What Makes The Never Meant Riff Special? - American Football

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Hey, Steve here. In this video, I break down what I believe makes the intro progression in the iconic American Football song Never Meant rather special.
#mathrock #songanalysis

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

The Ultimate Guitarist's Guide To FACGCE: lets-talk-about-math-rock.thinkific.com/courses/facgce-super-system

[@brendanrice1018]

This is definitely the song that got me into Midwest emo and math rock

[@pookachu64]

Along with a lot of people!

[@BURNANNATOR]

Sometimes we have to ask ourselves is Steve is doing well? Hope he is.

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

No one ever asks 😭 just kiddin' I'm am indeed doing well most days 😵

[@imranfird]

Haha funny emo house

[@ethanbarnes7163]

Glad I finally found the emo Rick Beato

[@wizzybizzy4309]

this was the first math rock song i ever listened to and hearing a complete breakdown makes me super happy! lovely explanation

[@kelkiiii]

this was awesome, thanks Steve. could you do an analysis for "Welcome to..." by Origami Angel? I'm always impressed by their song writing. lots of interesting harmonic choices throughout their songs that keep the momentum up and the rhythm change ups give room for several awesome grooves in one track

[@placeholderband19]

Or just that entire album. The musical call backs throughout are crazy

[@kelkiiii]

@@placeholderband19 yeah, they went absolutely insane on it. They're amazing songwriters. Perhaps my favorite

[@hoagietime1]

Would love to see you break down Algernon Cadwaller spit fountain, cause there is a lot going on there

[@TheJuicyTangerine]

that font you used for the chord names is really cool! Wonder what font that is

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

I think it's called theLEFT. Can't remember exactly, kind of looks like comic sans but less cheesy

[@metametapost931]

OMG You have a new tele! It is sooooo nice

[@alexbaker4009]

This is a really good video, I'd like some more like this!

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

Cheers!

[@_widas_]

that new guitar is gorgeous

[@racecarbeds-w5g]

I really love these analysis type videos! More like this brother

[@gustavodamasceno6559]

Hey Steve, delta sleep just re-released afterimage as a single. And they turned a very folky acoustic that could very well be a big thief song into something much more in math rock. My suggestion is making a video about how they did that, it might be very interesting

[@slugfest9685]

Dang ty for letting me know that is such a crazy good song

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

Yup! Love the new version! I definitely will have another on of their songs (probably more like 10 😅) in the series

[@MISTER_CEO]

These videos are the best, always excited to see another

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

Thank you, thank you 🙌

[@chrisbroome6423]

I think one of these episodes would be really well done with Hot Mulligan's Green Squirrel in Prettyy Bad Shape, the intro has a really fun part that outlines its progression and has a fun melody, and then later gets brought back with a 2nd guitar on top. Great video as always!

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

For sure! Got to be a ton of their songs that could be done

[@dimitrispanagiotidis7635]

I personally really like the idea of a series with the title what makes this chord progression great, it would be a really nice way to introduce your audience to more math rock songs, i have started playing math rock in my guitar and i would like to discover some songs ( also my fav chord progresion is IV I vi V)

[@rabbitguy337]

steve made such a killing off of that "structured math rock guide" ad he could afford another telecaster.

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

Actually made this by selling my other tele and a bunch of pedals

[@soulreaver017]

Hey I know this isn't the video subject but could you do a video about "Jardín de la croix"? They're a spanish band and I've never seen you talking about them. Thanks for all the awesome videos and lessons.

[@MinPhase]

Good stuff! How about 'Rabbit' by TTNG next?

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

A TTNG song is a good shout! thanks

[@CloudxOut]

Well done!

[@samhenderson4414]

Love this channel, keep it up

[@ouroboser]

I thought this was a David Bennet Piano video about Math Rock for a second😅 Very similar thumbnails

[@musicbyarwin_]

love this

[@therealone1288]

what's that tele? it looks so nice. that fretboard is well loved

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

It's a vintera road worn 50s tele so it's made to look beat up. It's a nice guitar but ultimately the neck was too big for my liking so I sold it.

