Taylor Swift - Midnights

Swift isn't Joni Mitchell, but she's also not writing drone music. Which is to say, her chord progressions don't strike me as any less complex than most other songwriters working in a pop idiom. What does it mean that the sheet music isn't much help or that there's not much to teach? If you want to learn how to play a Swift song, you learn the 3-5 chords you need and the order they go in, just as you would if you were playing something by Bob Dylan or Phoebe Bridgers or Olivia Rodrigo.

most of the songs on folklore and evermore don't strike me as static loops, they're all pretty dynamic, e.g. the song-bursts-open codas of "ivy" and "august", the shapeshifting emphasis in "cowboy like me"

whereas if most of the songs on midnights develop at all, i'm not aware of it

What does it mean that the sheet music isn't much help or that there's not much to teach?

Just because, as you said, they're no less complex than most pop music, so you don't really need a piano book or teacher at all, you just need to know those handful of chords and you're more or less all set. You don't really need either for, say, the Ramones, either. But books and lessons are for sure more helpful for, I dunno, the Beatles, or the Stones, or ABBA or whatever, which can be more complex or involved without going full Joni.

ivy OTM

also

If you want to learn how to play a Swift song, you learn the 3-5 chords you need and the order they go in, just as you would if you were playing something by Bob Dylan or Phoebe Bridgers or Olivia Rodrigo.

or bruce springsteen!!!

i've probably brought him up as a point of comparison before but that's the main guy i think of in terms of being able to spin new songs out of the same old chord progressions

i'm not surprised a taylor swift piano book doesn't have much chordal intrigue bc i can't think of a single song of hers that's anchored by a sick piano part, the ones that come to mind are "cardigan," "exile," and "champagne problems," all of which do not seem complex at all, though "exile" sounds fun to play, idk

Yeah I was thinking the same thing (and wondered if it’s disfavored for being a duet).

Now Springsteen, there's a piano book for you. The guitar is the easy part!

My fav quote from a one man show I saw once

"What's wrong with G? Just play G! If your chord has a number in it, you're an asshole!"

Ha. I think I saw somebody joke once that nothing good ever happened above the 7th fret. Might have just been talking about bass, though.

Just because, as you said, they're no less complex than most pop music, so you don't really need a piano book or teacher at all, you just need to know those handful of chords and you're more or less all set. You don't really need either for, say, the Ramones, either. But books and lessons are for sure more helpful for, I dunno, the Beatles, or the Stones, or ABBA or whatever, which can be more complex or involved without going full Joni.

Gotcha. I play piano but am mostly self-taught and rarely do much more than plunk out chords and melodies. I can play melodies by ear, so I usually just need to figure out or track daown chord progressions, and then I can play something that's sort of rudimentary but nonetheless satisfying to me. So I forget that people use sheet music for more than just fake-book chord symbols.

lol I was just listening to LP5 by Autechre, and my daughter came in and asked what year the track was from. I said 1998, why? And she said it reminded her of "Midnights." And ... I didn't know what to say.

Xp “going full Joni”

Once you learn the open tunings Joni uses, the songs aren’t too hard to play on guitar.

But there are like 30 tunings, right?

I've often wondered about people trying to play Stones songs in the '70s, not knowing they're often open G, sometimes with a capo, too. Once you know, the songs aren't that bad, but you need to know!

Joni puts the number at 51.

High enough to play a dumbass looking guitar synth.

I’ve already seen kids dressed as S/T, Red, and Midnights (…and trick-or-treating hasn’t even officially started yet).

I saw a Speak Now purple dress/hat and multiple Red costumes (block letter tees w/black hats). What other musicians have recently inspired Halloween costumes?

Too cold out for someone dressing like a lot of other pop stars, lol ...

Put on a cardigan

xxpost https://www.vogue.com/article/doja-cat-transformation-halloween

omg. Also, this is wild!

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/meet-the-argentine-taylor-swift-fans-who-have-been-camping-out-for-the-eras-tour-since-june/

you know it smell crazy in there, etc.

Was listening to the Wedding Present and it struck me how funny it would have been had Taylor Swift not collaborated with Aaron Dessner but with David Gedge. And then I kept thinking of other people she could collaborate with, from Johnny Marr to Dave Mustaine, and I found it really amusing. For about two minutes.

There should be a general Taylor Swift thread. But anyway, this is very important:

Gannett’s Taylor Swift Reporter, Revealed: Meet Bryan West, the First Full-Time Swiftie Journalist (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/tRxld7ySjs via @variety

— Nick Penzenstadler (@npenzenstadler) November 6, 2023

How many days until a Swiftie murders this guy?

https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-rio-fan-dies-water-b69ad355301a7ae6edebd3255c94a167

Taylor's instagram post says the fan died before the show, which is untrue (maybe she didn't have all the info when she wrote it)

and people are asking for the 2nd concert to be postponed, as today has also a huge heatwave affecting temperatures in Rio, higher than yesterday even

https://gshow.globo.com/tudo-mais/pop/noticia/fas-pedem-adiamento-do-segundo-dia-de-show-da-taylor-swift-no-rio-de-janeiro.ghtml

Swift is handling the tragedy right. And Christ the Redeemer is wearing a Swift shirt for charity.

"Cristo Redentor (Taylor's Version)"

She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts
She's Cheer Captain, and I'm the Redeemer

"You're Losing Me" is a pretty good song; probably better than anything else on Midnights. But it still has that dull, flat sound and vocal affectations (which I don't care for) that are typical of the album...

chubble chubble chubble

'state of grace' is such an incredible opener, honestly. discovered the acoustic version this week. those bass notes, god damn.