📌3:55 there's a small typo where I've put the Ab/C and Bb/C chords the wrong way around. Sorry for any confusion caused and thanks to the commenter who brought the error to my attention!
Here's a slightly unexpected one: the old Chili's baby-back ribs commercial: "I want my baby-back, baby-back..." Aimee mentions that in her "could a commercial be a perfect pitch jam" video at right around 4 minutes. But what about "Within You Without You" or "Tomorrow Never Knows?" Would those even count?
I love how at 10:38, when David tells us that till this point we had only listened to examples of tonic pedals, the "ding" that we hear is in D and then, when he introduces the dominant pedal at 10:51, the "ding" has changed pitch to an A to become the dominant of the first one. Nice touch!
Also, every bagpipe tune, provided by the drones. Ours are mostly tonic pedal (tunes in Bb for Highland pipes), but often dominant pedal (for tunes in Eb), or even subtonic pedal (for tunes in Cm) or rarely supertonic pedal (for those Ab Lydian tunes).
I think a great example of a type of pedal point would be in ethnic instruments such as bagpippe and sitar where the melody plays over a static drone note or notes. Actually I'd love to hear you do a discussion on that subject!
I really relate to this, because I adore this technique. One of the forgotten songs which featured that was Black's Sweetest Smile. That song deserves attention.
Supper's Ready by Genesis has a 9/8 solo part that has a single pedal point throughout! But Genesis uses lots of pedal points in their music in general
One really great use of a moving and inverted pedal point is "Starless" by King Crimson. In the long instrumental section, Robert Fripp plays various pedal points over a repeated phrase. It's great because the pedal tone continues to rise chromatically every few measures, creating a lot of tension when using a dissonant note, releasing a bit when it's more consonant, and throughout, rising in intensity as the passage eventually reaches the point of release toward the end. What makes this passage more interesting is that Fripp seems to be playing the same pedal tone on two different strings, and I don't understand how he actually does that. His hands aren't THAT big. ;-)
@@scifiordienot really…maybe you’re thinking about how metal uses the open low string a lot (E or whatever the string’s tuned to). That’s different from a pedal point though. The heavy distortion used in most metal isn’t very conducive for pedal points - that’s why you mostly see them use power chords and dyads
Vangelis Chariots of Fire? Not sure if that's strictly pedal point as there's an accompanying bass part but it certainly wins on playing the same note repeatidly.
Jump was definitely one the first things I think of so I was happy to see it in the beginning as well as Pink Floyd, Us & Them is one of my favourite songs from them but they also have some other songs that have that same pedal tone like in Brain Damage, Run Like Hell and Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) (all of which also use D as the root note). Additionally, some other songs that use pedal tones are also Pinball Wizard by The Who (F# in the intro), Master of Puppets by Metallica (E and F# for the verses), Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones (E) and the bass intro from 46 & Two by Tool with Justin Chancellor playing D in between the other notes of the riff
The pedal point in Hurt is present even in the version by Nine Inch Nails in the later part of the song. It wasn't added by Johnny Cash. He just extended to a larger part of the song.
Yet another excellent video. Not sure it’s possible to be clearer or more engaging. All the examples are a great way to constantly make these lessons feel practical and useful.
I think The Edge of U2 makes a frequent use of inverted pedal point, most often coupled with his delay effect. The chorus and final part of "One" works a bit like what David explain for "Hurt by Johnny Cash. "With ou Without You" also has a single treble note repeating all through the different chords.
What I find interesting is how the pedal point can convey something different in each tune/song. Taking the Indiana Jones part and I'm Still Standing as examples: In the former it conveys a somewhat sinister sense of foreboding, whereas in the latter it adds a very strong sense of stability and enhances the self-belief conveyed in both the melody and lyrics.
Bowser Castle from Mario Kart 64 is a really good example of pedal point. Throughout the entire song, the bass is pedaling on the tonic note of Gb. But that’s not all. There is also an inverted minor 3rd pedal point in the first part that becomes an inverted tonic pedal in the second part. Without the tonic pedal the chords would be Gbm F-aug A/E A(b5)/Eb A-dim/Eb in the first part, Gb and F in the second part. But the tonic pedal makes the chord progression go Gbm GbmM7 Gbm7 Gbm6 Gdim7 in the first part and Gb followed by Gbdim(maj7) in the second part.