[@bruisedbug]

Which is the right way to play the rhythm guitar? I play the rhythm in FACGCE, same tuning as the lead

[@隠れた]

I believe it has been done both ways, I have seen set lists with the tunings before and if memory serves both players tuned to facgce for never meant but I know tunings were changed later on to help lower the pitch for singing

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

I went by the tuning charts posted by AF online. They tune a semitone lower. Still the same tunings though 👍

[@panema0]

where'd you get your tabs, because im trying to learn the song, but can't find any good tabs anywhere..

[@bestbeekeeper8931]

TL;DR:i personally consider this to be a I-II-iii-V in F lydian, rather than a IV-V-vi-I in C major because the C/G at the end sounds like it's setting up the loop rather than resolving it to me. it's basically a major version of all along the watchtower prefacing this by saying i'm pretty sure the bass is just mimicking the low note in mike's riff. when mike is playing a low F, the bass plays F. when mike is playing a low G, the bass plays G, etc. while mike is playing that F in the bass, steve holmes is playing an A minor pentatonic run that emphasizes the E, C, and A, in that order. yes, he's plays a D and a G, but those are both passing tones and don't mean much by themselves, meanwhile the C major arpeggio mike is playing is, to my ear, more harmonizing this run that steve is doing. next we have a G in the bass, and mike plays a G and D over it, while steve starts on a very tense voice of a CMaj7 chord, before moving onto a cluster chord voiced as C-D-E. this is super amiguous, truthfully, and i think the ambiguity is where this riff gets a lot of its power. until the A minor, none of these chords really have a defined major/minor quality for too terribly long. both of these first chords are only getting their third for a moment, F getting its third, A, very late(just before the chord change) and G getting its third, B, only for a moment at the start before leaving it behind. the next chord is an A minor and the most defined by its quality in that regard in the entire riff. sure, mike is playing an F, and maybe steve is too for a second, but these are both passing tones. they aren't around very long and don't serve much harmonic purpose, meanwhile the riff is constantly rocking back and forth from C to E over an A, and you can't get much more A minor than that. i think the reason why this chord is so tense and draws our attention so well is specifically because it's so emphatically a minor chord. before, we were getting a lot of upper extensions, some conflicting information, but now everyone's playing A minor, and it suddenly grounds us from this otherwise suspended, floaty sound we're accustomed to. this riff ends with a C/G, and while it does kind of sound resolved with holmes alone, it's clearer with mike's part what's happening. the thing about steve's part is that it's based around this sort of ostinato figure which'll work over pretty much anything. it's not that it's not contributing any harmonic information, it's just that the ear gets so accustomed to it that you could really resolve it anywhere if you wanted to, between the pedal tone and the constant C-E alternation over top. what i think is really telling is that mike is only playing the G below, no other notes. this is the only time he's just playing a bass note, so it's pretty clear he's trying to draw your attention to this G, which really wants to go back to F as fast as possible to my ear. this is as far as i can get without having to give a primer on functional harmony

[@hectorivansigalasilva5050]

Muy finos sus tutoriales plebe. Slds cordiales.

[@Trauzzinator]

Another telecaster!!!! HAHAHAHA

[@manueldelatorre2383]

Can you please make a video about “Waltz for Lily” by 3nd, that’s a math rock band I feel is underrated and I think it would be really cool... Great video btw :D

[@memes_weakly2126]

Bring The Livestreams Back~ :D

[@Dizastermaster.]

I would think think the 2nd verse progression is even more special

[@UlfJayThatGoldenTeacher]

New telecaster ? What type is it ?

[@cotobadafne]

nice tele

[@brotherjay9744]

Never Meant, the pinnacle of emo/math

[@da5idblacksun]

What are the details of your blue telecaster?

[@LetsTalkAboutMathRock]

It's a RoadWorn 50s Vintera Telecaster FSR. Looks great but for me the neck was too big so ended up selling it on.

[@da5idblacksun]

Makes sense. What are you playing now? @@LetsTalkAboutMathRock

[@therealone1288]

meme song but so good

[@rxpapi]

th

[@TheXxPSYCHO]

You're sooo difficult to watch. Try to say what you have to say with less words

[@xyzyzx1253]

Work on your attention span lol

[@TheXxPSYCHO]

@@xyzyzx1253 my attention span is fine. I just value my time and rather not waste it