Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) So, full disclosure: I'm not actually 100% sure all the guitar parts I described were Joe Perry. Aerosmith has two guitarists, so some of them could've been Brad Whitford too. I couldn't find any definitive documentation on who played what, but Perry's generally the lead guitarist and most of the parts I was referencing were lead guitar parts so I think it was him. Apologies to Whitford if I was wrong, though. 2) Ok technically that run at the end of the intro includes both E and Eb so it's not quite F harmonic minor but the Eb is really fast and I decided it didn't matter enough to be worth explaining. 3) To be clear I don't think Tyler was _actually_ confused in the prechorus. It's just a good way of framing the changes, but if I don't say this here I'm gonna get a bunch of comments accusing me of underestimating Steven Tyler or whatever. 4) Another detail on that anecdote: When I sang this back in college, the arrangement we used was for an all-girl group and was pitched up a half-step, so when I did did the high part I was hitting A5, not Ab5 like Tyler does. That was pretty much the literal top of my range: On a good day I could warm up to around the Bb, and with coaching I could make it a little higher than that, but A5 was basically the top. (And I definitely can't hit it anymore, in case you were wondering.)

@spiderine1prime

3 жыл бұрын

I have been watching your channel for years. I love the light hearted ways teach music theory, and I follow your little doodles with glee. But I give up - that one drawing you use repeatedly is an ant? Is that right? What does that mean? I've been trying to decipher for years but I can't figure it out. Please help me out of my misery?

@loganstrong5426

3 жыл бұрын

@@spiderine1prime He does regularly draw an ant, so I'm assuming you're right in that's what you're referring to. Usually he uses it to talk about something small, or something that follows a group.

@mundolibertario1127

3 жыл бұрын

Could you please make a video understanding "Every breath you Take"? It is one of my favorite songs and I'd like to know how, despite the creepy lyrics, they were able to create a romance vibe with the melody (Sorry for my english. It is not my native language)

@Kiaulen

3 жыл бұрын

It's okay, Corey (Cory? I don't think I've ever seen your name written), I couldn't hit that A5 today either, and I can't claim to have ever been able to in the past. Anything above middle C is tiring for my voice. My soprano wife might be able to though :P I'm glad both that you had a life before and that I get to watch elephants and gummy bears now. :) You got me onto nebula just so I can keep up with ghost notes.

@LynnHermione

3 жыл бұрын

Its missing the bass sounds or is my yt weird

"Before the Elephants took over." It's not possible for me to express how much I love that sentence. I am stealing it to use out of context as much as I can.

@jlfrandsen

3 жыл бұрын

I lol'd at that as well. And want it in my vocal arsenal

@arnoldwardenaar127

3 жыл бұрын

It truly had me in stitches

@1972LittleC

3 жыл бұрын

It's right besides Dominique Noble's "one by one, the penguins stole my sanity" shirt.

@Merennulli

Жыл бұрын

@@1972LittleC That used to be all over Linux in the late 90s with "Tux" (the penguin mascot of Linux). The origin is allegedly a lot darker, though.

@BradyPostma

10 ай бұрын

That line plus that doodle of the elephant holding a flag should be on a T-shirt. If you want, you can put the 12tone logo on the flag.

I would love to hear your analysis of "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits. The rock song about a jazz band, where the instruments are often used as sound effects to reflect the lyrics.

@Kylora2112

3 жыл бұрын

The guitar fills alone could be a video on their own. Holy crap I love that song.

@colinsmith5879

3 жыл бұрын

Sultans is a straight masterpiece

@adriatic.vineyards

2 жыл бұрын

Hell yeah

@Osric24

2 жыл бұрын

A great song about a shitty little jazz band.

@you_were_the_chosen_one

2 жыл бұрын

I really love that idea. Dire Straits is such a great band, and Sultans of Swing is one of their best songs.

"Before the elephants took over" Very ominous

@T3sl4

3 жыл бұрын

An elephant, never, forgets. *Switchblade goes shink*

@scully5860

3 жыл бұрын

I think he's lying - there is no life before the elephants, for any of us!

That feeling when you voted for Welcome to the Black Parade for the millionth time in a row but you’re always basking in the glory of how well this song was explained.

@robertbingham8053

3 жыл бұрын

Generic comment to increase engagement statistics.

