In this video
In this live stream I was covering for Andy and started by updating everyone on intermediate acoustic level eight, which just came out. We looked at some of the fingerstyle content and blues material in there, including a tricky James Bay-inspired jam track that Heather was working on.
Then we dove into yacht rock since Andy suggested covering it. I had to Google what yacht rock even was - turns out it's that smooth, sophisticated rock from the late 70s and early 80s with bands like Steely Dan, Toto, and the Doobie Brothers. We worked through Alan's suggestion of "Give a Little Bit" by Supertramp, which had some lovely chord progressions with A7s and interesting voicings.
Steve suggested "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley, which proved quite challenging with its high vocal range and complex chord changes. We also explored Supertramp's "Logical Song" which had some sophisticated chords including a diminished chord that took me a while to figure out. The genre seems to have a pattern of starting on minor chords then resolving to the relative major, which creates that smooth yacht rock sound.
Wrapped up discussing other yacht rock artists like Hall & Oates, Fleetwood Mac, and Kenny Loggins.
Fraser.