PINBALL WIZARD
WHAT INSTRUMENTS ARE USED?:
Acoustic Guitar - The acoustic guitar is used throughout the whole song (from start to finish). This guitar is on its own from 0.00 till 0.24 then again has a solo part from 2.14 till 2.17.
Electric Guitar - The guitar starts at 0.25 but from there on is very 'gappy.' Meaning it starts and stops, starts and stops throughout the whole song. It is also very simple with only one repeated harmonic through the verses.
Bass Guitar - The bass guitar starts at 0.32 and from there on, it's in the whole song. The bass mostly uses a broken (one note played at a time) power chord (Root, Fifth and the Octave).
Vocals - The vocals start at the same time as the bass guitar. The song has a few little breaks in it, and the vocals and bass always come in at the same time.
I think Rodger Daltrey has quite a good range. When you listen to his other songs, he has many different sounds to his voice. However in this song he stays at the same 'pitch' throughout the whole song.
Backing Vocals - The backing vocals only accompany Rodger in the chorus'. I think they sing slightly higher to give the chorus' a much better feel, and to add some change to the song.
WHAT EFFECTS ARE USED?:
Acoustic Guitar - I think the effects used on this are Reverb and Chorus. Which gives it that distant, happy sound.
Electric Guitar - There is definitely Distortion on this guitar! It's what gives the aggressive, distorted sound.
Bass Guitar - There aren't any effects on the bass, it's just very... Bassey. So I had the bass on my amp, quite high up. This is what gives the full sound. I think it really goes well with the vocals.
There isn't any effects on anything else. There isn't a lot of effects being used in the first place. But it's these little things that make the song sound so good.
WHAT WE CAN'T LOSE?:
This is a song by The Who, a four member band who made incredible music. So I think we can't lose a lot, if not nothing!
1.) I would say the main element of this song is the acoustic guitar, so we can not lose that! And it can't be 'simplified,' the way the acoustic is being played is very important. It starts of very calm, easy and softly played, but then we need to keep the crescendo to build up the power of the song. After the acoustic build up, I think the guitar needs to be played with a lot of power and 'aggression.'
2.) Even though the Electric Guitar isn't doing anything crazy in the song, It's a must have! The way the guitar comes in for the first time really adds a lot to the song. It must be distorted and overpowering when it first comes in. Also we can't take out the harmonics during the verses, it really does justice to them.
3.) During rehearsals I would deliberately not come in with the bass just to see how it would sound. And without the bass, it sounds very empty. It really does sound fuller with the bass.
4.) Like Dot said, the drumming needs to be crazy for The Who. And just like with any song, the drums can never be taken out, it's what holds everything together!
5.) How (the range) the vocals are sung is up to the singers obviously. But the WAY there being sung has to stay. We can't add in very melodic lines everywhere because then it won't sound like a Who song.
Just like I said we can't lose anything when dealing with The Who's songs! Everything is doing something different and when you take out something, change something or even add something, it is very noticeable.
Even how everything sounds has to stay the same. We need to keep the distortion on the electric guitar. We need to keep the reverb on the acoustic guitar.
When you break it down, there isn't a lot happening. But when everything is put together it sounds like so much different things are going on and that's why we can't lose anything.
BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG:
The basic information of the song are things like structure, key, tempo etc.
The original key to this song is D major, However we moved it up three semi tones. So we were playing it in F Major.
The structure to this song is pretty basic because it contains the usual verse, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus etc. But for a relatively short song, there are a lot of different parts in the structure:
- INTRO (0.00 - 0.31)
- VERSE (0.31 - 0.46)
- PRE-CHORUS (0.46 - 0.56)
- VERSE (0.56 - 1.09)
- CHORUS (1.16 - 1.35)
- VERSE (1.35 - 1.51)
- PRE-CHORUS (1.51 - 1.58)
- CHORUS (1.58 - 2.10)
- SONG MODULATES (2.25 - 2.40)
- OUTRO (2.40 - 2.58)
I tried figuring out the BPM for this song but I have a feeling that it varies during the song because I had to keep adjusting my metronome when I was listening to it.
WHAT'S MAKES IT SO ICONIC?
The thing that makes this song so iconic is the acoustic guitar riff. After this song was released it became one of the most iconic riffs of all time to be played on the Acoustic Guitar.
Obviously now a days it's so iconic because it's by The Who, and they are one of the biggest bands of all time, everybody knows them.
But back in them days (1970's) the guitar riff was incredibly popular, every guitar player knew it and would play it... I think that's probably still the case today.