Funny you should mention "Doctor My Eyes." I was going to make a separate post that, when I came to the bit at 9:01 , I immediately thought of that song. Even though David was really playing "I'm Still Standing."
@DavidBennettPiano, one of my favorite songs uses pedal point. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey uses it all through the verse of the song and releases it for the bridge and chorus.
"Questar" by Keith Jarrett, the pedal on piano and bass, "Back-woods Song" by Dave Holland, Gateway trio..."Someday my prince will come", Miles Davis version, jazz is full of pedals
Pedal point arrangements are so common in pop music, you could almost call it one of its pillars :) An important factor could be that this technique is probably even more suited for guitar arrangements than for keyboard. Combining one the open bass strings with any combination of triads on the other strings provides beautiful, complex but also powerful pedal tone arrangements (Running with the devil ! :))
This makes me think of the band of Primus where the very talented bassist/vocalist Les claypool often takes the lead with his bass while the guitarist often fills in the background. Ill have to listen again and see if the guitarist used pedal point style in some of their songs.
A great example of pedal point is the bassline of "Weightlifting" by The Trashcan Sinatras. It rides the same note the entire verse and opens the chorus there as well. It's only when we reach the line "a great weight lifting" - beautiful word painting - that it finally gives us something fresh.
I liked this video in the first 30 seconds, because I know by now how well you're going to explore the subject, and how much I'll learn. I am perhaps a different kind of musician because I have very little interest in learning to play other people's songs. Instead, I try to learn elements of music, then do my own sort of alchemy with those elements. I "learned pedal point" on my own with my looper. I create a groove with a very simple bass line, and at some point let the upper chords change the key while the bass keeps its same simple drone. After this "harmonic takeover" I resolve the upper chords back to the key of the bass, and it gives the nice feeling of my exploration returning to a home base. I know I didn't invent this technique, but I did discover it for myself. I wanted you to know, David, that your lessons here give players that kind of insight/ empowerment to explore and make discoveries. I think this is what learning music is really about, and I thank you for explaining it the clear, simple way you do.
Some more examples: "Prelude / Angry Young Man" by Billy Joel. That opening is the most famous, although there's ore (e.g. an inverted pedal near the end of the prelude). "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed. The outro. "Downtown" by Tony Hatch, performed by Petulia Clark, is almost all pedals. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. The first half of the chorus. "Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. "Higher and Higher" recorded by Jackie Wilson. "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. The verse, in particular. "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. I think this may be a borderline case because the pedal is a chord tone, but it's half-way through the song before that "held" note in the main guitar riff ends. "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and shame on you all for not spotting that.
Love this one! In my band Gather The Corners I play a 6 string guitar 4 string bass doubleneck so I’m often using open note pedal points on one neck while playing the melody more so on the neck.
I could be wrong, but I think the song, you’re my best friend, by queen, uses it a little bit at the beginning intro and part of the verse. Because the base note stays on see, and the chords pivot between F-major and C-Major
Actually pedal points are really common in guitar music because the open strings makes it easy to play a pedal note and hit chord changes higher on the guitar
Agreed. You see this a lot in classical guitar - for instance, Asturias uses it extensively. But it's also a very common thing found in metal. Most chugging centers around a pedal point, which acts as a scaffolding for the riffs. For instance Master of Puppets is constantly going back to a palm muted open E around wgich everything everything is built.
Most guitarists I know didn’t start playing or practicing much with others until they felt more confident and comfortable with their instrument. This leads a lot of people to think they aren’t really improving because they’re trying to improve to the point of essentially playing bass drones and treble chords at the same time. It has its advantages but joining a band it can also be a thing you have to break later on. Everyone is different, but if you’re new don’t be afraid to jam with friends
Not sure this counts: Therapy? - Screamager. The chorus is em-C-G-D (that is, vi-IV-I-V) and the riff pedals (alternates) with the C, except on the last D. However, since C is the first three chords, it’s more like emphasising a leading tone already present. But it may count.
