Riffs of the Record | Sloan’s Navy Blues

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]Today's video is going to be in three parts, because I love this band [music] so much and I have a lot to say about them.

[00:00:08]Part one is for folks who might not know Sloan. They are a really great Canadian band with four songwriters [music] {slash} multi-instrumentalists who so charmingly combine 70s guitar rock with Beatle-zy [music] harmonic composition.

[00:00:30]Part two is for the fans. [music] Now, Sloan was generous enough to share with me some background information about the making of Navy [music] Blues, which is the record we're going to talk about today. And part three is Professor [music] Haugen takes a look at the musical themes and arrangement choices that we, as musicians, could take note of.

[00:00:54]This video is sponsored by truefire.com, the world's largest online library of interactive music lessons with over 87,000 lessons taught by legendary players and folks [music] like me. I make several courses a year. Now, here's a cool thing about TrueFire. If you can't decide on what course you might want to download, you can sign up for [music] one year of all access. With that, you still get all the cool features like on-screen [music] tabs and backing tracks to play along with, as well as 25% off downloads [music] if you choose to do that. Personally, I like to use all access as an interview library, because they have so many legends on there. Check the description box below for the link to get one year all access.

[00:01:32]By the way, tabs and backing tracks [music] for this lesson are available all a carte on my website or through Patreon.

[00:01:40]If you're Canadian, you know Sloan. But for folks down here in the States, [music] well, and elsewhere, I think the easiest way to sell the band is, uh, the Beatles meets AC/DC. But really, there's a lot more depth. There's a lot more going on than just that. [music] They are maybe one of the only bands I know of where every member is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

[00:02:00]They each have a distinct voice and yet their works complement each other. We've got Patrick Pentland, whose songs on this record led the charge into the big guitar rock arena. It should be noted though that his folky ballads perfectly balance out his riff-driven material.

[00:02:18]There's Dave Ferguson, who helped me the most with this video. He tends to bring the sweeter, [music] jazzier tunes. I can hear some Queen and even some Beach Boys on his work on Navy Blues. Andrew Scott, who as a drummer gets damn close to the Keith Moon thing.

[00:02:33]I mean, obviously no one is Keith Moon, but Andrew has the same swing and the wildness to his fills and his grooves.

[00:02:40]But also, as a songwriter, his tracks are consistently the strangest, the most challenging, the most unpredictable.

[00:02:51]And last but not least is Chris Murphy, who serves as the very [music] talented glue that holds it all together. As a bass player, the lines are so freaking sick. But also as a songwriter, he would look at all the material that the other fellows brought and bring [music] songs that sort of equalize the whole project.

[00:03:09]Like a rocker if need be, a piano popper, or some Bowie-esque [music] power pop. Because you have four singers, you also get really tight vocal harmonies. And because [music] you have four songwriters, there's like an inherent sibling rivalry to kind of everybody bring their best [music] to the record. Now, when there's only one songwriter, that's a lot of pressure on that [music] person to, you know, write the 12, 13, 14 songs for a record. When there's two songwriters, [music] sometimes that competition can literally tear apart in half. Like that makes me think of, um, you know, Uncle Tupelo and Wilco.

[00:03:43]But when everybody's a songwriter and they're so democratic about it, it all balances out. And I mean, I don't know of many other bands, like I said, that work the way Sloan If there was a Venn diagram of each member of Sloan's influences and where they meet in the middle, it would be everything that I like about rock music.

[00:04:02]Briefly, the backstory leading up to the recording of Navy Blues goes like this.

[00:04:06]Sloan were dubbed the Canadian Nirvana, having great success [music] with their debut album, Smeared, which came out on a major label.

[00:04:14]Now, I don't know why people would make the Nirvana [music] comparison because that first record is much more My Bloody Valentine shoegazy than it is [music] grunge. For their second record, Twice Removed, they started experimenting with what directions they [music] could go in. Never satisfied to do exactly what labels or fans expected of them.

[00:04:34]This would be their last album with Geffen Records. [music] Their third record, which they released independently, became their most successful album. That's the one where the 60s sounds really [music] entered the arrangements. The drums recorded on four-track cassette, then dumped to tape. The horn arrangements, the garage rock riffs. I could do a whole 'nother video on that record.

[00:04:59]After the success of One Chord to Another, they knew they had a fan base that was along for the ride, and the question was, of course, "Well, what do we do next? What's a little bit different?" And all started with this riff.

