Where to Start With Music Theory, Episode 7: The Coolness of Swing 8th Notes

[@Huginnm]

As a self taught musician, nothing comes close to that feeling of finally grasping a once elusive concept and have that eureka moment for being able to connect the dots. Your music theory video did that for me especially this one since I finally understand how one can alter the feel of a song from gypsy jazz to a bluesy groove. I'm now hunting for a patreon page for the first time.

[@geoffb9999]

Absolutely loved the SRV in 4/4. Very informative as ever and entertaining too. Thanks Eric

[@Hawkspring]

You’d be shocked how long I waited but was too afraid to ask for this time signature breakdown. Thanks!

[@niconico4138]

Awesome lesson! A really cool example of the difference between Swing and Straight feel is Duke Ellington's "Sugar Rum Cherry" completely transforming Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy"

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Ooooh cool reference!

[@WhiteDove73-888]

I’m a songwriter. Wrote my first song before I could play any instrument. When I learned 5 chords I went nuts. I rarely play other people’s songs. I learn tons of riffs and why they played them & write my own. I get so much out of your videos. Thank you!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yes! I agree with this approach 100% Learn a motif, think about it, and see where it leads you!

[@davidarcher6055]

I’ve been watching (and learning!) back through this series. The noise your guitar is making in this one is immense Eric. Sounds fantastic.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Thanks David!

[@patrickgeraghty3207]

Hey Eric, I am learning so much from your videos & it really changing the way I play guitar & holistically think about songwriting for the better! I really struggled before this to grasp any concepts as I am self taught. Writing my new alt rock album currently. Glad I found your channel at the perfect time! Thanks Patrick - Melbourne, Australia

[@johnl.6930]

You are an amazing teacher and a touch of humor the human side. And your references to actual recognizable songs make it absolutely authentic. So your purpose of teaching theory that is immediately useful is accomplished beautifully! Thanks!✌️❤️

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yay! This makes me happy to hear!

[@leifkeane]

I have struggled with swing for YEARS!! I envy people who take to it with ease!

[@mjb20224]

Pride and joy with straight eights = The Cramps. Great lesson! Swing notes are the pathway to the full tilt boogie.

[@brianshank1419]

Eric, many thanks for this music theory series of videos! It's so helpful to have theory summarized into one concise package relating to guitar, because it's otherwise hard to know where to focus the learning time and energy.

[@davedee6339]

Lots of fun man, love the straight Pride n Joy take!

[@noshitrizzo]

This series is the greatest explanation to music theory (I personally think of course) I have ever heard thank you for these videos

[@tuomasotto2842]

Cool swing 8th notes, cool plants, cool kitchen & cool OCBD.

[@AriqAlok]

You're just the best man, thanks for being here and doing what you do.

[@thekingofelfland3294]

very important stuff and excellent lesson. A little piece of info I have on fudging the lines in Rock n Roll is one where Chuck Berry recording his first songs, the studio band played straight eights while Chuck sang swing ...or vice versa, not sure which. It was corrected on the later versions. i think it was JBG or maybellene.

[@nickangelo3283]

Great vide Eric, as always. A good example of swing vs straight 8th is Midnight Special by CCR. They switch band and forth between them and you can really feel the mood of the song shift when they do.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Oooh good call - CCR grooves are so underrated!

[@nickangelo3283]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Ironically, it just came on while I was driving about an hour after I watched your video. Funny how that universe works that way. Agreed. CCR is groovy to the max.

[@tombisson3186]

Eric, thanks for putting together these wonderful videos. I often click on videos similar to yours but I rarely stay for more than few minutes. I usually watch yours all the way through. I am a completely self taught hobbiest guitar player who has started to play gigs in retirement. I know very little about music theory, and when someone starts talking about it, my general response is, "That's interesting but so what? How is that going to make me a better player?" The answer usually eludes me. While your videos are better than most, I would still like you to be explicit about how the practical benefits of theory. Being self-taught, I developed my own music theory and it's based on intervals, not scales. This means that in my mind, the blues progression is always R-5-7, not I-IV-V. Common chord progressions are very important to me, but it's not about "chords in a key" it's about having maps in my head and knowing that the maps change depending on where I start. Finally, I would say that the ear knows way more music theory than my brain - like someone who speaks grammatically correct but knows very few grammar rules. Thanks for letting me share and I love your guitar playing - so clean and ready to go anywhere at any time.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

The ends justify the means! If it sounds good and works for you - then keep doing it your way!

