Power of Pentatonic Scale - Demonstration by Bobby McFerrin

[peskypesky]

wow!!

[antrecord]

Me encanta!!!!! XD que grande

[martinhjelm]

Why wouldn't people understand this? What the fuck is this?

[adrianverdin]

Dislike



[OFR]

What about the power of the chromatic scale - LOTS more options. He could have done the same with octaves and fifths and done a million known songs. WHat does this prove??

[EversonsIndecision]

@OFR It proves that the pentatonic scale is so ingrained in us as people that we can sing the whole scale even if only given 3 notes explicitly.

[waspalive]

Does anyone know how come the 2 above mentioned Top Comments with (at present) 42 and 24 thumbs up are listed instead of the ''real'' top comments with (at present) 192 and 171 thumbs up?

[xmacherie]

@waspalive It's sometimes updated with more recent comments.

[waspalive]

@xmacherie Tnx for replying. Whatever the case, imo, the heading "Top Comments" is now quite irrelevant and useless.

Respectfully changing the subject in my ongoing quest for wisdom: Looking you up, I got: "This channel is not available" Have YOU made your channel invisible? If so: Would you recommend others (e.g. me) to make theirs (i.e. mine) invisible? And: Why?

[xmacherie]

@waspalive Yes, I made it invisible xD I just don't want people coming in it, and it's really not necessary since I don't have any videos and all.. it's just private only to me... and for you, I wouldn't recommend it because you have videos up, and you want people to see your other videos too, right? :)

[superbionicbatman]

@waspalive YT works in mysterious ways.

[chaoticdan01]

Hey its Bob Marley!

[thacrackfox]

Yea, the pentatonic scale is quite powerful. It tricks people into thinking the mediocre dildo knows what he's doing on guitar.

[abit123456]

yes!

[choochalah]

those brainiacs want to sing along..i just know it!

[choochalah]

this is awesomeness

[johnclavis]

I had no idea Bobby McFerrin kicked so much ass.

[sweproductionsAB]

Is it just me or does it sound extremeley similar to AWOLNATION - Sail?

/watch?v=IaZMST-vHfM

[ghosterdude]

@sweproductionsAB yes, it's a lot like every rock/ metal/ jazz/ blues song ever

[insaniac747]

Interviewer: What type of instrument do you play?

Bobby McFerrin: Instrument? I just play my audience.

[blackowiak]

i love the little song he improvises. I WAAANT IT

[9joyful]

amazing

[Wolfmoon23]

In soviet russia....ah, yeah, you know the drill

[Secret170193]

@Wolfmoon23 SONG SINGS YOU!!!

[gamehead91]

Mind Hackz

[Trigonography]

Bobby McFerrin plays the crowd!

[seltblade]

I have just witnessed an immense quantity of WIN.

[dinkyface]

@KillingFratellisLeon The neat thing about this scale is that you can run any of the 5 notes together in any sequence and end up with a nice song. Even better if you add some repeating patterns, not too much jumping around, and a regular beat into it. That's ALL there is to it.

[TheExopolitics]

PENTATONIC SCALE, ALL POWERFUL.

[stia4]

Epic!

[stringmanipulator]

Wonderful!! .. 

[vitorfrost]

Copy of the original (OLD) video: /watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

[lynnwerewolf]

Yer a wizard, Bobby.

[godarkVIDEOS]

WIN !!!!

[DurzaGaiden]

Audience: you just got played. Literally. >_<

[Boogieforme]

I love bobby mcferrin ^-^

[ObadiahtheSlim]

He's lucky the audience is familiar with western musical theory.

[dinkyface]

@ObadiahtheSlim Erm... pentatonic scale is oriental in origin... but I'd guess lots of asian music lovers at a science expo demo by bobby mcferrin!

[canabinolis]

I want a piano like this one!

[TheCheeseburgerfan]

memebase

 XD

[maybeidontgiveashit]

LEAVE THE AUDIENCE ALONE... LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!

