Crystal Waters Gypsy Woman: Is This The Best House Riff Ever Written?

[@domingobeta]

-is this the best house ri.. -YES

[@moretoknowshow1887]

Answer: Yes. Its one of the greatest songs ever written...

[@DuartJansen]

I second that!

[@crystalcvt]

the m1 organ is so iconic. the concept is so (relatively) simple, and i doubt that it was even an intentional part of a lot of early house, but yet, it created an instantly-memorable sound. it's integral to modern "deep house" too - where many fail to create that feeling is by not using organs with that added fifth

[@Bthelick]

Yeah none of it is intentional, it's just how it's used in the cultural Zeitgeist that makes it what it is. When Roland made the 303 it was supposed to be a bass guitar 🎸 replacement!

[@nagudelomusic]

Actually, the M1 layered chord sound at 4:02 is the basis for another "house greatest hits" track riff, "Show me love" by Robin S. !!

[@vanderloo1978]

I grew up in the 90s with all these songs. I love hearing about the history of the songs. There is a great brief KZbin documentary about this song too.

[@RossTempo]

My favourite all time classic you couldn’t of picked a better reference TIMELESS 👏🏼

[@TheDJGuVna]

This was a very interesting video...I didn't think about HOW organs actually produce their sounds until now...makes me understand why I don't really use them in my production, but also what a powerful tool I've been ignoring. Definitely gonna jazz up some of my progressions on my next few tracks.

[@Bthelick]

Thanks Jeremy. I don't think your the only one. I did a short video a while ago on the dangers of organ bass, because it's very easy for producers to mistake that upper 5th tone as the fundamental and end up with awkward bass! it can make things very difficult.

[@whiteweewee5961]

Yes

[@invisiblecurious856]

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are GENIUS! I will play around for these chords progession, and make a new house chords from out of it, or not just a house chords but chords for R&B, Jazzhop, Neo soul, etc.

[@CraftBeats_357]

im now lerning solfeggio n this best thing which can help me to make chords thank you !!!

[@Beenthere2xs]

New subscriber! This deep dive is everything! So well done, thanks for sharing! Question.. That D D A A "chord" on the Korg M1 @3:20, I'll be damned if that isnt the very first melody note of Robin S - Show Me Love. Can you hear it? I will submit Robin S - Show Me Love as challenger for best house riff ever! (I like Gypsy Woman more but Show Me Love was huge!)

[@Bthelick]

Yes it is well spotted, same sound and starting note 👊. I show that riff in my organ bass video. Definitely a contender for best riff too yes! Thanks for the support ❤️

[@sweetpo1]

Chhhhhoooooonnn! And a brilliant in depth video, as always.

[@synthsoniq]

Absolutely love this. This progression is actually super fun to play on a keyboard. It took a little bit to get the muscle memory down, but ironically, your fingers don't really move much at all through the whole thing, not counting the end of course. I'm a hardware guy, and I have a Korg X5DR (relative of the M1) because those organ / piano sounds are just so iconic to the era, and its pads and atmospheric sounds are great too. The complexity of the sound of these chords sort of reminds me of the chords in "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys. Not the same musical genre, but I like how interesting the chords are in that track as well. Thanks for yet another great video.

[@tsg_frank]

This was probably the best breakdown of this chord progression online, awesome job! Also, I think it's noteworthy to mention the way these chords are being played, the repeating groove is instantly catchy and has a lot of push and pull.

[@Bthelick]

Thanks Frank! That's a good point I didn't go into any rhythm did I thanks for pointing that out 👊🙏🙌

[@creamabdul-jabbar]

sending my dues to join the extension merchants' guild. never really connected my love of early house with my affection for rompler organs, great video dude.

[@Bthelick]

Haha thanks Ian

[@benji.B-side]

The answer is yes!! I was part of that Rave/House era and I still feel this riff as strong as today, as I did back then. It's perfection.

[@diqital_aviator]

Very well explained, thank you for explaining every little step to it and showing each little progression into being a little more complicated, where really it's not when you understand chord structures like me.

[@Electrotranqui]

Beautiful explanation and one word in all octaves.... THANKS ... thanks... ThAnKs.... in an infinitive LOOPS :) House make me feel alive !!!

[@Rmby2]

Tks man, this sound is real best house . Congrat´s Brazil!

[@adv8nturenick]

the summer of love

[@busizweduba6348]

Please listen to Beats By Hand's remake. On his, I AM JAZZ album. I've always loved this track but what stay true sounds did for that low-end is amazing. Also thanks for the breakdown

[@Bthelick]

Oooo thanks for the suggestion, the low end of the original is certainly pretty 'vague' by today's standards.

