Chordplay - The Chords of Stone Temple Pilots

[@nuke97]

FINALLY! Someone is talking about the chord vocabulary of STP. Seriously a rare breed of band that can mix jazz chords into hard rock.

[@frauddetector6129]

You’re absolutely correct!

[@mattmarkus4868]

it totally annoys me when I hear wannabe snobs say bad things about the band like it's dumbed down cock rock. The joke is on them because they never bothered to listen before they judged. Just look at their influences (Howe, Lifeson, DiMeola, Page, Gilmour, Holdsworth, and on and on). Great players. And Robert is a top notch bass player and writer.

[@justinerickson5061]

The super DeLeo bros are so severely overlooked. Nobody plays like them. No thing better in the whole universe

[@MrJeremy0311]

It’s been said, they are a jazz quartet with fuzz/distortion. I 100% agree. Brilliant writing by Robert and Dean.

[@marksc1929]

..don't you hate it when they get categorized as an " alternative band" only ...

[@GmanMusicProductions]

Dean DeLeo reminds me of a modern day version of Jimmy Page. Cool bluesy hook riffs with great tone.

[@Fakename70]

GmanMusic Part of his genius is his creativity in the studio at playing rhythm in both channels and not just doubling his parts. He’s typically doing something different in each speaker. Not to mention he made a conscious effort to add something distinctive in one channel over the other in the second verse whenever possible.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

My thoughts exactly! Very zeppelinesq type riffs & chords at times.. That's why I've always loved that band and especially the DeLeo brothers playing. Good stuff! 😎

[@cardbored_]

He’s said in interviews that’s what his generation was trying to do, play like Page.

[@jpslaym0936]

And songwriter chops

[@Dan-zq5wt]

I just listened to some live STP and thought the same thing!

[@uneedtherapy42]

Psst... I have a secret I want to share with you guys... STP is the greatest band of the 90's. Don't tell anyone

[@Fakename70]

uneedtherapy42 An argument in your favour could definitely be made. Just try not to wake the Nirvana fanboys in the process.

[@cooltunesmadeeasy]

Pssssssst i agree

[@cooltunesmadeeasy]

Damn best video I've seen in a long time...great content great playing and Dean is a rock god....!!!!

[@MichaelWilson-ri9pn]

Actually Robert DeLeo came up with lots of those chords. He was trained in Jazz and wrote lots of those songs. Just FYI

[@drockny]

David says that at the end of the video in terms of writing credits.

[@QuibusLicet]

Was gonna say the exact same thing. Really nothing to add except I respect both their playing. They each have a unique style and musicians can learn a lot from studying their songs.

[@grandelusion1148]

Robert writes a lot of stps songs but I'm more than positive he doesn't come up with the specific chord voicings that deleo uses. songs like "Ride the Cliche" and "7 caged tigers" feature crazy ass chords and progressions and they were written by dean. They both can play guitar but I would wager that when Robert comes up with riffs Dean is still using his own chord voicings on the tunes

[@chriskrueger1865]

@@grandelusion1148 Dean has specifically said in interviews that Robert is the one who comes up with those complex chord progressions on the guitar.

[@grandelusion1148]

@@chriskrueger1865 progressions aren't the same as chord voicings. you can have a complex progression played with simple chords. I 100 percent know that dean has is own vocabulary of complex chords because there's a ton of songs written by just him with crazy chords in them. not to mention hes talked in many interviews about where his chord voicings come from and his influences. Robert is a great songwriter, but you're out of your mind if you think he's teaching dean how to play chords 😂

[@theblindsniper]

Dean DeLeo is one of my favorite guitarists, love that you did a video about STP!

[@johnipennie2021]

Mine too!!!

[@markfirestorm4967]

The bass line in Interstate Love Song is fantastic...I mean Robert DeLeo is just a great bass player in general but I love what he does in that song

[@simonealbanese2]

People that consider them a power chord type band haven t heard Adhesive or those kind of song, or just their ear isn’t trained enough. On their third album they played very sophisticated progression.

[@brianlobue4649]

One of the best 90s bands. Still worth a listen 30 years later

[@guitar9310]

Idk how people didn't recognize the genuis of those chord progressions!!! Plush Still blows my mind

[@robertfranz9506]

Plush got me interested in listening to rock again after going thru the 1980s listening only to my 70s rock albums.