Joey Kramer and Tom Hamilton don't get NEARLY enough credit for all the work they do in Aerosmith. Those drums and that bass is what brings emotional weight!

@drac3650

2 жыл бұрын

Love in an Elevator is a great example of this, hearing it with little bass is basically musical murder.

I loved the Perry the Platypus 😂

@patricksommer3971

3 жыл бұрын

Damn spoiler!

"Before the elephants took over..." that delivery was just so perfect hahaha

Power ballad balances emotional sincerity and over the top drama. Wow

"It’s not really a chord thing at all. It’s a voice-leading thing." - ONCE MORE FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK!

2:56 I had my left earphone off and I was so confused why there was an awkward silence.

@britisharmedforcesmilsim3015

3 жыл бұрын

Me too, I read your comment about a second after I realised 😂

“before the elephants took over” *the 12Tone cinematic universe now has lore*

4:25 in classical parlance, this is a bassline commonly called a “morte” and is often used to signify tragedy. it is related to a common opening gambit called a “lamento” (1 b7 b6 5).

I thought the part of “Dream On” everyone remembers is when Tyler screamingly hits that high note, not the bridge. But I guess everyone experiences it differently.

@cbring458

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah same

@tompw3141

3 жыл бұрын

For me it's the times he's singing "dream on" *not* up the octave. :-)

@GlaceonStudios

3 жыл бұрын

...That is part of the bridge...

@jessehammer123

3 жыл бұрын

@@GlaceonStudios Oh. Yeah, I’m not a music theorist or even musician, so that’s kind of an expected mistake on my part. I just assumed it was a different part because Cory talks about the scream minutes after “the bridge”, so I assumed it was a different part.

@hinney827

3 жыл бұрын

@@jessehammer123 all the "Dream On" bits are the bridges. Songs don't always only have one bridge, though they can. The bridge is just the intermediate bit between the verse and chorus. It's a repeated part, so it's not part of the verse, but it's not technically the chorus proper. The bits beginning with "sing with me" are the chorus. The high, screaming "dream on" is just an extended, more exciting bridge to lead into the final chorus.

When you finally realise these comments mean the nail on his thumb

@p.g.v.3765

3 жыл бұрын

fr i thought they were talking about the thumbnail of the video

@patricksommer3971

3 жыл бұрын

Ooooohh!! Thanks for clearing that up!

@JeighNeither

3 жыл бұрын

I thought they were talking about the video thumbnail myself, because that's proper grammar.

My favorite band getting an analysis by 12tone? Hell ya!! As a bass player, nobody gets why I love Tom Hamilton and consider him one of the bests! Other bassists like Geddy Lee, Flea, Victor Wooten and more legends just blow me away when I learn those ridiculously hard lines, but bassists like Justin Chancellor and Tom Hamilton just know how to make the most out of the least!!!

@Kyle-gw6qp

3 жыл бұрын

No mention of Steve Harris?

Has your thumbnail always been a lethal weapon or am I just noticing this for the first time?

@gunnaryoung

3 жыл бұрын

I was wondering that myself. It would explain why he's holding his pen so awkwardly...

@Hardjaxl

3 жыл бұрын

That nail scares me

@croatoansounds

3 жыл бұрын

Haha I noticed this starting a few months back, it’s become a legit sword since. Impressive.

@carlberry191

3 жыл бұрын

Wondering the same. That nail is somehow disturbing.

@dripstein6130

3 жыл бұрын

Probably for playing guitar or cocaine, either or

This is a surprisingly dissonant song when you actually take it apart!

Gonna take a hot second to brag. My sister and brother-in-law were both audio technicians, and my BIL worked with Aerosmith once upon a time. He was pretty friendly with Tom Hamilton, and ended up getting a bass from Hamilton as a gift. My BIL was grateful, but didn't really play bass, so guess who he gave it to when he found out she played bass (hint: not my sister)! The fact that I own one of Tom Hamilton's basses is literally the only cool thing about me, but goddamn is it cool

@MadassAlex

2 жыл бұрын

That's sick! My claim to anything similar is that my Gibson SG was signed by Marty Friedman, long time guitarist of Megadeth and Japanese game show host.

I love how you bring a broken down music theory analysis into songs that were written and played out of pure natural chemistry.

"Before the elephants took over.." The delivery on that line was absolutely perfect and so surprising. Well done!

