Blur's unique chord progression
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Interview with Graham Coxon (2020): • A Conver-Session with ...
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0:00 Coffee + TV by Blur
0:47 the chord progression
2:10 #9 chord
4:10 maj7#11 chord
5:54 perfect 5th movement
7:15 chromatic mediants
8:25 chorus chord progression
8:59 how did Graham Coxon write this?
9:55 VSL Fazioli piano
10:57 Patreon
A thing I like about Blur, that I haven't seen any other musical artist do, is that they not only include the lyrics to all the songs in the album booklet, but also the chords to the songs.
And it seems this is no luxury 😅
That makes me think they are ok with people covering their songs unlike how some bands music gets taken down from TH-cam or Twitch if you post a cover of one or more of their songs. The chord progression from the song featured on this video makes me think of some modern Jazz and Jazz Fusion for sure.
It's all Graham's idea, he writes in the chords in the album booklets, inspired by song books he would learn from as a kid
Only in the Brit Trilogy
Probably grahams idea, he learnt to play from songbooks, specifically the Beatles songbooks
Bro played progression on piano and it started sounding like Radiohead
Exactly! I noticed it especially when he played the sequence from Fmaj7#11 to E and back again (5:46) which sounds totally Radiohead.
I heard a little Pink Floyd in there, too.
That and also it reminds me of Flamenco.
@@ellielovesbands ah really? Someone else mentioned the same already earlier. It's interesting, though, I'm not familiar with flamenco. However, checkout Pyramid Song from Radiohead 😉
This is a Graham Coxon song and I always think of him and Johnny Greenwood as being similar in ways as guitarists. I always think Coxon is somewhat underappreciated
that Bb into Db is so sick
Chromatic mediant!
that plagal cadance from Aadd#9 to E 😩
Sick😊
i think whats cool about it is that transition sounds minor but those are both major chords
I wish he'd explained how that Db works going back to the B, tho
That Fmaj7#11 is a common flamenco chord, for the same reason, using open strings, and often resolves to E, or a version of it.
A very guitary chord. The cure use it frequently. On guitar x-x-3-0-0-1( or a close copy)
I was going to say this myself then saw your comment. To be fair… so is the G chord that precedes it. It’s like a fragment of the Andalusian cadence.
It's also a great chord to use to add a bit of "flavour" to FMaj7
Yes, this is only strange for non guitar players
Yes, as in Supergrass’s She’s So Loose
So many great chord sequences courtesy of blur.
True!
@@DavidBennettPianoSo glad U covered Blur. Some refer to them, & I've never followed suit. Thnx David.
Name like top 5 of your mind
End of a century, he thought of cars, chemical world, pressure on Julian and country sad ballad man
Country sad ballad man, the narcissist, young and lovely, out of time
Coxon is so humble he's a genious and he hasn't even realize he is
The chord progression is certainly unusual but the "coffee and TV" video is in a surreal class of its own...
M I L K
Its a fantastic video, and a fantastic song
Coffee and Tv sounds more similar to 90's Shibuya kei than Brit pop
@@gorgolyt S.O.D
You saying the video is more impressive than the song?
So glad you did a video on this--I always loved that song and the roller-coaster chord progression
It’s one of my favourite Blur songs 😊
Some of David Bowie's unusual chords can be explained by slight variations on guitar chords where for example you take one finger off a standard chord.
Pretty much this. The Fmaj7 #11 is just an F major barre chord with the E and B strings left open.
It’s basically the cheat code to interesting chords
The opening chords of Starman is (I think) a Bbadd9/A, which is just an A major moved up one fret but leaving the E and A strings open. It provides some nice mysterious tension before resolving smoothly to the tonic chord of F major.
Indeed!
Reminds me of how John Lennon would often hit a weird G6 chord as a passing chord in between two regular ones.... thing is, he just used all open strings. Easiest chord in the world 😅
@@alexneill8338 Interesting. I hadn't noticed that was what was being played in "Starman", but I think he'd have got the idea from "Arnold Layne", where Syd Barrett (one of Bowie's big influences) seems to move from the A chord to the 'Bbadd9/A' chord phrasing you mention.
