Friday, September 10, 2010

GBGC #56: Bad Baby Banjo plays "Bad" (Michael Jackson)

So, the GBGC Top 40 Countdown went down without a glitch. I celebrated my birthday fantastically and reached my goal of making a Bad Guitar video every day for 30 (+2) days. After a well-deserved break, I felt an itch to start playing again, even though I still have tons of stuff on the back burner that should probably take precedence.

I share a birthday with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, but he didn't write any decent songs (Lyrics, yes. Songs, no). The day after, however, would have been Michael Jackson's 52nd birthday (and Ingrid Bergman's 95th, but she didn't write any songs, either. Movies, yes. Songs, no). So, as a tribute to a fellow Virgo and artist, and as a farewell to the Bad Baby Banjo, which I intend to give back to its rightful owner tomorrow, here's "Bad." Bad. Really, really bad. Shamon!

QUIZ: what "mistake" did I make in this video that faithful fans of the GBGC might notice?
PRIZE for the correct answer - I will take your request!!
CONDITIONS: you have to be a "follower" on Blogger or NetworkedBlogs or a subscriber on YouTube. One entry per contestant.
For the WINNER:  your request must be a song with chords I know how to play!

12 comments:

  1. Mmmm...was the mistake picking that song? I'll go for the obvious (obvious as in you point out your mistake on the video) and say it was missing the first shamon of the chorus. As for chord requirements, I've observed that most of your songs have the same 4 chords when you play them. I think just about any song can be crafted into 4 chords.

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  2. Bamp! But thanks for playing, Rodney! Um, yeah... 4 chords. It's called "the axis of awesome." But in fact, the four chords in this song are very different from the others. The most popular pattern I've come across is I, V, vi, IV in no particular order. "Bad" is i, IV, ii, iii. (Oh, and there's one V going into the refrain - which officially makes it a 5-chord song. Oooh, shamon!!).

    A hint for those still in the game, it's a mistake that "faithful fans might notice" - so something in relation to other videos, wouldn't you think?

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  3. Your birthday is one day before and several years *after* MJ's? Is that it?

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  4. You are playing a banjo and not your normal bad guitar!! I am shocked!!!

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  5. @ Cheryl - true, but sadly not the answer that "faithful fans might notice."

    @ Garrie - where ya been!? The Bad Baby Banjo has been featured in 13 other GBGC videos. That's more than the kazoo! (was that your guess, or are you just expressing emotion?)

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  6. There is no mistake...you are always perfect, Christine. Unless the mistake is the tuned banjo or the missing "Shamon"

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  7. BTW, if I win, I want to hear a version of "Soul Kitchen"

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  8. Your "Bad" version is really good, Christy G, but where's the sweet, innocent little melody that always ends the show?

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  9. Well, I count 5 errors. OK, two count only if you apply English grammar analy ("I" not "i", right?). Happens at 0:47 and 2:22. Not it.
    You point out one error at 1:22 yourself so I guess that's not the one you're asking about. At 2:30 you write "here's hoping they have banjos in heaven". There are no banjos in heaven, they come from hell.
    The musical outro is missing. Is that what this quiz is about? Hm.

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  10. AND WE HAVE A WINNER(S)!!!

    Faithful fans of the Grahamophone Bad Guitar Channel will notice some consistencies in each of the videos.

    Firstly, my "font" specifications: I *mostly* write in all lower-case, using the American Typewriter font.

    I often make a reference to "ze Germans" and at some point in many videos, I write "pretty." Both of those elements were also missing from this video, but since they are not a consistent part of each film, that was not the right answer.

    I often play "wrong" rhythms, hit "wrong" notes and sing "wrong" words.... so that was also not the"right" answer.

    As two astute observers noticed, I mistakenly left out the GBGC station identification jingle. This practice was implemented in track #7: Heart of Glass. In fact, it was the seventh actual recording track of track number 7, and in later episodes, I adapted it to match the rhythm of "Graham-o-phone's Bad Gui-tar Chan-nel." It has been in every video since (except for track #44: This Is The Day, where I also forgot to put it in).

    So, Tim and bassbacke guessed the right answer. Technically, Tim answered first, but since his answer was phrased in the form of a question, I wasn't quite sure if he was taking part in the quiz, or trying to play Jeopardy! with me.

    Therefore, first prize goes to bassbacke - GBGC will record the song of your choice, provided it's got chords that I can play on the bad guitar!

    Second prize goes to Tim, who also gets to request a tune because I can't think of a better consolation prize!

    Thanks for playing and congratulations to the winners!!
    Grahamophone

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  11. ‎"...almost heaven, West Virginia!
    Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River..."
    Please play it, Christy!

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