I’m just thinking: Considering that the May Challenge is to play a “less is more” song that has as few notes as possible, I began to wonder, how many notes does it take to play the melody line of a standard 1, 4, 5 chord song? A quick noodle analysis on my fretboard reminded me that no single note can be played that will sound good on all 3 chords. Two notes is pretty easy, though. You can play the root note on the 1 and 3 chords, then drop the note down one fret for the 4 chord. Voila, two notes only one fret apart. And yet, there is a song by Carlos Jobim called “One Note Samba”, so I listened to it with a critical ear. The truth is, it should be named “Two Note Samba” because there is a second note when the 4 chord rolls around. So one way around this dilemma is to play something that lacks a 4 chord. Either a one-chord song, or a 2-chord that avoids the 4 chord.

Then I started Googling “songs that have the least notes in the melody”, and up came some interesting suggestions. “Losing My Religion” by REM, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega, “Everyday People” by Sly and the Family Stone.

Do you know of any interesting songs with minimal notes in the melody line?