[@darchcruise]

The F# chord (aka F# Lydian chord) is my favorite 90's chord. Here are a few examples: 1) Stone Temple Pilots- Dead & Bloated, 2) Alice & Chains - Roster, 3) Porno for Pyros - Pets, 4) Rollins Band - Low Self Opinion, 5) Shift - So Avail

[@mr.smithgnrsmith7808]

Legendary band…DeLeo brothers were the most talented musicians of the 90s

[@matsapo1]

Great lesson! I don't know if you've heard of Trip the Witch, but it's a project between Dean DeLeo and session guitarist Tom Bukovac and is full of great chords, melodies, and interwoven guitar parts. A Chordplay lesson on that project would be badass!

[@johnipennie2021]

Dean was so incredibly lucky to have a collaborator such as ROBERT DELEO♪♫ such a great Guitarist songwriter, and awesome bass player! They both worked so well together, plus all in STP

[@MT-or7lv]

Great band. So was Talk Show.

[@brendanflaherty6696]

M T The Talk Show record would be a great album for this kind of analysis. Really advanced chordal vocab on that one. I want to see him try to explain the 2nd chord in the verses of Ring Twice. F#7(b9, 11)/C#? I don’t think that’s even a thing.

[@thebubonicj]

Dean really taught me to not be afraid to grab an expensive chord here and there. He's definitely underrated and every guitarist should learn and study the songs he crafted with his brother and STP

[@dirtycurty8394]

Finally someone focuses on how much deeper STP's music is than they're given credit for. Robert is an awesome bass player. He plays so melodically yet heavy. Trippin On A hole In A Paper Heart has really creative bass lines snaking through it. Dean's big chords helped them fill the air musically with a huge sound. The drumming of Dean Krets, I know his last name uses a different letter but my keyboard doesn't work. I met Robert a handful of times and he was totally cool. Just a regular guy as he called himself. They are way more than the morons that claimed they were a grunge imitator of Pearl Jam, great in their own right but different.

[@BungleJoogie68]

The best thing for me about Dean is that he does a lot of jazz and even Holdsworth stuff and he has said doesn't understand what he's doing.

[@samtheman123]

My favorite song this band ever wrote is Big Empty. The jazzy bossa nova chords with the blues slide guitar has a super interesting flavor and the chords that are used after the chorus when he sings “conversations kill” are absolutely genius.

[@ealove21]

Love this. Maybe a sequel (there's so many interesting chord patterns in their songs!)? Big Empty, Pretty Penny, Lady Picture Show, Days of the Week, Big Bang Baby, etc. Cheers!

[@mlasch1478]

Dean and Robert are 2 of my favorite players of all time. Long Live STP. Thanks for this clip.

[@chinoju]

The power of true stp was mixing led zeppelin dancing days and revolution by the beatles. In fact they touched those covers. The third album is pure lennon easter eggs. I'm lovin 'it!

[@leafbelly]

Robert DeLeo does not get the credit he deserves for his part in writing some of their biggest hits: Plush, Interstate Love Song, etc. That dude is a genius, and such a cool-looking bass player.

[@gianlucadecicco5921]

@18:27 Actually Dean plays that first D chord with the A on the 5th fret of the 6th string as the root while muting the A string, then he shifts to the B flat maj9 as you play it, but the crazy part is how he frets those cords, he frets both chords with his ring finger on the 6th string while shifting the other 3 fingers between chords. Thanks for giving STP and the deleo bros the recognition they deserve, I'm just discovering your channel and I can't stop watching your videos, you are great!

[@MrPhilm00r]

I remember watching them live on MTV in 94 doing Pretty Penny when the stage was set up with a couch and chair. I was 15 years old. I knew then that they were different than the other bands around that time. I listened to them before that, but I fell in love with them on that night. Dean and Robert are amazing together.

[@bradleybarton9064]

Evansville... Lol I used to load the Evansville trailer at UPS in Indy. 30 years later, I'm still there. Lol

[@currentriverpat]

I said "Dokken riff" in my head, and then you said it out loud. Awesome.

[@jaricklosey4607]

It's basically Wicked Sensation inverted! That's such a cool observation.

[@scotthutch3682]

I love playing their stuff acoustic - that unplugged session they did gave me a deeper respect for their music and this was of great interest for me 🔥

[@ChrisPuckett]

Dean is one of the true great guitar geniuses of the 90s. What stood out about him was that he was so different than everyone else in the 90s. Their music stands the test of time. Great video.

[@TaylorMorgeson]

I saw him when he was with Talk Show (STP without Weiland more or less) in Albuquerque in 1998. He was amazing, band was great, but his playing that night has stuck in my mind for 20 years. Great show.

[@Fakename70]

Taylor Morgeson Massively overlooked album, that! Still hoping for a vinyl reissue one day.

[@voronOsphere]

These guys always have amazing chords including some great Zeppelin style chords! Thanks, David!!!

