Song Made With Four Chords

I recalled a comedy rock band from Australia over the past week. This comedy rock band goes by the name of "Axis of Awesome" and they are an amazing group. They are mainly known for their song, "Four Chord Song" that you can find at the end of this post. Axis of Awesome has three members who are Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo, and Benny Davis. They are favorited by me for their talent and creativeness.

The Four Chord Song explains to everyone that many pop songs today and in the past only use four chords making it "dead simple to write a pop hit." By manipulating song tempos and tweaking keys of songs, you can play the four chords and form a song. Some songs you can play are as follows:

"Poker Face" - Lady Gaga
"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
"Forever Young" - Alphaville
"You're Beautiful" - James Blunt
"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz
"Happy Ending" - Mika
"Amazing" - Alex Lloyd
"Wherever You Will Go" - The Calling
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - Elton John
"Let It Be" - The Beatles
"Under The Bridge" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Kids" - MGMT
"Superman" - Five For Fighting

...and many more...


Some of you may be wondering... what four chords do they play? Well, it depends what key you play it in. The easiest key to play it in is C. The four chords are C, G, Am. and F (or, at least that's what I think). In their official 2011 music video, they use D, A, Bm, and G (please correct me if I am wrong). Be aware that their song does have a bit of some language not suitable for some of youth.

Here is their AMAZING video of them playing their song:

Go visit their website!

http://www.axisofawesome.net/

My question for this week is...

Are there any songs that YOU can think of that fit with just four chords?



REMINDER!!!!!!!

THIS CONTEST ENDS AT THE END OF MARCH!!! SO, ENTER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!!!

Valentine's Day is Just a Scam Put Out by the Greeting Card Companies

The previous week hosted the day of love - Valentine's Day. For some, maybe it wasn't love, but loneliness.

I hate how people act like they're happy to be single, when really they are desperate. Either you are buying some chocolates and roses for your sweetheart or you are sitting in bed bawling your eyes out. I could see, being single is happy and blissful - no one to watch out for always, etc.

For me, I'm single on Valentine's Day (thank God!). I just don't think that anyone in middle school should date. I guarantee that 99.99% of all relationships in middle school will not last forever. Personally I think people should start dating in high school or college. Kids my age may think they are all love experts and know what they're doing, but I completely disagree.

While remaining a single soul on Valentine's Day, I wrote the word, "S.A.D." on my hand. "S.A.D." stands for Single Awareness Day. I had so many others do the same, that practically half the school was 'sad.' I just find it funny how someone thought up an acronym for the word, 'sad.' Let's just say, my Valentine's Day was very funny and not very romantic.

My question for this week will be...

How was your Valentine's Day?

REMINDER!!! THIS CONTEST ENDS AT THE END OF MARCH!!!!!!!

Entertainment VS. Lives?

Pro-star athletes are making millions of dollars a year while firefighters and teachers are getting less than one percent of that a year. Is this fair? If not, who's to blame? The athletes themselves? The broadcasters? Society in general?

On Monday of this past week, my English class, including the teacher, was talking about the Superbowl which was the night before. I was glad that my favorite team, the New York Giants won. GO GIANTS! Anyway, my teacher had showed the class what these athletes are getting paid. We were appalled with what we saw.

http://images.free-extras.com/pics/f/football_player-961.jpg

We discovered teachers, firefighters, and police officers make less than one percent of the average athlete. Each one makes around $30,000-50,000. This is ridiculous. I can't believe that America looks forward to entertainment rather than education. Education is much more valuable that entertainment. Surgeons save lives every day, yet they are being paid around $200,000 a year, which is a lot, but not as much as an athlete. How can entertainment be more important than education?!!?

One story we heard from our class was that one pro athlete was unable to play for a season and nearly went broke. He complained about not being able to pay the insurance on his EIGHT cars. That's right - EIGHT CARS. Boo hoo! Some Americans can't even afford a single car! Although it is everyone's fault that we are all greedy, this is unbelievable that this guy who makes millions a year is complaining about a low salary.

The PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA... IS GETTING PAID $400,000 A YEAR... MUCH LESS THAN AN ATHLETE! The president you may say does have a lot of perks - free food, service, entertainment, etc., but our country is all dependent on HIM! He has all of the country's problems to deal with which could change the world! And what is he getting paid for this? A whopping $400,000! What a disgrace! Eli Manning, a quarterback for the New York Giants, gets paid nearly $8.5 million a year!

Let's try and focus and figure out who is to blame. Is it the athletes? After all, they are the main topic of this post. Or how about the fans? We are the ones who pay to see their games. Whatever we are willing to pay is what the stars get. Possibly it is the broadcasters of these games, giving us as a society something entertanining to watch. s you can tell, salaries for athletes are exorbitant and should be reduced.

My question for this week is...

Who's fault do you think it is for the overly-exorbitant salaries for pro-athletes?

REMINDER!!! THIS CONTEST ENDS AT THE END OF MARCH!!!!!!!

Talents

Everyone has one. It's one other thing that makes a person unique. Some people may have many, some may have few to one. Talents could be singing, dancing, skate-boarding, instrument-playing, and hot dog chugging.

One of my talents is saxophone playing... Specifically alto sax. I'm not much of a sports jock, and I love to play instruments. I am a part of my school's jazz band as an Alto I, which is the highest position for our saxophones.

This week, I recorded myself playing the "Ending Theme" to the classic video game, Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. It's a very melodic piece that I love. Many people may think of video game music to be very much like trance or techno music, but Super Mario 64 had an exquisite selection of wonderful music matching with the perfect level in the game. This game is from 1996 and it is a very great game with magnificent gameplay and nostalgic themes. I would prefer to play this game versus Call of Duty or anything from the xBox ANY day.

Here is the video of myself playing the "Ending Theme."

Here is the original song uploaded by YouTube user Atello93 (please notify me if the video does not play).

I know this song very well because I have played the game it came from many times. When I first got the sheet music, I started sight reading right away and I could play it perfectly after a couple of tries. It did not take long for me to accomplish playing this song. It is truly one of my favorite pieces of music to listen to.

I changed the key of the original with a program called Audacity to match the key of my alto saxophone. Sheet music was downloaded and printed from here if anyone would like to get sheet music.

So my question for this week is...

What is your talent that was gifted to you?

REMINDER!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE CONTEST FROM CHALLENGE TIME #2! CONTEST ENDS IN MARCH!!!!!!!