Chordplay - 'The Chords of Frank Zappa'
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Here's the next episode of Chordplay and this time we're taking a look at some of the interesting and lush chord varieties hiding in the music of legendary guitarist/composer Frank Zappa.
Zappa's music is notoriously known to include unusual, challenging, and abstract elements of music, but this lesson taps into some of the more attainable textures and sounds found in his work.
This includes taking a look at a few one and two-chord modal vamps commonly found in his music, which occasionally revolved around using Lydian and Dorian-based modal tonalities.
Once a few sample chords and progressions are located, this episode continues with a little "chord-talk" regarding the songs 'Zoot Allures' and 'Black Napkins,' and closes with the hauntingly beautiful chords found in 'Sleep Dirt.'
Give this episode a view, leave some comments and feedback, and please subscribe to Late Night Lessons - THANK YOU!
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Zoot Allures is one of the best chord progressions I've ever heard in any tune.
Yessss god it’s a chef’s kiss of a song
Agree!!!
The bass goes so well with it, true composer he was
I always thought that this tune stood out in the Zappa repertoire. Can't really compare it to any other Zappa piece, highly original and interesting and stands well the test of time.
My favorite guitar solo of all time is at the end of Zoot Allures. What a dynamic piece of utter bliss.
You are the guitar teacher that many of us wished we had when we were starting out.
absoulutely
Needs to get credit as a brilliant composer which he was!
You sure no one credits him as a composer?! I think a LOT of people do and have--for decades now. Zubin Mehta, The London Symphony Orchestra, and countless others wouldn't have been performing his music going all the way back to the 60s otherwise.
a composer. uhhhhhhhh make it stop
"mind is like a parachute : it"s works while it's open" that's the best quote about art. Thanks master Zappa to always puch the limits of creativiity !
This quote, which is often attributed to FZ, is actually much older.
Thank you. I want to share something that may help someone I hope. (Forgive me, it's going to take a few minutes to get there)
When I was a pup, (born in '56)
There were some abilities I had that seem to be natural, they were gifts but I didn't know that at the time.
I thought that anyone that was good at something, just did them. Their abilities came naturally.
I began to play guitar. I refused to learn other people's music, names of chords or practice scales.
I was a moron.
Instead of learning theory, how to read or write music, I played what I came up with, but I didn't grow.
You just showed me "Sleep dirt."
I'm now 64. It is a huge waste of time to dwell on the past.
My point, all you folks who take the time to learn, I salute you.
Teachers, I thank you.
And I am grateful for the gifts I have been given. Even the gift of learning how my pride got in the way of me learning, I have learned.
John 1:1, to the Maker of all things.
The Ultimate Hero and Teacher.
I didn't get Frank Zappa's music until I was older. I discovered it through Steve Vai. When I first heard Vai's album flexible I was like what is this, but it grew on me. Then I started listening to Zappa and I could easily see how Vai was influenced. Zappa's music is really complex and is a journey for your ears.
Same. I still have my original vinyl of Flex-able
What I learned from tis lesson: First compose, analyze the chord progressions later!
Frank Zappa?!!!! Just when I think your channel can't get any better!!! Thanks again, David!
Holy Phuk... You deserve a rig rundown. My man. If you don't have a PhD in music theory.. I would be shocked. You are something.
Frank Zappa's the greatest!!! His music was unbeatable!!!
These two albums in the background have been very important in my life. And: the chords which end "The Torture never stops" are really nice as well!
FZ music is always full of inspiration ⚡️👍🏽
I got to see frank zappa a few times and ill tell you Dweezle does a really good job of it. I saw Zappa plays Zappa and it brought tears yo my eyes. Dweezle has done a fine job
That's totally awesome that you saw Frank!
: o WOW : o
I did catch Dweezil last year on his Choice Cuts Tour and it was spectacular.
It was amazing to watch him perform his father's music with such a finely tuned degree of precision and a devoted focus with making it sound as close to Frank as possible.
I was blown away.
: )
Thank you again and take care!
@@LateNightLessons i like when he has the old players on.
I saw Frank 3 times in the 70’s and I’ve seen Dweezil twice. All 5 shows were just incredible. Dweezil is doing the world a favor by bring his dad’s music to so many more people than Frank could in his too-short life.
Thank you, wow, so interesting breaking it down.... lovely resonances of Frank Zappa ❤
Thanks for this lesson and sharing some harmonic aromas of a masterful musical chef. I'll have to refer back to this several times and I don't mind. Bye for now
I endorse what many of the other students say. You are the teacher that we all wished we had discovered in our early days of struggle with the instrument. Your Modus Operandi puts across the message in a very reassuring way….love it. Great Teacher.
You should get a youtube award just for this guitar lesson
Came for the E sus2 #11 stayed and learned so much more. Seriously. I'm in Zappa rabbit hole these days and was tying to figure out how to play this chord I kept hearing and clicked on this to see if you knew it and you did. Nice explanations I learned a lot here.
Saw Frank twice. Both unforgettable. MSG and CT. Always cool to occasionally see him sit and smoke and watch the band as they jam.
