The Hardest Pop Song Ever – Can I Play It By EAR?
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Working through the process of figuring out a melody and harmony IN MY HEAD, in real time with Sergio Mendes “Never Gonna Let You Go”
Video recorded using
Earthworks PM40 Piano Mic
Earthworks SV33 Vocal Condenser Mic
Hallet Davis baby grand piano
#Hardest #Pop #Song #Play #EAR
Originally posted by UCZIB_p5AgVVdxgkYWHeUy-Q at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgtRuPH7PDs
I am sold and subscribed and shocked too❤
Talent, passion and sincerity.
It is all about intervals. You're very good, I still rely on chord and lyrics charts.
Should've done the entire song at the end.
aimee, you make me want to burn every musical instrument i own.
Your an amazing musician Amiee
Pitch corrected! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
What's nuts is how u can do that. I've been working on this type of thing and I can really appreciate just how much skills u just exhibited
What a whacked song structure, almost like someone caught me singing acapella (I can't sing) and tried to score it. "He's a musical genius!" Fun exercise.
I'm a sound engineer and through that in some ways it ruined a lot of music because I hear the flaws and think about the fix instead of enjoying the band playing or the song I'm listening to.
Does the same thing happen with you given such a sharp ear and deep knowledge of music? Do you unravel poorly constructed songs and lose the enjoyment in the process?
This is so cool cause it’s exactly what I do, but I never stopped to analyze all the pieces I use to figure out a song. I know that recognizing cliches and common progressions is important, but until I watched this, I didn’t realize that I was working backwards from the melody by identifying the interval between the melody note and the root.
Interesting to watch, but to do it that way requires a fairly high level of education. I can play by ear to a small extent but I am matching notes. I can’t just think ah, that is an F sharp suspended with an added 9th in dorian mode got it!
I greatly admire and respect your talents and have learned some good things from your videos. Pity I am not able to utilize this one. Perhaps someday.
Amazing job. I can play 90% of all songs by ear but this one was always impossible for me, in great part because I could never remember the melody with all the changes in my head (I don't play the actual song along with playing it on the keys for some reason, which makes the task much tougher although you still nailed it.). I'm close, but this was definitely beyond my abilities – Very very nice !
Interesting, thanks!
Thank you. I had a lot of fun listening to you. ????
Thanks!
Wow, you are a beast. I started playing piano at 8 years old, considered good but highly dependent on sheet music. But that was musical typewriting. I have spent 50 years trying to be able to do what you are doing, it's been a long road but certainly worthy of the effort even if I still am not very good at it… thank you for your videos…
“This song is nuts”????????
Great video, as always. But… how many times do I have to point out that Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil – I love them, don't get me wrong – I love Girl Group Music, and Mann/Weil wrote many of those GG songs in the early 60s — but they didn't write all the modulations in Never Gonna Let You Go. That was the ARRANGER. Robbie Buchanan. Why is it that arrangers never get the credit they deserve? Arrangers are composers. Mann and Weil didn't make this the hardest Pop song to learn ever, it was the ARRANGER, Robbie Buchanan that did that. As a musician yourself, you should give musical credit where it is due.
My son is a musician, since he was a child he would listen to a piece of music and play it on a guitar or a piano immediately. I was shocked when I heard him playing Tears in Heaven from Unplugged on his guitar at the age of 12 or so note for note, all by ear, followed by the Roundabout intro. He never learned to read sheet music well, deeming it unnesessary ????♂️. Here's another shock: I'm watching a documentary about Luciano Pavarotti and, according to his colleagues, he didn't read sheet music and always sang by ear ????
Hello, fellow mammal.
Using your ear and knowledge of harmony together in real time and the speed at which you do it is very impressive. You even nail the chord voicings. Top notch musicianship here Aimee. I'm a fan.
I am learning how to play all my favorite jazz standards and listening to this song sounds alot like “All the things you are”. It so helps to listen to all kinds of music!!
Nice to have met you… I have been a musician for 50+ years, even a professional songwriter(and I continued writing and performing whilst in my school and practising medicine – retiring after having five lumbar spine operations). Now, back in the musician phase of my life, it is interesting to find one as talented as you. Obvious God given gifts/talents which you have worked on to turn them into crafts. Hard work, but I am certain he is proud of you. Keep up the great work — I am certain our paths will cross again. Cheers / Slainte and Godspeed.????????????????????????????????????????????.