[@tombisson3186]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Thanks for being awesome.

[@gab_ale]

Nice way to start the video. I am liking these time signature lessons.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Octave fuzz Rolling Stones "Bitch" riff!

[@garethsmart6480]

These are real world lessons. Just what Is needed, thanks a lot!

[@poetryofbeing]

You played Stevie really nicely...but i appreciate that you focus on the jams that others do not. The variety of songs in your content makes it special, it doesn't just focus on the "blues gods".

[@ditchgator1]

LOVE taking time signatures and changing them up😎👍 Tremendous rewards indeed😎👍 Great (as usual) video Mr. Haugen 😎👍 😎👍❤🖖 Love brother

[@thedose8779]

That pride and joy arrangement the second time around is really like Wilko Johnson ❤️

[@rinosphere]

King of Skronk Love it 8:40

[@karlfarren]

Hey Eric. Have a listen to the original recording of Johnny B Goode. Chuck is chugging straight eighths, while the rhythm section is playing swing. Mental! Love this lesson. Again.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Aha yes! That old rock and roll stuff! That's what I was thinking of!

[@cheesy6516]

Another great video. For me, it took learning the basics of playing the drums to really better understand my concept of dividing time on guitar. Great job.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Good on you! I play drums too and you're 100% correct it really helps understand what guitar is supposed to be doing in a groove situation!

[@vladimirpoutine7522]

Very interesting and made me realize how much I swing things(since I don't know theory).

[@PhoShzel75]

Another excellent video. Thanks Eric!

[@leftpastsaturn67]

Great lesson Eric, had fun playing along. I'm off to swing everything.

[@renokid64]

Love it, love it! Thanks man for your creativity and guitar enthusiasm. Very inspiring! :)

[@juansastre1729]

Great explanation! Straight pride and joy was amazing

[@holdenc17]

Had lots of fun applying this to Paranoid and then trying to get the solo to work.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

heheheheh watch this jazz version: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZrEdqZ-gMSDfKM It's brilliant!

[@iagobozza]

Loved Shame and Hopelessness!

[@TheRHSman]

Drums style coming into guitar. Try a Stanton Moore trick of moving from straight to swung and back again. Then find in between swing and straight!

[@taloujazz9504]

thanks for the rhythm lesson very useful

[@hottamanful]

Wow .. that’s fabulous Eric .. You rock man 👍💐

[@ijwhite]

So glad I pushed down that bell icon. I don't have enough positive things to say about this channel and especially this series.

[@skadesignetcetera]

Same here ! It’s like a gift every time.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Thanks for being an ultra-subscriber Ivan!

[@ethelwulfmountbattenderoth2286]

Speaking of, Talking Heads, Their second album, "More Songs About Buildings and Food" is wall to wall with cool little guitar parts. Granted, this has a bit to do with Brian Eno producing it, but still there they are. Not to mention Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp and Johnny Marr on subsequent Heads albums.

[@mattgilbert7347]

I love that album, and Fear of Music. Those early TH heads albums were the first ones I really fell for at the tender age of 12.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yes! Thanks for reminding me!

[@mattgilbert7347]

Sweet tone, my dude. Turning the phaser off was a terrible mistake :) "Grok" - I understood that reference!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

My best friend Frank, a 70yr hippie jazz drum teacher always says that!

[@deanmccaskill5495]

This is a great series! Hey Eric I ordered the TM Deluxe Reverb last night in a bit of a..... fog if I’m honest. Your vid sold me on it.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Congrats in advance! My favorite setting is when you dial the "attenuator" on the back all the way down - it does a really good job of giving you that classic blackface ratty breakup!

