Theyve certainly aged better since many techniques are still used today, and no pun intended, these films pioneered and created revolutionary techniques due to their low budget
I think the sense of isolation in these films is underscored well by the simplicity in the instrumentation. One guitar surrounded by reverb / one small town surrounded by nothing.
well put. our brains and psyches make these connections below the surface, and the most powerful art is *felt* subconsciously, even when it can be "explained" logically.
or scary rhythms. The sheet music for some of the trumpet lines in the Dollars Trilogy is downright brutal. semiquaver triplets starting on offbeats? yep. semiquaver septuplets? yep
Even when hes purposely playing out of key i.e. some of the harmonica parts in once upon a time in the west he just makes it work. Heck even when hes not using instruments he can make an establishing sound, like the use of the natural acoustics in the opening of once upon a time in the west
Probably "Morricone Westerns" is more appropriate, Leone only directed 5 westerns, Morricone scored over 30, though there's more than 500 made just between 1964 and the mid 1970s.
Ennio Morricone is Innovative for his Time, totally different from the Old West Songs of the 50s: he mixed touches of Rock, Jazz, Mexican Music, Classical Music and additional sounds with Exotic Instruments and Specific Objects, in addition to the already Traditional and Striking Whistles. This man created a New Musical Genre that was later vastly imitated and influenced dozens of Composers in the Future. King of Western Music.
The best thing about this video is that we got to listen to Joe rock out some Morricone, AND we decided what we wanted to eat for dinner tonight. #readyforspaghetti
The surf rock explanation is arguably the best part here! Amazing how two incredibly iconic styles of music share such similuar roots... all delineated by the swing and beat.
The really funny connection is that when Tarantino started making movies which drew in parts upon the spaghetti western, he chose Miserlou, a famous surf hit, to be in Pulp Fiction because it reminded him of the music of spaghetti westerns... when really the music of Morricone was inspired by music like Dick Dale's.
My dad is a classic western nut so I grew up watching these films. I ended up becoming an orchestra violist and have always recalled this style of music that initially inspired an interest in music. Thank you for digging deep here. You really struck a nostalgic vein with me and learning about this was deeply meaningful. Again, thank you.
"Ghost Riders in the Sky" (written 1948 and covered by artists including Johnny Cash) is the source of all Spaghetti Western music. Same galloping beat, same chord changes as "For a Few Dollars More".
I’ve always loved spaghetti western music, as well as ghost riders in the sky. I never noticed the similarities with the galloping beat, but I always felt the same spirit from both, so maybe I noticed subconsciously. I’d love to learn guitar, just to learn ghost riders and morricone pieces.
@@sgd5k292 It was the first song I think I wanted to learn....To this day, if you sit in a guitar store and play it......heads turn to see you play it...... more than the riffs of the pop songs today.
@@rustyrussell818 Yeah, it is very addictive....once I start playing it, I have a hard time stopping...there are so many ways to make it sound different and so cool!
Ennio Morricone is awesome! It's ironic that the music which best invokes the atmosphere of the Old West relies on a instrument, the electric guitar, which hadn't been invented yet.
I know I find it strange how spaghetti western music even happened. Normally the style of music is very obvious for the style of film, usually related to the time period. But spaghetti western music is completely made up but somehow just fits so perfectly, it is a genre within itself that had nothing to do with the wild west or civil war america but fits the film better than any other kind of film music.
Well if you want to know the truth, most western, spaghetti or Hollywood, extend the truth about the west too far. The west wasn’t nearly as violent and a threatening place to live. So really, the film and it’s music are both pretty fake. It’s still one of my favorite genres, I just like to think of it as not occurring in any real historical time periods
De Rosa: _The melody whistled by Alessandroni is being repeated by the electric guitar of D'Amario: another very characteristic timbre, which some people associated with the sound of The Shadows._ Morricone: I haven't heard of that band back then. I started to utilize the electric guitar in my arrangements and then in a documentary film by Paolo Cavara: I Malamondo ('64) ... When A Fistful of Dollars came out, many people declared it an invention, but the truth is, that I had employed the electric guitar already for years, but not as a solo instrument. Its tough and cutting timbre seemed perfect for the atmosphere of the film. Makeshift translation from Morricone's autobiography "Inseguendo quel suono". Highly recommended, if you're into his music.
Fantastic video! I can remember as a kid watching 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' on some UHF station back in the 70s and hearing that music for the first time. Between the reverb-drenched guitar, the sound affects, the whistling, and the weird chanting ("Hep! Ho!"), it blew my mind!
Yeah, I had a similar experience. I had heard for years about what cool westerns could be. But all I saw was dreary stale american westerns. Then... Suddenly... On TV they showed Good Bad Ugly... And my jaw was firmly on the ground for the close to full 3 hr runtime... THAT was how westerns should look, sound and feel like... Of course, I later read up on how Leone modeled his westerns to both commemt on the westerns he had seen and also to incorporate the european mythology that had grown up around the wild west and even his own extensive research he did on the subject. Whenever he wasquestioned about where he got a certain idea he usually could throw in a movie reference or piece of historical research...
I thought it was all the hallucinogenic drugs they did back then. A lot of movies made back in the late 60s and early 70s had a really weird vibe to them.
It's good to hear a musical analysis that starts with the feelings provoked (since that's really what it's all about) and then explains how they're created.
The gallop of a horse, the locomotive's chug, the sound of breaking waves, the pounding of the drums, the rumble of a stampede - it starts with the rhythm. Add to that the musical styles of southern European countries bordering the Mediterranean sea, and you begin to understand the interplay between Surf and Spaghetti Western. Then add in reverb. In Surf it's referred to 'drip', but in Spaghetti Western it's more of an echo; it feels like the heat of the blistering sun pounding down and bouncing off the landscape (think canyons) and the people that makes a sizzling hiss. The sound effects fill in and accentuate the gaps.
