THE VAN HALEN HIT SONG FORMULA

[Music] ladies and gentlemen michael pomizano here and welcome to a brand new series called the hit song formula featuring the mighty van halen i was having lunch with my friend tom prather uh he was about to interview greg renoff uh on his podcast about van halen and he asked me a question he said what would you ask eddie if you got to meet him and he immediately thought of this clip some of the stuff ed listens to i can't stand oh yeah like what tell me well it gets too technical ed likes to listen to uh alan holdsworth and the real guitarist guitarist type guys you know really don't have a clue about how to put a song together but what they play is really interesting i'm sorry because that's the thing about eddie van halen is that he wrote most of the music for the band and he was this virtuosic player and that's what makes him different from so many others is that he understood that the virtuosity needed a vehicle and that was the song that he would have his spots in the song to be on display but that you needed the song to get out there it is such a crucial piece that so few of us myself included focus on and so the quest for this video is to find that vehicle the van halen hit song formula so what i did is i analyzed their top 10 billboard charts because you guys know i'm obsessed with what makes a hit a hit what makes non-musicians get songs stuck in their head and they're singing in the stadium what is it that makes it work for non-musicians that's the key so i took the billboard top 100 chart and here we go their biggest hits in order jump why can't this be love when it's love finish what you started running with the devil i'll wait panama love walks in dance the night away and dreams so i analyzed all of those for their key for their tempo for the actual song structure verse chorus whatever what happens during the lead section and on and on and on and i've found that there are absolutely without a doubt common threads it's not even common threads they are exactly following this formula and here it is in a nutshell the full pdf accompanying this lesson along with tom prather's list of the songs that have the intros the chorus the intro is the solo breakdown intro is the verse along with my handwritten song notes those will be available for guitargate.com subscribers it is the first link in the description i am so excited to share this with you because i know there's things in here that a lot of you haven't put together and they're so simple they're so simple and usable one here's the obvious one the riff is king the intro riff every song starts with an intro and sometimes it takes a little bit to get to it but the riff is basically always the chorus think about it it's basically always the chorus right right it's it's it's [Music] every single one [Music] every single one right [Music] whether it's guitar or whether it's keyboard the riff is the chorus and it's wait for it major major so sometimes it's the verse as well but it's almost always the chorus whether it's guitar or whether it's piano it is in every simple song it's powerful it's epic and it's simple and here's the big one here's the big one it is always always always for these hit songs based around basic triads and sus chords everything is a major triad minor triad or a sus2 or sus4 chord where the third is removed that's it that's it look at look at jump it's in c major g five chord one chord c four chord f do it again and then it just goes down f f different inversion fifth in the bass c [Music] c sus two it is in every single song so like if we go out to um um let's say uh um like running with the devil this is one of the first ones that took everybody off guard right you're like wait a minute wait a minute usually when i play a major third with distortion it just it just sounds like crap and it does and that's why he used to flat the third to get a beatless third that's why he did the out-of-tune tuning to do that it's because he was always thinking triads d major e major a major triad slide up sorry g major triad slide up to a major pull off to e major triad it is literally in everything triads and sus chords to the moon all right so that's step one now let's talk about keys every single guitar track on this list run with the devil dance the night away panama and finish what you started by the way i forgot to say i swapped out running with the devil um for oh pretty woman because i didn't write it anyway they are all in e they're all in e they're all major for the chorus yeah get what you get okay all the keys songs the two top ones jump why can't this be love love walks in dreams all in c major only two outliers are our weight and when it's love which are in d minor but the choruses are d major in both so what does this tell us this tells us that eddie plays the piano and the guitar in the same way it is visually oriented and he makes it work visually with his ear for the rhythm it is white keys and it is open strings it is visual it is physical and you can see it when he plays i knew i identified with this as soon as i saw him playing the first time i knew he felt about it the way i feel about it my ear has always been my weak point i'm not saying eddie's ear is weak that that's preposterous but i