[@deanmccaskill5495]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Thanks Eric! So went a bit more drunk shopping last night and got a something way outta my sandbox.. Pink Custom 24.... way not my style. Why I mention it is I was kinda more looking for an offset.(talk about your left turn!) Either a Jag or Jazz. What do you prefer? And would you recommend a Classic Vibe to dip my toe in? I think I like the Jazzmaster pickups more(the look) and the Jag controls intimidate me. What do you think?

[@RobertSlover]

"shame and hopelessness" america since 2016 (the red hats)!

[@woodruffgraphics]

8:30 major Queens of the Stone Age vibe right there.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

ooooh I wish they would do that song!

[@mr.joshua657]

Most excellent!

[@madsbrandt598]

I just add some extra power into it and it sounds extra cool, im not sure if i am hitting the 7, 8 & 9th notes; but its extra extra cool when that happens.

[@christopher-miles]

i like the fact you now have a pie budget; congrats on all your success. hahaha. that "srv's tone" you were getting was insane. was that straight in? ...sounded like neil young and frusciante... if they were good at puns.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

That's just the silvertone about 3/4 up getting squashed through the weber mini mass attenuator (to save my ears). I'm gonna have to do a separate video on attenuators - I really believe every tube amp owner should own one.

[@bmurphy616]

I wish I had two more hands so I could give these videos four thumbs up. Thank you!

[@garmacintyre]

I come for the music theory, I stay for the pop culture references.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Marisa Tomei!

[@davidhollander829]

Great lesson, Eric! The swung version of Every Breath You Take at the end sounds so weirdly jaunty, it made me laugh. (I can never play that effing song right in any time.) But the thing that really got me excited: there might be another Gillian and Dave lesson coming!!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

"Hard times ain't gonna ruuuuuule my mind...."

[@davidhollander829]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Oh my. That song makes me cry like a baby. Can't wait. (You going to play the banjo for the backing track??)

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

naw my banjo's intonation is too crappy for the 5th fret capo

[@aaronkessman7832]

The other day I was just thinking how awesome it would be if you did a cover of an otis redding song! I love when you do those solo guitar interpretations!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yeah I gotta do a "Haugen" version of "These Arms of Mine" - always loved that classic track!

[@aaronkessman7832]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Im looking forward to it!!!

[@michaelmunday6808]

Ya know a 12/8 RNB slow jam

[@poppyonepug1]

Hmm … No mention of the Shuffle or the Texas Shuffle when playing SRV? I have always played swing 8ths, as you describe, by tying the first 2 notes of an 8th note triplet. While others insert a rest for the for the second note of the triplet instead of tying the first 2 notes. Obviously that produces a slightly different feel. What’s your take on that? Also a great example of someone using straight and swing feels in the same song is T-Bone Walker. He constantly switched between straight and swing feel during many of his songs. Thanks.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Ah yes T Bone Walker!

[@michaelmunday6808]

T bones “Shake it Baby” has some weird shit going on for it’s time. Especially the weird guitar effects drone part that carries on through most of the song

[@TheNullProblemo]

Good lesson! Thank you! Please can you explain how to get this beautiful ton from clean to dirty with just the volume knob of your guitar?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

I need to make a video about attenuators - every tube amp owner should have one! I'm partial to my weber mini mass - you can see it peeking out of the corner behind the amp.

[@TheNullProblemo]

@@EricHaugenGuitar That means the amp is dialed to a nice breakup and cleans to the wonderful fenderish ton when the volume of the guitar is rolled off? Best regards and greetings from Germany.....

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yeah! The Silvertone is about 1/2 up on the volume, but thanks to the attenuator it's not damaging my ears!

[@TheNullProblemo]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Ok, I´ll check out my Bassman59 with a Tom-Scholz-Powersoak soon....

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

I used to have the powersoak! Great little device!

[@ChrisAnthonyGuitar]

Another great video man! Seriously love that guitar! Do you have a video going through the story of it?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yeah! an old one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqOmdIWHm5KJj7M

[@ChrisAnthonyGuitar]

@@EricHaugenGuitar oh lovely, will check it out! 🙂👍

[@michaelthomas2196]

Finally had to hit the half speed on one of these to catch that turnaround on "These Arms of Mine." Was messing around with that song all morning! How'd you know!?!?!?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yeah! The way that A chord keeps moving that one tone up! So EPIC!