Acoustic Guitar - The acoustic guitar is used throughout the whole song (from start to finish). This guitar is on its own from 0.00 till 0.24 then again has a solo part from 2.14 till 2.17.
Electric Guitar - The guitar starts at 0.25 but from there on is very 'gappy.' Meaning it starts and stops, starts and stops throughout the whole song. It is also very simple with only one repeated harmonic through the verses.
Bass Guitar - The bass guitar starts at 0.32 and from there on, it's in the whole song. The bass mostly uses a broken (one note played at a time) power chord (Root, Fifth and the Octave).
Vocals - The vocals start at the same time as the bass guitar. The song has a few little breaks in it, and the vocals and bass always come in at the same time.
I think Rodger Daltrey has quite a good range. When you listen to his other songs, he has many different sounds to his voice. However in this song he stays at the same 'pitch' throughout the whole song.
Backing Vocals - The backing vocals only accompany Rodger in the chorus'. I think they sing slightly higher to give the chorus' a much better feel, and to add some change to the song.
WHAT EFFECTS ARE USED?:
Acoustic Guitar - I think the effects used on this are Reverb and Chorus. Which gives it that distant, happy sound.
Electric Guitar - There is definitely Distortion on this guitar! It's what gives the aggressive, distorted sound.
Bass Guitar - There aren't any effects on the bass, it's just very... Bassey. So I had the bass on my amp, quite high up. This is what gives the full sound. I think it really goes well with the vocals.
There isn't any effects on anything else. There isn't a lot of effects being used in the first place. But it's these little things that make the song sound so good.
WHAT WE CAN'T LOSE?:
This is a song by The Who, a four member band who made incredible music. So I think we can't lose a lot, if not nothing!
1.) I would say the main element of this song is the acoustic guitar, so we can not lose that! And it can't be 'simplified,' the way the acoustic is being played is very important. It starts of very calm, easy and softly played, but then we need to keep the crescendo to build up the power of the song. After the acoustic build up, I think the guitar needs to be played with a lot of power and 'aggression.'
2.) Even though the Electric Guitar isn't doing anything crazy in the song, It's a must have! The way the guitar comes in for the first time really adds a lot to the song. It must be distorted and overpowering when it first comes in. Also we can't take out the harmonics during the verses, it really does justice to them.
3.) During rehearsals I would deliberately not come in with the bass just to see how it would sound. And without the bass, it sounds very empty. It really does sound fuller with the bass.
4.) Like Dot said, the drumming needs to be crazy for The Who. And just like with any song, the drums can never be taken out, it's what holds everything together!
5.) How (the range) the vocals are sung is up to the singers obviously. But the WAY there being sung has to stay. We can't add in very melodic lines everywhere because then it won't sound like a Who song.
Just like I said we can't lose anything when dealing with The Who's songs! Everything is doing something different and when you take out something, change something or even add something, it is very noticeable.
Even how everything sounds has to stay the same. We need to keep the distortion on the electric guitar. We need to keep the reverb on the acoustic guitar.
When you break it down, there isn't a lot happening. But when everything is put together it sounds like so much different things are going on and that's why we can't lose anything.
BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG:
The basic information of the song are things like structure, key, tempo etc.
The original key to this song is D major, However we moved it up three semi tones. So we were playing it in F Major.
The structure to this song is pretty basic because it contains the usual verse, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus etc. But for a relatively short song, there are a lot of different parts in the structure:
- INTRO (0.00 - 0.31)
- VERSE (0.31 - 0.46)
- PRE-CHORUS (0.46 - 0.56)
- VERSE (0.56 - 1.09)
- CHORUS (1.16 - 1.35)
- VERSE (1.35 - 1.51)
- PRE-CHORUS (1.51 - 1.58)
- CHORUS (1.58 - 2.10)
- SONG MODULATES (2.25 - 2.40)
- OUTRO (2.40 - 2.58)
I tried figuring out the BPM for this song but I have a feeling that it varies during the song because I had to keep adjusting my metronome when I was listening to it.
WHAT'S MAKES IT SO ICONIC?
The thing that makes this song so iconic is the acoustic guitar riff. After this song was released it became one of the most iconic riffs of all time to be played on the Acoustic Guitar.
Obviously now a days it's so iconic because it's by The Who, and they are one of the biggest bands of all time, everybody knows them.
But back in them days (1970's) the guitar riff was incredibly popular, every guitar player knew it and would play it... I think that's probably still the case today.