REGRESSION Guitar Tutorial/Analysis (Dream Theater) [Let's Learn Scenes From a Memory EP]

[00:00:00]Hello Dream Theater fans and welcome to episode number one of a brand new let's learn guitar and analysis series, It seems from a memory Metropolis part two by the band Dream Theater. A very long-awaited project on this channel.

[00:00:16]Today we begin a long-winded and convoluted story about love affairs, forbidden dances, and of course past life regression. So come as we take a very close look inside the deeply troubled mind of a man named Nicholas through every single note, every single time change, every single chord progression in a full detailed musical analysis of regression by Dream Theater.

[00:00:50]Metropolis part two Scenes from a Memory begins with our main character Nicholas who has yet to be named yet, but you read the liner notes and you have a little bit of literacy you can see that he is the one singing through James LaBrie's larynx. But I digress or better yet regress since our main character has decided to undergo hypnotherapy.

[00:01:13]That's right, so he can larp as a metaphysically transsexual woman or man named Victoria during the roaring twenties in the aftermath of World War I.

[00:01:25]Now if that's not strange enough, the hypnotherapist is also a very strange man.

[00:01:30]>> Close your eyes and begin to relax.

[00:01:34]>> There's something terribly off about this man and I can't quite put my finger on it just yet. Looks like we're going to have to analyze his technique as well. The hypnotherapist begins by swinging his magical stopwatch 10 times before beginning his one-sided dialogue.

[00:01:51]Now this little stopwatch sounds more like a full-size analog clock ticking and talking, clicking and clocking back and forth, back and forth. Imagine if he had a full-size grandfather clock that he was holding over the head of his patient. That would be incredibly funny.

[00:02:08]These 10 ticks will represent a bar of 5/4. Number one, to keep it prog, and number two, to keep it funny. Between the 10th and 11th click, the hypnotherapist begins his practice.

[00:02:22]>> Close your eyes and begin to relax.

[00:02:25]>> With the next seven clicks having no change at all. At this point, the clock becomes more active implementing a 16th note pulse.

[00:02:36]Now, I must also note that the hypnotherapist is most likely surrounding Nicholas with an unnecessarily large amount of grandfather clocks for both dramatic and comedic effect. After three more clicks, a reverb is introduced to both the dialogue and to the hypnotherapist's voice.

[00:02:56]>> brilliant white light above you. Focus in on this light and >> Now, I have to say, you're going to need a decent pair of headphones or a hi-fi stereo system that can capture this detail in order to really hear this.

[00:03:09]After six reverberated clicks, we get our first, albeit subtle, recurring musical theme of the album.

[00:03:16]>> Allow yourself to drift off as you fall deeper and deeper into a more relaxed state of mind.

[00:03:22]>> And that is the introduction of a future song known as Home. Now, all you're going to need for this is a D string and a low D string or an E string tuned down to drop D alternating back and forth like this.

[00:03:38]>> [music] >> Kind of reminds me >> [music] >> of an analog clock or a grandfather clock ominously spinning around your head as a strange old man is muttering sweet nothings into your ear. It's also a double D just like James LaBrie's beautiful and illustrious Canadian breasts. The next nine clicks represent our strange hypnotherapist friend telling us to relax. Within four more clicks we get to the final countdown from 10 to 1 with two more musical ideas being introduced. The first entrance is of the choir ladies from The Spirit Carries On. Let me turn that up nice and loud so that you can hear it.

[00:04:26]>> 10 9 8 7 >> You go girls, beautifully sung. The other entrance is the acoustic guitar which is the true musical start to Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory.

[00:04:42]The first two chords are barely even audible and it's not until the third chord, better known as the G chord, >> [music] >> that we can sort of hear what's being played. What's really cool here is how this G chord, which was recorded separately, lines up with the reverberated choir which doesn't come in until the second to last track. Now after 10 more clicks the reverb cuts in the favor of a delay on the hypnotherapist voice. Now what a crazy guy.

[00:05:12]a TC Electronic D2 delay rack mount unit and a multitude of grandfather clocks to the session. What a psychopath. Anyway, by the time the next six clicks are finished up the guitar is fully audible, basically halfway through the progression on the B minor chord, >> [music] >> which we can finally get started on our musical journey with James LaBrie and his big beautiful bosom.

[00:05:40]Let's listen to the entire guitar track.

[00:05:43]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Now that's just a simple acoustic strumming pattern to get us into the dream world, but there's something very interesting about it. It's swung. I think this might be the first time in Dream Theater history that I've heard a swung rhythm. That's right. It's not jazz, it's Dream Theater, and it's the beginning of one of their most prolific concept albums ever. One of their best albums of all time, and it's a swung rhythm, basically in 3/4 timing. You could say it's in 6/8 as well, but I'm just going to go with 3/4 for now. All right, 3/4 with a triplet eighth feel, okay? So check this out. We start on D major.

[00:06:47]And then we add D over F sharp, which is the second chord, [music] to a G, muting the A string, a little hammer-on, D over C sharp, B minor, >> [music] >> B minor over A, E over G sharp, and then A7sus4 to A7, where we finally come in and James LaBrie's voice starts. We basically repeat the entire progression again. So let's just take a look. That D chord looks like this.

[00:07:22]>> [music] >> Just a regular open D major chord, nothing special. Um although you do strum from the A string here.