More Zappa, please! Thanks David.
Fair warning and Zoot Alleurs ...buena combinacion amigo!!!!!
Fantastic job ..... excellent excellent
Thanks for this. I'm grateful to have seen Frank several times at the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s. The shows were magisterial!
Brilliant material. Thank you for sharing.
Beautifully presented chord structure,
with wonderful disjointed Zappa sound
and my soul washed in fantastic music. "God did Bless Frank" !!!
More Zappa!!
Fantastic analysis! Some of my absolute favorites here! Love Frank!
I love the incredible guitar sound and the bla bla teaching!
Saw him in Pasadena. He seemed pissed off with his band and at one point he dismissed them all . Then for the next thirty minutes he tore the place to pieces with the greatest virtuosity I have ever witnessed. I cried , I laughed, I loved. Keep the faith and thanks for the video it was quite incitful.
Thank you for this. I've loved Zappa since 1979, and can brag that I used to play Sleep Dirt almost note for note!
More Zappa please!!
Thanks for taking the deep dive and bringing back the treasure.
Fabulous!! Thank you!
Excellent lesson!
I love Zoot Allures, ❤ and its bass line is so tasty. I used to play that tune on guitar 15-20 years ago, now I want to learn it again.
Great video!
I watch your stuff off and on. For me you are one of the most thoughtful teachers out there. I don’t even know if what you do is best described as ‘teaching’. Its like taking part in an interesting discussion. And then you go away and experiment. Love your stuff man.
u nailed Zappa's phrasing
What a superb video. Really floats my boat!! Beautiful chords, and has probably sent me off on a Zappa odyssey (something I’ve not managed yet, in fifty-odd years!!).
Welcome aboard the USS Zappa. You’ll be back from your Zappa odyssey in about the same time it took Odysseus to get back from his!
Great episode, thanks for an insight into the creative genius of FZ. Daunting stuff, but inspiring.
Thank you so much and thanks for watching!
: )
Thanks brother.
Besides the dreamy mesmerizing quality of the chords Frank's soloing was all about "tension & release"
you had me at black napkins
my favorite episode to date... we must correspond sometime... keep up the great work sir!!
Dude,... Thanks for this.
outrageously great lesson. even more so for Zappaphiles!
That first chord and Lydian noodle gave me a massive flashback to seeing Joe Satriani playing Flying in a Blue Dream in Glasgow 30-odd years ago ! Having strummed for years you are inspiring me to actually think about the fretboard and PRACTICE. I owe you a great deal for that David. Thanks.
(And before anyone comments that Satch was playing something else….remember I’m very much a learner….but it took me there to some amazing memories.)
Nailed it!
Wonderful
I've always loved those chords. Thanks for making them approachable. Your my favorite guitar channel. Your an awesome player.
totally agree!
Zoot Allures is Amazing!!And Sleep Dirt is a most sad,nostalgic Zappa song for me...Probably because of documentary just after his death..with that song in the end..
Excellent tutorial my friend, we all know that you won't wind up working in a gas station 😊
Thanks!
Great work. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you.
Thanks for this insightful and lucid journey to the centre of the Frank. I’m so excited to find this channel. Great work man!
Thank you David what a wonderful insight - love those haunting chords - going to have to work on the changes.
Roughly the 4 minute mark I hear the Zappa influence on Vai during the flex able era while you’re playing
Pretty impressive man
Totally. Salamanders in the Sun has Frank written all over it.
Little Green Men!
I'll never forget the first time I ever heard Vai play. I saw a friend in Berkeley across the street from La Val's north side pizza (owned by the Fogerty's, Johns brothers) with his boom box and he played me The Attitude Song. It forever changed what I saw as what was even possible on the electric guitar, and immediately became one of my biggest influences. Then we got stoned and listened to the rest. I was so hooked, and this also lead me to Zappa's music.
Zoot alleurs y fair warning .... buena combinacion!!!!!!!
Dweezil is an amazing guitar player
Saw FrankZ back in the 80’s with Steve Vai,great show.
I bought Freak Out at the time and saw the Mothers in London, at the Palladium.
Absolutely Love the Hot Rats album!
Very cool and unagitated.
Thank you and hope to see/ hear more.
I learned so much from this. It really opened up some ideas and helped me to improve my confidence on the fretboard. Thank you very much.
good very intersant than´ks !!!!
Very nice and brief explanation of FZ work. Your chord play is so helpful. Glad that I found this channel.
Thanks for posting! Stuff I did not know and appreciate being able to go try it now.
Make more Zappa videos for sure!!!
You got it!
: )
Take care and stay tuned for more videos!
I enjoyed this almost as much as i enjoy Frank Zappa. That's saying something!
Usually, I don't connect with one of my Google account Chrome profiles (I have fifty profiles, most of them local), but I had to do it to give you a thumb up.
You did an amazing job showing us, with the sweetest calm and control, some of the coolest Zappa's chords. And as a fan, I own you one.
When you played those two chords at 6:16, a subtle smile instantly popped on my face. I think 2021 will be the year where I'll really learn guitar and dig into Zappa's content, thanks to you.