Pink Floyd on Echoes, after the whale/bird song section David Gilmour plays the rhythmic triplet-y inverted pedal point muted C# on guitar over Rick Wright’s C#m7, Abm7, C#m/E bass and B/F# bass Farfisa keyboard chord cycle
I'm actually surprised to not see Toccata and Fugue in D minor mentioned, because it has pedal point everywhere. And for a more modern example, there's also the guitar intro to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. Guitar is actually pretty easy to pedal point on an open string with, in this case, B.
It's not really surprising since Thunderstruck is reminiscent of something you might have expected from Bach, and I found someone DID do a cover of the song with a pipe organ instrument: ua-cam.com/video/CPzsfMu5nY0/v-deo.html
You could name sooooo many songs from Elton John or Genesis with a bass pedal. From Elton, the intro and the chorus of Grey Seal comes to mind first. From Genesis, I immediately thought of the dominant pedal of Cul-De-Sac. There is some epic use of Bb in the key of Eb and B in the key of E as a pedal tone to create exquisite tension. By the way, isn't I'm Still Standing originally in Bb-minor/Bb-major?
Great video. Pianos have the Sustenuto for Pedal Notes. For those of you new to that term, it is a pedal that holds the mutes up on the keys that were pressed BEFORE the pedal is pressed. This allows to notes sustain until the pedal is released. Any keys pressed after the pedal is pressed WILL NOT sustain. My DX7 doesn't have that feature, but with a system software change it could be done. Are there any popular synthesizers that have a Sustenuto pedal input?
I really like pedal points, and you showed a nice selection of them. Can I add two from classical music which are notable? I won't include the link, but if you search on 'LISTEN: "Rejoice in the Lamb" by Benjamin Britten | Moment of Comfort | The Bach Choir of Bethlehem' here on YT you'll find a recording of Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten that a good friend conducted several years ago. From 13 : 12 to 13 : 56 in that video the organ sits on a pedal point of F while the singers go through many chords above it. The tension is so keen near the end of the pedal point that it makes the hair on my neck stand up just to listen to it (entirely in a good way). A second one is better known: search on 'Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem - 3. Herr, lehre doch mich' and you can find a score video of the third movement of A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. From 7 : 38 to the end of the movement, about two and a half minutes, the choir sings a massive fugue entirely over a D pedal point in the orchestra. The words they sing in English are, "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them" so the sustained pedal point stands in for the hand of God and never once moves.
This is one of my favorite techniques in music as it adds a different feel to the same set of chords and can differentiate different sections of songs... similarly to the Survivor example with the tonic pedal in the first verse, I thought of "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor which has a tonic pedal point of C in the third verse.
Me encantaría encontrar más vídeos con análisis tan interesantes como este con subtítulos en español. Los seguidores de habla hispana lo agradeceríamos muchísimo. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱.
Noel Gallagher seems to like those inverted pedal points on guitar: a number of Oasis (and High Flying Birds) songs involve holding down the guitar's two highest strings at the third fret (playing D and G notes, if you ignore any capo) and then using the other two fingers to play other chords (usually G, Cadd9, Em7, Dsus4, A7sus4). For example: * Wonderwall (and I *think* D'You Know What I Mean, which is based around thr same basic chords, also holds down the two highest strings, though I'm not sure) * Whatever * If I Had A Gun I think people tend to overstate Oasis/Beatles "rip-off" connections (didn't someone once do a video about that...?), but I suspect that Noel learned this technique from The Beatles' You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.
More Beatles examples - inverted pedal - the organ mid-A note that closes out _You Won't See Me_ - or the violin high-A note that closes out _Yesterday_ - or the dominant pedal on B in the middle section of _Day Tripper_ - or the pedal A in the verse section of Wings' _Jet_
A nice instrumental example of the inverted pedal point is "The Immovable Do" by Percy Grainger. Legend has it (and this is probably apocryphal) that he was writing something while at his harmonium and the high C got stuck open. Is there an analogous term for a *melody* that stays fixed on one note while the chords progress around it?
Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac. Boogie Wonderland and nearly every disco song. Just to take it full circle, I understand that Tony Banks played the bass notes of Turn It On Again on his organ's bass pedals.
Well, we call it "Orgelpunkt" (organ point) in German. Or sometimes "Bordun", which translates to - drone. Any kind of bagpipe music uses some type of it … 😁
REM often used pedal points/drone tones (mostly D) in their early songs. e.g. 7 Chinese Brothers, Green Grow the Rushes, the Intro/Bridge to Shaking Through.