I think you missed a bit of a trick regarding the logic behind the progression. It's very harmonic-sequence based:
B - B - A - E
G - F - Bb - Db
It's perhaps not so obvious because the repeated B shifts the position by a bar, but the intervals are:
B->A (whole step down), A->E (perfect fourth down)
G->F (whole step down), F->Bb (perfect fourth up)
Then, the Db -> B when the sequence repeats, is a minor third, just like the E -> G movement from the first section to the second, only it's a minor third downward rather than upward. The perfect fourth is also inverted in direction regarding A->E and F->Bb, but I believe the internal logic still prevails; from the F chord onwards, the sequence has been inverted, the same way you would a melody.
Whenever I come across a progression that seems completely unamenable to tonal analysis, yet is still clearly derived from that tradition, looking for harmonic sequences or even just analyzing chords in groups of 2/3 that make for little "islands" of harmony, quite often leads to something that makes a lot of sense. In this case, though, I actually heard the harmonic sequences; perhaps not everyone hears it this way, though.
So, in summary, I believe the progression "works" because it's comprised of harmonic sequences, which is somewhat obfuscated (or rather, made more interesting) by the fact that some intervals are inverted, and some chords are repeated.
Hey, two of my favorites: Blur and you breaking out chord progressions. Thanks, David!
My pleasure!
Totally agree - Bennett and Blur: Sounds like a law firm, but this is way better!
i can't understand why blur wasn't bigger in the US outside of song 2. so many amazing songs across so many fantastic albums. always loved this song, never realized how odd the chord progression actually is.
To many American ears, they were just *so* British, it was almost like Albarn was singing in a different language
I felt kind of special bc I dug into their whole catalog when song 2 and beetlebum were popular. Very cool, very different pop sounds
American here who has LOVED Blur for decades. Always annoys me when I mention them to people and they only know Song 2 haha. Thank you for doing a video featuring them! Brilliant band.
That said the Song 2 "crash" is just such a grungy insta-hook that Bestie Boys hate themselves for not coming up with it.
Really loving the Fmaj7#11 - very Radiohead sounding as David is playing it
It seems like a very Cardiacs progression, and I know as bands they were both fans of and borrowers from each other.
HOLY SHIT ANOTHER CARDIACS FAN
@@dacoconutnut9503you'd be surprised! (btw I'm not finding this progression particularly Cardiacs-y)
@@ytbit i mean, has whole-tone and diminished third chord movements, that's as far as it goes but still, why not? 😅
David should cover Cardiacs
Ha! I was looking for a comment mentioning Cardiacs! Didn't even have to look far, it seems their influence on Blur is pretty well known.
This song has inspired dozens of songs I’ve written over the years. It’s brilliant.
Graham Coxon is a genius.
You clearly have never created something in your entire life.
I am a fairly bad guitar player myself but agree with what you are writing. It's so easy to make up strange chord progressions on the guitar just because of how the guitar is manufactured. For example, a 5th fret A chord with open bottom strings becomes an Aadd9. One doesn't have to know music theory to create that.
@@user-ty9ho4ct4k since when is music better because it’s more complicated?
@@user-ty9ho4ct4k Using Elon Musk as an example of genius is hilarious.
@@user-ty9ho4ct4k Who said anything about them being substituted? Or are you just prejudiced againt musicians who aren't as professionally educated as you?
Please cover more Blur songs in the future, love your videos!
😊😊😊
My favorite Blur song, thanks for covering this one!
One of my favourites too 😊
"Lazy Flies" by Beck is another one for interesting chord progressions
Great. I'm gonna have "Coffee and TV" as an earworm for the next week. Again.