[@sbrave]

Thank you sir! Dean and Robert are monster players and STP's catalog is spans across many styles (rock, jazz, blues, alt-rock), reminiscent of Zeppelin/Stones and the like, more so than most 90's bands. Dean's playing is no joke and these songs are anything but basic power chords as you've shown. His live tone is huge as well. It's really too bad a lot of folks, especially musicians couldn't get their heads out of the 80's. It became such a ridiculous mockery of itself with non-stop senseless shredding, the clothes, cheezy-ass lyrics etc. I grew up on that stuff too, but when these guys, Alice, Soundgarden etc came along, I welcomed it with huge open arms. People don't realize a lot of these 90's guys have deep roots in Zeppelin, Hendrix, Stones, Sabbath etc etc, and they put a different spin on it, instead of singing about chicks at the beach, cars and demons/fire ..ha! Keep it coming.

[@gwbenites]

No doubt that Dean is a great player, but there's a recent interview of Robert on an episode of Rick Beato's channel that makes you realize that Robert was the main songwriter for not only the bass parts, but also the guitar parts! Plus, Robert looked cool as hell the way he would bring the headstock of his bass up close to his head, almost parallel to his body.

[@jay_sun_michael]

Dean and Robert are high caliber rock n roll genius'. Dean is in my top ten favorite guitar players. So creative and non-typical. Thanks for making these videos. Much appreciated!

[@owlytimbre9103]

Deleo is a wizard and a true musician. I remember seeing them are the time they were writing for the 2nd album and it started raining and the other guys wanted to split but his enthusiasm was off the hook! That's when I became interest in him. Chordmeister.

[@jasonsimmons7479]

The verse chords in interstate love song are fucking crazy. Awesome band!

[@godbyone]

Sounds basic. But not. Bery cool

[@EllisGordon33]

Another great one Robert. Really explain it where even I can understand. Would really love you're ideas on "Live, Go for what you know" era Pat Travers/Pat Thrall. Wore that album out. P.S. I think you're the only one who sends thank you emails for comments. That's really cool. Keep it up.

[@jasonkeith9317]

The F#11 chord is unofficially officially known in guitar circles as the Hemispheres chord. This chord opens Rush's 1978 album Hemispheres and is featured predominately throughout the song. I'm a huge Rush nerd and I definitely hear a Rush influence in the music off STP. Alex Lifeson probably got this chord from somewhere but he was the first person I ever heard play it.

[@joerobinson2538]

16:10 I was thinking “Hold On Loosely” right before you said 38 Special! 🤣

[@timothyholmes4588]

dude you are so chill I love your teaching style. you play great . I just feel so lucky to have found your channel on KZbin

[@ddean8493]

Awesome! It would be cool to keep the 90s thing going for while....lots of great material. I love your chordplays!

[@voronOsphere]

The 90s were a strong decade for songwriting.

[@eddiejr540]

"Dont cut out my paper heart, i aint dying anyway..." HELL YEA!!!...sour girl is a good one..and their little jazzy instrumentals.....GREAT stuff dave!!!

[@r.llynch4124]

Dean uses a lot of jazz chords in his progressions and they work very well.

[@brockam]

Rob showed the origin of Interstate Love Song in his Beato interview, and it apparently started out as a sort of Bosa Nova vibe on a cat gut, soooo, those chords make a lot more sense when you look at it with those particular eyes. I totally agree with the assessment of Rob being a bit of a secret weapon in the band. Those guys were next level closet jazzers who deserved more respect than they probably got relative to their Grunge contemporaries. It does strike me interesting though, how all those acts from that point in time around 92 and on were somehow recognizable as "grunge" but they were all unique artistic statements, and worthy of their places in history.

[@PorterhouseMusic]

Another cool example of interesting STP chords is from their song "Daisy" (I believe that the song is really all Robert's). I made a home recording of it some time back and really worked to get the correct voicings.

[@PorterhouseMusic]

Here's a short clip demonstrating the chords from STP's song "Daisy" kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpqrgYZ8jbZqesU

[@adam872]

STP had fantastic harmonic sense in their songs, it was one of the great aspects of their music. It all dawned on me when I wanted to learn Plush and I was blown away by how complex the chords were.

[@jasonkeith9317]

Great video man love STP saw them live on their reunion tour in '09 I believe. Great show RIP Scott miss u man.

[@robertdemerski6641]

David you are so incredibly versatile. Flawless and fluent. I’ve watched about 50 late night lessons so far. Learned allot. Really great . Thanks

[@ThrashRoC]

One of these Bands who had severel great songs / records ..but then you heart a long time noting from them and then : Late night lesson ..Great !!

[@jasonsimmons7479]

Glad you included interstate love song.