I feel like every pedal point is the tonic point, as it's hard not to latch onto it as the "home" when it's pushed so heavily. So when there is a "dominant" pedal point, I have the feeling of the song switching to a relative mixolydian mode and for that weird genesis example, I think calling that section with C pedal point as still in B is completely wrong, as basically every single note and harmonic choice points us to either C lydian or C mixolydian.
Good video but I disagree about it being easier to write on piano than guitar. The thing with guitar is that thers six strings but only 4 fingers so its very easy to let some open strings ring out through a segment. My favourite example is Led Zeppelin's Babe I'm Gonna Leave which in the first loud part (where plant goes "Leave you when the summer come along") the guitar plays Am-Em/A-Dm9/A which sounds absolutely haunting. The intro to Hell's Bells is another example where it pedals on the A. You also get it rock and metal songs all the time too where the guitarist palm mutes the open string but plays chords/triads above it. You can hear that in the verses in Crazy Train or even the intro to Panama.
I think a lot of musicians are scared of using pedal points because they don't want their bass or guitar part to sound too "easy", which is a shame cause it can really make a song stand out and sound better.
Given that I like all the songs in this episode, I think I'm enjoying pedal point songs a lot. The intro of Pinball Wizard by the Who is a nice example too.
David, I'm a regular viewer of the channel from the Netherlands. What about using a very high 'icy' note above the chords (usually with strings)? Couldn't that be seen as an inverted pedal point?
📌3:55 there's a small typo where I've put the Ab/C and Bb/C chords the wrong way around. Sorry for any confusion caused and thanks to the commenter who brought the error to my attention!
Oh I didn't see this comment, I just commented that lol
Dude. You're videos are just stellar. Great discussions of single concepts with great examples. Mad props.
@@cameronpeterson1175 thank you!
Here's a slightly unexpected one: the old Chili's baby-back ribs commercial: "I want my baby-back, baby-back..."
Aimee mentions that in her "could a commercial be a perfect pitch jam" video at right around 4 minutes.
But what about "Within You Without You" or "Tomorrow Never Knows?" Would those even count?
W/The Supremes' I always thought is was a communique'; Western Union style, Truly learned a great lesson. Thanks.@@DavidBennettPiano
I love how at 10:38, when David tells us that till this point we had only listened to examples of tonic pedals, the "ding" that we hear is in D and then, when he introduces the dominant pedal at 10:51, the "ding" has changed pitch to an A to become the dominant of the first one. Nice touch!
your feelings are irrational
missed that, was checking my phone for messages!
@@Fire_Axus?
Also, every bagpipe tune, provided by the drones. Ours are mostly tonic pedal (tunes in Bb for Highland pipes), but often dominant pedal (for tunes in Eb), or even subtonic pedal (for tunes in Cm) or rarely supertonic pedal (for those Ab Lydian tunes).
I think a great example of a type of pedal point would be in ethnic instruments such as bagpippe and sitar where the melody plays over a static drone note or notes. Actually I'd love to hear you do a discussion on that subject!
Another few iconic examples I can think of are pinball wizard by the who and the bass in a view to a kill pedalling on C to build tension.
Good example!
I really relate to this, because I adore this technique. One of the forgotten songs which featured that was Black's Sweetest Smile. That song deserves attention.
Supper's Ready by Genesis has a 9/8 solo part that has a single pedal point throughout! But Genesis uses lots of pedal points in their music in general
Behind The Lines is B-pedal for most of the first half of the song
Goodbye Blue Sky by Pink Floyd is a good example of a guitar piece that uses pedal points to produce tension and uneasiness.
I was fully expecting Chariots of Fire. The Mr Bean live performance was absolutely glorious.
One really great use of a moving and inverted pedal point is "Starless" by King Crimson. In the long instrumental section, Robert Fripp plays various pedal points over a repeated phrase. It's great because the pedal tone continues to rise chromatically every few measures, creating a lot of tension when using a dissonant note, releasing a bit when it's more consonant, and throughout, rising in intensity as the passage eventually reaches the point of release toward the end.
What makes this passage more interesting is that Fripp seems to be playing the same pedal tone on two different strings, and I don't understand how he actually does that. His hands aren't THAT big. ;-)
I love pedal points! If there's one in a song there's a very good chance I'll like the song as a whole.
