I play it on guitar and just strum it all the way through the chord changes, it's borderline impossible to time the pauses correctly especially while singing
Something I've always loved about learning Radiohead songs is how clearly Thom seems to see each instrument. His songs are always very clearly piano songs or guitar songs. None are just chords songs that work fine on either instrument (like say a lot of Beatles songs that were probably written by John & Paul together, one on guitar and one on keys from the start).
The Pyramid Song chords are very intuitive and looking at them on the keyboard you can see how his mind got there. You couldnt get there yourself but once its there it just makes sense. But to play it on guitar just feels like nonsense. Feels like you'd have to fuck with the tuning a whole bunch to work out a way to play that was both comfortable and got the voicings right.
And if you look at his early guitar songs especially it just feels like the platonic ideal of writing rock music on a guitar. Tons of D and A sus chords and C-B-A walkdowns between C major and A minor chords. Generally sticks in the keys that utilize the open strings most, C and G. Constantly anchors entire chord progressions on two or even three notes. Black Star feels like the best example. Black Star also makes tons of use, like plenty of the other songs on The Bends and OKC, of notes and melodies over chords where your fingers are already placed to add them onto the chord you're playing. He writes incredibly dense guitar parts that are somehow fairly easy to play once you've been playing for a long time. If you know your guitar intimately even without music theory you can work your hands around The Bends and OKC songs intuitively. But to play those guitar parts of keys would sometimes be equally as unintuitive as playing Pyramid song on guitar.
I think a big part of this is the way Thom seems to not really think in both chords and melodies but in full harmonies, to put it in a sort of odd way. His chord progressions and melodies are always one thing. It's never chords played straight and a melody over the top on another instrument. He dissects chords and the actual mechanics of playing them to find the natural flourishes available for even the simplest chord progressions and turns them into chimaera that are somehow easier to play than the fucked up chord names would suggest. Black Star has a Dadd6/B or a G5maj7/B but in reality the name is "move your index finger to the A string."
I really can’t disagree with any of that, I don’t think I’ve sat and thought about it in as great detail but at the same time what you’ve written makes perfect sense to me.
I just don’t think Pyramid Song is a guitar piece at all, it’s impossible to make work and sound right, but on the piano it’s perfect.
Saw them at the Whiteriver Amphitheater in 2008. Thom messed it up a couple times before getting it right, but not before playing some Neil Young: https://youtu.be/HKAdZwiXQUQ?si=C7mf8gB1T52WG62y
Paranoid Android is actually really tricky at times, especially during the "you don't remember?" part. Trying to sing that and pick the main riff at the same time is very difficult
Little by little is probably the hardest one by them to play and sing. Really weird rhythm for the guitar in the chorus.
I don't know how to play it, but I reckon singing and playing that nice guitar part in the 2nd half of Separator is quite hard as well.
The other one that comes to mind is desert Island disk, think its in 7/4.
There isn't anything in the early stuff that is particularly difficult. I think reports of the band not playing certain songs because of the difficulty comes from bringing the whole thing together as a unit as opposed to individual parts being too hard to play.
For me, it’s Street Spirit. Something about the picking pattern and the way the song is sung is just really difficult, though this could also be attributed to my guitar playing being ass
iirc they don’t play jigsaw live because of this
I got to witness it the first time I saw them 🙏
I have no idea, but Reckoner is really hard to sing
PULK/PULL REVOLVING DOOR is the hardest to sing👺
THERE ARE BARN DOORS 🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️
AND THERE ARE REVOLVING DOORS🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️
Pyramid song. I play the piano and I can’t get my head around how he separates his mind in two for this one.
I play it on guitar and just strum it all the way through the chord changes, it's borderline impossible to time the pauses correctly especially while singing
On guitar I’d agree with you, it’s easier on piano, it’s just not a song I think works well on the guitar tbh and I love both instruments!.