[@jamiem7114]

IMO STP had the BEST chords. Thanks man!!!

[@greggaedeke2386]

Love STP- huge fan of those funk chords too. Those brothers do it good no doubt!!🎸✌️

[@jasonkeith9317]

I played in a 90's cover band lots of STP lots of AIC. We were gonna call ourselves Pilots in Chains lol. Hokey I know glad we didn't!

[@davidandrews3237]

Thanks Dave... I'm a child of the 70's but LONG LIVE THE Alternative 90's !!!!!

[@angelicaoncipido8743]

What a killer breakdown. The crazy intersection of grunge, jazz and the inherently sweet sounds of finger contortionism. 🔥 Late Night Lessons just too good!💥

[@jasonkeith9317]

The Deleo brothers wrote some kick ass tunes they complemented each other so well.

[@Kamy.GG.Official]

*Kinda the forgotten band of that era. Good to see them here*

[@stringbender11672]

Thank you for this. My wife even loves this episode cuz she's one of the biggest STP fans ever. The DeLeo bros are incredible 🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘🤘

[@sleggarri]

Wonderful lesson! Thank you. One of my all-time favorite bands. The DeLeo brothers are fantastic song songwriters with a great sense of Melody. Dean has a great chord vocabulary as you point out and I love those complex sounding chords that bloom with harmonic richness. His body mechanics and posture on stage remind me of Joe Perry who he has indicated was a big influence. Great lesson emigrate band you chose some of my favorite riffs too. much-appreciated.

[@cliffmentzer7406]

Dang that was cool-you really opened my eyes. I think I often dismissed stp as power chord stuff. Those chords were so much more and then makes me think Dean Deleo was so over looked. It’s no wonder with music like that and then Scott Weiland singing on that...it was pretty magical. Thanks for an awesome lesson!!!!

[@sethchrisman1645]

Man is this band great. So is this video! I think of STP as the zeppelin of the 90s.

[@rickoleary]

Love your channel. Great lesson! STP is killer.

[@shinaniganz4453]

Stp riffs are fascinating once you kinda realize how much stuff have a good simmetric shape across the fretboard... also a lot of reverse noteplaying its insane

[@montysloungetv]

So much more ahead of their peers harmonically and melodically

[@GlobalMiles]

Excellent David. Another major influence popped up in my mind: Andy Summers.

[@972Blake]

Took me a while but finally watched this one and loved every bit of it. Your take on Sour Girl was great, especially the D11/A shape. I had watched a video of Tom from Trip the Witch where Dean explains how he plays this song. He takes a little different approach to the fingering using his ring finger to add the A on the low E string. He then slides the shape up to the Bbmaj9 using his ring finger to fret the F on the E string. Really cool stuff, you did a killer job on this one.

[@sld67869801]

Absolutely great chordplay episode! More 90"s material please!!!!

[@mesoanarchy]

Another one I somehow missed 😂. Couple things: that G in the chorus of the Trippin’... example. It always sounded like it was now wired from Dancin’ Days. The other thing: with STP and EVH Chordplays- like the F# bass notes but open strings top and the A5 then move it up 2 frets- type chords... Thais kind of chords have been faves from a almost couldn’t remember when. Then I realized... when I started playing my dad got me a classical. Neck wide, my hands too small to fret everything so I “cheated” until my hands were big enough. Those cheats were all I could manage. I wonder if thats maybe the root for some of the players who regularly use those sus 2, sus 4, 2-note chords stylings, etc.(?!). As usual, thanks for another awesome video David.

[@scee1871]

Found STP after playing guitar for 15 years, what a humbling experience that was.

[@adozensparrows]

My favorite 90s band. Thank you!

[@JuddOakes]

Interstate love song I heard was written while driving on interstate 85 heading to southern tracks studios in atlanta

[@yourcousinvinny4177]

I freaking love your channel!!! I thought all types of guitarist channels had been done by now. That was until I stumbled up on yours. I’ve been watching for a couple hours straight through a bunch of your videos. Side note, I’m almost equally as stoked about this STP video. I’m only a couple years younger than you and I feel like STP has been super underrated, particularly in guitar player world. Sure they didn’t play groundbreaking solos but they did in fact play much more interesting chords than 99% of 90’s grunge (which is still love). Funnily enough I remember getting the tab book for the albums Purple and Core. I didn’t understand why the tabs were so bad back then (which is true) but it was actually the complexity of the chords STP used. I could play any Metallica riff (essentially) after looking at the tab but STP was challenging in itself just because of the chords I’d never seen previously. Thanks for your channel

[@Mobile-Journalism]

That F# Major with the Sus 4 and flat 7 lifted directly Alex Lifeson. “Hemispheres” 1978 - RUSH was a huge influence on STP guitar player.