Then you'd like Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
@@scifiordienot really…maybe you’re thinking about how metal uses the open low string a lot (E or whatever the string’s tuned to). That’s different from a pedal point though. The heavy distortion used in most metal isn’t very conducive for pedal points - that’s why you mostly see them use power chords and dyads
tbh the jump riff has the bass doing a I-IV-V movement at the end
I noticed that also.
Vangelis Chariots of Fire? Not sure if that's strictly pedal point as there's an accompanying bass part but it certainly wins on playing the same note repeatidly.
Jump was definitely one the first things I think of so I was happy to see it in the beginning as well as Pink Floyd, Us & Them is one of my favourite songs from them but they also have some other songs that have that same pedal tone like in Brain Damage, Run Like Hell and Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1) (all of which also use D as the root note). Additionally, some other songs that use pedal tones are also Pinball Wizard by The Who (F# in the intro), Master of Puppets by Metallica (E and F# for the verses), Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones (E) and the bass intro from 46 & Two by Tool with Justin Chancellor playing D in between the other notes of the riff
The pedal point in Hurt is present even in the version by Nine Inch Nails in the later part of the song. It wasn't added by Johnny Cash. He just extended to a larger part of the song.
Yet another excellent video. Not sure it’s possible to be clearer or more engaging. All the examples are a great way to constantly make these lessons feel practical and useful.
Chariots of Fire with Mr Bean constantly playing the pedal point note on the keyboard at the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony springs to mind!!
I think The Edge of U2 makes a frequent use of inverted pedal point, most often coupled with his delay effect. The chorus and final part of "One" works a bit like what David explain for "Hurt by Johnny Cash. "With ou Without You" also has a single treble note repeating all through the different chords.
I'm happy with the new upload schedule
I don't even know if it's new but it's a good consistent one
"I'm Not In Love" is an awesome song.
What I find interesting is how the pedal point can convey something different in each tune/song.
Taking the Indiana Jones part and I'm Still Standing as examples: In the former it conveys a somewhat sinister sense of foreboding, whereas in the latter it adds a very strong sense of stability and enhances the self-belief conveyed in both the melody and lyrics.
Bowser Castle from Mario Kart 64 is a really good example of pedal point. Throughout the entire song, the bass is pedaling on the tonic note of Gb. But that’s not all. There is also an inverted minor 3rd pedal point in the first part that becomes an inverted tonic pedal in the second part. Without the tonic pedal the chords would be Gbm F-aug A/E A(b5)/Eb A-dim/Eb in the first part, Gb and F in the second part. But the tonic pedal makes the chord progression go Gbm GbmM7 Gbm7 Gbm6 Gdim7 in the first part and Gb followed by Gbdim(maj7) in the second part.
the 3rd mvt of Vivaldi's Winter also starts with a pedal point
I love pedal point because it can show our ears what the tonic note is
It helps to stablish a key
Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes" and the Doobies' "Takin' It To the Streets" have pedal point in some sections.
Funny you should mention "Doctor My Eyes." I was going to make a separate post that, when I came to the bit at 9:01 , I immediately thought of that song. Even though David was really playing "I'm Still Standing."
@@widmermt : Same!
Doing the exact opposite is also very cool : playing the same chord, but changing the bass. Really nice video
@DavidBennettPiano, one of my favorite songs uses pedal point. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) by Journey uses it all through the verse of the song and releases it for the bridge and chorus.
Also, there can be a subdominant pedal point as in the song "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon, it begins in F Lydian with F in the bass.
"Questar" by Keith Jarrett, the pedal on piano and bass, "Back-woods Song" by Dave Holland, Gateway trio..."Someday my prince will come", Miles Davis version, jazz is full of pedals
Paul McCartney and Wings - Let 'Em In. I was so hoping to hear this one.
Pedal point arrangements are so common in pop music, you could almost call it one of its pillars :)
An important factor could be that this technique is probably even more suited for guitar arrangements than for keyboard. Combining one the open bass strings with any combination of triads on the other strings provides beautiful, complex but also powerful pedal tone arrangements (Running with the devil ! :))
Been on a Genesis binge recently so that was a very cool example to come across
This makes me think of the band of Primus where the very talented bassist/vocalist Les claypool often takes the lead with his bass while the guitarist often fills in the background. Ill have to listen again and see if the guitarist used pedal point style in some of their songs.