knew it was physical for me i knew it was shape based even intros like um hot for teacher right when you think it's this clearly [Music] that is just a shape right and the theory behind it straight triads dude this is c e and a right a minor d major d minor g major g minor c major there's no outliers in his game for the most part and then when he goes to the when it goes across that's just a straight pattern so the key takeaway here is that he likes the white keys almost everything is built on the white keys these hits with major triads and minor triads and sus chords on the white keys of the piano and open strings key of e on guitar take it to the bank that's step one check it off the list number two what makes this all possible the triad work and the sus cords is a rock solid steady rhythm section with driving either quarter eighth or 16th note base runs played by either michael anthony or doing the the the synth bass it is in every single song and unlike eddie who's doing a lot of inversions up top michael anthony or eddie playing synth bass is almost always doing either a pedal tone so just again think you know it's just there's nothing changing it's just the e going through there and it's in every song so it's either the pedal tone or the root of the chord that's changing it's almost never a walking bass line there's almost never an inversion the point of this is twofold one it doesn't ask much of the listener the non-musician can get the hook stuck in their head and stay dancing and isn't thrown anything that's going to be like right it's it allows eddie to do all their versions and to play major stuff in a distorted you know you know hot environment because it holds it down solid right harmonically the rhythm piece is even my more favorite part because i'm so happy that my friend rick biato did his what makes his song great on running with the devil he pointed out how difficult it is to play perfect succinct round bass notes of the exact same duration because here's the thing for everyone out there now take this to the bank i want you to listen to me here a rhythm section requires the bass and drums to understand the duration that each impact should live onto right how long it should go the drums can create the impact but they can't hold the note and put vibrato on it and squeeze it out at the exact same time so a great rhythm section is about the base extending the initial impact of the drums most notably the kick drum for a specific duration and a specific tone and then cutting it off at the exact point that's what groove is that's what it is and van halen does it perfectly and it's almost always straight and in 4 4 which allows eddie and dave with his voice and sammy to swing over top of it and to let that be the focus and the things people remember that's it that's the deal so next up is you have a major chorus always combined and less and less and unless it's just one riff all the way through like ain't talking about love with a minor verse or pre-chorus there is always a coupling of the co of a major chorus preceded by something minor in the verse or pre-chorus and here's the thing it is always in key it is almost exclusively the relative minor so the sixth chord or the two chord and when it's the two chord since almost every song is in c it is almost always d minor you see you're starting to see these recurring themes in here so for example for example jump the intro uh you know is the verse and the chorus but the pre-chorus goes to its relative minor right and why can't this be love you get a one six four five you know the intro with the sixteenth notes bass but the verse goes to its relative minor starts with d minor though starts with that two chord in the key of c but you always get this verse pre-course course verse pre-course course that's jump why can't this be love verse pre-course course verse pre-course course and it's almost always two choruses in running with the devil now in running with the devil you get this e minor vibe in the verse so you got this oh sorry that's e major but then you get this [Music] that is e minor because you have a g not g sharp in there you got g not g sharp so it's always a minor verse or pre-chorus that resolves to a major chorus and they're always coupled eddie always set up his courses with a minor chorus or pre-chorus before there wasn't always a pre-chorus but like listen i mean listen to it when it's when it's love you have that intro that's d major um i think it's it's a [Music] and the chords are like d major five a major d over f sharps that's just one again first inversion for g major but then it does this [Music] right it got the that's it over f but there shouldn't be an f it should be f sharp in key right because that's the major third of d so immediately we're setting up this minor thing and then it goes to c same thing again and then back to d and then the main riff [Music] that is d minor even though it never hits this f in the bass you will hear it go to the f and spell out those chord changes this sus chord over top what you saw me do like this [Applause] is like again it allows eddie to do those sus chords when the bass is staying straight ahead on it it's in everything and dance the night away the pre-chorus is your uh relative minor six