What a coincidence! I was listening to this song on my way to work this morning and thought about you doing a video on this chord progression. It’s always been one of my favourite Blur songs ever and the progression has always fascinated me, especially when I tried to learn it on guitar
Amazing!
Love Blur. "Ghost Ship" is one of my fav songs.
I waited to listen to that album until I saw them live. It was totally worth it. Blur made Ghost Ship a total mindblowing trip!
I remember when you included "Black Book" by Blur in one of your videos. So glad to see this great band being featured on your channel ! Also 13 is an amazing album with lots of masterpieces and original songs like this one, that's why it's my favourite ! Thank you for this video :)
Blur are one of my favourites, but I do find them to be a little hit and miss sometimes. “13” for example features some fantastic songs like Coffee and Tv, Tender, no distance left to run, 1992… but then tracks like Bugman really do nothing for me.
i loveee this type of vids, thank u so much davidd
I’ve always loved this song and I know it’s because of how unique it sounds harmonically. Thanks for explaining why it “works”.
No worries 😊
Blur are a fantastic band! As a kid, I remember watching MTV and Blur’s “Beetlebum” video, which had just come out, was one of the first videos I watched on the channel! Greetings from Greece David, love your channel, you are doing a fantastic job!
Same here, the first ever Blur's ding I heard is Beetlebum in the MTV. Greetings from Hong Kong!
Thanks for this one! I always wondered what the chord progressions of this song were. Coxon did a great job. I also love his songs with The Waeve.
My favorite Blur song, and such an interesting progression! Thanks for breaking it down 🙌
😊😊
Great video. Blur is one of my favourite bands, they have so many great suprising musical moments. I'd love to see more of their music on your channel. Their catalogue allows it. :D
5:45 sounds like Pyramid Song, going back between those two chords :)
And Everything In Its Right Place. Radiohead were obsessed with b2 chords during the Kid A period.
Thank you for this! I’ve always loved this song…
I’ve been waiting for this one!!!
I love this song OMG, the progression is really fun and harmonically unique. I would say the chorus progression is also interesting because I hear the b7 over the A chord which gives a sort of Lydian dominant sound.
Blur's chord progression is so unique and gorgeous! Sometimes I get bored of the common chord progression patterns out there. It's refreshing to see you attacking this song. I subscribed! Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.
Graham is probably my biggest inspiration as a guitarist. I so wish Blur were able to reach the heights worldwide that they did in the UK, no one here knows them.
I can’t thank you enough for what I’ve learned from your channel
Thank you for this video 🙌🏻
Thanks for watching!
Blur, especially in the early 90's was very close to a band named Cardiacs who have a tons of interesting chord progressions in their music and I wouldn't be half surprised if this was partly inspired by that band. I know they're not popular but an analysis of a Cardiacs track would be ace! I feel you would enjoy picking it apart!
This is my favourite Blur song. The guitar solo is wickedly minimalist
This song Is a favourite of mine, i love the strange harmony combined.with those great lyrics
One of my all time favorite songs to listen to and play. its just so amazing
Wow, loved these and this song for years but not listened to it since I was a kid or started understanding chords, so cool
5:09 makes sense. I think Radiohead used the same chord in High and Dry, or at least back in the day someone taught it to me that way, with a sequence of barred chords going chromatically down from A to F, and the high B and E strings left open for each of them.
such a great video wow! thanks so much for breaking this down, it's crazy how original some of blur's progressions are. stuff like "for tomorrow" immediately come to mind. keep up with the blur videos ✨🔥
“For Tomorrow” has such an interesting progression! I’ll have to feature it in a future video!
YES PLEASE @@DavidBennettPiano! Love these breakdowns
looking forward to it, david! thanks a lot :)@@DavidBennettPiano
Graham Coxon later did a solo track called "Bittersweet Bundle of Misery" that initially sounds extremely similar to "Coffee & TV": both verses begin with a B chord, with a *very* similar strumming pattern and tempo. Honestly, to anyone who's not familiar with it, go and listen to the start, and you'll see how much it sounds like a direct sequel to "Coffee & TV"!
