Numb — Linkin Park (2003)

Why it's in this book

It is January's second song, the one the band on duty can pick alongside Save Tonight because they share the family C loop. The difference is style: Save Tonight is acoustic pop-rock, Numb is nu metal. In the course plan we sum it up like this: the riff belongs to the keyboard and the drums are the song. The record is in F sharp minor, which is awkward on ukulele, so in class we take it down a tone, to E minor: Em–C–G–D. In the room with no instruments you work on the voice and the choir's shouted answer, which is this song's second voice. With ukuleles, the four chords. In the music room, the keyboard carries the riff and the drums decide when the song grows.

Why this song

If you play Fortnite, you may have played it: it was added to Festival mode in 2024. And if not, you have seen it: its music video is the most viewed rock video on YouTube, with more than two billion views.

But look at the chords. They are the same four as in Save Tonight, in the same order. How can two songs with the same harmony sound so different?

Historical context

Linkin Park are a band from Los Angeles. In the early 2000s they mixed metal guitars, rap, samples and synthesisers. That mix was called nu metal.

"Numb" closes their second album, Meteora (2003). It was the third single and spent twelve weeks at number 1 on the US alternative rock chart. Chester Bennington sings it. Mike Shinoda, the band's other singer, plays piano and synths.

Foto: Kristina Servant, CC BY 2.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

This is how they shared the song live: Bennington on lead vocals and Shinoda on backing vocals, keyboards and guitar. The photo is from Montreal, Canada, in 2014.

The lyrics are about someone who feels everyone expects them to be somebody else, and who has had enough. The music video tells it through a girl who wants to be an artist and whom nobody understands. It was filmed in Prague, on the Charles Bridge and in a real secondary school. It was directed by Joe Hahn, the band's DJ.

In 2004 it was mashed up with Jay-Z's "Encore". That version, "Numb/Encore", won a Grammy.

Musical characteristics

The same loop. The intro and verse use four chords: F sharp minor, D, A and E. It is the i–VI–III–VII loop, the same as in Save Tonight, just higher. In class we take it down to E minor, C, G and D. Moving a whole song up or down is called transposing.

The chorus starts somewhere else. In the chorus the chords are the same, but the circle starts on D: D, E, F sharp minor, A. It is a rotation of the loop. Starting on a major chord makes the chorus sound more open and louder.

The keyboard riff. Before the voice, a keyboard repeats a short phrase. That riff is the song's signature. In your band the keyboard plays it, and the electric guitar fills it out with distorted chords.

The drums are the song. Listen to how they change from one section to the next. In the verses they leave room for the voice. In the chorus they hit with everything. That contrast between soft and loud is dynamics, and here the drums decide it.

Two voices answering each other. In the chorus, the lead voice sings and the backing voice answers with a shout. That call and response is the second voice you will do in class.

Hard facts: F sharp minor on the record and E minor in class, 4/4, 110 beats per minute, 3:07. The sections, according to Hooktheory: intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus and a chorus lead-out that closes the song.

Guided listening

Play the music video. In the intro, the keyboard is alone. Hum its phrase. If you can repeat it, you have found the riff.

When the voice comes in, listen to the drums. Are they playing hard or leaving space?

When the chorus arrives, everything changes: distorted guitars, full drums, shouted vocals. Listen to the first chord of the chorus. It is major, and the verse's was minor.

At the end, listen to how it finishes: does it fade out or stop dead? Notice what the drums do in the last few bars.

Trivia and curiosities

• In 2014, at a friendly football match between Malta and Slovakia, "Numb" was played by mistake instead of Malta's national anthem.

• The band filmed their performance scenes for the video in a church in Los Angeles, not in Prague. Bennington had severe back pain, so that part was filmed later, at home.

• It was the band's second song to pass one billion streams on Spotify, after "In the End".

• The Finnish singer Tarja Turunen, who comes from opera and metal, recorded it in a church. The same harmony takes on yet another style.

Classroom activities

• From murmur to shout. Room with no instruments: one half sings the verse quietly, the other answers in the chorus with the choir's response. No real screaming: with energy, without straining your throat.

• Transpose. Ukulele: E minor, C, G, D for the verse. Then rotate the circle and play C, D, E minor, G for the chorus. Compare it with Save Tonight, which uses the same loop in A minor.

• The drums decide. Music room: play the loop four times in a row without changing anything. On each round the drums decide whether to play soft or loud, and everyone else has to follow.

• Analyse. Why don't Save Tonight and Numb sound alike, with the same harmony? Write three differences. None of them can be "the chords".

Key vocabulary

• Nu metal — nu metal: rock duro de los 2000 con metal, rap y electrónica
• Transposing — transportar
• Rotation — rotación
• Dynamics — dinámica: el contraste entre suave y fuerte
• Call and response — llamada y respuesta

Resources

Official music video — Filmed in Prague and directed by Joe Hahn, the band's DJ.

Guitar tutorial — Marty Music. Explains the guitar parts step by step.

Ukulele tutorial — Four Chord Simple. An easy four-chord version.

Piano tutorial — PHianonize. An easy keyboard version.

Drum tutorial — RocknMob. How to play the song's drum part.

Bass, with tab — CoverSolutions. The bass line with the tab on screen, to play along with.

• Harmonic analysis — Hooktheory, five sections: https://www.hooktheory.com/theorytab/view/linkin-park/numb