minor chord but again the chorus is major um it's literally in everything in our weight the verse is d minor sorry [Music] it's d minor right right [Music] but then for the chorus [Music] that is d major sus 4 or d sus 4 d major what is that bad boy f sharp [Music] and then immediately with an f to a g so your f sharp went to f so we always always in dreams verse relative minor and then the chorus c major it's it's literally in in in every song so you got the riff as king it is the chorus it's sometimes the verse two you start with it you end with it it's always verse chorus or verse pre-chorus chorus and it's always it's almost always two of each that's it steady eighth uh quarter or sixteenth note petal tones or or just straight ahead rock bass sting on the on the roots again you have a major chorus in a minor verse or pre-chorus always especially on keyboard tunes it generally is the is the relative minor the sixth chord or the two chord in which case it's almost always d because the key songs are almost but they are pretty much all in c except the ones that are actually in d and now comes what i call the x factor and this is the whole point i'm actually going to restart the camera to make sure i don't lose this here's the x factor this is this is the point of all of it this is the crafted interlude or solo section that is in every single song now for the songs that he is not soloing over the actual chorus right the actual main riff like you get in the earlier guitar-centric songs there is a theme which i have discovered which i have not heard anybody else talk about that i am blown away by and it just makes me so happy and that is he looks at the keyboard the same way he looks at the guitar and a lot of these interludes solo sections if you will are based around the shape of the keyboard the white keys and the black keys and it's an actual pattern where he deviates from playing triad based things the whole rest of the tune to an actual riff-based pattern and that is what he solos over and that is why it sounds like such an incredible departure from the rest of the tune and when it comes back it's so masterful like how do you ever come up with that it's the black keys it's the shape of those five notes and he's making little riffs don't believe me we're going with the big dog jump and before you say oh it's not in other tunes yeah it is that's your homework to go check it out i'll i'll show you two examples it's in jump or why can't this be love but i'm going to show you jump and it's the same thing they're both kia c and then when it goes to this this this thing it switches to a b-flat minor-ish focus right but that's not the whole story here's the whole story let me go up to the solo [Music] so you say yourself how does anyone ever come up with that the song is in the key of c it's just major triads and sus chords out of nowhere you're like whoa whoa especially for the first keyboard track that really pop and the biggest song ever here's what it is listen to these bass lines [Music] is that it oh see look i'm getting turned around in here [Music] yeah so what this is here is you got it repeating now let me hold up let me hold up the keyboard here so again whole time we've been in the key of c all white keys check this out you got you see the pattern and then let me see if you can hear this underneath it right it goes something like this listen for it [Music] you hear that you hear that that extra layer in there now what that is what that is is you got uh [Music] do you see the pattern let me make sure i have those notes right because i learned it on i learned it on guitar yeah [Music] yeah that's it that's it so that's all you're getting that's all for that part too right it's just [Music] that that's it so the way he came up with this radical departure is he went from the white keys to the black keys that's it don't believe me all right before i'm going to do a deep dive and show you the rest of why this solo is awesome because there's something really you know i'm just going to show you because because it needs to happen it's going to be don't manage i love this stuff check this out back to the white keys right try it bass notes moving around right staying up crazy [Music] right now here [Music] alex questions so what is this what is this again this is g c d and g doing a sex top like a six note triad or a triplet feel if you will so one two three four five six for each beat and the bass note is descending from b flat sorry b flat a a flat to g so what is this this is a blues turn around turn arounds end up on the five you either come up from the major third step by step or you go down from the flat seven right but that's it so you're hearing you're hearing that top sus2 structure gsus2 be the thing that remains constant and then the baseline descends like a blues turn around showing his blues background and that five resolves to one back to c back to the [Music] masterful stuff masterful stuff because this this thing that descends it we'll say that for another video so anyway you think that's you think that's the only one that that it happens in check this out let's do why can't this be love [Music] so [Music] [Music] what is that what is that a song in the key of c it had that build up that [Music] all