[@michaelthomas2196]

@@EricHaugenGuitar Just Killer. Also, shout out to playing in A rather than Bb. I just hear it that way.

[@danedalton]

Are you working on any new EPs? Picked up Runes the other day and was a huge fan!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Thanks Dane! Yeah - I'm pretty far along on a follow up LP. Hopefully it will be all done by the fall - you'll definitely hear me talk about it here when it's ready!

[@ckallaher]

Maybe five or six years ago Josh Turner and Carson McKee posted a swung version of Life In The Fast Lane that’s about as good an antidepressant as you can get on KZbin. Maybe not as good as straight SRV but still worth checking out. Way better for around the campfire since you really don’t have to play any of the original riffs if you don’t feel like it and it still works great.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Oooh I gotta check that out!

[@taloujazz9504]

I am a huge fan of Talking Heads so thanks for the killing riff ;)

[@alexandrebier4581]

All video long I had QOTSA in my head, and I'm like ''good lord, he did SRV for the first time and won't go QOTSA???" So, thank you!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

No One Knows is such a perfect track!

[@Auxend]

Oh Sultan my Sultan!

[@JonNewquist]

It don't mean a thing, right? Nicely done!

[@JasonClute]

A Haugen swung skronky (spelling?) album of covers please!

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

hahahahah the BLASPHEMY!

[@ericagner6420]

Swing Psycho Killer was pretty hilarious.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

I could imagine Levon Helm singing it :-)

[@Bad.At.Guitar]

Swing to straight breaks my brain more than straight to swing

[@gillesgenete9598]

Yeah, I like to swing some songs that were not, it's fun.

[@LSDis4me]

"I totally just skronked it." Eric's book title (or epitaph).

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

hahahahahahahahaha

[@ericwalter4771]

Are you not an SRV fan either? I respect the hell out of him just never dug his style .

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

100% agree - I would've loved to see him live but don't really care about basic 12 bar blues structures

[@DylanGoff]

So I guess if Instant Karma is swing then She's Electric by Oasis is also swing?

[@haroldbaker555]

But is Sultans of Swing in swing timing?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Oddly enough it's not!

[@seanmichael2917]

Am I imagining watching a few videos on you showing off a few war in drugs songs/scales adam likes?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yeah! I've discussed "Pain," "An Ocean Between The Waves," " Red Eyes," and the scales he tends to use :-)

[@seanmichael2917]

@@EricHaugenGuitar thanks for helping me pick up my guitar again ...

[@hdschoedel]

Anyone in the mood for a giggle should try swinging "Sweet Child O' Mine". It is as awful as it is awesome. Now I want to try this with every song I know.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

hahahaha Hank Williams III version indeed :-)

[@michaelmunday6808]

Yeah feels like riding a horse

[@reddsflies]

Why no Stevie?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

I love Stevie, but he's been done to death on YT by so many teachers much better at it than me :-)

[@blackthumb1080]

Pride & Joy played in straight 8ths = Dr Feelgood/Wilko Johnson.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

such an underrated guitarist!

[@alejandrohualdez5550]

I am a child of the New Wave, so I prefer Shame and Hopelessness to Pride and Joy.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

Yesssss bring the dooooooom!

[@gaulpict]

'Shame & Despair', sshurely?

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

I feel like Mark Manson talks about how the opposite of joy is hopelessness - that's where I got it from.

[@howlerbike]

Swing, Swung, and in the deep south Swang.

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

HA! indeed! Immediately I think of Melissa Swingle from "Trailer Bride" - cool band.

[@WhiteDove73-888]

SRV is haunting you?

[@Auxend]

this song has some strong swing shifting within the 3/4 context kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKW1eal_paecrdU

[@karllongbottomguitars9192]

The SRV purists have just had a nose bleed 🤪 QOTSA yeah baby yeah

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

the BLASPHEMY!

[@willowcolios5248]

More great stuff Eric. That opening riff sounds like a bitch. 😀

[@taloujazz9504]

You really love pizzas Eric

[@EricHaugenGuitar]

#FACTS!