[balls2balls]

Is that the black guy from Iron Man?

[StarDestroyer072]

@KillingFratellisLeon sounds an awful lot like "the river sings" by Enya

[DoragonShinzui]

God damn you and your musical mind control, Bobby McFerrin! God damn you all to hell!

[DannyboyO1]

That's an entertainer. He plays the audience like an instrument. Not metaphorically!

[whyohwhynousername]

Take my money!

[12345mrjakko]

Are you a wizard?

[gigstogoto]

I was alone in my home but I clapped all the same!

[PseudoEsteem]

I shall steal his secrets for my own devious means. :D

[stevestevesteve99]

Wow!

[patobliv1942]

Puts a smile on my face :)

[Walklikelion]

Is this a real song? It just sounds so familiar when he starts adding in his riff. But that could just be the brain.

[Walklikelion]

@Walklikelion OHHHH SAIL. Derp.

[xSKOOBSx]

smart audience

[solveigh95]

Am I the only one that sang with him and the choir ?

Like if you did it too

[345Gaming]

If you're a musician you will enjoy this :D.

[CuttingEdgeMetal]

@345Gaming I didn't. (I've been playing keys for 7 years) Glad you did though!

[HortusAnimi]

@CuttingEdgeMetal Yeah but you think Metal is music.

[CuttingEdgeMetal]

@HortusAnimi You're closed minded enough not to. Who's the real winner here? ;D

[Turk1389]

I'll bet you could have done that 100, 200, 1000 years ago with the same result.

[MakonianLuv]

@Turk1389 Yes, he's pointing out how simple the Pentatonic scale is to easily latch onto. It has zero to do with the year.

[Turk1389]

@MakonianLuv actually, what I meant was that if remove mass media, TV, radio & internet, thereby reducing the world to an agrarian state of isolated communities with very little shared experience ... the result would still be the same because the pentatonic scale is naturally pleasing to the human ear regardless of any common musical experience among a given group of people. The 4 people that gave me a thumbs up understood what I meant but I'm happy to expand on my meaning for you

[fuzzybarnes]

@Turk1389 I'll bet you could do this in another Galaxy with the same result

[urban05]

the song of his tribe?

[limjitkhai]

THUMBS UP IF YOU SING ALONG WITH THE AUDIENCE :) (Y)

[boysyco]

TIL (today i learned) Bobby McFerrin sang Don't Worry Be Happy after searching his name on @youtube

[belrocksg]

thats cool, pentatonic scale, it flows so well that people can predict accurately the next note without ever hearing it. it sounds sounds right and makes sense!

[chrisw40]

Ba bA BoRing!

[3mroz]

This is my new ringtone.

[jogabonito192]

might just be me but to me it resembles parts of 'sail' by awolnation..search it up

[GuineaKat]

@KillingFratellisLeon This is definately improv(on the spot). However improv comes from copying things and building on a scale(pentatonic in this case).

[ltaurum]

Is there a way we can see the rest of this talk somewhere?

[sandrovaro]

WOW!!! super!!

[VoodooGypsy]

@KillingFratellisLeon I may be wrong, but I think all the melodies/tunes he sang were improvised on the spot.

[biochemicallynodiff]

It's ideas like This that give me hope for the human race. One of my Most favorite videos ever.

[superman3384]

NICE<<

[BeccaLaughsAtBecca]

This made me unreasonably happy!

[UofMfan15]

Is that tune he sings an actual song? Sounds so familiar...

[DavidTanMusic]

@UofMfan15 It sounds familiar because the pentatonic scale is extremely common in music, especially folk music, and music for children (Mary Had A Little Lamb).

[thratcher]

And that's how hitler came to power

[Wowurgaylol]

@thratcher stfu dickface

[thewildone]

@thratcher

Oh god, I laughed so hard at that I almost blacked out.