[@alwayscurious413]

Love this video - absolutely fascinating - love the tone of the chords and the narrator! Really well done.

[@DidrickNamtvedt]

Very interesting breakdown of a timeless house anthem! This track has inspired countless others and you can even hear similar riffs in the Pumpin' Dolls remixes of Cher's "Strong Enough" (Especially in the Cashmere Club Mix) but the OG will always be the best and it has definitely stood the test of time! :)

[@ihadaface]

'91 in 4/4 by Nmesh does this riff justice, and then some. It's a super creative and potent remix using it.

[@shanelamereux9878]

absolutely

[@planb5260]

Brilliant, both the progession and the deconstruction.

[@msnextone1017]

💞 ive no words...very nice work , thanks a lot !!!💓🎹⚡

[@lateralshiftmusic]

I relate this chord progression to the violins in Bittersweet symphony by The Verve. Not in timbre or tonality, but In that for me, these chords seem to start midway through the cycle, or what I perceive to be the cycle of the progression, much like how those violins seem to start halfway through their melody - or at least what I perceive to be halfway through - maybe it's just me haha. It's a cool effect nonetheless!

[@stephankrasner]

Really nice tutorial. Thanks for sharing

[@lcvd1]

That chord progression was probably heard by him in a UF0 abduction inside the spaceship.

[@tomboolery]

Great video - did more digging and found out Neal Conway’s been credited on songs for Pitbull and PinkPanthress too. Very cool! =)

[@Bthelick]

Ahh. Good to know thankyou 👊

[@SteWillo]

Absolutely beautiful 🎶

[@PilzE.]

Just beautiful!

[@Djnitrane]

Thank you for covering this riff. I've just discovered your channel. I'm a long time househead. This song was golden. And so is your content sir !!! I tip my hat to you sir. And Neal too :)

[@JohnPaulBuce]

thank you so much 😁

[@Grizzly88888]

Thankyou so much for these. I practice all these old school inspired theory ones you provide on the keys and its been doing wonders for my songwriting and playing. Would love more of these old school classic anthem inspired tutorials. Keep up the good work!

[@marcellom]

I love this song so much

[@oscillatorstorm]

Awesome video mate! Isn't the tritone substitution just a chromatic D# maj 7, completely forgetting about the scale.

[@Bthelick]

Its both! That's just 2 ways of explaining the same chord. you can certainly think about it that way. I thought is was worth explaining the tritone substitution thing as that is the typical origin behind the thinking of it, but it is entirely possible the original was just written as a chromatic movement down. bare in mind it's only D# (or b2) in this case because it's substituting in for chord 5 on A. Tritone substitutions can work for other 7th chords in the scale too. As there is only one 'natural' tritone in a typical scale (like note 2 to 6 in minor) the tritone substitution will often land outside of scale yes

[@tetron62]

Incredible breakdown and insight. Thanks!

[@noThankyou-g5c]

8:04 the last chords in this sounded really weird to me _until_ you moved the chords before it up an octave. weird how that works

[@mikepage6002]

Thanks for your videos, great help👍

[@paulgriffiths8488]

Fantastic

[@SendyTheEndless]

The fact that there's a tritone sub AND it's an octave higher really sounds almost urgent and desperate to me. Instead of a smooth resolution it sounds sad despite the upbeat context of the house beat. It's what attracted me to the song when it came out, even though I was more into ambient house and breakbeat at the time. It sounds like a strain and that really matches the story of the song lyrics perfectly. I also think the slightly microtonal delivery by Crystal Waters on some of the notes in the verses adds to this standout nature. But yeah, killer riff.

[@Bthelick]

Your absolutely right, Crystal's almost 'amateur' scat vocal is definitely a key hook which grounds the track, maybe even 'saves' it from being pure jazz snobbery? haha. Its crucial to the vibe and message for sure. Interesting take on that leap sounding desperate. It certainly breaks up the smoothness, giving it a chopped together dj sample mashup kind of flavour.

[@SendyTheEndless]

@@Bthelick You can hear the pitchiness when she sings "as she stands there, singing for money" too I think... It's almost grating, it's not quite a semitone but more like a blue note. But without these imperfections, there's just no emotion in singing of this kind. Great explanation on the vid too btw, forgot to say.

[@alwayscurious413]

@@SendyTheEndless - good call. That leap to the turn around chord is definitely adding some tension like a nerve jarring (like when you jump on the brakes when a car suddenly slows up in front of yoy!). it’s an absolutely killer move by the composer.