[00:05:17]>> [music] >> According to Patrick, and I'm paraphrasing, it was a risky move to make as they tended to avoid those kinds of [music] sounds before, but he felt it was the next logical place to go after doing the very 60s sounding One Chord to Another. His direct quote, "I felt it was a combination of the band's [music] need to change our sound to suit the gigs we were playing, and perhaps to counter what the alt scene expected of us." Jay Ferguson said something similar. "There was a bit of a deliberate choice there, perhaps thinking that maybe we were graduating to larger venues and those sorts of songs would play well in those surroundings. I think there was [music] a feeling we might step up to small arenas with Navy Blues, but it didn't quite happen.

[00:05:58]We were still playing good size venues and getting good festival spots, [music] but maybe just not the hockey arenas. I do have to point out that out of the 13 songs on Navy Blues, only four are out and out guitar rockers. There's piano driven ballads, all sorts of experimental material on there as well, so it's not really fair to call this a big, you know, 70s guitar record. That's just what it gets labeled. I don't know where to put this in the video, but there's also a sonic upgrade on Navy Blues being [music] that that was the first one recorded in Toronto at Chemical Studios on 2-in tape. For the recording nerds, that's an early API console, maybe a '69 or '70. According to Daryl Smith, the engineer and co-producer, it was a very good, dry-sounding 70s room and they didn't have to use a lot of outboard effects.

[00:06:43]This next part is my favorite part of the video, the influences behind the songs, what the dudes were listening to when they came up with this record. And so cool that they helped me out with this. Thanks, guys. Chris says that She Says What She Means has a little nod to Rush's The Spirit of Radio with the opening riff and there's even a little Mick Ronson with the cocked wah sound [music] at the end.

[00:07:07]But my favorite thing is Jay hipped me to there's a nod to Soul II Soul Back to Life at the end of the track.

[00:07:16]I didn't see that one coming.

[00:07:20]Jay's Come On, Come On owes its sound to John Lennon's Instant Karma. He was going for that like slap-backy, washy Phil Spector sound.

[00:07:31]>> [music] >> Patrick's Money [music] City Maniacs has a very deliberate nod to AC/DC's Live Wire, but that's really the only AC/DC I hear on the record.

[00:07:47]Andrew is a big fan of the Pretty Things, a somewhat obscure '60s experimental psych group, and so his songs will have these weird chord [music] changes, unconventional structures, and jarring tape edits.

[00:07:58]>> [music] [music] >> And Keep On Thinking there's a little bit of a nod to this track by Steam.

[00:08:16]Jay's, I Want to [music] Thank You owes a little bit of its sound to You're My Best Friend by Queen.

[00:08:29]In the trippy like tape cut bridge section of Sinking Ships, there's definitely a nod to um Paul McCartney's Long Haired Lady.

[00:08:42]Also, it's not surprising that the drum groove of On the Horizon has a bit of The Who's Daddy Rolling Stone.

[00:08:52]You know, one of the things I love about the record in Sloan is they're so good at combining all that classic material and some deep cuts and some things I didn't see coming, filtering it through their own perspective, recording [music] it in such a way where sonically nothing really stands out as 1997.

[00:09:07][music] I mean, the record came out in '98, so they must have been recording it in '97.

[00:09:11]It doesn't sound like a '90s record. It really does sound timeless, and that's a unique feat, especially for that era, cuz that second half of the '90s was not a great time for [music] rock music.

[00:09:24]Basically, that post-grunge butt rock era, there was not a lot of good [music] stuff then.

[00:09:30]But this record though, anyway, let's learn some stuff.

[00:09:33]Here's what I'm using today to cop their sound as best I can. We got a Gretsch 6120 double cut reissue. Yep, those are painted on F holes. That's just how they did it with this model. That was Chet Atkins idea.

[00:09:45]Um, I'm also using a Retro Sound 61 special and my 1966 Fender Mustang with Tom Brantley pickups.

[00:09:54]For overdrive, I'm using a combination of the Greer Lightspeed going into the Marla what do you call this? It's like a 20 watt It's It's like a tweed deluxe but but a little bit more.

[00:10:10]So, in terms of some of the musical [music] arrangement choices that make this record sound the way that it does, uh, the first thing I notice are stereo [music] panned guitar riffs. As in there's one guitar doing the riff in one ear and then another guitar doing almost the same riff in the other ear. And the reason I like to point this out is cuz it's a common question [music] for guitar players in jam situations or bands, "Hey, I don't want to do the same thing as the other person on stage. What else should I do?" Well, you don't have to do something different like in the example of She Says What She Means in that outro, I believe if that's um on that track, that's Chris and Andrew playing guitars on that one. You have one guitar going >> [music] >> You know, that's E G A. I think it's Andrew's guitar is doing >> [music] >> on either side. So, it's almost the exact same guitar part because though it's different guitars and different amps and ever so slightly different in the way they attack it, you get a nice stereo effect. And then up the middle, you get the Mick Ronson guitar part, the wah kind of half on.

[00:11:29]>> [music] >> That's a funky little part cuz it's on the beat off.

[00:11:40]>> [music] >> And sure that is similar to Rush, The Spirit of Radio.

[00:11:51]>> [music] [music] >> Speaking of Ronson, another thing that gives that record its very 70s sound is like the Mick Ronson boogie patterns.

[00:12:20]Like here's um Suffragette City.

[00:12:24]>> [music] [music] [music] >> And those type of things show up throughout the record like um on Iggy and Angus.

[00:12:42]>> [music] [music] >> Speaking of boogie patterns and swing, the other yeah feature of the record is there's a lot of really good swing time songs. And again, the difference between a swung eighth note and a straight eighth note is, you know, a straight eighth note is dead even. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. A swung eighth note, the first eighth note is a little bit longer than the second. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. And that's throughout the record. Those dudes swing so hard. Like in the solo for "Come On, Come On."

[00:13:46]So, yeah, let's take a look at that solo.

[00:13:48]>> [music] >> Those are swung triplets. It's not Yeah.

[00:13:57]More difficult than it looks because you have to 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3. Accent on the down, accent on the up.

[00:14:07]>> [music] >> Big old D major 7.

[00:14:12]Really D major 7 and then a 9 on top.

[00:14:14]There's a D, there's the major 7.

[00:14:18]AND THEN THIS VERY JAZZY LITTLE move here. It's almost a Wes Montgomery thing.

[00:14:27]The song is on a B minor at that point.

[00:14:30]This is a really cool lick.

[00:14:36]>> [music] >> I just like to point out when I find a cool lick like that, I like to unpack it against the chord to really understand what's going on.

[00:14:44]>> [music] >> So, the lick if the chord was here would be Okay, it's like I get that. That's the ninth to the root, a little Dorian kind of thing.

[00:14:55]You know, the sixth, flat seventh, down to the five.

[00:14:59]And I think what's so cool is that Jay landed that on the ninth. That's one of those licks I'll probably steal forever.

[00:15:07]>> [music] >> Cuz there's your blue scale.

[00:15:12]>> [music] >> Thanks, Jay. That's a nice lick. But up here it's done as octaves. I'm going to hybrid pick those octaves. I've seen Jay do it both ways.

[00:15:25]>> [music] >> Down to the C# minor here.

[00:15:30]>> [music] >> It's almost like a George Harrison thing there.

[00:15:36]>> [music] >> So, the last little lick is kind of neat. It's going to do the B minor and then hit a quick E. So, let's see if if a B minor's here, Jay goes >> [music] >> E.

[00:16:00]>> [music] >> Another feature [music] of this record that actually calls back a little bit more to the '60s stuff that that Sloan is good at doing is a concept I call any chord can be a major chord. And this comes from like psychedelic rock.

[00:16:24]Uh if you listen [music] to the late '60s, you know, early Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett stuff, The Pretty Things, which I know Andrew uh Scott is a fan of. The idea that you can just >> [music] [music] >> is a very psychedelic thing to do to just move through a scale, even having chromatic chords, but just instead of being jazzy and having a diminished or a minor 7, you're like, "Nope. Everybody's a major chord." Like in the verse of On the Horizon.

[00:16:59]Because it has, you know, it starts with a cool like >> [music] >> already a cool little kind of change over with the G, but then >> [music] >> and then everything after that's major chords and an some of them dominant seventh chords.

[00:17:17]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> You know, he might do little kind of little mix of Lydian things up on top.

[00:17:42]>> [music] >> There is a cool little >> [music] >> That little refrain turn, what is that?

[00:17:55]>> [music] [music] >> And if you want to know what that main lick is, >> [music] >> so slow it down. The first one's a hammer on.

[00:18:15]>> [music] [music] >> That's That's a great lick. It does remind me of Soundgarden Superunknown.

[00:18:28]>> [music] [music] >> And maybe one of the coolest things about the record is specifically those pivot points from when it goes through like a harmony-rich Beatlesy part, click into a riffy, you could say AC/DC, but I hear more Bowie and Big Star [music] type thing like in um the bridge of She Says What She Means, you got this D minor.

[00:19:20]>> [music] >> Cool F thing he does. He goes way up here.

[00:19:25]>> [music] >> He does That's an Andrew thing. He does like to If he has an E chord or a major chord, >> [music] >> he does do that little hammer on it quite a bit on that record.

