What’s up everybody?
This is Jacob Collier here, and today I’m gonna teach you how to play a song called
“Lost In Japan” by Shawn Mendes.
I have indeed been to Japan.
I’ve done 13 gigs there so far, which has been great.
It’s very easy to get lost in Japan.
I can vouch for that.
All sorts of small winding roads, especially around Shibuya area.
And they’ve got these tiny little bars, and it’s like winding and all this sort
of maze-like area.
Within this song I feel like I can feel Shawn’s youthful energy shining through which is great.
It’s very funk-inspired, so he’s drawing upon influences such as funk from the 70s
and 80s.
People like Bruno Mars I think have very much informed the groove on this song.
But it feels like Shawn.
The first things you hear in this song is a fade in on the following three notes.
And this is D. E flat.
And G.
Now this is a variation of an ordinary C minor triad.
C, E flat and G.
But the C has been suspended, and becomes a D. Which adds some tension because these
two notes are fairly unhappy next door neighbors and it provides the sense of being lost...in
Japan.
The introduction of this song revolves around four main chords.
The first is a B flat major seventh.
B flat, D, F, and A.
The second chord is a C minor eleventh chord.
Which is an extension of an ordinary C minor triad, with the addition of a B flat, a D
and an F.
The third chord is a D minor over G.
G, D, F, A.
The fourth and final chord is an E flat major seventh, and it’s voiced in this way.
D, E flat, G, B flat, D.
Let’s hear those four chords as a sequence.
The chords that permeate the verse and the chorus are very similar to the chords that
are in the introduction.
But they’re voiced slightly differently.
The first chord, being a B flat major seventh chord.
B flat, A, D, and F.
The second chord is a C minor seventh chord.
C, G, B flat and E flat.
The third chord is a D minor over G chord.
G, F, A, D.
The fourth chord is an E flat major seventh chord.
E flat, G, E flat, D.
In order to launch us into the chorus, Shawn walks the bassline down the major scale of
B flat major.
And the chords in the right hand follow the bassline.
E flat major seventh.
D minor seventh.
C minor seventh.
Let’s hear that whole passage together.
One of those most featured instruments on this song “Lost In Japan” is the electric
bass guitar.
Now, the bass plays a very important role in the groove of this song.
And also, underpins a lot of the harmonic content.
Often times, what the bass player does in this song is he will play the root notes
and he’ll climb up to one octave above that root note.
With two staccato notes in this way.
And you may notice that I’m ghosting some notes with my right hand.
Short, picked notes.
And this is what makes the bass so groovy on this song.
These short notes, these provide this kind of impact.
And it almost provides the bass guitar as a kind of drummer role, almost more than a
harmonic role.
And so there’s a mixture of laying down the root notes, so B flat.
And then becoming a drummer.
And then C, then you’re a drummer.
G, you’re a drummer.