The Bb major chord is the VI degree of D minor, the tonality doesn't shift. Then when you have G major, it's the IV borrowed from the parallel major. So the progression is: i - VI - IV - i in D minor - a plagal cadance (subdominant resolving to tonic).
I love this video on a physiological level. I bond with it. I grew up witg Spaghetti Westerns, and I grew up with music, to end up in rock. So this is like mixing some of the things I stand for, making them even more enjoyable.
Reverb............ is the Answer... Your welcome.. grew up watching these movies and just loved the Music since always.. thanks for the Post. Great channel
Me to im a 22 yo southeast asian boy love this drenched reverb surf spagethi music , check out "Dirty Diary" on youtube he play lot of badass spagethi western guitarslinger
I am also in Arizona and play at Old Tucson studios. I would play spaghetti westerns in sound check or after a break. It would reach the audience more than a 2-step or waltz. People at those shows were from all over the world and want that western experience. I loved playing out there pay was great and the BBQ too!
I,m not from Arizona....but just had a plate of paste (with orange pumpkin pesto) made from durum wheat which is the same wheat used to make spaghetti.....enjoy.
Great video! The guitar play maybe the most important part in Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks. But I also think its important to mention the use of vocals and especially the outstanding use of orchestra which I think is one of the trademarks of Ennio Morricone. I think the combination of all the elements he uses in the Dollar trilogy is what makes the soundtrack so unique and wonderful.
Just bought an old chapel house apartment in a village in northern italy and my saloon/ lounge just hums spaghetti western.. now getting into a new style of guitar playing, grazie your video tutorial helped a lot .
I would love to see a discussion about the influence of the mission impossible theme in pop-culture's idea of spy movies. Since they used 5/4 as opposed to any common sense in filmmaking, that rhythm turned out to be incredibly memorable. Because mainstream music never reaches beyond common time or 3/4, just the time signature alone quickly became a staple of that spy vibe in pop culture, even though it's explicitly used in jazz.
Spaghetti western music gives me such nostalgia. I'm not super old by any means but my dad grew up on those westerns from the 60s and onwards so I've seen plenty of them and heard that music a lot.
Thank you! Great discussion! I love the music scenes of the Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallache trio of Spaghetti Westerns. The music is one major factor that gives these movies their cult status. In my opinion the composer, Ennio Morricone, is a genius! It's what sets these trios apart, along with Eastwood and Cleef. Plus even the titles ... A fist full of dollars, A few dollars more and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ... was a stroke of genius ... it all worked ... the "experiment", as Clint thought of it, completely worked! I still watch them today and it's the music that takes you there.
Great lesson! Been a fan of these tones and melodies way before I knew how to play. Little known fact: The tree with the hang rope in Good Bad and Ugly was stolen off some guys lawn in town while getting supplies because there were no trees in that land where the scene was shot. They needed an old creepy tree and so they pretended (the directors) they were city officials and told the guy at the house they had to remove it.
The penultimate good, bad, and the ugly shootout is IMHO the best use of music in a film... I find myself just watching that shootout on youtube JUST to admire how well crafted it is.
This is probably one of my favorite videos of this nature you've done. Don't get me wrong they're all really good but I have a special love for Surf and spaghetti western because when I was a kid my dad played a lot of it and I basically cut my teeth on it. Nothing sounds better than a twangy guitar through a clean Reverb drenched amp with a big slow Bigsby Bend.
If you don't know them all ready, the Danish band 'The good The bad' makes really intense flamenco/spaghetti/noise/surf inspired rock with baritone guitars and what can only be described as a coke fueled rage. Not really very twangy, but cool none the less.
Bruno Battisti D'Amario was the guitarist on many of Morricone's western themed films. He's also a classical guitar virtuoso in his own right. Morricone has said "He's the only musician I would do anything to have" Further, I believe D'Amario used a fender jazzmaster as his primary axe coupled with a fender amp. For years I searched high and low for the mans guitar work on wax. its out there, but he's the 'Carol King' of movie making if you like. Unsung hero that brought much of the 60s Western films to a greater vistas with his icy reverb drenched style.
This was REALLY good and was fun to watch. Love that spaghetti western AND instrumental surf sound. It makes sense that it caught on even though instrumental surf was pretty much a big deal but only for a couple of years in the early 60s. Great playing too of course! It's got to feel really cool to make those sounds.
Joe, I really enjoyed your comments. Those westerns were works of art. Incredibly good music, great story lines and the characters were awesome. Lee Van Cleef was fabulous. Thanks for the reminder of how good those films were.
Sweet! I grew up on those old western movies because my Mother was a super fan. And she also wrote many screen plays for those films and TV series. She also played guitar, and as a young musician, she, and that music inspired me for all my life, and guitar/music career.
@Phil McCrevice Adds to the anticipation and suspense. Made you wait even though you wanted it to happen which probably tormented the impatient. Did the job as a finally in my opinion.
@@arod919721 Absolutely Alex, high drama on the High Plains......vindication time for Colonel Mortimer....with a much needed assist from Clint.......he remembered the Colonel's request "Leave Indio to Me".
Morricone loved the fat, springy sound of the Stratocaster. I suspect he was heavily influenced by Italian folk, (Sardinian/mainland Italian) As well as American blues, Central/South American music, (Peruvian & Mexican specifically) He pulled from the same artistic culture as surf bands did. They all shared American and Spanish influences. Except Morricone took things way further, making it complex and atmospheric. If you want to talk about him, reply!
@@heartofmama8430 wow! that's like american country almost. Search "putumayo cajun" and you hear similar folk...only french! so italian, french, american folk...they're connected somehow..even though it first makes me feel like the origin is american.
