Elliott Smith's Toolbox, "Strung Out Again" Analysis

[@addyd.3140]

Finally got my act together and put together a nice looking chart of my arrangement. PDF for sale at link below! www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1428614/Product.aspx

[@tallieke10]

god this video is so well made, as a huge elliott fan who’s just getting into music theory a video like this is such a cool way to learn these concepts and ideas, thank u bro

[@addyd.3140]

thanks for writing! i so appreciate you checking it out and I'm glad it was helpful

[@philipperoijers3772]

These are absolutely amazing!! Would love to see even more Elliott Smith analyses

[@manuele2274]

I must say I’m totally fascinated by this video (and the Coming up roses one). Being able to play both songs on my guitar - but not having a background on music theory, which, no wonder, I’m clearly after. Someday I’ll have the time haha. Thank you so much.

[@0larue0]

Thanks for making this, I've toyed with doing something like this for a long time, but yours is amazing. I learned so much theory and technique from elliott by pure osmosis, when I went to music school putting names to his techniques was validating and interesting. You've hit a lot of the big ones, would love to see more on how they interact, especially the way he constructed melodies in 3/4 and 6/8 and how they differ from his common time melodies. His harmonic instincts were absolutely killer as well.

[@Peter-gf4qd]

Still can’t believe Anthony Fantano said this album was C tier

[@johnfox555]

fuck whatever that guy has to say lol

[@brandouni]

Man this analysis is veeery intrigante! Made me think about a “quantic” way to express music. To me that’s way feels so powerful and kinda authentic, true. Thank brother

[@brianearl362]

More videos like this, please!!!!!

[@NiiicBlack]

This video blew my fuckin mind. It inspired me to write my very first composition yesterday and I’m really proud of how it turned out. Thank you🥰

[@addyd.3140]

Oh that's wonderful to hear you're finding inspiration! All the best wishes on your journey

[@8nlooney]

Bravo!! I really appreciate these. It helps me better understand why Elliott's song writing was so unique and amazing.

[@addyd.3140]

You're welcome!

[@josephedwards4325]

I could listen to you do his songs on the piano all day. Very nice.

[@CohenStevens-e1c]

when I first started listening to Elliot's later bodies of work it bewildered me to say the least; it's originality and complexity reminded me more of composition than anything else.

[@mydemonsareorganized]

What a unique way of analysing Elliott Smith's beautiful songwriting!

[@addyd.3140]

Wow, thank you for writing!

[@riordanskt]

Amazing. Once again, congratulations and thanks for taking your time to present us with these videos. I think i can speak for all of us here that, the more Elliott Smith song analysis you bring, the better! I know it might take some of your time, but Elliott's music is incredible and a series wouldn't be a bad idea, even if you brought these analysis every now and then... Anyway, once again thanks!

[@addyd.3140]

I appreciate your kind words!

[@JulianErceg]

Man this is great. What a fantastic example of how theory can inform artistic appreciation but also simultaneously how art drives theory. And your arrangement is wonderful too. Thanks so much!

[@addyd.3140]

Thank you for stopping by and writing me a note! All the best.

[@justinroconnell]

Thank you, Addy! Very important content here. I am comfortable listening to music and imagining what is going on, etc. Unless it is Elliott Smith, one of my long time faves. To this day, I put it on, and my mouth is agape.

[@ezracarson4543]

Never seen figure/ground as a musical term, super cool. Great video!

[@Khayyam-vg9fw]

I'd need to check, but I'm pretty sure that the notion crops up in at least one of Leonard Meyer's books.

[@BenOnBass]

beautiful analysis. I often find it difficult to express my joy for Elliott when his music is such a hard sell, but it's so good it hurts

[@addyd.3140]

Thank you! I'm with you there, buddy.

[@JasonGoodwin-z5d]

Most interesting video. Love it.

[@masonmag]

So glad you did this follow up to your last one. The other video helped me understand modal interchange so much better. I even wrote a song using it that i really like. Can't wait to watch this again and try to absorb this excellent info even more. Elliott's music is so amazing and you have really helped me understand it better. Thanks dude

[@addyd.3140]

TY so much! Glad it resonated with you.