This is the song I always point to if anyone asks "was Aerosmith even any good?" Such an exceptionally well written song. The first few seconds DESERVED those 1,000 words!

I remember the first time I heard this; I thought to myself, what is this unbelievably beautiful dramabomb of a song? I even remember feeling some of the exact same reactions that 12tone points to in his analysis.

@JeighNeither

3 жыл бұрын

@Soy Orbison At one point in my early twenties I got tired of it, but I'm a musician/composer & have sometimes foolishly turned away from older music in an effort to chart new territory, but I've always come back to the good stuff. Writing that song at their age, was a really spectacular achievement, that still gives me a cinematic experience

Damn that did not feel like 18 mins, that felt like 5. Great work my dude

Speaking to the power of the song, I was in junior high and high school in rural Ohio between 1981-1987. We had multiple dances each year, and the last song at each alternated between "Stairway to Heaven" and "Dream On," neither of which is actually relevant to young infatuation in the ways we wanted them to be, but each of which allowed one last slow dance. I remember thinking they were old songs. "Stairway" was all of 10 years old and "Dream On" was 8...Anyway, "Dream On" felt the same way as "Stairway" - epic and timeless and profound and full of melancholy, and boy, my teen girl heart ate that up. My old lady heart still does.

I bet you are one of those rare people whose left and right brains are equally dominant. Your deep visual creativity, verbal wit, humor, and eloquence, musical wisdom, and video production flair come together in your sparkling KZread channel. (This channel probably only represents a small percentage of your creative/analytical skills.) Superb work all around. Call me a new subscriber.

Master of the Power Ballad from 70s through the 90s. Meatloaf.

Wow thanks for the analysis

This is my favorite song of all time.

I appreciate the coke nail in honor of Aerosmith

@adriatic.vineyards

3 жыл бұрын

Lmao. Usually it's the pinky finger though 🤔

@rjr6912

Жыл бұрын

​@@adriatic.vineyards hey man who are we to tell a man what nail to do his coke from?

@seandpizzle

2 ай бұрын

C'mon now. Everyone knows it's your pinky, not your thumb

I may have missed it somewhere, but if you made a sold a shirt that used one (or all) of your drawings of the elephants with the phrase "...Before the Elephants Took Over!" I would buy the crap out of it, maybe a poster & stickers too. Just saying. Love watching & can't wait to see what you do next!

Could you please make a video understanding "Every breath you Take"? It is one of my favorite songs and I'd like to know how, despite the creepy lyrics, they were able to create a romance vibe with the melody (Sorry for my english. It is not my native language)

@danielhayun304

3 жыл бұрын

great request! also don't apologize. I don't think you had grammar errors, but I am also not a native english speaker so what do I know🙃 a lot of us aren't native speakers and using a second language regularly in conversations on the internet is the best thing you can do to learn and get better

@mitodrumisra8972

3 жыл бұрын

@@danielhayun304 well said 😃😃

@p.g.v.3765

3 жыл бұрын

song request are done through patreon, only patreon supporters can request and vote for songs to analyze

@grimdarkartist9176

3 жыл бұрын

As an overly pedantic native speaker, your grammar is almost perfect (better than most native speakers I see on the internet) and the couple of errors you do have don’t make it difficult to understand what you’re saying. The only one that I find noteworthy is saying romance instead of romantic. You’re describing the vibe of the song, so you want to use the adjective (romantic) instead of the noun (romance). When in doubt, remember that -(t)ic and -al are used on the end of nouns to make them into adjectives.

@mundolibertario1127

3 жыл бұрын

@@p.g.v.3765 Oh.... I didn't know that.... Are you a patreon supporter? If yes, could you request him to analyze this song please?

As always, great analysis. In particular I love that enough time is spent on the voice leading part because too often I watch analysis videos by other people who just label the chords when much more seems to be going on.

This song is such a work of genius that I can't explain the rest of their career.

@manitouparkguitaracademy

Жыл бұрын

holy shit, RIGHT?! one of my favorite songs from any group, yet i can mildly tolerate some other songs by them

To me, the back-and-forth bits always sound like alarms. It's most noticable at the end of the song as everything else fades away and you're just left with the sound of ambulance sirens fading into the distance...

Love your stuff always but this was one of my favourite ones you've done yet

This is the song of my life, thanks for analyzing it with such detail! Amazing video, keep it up!!

Absolutely BRILLIANT! Dang. You are just so very good at this.