@@eladbari I'm listening to it now and I like it. If you liked Zirichiltaggia you should listen the entire albums by Fabrizio De André: Arrangiamenti PFM and Arrangiamenti PFM 2. Fabrizio De André was probably the most known italian songwriter (I know it because I'm italian too) and PFM is an italian progressive band and they made those live concerts together. By the way, the language used in Zirichittalgia wasn't italian, but gallurese: a sardinian dialect. P.S. Thank you for let me listen to Putamayo. P.P.S. Probably the origin of all country music is american. P.P.P.S. Tintamare (canadian I think) and The Freak Fandango Orchestra (Spanish)
If Leone didn't have a music budget for the "dollar" series, he certainly did for "Once Upon a Time In the West". In that film, each character had his own theme. The music and cinematography was great, the story was great, the script could have used editing. To be fair, I think I have only seen butchered versions of the original.
@@joaoferreira7091 - I knew what you were responding to before I even opened it. Crazy, huh? Yes, an amazing cast. Henry Fonda as the evil one, and he was damn good at it, set up the best "gun-fight" I've seen. And, within that gun-fight, Leone revealed 'the secret'. Wow!
I think you saw the US version whitout Director's cut MADE by Sergio Leone. I noticed the Italian and European versions of the movie are much Superior because they dont flow in chronological order but rather trough a series of flashbacks and time regressions. In the Us, it was decided to show the movie in chronological order, Which makes it pretty unwatchable to be honest. But maybe you saw the uncut version and you just found plotholes, mine is just an hypotesis.
That guitar sound just immediately gives me associations to the hot backing sun and a wast space of dry sand. Even to a sunset in the middle of a hot clear skied summer night. That golden color from the sun. I don't even remember to have watched any spaghetti western from beginning to the end. I do have a memory of me half watching "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" when I was around 14 years old sorting my deliveries for my newspaper "ride" (On my ironhorse 😆) for the next day. And probably I've been present a few times for a short while when my stepfarther have watched those kinds of films (interestingly no matter what pop cultural song he plays on acoustic guitar, it tends to have this vibe of something spanish to it). The associations might've gotten into my subconsious mind.
Good video. One historical note: Morricone has a very strong classical music background, so i don't think he ever thought about surf music composing spaghetti western soundtracks. :) He always said that he usually try to use the sounds of the film setting, so for example he used machines sounds in "The working class go to paradise". Using real-life sounds was also a trend in avant-garde music at the time. He understand his work as a film music composer, it's like writing music for opera. And as a young composer he was trying to use modern instrument to get new sounds to work with.
Rhythm paints the landscape, lead is our characters because it's in the lead that we see ourselves and there is where we experience those majors and minors as the rise and fall of ourselves through the course of the story.
I have to say that the first film of the famous Sergio Leone trilogy: A fistful of dollars, wasn't filmed in Southern Italy nor Southern Spain. It was filmed mainly in Central Spain, not too far from the city of Madrid itself! In fact, I live in the outskirts of Madrid and I can see everyday the mountain that appears behind the small town where most of the story is located.
Cool video. It's a fun genre with many many soundtracks beyond the 3 you mentioned. Morricone was a major figure, of course, but there were many others. Moreover, Morricone was incredibly versatile - most people associate him with spaghetti westerns, but he also did incredible scores in horror, crime thrillers, dramas, etc.
I've enjoyed listening to these soundtracks for years, and it's good to hear about the different major and minor keys. Other than whips, bells, gunshots, and twangy electric guitar, another identifying factor of these films was of course the whistling.
I’d just like to throw out a really cool western themed album - “Eyes Like The Sky” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Also, speaking of that band, Joe really looks like the lead drummer, Michael Cavanaugh. Check em out!
Ennio Morricone is on of the best and most influencial movie composer of all time. Up there with John Williams. And he's not even mentionned. All the "spaghetti western" music shown here are his.
Both are Fenders. Probably Stratocaster on James Bond (but could be Tele) and probably Jazzmaster on Good/Bad/Ugly theme. Very modern sounds at the time, and probably more influenced by The Shadows, since surf music didn't really catch on outside California to begin with
I would love to see a discussion about the influence of the mission impossible theme in pop-culture's idea of spy movies. Since they used 5/4 as opposed to any common sense in filmmaking, that rhythm turned out to be incredibly memorable. Because mainstream music never reaches beyond common time or 3/4, just the time signature alone quickly became a staple of that spy vibe in pop culture, even though it's explicitly used in jazz.
@@painiscupcake5433 Vic Flick played a Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe acoustic guitar with a DeArmond Pickup going through a Vox AC15 amplifier on the James Bond theme.
I love this type of music so much, this was really cool to see. Also, I feel like that kind of spaghetti-Western chord progression crops up a lot in Muse's discography, albeit usually with a very different rhythm so it doesn't sound as Western but more generally dark and heroic. (Knights of Cydonîa is obviously a complete spaghetti-Western homage with that type of galloping rhythm.)
It seems like spaghetti western and spy movie music are both connected through a reverb filled surf rock approach, but spy movies tend to take it in a more big-band approach.
Ennio Morricone is a genius as a composer. He got what was popular (surf music), applied the style to western and combines with his own themes and you have spaghetti western. He has much more on the table than spa. western, on his later film scores he did the same with psychedelic, rock and funk music.
Actually, Ennio Morricone used what I think is refered to as industrial or "found sound" in his compositions. He didn't use things like whips and whistles because the budget was low, he did it because it was his and Sergio's style. In fact, in the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West, Ennio composed the whole "musical" score, which was really just a rusty windmill, a water drip, ect.
He did that after seeing an artist play music only with some tools or something like that, he mentions it in an interview (or I read it in the Leone biography I forget).
