not the use of modes, or whatever, was intentional or not. This particularly happens when I discuss the Beatles. People go on about whether the Beatles 'knew about theory' which completely misses the point of what theory does and what my videos are about! Theory describes what music is doing... it doesn't prescribe what music should do... so it doesn't really matter if the writer knew what they were doing or not when I'm looking at their music and describing what I see
I totally get what you're saying here. And I also really liked the video you did on the Beatles. And I think that Modal analysis actually takes on a deeper level when one compares acts that didn't likely specifically know what they were doing and those that did. Each has different but equally interesting properties. To me it's like comparing Pollock and Da Vinci, the instinctive versus the meticulous (which makes me wonder what you think of Elvis Costello's music). It speaks to the various qualities of Quality. @@DavidBennettPiano
@@tcfween I love a bit of Elvis Costello !
I think the Nile Rogers connection is interesting. Because that is one ridiculously competent guitar player and he's spoken at length about the state of Let's dance when Bowie first played it for him. My feeling is that Nile owns a lot more of that song than he gets credit for. Not to take anything away from Bowie.
He pronounced it the first way you said it bow(tie)ie, I've never heard the second way you said it. But I have heard it boo-ie, as in Bowie knife.
Absolutely spellbinding exploration of Bowie's music (and the genius of his many collaborators, of course) I suppose I'd just become rather deaf to the 'tremble like a FLOOWAH' moment in Let's Dance after hearing it so many times, it was so interesting to hear how it 'should' sound. I'd love another vid about him, though I'm sure there are just too many other topics to put time into. Amazing work, truly.
Fascinating. Have always loved Bowie's chord structures and use of melody. Look at "Sons of the silent age"! It takes you through a wonderful and strange musical landscape.
Ohhh wow! Love the mystery of that
SotSA is one of my all-time Bowie favorites and it's a shame it's not better known.
Considering he took his name from the American Bowie knife, I use that for pronunciation.
But if there's anyone I would think wouldn't need a disclaimer about possibly not knowing anything about the theory behind his music, Bowie would be one of them. He started getting into music by learning the Jazz saxophone, so I think it's pretty certain he had at least some idea of it.
...and his last album and arguably songs like "Sue," are possibly a very deliberate statement by Bowie to clear any doubt about his 'jazz ear.' Not to mention, 'Bring Me the Disco King,' which could have been easily penned by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. His late period co-conspirators were straight up jazzers: Tim Lefebvre and Donny McCaslin. As per his reading and music chops playing alongside the likes of Rick Wakeman, I'm sure he picked up enough theory and texture to know what he was 'hearing.' As per his modus operandi in the studio, I liken it to somewhere between Duke Ellington and Andy Warhol. Thereabouts. But then again, he would assert and rarely compromise what he 'heard.' In the Lodger album he's collapsing and splicing many genres. Check out the song 'Move On.' It's straight up Buddy Holly but what is happening rhythmically is totally subtle and unique. I believe it's before Yasasin on Lodger. (A sea shanty/reggae tune employing a major western tonal center but then 'settling,' into a middle eastern, quite possibly, Turkish mode.) Quite different modal textures and rhythms. And the theatricality of it all. Programmatically, Bowie quite intentionally ordered the songs to make strong juxtapositional and contrasting statements. Much like a painter would put three canvases together to make an overall statement. Now THAT is quite rare too. I believe John Lennon and the Beatles were quite deliberate in doing this sort of thing too. With characters like Bungalow Bill, Sexie Sadie, Maxwell of silver hammer. All very theatrical characters. Not just thinking about the song key order or whether the tune ended a fourth or a fifth above the next one, but perhaps more likely 'scene order.' It's an almost theatrical way and very visual approach to creating rock tunes. They probably lifted it all off 'Uncle Ray' Davies, all said. I mean, c'mon, 'You Really Got Me,' and 'All Day and All of the Night,' early heavy metal/punk. Not enough is written about poor Uncle Ray. After all, he is the master of the three minute novel? ruclips.net/video/W3OY1bbRgTY/видео.html
This.
Quite right.
I think I once read that he himself doesn't care whether people call him Bow-ie or Bo-wie, but I'm also quite sure he used the latter pronunciation himself.
it's boe-ee, not boo-ee.
Very informative. You must catch up on Life on Mars and explain why it works so well.
Brilliant video, has Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground ever done anything to do with music theory? Also, I personally pronounce Bowie like a bow knot.
They mostly didn't. Half the songs are V - I. Heroin, Sweet Jane chorus, Rock'n'roll chorus and so on
Lou Reed: "One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."
Lou was famous for talking shit every time he opened his mouth though. A lot of his songs (especially in the VU days) contained modulations and modal interchanges. Candy Says, Who Loves the Sun, the Sweet Jane bridge, New Age, What Goes On, Beginning to See the Light, She's My Best Friend, etc.