As for similarities beyond that opening chord: AFAIK the song's verse chord progression verses does share the general B -> E -> Db shape, although the chords in between are different.
My Fav track n fantastic video..great analysis
Thank you!
You know your theory Dave ! Once started I have to watch all the video and learn stuff in a n interesting way.. Cheers Phil
Thanks 😊
Great Analysis. Thank you.
I'm already a happy user of VSL's instruments! For another unique chord progression, I'd love to see Platters - Only You explained in your style one day.
Some exotic choices of chords adding brief mood changes to a song that was hugely popular nonetheless
I love that song so much that I keep trying to sing all the harmonies in the chorus by myself. The music video with the milk carton trying to find his way home is excellent too.
Really glad to see you pick this song. A real masterpiece!
Seeing Blur play Coffee & Tv live was such a thrill! For a moment I thought I was looking at the weird child between Radiohead and Sonic Youth, that's how unique Blur is. It was during their tour for their last album and it was a blast!
Excellent song and excellent video, thanks from Argentina
Yes! Coffee and TV wow I had no idea anyone else knew that one - Love that song!
Looove a Blur analysis ❤ Have you seen him describe how he came up for the solo for this song? The videos on TH-cam in an interview with TPS I seem to remember.
heck yeah I frickin love this song. when I discovered as a kid around like age 12, I'm 33 now, the chords and guitar were sooooo refreshing it made me love music very hard.
Pretty much any Talk Talk tune has an unusual chord progression somewhere - would love to get your take on 'Living In Another World' off 'The Colour of Spring' album.
Brilliant chord progression! One of my favorites to play and probably one of my top 10 songs of all time. Especially gorgeous when that organ enters. Mark Hollis was a genius.
@@ZacharyWSnow yep, Steve Winwood on Hammond, and you also have Mark Feltham on that mindblowing harmonica part & solo.
Absolutely! What I love most about the song is how it just continues to build through each "iteration" of essentially the same chord moves. First you've got just the basic guitar and band, then Winwood's organ cranks up, then just before the turn, that mad tambourine kicks in, then the arpeggiating electric guitar line, then the backing vocals, and finally Feltham's harmonica. It's like a mad scientist designed this constantly evolving beast of a song. And somehow it's totally human and moving. What a song!
@@ZacharyWSnow Exactly - I really hope David does an analysis of it (or other Talk Talk song)... Time It's Time is one of my other favourites 🙏
I like how I knew exactly what song that was from the thumbnail.
your content is the best 🙌 thank you
Glad you think so!
Yay a blur video ❤❤❤❤ blur are still going with some gorgeous new music
Thank you!!!
Great video, thanks
fantastic video, as always mate
Many thanks!
This riff and that A#9 is absolutely brilliant. I love it when a good riff deliberately rubs you the wrong way. There's so much tension and grid and just a tad conclusion. Absolutely amazing, keeps you cautious the whole time cause now your expecting the next "jump scare"
"DARE" by Gorillaz is in both Major and Minor. The vocals and lead synthesizer are in G Minor, and the guitar and the rest of the synthesizers are in G Major. I didn't even notice this until I listened to "People", which uses the same backing track but stays in G Major. Other Gorillaz songs like "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" and "DoYaThing" do the exact same thing. It would be cool to see a video about Gorillaz, thanks David!
Love this channel.
Glad to hear it!
This was a v good one. Thank you.
Great video! Another interesting progression I love is the intro of Elliott Smith’s “Happiness” (which becomes even cooler later in the song when harmonized by eight chromatically descending notes in the vocal)
Great example to show. Aside from the Syd Barrett-esque chord choices, I love the stripped down voicings he uses on some of the chords, i.e., just play the tonic, fifth and the major third above, then dampen all the other strings. It sounds primal and spiky!
Thanks for the video!!! End of Century also has an interest chord progression!!