[YANKEEBOY114]

@thratcher

BO BURNHAM REFERENCE FTW

[dangerousawesome]

make me a beat from this!

[knotwrite]

Music: the universal language.

[initialsource]

Needs more cowbell.

[markusrule]

9 people are douche bags

[mambopreston]

Someone do a Dubstep version.... BAH, BAAAAH, BAHHHHH, BOHHHHHHHHHH WOMP WOMP WOMP WIKIKI WOMP WOMP WOMP BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR WOMP WOMP WOMP... etc

[EdwardSapp]

Does that song have a name?

[chrcarlo]

needs more bass. wobwobwwobbbb

[limblessrobot]

Awesome!

[theycallmenavid]

There is crossing your legs, then there is trying too hard to go too far. Look at the guy on the right at 1:56

[dinkyface]

@theycallmenavid I think he was farting!

[questionslp6]

We are the swarm.

[chaoticbluberry]

If only world peace was this easy.

Simply make everyone sing in harmony.

[1M3ack]

No man should have that power.

that was just epic

[MWGrossmann]

I now forgive McFerrin for DWBH.

[amazingmazinger]

Mike check!

[airwave2oo8]

was great video :D

[PerhapsPossibly]

This guy made don't worry be happy. Turns out he's also a genius

[kuuno]

i can't get over how truly awesome this is.

[irockman]

COOOOOLLL!!!!

[marcarmstrong88]

think I 1st saw this from a TED talk year back. still great just like much of their stuff.

[AaronicStuff]

I can already hear the full song in my head, and it's too damn awesome.

[BroChris225]

Awesome.

[OshiSeven]

I sat up and paid attention at 0:29. Very cool stuff.

[imnotmarvin]

So the "Don't Worry Be Happy" guy didn't kill himself?

[thefr34k]

Listen to those sheeple

[funkyparasol]

@thefr34k I thought it was funny... since they're saying 'baaa'.... but people are probably being sheeple and downvoting further something that's been downvoted once.

[wesleyis16]

@funkyparasol Actually, YouTube doesn't display how many downvotes something has until it has so much that it gets the "This comment has received too many negative votes" notifications. Everyone that downvoted did it because, well, his comment was pretty shit.

[xipheonj]

@funkyparasol the inferred tone in his comment is an insult, whether he was making a "baa" joke or not. That's why it got all the downvotes.

[Aval0ntube]

This is absolutely fucking brilliant

[Yamakoto120]

baah

[InfoUplink]

beautiful

[peperonyandchease]

This guy is still alive?

[SolidSquid1]

@peperonyandchease conference was only 2009, so probably

[MrAgnost]

Human Piano ftw!

[Isilnis]

+1

[Kazinsal]

I think this guy is one of my favourite people ever now.

[yob771]

looks like we got a bad ass over here

[rompom7]

First video I've seen without any dislikes and over 500 views. I don't know how you could dislike it.

[dzamir]

@rompom7 I disliked the video just to contradict you

[cyberdemon107]

@dzamir you're so cool

[gd01skorpius]

He is a wizard.

[Damn0]

1:51, Stealth mode engaged.

[TheXeeman]

god I loved Bobby. RIP

[atypeofcool]

@TheXeeman You're such an asshole. I was like Nooooo

[TheXeeman]

@atypeofcool LOLOL

[maulikmittal95]

@TheXeeman ...He's not dead...

[22FretsIsNotEnough]

@TheXeeman Well played sir.

[TheXeeman]

@22FretsIsNotEnough haha

[bballscott1818]

Yeah look up tedtalks. this is just a drop in the bucket. There are so many interesting and innovative ideas on tedtalks that I think everyone should look through and explore for themselves.

[RenzBeats]

@bballscott1818 yeah agreed!

[waspalive]

Didn't realize it was already on YouTube. Trimmed some seconds from start and from end using the new youtube editor; still waiting for the trimmed version though.