A great example of pedal point is the bassline of "Weightlifting" by The Trashcan Sinatras. It rides the same note the entire verse and opens the chorus there as well. It's only when we reach the line "a great weight lifting" - beautiful word painting - that it finally gives us something fresh.
I liked this video in the first 30 seconds, because I know by now how well you're going to explore the subject, and how much I'll learn.
I am perhaps a different kind of musician because I have very little interest in learning to play other people's songs. Instead, I try to learn elements of music, then do my own sort of alchemy with those elements.
I "learned pedal point" on my own with my looper. I create a groove with a very simple bass line, and at some point let the upper chords change the key while the bass keeps its same simple drone. After this "harmonic takeover" I resolve the upper chords back to the key of the bass, and it gives the nice feeling of my exploration returning to a home base.
I know I didn't invent this technique, but I did discover it for myself.
I wanted you to know, David, that your lessons here give players that kind of insight/ empowerment to explore and make discoveries.
I think this is what learning music is really about, and I thank you for explaining it the clear, simple way you do.
Great video! In Jump the pedal point actually goes to a G on the sus chord. :)
Some more examples:
"Prelude / Angry Young Man" by Billy Joel. That opening is the most famous, although there's ore (e.g. an inverted pedal near the end of the prelude).
"Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed. The outro.
"Downtown" by Tony Hatch, performed by Petulia Clark, is almost all pedals.
"I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry. The first half of the chorus.
"Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
"Higher and Higher" recorded by Jackie Wilson.
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. The verse, in particular.
"Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. I think this may be a borderline case because the pedal is a chord tone, but it's half-way through the song before that "held" note in the main guitar riff ends.
"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and shame on you all for not spotting that.
Two of my favorite examples of pedal point are by The Who. "Who Are You" and "Join Together".
Love this one! In my band Gather The Corners I play a 6 string guitar 4 string bass doubleneck so I’m often using open note pedal points on one neck while playing the melody more so on the neck.
I could be wrong, but I think the song, you’re my best friend, by queen, uses it a little bit at the beginning intro and part of the verse. Because the base note stays on see, and the chords pivot between F-major and C-Major
The organ intro of "Davy's on the road again" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band is another example for pedal point use imho.
Actually pedal points are really common in guitar music because the open strings makes it easy to play a pedal note and hit chord changes higher on the guitar
Indeed, where would The Who be without it: ua-cam.com/video/62ZJn0cTASo/v-deo.htmlsi=3--2GhIYSFqtvhBc
Agreed. You see this a lot in classical guitar - for instance, Asturias uses it extensively. But it's also a very common thing found in metal. Most chugging centers around a pedal point, which acts as a scaffolding for the riffs. For instance Master of Puppets is constantly going back to a palm muted open E around wgich everything everything is built.
Genesis's Mama contains the E note pedal point which gives the song its suspense and noir-quality)
Most guitarists I know didn’t start playing or practicing much with others until they felt more confident and comfortable with their instrument. This leads a lot of people to think they aren’t really improving because they’re trying to improve to the point of essentially playing bass drones and treble chords at the same time. It has its advantages but joining a band it can also be a thing you have to break later on. Everyone is different, but if you’re new don’t be afraid to jam with friends
I'm surprised you didn't mention "Isolated System" by Muse. That song has pedal point from start to end and it is great!
Not sure this counts: Therapy? - Screamager. The chorus is em-C-G-D (that is, vi-IV-I-V) and the riff pedals (alternates) with the C, except on the last D. However, since C is the first three chords, it’s more like emphasising a leading tone already present. But it may count.
Pink Floyd on Echoes, after the whale/bird song section David Gilmour plays the rhythmic triplet-y inverted pedal point muted C# on guitar over Rick Wright’s C#m7, Abm7, C#m/E bass and B/F# bass Farfisa keyboard chord cycle
I like the continuation of the elements mentioned in terms of sound in this video. Should Keep it that way.
I wish music lessons were as interesting as this when I was at school
I'm actually surprised to not see Toccata and Fugue in D minor mentioned, because it has pedal point everywhere.