[@Tuckermoore]

So great and helpful for aspiring songwriters!! I’d watch an entire series of you analyzing Elliott’s tunes

[@Tuckermoore]

Your arrangement and performance are achingly beautiful too

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks so much!

[@willmatson3103]

Thanks so much for sharing!

[@montigol]

such good analysis and such a beautiful arrangement 🥲

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks friend!

[@yeet-dv8yk]

This was a phenomenal video. Very entertaining and informative. Keep it up!

[@DaveElke]

This is gold. That final arrangement was amazing. Thanks for making this!

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks, Dave!

[@My_whole_life123]

This is amazing. Thank you!

[@Bhuyakasha]

I'm sure this will have at least 100k views in 12 months from now, so good!

[@addyd.3140]

THANKS

[@jawdust3]

Well done, really smart and perceptive analysis

[@tomfletcher1735]

Wow! thanks man I appreciate all the effort and detail you went in to here. it's nice to have a an analysis that doesn't just focus on moving on the I II IV transition non-stop lol. I remember reading or hearing somewhere that one of his favourite songs was ill be back by the beateles. watching this made me think of that, how it switches back and forth from the a to aminor in the verse witht he same ambiguity. anyway just thought you may be interested. thanks again!

[@addyd.3140]

Haha, yeah I know right? A lot of folks tend to fixate on that chord move and call it a day, but there's really a whole world to unpack. I'm glad you see that too, and that you liked the vid! Yes, I remember that tune, great example! The door kind of seems to revolve freely between Maj / min.

[@refusedone]

I know nothing about music theory, but I love Elliott’s music and your videos give them a new perspective and richness …keep em coming please! …and I’d totally pay for a piano course from you!

[@junkiemozart]

thank you addy, obsessed with elliott smith is an understatement of my current status. the unique stylistic choices he’s made is beautifully elaborated on in both your analysis videos- looking forward to watching more!!

[@addyd.3140]

thank you for you kind words!

[@ProdCashmere]

Really great diagrams. Especially the one that illustrates the relationship between parallel/relative keys

[@camerriam]

This is absolutely brilliant, great work

[@kaitlyn6021]

Brilliant! Thanks so much for offering this analysis!

[@PeterDevlin-w1l]

Brilliant, best explanation I’ve come across yet.

[@addyd.3140]

Thanksss!

[@PeterDevlin-w1l]

@@addyd.3140 what would it take to do the same for waltz no1

[@addyd.3140]

@@PeterDevlin-w1l Haha, just more TIME to do these! Been a busy winter. That would be a fun one though, it's on my list along with EMNTM. Hang in there friend

[@GwendolynLewis-Hedley]

thanks for making this, it's actually mind-blowing, and made me so happy!!! my bonus trivia answers: (probably haven't named all of them) a) easy way out b) - *couldn't think of any for kid as an adjective, but for noun there's needle in the hay, going nowhere, single file.* c) all cleaned out, the last hour, waltz #2, can't make a sound

[@addyd.3140]

Ooh, I love it, you're actually the first to do the trivia. What I meant was kid with an adjective in front of it, i.e. "stupid kid, silent kid." You had the idea! but I apologize if unclear. BTW nice job on the clowns. Thank you for the feedback, all the best to you!

[@GwendolynLewis-Hedley]

Ohhh I get it now, thanks for replying! All the best to you too :D@@addyd.3140

[@morganrickman1889]

Love this video! Thank you

[@washburnandtheriver4607]

incredible stuff! thank you for this!!

[@oldmanbanjo]

Video request: All the techniques Elliott Smith borrowed from the Beach Boys and Beatles. Tentative title: The Musical Origins of the California frown. Hit me up I'll do the thumbnail. Great video!

[@patrickcolinwalsh]

well done!

[@rohiogerv22]

I know it was kind of an aside here, but the idea that V-bIII can work as a sort of minor-side deceptive cadence had never occurred to me, and that's really cool.

[@tyler361t2]

if anyone wants to do further reading theres plenty of reddit posts in the elliott smith subreddit covering his most common techniques

[@giringuha4229]

nice

[@anthonysbar1116]

Bro u gotta do one of these on son of sam, the chord changes on that song are sick asf

[@leonl1559]

I have a question regarding sweet Adeline It seems Elliot is mixing G Major and C minor, can you Tell me how that works? Its because g and c are very similar or is He using c Major with a Major II vhord?

