The BRILLIANCE of Jinjer's songwriting is on full display in Vortex

[00:00:00]All right, now that we've taken a moment to relearn Vortex by Ginger on the old baritone here, metal style, just wanted to share a few reflections that I had as I went back and learned the song as opposed to just reacting to listening to it. What was different? What was new?

[00:00:14]And how did it feel to actually learn the song? Let's check it out. All right, as I got in and learned the song, the first thing that I noticed was just how many jazz chords Roman and Tim included on this song. I think that's incredibly fresh and it's super fun as a guitar player to be able to learn and incorporate that within the metal genre.

[00:00:32]First place you're going to notice jazz chords in this song is right off the beginning. We open up with a major seventh chord and then go right into this diminished chord with this very open voicing here. So, let's check it out.

[00:00:45]>> [music] >> I mean, how cool is that? You're starting off with a real jazzy progression off the bat, but they're doing it in a very metal and kind of moody way. The second place you see a lot of jazz chords show up here is in kind of this verse section. Actually, I don't even know what to name the sections because this song is composed very linearly, which is very different.

[00:01:13]But you see this diminished seventh shape and they're moving up minor thirds and I think it's super cool and it is actually super jazzy. It's this >> [music] [music] >> And that's a really cool concept that we learned in music college. It's a really fun way to move around chords and just change the inversions, but you're walking into that off of this riff.

[00:01:41]>> [music] [music] >> I mean, how cool is that? And they're sneaking that in with these big like power chord chugs, so it really gives it a cool dynamic where you're going from just chug to this really airy, jazzy progression.

[00:02:01]The third section that really stood out for me for jazz chords was this bridge outro section, and I probably analyze these chords wrong. So, if you're a jazzer and you know how these chords interact with each other, leave a comment below, but this was my best attempt of explaining it. Sounds amazing. What we're actually looking at is what I analyzed to be kind of this B flat five, which is just your power chord. You got a lot of octaves in there, and they're throwing in this sharp 11, which really insinuates a tritone sub. Uh we won't get into that, but that is a highly complex movement that is used within jazz theory. It's a way to substitute chords, create interest, and reharmonize. It sounds like this.

[00:02:47]The way that I would usually play that in a jazz setting, it's more this shape.

[00:02:52]>> [music] >> And what you're doing is you use that tritone sub to then walk down a fret, and it's a great leading chord if you want to reharmonize. So, you might do something like this.

[00:03:05]>> [music] >> Tritone sub.

[00:03:11]Into an E major seven. That is not in the Ginger song, but it's a similar concept that I seem to pick up here. And then he's going down to what I would say would be a F major add nine, and they're putting the third in the bass, which gives you that again half step movement.

[00:03:28]>> [music] >> So, if you put those two together, it's a really cool movement and harmony. So, you have some notes that are going down, and you have some notes that are working their way up. So, there's a nice even counterpoint between the chords.

[00:03:48]>> [music] [music] >> I mean, how cool is that? I mean, that's some jazzy stuff that's being thrown into a metal tune. The second thing that I really loved about this song and learning is the way that they architect some of their riffs, and they use different sets of groupings that tend to go over some of the bar lines here. So, one of the sections that I really enjoyed learning is this breakdown, and what they're going to do is a subset of riffs that are kind of in six-note groupings, and then they transition to four-note groupings. That's all in 4/4, but the way that they stagger those groupings it feels like the riff is going over the bar lines, and then they resolve it back into the one. So, the riff is this.

[00:04:35]>> [music] >> So, if you slow that down, you're going to see it's groups of six first.

[00:04:44]>> [music] >> What's really cool is because it's a grouping of six, it starts in different parts of the measure, and it gives you this like the riff is in a different position compared to the rest of the band. So, the first set of six starts on the end of one. The second group of six starts on the three, and the third group of six starts on the end of four. And then what Roman does is he switches to groups of four to be able to resolve that at the end of the measure.

[00:05:14]>> [music] [music] >> And it's such a like riff twister, I would call it. Like, it always confused me, and I would get messed up. So, it's something that takes a lot of concentration and just to get that feel down. So, such a cool and fresh riff.

[00:05:34]The third part I thought was really cool about this song is there are parts that actually feel like they're composed on a piano between like left-hand and right-hand riffs here. One of the sections that I noticed that is right in the the when you go into the kind of that main riff, where it's happening on the guitar neck actually feels like you would be playing it on a piano.

[00:05:58]>> [music] >> I mean, that just feels like a piano.

[00:06:03]So, you got your right hand here.

[00:06:06]And then you go to the left hand.

[00:06:08]>> [music] >> And then back to the right hand.

[00:06:12]Left hand.

[00:06:14]And then back to your right hand.

[00:06:19]>> [music] >> It's just such a cool melodic approach to the the instrument. The second place I saw that really come to life was in the verse in this section.

[00:06:31]>> [music] [music] [laughter] >> I mean, how cool is that? Something else Ginger just does better than anybody else in my opinion is transitioning between musical ideas. Here's a few of my favorite transitions in the song that really stood out to me. First, coming off that main intro kind of verse, they're moving from that main motif uh into that diminished area.

[00:07:03]>> [music] [music] >> So, they always keep you guessing on where you're going, so it's a bit familiar, but then they surprise you with the direction of the harmonies. The second place I really like the transition is we're coming out of that kind of six-note four-note grouping that they were doing. They then step it up a notch and they get a more intensity.

[00:07:33]>> [music] [laughter] >> That's so cool. The third section I think they just really nailed the transition is going into that outro, those two big chords that we talked about earlier. So, they're hitting this really cool aggressive chunk.

[00:07:56]>> [music] [music] [music] >> I mean, just how cool of a transition is that? And there you go. Those are the reasons that I fell in love with the song Vortex and as I actually learned the tune, I actually grew a much deeper appreciation to the amount of musicality in there. When you first listen to a Jinjer song, you know I'm all goosebumps, you know how much I love this band, but sitting down and actually learning this song just gives you a whole new respect to the talent that goes into this band. If you'd like to hear my thoughts and reflections on this song, leave me a note below on the next song that you want me to cover. Again, as always, thank you for watching. I'll catch you in the next [music] one.

[00:08:55]>> [music]