I love the 'Coffee and TV' chord progression. I've heard Blur were influenced by Cardiacs, and this progression feels very Cardiacs-ey to me.
love Coxon´s wonderful guitar parts!
Amazing, more Blur songs!!
I remember trying to learn this song on guitar as a teenager and I was so confused lol
I love your videos!
Thank you 😊
You're very generous to us guitarists with your explanation of that F chord in theoretical terms! It's a very basic trick to just leave some strings open for a drone effect. We're all about the visuals😀!
The song is as unique as the video. Great songs from Blur.
I grew up in Hawaii and I fucking love blur. I realized around age 17 that Song#2 was a brilliant parody of grunge, and I downloaded all their stuff off Napster. Realized they were a really interesting pop rock band with a really unique sound. The indie/punk/alt crowd in America knew blur were way more than one hit wonders. Also the video for coffee and tv is an all time classic.
i listened to this whole album "13" a few days ago, it was a great listen
that's why i like your videos!
Starship Trooper by Yes has long and somewhat unusual chord progressions f the verse and chorus. Great videocas always David! Thanks f your work mate! It makes a big difference f me and, I believe f many people!
Genius song. Graham wrote this about his sobriety
I'd buy an album full of these little bits of songs you put at the end of so many videos!
Blur, one of my favorite bands, Coffee and TV maybe my favorite Blur song.
if i may recomend a song, there is this famous rock argentinian composer called spinetta, there's tons of songs with awkward progressions to his name but the one that i like the most is called "el anillo del capitan beto" its a beautiful song he compose with the band invisible that i think work for this type of breakdowns
Very cool song. It seems sort of random at first but there's an underlying structure: down a whole step, then up a fourth, then up a minor third, and start the pattern again down a whole step, up a fourth, up a minor third, then down one last whole step to get back to the beginning.
Great stuff - always loved blur for their quirky chords - you don’t get stuff like this nowadays. “For tomorrow” another great example where the chords are all over the place but it somehow works.
This is the first music theory video I’ve seen that acknowledges something which so often gets missed: that often, the ‘guitar writes the song’ as with the chords here. The simple act of making an interesting shape with your fingers, or lifting a finger, or moving a note, produces strange chords that possibly wouldn’t have come up otherwise.
The way Graham plays on this is truly mad, with the bent double stops and so on in the verses
I’m from Boston, and Blur has been one of my favorite bands since the mid-nineties. They’re one of my favorite bands of all time.
great video, thanks! I don't know if Out of Time (blur) has an unusual chord progresion but I like it c:
I really enjoyed the video especially as I am currently writing a very Blur inspired song at the moment for release! I would love it if you did a video on Starless by King Crimson!
Hiya David , I’ve always found the progression in the WHO’s pinball wizard really interesting, maybe there’s a future video in that
Every Gentle Giant song has interesting chord progressions. I am very curious to see how David would respond to songs from the Power and the Glory album, or Three Friends. Aspirations has a great piano part with 9ths and other goodies.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!! I always thought there was something to this song) One of the most weird chord progression imho is in the PInk Floyd ''s "Arnold LAyne". But there's a lot of it in "The Piper at the gates of dawn" album. Syd BArrett knew how to mix them
So excited!!! It would be very interesting if you could also analyze some of the Beach Boys' weirder songs, like from pet sounds or smile
I strongly agree!
The vibrato and bends Graham adds when he plays really adds to the chords as well. That bittersweet dissonance
Blur and Ash are two of my most favorite bands, and its because their chord progressions are insanely creative.
I love your videos so much! You’ve taught me almost everything I know about music theory. Do you think you could cover some of The Velvet Underground’s stranger chord sequences?
That’s great to hear. Thank you! I’ll keep velvet underground in mind! Which song of theirs were you thinking of?
Great video. Love Blur! Would you say that A add#9 chord is an example of the Hendrix chord? Or does the Hendrix chord have to be a I chord?