And for a more modern example, there's also the guitar intro to "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. Guitar is actually pretty easy to pedal point on an open string with, in this case, B.
I almost did include Thunderstruck in this video but ran out of time in the end! Great example and bloody great song!
It's not really surprising since Thunderstruck is reminiscent of something you might have expected from Bach, and I found someone DID do a cover of the song with a pipe organ instrument:
ua-cam.com/video/CPzsfMu5nY0/v-deo.html
"Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane uses a pedal point in its piano riff, I think...
You could name sooooo many songs from Elton John or Genesis with a bass pedal. From Elton, the intro and the chorus of Grey Seal comes to mind first. From Genesis, I immediately thought of the dominant pedal of Cul-De-Sac. There is some epic use of Bb in the key of Eb and B in the key of E as a pedal tone to create exquisite tension.
By the way, isn't I'm Still Standing originally in Bb-minor/Bb-major?
Jump's bass changes at the end of the pattern, it doesn't keep the same note
Yep, goes to F and G under the last two chords, I believe.
Thank you for showing inverted pedal point
Pete Townsend of The Who was a MASTER of Pedal point...I Can See For Miles...Magic Bus...The Underture from Tommy, etc
8:20 calico skies is great example for a guitar song with a pedal point
Queen - Youre my best friend
For some reason i was expecting a CHARIOTS OF FIRE when you opened that note at 0:10 😅
Great video. Pianos have the Sustenuto for Pedal Notes. For those of you new to that term, it is a pedal that holds the mutes up on the keys that were pressed BEFORE the pedal is pressed. This allows to notes sustain until the pedal is released. Any keys pressed after the pedal is pressed WILL NOT sustain. My DX7 doesn't have that feature, but with a system software change it could be done. Are there any popular synthesizers that have a Sustenuto pedal input?
guitar figure in Bring On The Night by Sting/Police has an interesting inverted pedal point on an open high E string
I really like pedal points, and you showed a nice selection of them. Can I add two from classical music which are notable?
I won't include the link, but if you search on 'LISTEN: "Rejoice in the Lamb" by Benjamin Britten | Moment of Comfort | The Bach Choir of Bethlehem' here on YT you'll find a recording of Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten that a good friend conducted several years ago. From 13 : 12 to 13 : 56 in that video the organ sits on a pedal point of F while the singers go through many chords above it. The tension is so keen near the end of the pedal point that it makes the hair on my neck stand up just to listen to it (entirely in a good way).
A second one is better known: search on 'Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem - 3. Herr, lehre doch mich' and you can find a score video of the third movement of A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms. From 7 : 38 to the end of the movement, about two and a half minutes, the choir sings a massive fugue entirely over a D pedal point in the orchestra. The words they sing in English are, "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them" so the sustained pedal point stands in for the hand of God and never once moves.
This is one of my favorite techniques in music as it adds a different feel to the same set of chords and can differentiate different sections of songs... similarly to the Survivor example with the tonic pedal in the first verse, I thought of "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor which has a tonic pedal point of C in the third verse.
Me encantaría encontrar más vídeos con análisis tan interesantes como este con subtítulos en español. Los seguidores de habla hispana lo agradeceríamos muchísimo. Saludos desde Chile 🇨🇱.
Arcade Fire LOVE pedal tones.
Also most songs that George Harrison wrote for the Beatles in 1966/67, like Love You To, Within You Without You, Blue Jay Way, It's All Too Much
Noel Gallagher seems to like those inverted pedal points on guitar: a number of Oasis (and High Flying Birds) songs involve holding down the guitar's two highest strings at the third fret (playing D and G notes, if you ignore any capo) and then using the other two fingers to play other chords (usually G, Cadd9, Em7, Dsus4, A7sus4). For example:
* Wonderwall (and I *think* D'You Know What I Mean, which is based around thr same basic chords, also holds down the two highest strings, though I'm not sure)
* Whatever
* If I Had A Gun
I think people tend to overstate Oasis/Beatles "rip-off" connections (didn't someone once do a video about that...?), but I suspect that Noel learned this technique from The Beatles' You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.
