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Two chord songs
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Subject: Two chord songs From: Bert Date: 14 Oct 99 - 10:30 AM When I first started playing guitar I started with two chord songs. You know, those that change the chord at the end of the line, like Jambalay. Starts with A, changes to E7 at the end of the first line and back to A at the end of the next and so on. Another one is 'When Columbus Landed Here' Anyone got any more of these? Bert. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Liam's Brother Date: 14 Oct 99 - 10:40 AM Great minds think alike, Bert. I was thinking of starting the same thread with "Farewell to Tarwathie." Now get back to work. I very much enjoyed meeting you and Max. Please give my regards to Lord Chesterfield. Dan Milner |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Neil Lowe Date: 14 Oct 99 - 11:00 AM I am losing it... I thought I hit "Submit" when I originally composed this ...evidently not when I went back to check. So if it shows up twice.... The only one that readily comes to mind is a vintage country song by Hank Williams, called (I think) "Dear John." In the key of E it plays 4 bars of E in 4/4 time, then one bar of 6/4 time, the first 4 beats being in E and the last 2 beats changing to B7. Getting older sucks. Regards, Neil |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Wolfgang Date: 14 Oct 99 - 11:04 AM Muirsheen Durkin |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Allan C. Date: 14 Oct 99 - 11:07 AM "Down In the Valley" is a good candidate too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Peter T. Date: 14 Oct 99 - 11:23 AM "She Moved Through the Fair" is really just two chords, D and C (you can throw in an Am when you get really bored). yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Peter T. Date: 14 Oct 99 - 11:25 AM And of course "Buffalo Skinners" is a one chord song. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Jeremiah McCaw Date: 14 Oct 99 - 12:23 PM Forgive me if I take this from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the "Achey Breaky" is a 2-chord, same pattern as "Jambalaya". Mind you, I've only done it with the "Weird Al" lyrics ("You can torture me, with Donny and Marie..."). By way of attempting to redeem that, I do believe that Woody's "Pastures of Plenty" is a 2-chorder. Bm and D, methinks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Noel P. Date: 14 Oct 99 - 12:36 PM How about "The doggie in the window","Biddy Mulligan" and "Dicey Riley" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: emily rain Date: 14 Oct 99 - 03:34 PM peter t. - i throw in a G major when i get bored. : ) my favorite two chord song in all the world is called the "jassifer monster" by seventh moon, a band sadly no longer in existence. it switched from Am to Em every two beats, except at the end of a verse where they got one beat each, so as to end on the tonic. gave it a lightly bouncy, tip-toeing feel. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: alison Date: 14 Oct 99 - 07:15 PM Here's more from an earlier thread two chord songs slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Bill D Date: 14 Oct 99 - 08:04 PM as an autoharp player, I LOVE 2 & 3 chord songs..but to truly play melody, a lot of 1 & 2 chord songs are really 1 1/2 or 2 1/2...they really need a 3rd chord near the end to resolve a tune..usually just for one note. But for just messin' you can avoid that one note in a lot of cases. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: _gargoyle Date: 14 Oct 99 - 08:09 PM How about one chord songs? Paddy and the Whale Several other classics are almost one chord songs (on a 1 chord) frequently switching to a fifth (5 chord) before the final measure and back to the one chord to conclude:
Turkish Revery - Key of Eb = CM.....................G,Cm.
Lily Munro - = Cm................Gm,Cm
Barb'ry Allen = Eb..............Bb7,Eb
The Swap Song = G.................D7,G
Hullabaloo Belay = Dm................Am,Dm
Jennie Jenkins = F........................C7,F
Cotton Eye Joe = G.......D7....G
or...almost, almost,almost one chord songs Joe Clark = Eb...........Bb7,Eb......Bb7,Eb.......Bb7,Eb
Leatherwing Bat = Em.............Am.Em.......Am,Em
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: _gargoyle Date: 14 Oct 99 - 08:15 PM Bert....that you labled your thread BS is one of the best indicators of how conditions at the digital tradition have changed.
Within a folk music database....your posting is MOST appropriate.....but within current perception of folk-chat-room.... a music thread is religated to bs.....