[00:07:29]>> [music] >> All right, so make sure you do that.

[00:07:31]Then, what you're going to do for the next chord, D over F sharp, you're going to take your thumb around the back, >> [music] >> and you're going to play the F sharp in in bass, okay?

[00:07:42]Right there. F sharp in the bass, and you're going to strum all six strings of the guitar.

[00:07:48]1 2 [music] and 3 and 1 2 and 3 and 1 2 and 3 Now, once you get to the G chord, you're going to use this three-fingered idea. You're going to play the third fret down below here, then those. It basically represents the Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here G chord, but without the A string. But, you're going to save that for a little hammer-on diddy right after like this.

[00:08:12]>> [music] >> Watch.

[00:08:15]So, basically, you're just hammering [music] into the major third of the G chord or the B. So, then it looks like the true G chord that we're used to seeing. Very cool. Watch.

[00:08:27]3 >> [music] >> Then, we hit a D, and then this. Whoa. That's like a Goo Goo Dolls chord from hell. Usually, bands like the Goo Goo Dolls or the Gin Blossoms, they'll use chords like this, but in a much easier fashion.

[00:08:42]This one we have to take [music] the D chord, we have to hold it there, and we have to put a C sharp in the bass as well. Look at this.

[00:08:51]>> [music] >> Okay, that's a D over C sharp because the bass note is C sharp. Um you can consider this [music and singing] a third inversion major seventh chord, but I'm going to say it's more acting like a uh you know, almost a five chord function going into the next chord, all right? Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the D chord at the beginning, that's the one chord.

[00:09:12]>> [music] >> The F sharp in the bass makes it a 1 6 chord because there is a sixth interval above the F sharp, all right? So, that's the [music] reason why. So, 1 So, 1 6.

[00:09:27]And then, G is the 4 chord.

[00:09:32]>> [music] >> D back to 1.

[00:09:35]Then, we have the passing seventh note underneath the D chord, all right?

[00:09:40]Okay? Then we have B minor, which is the sixth chord, the relative minor to D major, so pretty straightforward. The B minor over A is just [music] an inversion.

[00:09:52]And just to lead us down using that bassline, B A right to G sharp, which is a half step away from there.

[00:10:03]All right, now that's basically an E major chord with a G sharp in the bass.

[00:10:08]>> [music] >> That's a first inversion E major chord.

[00:10:10]This is the secondary dominant to the dominant, all right? The dominant is an A, which is the next chord, A7 [music and singing] sus4.

[00:10:19]Okay? So basically that's because we have the A we have the E, that's the fifth >> [music] >> you got the flat seventh. That is the A7, or that makes it an A7, and then you have the D, which is a sus4, all right?

[00:10:33]Which then resolves to a C sharp [music] to make it a regular A7th chord, all right? So basically just going again, 1 1 6 >> [music] >> to G, this is the four chord with a little hammer into the major third, [music] 1 7 6, relative minor.

[00:10:55]Okay? 6 and third inversion bass note [music] half step resolution to a secondary dominant or a 5 of 5 6 cuz it's in first inversion going to the 5 7 chord. Yeah, beautiful.

[00:11:12]>> [music] >> Okay? And basically the song ends with this.

[00:11:17]And a reversed A7 and A7 sus4 [music and singing] right into D.

[00:11:24]The vocals actually set up a very important part in terms of the harmonic and melodic analysis here because it starts on that F sharp. Safe in the light, safe in the light [singing and music] that surrounds me.

[00:11:41]That's the major third that basically comes back later on in the album for The Spirit Carries On and all those great songs, right? Where do we come [music] from?

[00:11:51]Why are we here? Where do we go when we die? [music] All right, it just fixates on those three notes, the first three notes of the D major scale. That's all we really have.

[00:12:02]>> [music] >> All right, so after all that beautiful sing-songy acousticness, we finally get into the final line of the song, "Hello Victoria, so [singing and music] glad to see you, my friends."

[00:12:18]Basically, a beautiful ti to do resolution [music] to the tonic chord or the tonic note D, ti do or 7-1, 7-1.

[00:12:30]That is a beautiful type of classical resolution that has been sung through the ages. All the great classical composers of all time have used this and you should as well. I'm going to start using it more often because I feel like I've gone away from my roots. So, I got to come back in time to the time machine and travel to the year 1928 for the overture of Scenes from a Memory. Please everybody, come along to the journey and hopefully everybody enjoyed that. I completely screwed up my train of thought and my mind, but I hope to see you around on the next video because this has been awesome and guess what?

[00:13:06]It's going to continue to get progressively, no pun intended, more and more awesome. Thank you very much everybody. Hope everybody enjoyed this journey through regression. Hopefully, it was informative. If you like to support the channel, please go to my website www.romanovamusic.com.

[00:13:22]You can take private lessons with me, yours truly. I will teach you the way of the samurai in terms of guitar. You can guarantee that or I can guarantee that.

[00:13:33]You can also support via Patreon or Subscribe Star. That's a monthly donation, all right? Or anything that you can give. Or you can leave a tip on the PayPal tip jar. Just any amount helps, keeps us going. And I know y'all love this stuff. I love it, too. We're going to keep it going strong, people.

[00:13:50]All right, everyone. I will see you later on the next one, overture 1928.

[00:13:56]Hopefully not too far from now. Goodbye.