[@mohhingman]

Thank you so much for making this! Love this so much!

[@Runneround]

very very cool thanks a bunch!

[@San7hos]

Legendary tune...omg that organ lesson actually explains so much more than you think. So instead of dm7 you are actually playing something much crazier like dm16 (which is likely not how you notáře this).

[@papito2lindo]

The man took the 2nd chord and said Funk it we are making it a minor 🤯. Talk about known the rules and bending them to your will. Absolutely adding this to my bag.

[@Williammartto0]

The best house music teacher in the world! ✅

[@diecarly]

CLASSIC

[@Scald_]

I’m really glad I stumbled upon this, very well made video!

[@Bthelick]

Glad you enjoyed. Thanks for the compliments ❤️👊👍

[@jorgedejesustejedavaldez5283]

Thanks for this video. Is a very entertaining and simple way to explain the music theory and harmonies behind this master piece. I just love how you explain this. Please make more videos like this ❤️✌🏽.

[@Bthelick]

Thanks! There's certainly more to come, let me know if there's any tracks in particular you would like to see the harmony of 🙏❤️👊

[@Abdulito5]

Wow, I really learned a lot, very good video!

[@Bthelick]

Glad it helped!

[@Abdulito5]

@@Bthelick do you recommend any jazz music theory for people just starting doing house music? The power of the enhancements given by jazz music is insane in house music.

[@Bthelick]

@@Abdulito5 wow that's a great question! I'm not aware of any in that context. jazz tends to get discussed in either academic fields , or the opposite. I suppose I should start one! I did start this channel with the purpose of simplifying harmony / theory in the context of dance music after all.

[@Abdulito5]

@@Bthelick PLEASE do

[@wrcfreak2121]

More more !!😃

[@morgannroelandt3739]

This was very interesting !

[@donnydarko7624]

Funny how prevalent that sound is in House. Show me love uses it too.

[@fastone0009]

Cool video, makes me want to start producing again. I've always been a fan of 7th chords and house music, classic sound.

[@Bthelick]

Do it!!!

[@elias_keepslearning]

Great vid!

[@fedrosfieros693]

great video

[@9xin]

incredibke video

[@DawlessHouseMusic]

Second best. The opening to Move Your Body / The House Music National Anthem is the best.

[@Bthelick]

classic! z❤️👊

[@doobyboy21]

I actually redid this song with FL Studio and got massivly copy righted ! KZbin is permitting me to put it on KZbin but no monetization... I wasn't even trying to make money with this... Let me tell you... FL Studio is an extremely powerful music tool !

[@Bthelick]

Yup that happens a lot!

[@dialogtalk]

hi Bthelick! amazing and informative content as usual, but i just wanted to offer a small note. at 5:38 you refer to the 6th degree of D minor as A sharp which is incorrect as the key of D minor is a “flat” key and therefore the 6 chord is actually Bb. calling it A# is confusing because you then have A represented twice instead of every letter in the musical alphabet! just a small note. love your content never stop!

[@Bthelick]

Yes thanks, you'll notice I always use sharps regardless. I purposely don't dabble in enharmonics for the purposes of teaching beginners. In the same way I don't use Roman numerals or Greek or Italian terms. These terms are arbitrary enough in art, I prefer not to complicate the language any further than necessary for those who see 'classical' language as a deterrent or barrier to entry (i.e. djs and electronic musicians) Also i think "b" looks messy/more confusing in conventional text as beginners can easily confuse it for the letter / note name. Regarding edm specifically when it gets into the parallel harmony, chromaticism, and multi-tonality of house, rave and techno most diatonic conventions are thrown out of the window anyway! The concept is the important bit, not the semantics.

[@dialogtalk]

@@Bthelick that makes a lot of sense from a standpoint of education, as well as the ableton standard of sharps in the piano roll. cheers!

[@Pxrchi]

I find it really interesting how the beat seems to kinda lag a tiny, almost inconceivable, amount midway through, don't know if it was done on purpose but it sounds cool.

[@Bthelick]

It's possible. Check out my house drums tutorial I have a whole section in that about pushing and pulling groove

[@nugsgaming6407]

As someone who has a general understanding of music theory, why are you naming the chords, 1, 5, 4, 7 etc? Can you explain the naming convention or why it has those numbers? I think I'm just missing a single link for this all to make sense. Thanks.

