Avril Lavigne - Unwanted ============================================== > PRODUCTION + ARRANGEMENT ============================================== - There's quite a bit of reverb on the kick. - I think the drumming is hitting the kick and the tom at the same time for the drum fill after the "shaking your hands" lyric. Floor tom or rack tom? I don't know. - Strings start to come in after there's a break from vocals, but before the first chorus. - Vocals are (at least) double-tracked in the chorus. [TROPE: Double Tracking] - After the first chorus, there's record noises of some sort. I don't know what. - After the two [kicks + toms?] in the 2nd verse, the drums kick in. - There's a strong delay effect on the "my head aches" line that the other parts of the bridge don't have. ============================================== > SONGWRITING ============================================== - The song is in the key of E minor, and the main chord progression is Em, C, D, A (i, VI, VII, V/VI.) I wasn't expecting the chords to be as simple as they are - I think what threw me off is that there's a partially chromatic thing going on in the progression. You could play the notes B-C-D-C# along with it. - The entire song is in 3/4. [TROPE: 3/4] - The intro seems like a fade-in of the crash cymbal. - In the verse, the acoustic guitar plays the arpeggio of a specific voicing of D major (x540xx) that you get by making the C major shape on the fret board and moving it two frets over. - Avril sings a flatted fifth at the start of the chorus. The "you" in "you don't know me" is an A# over an Em chord. This brief dissonance is important because if Avril sung a B instead, it would not serve the frustrated tone of the song as well. I also find this interesting because I feel like the flatted fifth is more common in guitar parts, not in vocal melodies. [TROPE: Flatted Fifth] - The leadup to the 2nd chorus is more intense than the leadup to the 1st. Before the 1st chorus, there's a short drum fill and the distorted guitar comes in. This lasts for around half a measure. Before the 2nd chorus, the drum fill is busier and the distorted guitar comes in earlier too and plays more this time. This lasts for a measure. [TROPE: More Intense 2nd Chorus Leadup] [I tried to recreate the drum fills before the 1st chorus, 2nd chorus, and the bridge lyric "I tried to belong" in TuxGuitar. The latter drum fill has 32nd notes on the snare!] ============================================== > TROPES ============================================== * Double Tracking * 3/4 * Flatted Fifth * More Intense 2nd Chorus Leadup