A Brief History of Pop Music in Four Chords

[KidKriss]

@STONEY3K The chord progression is I V iv IV

[maxricardi]

basket case and the sign. with the same chords o.O

and twinkle twinkle little star. wow

great video!

[babycakes87100]

Good job my old friend. This brings back memories!!

[throngil]

You're using the wrong chords for at least half of them songs, and they're the one i know. The four chord progression is E,B,C#m,A. Try it, it will sound much better

[Stoney3K]

@throngil Do some math and figure out what that progression does when you transpose it down 4 half-steps.

Right, you end up at C-G-Am-F.

If you're really adventurous (or hate singing in C) play it as G-D-Em-C. Or get a capo and play it wherever you want.

[DannyLaam]

ROFL xD "ABCDEFG "

[jackaiku]

the idea is good...

but i feel you're off tune in lots of it,

in the singing

[rebbyindo]

nice, but the feedback is awful. just turn off the monitor on your recording program

[mickayrex]

love the inclusion of green day =D

[lukegibbins]

the version ben davis did was excellent. this difficult to listen to

[alika207]

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey should have been included! Come on!

[bishbashboshely]

All this demonstrates is that if you play any progression in C major (including just strumming C), you can just about crowbar in ANY major-key melody (which covers most Western Pop music). Points for bothering to do it, I suppose.

[lordfly88]

Haha, nicely done. I like how you ended with God Save The Queen.

[antisubae]

Friggin' Chilliwack out of nowhere! This was great, I get a huge kick out of these medley videos.

[theokkrieger]

last kiss goes indubitably like this: G, Em, C, D

[fordjae]

A couple of them were a stretch, but I made them work.

[TheSoundFaction]

That was really funny! A couple of them were a stretch, but funny none-the-less. =)

[idalgleish87]

and every light house family song tooo that lol theres sooo many

[idalgleish87]

and '

take me on'

[idalgleish87]

you can add pinks 'dont leave me' to that

[xinlo]

i lol'ed at the alphabet song

[fordjae]

Thanks for all the positive comments! As soon as I'm done planning my wedding, I'll post the song list and lyrics. The chords were C G Am F with capo on first fret. I am left-handed.

[junioreinstein]

Maybe it's not perfect. But I love the tembre of his voice. I'm so sensitive to men's voices. Hehe.

[fordjae]

Thanks!

[geertex]

ouch the beep!

thanks for explaining man, nice vid.

[cRusher312]

farmhouse by phish

[Jimismusic]

oh man, can someone PLEASE tell me the song at 3:14, i've been searching for this song for like 6 years now.

[nickngsl]

creed - one last breath :)

[j97hou6]

The alphabet song - ROFL!

But, seriously, a few of these songs have melodies that seem to go beyond just these 4 chords, or am I wrong?

e.g. "A Whole New World", and even "Twinkle Twinkle / Alphabet" which has no "official" set of chords associated with it

[WhiteAndNerdy9973]

Yes he changes the melody line for at least one third of the songs. So that it will fit the four chords.

[Hanser]

Nice work!

A list of the songs would be appreciated though.

Keep up the good work.

[MrAbam]

down down up up down up

[CanadaAotS]

Sadly, this is what it takes to make pop music.

[alexdogg93]

actually you have to be really good at lip syncing and have an ability to dance

[neomp5]

well yes, you'd need to find one of those, but the person actually making the music only needs 4 chords and a rhyming dictionary.

[goossy]

Chords we hear here are C# G# A#m F#

They can be played as C G Am F with a capo 1 on a guitar.

[bdirgo]

IMHO I like it better than the Axis of Awesome song. Great jorb. makes me wana play right now lol

[fordjae]

Thank you.

[mrmozartmike]

The alphabet. Lololol.

Ya, I don't recognize a lot of these songs, a list or annotations would be awesome. =)

[CanadaAotS]

1. Google Lyrics

2. ???

3. PROFIT

[atygrett]

2. collect underpants

[fatboylongboards]

Jay could you list out all the songs you sang name and who they are by?

[fordjae]

Soon enough.

[nolongerconfuzed]

Are you playing this left-handed? Or is the video flipped?

[fordjae]

Left-handed.

[skolizza92]

which chords is he playing?

[vwgreen77]

ok...some were a stretch like the alphabet.

[fordjae]

I like to call it imagination.

[virgonomic]

Like the additions!!

[ed5275]

Good job. Also check out the Canon in D compilation by a comedian whose name I can't remember.

[Foxtrot493]

the pitch took away from my experience :[ now its only SUPERSUPERSUPERMEGAFUCKINGAWES­OME instead of SUPERSUPERSUPERSUPERMEGAFUCKIN­GAWESOME

:D Great job

And agree, could you maybe annotated this or have captions listing the songs? you dont have to or anything itd be nice though, only recognize like 80% of these songs D:

[OliWoooh]

jesus i cant watch it due to that really annoying high pitched buzz.

sure its amazing though, what songs did u use?

[osiris292]

oh my god i cannot believe how people can waste time posting abuse on pages like this. Your vid is awesome and you've added some genius songs to the other versions i have seen. 5*s

[dachhh]

What's that horrible high pitched squeal... ugh.

[fordjae]

I don't think I was trying to make a point or observation so much as just trying to entertain myself and my dumb little buddies during cold nights in the Great Canadian North.

I've always liked the CGAmF (and the like) canon, and I decided to throw it together.

[osiris292]

check out the Axis of Awesome version.

[tiggerandroo1987]

brings back so many memories! If i moved back would you be friends with Nathan again! He misses you u know!

[picunto]

fuck the queen

[Jakl1988]

dude, this vid is awesome - good work with the chords - a party trick i shall be using in the future! don't even pay attention to these "YouTube Critics" they think that a comment box is an excuse to be a prick. Keep rocking!

[privy101]

dude good to see u dont give a flying fuk what these tards think. nice playin and singing. PS: Nibby and other flamers im gonna bury u alive. Im gonna put you in a fridge and drop 30 tonnes of cement on you.

[jbj042]

Good work mate. Rock on.

[furloph]

interesting

[nibby221]

rubbish boring stuff. just like your voice.

[fordjae]

I guess one out of two ain't bad.

[mrmsutton]

This "extended" version of Benny Davis' awesome accomplishment is ruined by boring playing, bad singing and a bunch of shit additions that don't make it funnier.

Sir, give up.

[fordjae]

I love how YouTube makes every asshole on the planet think he's a professional critic. I checked out your channel... and you've got nothing. Where are your videos? Or, perhaps you've got the sense to realize that YouTube is only for professional artist types. Heaven forbid someone with medeocre musical abilities should ever want to entertain his friends with a cheap (and yet surprisingly effective) party trick.

[mrmsutton]

You consider yourself a professional artist type?

[fordjae]

I am neither professional nor an artist.

[razorx540]

Love the guitar, makes me want to go buy an acoustic right now. LoL

[fordjae]

Do it. The guy with the guitar is ALWAYS the coolest guy in the room.  C G Am F is all you need.

[schnits]

Awesome! Just Awesome. I love you, Jae Ford!

[janellemarlee]

this is awesome, jae.

[fordjae]

Thanks!

[winxthejinx]

Jae Ford? YES!

[fordjae]

Yes!

[youbelong2me]

lmao... Yeah... So true.