Another cool thing, the grunts and hollers you hear in the music was a carryover from Japanese Kabuki theater called Kakegoe, meant to emphasize drama and call attention to the stage. This is because the original Fistful of Dollars was a retelling of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where a wandering mercenary/ronin arrives at a town in feudal Japan that lords are contesting over and each try to hire him as a body guard to turn the tides.
I love that those low budget spaghetti westerns ended up being more memorable over time than the traditional westerns of that time.
Kurt D. They were certainly a lot more intense! Those long holding shots, like the finale of The Good... Ugly.
Well tbh the spaghetti Western movies were still huge despite the low budget
Theyve certainly aged better since many techniques are still used today, and no pun intended, these films pioneered and created revolutionary techniques due to their low budget
Hollywood Westerns, no matter how expensive, were way too shallow and emotionless.
It helps that they are objectively better made stories
Ennio Morricone is the reason why it sounds so great, the guy is a musical genius.
No doubt.
his score for the movie "the mission" is fantastic....the tune 'gabriel's oboe' from it is haunting
Better than TB.
He's top 3-5 ALL TIME movie score composers. Under rated: 'ORCA'
Ennio - absolutely! Also love the work of Sante Maria Romitelli.
Just because Ennio Morricone.
❤️ RIP
Yup! R.I.P. to the legend!
Yes!
Right
Surf music with long pauses in between riffs. Soul surf music.
exactly what i was thinking.
@Stephen j so did Surf - but they were the first to put words to it
And punk is fast surf that swaps reverb for drive
This question can be solved in 2 words. Ennio Morricone. That guy is a fuggin genius. 'Nuff said
You can swear on the internet.
Agreed!!
Yes, Morricone is indeed the master of this sound. Plus the Thing soundtrack is so good Tarantino used a track from it in the hateful eight.
Doesn’t explain WHY though
RIP
I think the sense of isolation in these films is underscored well by the simplicity in the instrumentation. One guitar surrounded by reverb / one small town surrounded by nothing.
Indeed. Well said.
Better than this whole video. He's just talking and making noise he doesn't really get it.
and one man ,with no name, to save them. :)
well put. our brains and psyches make these connections below the surface, and the most powerful art is *felt* subconsciously, even when it can be "explained" logically.
Wow...well captured in words.
Morricone is the real successor of the great Italian composers. He isn't afraid of melody and unusual intruments/noises.
or scary rhythms. The sheet music for some of the trumpet lines in the Dollars Trilogy is downright brutal. semiquaver triplets starting on offbeats? yep. semiquaver septuplets? yep
Even when hes purposely playing out of key i.e. some of the harmonica parts in once upon a time in the west he just makes it work. Heck even when hes not using instruments he can make an establishing sound, like the use of the natural acoustics in the opening of once upon a time in the west
@@mint-flavouredsand8943 What does quaver mean? That's English terms for 8th notes right? That doesn't sound scary at all
"They are not spaghetti westerns! You don't eat them! They are Sergio Leone westerns."
- Ennio Morricone
I will no longer call them spaghetti westerns
Probably "Morricone Westerns" is more appropriate, Leone only directed 5 westerns, Morricone scored over 30, though there's more than 500 made just between 1964 and the mid 1970s.
.......uh dude, I hate to burst your bubble, .........but!
@@williamsherman1089 Who you callin' "bubble but"?
I eat them while I drink your milkshake
Ennio Morricone single handledly created the genre of the Spaghetti western sound. Tarantino uses it, its been used in mostly every big western since
Yes, but influenced by Mexican music
@@jasonteqja7262 explain how he sucks?
@@indomiepanggang4258 He sucks with his outrageous effects. That's why Sergio Leone's westerns are good. Low budget, but more quality.
White Tiger if you're watching a Tarantino western expecting a Leone western you're doing it wrong
@@ivanbajovic3476 actually not really. It's from Italian music combined with surf and with a blues attitude.
Ennio Morricone is Innovative for his Time, totally different from the Old West Songs of the 50s: he mixed touches of Rock, Jazz, Mexican Music, Classical Music and additional sounds with Exotic Instruments and Specific Objects, in addition to the already Traditional and Striking Whistles. This man created a New Musical Genre that was later vastly imitated and influenced dozens of Composers in the Future. King of Western Music.
Awesome work as always Joe! Loved this one.
The best thing about this video is that we got to listen to Joe rock out some Morricone, AND we decided what we wanted to eat for dinner tonight. #readyforspaghetti
Save us some!
Thank ya! This was tons of fun, and my goodness...that Coronado!
bring back antigua!
Is that tone really just Coronado into the Magnatone? Surely there is some pedal or EQ in the chain to get that sound.
I guess most of these great spaghetti western musicians have since pasta way.
a fistful of pennes
Holmes, Spencer Jacob Genius
The good, the bad and the bigoli.
You never sausage a tragedy as that.
BOOOOO :p
The surf rock explanation is arguably the best part here! Amazing how two incredibly iconic styles of music share such similuar roots... all delineated by the swing and beat.
if he didn't mentioned surf music I would have shit all over the comments section.
Yeah, I was anxiously awaiting the mention of the surf music and its relationship to the genre. He nailed it.
The really funny connection is that when Tarantino started making movies which drew in parts upon the spaghetti western, he chose Miserlou, a famous surf hit, to be in Pulp Fiction because it reminded him of the music of spaghetti westerns... when really the music of Morricone was inspired by music like Dick Dale's.
My dad is a classic western nut so I grew up watching these films. I ended up becoming an orchestra violist and have always recalled this style of music that initially inspired an interest in music.
Thank you for digging deep here. You really struck a nostalgic vein with me and learning about this was deeply meaningful. Again, thank you.
"Ghost Riders in the Sky" (written 1948 and covered by artists including Johnny Cash) is the source of all Spaghetti Western music. Same galloping beat, same chord changes as "For a Few Dollars More".