????????⚕️????✌️♾️Roctor John
she is amazing….cant find her music cd's…..light my fire to amazing grace…beatiful
The bass never lies.
The most difficult pop song I ever played (wedding band, 1983) was James Ingram’s “Just Once.”
As she said, THIS SONG IS NUTS. Geezum.
Love your channel, Aimee!! Perfect pitch and the ability to “hear” the music in your mind and compose it on the fly is an amazing talent. Have you done any videos on “comping” behind a jazz solo? I would also like to put in a request for your musical analysis of “Giving You the Best That I Got” by Anita Baker. Beautiful song with a wonderful opening and some complex chord progressions. Thanks!!
Being able to accurately play what you hear in your head only comes after you've put in your 10,000 hours.
@ 1:16 I don't know how you can possibly claim to identify the dominant as the starting note from hearing one note of the melody alone. Or even the the first two notes in succession.
A single note provides no context. And a single interval can be read in many ways.
To do what you claim, you would have needed more information and to have listened to enough of the melody to identify or guess at a melodic cadence and infer from that a tonal centre or key.
Do you think the composer intended to change keys like that or was it just a feel thing? It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on how he went about writing this song and what his goals were.
It's a great feeling to work out a song that you've loved over and over
First.
Rick Beato's appreciation & view of music is extremely myopic. It's either what his Dad listened to or what he grew up with. Seemingly Consisting Whatever was trendy on the top 40 list,
Second ..
Are your viewers as impressed with you, As you are with yourself? Well this one (me) is not.
I've played with more than a few players that could hear a new song on the radio going to a gig or heard a new song on a juke box while we were setting up at a gig, And play that song later at that gig. I've done it my self with simple songs,
Was it a prefect cover? No.
But was it fun recognized, danced to and applauded for? Yes always
There were no tablets or smartphones to have chords and lyrics available at the finger tips.
You just had to care enough to get it played
i knew it was "never gonna let you go" . very nice!!!. now do "endangered species" . !
Not sure I would classify a song to be the most difficult because it has a lot of key changes. In my view the complexity should be in the chord progressions in each key. For example the amazing grace song discussed at the beginning seems pretty simple and will remain so even if played through all available keys. That said, I immensely value the tips on navigating and discovering the underlying harmony using the melodic changes as the pathfinder. Thank you.
Greetings from Portugal!
Simply amazing!
I dream off being that musical one day. Love your video's.
Such a beautiful song…one of my favourites of course. I’m very good at playing songs by ear but I’ve never attempted this one for obvious reasons….but you explained it so well…. it’s gonna be my song to play for the day. Thanks.
I instantly knew which song would be featured in this video ????. One – great – song!
Brasileiro, baby! They write some of the most sophisticated tunes ever. Ask me how I know… I'm looking at you Milton Nasicmento, Villa Lobos, Chico Buarque, Djavan, Caetno Veloso, João Donato, Gilberto Gil, Eliane Elias, Gismonte, Ivan Lins, João Bosco, Lenine, Yamandu Costa, Gonzaga, Gonzaguinho, and Jobim.
What a fantastic demonstration of musicianship—not just impressive, but also *inspiring*! I especially liked the remarks at the end, about building up recognition of musical "devices," and the importance of bass lines. Thank you, Aimee. —Tom
You're ready for a Pianote video learning some track on the spot to play the piano when you've never heard the song…!
Playing by ear is simply knowing the base line- the melody and chord progression is really in the left hand…. Simple
At first I thought you might play "After the Love Has Gone", but this song definitely is difficult with so many changes. I watch Rick Beato's and Adam Neely's channel all the time, and I'm glad I came upon yours. Now I have another really great channel to watch and expand my knowledge of music. Thanks, Aimee! 🙂
Great musical skills – as we expected!
Green or red jumper would have looked fabulous against the background.
makes us realize what a musical genius Sergio really became! most musicians say they can't just jump in on this beautiful song and join without knowing and practicing all the chord changes! Never Going to Let You Go is a real classic!
i'd vote for EWF 's"After the love has gone" as a more difficult pop song
The microphone levels are perfect.