Ever listen to/try to learn a song....and you just "didn't get it?"

Coralkong

Coralkong

Alien
I have been searching for this one since I heard it live on the R30 tour a few years ago.

It was sparked into my mind by the second video I will post.

I saw Rush play this,,,,,and I am trying to learn it....but I just don't fucking get it. The timing makes absolutely no sense. How the hell did they come up with this?

Pick it up at 1:22 into this video and listen......WTF? How many fucking time signatures can you slam into one song and make it work? How the hell did they write this? It doesn't add up. Not even close. Count it out....seriously......pick it up at 1:22 and you tell ME what time signature this is in. Because I have no idea. It doesn't add up.



Pick it up at 1:22 into the video and they did it live....note for note.......wtf?



My second one for submission I was listening to with my wife today.....and it SOUNDS much better, but it changes a lot, too.......I get this one, but it SHOULDN'T work. It doesn't add up, either.

 
I'm wondering if it wasn't simply a beautiful mistake that happened to get recorded....

I can listen to stuff of myself that I recorded on cassette many years ago and can't make it sound the same for the life of me...
 
dude......ya just have to feel it (cygnus x-1)......also, there is a reason they call Neil "The Professor"......:grin:

(i was playing to that record back in 1975)
 
tompetty said:
I'm wondering if it wasn't simply a beautiful mistake that happened to get recorded....

I can listen to stuff of myself that I recorded on cassette many years ago and can't make it sound the same for the life of me...
Click to expand...


No shit. I hear stuff where I could barely play notes and am like "How did I do THAT, because THAT sounded great!"
 
mongooz said:
dude......ya just have to feel it (cygnus x-1)......also, there is a reason they call Neil "The Professor"......:grin:
Click to expand...

I can't "feel" that one.....I dunno why. It's pissing me off. I just don't get it, and am pretty good at their stuff.

Not gonna lie, the ending of By-Tor gets me sometimes, but every once in awhile I'll nail it...but this one...I just can't fucking seem to get it down.....it doesn't make sense.
 
mongooz said:
dude......ya just have to feel it (cygnus x-1)......also, there is a reason they call Neil "The Professor"......:grin:

(i was playing to that record back in 1975)
Click to expand...


I guess I should have known that when I saw his arms cross back and forth in the middle of a drumroll, I was outta my league. :\
 
The 'feel' at the beginning of YYZ is the morse code for the letters YYZ, which is the three letter code for the main airport in Toronto.
Y = -.--
Z= --..

So the rhythm is -.---.----..

Still not easy but it makes sense way.
 
dodgechargerfan said:
I looked it up, but that bass riff shifts amongst 3/4, 7/8, 3/4, 4/4
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Oh, well THERE'S your problem....:lol:

And this somehow adds up? How is that fucking possible? Now, I'm not Stephen Hawking or anyone of that kind of ilk....but seriously, how the FUCK did they write that?
 
Denverdave said:
The 'feel' at the beginning of YYZ is the morse code for the letters YYZ, which is the three letter code for the main airport in Toronto.
Y = -.--
Z= --..

So the rhythm is -.---.----..

Still not easy but it makes sense way.
Click to expand...


YYZ (I knew that), I have no issue with...but this one is fucking with me....I just do NOT get it.

FUCK.
 
rofl
I just found this

I Remeber when learning on the drums I counted them as (And Im good with the whole time sig thing I got a lot of drum lessons of Bill Bruford while doing my music Degree)

Ok So from when the drums come in

5/4
6/4
11/8
4/4
3/4
7/8
3/4
4/4
3/4
7/8
3/4
4/4
3/4
7/8
3/4
4/4
3/4
7/8
3/4
4/4

then 4/4 for 6 bars then 3/4 for one
Then 4/4 for 3 bars then 3/4 for one
Then 6/8 for 9 bars then

Right I cant be bothered to do the rest now but in the section before the vocals come in it alternates between

5/8 and 6/8

I would not count anything in this song using 16th notes nope nope
Click to expand...
 
That being said,Rush are on a musical intellectual level all on their own..

Enjoy them while you can....
 
A combination of 4/4 & 6/4 & 7/4 will get you very close :

@1:29

1234
1234567
1234
1234
1234567
1234567
1234
1234
1234
1234
@2:embarrassed:3+:
123456
123456
123456
1234
1234567 ( into riff proper, W/flanged guitars)
1234567

I guess it would depend on whether they all have a metronome to play along with- if so they intended a fermata (slight pause), or a measure in 8ths, instead of being in 4s ( eg 7/4 ).
If not, then the above will get you close enough- just count to yourself taking into account human error on both sides. Just stretch a measure here & there.

That's my half drunken analysis of a minute or so of it. I have nether the time nor the presence of mind, nor the patience to interpret this recording precisely at the moment.chears




A tip- if you by a cheap white wine (in my case a shitty Pinot Grigio), & it tastes like rotten old dirt (not dry, but merely shitty), try mixing some Stevia extract into it.Makes the flavour a little nicer.

For the second video, pay attention to those bass lines in "Leave that Thing alone".
 
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As one of the resident progheads, and a drummer, you're overcomplicating things by thinking time signatures on this one - and I'm quite sure Rush didn't when they wrote it.
Think more in terms of repeating phrases/patterns, the whole thing gets a lot simpler like that.

Example: the first riff at about 1:30 onwards. The last note of each round of that riff is played 1,2,1,3 times - then that whole sequence is repeated x amounts of times. The clue is going into the next repeat without rests. Usually over 2 or 4 repeats of an odd time phrase like that it adds up and you're back on 1. So yes, it does add up. :wink:
 
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