Ok surely he can stretch these out to a whole video:
After Hours
I’m sticking with you
Who Loves The Sun?
Sweet Jane
Candy Says
Modern Dance
Endless Cycle
Yes, "Perfect Day." It was not a V-I or a I-IV-V structure and Lou Reed used key changes throughout. The intro is modal. I think he knew more about music than he let on.
Do one on Pink Floyd. Great video man!
I heard Bowie in an interview where the person interviewing him pronounced it "Bough-ie" (as in when the bough breaks the cradle will fall...) and Bowie corrected him and said it's "BOW-ie" as in a bow tie.
Enjoyed that!
You deserve more views and subs, Saludos desde La Paz, Baja California Sur, México.
the musicians who worked with Bowie in the early 70s said he used strange sequences of chords so sometimes it was a bit tricky for them to play them and a jazz musician who worked with him in the last album of his life said he was amazed by the fact he came out with very strange chords and sequences so we can say he knew what he was doing.
Glad you did Alladin Sane and looked into some of his stuff. I would suggest you do a few videos of long form in rock and roll and pop - especially as long forms were explored quite a bit starting with The White Album until about the early 80's (Thriller probably being last big commercial song that has a long form). You could focus on how harmony keeps rather long forms tightly together
For Bowie, try "Station to Station" or again some his earlier work - "Belway Brothers", "All The Madmen". Check out some of Meatloaf's extended songs. Early Emerson Lake and Palmer (about 1972) might be quite interesting.
Finally a video on musique concrete, tape manipulation offers much - you can start with Tommorrow Never Knows from the Beatles, one of their best songs and feature musique concrete and manipulation of sound through tape looping and relay and distortion (the seagull for example originated as Paul McCartney laughing). This song was inspired of course by the experiments of classical composers such as Stockhausen and Lucier (I Am Sitting In A Room being a great example of how by simply having a person saying the same phrase through a microphone in a room the words become completely distorted). later on you have the work of Brian Eno (Here Come he Warm jets - his first solo after his work with Roxy Music) and of course Pink Floyd. This might be a completely new series for you and little outside your focus but might be worth checking out anyway.
Very cool. One of my favorite artists. Nice to see Bowie’s modal magic up close.
I’ve heard Bowie pronounce it Bo-ee.
If you do more Bowie theory videos, unpack Hunky Dory! What a great record.
Thanks for this!
As a songwriter, I’m always looking for more options to create interesting hooks and melodies. I love your analysis of Bowie’s work. Thank you!
I heard his wife Angie in an interview today say "Bow-ie" (not Bough-ie). Tell you what I think. I think you're phishing for comments mate ;) Another great video!
I 100% am fishing for comments. I know it's pronounced 'Bowie' because I checked before I made the video. I just find it weird that people say it differently.
I believe it was Bowie to rhyme with Zoe (or, as he spelt it, Zowie)
The mixolidian mode is the least surprising, considering that Bowie was a massive fan of blues throughout his youth.
Thank a lot for the thoughtful analisis; would kill to get any info like this about his Berlin albums and 1995 1'Outside. Thank you.
Bowie and Brian Eno! 4 albums together, 4 masterpieces! And 1.Outside is super-underrated.
Dude you are awesome. The Garson piano solo is absurdly great, I still listen to it a lot, after decades.
Never clicked faster on a video
As the Hyperpope of the David Bowie inspired Cult “Plastic Soul” the official way to Pronounce “Bowie” from David himself is... “However you want, I know I am not sure.”
Thank you and find out more at Cult of the Month: Where You Belong!
Interesting modes on the LOW album !
Yes, more Bowie! And great piece of interview at the end. Perfect conclusion.
Bow as in the tie: yes!
More Bowie: YES!!!
Very good video make more please! Cheers from México!
Amazing vid. Also, I'd say its simple, its pronounced Bowie and GIF.
Would you consider analyzing Tom Waits or Queen? Love your videos!
Hey, I caught one early! Love your videos, man! Keep it going!
I totally loved this Bowie video and I think you should do more videos like this :)
This was a brilliant video. Thanks.
My 3 main points are:
Good vid (Y)
What kind of psychopath calls a gif a jif?
If you need inspiration for analysis, Tool are a band full of mad time sigs and cool modes.
Brilliant as always David. And yes I mean both Davids.
The interview you put at the end fits so well with what you've talked about. Great job again!
Great video, would love to see more Bowie analysis!
It is certainly pronounced BOWie (as in the weapon). People who pronounce it BAOie are flogs.
but what if you pronounce the weapon like Baoie??????
So, Freddie Mercury is a flog?
Bowie as in James Bowie. It's a scottish name originally pronounced booey.
Very informative. Thank you for doing the research for us!
Very interesting videos. We want more!
