Chords for The Greatest TWO Chord Song of All Time

Those of you that have been watching this channel know that I made a video last year
called the most complex pop song of all time.
It was the song Never Gonna Let You Go, which was released in 1983.
I told the funny story of my friend Smitty and I trying to learn this song, which has
22 modulations, for a gig.
We were like, oh yeah, no problem, we can learn this, play it for us.
And then the girl that wanted us to sing it with this guy played it for us and it was
a total disaster, right?
So I thought, what is the simplest song?
How many songs, can you write a song with three chords?
Of course you can.
What about two chords?
Well, there are actually some big hit songs with only two chords.
Well, I actually thought of three songs that I think are the top three two chord songs
of all time.
You're gonna know what they are, actually.
You're gonna know all three of these songs because they are famous songs.
What's interesting about them is that they have three different two chord progressions.
One of them is from four major to five major.
The next one is from one minor to flat six minor and the third is one minor to flat seven minor.
And as I thought about it, I was like, you know what?
I think those are pretty much the only _ progressions that would really work.
Maybe you could do one to four, but I couldn't think of a good one to four song.
It's hard with one to four, you kind of need that five for it to resolve, but these other
ones sound like complete songs.
And the reason that they sound like complete songs is because they have great verses and
they have even better choruses.
And what happens in the chorus is you'll notice in all three songs, the harmony parts come
in and they are the right harmonies and they also jump up in range.
So the choruses are in a higher range vocally and it makes them sound complete.
So for this episode, I brought in two of my favorite YouTubers.
One of them you see on my channel all the time, but the other one [F] has never been on my channel.
_ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [F] I'd like the way [G] you feel it, [F] but listen [G] carefully _ to the [F] _ sound [G] of your _ loneliness
[F] like a heartbeat [G] drives you mad [F] in the stillness [G] of remembering what you [F] _ had, [G] _
_ what you [F] _ _ _ [G]
lost,
and why you [F] had _ [G] _
_ what you [F] _ _ [G] lost.
_ _ _ _ [F] Thunder [G] only happens when it's [F] _ raining.
[G] _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ Layers [G] only love you when [F] they're playing. _
[G] _ _ _ [F] Say women, they will [G] come and they will [F] go. _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [F] When the rain [G] washes you clean, [F] you'll know. _
[G] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
You'll know.
_ _ [Em] _ Song number two is off this band's debut record, which was released in _ 1971.
Matter of fact, the first song I ever learned is on the same record.
_ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [Em] On the first part of [D] the journey, _ [Em] I was looking at all [D] the life.
_ [Em] There were lonesome birds [D] and rocks and peaks.
[Em] There was sand and hills [D] and rings.
_ [Em] The first thing I met [D] was a fire with a buzz [Em] and a sky with no [D] _
clouds.
[Em] The heat was hot [D] and the ground was dry, [Em] but the air was full [D] of sound.
_ [Em] I've been through the desert [D] on a horse with no name.
[Em] How good to be out [D] of the rain.
In [Em] the desert, you [D] can't remember your name, [Em] because there ain't no one for [D] to keep you, no name.
[Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ The
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Fm]
third song is off this band's second record, which came out in 1991.
I thought about this.
Does that really only have two chords?
Yes, it actually only has two chords.
As a matter of fact, the producer of this record recorded the singer lying down playing
the classical guitar in [C#] the control room doing the lead vocal.
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [C#] _
_ _ _ _ [F] I'm a [C#] native _ rich.
_ [F] _ I'm a [C#m] sprung and weak.
I've got [F] the animals [C#] I've trapped.
_ [F] They've all become [C#] my pets.
And I'm [F]
living [C#m] off of grass and [F]
dripping from [C#m] my _ ceiling. _
[F] It's okay to [C#] eat fish, because they [F] don't have [C#] any _ feelings.
_ [F] Something _ [G#] in the way.
_ [C] _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G#] _
Ooh, _ _ [C] something in the way.
Yeah.
_ [C#] Mm, _ _ _ something _ [F] _ _ in [G#] the way.
_ _ _ [F] Ooh, _
[G#] _ _ _ _ _ [F] something in [G#] the way.
Yeah. _ _ _
Mm.
_ _ Mm. _ _
So those are what I think are the top three two chord songs of all time.
Leave in the comments if you think that there are some other ones that are better than these.
I'm really curious.
I actually thought of other ones, but I didn't think that they were necessarily [N] better songs than this.
But I'd love to see what you guys come up with, because this is really an interesting
topic to me anyways.
That's all for now.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Ring the bell and leave a comment.
Check out my new Quick Lessons Pro guitar course that just came out.
Also, the Beato book, if you want to learn about music theory, that's how you do it.
And check out my Beato ear training course at BeatoEarTraining.com.
And [G#] don't forget, if you want to support the channel even more, think about becoming a
member of the Beato Club.
Thanks [Fm] so much for watching. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _