Chords for DREAM THEATER - Barstool Warrior (Track By Track)

Where do you come up with these titles?
[B] Barstool Warrior.
Barstool Warrior.
What is that even referred [B] to? _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
Well, I wrote the words_
First of all, I was very inspired by the style of [B] the song,
because it's like so classic [N] prog, like Genesis and Rush and things like that.
And to me, it lent itself to like a storytelling vibe.
And I don't know if you remember this,
but at one point we were working on the vocal melodies, and I just sang something as like a
joke.
Remember that?
And you sang that.
And I sang the words, you know, and I started singing about this character who [E] was a lonely
guy [B] in a bar that was reflecting on his life that's gone horribly wrong.
And so that ended
[C] up being the subject matter.
So I wrote [N] about two fictional characters, one being this guy who's an
alcoholic, and he feels like he wasted his life.
He's just like a local townie guy, and he's never
gone anywhere, and he feels really stuck.
And he's kind of trying to figure out why this happened to
him.
And the other thing is about a woman who's in an abusive relationship, and she can't get out of
it.
And she kind of blames herself from her past family history.
And, you know, she, again, she's
stuck and she can't get out of it.
And eventually there is a story arc where they realize, kind of
[F] like, I guess, like in a almost Buddha moment, how, you know, you can kind of get out of this by
_ sort of [Fm] imagining yourself in another place and thinking of where you want to be and dreaming of
where you want to be and making that a reality.
[Gb] And so at the end of the song, it's kind of like a
happy [C] ending where they move on in their lives.
But that was also the storytelling.
And actually
[N] after we finish this little interview bit, I'm going to listen to the vocal.
There [Em] you go.
Right.
But to answer your question, [G] Barstool Warrior, I pictured a guy that was always [G] in the bar,
and, you know, he would like get drunk and he would just be like spewing, you know,
debates and fights with [Fm] people.
Yeah, [B] there you go.
So one of the other, that's very cool.
So one
of the other things about this song is [F] that as people will hear this album [Ab] is, has a lot [Bb] of
energy and it's very, it's got a lot of rock riff, cool energy.
[Fm] But we also wanted to make sure that
we [Gb] included some almost like [F] classic prog on the album.
And that [N] was a lot of times when we're in
the studio writing music, like John will kind of like almost like give me like a little assignment,
[Eb] like we need something like this.
And then I'll go to my keyboard [E] and start to work something out.
So on this particular [Fm] day, it was like Jordan, I think was actually the night before.
We need
something that's really like classic kind of proggy, [F] you get that big open kind of Genesis
[G] Meridian type of a sound.
And so I took the challenge and I came in the next morning early
to the barn.
And I was the first one at my keyboard and I put on my headphones and I was
just [E] playing chords and trying to get in that that space that I, [Gb] you know, know pretty well and hope
that some magic would [Db] happen.
And I wanted to do it in time.
So when john [G] walked in the room, I could
say, Look, I took the [Bb] assignment and here it is.
So actually found some, you know, really cool chords
and a good sound.
[E] And it all [C] happened, you know, in time for when he [E] walked in the room was like,
Okay, well listen to this.
Here you go.
[C] And it was literally perfect.
You know, it's I walked in
Jordan's like, I think I have the part he played, [G] what would end up being the main chorus and theme
to the song.
And it's a type of thing where there's a pedal.
And there's this chord [A] change,
and it was just beautiful.
I was like, that is absolutely perfect and gorgeous.
And we went with
as is and that and that appears a [Bb] few times [Fm] in the song is the main theme and main chorus.
But also the song starts out [N] with a super prod the kind of beginning that is really,
really fun.
Yeah, that was a challenge to trying to come up.
This is always a challenge trying to
come up with an original _ riff, whether it's guitar by itself or guitar and keys or something that
will, you know, be immediate when when you hear the song, whether it's [F] live or you press play,
whatever.
That it's like you [A] recognize, sorry, you recognize it.
And it gets [G] you excited for
the song.
And so the opening riff took some shaping and working out to get and I'm really
happy with the way [N] that came out.
Yeah, it's one of my favorite songs on the album.
It's also the
beginning is definitely a favorite because it's proggy and has that riff that's just very strong
from the get go.
And then on a personal note for me as a guitar player.
I love that song because
there are three different moments where [F] I get to kind of go and [N] into melody.
So yeah, yeah,
total.
And yeah, and I love that.
You [G] know, I mean, it's one thing.
It's fun to to rock out
and shred and [G] do all that.
But to do this thing where you're given a lot of space, a very melodic
chord progression.
And then you can just really do that [Eb] kind of emotive playing.
For me, [N] that's so
much fun.
And so there's a few moments.
And on the same level, that song just has this glory about
it.
So sonic sonically for me as a keyboardist, especially, [C] you know, underneath the guitar.
So
underneath the vocals, you know, this big kind of like melatroni like Hammond organ pad things that
are just so rich and warm and full.
And they just, you know, it's fun to hear that underneath this
gorgeous, like solo melodic [Gb] playing and beautiful vocals.
Yeah, satisfying on many levels [F] for us to
put together.
It's a fun song.
Yeah, [N] very proud of it.
Barstool [B] warrior.
Now you know what it means. _ _ _
[D] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
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