Great analysis indeed. Thank you.

I loved this. Thank you.

Great analysis, as always!

I've been waiting for this one for a while.

Great video, as always! On top of your expert analysis and lovely drawings, you're just witty as heck and a joy to listen to. Sorry, that's probably laying it on too thick, but I keep forgetting to comment about how much I appreciate what you do! Looking forward to the next video!

I really have to thank you. I came back to this channel after a while and it really reignited my love for music. I feel like we rarely really listen to music while focusing on it, and it transforms into such an emotional experience for me. Thanks a lot for all the good work :)

Dream On was one of my signature songs when I used to go to karaoke a lot before the pandemic

You just got a new subscriber and oh man, you are amazing, I'll definately be watching all your videos, lots to learn here, thanks for the content man

such a respectfully reverent exploration of music and emotion - by the end i found i'd been moved... to tears. powerful stuff.

Another great one. I loved the anecdote! Incidentally (and à propos of nothing), my cats really liked this one, and kept trying to get your hand

Wow. Crazy beautiful analysis

I love this song and have been hoping you'd cover it

Hahah I do overnight tech support and listen to things like this to keep me awake in the background between calls when processing emails that came in over the day. Right around when you talked about Power Chords I got an email from soneone asking for 3 Power cords for some laptops. I laughed.

Having a lifetime in audio engineering, I find you one of the few on KZread that just keeps amazing me with your musical education and appreciation for what the artist is trying to and how they are achieving their goal in real time!!🤩

Great video man!

This song is one of my favourite all time songs. So many memories of my childhood, the nostalgia.... It's the last song I'll ever listen to

This was an enjoyable analysis. :)

"...before the elephants took over" **thousand-yard stare**

I've always loved this song, and I'm not an Aerosmith fan. But I never really thought of it as a power ballad, because it's doing all this unusual movement, which doesn't seem typical of power ballads. Also, I see the elephants closing in on me, ever so slowly...

heard this on my way home today, perfect timing

Every video I watch of yours make me want to hear your singing! Especially since I’m trying to be a metal vocalist too lol

I just discovered your channel... and I have to say every one of your videos I have watched so far have made me appreciate the songs you analyze so much more. I loved most of them (the songs I have watched are pretty iconic) but I understand now WHY I loved them.

When you played the isolated instruments I could really appreciate just how much of this song was sampled in the Eminem song Sing for the Moment

@quietone610

3 жыл бұрын

Homage? Tribute? He knew his emotions.

@Exspazament

3 жыл бұрын

@@quietone610 sampled. It's sampled.:-3

@quietone610

3 жыл бұрын

My point was, he could have sampled anything in common time, and chose this.

@adriatic.vineyards

2 жыл бұрын

@@quietone610 ??

@quietone610

2 жыл бұрын

@@adriatic.vineyards He chose this exact chorus and these exact vocals to reflect what he was feeling. Some people just pick samples because they're feeling lazy, on the day it is to write their backing track.

I love this channel! And do Brothers in Arms, please!

My god, what a wonderful musical lesson

Wow! This is the first video I watched from your channel. Subscribed instantly. … but I have soo many questions 🥺

Let me just say the editing in time at 13:45 was amazing. How long did that take? It was perfect 🤘🤘🤘 This whole episode was a master class in musical decomposition. Incredible as always.

aerosmith has a giant collection of underrated bangers imo

@katherineheasley6196

3 жыл бұрын

Seriously. I keep my radio tuned to classic rock, and whenever an Aerosmith song comes on, it's a guaranteed good time.

Re: the verse melody: It's interesting to me how you mentioned that swapping the two phrases wouldn't really work. To me the swapped phrases sound a lot like just an antecedent/consequent setup...

I appreciate music but know nothing about anything technical. It's nice to learn with modern songs and I love this format

One thing I also love is the song ending on a really muted cymbal crash and that guitar trill droning onward after the last chorus. There's no big climax it just kinda of goes until the song arbitrarily ends. There's something very haunting about the song and I think the majority of that comes from there being no resolution at the end.

I was learning this song a few days ago and I was trying to analyze the harmony and I just couldn't. It's not like any classical harmony that I faced in college. Thank you for this content!