[@Bthelick]

Hey no problem. I'm just trying to keep things as simple as possible. Chord numbers are traditionally represented by Roman numerals, but I think that's entirely unnecessary today. Classical music terms have a lot of Greek, Roman, German and other languages all mixed up in there, I think its best to focus on the one language using as many 'laymen's terms' as possible as to not confuse the learning process any further than necessary. All music is based on intervals (distances relative to another note). It is better to know the relative numbers of chord progressions as opposed to the specific chord names because then you can learn in any scale and key. For example all minor keys are the same they just start in a different place, so there's little benefit to learning the specific chords of 1 key, when you can just learn what distance it is in ALL keys. Does that make sense? Or should I go back a little further?

[@michelrolim2457]

Hi Gal’s! How can i do the drum for this song? Begginer here… i already did the riff! I wish to create my own version of this song! Haha. You did the drum and bass from zero too?

[@Bthelick]

Yes I also did the drums and bass though I didn't spend much time to get them too close to the record as the focus was on the organ. I just tried to find samples in my libraries that had similar vibes and made sure the swing was matched by ear. It's hard to do a tutorial on as it's all by ear and that just takes time. If you reference often you'll get there.

[@michelrolim2457]

@@Bthelick thx for answering my question, i like your videos a lot! Keep the good work please!

[@Bthelick]

@@michelrolim2457 hey michel I just did a drums video btw check it out it should help 👊

[@omar_sacca]

la da dee la da da

But that bass sounds even better than in the original 🧡

[@Bthelick]

Cheers Superfly!

@@Bthelick Really I would like to hear full song with that bass :)

[@Bthelick]

@ check in next week, I'll be making a tribute track with it all.

[@gabrieleserini895]

Sorry to break it to you but the M1 wasn't a rompler, it was its own thing and it was the first synthesizer to have quite realistic sounds.

[@Bthelick]

Oh really what was the synthesis part? As far as I was aware is was pcm samples into a subtractive engine.

[@tetron62]

None of what the M1 does is synthesized in any prior meaning of the term, either algorithmically (FM, additive etc) or analog. It's based on sample playback entirely. It's not even as complicated as wavetable synthesis.

[@genius2005]

Unsurpassed!

[@seanfitz81]

was the organ sequenced or played live on the original track?

[@Bthelick]

Definitely Live, you can hear the last chord of each bar is much shorter where the hands switch position. It's possible that they may have had cubase on an Atari ST in '91 to quantise the line but it's entirely possible Neal is just a very tight player. Unlike here for the vid, I usually program lines in to keep the visuals more uniform and cleaner for explanation.

[@Salvaeshun]

Tom Misch - Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless) [Quarantine Sessions] is sensational! His tribute is absolutely delicious, but it would never be if not for Crystal Waters genius in the original. Thanks for posting this!

[@ageema]

No need to ask!

[@Eeter26]

Can someone explain what’s so amazing about this, its so simple and sounds like every other early house track i’ve ever heard, except for the jazz chords of course which are neat i suppose.

[@Bthelick]

"Every other early house track" l didn't agree? It's one of those "greater than the sum of it's parts" kind of phenomena. I'm just looking at the chords here. That's obviously just 1 aspect. Crystals fanatic hooks including the lyric-less "laa da dee" jazz scat line not only crosses language borders, it's sung in a very 'untrained' way which a larger audience will relate to far more than anything that's technically 'clever' encouraging the sing-along factor , the korg m1, Yamaha TX lately bass , and Roland TR909 drums were all trending sounds, Couple that with the basement boys production decisions and arrangement. The list goes on. Very much a lightning in a bottle type moment. You don't get a worldwide hit like that without reason.

[@Eeter26]

@@Bthelick thanks you for the insight, not my cup of tea still but you definitely have a point with the sing along factor of the hook

[@tsg_frank]

I want you to mention any other early house track that has stuck around nearly as long as this one did

[@PorchBass]

I have the crystal waters album and this track stands out a mile. It's like Anerie and 'one thing'

[@AutPen38]

Thirty years after it came out, that octave jump for the last two chords still grabs my attention. The piano roll looks completely mad, but somehow it works.

[@bigmanmike12]

Am I the only 1 here after seeing Crystal Waters interview with DJ Mag?

[@Bthelick]

Recent? Sorry I stopped reading DJ mag haha

[@LukeIcardMusic]

If you’ve never heard this song you dont know house music LOL

[@slikyviky]

You slick ?

[@Bthelick]

No you're Slick!

[@caspianderrick2943]

Sorry bud, it's good, but not Alison (Where love lives) Limerick good. 👍

[@Trepidity]

Yes