I was just ready to write the same thing. I play at guitar, and Ghost Riders in the Sky is one of my favorites songs to play.
I’ve always loved spaghetti western music, as well as ghost riders in the sky. I never noticed the similarities with the galloping beat, but I always felt the same spirit from both, so maybe I noticed subconsciously. I’d love to learn guitar, just to learn ghost riders and morricone pieces.
@@sgd5k292 It was the first song I think I wanted to learn....To this day, if you sit in a guitar store and play it......heads turn to see you play it...... more than the riffs of the pop songs today.
@@rustyrussell818 Yeah, it is very addictive....once I start playing it, I have a hard time stopping...there are so many ways to make it sound different and so cool!
One song doesn't create a genre. Morricone did it.
Morricone is just a god. He's *still alive* and makes appearances. He even scored Tarantino's Hateful Eight in 2015.
Bill Woo he is my friend's grandpa
He also penned the score to John Carpenter's The Thing another cult classic
I had an interview for music college and they asked me what my favorite composer was and I said ennio Morricone and they were bowled over by that.
@@parttroll1 and unused parts of Tue Thing score show up in the Hateful Eight
@@RetroDrew never knew that!
Ennio Morricone is awesome! It's ironic that the music which best invokes the atmosphere of the Old West relies on a instrument, the electric guitar, which hadn't been invented yet.
I know I find it strange how spaghetti western music even happened. Normally the style of music is very obvious for the style of film, usually related to the time period. But spaghetti western music is completely made up but somehow just fits so perfectly, it is a genre within itself that had nothing to do with the wild west or civil war america but fits the film better than any other kind of film music.
I think you could probably thank hank Marvin of the shadows for that.
Always thought this
I love the Spaghetti Westerns the raw & visceral feeling. I always found the American big budget ones just don't do it for me
Well if you want to know the truth, most western, spaghetti or Hollywood, extend the truth about the west too far. The west wasn’t nearly as violent and a threatening place to live. So really, the film and it’s music are both pretty fake. It’s still one of my favorite genres, I just like to think of it as not occurring in any real historical time periods
These videos are what TH-cam is really for. Learning about what you love.
Keep in mind the influence of Spanish/Mexican music. I hear a lot of Mariachi riffs in those licks.
Yes. They are playing the brass section of the mariachi.
Yeah combine that with Surf guitar and you've got Spaghetti Western :)
The music that plays in the Final Duel of A Fistful Of Dollars is a good example.
Yes and trumpets
Can you recommend any specific tunes to research so I can see what you’re referring too? :)
Big big big hug to Ennio, wherever he is ❤️
De Rosa: _The melody whistled by Alessandroni is being repeated by the electric guitar of D'Amario: another very characteristic timbre, which some people associated with the sound of The Shadows._
Morricone: I haven't heard of that band back then. I started to utilize the electric guitar in my arrangements and then in a documentary film by Paolo Cavara: I Malamondo ('64) ...
When A Fistful of Dollars came out, many people declared it an invention, but the truth is, that I had employed the electric guitar already for years, but not as a solo instrument. Its tough and cutting timbre seemed perfect for the atmosphere of the film.
Makeshift translation from Morricone's autobiography "Inseguendo quel suono". Highly recommended, if you're into his music.
Amazing composer but he always comes across as insufferably arrogant. Never meet your heroes...
he deserves to be arrogant if he wants to
When you say "makeshift translation"... Does that mean the book is not available in english? :(
jmalmsten the official English translation of the book will be available in May next year. Source: Amazon.
Fantastic video!
I can remember as a kid watching 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' on some UHF station back in the 70s and hearing that music for the first time. Between the reverb-drenched guitar, the sound affects, the whistling, and the weird chanting ("Hep! Ho!"), it blew my mind!
Yeah, I had a similar experience. I had heard for years about what cool westerns could be. But all I saw was dreary stale american westerns. Then... Suddenly... On TV they showed Good Bad Ugly... And my jaw was firmly on the ground for the close to full 3 hr runtime... THAT was how westerns should look, sound and feel like...
Of course, I later read up on how Leone modeled his westerns to both commemt on the westerns he had seen and also to incorporate the european mythology that had grown up around the wild west and even his own extensive research he did on the subject. Whenever he wasquestioned about where he got a certain idea he usually could throw in a movie reference or piece of historical research...
Oh that whistle theme. I saw the movie in a real movie theater in the late 70's, the way movies should be watched, and it was amaaaazing.
I thought it was all the hallucinogenic drugs they did back then. A lot of movies made back in the late 60s and early 70s had a really weird vibe to them.
I was distracted the whole time by how beautiful that guitar is
I'm not familiar with that model, but I love the look of it.
bryan macneil fender Coronado semi-hollow, Antigua burst
Cool, thanks
Antigua finish is gross i will accept nothing other than your complete agreement
Jacob Barber
Fr I can’t stand it. Looks like a dirty camode
Out and out the best movies ever because of Morricone. The twangy guitar and characters you can love and hate make these movies. So beautiful.
It's good to hear a musical analysis that starts with the feelings provoked (since that's really what it's all about) and then explains how they're created.
Do one on 70's porno grooves.
Please.
White Moth Visual yesss!!
THIS
Good idea!! Lol
Oh yes!
This!
It’s a video game not a movie, but Red Dead Redemption has one of the greatest western soundtracks of all time in my opinion
Trav in the Box agreed man. Classic
You should really check out the Wild Arms games series soundtracks then, those are almost identical to Spaghetti Westerns.
That's because it uses Far Away by Jose Gonzales.
Clint Bajakian's interpretation of Leone's style in the old game 'Outlaws'
Not to detract how amazing it could be but it might always be derivative of the classics that predated it.