Bowie consistently used tonality and modality in interesting ways throughout his whole career and was well aware. He definitely studied some theory as part of his early training in various instruments, but given his usual methods of randomizing and found poetry for writing lyrics, it's very likely that he did compose by ear and didn't bother analyzing it beyond “it works”. He still worked very collaboratively, so he surely knew how to name the stuff he came up with.
How about Loving the Alien? Is it a mode it uses? Because if it is, it's my favourite mode after Lydian.
I was hoping for "The Man who Sold the World".
But great video anyhow!
Love your work! Could you please do a video on The Moody Blues?
Bowie had various versions of his most popular songs, and he changes modes as cats come in different colours, 'Loving the Alien would one where changes it out. The man who sold the world is so well crafted it can be interpreted and swapped out modally. Seu Jorge does a great take of Starman ruclips.net/video/spctmJo9BPg/видео.html (the Life Aquatic movie soundtrack, great stuff)
Bowie could have gone on to pursue more jazz like takes and he was there, before he died, its too bad, Id say his best work was some of his last pieces. Love your channel
I think he chose bow like the tie, but that he also gave up and got back to making the music. The book "The complete David Bowie" by Nicholas Pegg is a great resource into his music, by the way!
You are so good! These are fascinating. Please more Bowie. I liked your video on 3/4 as well. Do you know if Sound and Vision slips into 3/4 for a single measure? Finally, it's a hard g in gif ;)
Any idea what his writing method was? Guitars are prominent in most of his songs, and these examples, but few rock guitarist would comfortably choose these progressions. It sounds, to me, like the melody is written first, and the instruments work around Bowie. I suppose piano could come first, but these never feel like "piano" songs.
His main instruments were saxophone, piano, and guitar, but he wasn't a virtuoso on any of them. I think he used all of them, and electronic tools later, to work out his ideas before handing them over to band members who were experts with their individual instruments. And he gave fabulous soloists like Mike Garson room to improvise, within the structure of the song.
Maruka1 I wouldn’t say that Bowie was a virtuoso. But a key to Bowie’s fantastic work is his ability to collaborate... whether it’s Aladdin Sane with Mike Garson, Heroes with Brian Eno, Life On Mars with Rick Wakeman, Let’s Dance with Nile Rogers...... Almost every Bowie hit was contributed to by somebody else who took it to the next level and helped Bowie remain fresh and interesting.
I think most of his songs were written on guitar... I know that “Let’s Dance” originally sounded like a folk song on acoustic guitar and Nile Rogers turned it into the funky classic we know and love! Some Bowie songs were written on piano though... like “Life on Mars”.
Typically if he was writing the melodies and lyrics on his own he would plunk out his melodies on something he could sing along with as he worked. He would sometimes have one or more of his band come up with a riff and he would put lyrics on top of it ('Fashion' is one of these, as well as one of the tracks John Lennon helped him with if I recall correctly), but there was never really a preferred instrument he always used. Saxophone, ukulele, guitar are usually prominent sources in interviews about him by other people, but if you listen to some of his bass melodies you can hear some piano influences too.
Lastly: as much as I love Bowie as a monolith of a musician he was heartily a collaborative artist. He was always looking for the next new sounds and finding the artists who MADE those sounds. He cultivated an image of a lone rock genius, but some of his most iconic tracks came about because of collaboration. He watched and learned from them while they worked with him and occasionally he would distance himself from them and move on, having learned everything he wanted to 'keep.' This isn't to say he wasn't brilliant (he was!) or concealing the contributions of these other artists, but the image of a single singer who did it all is a cultivated one and not too much the reality of his career.
He was quite good on the guitar, if you think that he wrote and played the "Rebel Rebel" riff, which is exceptional and not really that intuitive to play/compose.
Chorus of The Man Who Sold the World is a mixolydian mode
really interesting
I really like in your videos how you show the alternatives, of how things would sound if you just followed the rules of the key/mode. It really drives home the point and helps explain why these songwriters are so good.
Fascinating! You have amazing musical understanding. Keep the insights coming. Thank you!
Awesome video! Very informative!
Sting is a great modal writer
Brilliant video - extremely insightful as are all your videos and great for the musician who is looking to take things beyond the basics. I've subscribed. Thanks.
Just found your channel and binging your videos now... Radiohead is my favorite band... but I like *all* your videos.
Excellent,another great video.Thank you.
Great video, man. Great material in this channel.
Thanks for this analysis. And whilst I understand this video, as a teenager (when I had zero musical knowledge) I always felt that the transition from Aladdin Sane to Drive in Saturday was somehow perfect. It released that sense of strange confusion and darkness. Aladdin Sane is a masterpiece.
Another very spot-on video. Thank you for sharing your interesting knowledge!
It's such a pleasure to hear songs I know so well illuminated anew through your incisive analysis.
