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31 - Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple) · Barracuda Breakdowns

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to talk about Smoke on the Water by D Purple.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's such an iconic riff, everybody knows it.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to dive into it and show you the cool things about it and like the peculiar things about it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I also want to start with like a little story about the song.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like for those that don't know, I'm gonna read this quick summary on Google about Smoke on the Water.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Check this out.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: For those that don't know, Smoke in the Water by D-Purple is a 1972 rock song that acts as a literal biographical account of a real-life fire that destroyed the Montreux Casino in Switzerland on December 4th, 1971.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Summary of the the events detailed in the song.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So the setting, D-Purple, was in Montreux to record their album Machine Head using the Rolling Stones mobile studio.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The incident.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And during the show, an audience member, some stupid with a flare gun, which is the lyric in the song, fired a flare into the wicker-covered ceiling and setting the venue on fire.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone escaped, but the casino burned down, and the smoke from the fire spread across Lake Geneva, creating the scene that inspired the title Smoke in the Water.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Funky Claude, the lyrics mentioned Funky Claude, referring to Claude Knobbs, the Mantra Jazz Festival organizer who helped rescue audience members from the fire.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: After losing their recording location, the band ended up recording the album at the nearby Grand Hotel and using mattresses for soundproofing.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Wild, man.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's all based on a true story.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Richie Blackmore is a lead guitarist of uh Deep Purple, and he's so awesome.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go over the solo.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give a little tutorial on that.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: But the main riff that we all know, right?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So it goes.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I first learned it, and I'm sure a lot of other guitarists did by playing it like this.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right, on the low E string.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: But it's actually played on the D and G string, and I believe he plucks it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, I have like the volume knob turned down a bit, and we just got like And one thing I love about the riff is like how long it is, right?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it tells a little pentatonic, like a blues pentatonic story.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: We got like the root to the third to the fourth, and then the same thing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: It always starts with and then we got the that's the blues note.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's the tritone, so it's like O3, like root, minor third, tritone to the fourth, and then that repeats, and then it's like the end of the little story.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's played in fourths, okay?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just like parallel fourths all the way through.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: And when you pluck it like that, it just gives it like a different sound.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is what it sounds like picked.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds different.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: I like okay now um the bass riff when it goes right.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like that the quarter notes that the bass is doing in the intro is like really key to like amplifying it and like bringing some movement.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: When the verse enters, it goes.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's just like root fifth octave, and then it goes a quick now.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is the seven chord.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we got G and then we go to F.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nice touch of color there.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the lyrics, we all came out to mantra on the Lake Geneva shoreline.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: On the n on the Lake Geneva shoreline to make records with a mobile.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have much time, but Frank Zappa and the mother were at the best place around.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm stupid with a flag on burn the place to the ground.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we've been doing the one chord and the seven chord this whole time, and now we go to the four chord, but in a minor key, it's supposed to be C minor, okay?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Supposed to be supposed to be a minor four chord, but they do major.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like two chords that do not belong in G minor, which is the key that we're in, at all.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: It goes, I mean it goes to the major four chord.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's like common to do that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not out of this world to do that, but it's just like a really nice bright kind of major touch.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Singing the major third, further accentuating C major, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: The four major four chord now.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's really nice.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this is crazy.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: He's doing the flat two.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like it should be, he should be playing A in the key of G minor, right?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: But he's playing A flat.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a Phrygian move, a flat two.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Phrygian is a mode, a minor mode, that's common in like flamenco music.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then back to like the G minor.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those are just G minor notes.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Root to the third, and then root to the seventh.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then back to the heavy truck riff.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: The riff is like a mini story, I love it, just trudges along.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Second verse.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: They burned down again house.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It died with an awful sound.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: A funky god was running in and out Pulling kids off the ground.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Ow.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: But it all was out We had to find another place.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: But Swiss time was running out! It seemed that we would lose the race.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Back to the course.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Back to the riff.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And real quick, the vocal melody is like just straight blues, straight pentatonic blues, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just the bluesy notes, right?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a guitar solo.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: But twist.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: And what a burst of color with just on the wall.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then back to earth.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now the solo.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Richie Blackmore solo, man, like it's such it's so nice.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you really listen to it, I love the vibrato.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So neck pickup, and he does uh just like the fifth to the seventh to the root.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like even that first note, or sorry, that third note.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like his vibrato there is so awesome, and then oh man.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like that touch right there.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: He starts from the top and he bends down.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's a 13th fret, 12th fret on the G back to the 11th fret on the B, and then I'll play it really slowly.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like what nice style right there.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, really nice movement.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then this crazy lick right here is like it's so fast and it's really, really interesting movement.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know any lick like it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very unique.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: So very slow it's down the minor scalp.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then a descension on the whammy bar.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it goes.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: That part is like so it sounds so like sneaky.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just playing around with the G minor notes.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then he's just in the G minor pentatonic box here.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like so groovy, so stylish, right?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like he did that same pattern here.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's here he was doing C minor pentatonic, and now here he's doing G minor pentatonic.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just pause because I want to talk about the backing of the solo.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the solo goes like It's just two chords, G minor, and then we go to quick C, but it's like it's enough to give it like a nice lift.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: He holds the four there.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Holds it's so high, I know.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes to the seventh chord for the first time in the solo.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when it goes back to the rip, but it goes to G minor.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because the riff is outlining G minor essentially.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what's going on.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's just two chords mainly, like a quick C there, and then finally, and it goes.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: That seventh chord is so important.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's continue on with the solo.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just wanted to show what's going on behind it.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: So then I just love the flubbery sound of the neck pickup, right?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's like the strat neck pickup sound.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then right at that moment is when it goes It's so colorful, it's so lifted, it's like on like a pedestal right there.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because that four chord is holding there at that moment.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: You see, like it's so smart to have it like in a solo to have like a core, like an interesting chord change, or maybe it holds longer than usual.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: It makes the solo feel so much more interesting.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I love that.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's so nice.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And now here's the four quarter here.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like so much character in those bands, right?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then back down here to the G minor box.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a classic blues lick right there.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a lot of like calm response going on here, and then it goes.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you bend from the minor seventh to the root, you get and playing that over, it just like so stylish and groovy.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's so smooth, it's awesome.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then it goes, We ended up at the grand hotel.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, the way he sings that he goes, We ended up at the grand hotel.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was empty cold.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was empty cold and bare But with the rolling truck stones thing just outside making our mu making our music there with a few red lights, a few old beds, we make a place to sweat no matter what we get out of this.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ha, I know, I know we'll never forget.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Fire in the sky on the water iconic And then near the end you hear like a like something like that.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: You just hear that bend, but it's like it's almost like the stored like a radio sound.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nice.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like the outro of this song is really cool.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just such a groovy, like heavy song.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like I said, it sounds like a heavy truck.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's the Rolling Stones, it's the Rolling Truck Stones thing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning into this episode.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's such like a common song, but I think it there's a lot of like substance to it still.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: The Deep People really is such a killer band, and they're amazing live, too.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: But if you write your own songs and you'd like my feedback on them, just check out learn.damberkuda.com slash feedback.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I love breaking down people's songs.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do a private video for you.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: There's two options for breakdowns on that link.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh see you guys in the next episode.