Saw Zappa in 78' SUNY Stony broook. Been game on ever since! Still have ticket.
David you are my favorite guitar teacher by far.
Nice job! One interesting fact: in the Black Napkins solo, Zappa actually pairs the c# minor chord with the Dorian scale (rather than Phrygian). Therefore, the two scales C# Dorian and D Lydian state different diatonic collections. It’s a good demo of his preferences for Dorian and Lydian.
I appreciate your modal analysis on B. Napkins only it reminds me how dadgum rusty I am on my scales/theory! ;-( Another problem I have - kinda dyslexic - is that I played the trumpet in college when I studied music back in the 70s, and it's keyed in B-flat so I was always transposing up a step...so I have to not 2nd guess myself when you say C# Dorian to not start my practice on D#...if that makes sense? (Ha, the truth is really I need to 'get in the shed' and run all 12 of the bastiges in major, minor, then harmonic minor. Then pentatonic, diminished, +5...oh boy!
I just watched this for the second time -- great stuff David -- FZ rules! I wish I could hit LIKE again
なぜ特定の方法でつづるかの例が与えられただけです。また、これは少し焦点がずれていますが、鋭いキーの F、F# は文字通り誤称、または E# が正確な 4 番目の B リディアンです。12tETにこだわらない楽器のイントネーションはそのまま
More zappa please I love your video breakdowns!
10:48 You can find 1975 performances of "Sleep Napkins" where Sleep Dirt was played before going into Black Napkins.
crazy intelligent dissonance... so dark and sad, but beautiful.
regards
Nicely done. Even though I did ok w theroy in college it was a struggle. Man I admire those like you that have it nailed. I realize it's all about putting in the time.
Wonderfull chords and a great video
An easy and interesting way to generate Lydian sounds for Major or Major 7 (#11) chords is to use a Minor Pentatonic Scale half-step below the root of the chord. So, if the chord is C Major 7, play B Minor Pentatonic -- B, D, E, F#, A, B
(Saw Frank many times in concert) :-) Good video, thanks.
Thank you and yes - pentatonic substitutions are great!
I learned them from studying some of Scott Henderson's lessons and ideas.
Great stuff!
Thanks for watching and take care!
: )
@@LateNightLessons I'll look for Henderson's work, thank you! He's a great player.
Bruce Saunders has a great little book called Jazz Pentatonics.
It's all good stuff.
I use the Lydian Chromatic Concept by George Russell as my "big concept" and the Pentatonics are cool sub-sets within the larger scales. :-)
Jesus!
Liked and subscribed
Can really hear the influence on Vai's music
Very interesting! Thanks!
Saw FZ 6 times. The best performer ever!
what a great lesson, thank you so much!!!
3:36 that exact chord shape is the first chord of a Satriani tune called Lords of Karma. It's more intimidating/scary because it is missing the maj 3rd. Lydian is a great sound. mystical, can make you cry even. The Watermelons tune by Zappa is probably a great example of it. nice vid.
Zoom Allures (on your desktop) is a great album! Find her finer, wind up working in a gas station... just a classic... “give me five dollar bill and an overcoat too, five dollar bill and a Florsheim shoe...”
I'm finally back to playing - Jeff Beck passing really gutted me. Thanks for helping - i thought FZ used a lot of implied chords.
Subbed. Great upload, hoping to see some more Zappa explanations and examples.
Thanks Dave!
I have had a few requests for more Frank and some Dweezil as well, so I'll see what I can do! Take care!
: )
14:15 loved it
The lick at 4:01 was an instant subscribe
From 2:25 some real great information about the use of lydian!
Dude if you did a Johnny Guitar watson video that would be awesome !!
Snappin"! Thanks
Thank you!!!!
: )
Music is my religion and Frank Zappa is my God.
so thats where steve vai gets his cord ideas from
At the beginning George Duke thought he couldn't sing the vocals of Inca Roads. Zappa walked him to it.
Love these voicings.glad I've been studying alot of different chords.id be totally lost.lol.found some cool chords that actually fit in a major chord scale.major 7 flat 5s major13#11 major 9 #11s.on the 4 chord I believe
New guitarist here, looks like I have A LOT to learn, yarggg...
Brilliant! Diolch Brawd!!!
I love the Keyboard chords in left channel of Treacherous cretins.
There's so much to listen to and enjoy.
Zappa is like a musical ocean that we can swim around in and attempt to learn from - a true master!
Thanks for watching!
: )
Ditto. That’s Tommy Mars right? The Shut Up N Play (and Trance Fusion) family of recordings is so rich and interesting, in no small part because of the interplay between band and soloist.
I saw about 4 of Zappa's Halloween Shows at NYC Palladium
Zappa was out there. It is amazing that he never did LSD considering how abstract/eclectic he was.
He was naturally creative and forward-thinking, so he didn't need drugs to open his mind - it was already open when he was born.
: )
It's all about dadaism as far as the secret to his creative philosophy. Not necessarily anything to do with the guitar but actually it kinda is by default since data is all about creativity! If you have never heard of it do yourself a favor and check it out!