white keys and then you get this out of nowhere [Music] what is that this is of course a flat and b flat um where am i where am i [Music] look at it look at it look at it [Music] that's how we did it it was that simple dude is playing on the white keys switching to the black keys for the interlude and what does it do it takes you away for the first time from that triad approach and you switch to a riff you switch to a riff and what is he solo over that gives you that b-flat kind of thing over it right gives you that sort of modal sound he just throws the shape that's it and then how do we end how do we end here oh look see look i got all my papers all these will be on my uh website for everybody on guitar gate who uh makes this whole channel possible how do we end again it's always intro verse pre-chorus that has a minor event into the chorus which is major with harmonies this is the little x factor at the end always two choruses in the cycle for the most part with three part harmonies on top with michael anthony all the way up to sing you out on the way home does the solo interlude usually does the intro again sometimes another verse pre-chorus chorus but in almost every case of every song i can find van halen ends every song with their chorus with full harmonies that's how you get the non-musicians hooked you hear it you establish the tune you do that minor major thing with the verse pre-chorus chorus so that keeps resolving back to that hook that they first got with in the earworm you do that two times you do an interlude which is like what's going on out here come back to it and hit him with it again till it ends dance the night away chorus six times with harmonies faded out unchained chorus to the end right now chorus with the end and the cradle will rock chorus with the end outweight verse chorus four times fade out to the end love walks in guitar solo four times with the uh the hook at the end panama course the end dreams is the wild card but jump and why can't this be love literally they're the same song intro 30 seconds long 145 you know with a six with a synth bass you got verse pre-chorus chorus verse pre-chorus chorus solo with the key change solo with the outro intro key riff chorus fade out dreams is the only other wild card because with love walks in and dreams um or at least just with dreams there's actually a bridge the thing that you sing that what dreams are made of that's actually the bridge but he does start and end the song with it um i know they call it the bridge because that's how the sheet music i always check with sheet music um and that's it so what are the key takeaways this was a crazy video one the riff is king it's always a 30 second intro for the most part the riff is almost always the course the chorus is always major and the song is usually in e major or for the um uh in the key of e for guitar centric stuff and key of c for piano centric stuff the only exception is when it's in the key of d and in every case you have a minor a d minor to a d major to get back to that chorus and all the songs where the song does not have a separate pre-chorus there's sometimes the verse is the same as the chorus but there's a minor element that gets resolved to the major chorus it almost always goes verse chorus two times verse chorus two times almost always with harmonies two times on each of the chorus straight into the solo interlude section when it is not when he's not soloing over the main rift of the chorus usually especially in keyboard tunes when he started doing is he switches to a groove not the not the stereotypical um uh like triad based um you know whatever um switches to the black keys like it's just a straight groove and a straight beat which he solos over and that's why it has this outer space flavor when it comes back to it you hit him with the intro maybe a verse pre-chorus chorus but always ends with the chorus and the harmonies again that's it it's every tune it's every tune and it just goes to show you shapes rhythm following your ear will get you there make something this is his unique formula i can't wait to do more please drop links in the comments tell me the ones i should do next i love you i appreciate you and if you'd like to support this channel if you can tell this is a little bit different i would invite you to click the first link in the description and join me and so many others over at guitar game it's my life's work i've built a curriculum around a community that will help you keep picking this thing up every day instead of walking by it so we each just get a little bit better that's it cheers the mighty van halen yes okay

Channel: Michael Palmisano

Views: 306,841

Keywords: guitar, guitar lesson, prs guitars, improvisation, music theory, guitar scales, Guitargate, reaction, guitar reaction, van halen, eddie van halen, van halen hit songs, eddie van halen hit songs, van halen biggest songs, van halen reaction, van halen guitar lesson, evh, eddie van halen guitar solo, van halen jump lesson, why cant this be love guitar lesson, panama guitar lesson, love walk in guitar lesson, dance the night away guitar lesson, hit song formula, palmisano guitar

Id: 097HgaI2EKQ

Length: 33min 1sec (1981 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 21 2021