As someone who doesnt know much about music this is what i got from this : gotta have that gallopin twang
The gallop of a horse, the locomotive's chug, the sound of breaking waves, the pounding of the drums, the rumble of a stampede - it starts with the rhythm. Add to that the musical styles of southern European countries bordering the Mediterranean sea, and you begin to understand the interplay between Surf and Spaghetti Western. Then add in reverb. In Surf it's referred to 'drip', but in Spaghetti Western it's more of an echo; it feels like the heat of the blistering sun pounding down and bouncing off the landscape (think canyons) and the people that makes a sizzling hiss. The sound effects fill in and accentuate the gaps.
The Bb major chord is the VI degree of D minor, the tonality doesn't shift. Then when you have G major, it's the IV borrowed from the parallel major. So the progression is: i - VI - IV - i in D minor - a plagal cadance (subdominant resolving to tonic).
NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD
@@prunehead or maybe I majored in music?
I love this video on a physiological level. I bond with it. I grew up witg Spaghetti Westerns, and I grew up with music, to end up in rock. So this is like mixing some of the things I stand for, making them even more enjoyable.
the songs were also great heralds. they perfectly played with and amped the emotions of the scene.
that and Ennio Morricone is a damn genius
I love that bright sound of the fender
you're the man this was great.
Reverb............ is the Answer... Your welcome.. grew up watching these movies and just loved the Music since always.. thanks for the Post. Great channel
I’m from Arizona ! Imma play some of this type of music on a long drive to feel like I’m in a old western😂😂
Me to im a 22 yo southeast asian boy love this drenched reverb surf spagethi music , check out "Dirty Diary" on youtube he play lot of badass spagethi western guitarslinger
It’s awesome driving through New Mexico with Ennio Morricone on the radio 📻
I am also in Arizona and play at Old Tucson studios. I would play spaghetti westerns in sound check or after a break. It would reach the audience more than a 2-step or waltz. People at those shows were from all over the world and want that western experience. I loved playing out there pay was great and the BBQ too!
I,m not from Arizona....but just had a plate of paste (with orange pumpkin pesto) made from durum wheat which is the same wheat used to make spaghetti.....enjoy.
Check out the band Lord Huron. All their albums are great for that purpose
It’s the ultimate outlaw music
Great video! The guitar play maybe the most important part in Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks. But I also think its important to mention the use of vocals and especially the outstanding use of orchestra which I think is one of the trademarks of Ennio Morricone. I think the combination of all the elements he uses in the Dollar trilogy is what makes the soundtrack so unique and wonderful.
Just bought an old chapel house apartment in a village in northern italy and my saloon/ lounge just hums spaghetti western.. now getting into a new style of guitar playing, grazie your video tutorial helped a lot .
I love that you love Spaghetti Westerns too. They are, by far, the coolest thing. They have inspired me to become a filmmaker. Thanks for sharing!
One of the very best Reverb.com vids!
I would love to see a discussion about the influence of the mission impossible theme in pop-culture's idea of spy movies. Since they used 5/4 as opposed to any common sense in filmmaking, that rhythm turned out to be incredibly memorable. Because mainstream music never reaches beyond common time or 3/4, just the time signature alone quickly became a staple of that spy vibe in pop culture, even though it's explicitly used in jazz.
"... D Minor which I always found to be the saddest key, I don't know why but it just makes people weep, instantly...."
N. Tufnel
: )
Lick My Love Pump
Interesting.
Spaghetti western music gives me such nostalgia. I'm not super old by any means but my dad grew up on those westerns from the 60s and onwards so I've seen plenty of them and heard that music a lot.
Thank you! Great discussion! I love the music scenes of the Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallache trio of Spaghetti Westerns. The music is one major factor that gives these movies their cult status. In my opinion the composer, Ennio Morricone, is a genius! It's what sets these trios apart, along with Eastwood and Cleef. Plus even the titles ... A fist full of dollars, A few dollars more and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ... was a stroke of genius ... it all worked ... the "experiment", as Clint thought of it, completely worked! I still watch them today and it's the music that takes you there.
Absolutely one of the coolest videos I've seen from reverb. I'll definitely be messing around with my vibrolux this weekend.
Great job Joe. A fun mini education. Nice production with clips, imagery, dust, danger & sweat included.
Thank ya! Subscribe to my channel for many more lessons and tutorials, and original music! Cheers
I agree with Eki...Ennio is such a great composer...you could go for a spaghetti western just to hear his score.
Great lesson! Been a fan of these tones and melodies way before I knew how to play. Little known fact: The tree with the hang rope in Good Bad and Ugly was stolen off some guys lawn in town while getting supplies because there were no trees in that land where the scene was shot. They needed an old creepy tree and so they pretended (the directors) they were city officials and told the guy at the house they had to remove it.
The penultimate good, bad, and the ugly shootout is IMHO the best use of music in a film... I find myself just watching that shootout on youtube JUST to admire how well crafted it is.
Spaghetti western music it's
so cool, because Ennio Morricone is a genius :)
This is probably one of my favorite videos of this nature you've done. Don't get me wrong they're all really good but I have a special love for Surf and spaghetti western because when I was a kid my dad played a lot of it and I basically cut my teeth on it. Nothing sounds better than a twangy guitar through a clean Reverb drenched amp with a big slow Bigsby Bend.
redjetfirebird щщщ
Can you recommend some artists?
If you don't know them all ready, the Danish band 'The good The bad' makes really intense flamenco/spaghetti/noise/surf inspired rock with baritone guitars and what can only be described as a coke fueled rage. Not really very twangy, but cool none the less.
Thanks and RIP Ennio Morricone real master of music composition, a composer able to touch the soul with his incomparable music gifted to the world .