Great explanation if only you was my music teacher at school, wasn’t it Nile Rodgers who composed that song ? Would you consider doing a video on Nile Rodgers
super hero excellent as always.
You're doing a fantastic work here, I love popular music, andI love Bowie's music as much as anyone else, but being able to see the songs you love under a new light really made my day. Great stuff!
nice vid, the ending!..but, u bet he knew what he was doing, and his fellows of course.
thank you Sir ,,,,,,,great work
This Bowie or Bowie nonsense, honestly who cares??
Its just a you say tomato I say
tomato situation.
Where I come from its called
regional variation.
we say David Boh-wee or David Boo-wee in Alaska, because of Jim Bowie who made Bowie Knives famous
Amazing. Don't stop!!
According to The BBC pronunciation unit, Bowie pronounced his name to rhyme with Joey, Zoe, doughy etc.
He wrote how many records, he knew about modes.
Not necessarily. Jimi Hendrix knew almost diddly squat about theory but he was a musical pioneer.
No channel Musician yeah but you cant compare them, jimi hendrix was a blues based artists, that’s a lot of different than what bowie made.
Jeremy formerly known as Token Live Matters Hendrix didn’t just make blues music.
No channel Musician water is wet
Excellent. Enjoyed that.
Love your videos about modes!! I especially loved the one you made about John Williams. I'll be glad to see more videos regarding music from films.
He knew EXACTLY what he was doing!!! Why anybody would think otherwise is idiotic.
Right? ALL those songs?! 'After All' has my favorite change he did
Brilliant job as usual!
MOAR BOW-WEE!
Those G-major chords in "Aladdin Sane" sound like G-minors (?) (3:20)
very great video and very interesting topic !! I'm also under the impression you are now much more skilled in video editing than 6month ago !! Thank you, cheers from Paris :)
Louis
Yesss, please make more. Also, I pronounce it like a bow knot, but I'm a chilean guy, so...what do I know haha
Super insightful stuff!
Thank you!
really interesting, Ive never seen a music channel be so clear about illustrating theory with examples a more casual listener might know! I was always obsessed with "Zeros" from the unpopular never let me down album but I would love any more Bowie, Zeppelin, Rush, Kate Bush...
more bowie please. your vids are great anyway, but i love bowie so yeaaahhh
Excellent video, great work!!
Thanks 😊
I'm sure it's Bowie not Bowie or Bowie, come on, man.
Very interesting video.
I love you
The F in Aladdin Sane really sounds like Fm to me
Just found you today and ADDICTED. This is fascinating stuff. Subscribed.
Another great video David you’ve opened my mind to modes!
I have a new song I'm working on where the chorus goes ends on a bVII, bVI, bVII progression in the major key, after having used no non-diatonic chords throughout. I'm thinking this would be considered simply "borrowing from minor", not a model switch otherwise? do you know of other songs that do something similar I know the Beatles did an Aeleon accent of simply bVI, bVII, I, but can't find this in any other popular song soundcloud.com/happyrondrums/breathe-breathe-breathe-rough-demo-1
Quality video
Superb video. I've been listening to Bowie for nearly 50 years. As someone with a minimal knowledge of music theory I've always been intrigued at how Bowie's songs work. Even the melodies are very unintuitive for me. Try singing or humming many of his songs. Often you hit a note where you have to make a very conscious effort to follow the tune. One comment mentioned Bowie's jazz beginnings. In the exhibition David Bowie Is there is an old battered copy of the Observer Book of Music that he and a Dek Fearnley read to teach themselves how to write the arrangements. I also remember in the 70s Bowie using his own musical notation with his band. Btw the prounouncition is the first with the long o in Bowie. This is definitely how the man himself pronounced the name.
Wow! You could have been writing about me. I also remember an interview some time in the 70s when Bowie mentioned his own notation system. The book on music theory also caught my attention at the David Bowie Is exhibition. There are a lot of string and brass arrangements on World of David Bowie. Later Mick Ronson would take that on.
I agree that Bowie may well have had a feel for some of the methods he used but as you say from the David Bowie Is exhibition he did study composition to do the string arrangements on his early work. By the time of Hunky Dory he was working with Rick Wakeman and Aladdin Sane with Mike Garson. Both of those albums are very piano dominated by these two extremely competent and classically trained pianists. Ronson was another classically trained musician.
Nice vid! There's an interview in which the interviewer asks Bowie how to pronounce his name, and the answers is that he doesn't really know LOL
wonderful tech analysis you sure know how to read music.
Very interesting. As I get older I listen more and more to classical music and less to pop music. But I never get tired of Bowie's music. I'd like more videos on his music. Would be interesting with an analysis of some of his more recent songs from for example Heathen and Blackstar.
Thank you, men. I love this kind of content !
Great video
mooooore Bawui pls