Today the 3 Chord Club visits one of the most famous buildings in music history; The Brill Building at 1619 Broadway in Manhattan. At the 3 Chord Club we choose three songs from a specific artist, label or genre of music that we’ll learn by ear. All the songs will contain three chords or less! Since you know the song only has one to three chords, try to figure out the changes, or chord progression by ear. Here’s a hint, most of the time the chords will be the I-IV & V or V7 chords. In the Key of C, that’s C-F-G or G7.
In the 1950,s and 60’s the Brill Building was home to the best songwriters and songwriting teams in popular music. Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, Neil Diamond and many others. All those great songwriters knew the power of the three-chord song. This week we’ll play and sing classics from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Note the song examples will be in various different keys. Just listen to the structure of the chord progression and you’ll be able to transpose the song to the key that fits you (C is a good place to start). For extra fun try to determine the original key!
Ruby Baby (Lieber & Stoller) performed by Dion & The Belmonts
(Hint: V-IV-I-Last line each verse)
Blame It On The Bossa Nova (Mann & Weil) performed by Eydie Gorme
(Hint: A lot of I-V-I)
Songs presented are for educational purposes only and used under the fair use doctrine of United States copyright law.