Bruno Battisti D'Amario was the guitarist on many of Morricone's western themed films. He's also a classical guitar virtuoso in his own right. Morricone has said "He's the only musician I would do anything to have" Further, I believe D'Amario used a fender jazzmaster as his primary axe coupled with a fender amp. For years I searched high and low for the mans guitar work on wax. its out there, but he's the 'Carol King' of movie making if you like. Unsung hero that brought much of the 60s Western films to a greater vistas with his icy reverb drenched style.
This was REALLY good and was fun to watch. Love that spaghetti western AND instrumental surf sound. It makes sense that it caught on even though instrumental surf was pretty much a big deal but only for a couple of years in the early 60s. Great playing too of course! It's got to feel really cool to make those sounds.
Electric guitar in a western...WHO DOES THAT...ITS INSANE!!! Thank you EM...forever
Why? Because Morricone is a genius.
Joe, I really enjoyed your comments. Those westerns were works of art. Incredibly good music, great story lines and the characters were awesome. Lee Van Cleef was fabulous. Thanks for the reminder of how good those films were.
Sweet! I grew up on those old western movies because my Mother was a super fan. And she also wrote many screen plays for those films and TV series. She also played guitar, and as a young musician, she, and that music inspired me for all my life, and guitar/music career.
I enjoy your focus on the feeling and emotion behind the music and the setting it provides.
1948's "Ghost Riders in The Sky", an American western country song was clearly the main influence of the Spaghetti western sound.
Yippie yi ayyyyyye...
Yippie yi oohhhh...
For a Few Dollars More is still one of my favorites. The pocket watch show down is great.
@Phil McCrevice Adds to the anticipation and suspense. Made you wait even though you wanted it to happen which probably tormented the impatient. Did the job as a finally in my opinion.
@@arod919721 Absolutely Alex, high drama on the High Plains......vindication time for Colonel Mortimer....with a much needed assist from Clint.......he remembered the Colonel's request "Leave Indio to Me".
Great topic.
Ennio Morricone is the greatest soundtrack composer EVER!!!
I've always loved Westerns and the music in the old Westerns is such an important part of the movie. Ennio Morricone did it right.
Some indie filmmaker needs to hire Joe to score his or her film. He'd kill it.
That would be awesome to contact him for my biblical epics I want to make.
Morricone loved the fat, springy sound of the Stratocaster.
I suspect he was heavily influenced by Italian folk, (Sardinian/mainland Italian)
As well as American blues, Central/South American music,
(Peruvian & Mexican specifically)
He pulled from the same artistic culture as surf bands did.
They all shared American and Spanish influences.
Except Morricone took things way further, making it complex and atmospheric.
If you want to talk about him, reply!
Italian folk? Any links?
Klaus Ebner The video has a Gretsch, but the original music I think is a strat
@@eladbari Fabrizio De André - Zirichiltaggia... probably.
@@heartofmama8430 wow! that's like american country almost. Search "putumayo cajun" and you hear similar folk...only french! so italian, french, american folk...they're connected somehow..even though it first makes me feel like the origin is american.
@@eladbari I'm listening to it now and I like it. If you liked Zirichiltaggia you should listen the entire albums by Fabrizio De André: Arrangiamenti PFM and Arrangiamenti PFM 2. Fabrizio De André was probably the most known italian songwriter (I know it because I'm italian too) and PFM is an italian progressive band and they made those live concerts together. By the way, the language used in Zirichittalgia wasn't italian, but gallurese: a sardinian dialect. P.S. Thank you for let me listen to Putamayo. P.P.S. Probably the origin of all country music is american. P.P.P.S. Tintamare (canadian I think) and The Freak Fandango Orchestra (Spanish)
If Leone didn't have a music budget for the "dollar" series, he certainly did for "Once Upon a Time In the West". In that film, each character had his own theme. The music and cinematography was great, the story was great, the script could have used editing. To be fair, I think I have only seen butchered versions of the original.
The cast was somehow great too.
@@joaoferreira7091 - I knew what you were responding to before I even opened it. Crazy, huh? Yes, an amazing cast. Henry Fonda as the evil one, and he was damn good at it, set up the best "gun-fight" I've seen. And, within that gun-fight, Leone revealed 'the secret'. Wow!
I think you saw the US version whitout Director's cut MADE by Sergio Leone. I noticed the Italian and European versions of the movie are much Superior because they dont flow in chronological order but rather trough a series of flashbacks and time regressions. In the Us, it was decided to show the movie in chronological order, Which makes it pretty unwatchable to be honest. But maybe you saw the uncut version and you just found plotholes, mine is just an hypotesis.
That guitar sound just immediately gives me associations to the hot backing sun and a wast space of dry sand. Even to a sunset in the middle of a hot clear skied summer night. That golden color from the sun.
I don't even remember to have watched any spaghetti western from beginning to the end. I do have a memory of me half watching "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" when I was around 14 years old sorting my deliveries for my newspaper "ride" (On my ironhorse 😆) for the next day. And probably I've been present a few times for a short while when my stepfarther have watched those kinds of films (interestingly no matter what pop cultural song he plays on acoustic guitar, it tends to have this vibe of something spanish to it).
The associations might've gotten into my subconsious mind.
I like the way the boots sound walking across the hardwood floor. Everything has that big reverbed sound
Apache by The Shadows caught my ear. Johnny Marr and later 90's acts have it too!
Never knew Chris D’Elia is so talented with a guitar!
RIP to the great, Ennio Morricone.
Good video. One historical note: Morricone has a very strong classical music background, so i don't think he ever thought about surf music composing spaghetti western soundtracks. :) He always said that he usually try to use the sounds of the film setting, so for example he used machines sounds in "The working class go to paradise". Using real-life sounds was also a trend in avant-garde music at the time. He understand his work as a film music composer, it's like writing music for opera. And as a young composer he was trying to use modern instrument to get new sounds to work with.
