The song I want you to figure out is Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder, one of my all time favorite artists. This song was recorded at Hitsville U.S.A. Studio A in Detroit in 1969 and 1970, not far from where I live right now. I had the honor of being in the room where this was recorded! Gives me goosebumps when I think about it!

I'd recommend paying close attention to how the bass line and chords interact. There are some cool modal things going on and the bass line lets you in on it.

For song analysis, I don't require you to figure anything out by ear, but you're welcome to go about it that way if its fun for you. I think for some of you, that would be a really fun challenge. For those of you who don't want to, you can google chords and things and play along a bit and see how that feels.

Here are the things I'm looking for that you're welcome to post on the community forum:

1. What key is this song in?
2. What is the arrangement of the song? Intro-verse-chorus. etc
3. What are the chord progressions for each section?
- if you wanna get more specific, continue -
4. How is the bass line interacting with the chords (eg. R 5 6 7 or something)
5. Are the chords triads or 7th chords? How does that change the key or modality?

BONUS--------
WRITE A LITTLE MUSICAL *BLURB BASED ON SOMETHING YOU LEARNED FROM THIS SONG. IT COULD BE A CHORD PROGRESSION, A BASS LINE, A MELODY - SOMETHING SIMPLE - EXPLAIN WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THIS SONG AND HOW YOU APPLIED THAT TO YOUR MUSICAL BLURB

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Here is another song analysis challenge! Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival

The song itself is pretty straightforward! If you're just starting to get into ear training, this might be a fun one to try out. If you're a beginner and you feel like you don't know where to start on something like this, hold on! I've got more ear training videos coming. In the meantime, practice with Ear Training 01 and Ear Training 02.

You're welcome to participate in this challenge at the most basic level to the most advanced. Here is a list of questions to answer about this song, with 1 being the most basic question and gradually increasing in difficulty. You can figure out as many question

1. What key is this song in? (example __ Major or __ Minor or __ Modal thing)
2. What is the arrangement? (intro, verse, chorus, etc)
3. What are the basic chords? (X X X X for the verse and X X X X for the chorus, etc)
4. What are the roman numerals for this progression?
harder questions:
5. Are there any extra notes added to the chords? (7ths. 9ths, 6th, etc)
6. Can you figure out the riff(s) involved in the song and explain how they interact with the chords? (eg. this riff starts on the 3rd of the chord and goes to __ or something)
7. Can you figure out how to play the melody of the song to see how it interacts with the chords?

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The previous community song analysis went really well! I don't even need to do an analysis myself because people in the community really broke down the chord progression and melody nicely in the community forum. Check it out for yourself!

This week I'm offering a deceptively simple one for you to analyze:

Rock Steady by Aretha Franklin

My questions for you to answer:

1. What key is this in? Is it a basic Major or Minor key or is there more going on?
2. What are the chords? Use Roman Numerals where possible
3. How would you go about playing a solo over this progression? What scale sounds good to you?

I'll give a hint - this tune is not a 12 bar blues, but it is certainly influenced by the blues. I'd recommend refreshing with MTM 12 &13.

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Hey Jude

This week, we're taking a look at The Beatles' Hey Jude

Here are the questions I'd like you to answer about this song:

1. What key is this song in? Is it Major or Minor (or modal or something else?)
2. What is the chord progression? (use Roman Numerals to describe it)
3. If there are chords outside the key, can we explain what is going on? (eg. modal stuff, secondary dominants, etc)

These are the essential questions. IF you want more questions to answer about this song, let me know!

Keep in mind: You DO NOT have to do this by ear. Feel free to look up the chords and research anything you like. If you want to do it by ear, awesome - but that is not a requirement. This is more about looking at the chords and figuring out their roman numeral relationship.

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