[00:19:39]You know, that's a very Beatley part especially with the vocal harmony, but then click into >> [music] [music] >> like this whole like freak out part that's like two guitars soloing in stereo. It might both be Andrew, but I think it's Andrew and Chris. And then there is a rhythm guitar up the middle.

[00:20:15]>> [music] >> Again, any chord can be a major chord, but Andrew's licks on that, I think he's doing the more almost uh Chuck Berry >> [music] >> And then like a kind of chill thing as it goes from the C to the G to the D.

[00:20:41]>> [music] >> You can do anything on this A chord.

[00:20:45]There's like a lot of like all sorts of business. On the other ear, Chris is doing almost the same thing. So like we talked about stereo riffing. And you know, just for fun, here's a few more of the riffs from the record.

[00:21:02]>> [music] [music] >> That's a really cool Andrew Scott song.

[00:21:16]That's a crazy chord progression. What's that from?

[00:21:19]Sinking ships. Right, that's the end of sinking ships. Crazy again, any chord can be a major chord. But let's take a look at um Patrick's Money City Maniacs.

[00:21:29]>> [music] >> Ah, that's a great riff. So B >> [music] >> E This is A.

[00:21:47]One thing I haven't mentioned yet, syncopation, which means the the the chords or the riffs aren't just right on the downbeat. They're on the upside of the beat.

[00:21:55]>> [music] >> It's basically a feature of any music that's cool.

[00:22:02]>> [music] [music] [music] >> And then, you know, the the verse riff or main riff >> [music] [music] >> If you want to know the chorus >> [music] >> Cool little walk down here.

[00:22:39]>> [music] [music] >> And since we're talking about Patrick songs, let's take a look at the Thin Lizzy times two guitar mini section of Iggy and Angus. It's like a guitar mini and then another guitar mini stacked on top of it. It's real cool.

[00:23:18]So the changes that he's dealing with A B Let's say D up here, back down to A.

[00:23:26]So one layer, I think the starting layer was major pentatonic off of this A.

[00:23:32]>> [music] >> Again, well swung triplets.

[00:23:38]I'll do I'm going to just mellow it out.

[00:23:41]>> [music] >> Just do the same exact thing to the B.

[00:23:47]Same thing to the D.

[00:23:50]Back to the A.

[00:23:51]>> [music] >> So that's your starting layer and then it's interesting usually a guitar mini is stacking in perfect thirds from like say a major scale or a minor scale, but if you're using pentatonic, you're kind of just starting at a certain point in the scale and then harmonizing with that. So the harmony under that >> [music] >> So that means the first note was here on one guitar, the first note is here on the second guitar and then he's just you just mimic the line but for that portion of the scale. So if the upper was >> [music] >> now it's So it ends being it's the guitar mini. So it's a fourth, a fourth, a fourth and a third. [music] Same thing.

[00:24:39]>> [music] >> Same thing.

[00:24:44]I mean >> [music] >> and back home.

[00:24:49]So that's one layer that's going and then another guitar comes in. There's a pickup.

[00:24:56]>> [music] >> Which that is A major pentatonic.

[00:25:00]>> [music] >> The diagonal version.

[00:25:09]So that's the next melody, which is let's see.

[00:25:13]>> [music] >> It's kind of follow it's following the chords but in a slightly different way.

[00:25:18]>> [music] >> That's our B.

[00:25:22]We're on a D chord.

[00:25:24]>> [music] >> We're on our Wait.

[00:25:32]Actually, it stays on the D for that section. So B D Now, when he harmonizes that, he's harmonizing that a third above.

[00:25:46]So that means the harmony is Cuz he's now on that note with one guitar, that note on the next guitar.

[00:25:55]Then he's on this D with the lower voice, which means he's going to be on this F sharp.

[00:26:02]>> [music] >> To create what is it? Yeah, so there's a guitar harmony and then another guitar harmony on top of it. Double Thin Lizzy.

[00:26:09]One more time, let's thank these guys for the research for the video and well, for the music. Speaking of music, you can find more at sloanmusic.com and here on YouTube. If you haven't yet, check out Jay's YouTube channel for record recommendations and Patrick's Patreon page.

[00:26:25]If you enjoyed this video, please like, subscribe and share. That costs you nothing and helps me out a lot when people do that. Now, videos like this take 2 weeks to put together and then get demonetized by YouTube. So if you would like to help me keep making these videos, there's Patreon or you could buy one of my courses. Both those things help a lot. As Bill and Ted would say, be excellent to each other. That includes yourself. I won't see you next week cuz I'm going to be helping my mom move, but I'll be back the week after.

[00:26:51][music]