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: DougR Date: 15 Oct 99 - 12:23 AM Thank you, Jeremiah McCaw! I didn't know Achey Brakey Heart had any chords. I realize I probably didn't spell the title of the song correctly but I don't think enough of it to worry about it. DougR DougR |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Jon Freeman Date: 15 Oct 99 - 12:29 AM The Little Beggarman (or the tune, the Redhaired Boy) s one of my favourtites that uses 2 chords. I often play this tune with a fiddle player and accompany it on guitar. I just play A and G (F shape) bar chords and it seems to work well. Jon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 15 Oct 99 - 01:16 AM I think there are quite a few of them in bluegrass music: a couple that come to mind are "They Gotta Stop Kickin' My Dog Around" and--one of my favorites to play and sing--"Jimmy Brown the Newsboy." --seed And Gargoyle, you're right: this is a music thread, not BS --but some people have become so sensitive that they think any thread that doesn't offer specific music and lyrics has gotta be labeled BS or some dork will jump on them. There have been several threads lately so mislabled. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Peter T. Date: 15 Oct 99 - 08:49 AM Perhaps BS in this context means "Bert Seeks?" yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Bert Date: 15 Oct 99 - 09:34 AM Garg, I posted it to BS because of a technical problem with the selection list, I was looking for a more suitable heading and it wouldn't let go. I'll talk with Max and he'll fix the problem. Don't worry about it. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Jaxon Date: 15 Oct 99 - 11:28 AM "Wasn't it a mighty storm" is just A & D. Jack Murray |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 15 Oct 99 - 04:20 PM If that's the same as "Wasn't That a Mighty Day," which I learned from a Bob Gibson record, it's a three-chord minor: on the banjo I play it solo in Cmin with Fmin and G7 (or capo up for Dmin with Gmin and A7 if I'm playing ensemble). On "Doc Watson on Stage" with Merle Watson, Doc sings a version of "Nine Pound Hammer" which he attributes to John Lee Hooker--Merle plays the accompaniment with only two chords: C and C7. An interesting arrangement. --seed |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: mountain tyme Date: 15 Oct 99 - 05:42 PM Rather than get into specific song discussions I'll just say many of the "two chord" songs listed above, depending on the artist, have three and four chords as written. Maybe we have thus discovered another avenue in what is "Traditional" & what is "Folk Music". For a long list of two chord songs give a listen to Cajun Folk Songs. Seventy or eighty years ago the German "button box" accordian was introduced to the Cajuns. The box is limited to two chords which changed the entire sound of Cajun music. As the box most often is in the key of "C" the Cajun fiddlers began to tune each of their strings down one note to allow ease of playing. The normal "D" string becomes "C". With a "C" box, "G" is the other chord. If an "F" is played by the fiddler the box has to fake it. A few Cajun tunes have three chords but the "feel" of the Cajun sound is lost as well as the "feel" of the French/Cajun classical beat. Zydico takes all this a bit beyond by instead using the Piano Accordian which can play in any key and allows standard three or more chord Rock & Roll tunes to be played with a pseudo Cajun flavor. Many Polka tunes German/Polish are also two chord songs. As mostly they are long dance tunes, to keep them from becoming mundane they are played alternately in two keys or four chords. Hint....Some fiddles take the above de-tuning quite well....some/most don't....so if any of you fiddlers have a fiddle with a sound you are dissatisfied with, tune it to a Cajun tuning and see if it improves. If it does it has much more value on the Cajun market. Sell it to a Cajun...buy the new one you have your heart set on....new life for an old fiddle.....everybody is happy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 15 Oct 99 - 06:49 PM "Row, row, row your boat" is a two-chorder that you can fudge into a one chord song. If I meet someone who wants to learn to play guitar, I teach 'em one chord and have them strum this song. Everyone knows the song. It is a round, so it can go on for a long time with its minimal words. Finally, because it is really a two chorder, the student begins to get a sense of how a melody "calls" for a chord change. Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Frank Hamilton Date: 16 Oct 99 - 03:29 PM Two chords. "Skip To My Lou" ..."Go Tell Aunt Rhody" "Rocka-my Soul In the Bosom of Abraham"..."Good News, Chariot's A-comin." "Mary Had A Little Lamb" perhaps Frere Jacques (could be a one-chorder except for "Din dan din"...Leadbelly's version of "The Grey Goose"....."Shalom Chaverim" (In the key of D minor, Dmin and A min.) "Hot Cross Buns" (Old English) "Hey Ho Nobody Home" ......"Mississippi Sawyer" (some throw in a IV chord but you don't need to) "Hoky Dinkum" otherwise known as "M'Seiur Banjo"...."Tom Dooley"......."What Will We Do With The Drunken Sailor" .......Of course all of these songs could contain more chords if someone wanted to add them. Frank Hamilton |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Frank Hamilton Date: 16 Oct 99 - 03:31 PM I forgot "Old Chisholm Trail" and "The Sow Took The Measles" and "Groundhog" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 16 Oct 99 - 07:23 PM "The Streets of Laredo" can be played with just the I and V chords--Frank's mention of "Old Chisholm Trail" reminded me of it. --seed |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: 53 Date: 15 Mar 02 - 06:20 PM Rainy Day Woman by Waylon Jennings |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,Argenine Date: 16 Mar 02 - 11:35 AM I agree with Bill D., Mountain Tyme, and Frank H. that many "2-chord song" can be done with more, if you're inclined. I make a distinction, though, (which is not always hard and fast) between songs that can get by with only 2 chords and songs that really only need two chords. Lots of songs really sound better with added 7ths, minors, minor 7th and 4ths, even though they could be sort of played with 2 chords. Songs I play with only 2 chords and really don't feel need any more include: Sinner Man Drunken Sailor I Ride An Old Paint Fiddler On The Roof (Theme song) [Sheet music gives 3, but I see no need for anything but E and F] Alouette She Moved Through the Fair Rocka-my Soul In the Bosom of Abraham Skip To My Lou Go Tell Aunt Rhody
"2-chord songs" that I really think benefit from added chords include:
In other words, if a song played with 2 chords sounds like it's being played by a beginning guitar student, I don't think it's essentially a 2-chord song. But there are some songs for which even good guitarists use only two chords. Arge
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,_gargoyle Date: 16 Mar 02 - 12:29 PM Nice additions to an old thread. I'm going to play around with some of these new ones (forgotten by me)immediately.
The beauty of a "two chorder" is that a beginner has something....but it also has a foundation upon which a performer can experiment and play around, and just generally have fun.
Argenine - your example of Jambalaya - is precisely such a tune. It can begin slow, simple and haunting, and then an accidental is thrown in, the tempo increased, a three note blues-slide slips between, and by the sixth time through...a "quite lullaby" has turned into a "crazed, drunken, tarrantella" sloshing in beer and creole-sauce.
(Cripes- it is hard to imagine it has now been over three years since my "banishment" by mad Max and my needing to resort to dots and dashes to make postings. Too many, thin skinned, drunken royalists in those days - and a clueless moderator.)
Nice to see Roger/Mr.Seed/Wolfie's names again, like petals of dried pressed flowers from a love-in.
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: 53 Date: 16 Mar 02 - 11:12 PM Down in the valley. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,Pixie Date: 17 Mar 02 - 09:24 AM "I Ride an Old Paint" - 2 chords..... Pixie |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,CraigS Date: 17 Mar 02 - 03:34 PM The first thing I thought of was Highway 61 Revisited, by the same author as Rainy Day Women numbers 12 & 35, which is not Waylon Jennings, but Mr Zimmermann |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: toadfrog Date: 17 Mar 02 - 03:53 PM Almost any mixolydian song goes with two chords, say G and F. Old Joe Clark We Poor Laboring Men "Pearl Bryan" is a one chord song. Almost, a one-note song. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: wysiwyg Date: 17 Mar 02 - 09:09 PM Go visit the RECORD LADY and look up "I Remember Calvary" by Ernest Stoneman, in the SONG INDEX, then find it to listen to the recording in time for Easter. You can play along; the chords are E flat and B flat. (Capo to it.) ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: 53 Date: 17 Mar 02 - 10:29 PM Church in the wildwood. Waylon Jennings did Rainy Day Woman, and Bob Dylan did Rainy day women. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Bert Date: 17 Mar 02 - 10:45 PM Hey Garg ol' budy. I'd just love to hear you play Jambalaya. I bet you're bloody good. (Cripes, why the hell don't you just give our Mad Max a call, and resolve your problems?) Bert. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: richlmo Date: 17 Mar 02 - 11:00 PM Lonesome Reuben |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,SlickerBill Date: 18 Mar 02 - 12:37 AM "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle; D and G. If you don't have a mando player if you capo up to X you can play the hook nicely and give the illusion of a mando, and the other folks play in C and F. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: 53 Date: 18 Mar 02 - 12:23 PM Copperhead Road is a great song. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Mark Ross Date: 18 Mar 02 - 12:37 PM Someone mentioned PASTURES OF PLENTY. Woody only played ONE chord the whole way through. He played a D(actually a C capoed up two frets). Mark Ross |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: Knitpick Date: 19 Mar 02 - 01:03 AM One of my favorite 2-chorders is "Red Apple Juice," which is in Em, goes along in that chord for a while, then hits that G just when you're getting really tense from the damned Em, then right back to the Em for more musical tension. A perfect example of how musical tension is built, in fact. Bob Clayton |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,Hilary,not logged in Date: 19 Mar 02 - 08:59 AM I've (tried to ) put chords to Blackwater Side. At first it sounded pretty good with just E & G (G for first half of 2nd & fourth lines), but I reckon it needs something else, but I'm damned if I know what. I think it ought to stay simple - to support the melody but not fight for attention in it's own right. When does elegant simplicity become just boring. Also, can anyone tell me why E & G work ???? Maybe I should apologise for music theory in a BS thread ???? (Big grin) Argenine, hi, I'm pleased you nominated 'She Moved Through The Fair' for the 2-chord category. After playing around for weeks with complicated (for me at any rate) progressions I simplified it all down to D and C, (though I do sneak a G into the fourth line .) Hilary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Two chord songs From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 19 Mar 02 - 12:59 PM Banish Misfortune. D and C. |
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Subject: Index of two chord songs in Rise Up Singing I From: wysiwyg Date: 25 Jul 02 - 02:10 PM I made a quick pass through Rise Up Singing for some beginners we are starting here, looking for two-chord songs. The following are the ones I found-- probably not complete, maybe a few errors crept in, but a starting point anyway if you are using RUS. The index I made does not include songs from the posts above that do appear in RUS, but appear there as needing more than two chords. I have not played through all these myself, yet-- no guarantees the RUS arrangements are correct. ~S~ =============================================================== INDEX OF TWO CHORD SONGS IN RISE UP SINGING Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around Alouette Aunt Rhody Beans In My Ears Bheir Me O Buffalo Boy Buffalo Gals Carry It On Clementine Down In The Valley Drunken Sailor Factory Girl Farewell To Tarwathie Gallo Song Go To Work On Monday Good News, Chariot's A-Comin Green, Green Rocky Road" He's Got The Whole World Hey Ho Nobody Home Hold On Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight Hush Little Baby I Know The Lord's Laid His Hands On Me I Ride An Old Paint I've Got The Joy Itsy Bitsy Spider Jig Along Home Joshua Light Is Returning Mercedes-Benz More We Get Together My Dreydl My Home's Across The Blue Ridge Mountains Old Joe Clark Paddy On The Railway Pastures Of Plenty Pick A Bale O'cotton Prairie In The Sky Puttin' On The Style Roll The Union On Seven Joys Of Mary Shady Grove Shortnin' Bread Sinner Man Skip To My Lou Sodeo Standin' In The Need Of Prayer Sur Le Pont D'avignon Sweet Potatoes There's A Hole In The Bottom Of The Sea Throw It Out The Window Wade In The Water Waltz Across Texas Wheels On The Bus Zum Gali Gali ============================================= |
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Subject: RE: Two chord songs From: GUEST,someone who really wants to play this song! Date: 10 Dec 10 - 02:36 PM can someone post the two chords that are in "aint gonna let nobody turn me round" in tab formation, please? |
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Subject: RE: Two chord songs From: GUEST,Morgana Date: 10 Dec 10 - 04:42 PM Yes, "Farewell to Tarwathie" is a two chord song in the above format. It was the first one I learned to play on the guitar, with A and D chords. I've since transposed it to E and A, as it is in Rise up Singing: A and D is a little high for my voice. I sometimes also play "Masters of War," this way, with Em and Am, although one should really have a D in there. |
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