[@Bodyknowledge77]

STP be a great band. On the less heavy side Live was piling up the rock hits in the 90's with STP. Maybe shine a light on Live?

[@JF-xx5kn]

Great lesson David! Love STP :-D

[@adriansrfr]

Now I've got to start delving back into STP!

[@bucktrail2358]

I watch this on a regular basis. Such a Pete Townshend chord fan however Dean is just so brilliant as well with HIS chords. Thanks for this! 🍻

[@Glissmann]

really appreciated this one very much (and all your others as well)

[@Badhabitches]

Stp is my favorite band. At first listen of the song Hickory Dichotomy, I thought it was a swing and a miss. I was wrong. Probably one of my favorite songs by them.

[@if6turnedouttobe9]

I had no idea u could play the drums David...Another great lesson...

[@dougfa3515]

The DeLeo's definitely brought a unique style to things. I always appreciated what they did. Thanks for the lesson here! I wish I had seen STP live. I did get to see Talk Show open for the Foo Fighters in DC, and that was pretty good too.

[@arturoromero1871]

Cool lesson. I only play Plush acusticly, but i want more now, also tha is a badass guibson dude👍🎸🎼🙉

[@Unexplained_Bacon]

Great stuff. I hope to see you cover more STP music, the Army of Anyone album is also brilliant, definitely worth a look.

[@RosittoDiego]

Amazing video! More, please!

[@dereko5712]

Been enjoying the Chordplay videos STP was great fun to play along too! Ty Dave :)

[@spaceavenger54]

Being a young kid, and not having or knowing about such things as having my guitar properly intonated and playing with a garbage distortion pedal instead of a decent tube amp, really made some of these cool chords sound terrible and put a damper on me learning a lot of this kind of stuff, looking back i wish i had been more informed about such stuff, lol

[@davidrohland9319]

Wow - great video, great topic, great information, and great delivery of that information!

[@studiomonster2012]

That video was so good. I absolutely love STP. Huge fan of the DeLeo brothers. Thanks for shedding some light on some of the material they were doing.

[@arnyarny77]

much more technical than velvet revolver.. im not a huge fan of stp but the chords are brilliant . definitely an advanced jazz influence

[@FullMetalDMZ]

Great video! Thanks

[@Contextflexed]

This video is awesome! Especially upside down.

[@patrickmayer9566]

,,,,,,,,,,,Dude,,,,,,,this is epic,,,,,those are cords I've never used..!.😯..but always wanted to learn...😐..it's winter now,......now,where's my guitar...oh yea,it's in the wood shed...stoke the fire...tnx,pat.

[@HernanBovo]

Great video, man! Thanks for putting this together

[@DonLytle]

Yo Mr. Brewster. Thank you for this. I've been an STP fan from way back. Saw them live in PHX with Scott in 2000. Great to see you showing this content. Thank you for what you do. Peace!

[@frankb8652]

Great video, thank you! I've long been a fan of STP and love these unusual chords that Dean used! And yes Robert is an incredible talent also. His work on "Sour Girl" blows my mind.

[@ordinaryavgguy]

I'm fairly new to your channel, but so glad you did an entry in them. They have several songs on the Rocksmith game, and the chords listed are very different from standard rock. And I agree, Velvet Revolver was a great band, but STP is incredibly underrated. A great blend of classic rock influences, heavy-ish riffs, and some trademark slower songs like Creep and Big Empty. Thanks for the video.

[@christianneumann9027]

Perhaps I am too honest, but I never heard about this Band before here in Germany or Poland were I am living. Really special chords! Very sympathic and interesting presentation. I always admire your knowledge and great guitar playing. Thank you very much!

[@GuitarDudeXXX]

Another great breakdown, Mr. Brewster! You told my exact story on "Interstate..." The day I learned/started playing the correct chord voicings...??...sounded 100% better when we played it. The rest of the guys in the band even said something the first time. Love what you're doing, man.

[@ToneChaser79]

I saw Cheap Trick open for STP in the 90’s… Amazing show

[@maczepa]

Thanks for this lesson. Great stuff.

[@luisownerbr]

No wayyy dude, stp rocks! I was born in 96 and I started listening to 90s music before 80s and 70s stuff. For a long time, I was obsessed with with stp and alice in chains and I didn't even know what the 80s were all about. Dean DeLeo is the reason I picked up the guitar in the first place. Of course, when I first heard George Lynch playing Paris is Burning I was like "hmm... Jerry, dean, you guys are great and all but..." And now I want to listen to core and purple again.