More Beatles examples - inverted pedal - the organ mid-A note that closes out _You Won't See Me_ - or the violin high-A note that closes out _Yesterday_ - or the dominant pedal on B in the middle section of _Day Tripper_ - or the pedal A in the verse section of Wings' _Jet_
Could you maybe do songs that use quintuplets? If there are any that are easy to find, at least. Cause I would reaaally love to watch that video :)
Prélude en Do Majeure, by JS Bach. He uses a dominant pedal point in the penultimate part.
So what I learnt is that pedal points were big in the 70's & early 80's.
In Aerosmiths Dream On the guitar pedals almost the entire song except the chorus a C
A nice instrumental example of the inverted pedal point is "The Immovable Do" by Percy Grainger. Legend has it (and this is probably apocryphal) that he was writing something while at his harmonium and the high C got stuck open.
Is there an analogous term for a *melody* that stays fixed on one note while the chords progress around it?
Loved this one! I was expecting you to mention "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 when you were talking about inverted pedal point
Excellent video, as usual, thanks!
I was missing a few words about the difference between Pedal Point and Drone.
Great video, thanks David!
The verses for "Here Comes My Girl" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers uses pedal point
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple) has some pedal point, when the bass comes in ....
Never heard that term. That’s how much I know. Love these videos.
Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac. Boogie Wonderland and nearly every disco song. Just to take it full circle, I understand that Tony Banks played the bass notes of Turn It On Again on his organ's bass pedals.
Chariots of fire !!!
Dominant pedal point in She's Gone by Hall and Oates.
Great video. I don’t know why I’d never known what this (often obvious) technique was called.
Well, we call it "Orgelpunkt" (organ point) in German. Or sometimes "Bordun", which translates to - drone. Any kind of bagpipe music uses some type of it … 😁
Does the intro/chorus to Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" share the same pedal technique?
Patreon Guy (JFlynn) here. I just signed up for Piano Note. I like it. The only problem is setting aside the time to use it and practice.
REM often used pedal points/drone tones (mostly D) in their early songs. e.g. 7 Chinese Brothers, Green Grow the Rushes, the Intro/Bridge to Shaking Through.
I can't get it out of my head by ELO. Little gem.
And Blackbird by Paul McCartney with the open G string ringing throughout.
In German, pedal point is literally called "organ point" ("Orgelpunkt"), making its origin even more obvious. 😃
Interesting!
Say Something - A Great Big World, Christina Aguilera: inverted pedal point D over chord progression Bm - G - D - A
David! No Beatles? Blackbird is always the one that comes to mind for me when thinking of pedal point, albeit inverse.
I feel like every pedal point is the tonic point, as it's hard not to latch onto it as the "home" when it's pushed so heavily. So when there is a "dominant" pedal point, I have the feeling of the song switching to a relative mixolydian mode and for that weird genesis example, I think calling that section with C pedal point as still in B is completely wrong, as basically every single note and harmonic choice points us to either C lydian or C mixolydian.
Good video but I disagree about it being easier to write on piano than guitar. The thing with guitar is that thers six strings but only 4 fingers so its very easy to let some open strings ring out through a segment. My favourite example is Led Zeppelin's Babe I'm Gonna Leave which in the first loud part (where plant goes "Leave you when the summer come along") the guitar plays Am-Em/A-Dm9/A which sounds absolutely haunting. The intro to Hell's Bells is another example where it pedals on the A.
You also get it rock and metal songs all the time too where the guitarist palm mutes the open string but plays chords/triads above it. You can hear that in the verses in Crazy Train or even the intro to Panama.
I think a lot of musicians are scared of using pedal points because they don't want their bass or guitar part to sound too "easy", which is a shame cause it can really make a song stand out and sound better.
Waterfront by Simple Minds has the same shuffled bass (sequencing) note all the way through
TFF - The Waterfront bassline!
Great Information.
I Learned Something
Given that I like all the songs in this episode, I think I'm enjoying pedal point songs a lot. The intro of Pinball Wizard by the Who is a nice example too.
Thanks for all your Videos but now i wonder : doesnt C6 third inversion equal Am7 ?
yes, these are actually two names for the same collection of notes
David, I'm a regular viewer of the channel from the Netherlands. What about using a very high 'icy' note above the chords (usually with strings)? Couldn't that be seen as an inverted pedal point?
How about "Paperback Writer" with that low G? And "She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult, with the low D? A lot of early U2 songs use it too.