The 'Too Stylish to be Easy' Nature of Stardust Revue I Discovered While Playing and Singing

It has already been a month since I decided to perform a masterpiece by Stardust Revue (commonly known as Stareve) during a trip with friends.

I haven't reached the level where I can play and sing at the same time yet, but I have managed to get to the point where I can press the chords.

To bring out the stylishness of Stareve, you need elaborate playing, which is incredibly difficult!

My acoustic guitar playing and singing level

First, here is my level as a premise.

・Not a beginner, but not quite an intermediate player yet
・Can play if I remember the melody, but cannot read sheet music
・Can reproduce songs over time if I have TAB sheets
・Can play and sing J-POP hits in a relatively short time if the lyrics card includes chords

In fact, I was able to play the 14 songs from my favorite Southern All Stars' new album 'THANK YOU SO MUCH,' released this year, in about 10 minutes, even though they were new songs.

There are two reasons why I can play them in a short time.
1️⃣ Because I am a huge fan
2️⃣ Because I am used to Keisuke Kuwata's chord progressions

This is a big factor.

I also often play songs by Aimyon and back number.
These have straightforward chord progressions, require few chords to memorize, and are just easy to play.

What I realized while playing and singing Stareve

As someone like that, I tried challenging 12 Stareve masterpieces, and it is taking more time than I thought. I couldn't play them right away.

I thought they would be easy because they are classic hits, so why?

To list the causes:
・Too many chords I don't know
・Many chords used (sometimes over 50 in one song!)
・Frequent use of difficult tension chords like 9th and 13th
・Chords not appearing at the start of lyrics
・Often starting with a rest on the first beat
・Frequent key changes
・The key is too high to sing
・Almost no playing and singing videos on YouTube (no examples to follow)

This is just my subjective opinion, but I had this impression.

Since I cannot transcribe by ear, I use free chord sheet websites. However, playing them as they are doesn't capture the vibe. For example, in 'Stay My Blue Kimi ga Koishikute,' the chord sheet site lists a C chord, but I changed it to CM9 (C major ninth). Just by adding the 9th note, the 'original song' feel increases significantly.

Chord sheet sites write out 7th chords, but they don't write out the slash chords for the bass line. Naturally, complicated chords like 9th, 13th, 7♭5, and 7♭9 are omitted. Well, if they were written, I wouldn't feel like playing them anyway.

By the way, this song uses 52 chords.
Even though many Aimyon songs are completed with just 4 chords.

To create the stylish atmosphere of the original song, the process of arranging the chord progressions obtained from chord sheet sites and taking notes is a fun time.

What I realized while playing and singing Stardust Revue songs is their 'too stylish' difficulty!

Is Stardust Revue AOR?

Taking this opportunity, I re-examined Stardust Revue's musicality.

AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) is stylish, sophisticated, urban music that adults can listen to comfortably, which is pop, melodious, and carries the scent of jazz and soul.

In addition to beautiful harmonies, Stardust Revue features sophisticated melodies and plenty of jazz, soul, and R&B elements. This time, by carefully observing their chords, I think they can be called the royal road of City Pop, given their frequent use of tension chords and bossa nova chords.
In other words, it can be judged that they satisfy the AOR elements.

However, maybe Kaname-san's comical MC deviates a little from the image of 'stylish AOR.' That is also the charm of Stardust Revue, and the expression 'omnivore AOR' fits perfectly.

Is Stardust Revue's acoustic guitar playing and singing difficult?

I had Chat-GPT answer this question, not based on my own subjectivity.
The artists compared were:

Stardust Revue (Starevi)
Southern All Stars (Southern)
Mr.Children (Mischil)
back number
Aimyon

I had it create a comparison table for these five groups, focusing on acoustic guitar playing and singing, organizing chord progressions, number of chords used, characteristics, difficulty level, and trends in general appeal versus expert appeal.

Chat-GPT's Point Commentary

1️⃣ Stardust Revue

• Characteristics: Pop, but jazz chords and substitute chords are casually included, so technique is required to reproduce them while playing and singing.

• Difficulty: Intermediate if you just follow the chords, advanced to capture the atmosphere.

• Appeal: A stylishness that resonates with experts.

2️⃣ Southern All Stars

• Characteristics: Within the royal road progression, there are many bluesy chords and 7th-type chords. Many songs shine when played on the beach.

• Difficulty: It is surprisingly difficult to capture the right atmosphere, but the chords themselves are easy to memorize.

• Reception: Loved by people of all ages and genders.

3️⃣ Mr. Children

• Characteristics: They typically start with the classic C-G-Am-F progression, and then suddenly introduce poignant chords or key changes in the chorus.

• Difficulty: Many songs can be played and sung by beginners, but mastering the vocals is difficult.

• Reception: The gold standard for universal appeal.

4️⃣ back number

• Characteristics: Extremely simple. Mostly just C-Am-F-G.

• Difficulty: Suited for absolute beginners.

• Reception: Anyone can enjoy them with a karaoke-like feel.

5️⃣ Aimyon

• Characteristics: The embodiment of 'simple is best.' Many combinations of Am, F, C, and G, making them standard songs for women to play and sing.

• Difficulty: Recommended as a first song to learn.

• Reception: Especially resonates with the younger generation.

My thoughts, my friend's thoughts

It remained exactly as my subjective view. ChatGPT is amazing!

I would venture two points where it differs from my subjective view:
・I personally believe Mr. Children is more difficult than Southern All Stars.
・The 'average person reception: △' for Stardust Revue is, in my impression, a ✖️.

Other than those points, the answer was exactly as I perceived it. I realized that Stardust Revue really was difficult after all. Modern AI is wonderful!

A friend who is a huge fan of Stardust Revue saw these results and said,
'Maybe the fact that it only resonates with enthusiasts because it's for connoisseurs is the reason it doesn't go viral in the mainstream.
But, I'm actually a little proud of that.⭐'

They were delighted, saying that. That's a comment only a huge fan would make.

As an amateur guitarist who was requested to play such a maniacal song that only experts would appreciate, I had a rough time. My little finger, which I rarely use, is hurting.

I feel like I understand why there are almost no videos of Stardust Revue acoustic guitar covers on YouTube. It's because you can't play or sing them. Despite having a fair number of hits, there are too few people covering them. Aimyon and back number have tons of them, though.

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