[@addyd.3140]

I have not played that one, though I never really heard it as having a solid tonal center, personally, but worth investigating. I hope to check it out and get back to you when I get a moment!. unless anyone else cares to chime in???...

[@prefabclout]

Great video and break down of Elliott’s genius. Btw where did you get those frames?

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks! nice username, lol. Love PFS. Are you asking about my glasses?

[@prefabclout]

Would love to see a PFS analysis! And yes your glasses lol

[@addyd.3140]

Friggin COSTCO @@prefabclout , my partner has a membership card ;)

[@catface101]

Between the vase. I tend to agree about Majors. My most depressing song is all major. It hurts to play.

[@markcoldham]

Wow, awesome work. I’ve been waiting for someone to make a channel like this! Do you give private harmony lessons by any chance?

[@addyd.3140]

Thanks so much! I teach piano and theory in Portland Or. On online platforms, nothing organized yet, I just kind of dive into what sounds interesting to me at the moment, make fun videos.

[@markcoldham]

I’d love to take some theory lessons from you if you’d do that! Even just to understand a couple of ES songs better and lend some knowledge to my own writing. Do you have an email/social media I can message?

[@addyd.3140]

@@markcoldham Hey Mark! Sorry for the late reply, I didn't get a notification you wrote back. I'd be happy to try and set something up. If you look at the links on my profile there's my Instagram and you can message me there. If you don't have that, you can email me at [e-mail]

[@ianhoey8159]

ive yet to watch the full video but you mention an actual Am chord is never used in the song. Does he not play Am when it walks down chromatically in the bass from C to G/B then it would be Am. And we would now be in the parallel minor. Elliott does this all the time and it's always to Am never A. Also from the live video at ford theater it looks like Am as well. I could be wrong. Awesome vid

[@addyd.3140]

Interesting! I always heard it as an A major on "know my," I used the FABOTH recording as my reference, and to be fair it's pretty hard to hear what the 3rd is doing in that moment, especially with that #4 in the melody. I guess my ear wanted that Lydian sound. After your note I went back and listened harder, you're totally right, it's A minor. Dang, nice attention to detail. I guess this version is now my reharm/interpretation. Totally adds to the mystique/ambiguity of his music in my opinion. Thank you, All the best!

[@PeterDevlin-w1l]

If you could do the same for waltz #1 I’d be very grateful

[@manuele2274]

Anyhow, I’ve got a question: would you say that Elliott would write songs using a ‘calculator’, doing the ‘music maths’, on purpose (‘I’m going to be between two keys and play along them, so I could be on any, to make this fascinating piece of music)? Or can geniuses just do this magic tricks using their talent, and everything comes just naturally without so much theory? This is what I wonder.

[@addyd.3140]

Hey thanks so much for watching and your thoughtful question! I would say that everyone who writes and plays songs uses "theory," no matter what they might say. We all just have our own way of thinking about those relationships. It could be that moving 3 frets is the wistful sound you're after, and someone might say, "that's the parallel minor." That's just a description. And If you know 30 Beatles tunes by heart, maybe some Kinks, Zombies, tons of 60s pop stuff like Elliott probably did, you get acquainted with certain changes, however the patterns sit in your mind. So, to make a short story long! learn lots of songs, learn lots of magic tricks. PS. I may have another big one on ES dropping tomorrow so stay tuned... 🤫

[@yossif2504]

Can You Open The CC? I Did Not Understand Everything, And It Is Very Interesting

[@addyd.3140]

Hey thank you for nudging me, I am meaning to get to this.

[@m1000-n8w]

Wrong

[@addyd.3140]

all music theory is wrong.

[@m1000-n8w]

@@addyd.3140 Music theory is an oxymoron. Saying music has any theory, is like saying someone is the tallest midget. Or like saying "british person", etc. So forth, so on and such. You get the idea.

[@yousedbucket]

@@addyd.3140 The video is great, much appreciated. Negative people are always gonna be everywhere, can’t escape them