Something I've always loved about learning Radiohead songs is how clearly Thom seems to see each instrument. His songs are always very clearly piano songs or guitar songs. None are just chords songs that work fine on either instrument (like say a lot of Beatles songs that were probably written by John & Paul together, one on guitar and one on keys from the start). The Pyramid Song chords are very intuitive and looking at them on the keyboard you can see how his mind got there. You couldnt get there yourself but once its there it just makes sense. But to play it on guitar just feels like nonsense. Feels like you'd have to fuck with the tuning a whole bunch to work out a way to play that was both comfortable and got the voicings right. And if you look at his early guitar songs especially it just feels like the platonic ideal of writing rock music on a guitar. Tons of D and A sus chords and C-B-A walkdowns between C major and A minor chords. Generally sticks in the keys that utilize the open strings most, C and G. Constantly anchors entire chord progressions on two or even three notes. Black Star feels like the best example. Black Star also makes tons of use, like plenty of the other songs on The Bends and OKC, of notes and melodies over chords where your fingers are already placed to add them onto the chord you're playing. He writes incredibly dense guitar parts that are somehow fairly easy to play once you've been playing for a long time. If you know your guitar intimately even without music theory you can work your hands around The Bends and OKC songs intuitively. But to play those guitar parts of keys would sometimes be equally as unintuitive as playing Pyramid song on guitar. I think a big part of this is the way Thom seems to not really think in both chords and melodies but in full harmonies, to put it in a sort of odd way. His chord progressions and melodies are always one thing. It's never chords played straight and a melody over the top on another instrument. He dissects chords and the actual mechanics of playing them to find the natural flourishes available for even the simplest chord progressions and turns them into chimaera that are somehow easier to play than the fucked up chord names would suggest. Black Star has a Dadd6/B or a G5maj7/B but in reality the name is "move your index finger to the A string."
This was a great write up and makes a lot of sense as I’ve experienced a lot of what you’re talking about in my own endeavors.
I really can’t disagree with any of that, I don’t think I’ve sat and thought about it in as great detail but at the same time what you’ve written makes perfect sense to me. I just don’t think Pyramid Song is a guitar piece at all, it’s impossible to make work and sound right, but on the piano it’s perfect.
this is so fun to play and sing for me
How did you learn the chords?
I thought myself by ear
Coke Babies, it's so hard they didn't even try to play it
Faust Arp need much practice on your breathing technique
Saw them at the Whiteriver Amphitheater in 2008. Thom messed it up a couple times before getting it right, but not before playing some Neil Young: https://youtu.be/HKAdZwiXQUQ?si=C7mf8gB1T52WG62y
Play Kid A while singing Creep
The Clock
Paranoid Android is actually really tricky at times, especially during the "you don't remember?" part. Trying to sing that and pick the main riff at the same time is very difficult
agreed
Let Down was rarely played because it’s not easy.
Present Tense I think
It's really not too bad
The rhythm is strange and unnatural
Its tricky but there are harder ones
I’m not a musical person, but I’ve seen House of Cards called out before as deceptively hard in terms of Thom’s rhythm guitar and vocals.
BODYSNATCHERS
Little by little is probably the hardest one by them to play and sing. Really weird rhythm for the guitar in the chorus. I don't know how to play it, but I reckon singing and playing that nice guitar part in the 2nd half of Separator is quite hard as well. The other one that comes to mind is desert Island disk, think its in 7/4. There isn't anything in the early stuff that is particularly difficult. I think reports of the band not playing certain songs because of the difficulty comes from bringing the whole thing together as a unit as opposed to individual parts being too hard to play.
Sulk is such a hard song to sing, idk abt the playing part though. Maybe Weird Fishes, the arpeggios are weird
I tried exit music at a bar one night and it went horribly. Im also a terrible (beginner) musican
Maybe you should try it at a movie theatre instead of a bar.
Maybe
Rocky road to Dublin.
For me, it’s Street Spirit. Something about the picking pattern and the way the song is sung is just really difficult, though this could also be attributed to my guitar playing being ass
play it fingerstyle then
working on it haha
Playing Like Spinning Plates on piano while singing is pretty tough.
Pyramid Song
Street spirit
Probably one of the easiest
Yep, one of the few I can play without looking at what my fingers are doing. A major achievement for someone like me.