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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?
Sunjamr Steve
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