Rhythm paints the landscape, lead is our characters because it's in the lead that we see ourselves and there is where we experience those majors and minors as the rise and fall of ourselves through the course of the story.
The guitar in the actual film sounds like it’s coming through a little glass tube. That sound is golden.
Yes, do more of these types of videos. Make it a series!
Its cool becaus thought went into it. Made by geniouses just like the films.
I already knew Beato was great, but after watching this I can really appreciate how great he is.
EVERYTHING about music in general is said between 2:10 and 2:40. Thats the essence!! All so true!
I have to say that the first film of the famous Sergio Leone trilogy: A fistful of dollars, wasn't filmed in Southern Italy nor Southern Spain. It was filmed mainly in Central Spain, not too far from the city of Madrid itself! In fact, I live in the outskirts of Madrid and I can see everyday the mountain that appears behind the small town where most of the story is located.
Cool video. It's a fun genre with many many soundtracks beyond the 3 you mentioned. Morricone was a major figure, of course, but there were many others. Moreover, Morricone was incredibly versatile - most people associate him with spaghetti westerns, but he also did incredible scores in horror, crime thrillers, dramas, etc.
Great breakdown of the genre. I'd love to see more of these for other genres
Raklar please
Gotta be one of the coolest and most unique genres of music to ever exist. There’s just nothing else like it.
I've enjoyed listening to these soundtracks for years, and it's good to hear about the different major and minor keys. Other than whips, bells, gunshots, and twangy electric guitar, another identifying factor of these films was of course the whistling.
I’d just like to throw out a really cool western themed album - “Eyes Like The Sky” by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
Also, speaking of that band, Joe really looks like the lead drummer, Michael Cavanaugh.
Check em out!
great album
Forgot about it for a minute, thanks for reminding me!
I just listened to their album Nonagon Infinity and it blew my mind clean off. You have no idea how excited this comment just made me
Just discovered this album bc of you and love that it exists, thank you tons
I've listened to King Gizz for almost a year but never knew about this album. Played it three times today, thanks!!
Yeeaaahhh! All we need now is a pedal whit whip, whistle and gunshot sounds.
Roto Sphere just get the drummer to do the real thing
Careful, someone will call the cops.
Ennio Morricone is on of the best and most influencial movie composer of all time. Up there with John Williams.
And he's not even mentionned. All the "spaghetti western" music shown here are his.
Those classic musics take me to another world, just love it
Tutto Bene!!!! 😎😎😎😎Wow, what a simply fantastic upload, thanks for taking the time out to do this👍👍👍👌👌👌👌
Dear Reverb Site,
I loved this discussion.
What About the spy music like the James Bond or the typical italian ones? The guitar sound is similar.
Both are Fenders. Probably Stratocaster on James Bond (but could be Tele) and probably Jazzmaster on Good/Bad/Ugly theme. Very modern sounds at the time, and probably more influenced by The Shadows, since surf music didn't really catch on outside California to begin with
Maybe that speaks to westerns being inspirations behind spy films, how they're cowboys/gunfighters in their own way.
@Toby Johnson Cool, didn't know. The lack of vibrato arm-sounds should probably have rung a bell
I would love to see a discussion about the influence of the mission impossible theme in pop-culture's idea of spy movies. Since they used 5/4 as opposed to any common sense in filmmaking, that rhythm turned out to be incredibly memorable. Because mainstream music never reaches beyond common time or 3/4, just the time signature alone quickly became a staple of that spy vibe in pop culture, even though it's explicitly used in jazz.
@@painiscupcake5433 Vic Flick played a Clifford Essex Paragon Deluxe acoustic guitar with a DeArmond Pickup going through a Vox AC15 amplifier on the James Bond theme.
I love this type of music so much, this was really cool to see. Also, I feel like that kind of spaghetti-Western chord progression crops up a lot in Muse's discography, albeit usually with a very different rhythm so it doesn't sound as Western but more generally dark and heroic. (Knights of Cydonîa is obviously a complete spaghetti-Western homage with that type of galloping rhythm.)
Do spy movie music next!
It seems like spaghetti western and spy movie music are both connected through a reverb filled surf rock approach, but spy movies tend to take it in a more big-band approach.
i bVI II7
Ennio Morricone is a genius as a composer. He got what was popular (surf music), applied the style to western and combines with his own themes and you have spaghetti western. He has much more on the table than spa. western, on his later film scores he did the same with psychedelic, rock and funk music.
Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone toghether...how can it be possible such a miracle..?
Actually, Ennio Morricone used what I think is refered to as industrial or "found sound" in his compositions. He didn't use things like whips and whistles because the budget was low, he did it because it was his and Sergio's style. In fact, in the opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the West, Ennio composed the whole "musical" score, which was really just a rusty windmill, a water drip, ect.
He did that after seeing an artist play music only with some tools or something like that, he mentions it in an interview (or I read it in the Leone biography I forget).
@@nononono3421 He actually got the idea from a stage setter with a creaking ladder before a concert. Watch the Ennio' movie, it is so good !
Very informative and well explained. Thank you!
That guitar is gorgeous 😍
You must have heard... Yanny.
like a decoration on the wall in a Mexican restaurant, its badass
Another cool thing, the grunts and hollers you hear in the music was a carryover from Japanese Kabuki theater called Kakegoe, meant to emphasize drama and call attention to the stage. This is because the original Fistful of Dollars was a retelling of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, where a wandering mercenary/ronin arrives at a town in feudal Japan that lords are contesting over and each try to hire him as a body guard to turn the tides.
Never thought about the music back in the 60’s when watching A Fist Full of Dollars
Now it’s why I watch them again.
Amazing how closely the spaghetti western music resembles surf guitar music. Great stuff!