The thing that sticks out for me the most about this video is that I never realized the weird mashup of the lead singer and guitarist's last names being (as you put it around 5:50). "Tyler and Perry" xD

I remember when I was first learning this song and I had dad, who was my inspiration to learning guitar, also look at it. He mentioned that the verse arpeggio sounds almost like a lullaby. Given the songs name that has always stuck with me

This video style is adhd heaven

great song

The fact that Steven Tyler wrote this when he was 14 makes absolute sense. Who else believes beyond a shadow of a doubt that they've lived many lives and learned so much about the world in their time on earth more than teenagers?

@MadassAlex

2 жыл бұрын

Chill

@gabe_s_videos

2 жыл бұрын

@@MadassAlex no

That's a powerful thumbnail you've got there on your thumb. Bet it picks really well hah

Excellent ty

great stuff - music theory and reading is so important/ however i doubt Aerosmith sat down and discussed these ideas and wrote scores for main Rock instruments- not that you said they did! lol it it’d important for me to remember several things when studying this: It has this written score- and so did orchestration /. But song was actually written based on music intsinct, intuition/ and above all Talent- these guys didn’t know they were doing classic music forms- they just wrote a song, based on their influences But they were influenced by songs that just naturally do what you explain so they soaked it up and can do it but not name it You are a great music theory expert and musicologist/ hearing this explanation is fantastic- But i’m sure you would agree that most classic rock and modern rock even is just born of playing - not writing on music- but, as I said, the greats either instinctively knew this or absorbed it somewhere else without even knowing it / if they did they’d be stealing!!! lol LOVE UR channel/ fascinating 🤨

Nice one

It would be amazing to see you approach Alter Bridge’s “Blackbird” in this way.

dream ooonnnn dream oooooonnnnnnnnnnn

Rock is not dead, it's in my blood!

One of the earliest riff i ever learned

I'd love to see a breakdown of what PMJ did to this song. Obviously, theirs was accommodating insane vocals and translating it to a lounge feel, but they took it in a whole other direction, still powerful (though Morgan James' vocal performance may be the defining factor in that, but they definitely gave an environment for her voice to shine in), but with a completely different feel.

This was an awesome video. Request: Rush's "Tom Sawyer"… it's got it all: bonkers chords, improbable time signatures, screaming high melodies, ostinato, pedal tones… and totally unclear stanza function (i.e does it even have a chorus? or does it have three choruses? etc)

Oooo this makes me want to hear an analysis of Damn Yankees’ High Enough

Omg please please do sultans of swing!

My favourite Aerosmith track. Thanks for the analysis.

The Ab5 of Dream On was basically my party trick for a while. Still kind of is, though I've thankfully found another couple of songs with Ab5 or A5s I like. I guess for most people seeing an overweight male baritone who can consistently hit and hold a note like that is something unusual.

It's a shame that older Opeth songs are so long, because I think that a video covering some of the structural choices they made in Still Life & Blackwater Park were absolutely 💯. They tended to meander from riff to riff back then, but cycling back to a prior riff let you know the piece was nearing its end. For 7+ minute songs, the repetition is a pretty good choice. So yeah, if you want to cover song structures more than chord choices... They could be a good reference to use?

Sing with me~ sing for the year~ sing for the laughter sing for the tears~

Great video and a phenomenal song. Have you ever looked at Kashmir?

Id love to see you analyze Kings and Queens, another Aerosmith classic 😏 it was always a song that fascinated me due to the tonal shift and pace change it underwent midsong Id love to hear your thoughts as you dissect it, should you ever make a video on it 😁

I clicked expecting a video about the Nazareth song. Still enjoyd it.

You're gonna have to do a DMX one

Hey! Would you consider doing something around Daft Punk? Especially Crescendolls has alot of neat tricks that make it an amazing hook, additionally, it presents an interesting opportunity to showcase the real fun and transformative spirit of mixing and re-mixing music.

Great analysis, doubt a fraction of all this was even considered when writing the song

I feel like the gummy bears are some kind of reference I’m missing. Of all the things you said and did, that’s what I’m mentally stuck on the most. That and Midna, but... you know, nostalgia.

Actually tried singing this song at one of my school’s open mic. Forgot half the lyrics in the first half and probably did a C#5 in the high part, not G#5. Solve those problems and I was a great frontman with no backing members because it was karaoke

At some point I hope you deconstruct the vocals of Harder Better Faster Stronger. The instrumental while great, doesn’t do all that much but the vocals are fantastic and crazy