I've been hesitant to tackle any math rock licks, because most of the videos I found are guys showing off how well THEY can do it. Your videos are much more instructive and I can understand the theory behind it. You have no idea how much I appreciate you!
Awesome!! I'm really excited to get this video out. I feel like it's a lot better than the old version. Thanks for watching and thanks for the support!
Trevor, help please? How in the world are you able to easily finger that Ma7 shape? I can bare it, kind of, but if you have any tips on how to do it as shown in your video that would be great. Or is it more about hand size?
thanks for the lesson :) this is technically my first lesson of all time maybe after 16 years of playin around with guitars. haha. all tabs n self taught beforehand. listening to records n playing along. this is easier :P haha I got the c9 shape out of a guitar magazine from like ... someone like john mellencamp when i was 17 maybe that counts? haha
The best thing that could happen is a few videos where Trevor and Steve from let's talk about math rock are collabing between the lessons on their RUclips and patreon pages I haven't been lost looking for something to learn in a while
The thing though, is a lot of these chord shapes are more awkward to play in standard tuning. So you can either take the time to retune and open up more possibilities with easier shapes, or stay in standard and work your fingers harder. Both have their place and neither is right or wrong, but those are their trade-offs!
It's not that you can't do it. It's just that in this context it doesn't work. The C Major scale is as follows: C D E F G A B C - I'll refer to this a lot. In math rock, commonly progressions are built off the 4th scale degree. Count up the scale and we can see in the key of C this chord would be the F major chord. As such, he's showing a lot of voicings as they relate to this common practice. Our bottom string is tuned to F, so to make use of that open note as our 4th scale degree we can always return to, he's showing us our chords in the key of C Major. Learning how to build chords isn't hard, you just use your scales and learn the intervals used to build chords. -------------------------- Scales: Major keys are built using the formula WWHWWWH. A (W) represents a whole step and a (H) represents a semitone. Because of this, the key of C Major is as follows: C D E F G A B C The keys of C Major and it's relative minor A are unique in that they don't contain any sharps or flats (F#/Gb for example). -------------------------- How to build chords: Knowing that there aren't any sharps or flats in the key of C, let's see why chords work the way they do first, because to actually internalize why it doesn't work it's important to learn how to build chords from scales. In a major key, your major chords are the I, IV and V (1,4,5). If we just count up our scale, we can see that means C, F, and G will be our major chords. In a major key, your minor chords are ii, iii, vi, and you have a diminished chord on vii. Counting up the scale again, we can see that our minor chords will be D, E, A, and we will have a diminished B chord. Chords are built using intervals, the distance between notes in the scale. A major chord is built with a Root, Major third, and a perfect fifth. (1-3-5) So a C chord would contain the notes C E and G. A minor chord is built with a Root, Minor third, and a perfect fifth. (1-b3-5) So a C minor would contain the notes C Eb/D# and G. Easy enough right? Your third interval determines whether the chord you are playing is a major chord or a minor chord. We can see the notes in C minor don't match our C Major scale because the Eb note doesn't match our scale formula for the key of C Major and we already learned the key of C Major doesn't contain any sharps or flats. -------------------------- Upper Extensions: Now that we understand that, let's look at upper extensions (Our 7th and 9th chords). We know out C major chord is (1-3-5) CEG. If we wanted to make this chord a major 7th chord, we just add the major 7th interval, giving us CEGB. To go beyond that to make a major 9th, we add the major 9th interval to the chord and get the notes CEGBD. It's that simple. When we play guitar, we often omit notes we don't need or make shell voicings, we focus on our root and what are known as our color notes: Our thirds, 7ths, 9ths, and beyond. --------------------------- Building a m9 on the 2: Now let's build a m9 chord for our ii(2) chord using our C Major scale: CDEFGABC The second note of the C Major scale is D, so we're building a Dm9 chord. We know minor chords are built off of their root with (1-b3-5), and we start at D for 1 because D is the root note of the chord. So, that means the notes D-F-A make our D minor chord. Add a minor 7th on top of it because we are further coloring it and we get D-F-A-C. Add a major 9th on top and we get D-F-A-C-E. That's our ii(2) chord and we apply the same logic to our 6th chord. ------------------------ Building the m9 on the 3: So now to answer the question, why doesn't a m9 chord work for our iii(3) chord? Well, let's build the chord just like we did before. Third note of C Major is E, so we are making an Em9 chord. (1-b3-5) gives us E-G-B. That's our E minor chord. Now for the upper extensions. Add a minor 7th - E-G-B-D - that's our Dm7 Add a major 9th on top of that and: E - G - B - D - F# Oh no, it looks like by adding that major 9th interval on top of our chord gave us an F# note, and as we already know, the key of C Major doesn't contain an F# because there aren't any sharps or flats in the key of C major. Bummer. Anyway, I hope this lengthy explanation helps at all. ---------------------- TL;DR The m9 chords for 2 and 6 contain notes within the key of C Major, that's why they work. The m9 chord on the 3 chord uses an F# note, which isn't in the key of C Major.
Only two diatonic chords are both major and contain a natural 7; I and IV. It wouldn’t work for V because it has a flat 7. Diatonic ally of course. Hope that helps.
Rolling a blunt and taking notes to you is a happy place right now, you’re awesome
Trevor, you are legitimately the most underrated guitar teacher on RUclips.
Facts
I was thinking the same thing.
Him and jake lizzio
I've been hesitant to tackle any math rock licks, because most of the videos I found are guys showing off how well THEY can do it. Your videos are much more instructive and I can understand the theory behind it. You have no idea how much I appreciate you!
Great channel, subbed. Going to use these voicings to write songs in empty car parks (parking lots in the US) and cry about how she left me.
your voice is so relaxing
was literally looking to see if you had posted something like this yesterday and here it is!! thank you so much
Awesome!! I'm really excited to get this video out. I feel like it's a lot better than the old version. Thanks for watching and thanks for the support!
The diagrams would be perfect if they had the interval numbers. Thanks for helping us grow!
Your vids are inspiring me to play and write more and get out of my creative rut. Please never stop, you're awesome :)
Wait, you have this "Post Rock, And Shoegaze" too?????
haha yeah, these chords would be great for those styles!
Trevor, help please? How in the world are you able to easily finger that Ma7 shape? I can bare it, kind of, but if you have any tips on how to do it as shown in your video that would be great. Or is it more about hand size?
I tuned my guitar to FACGCE 3 years ago and have never tuned it back
Dude u are making me a beast at guitar no joke ive learned so much from u id pay u for a private lesson
Thank you for the helpful video!
I like how you are using a Telecaster. I think Telecasters with single coils are the most versatile guitars.
bless the algorithm for bringing me here
I started crying when you started playing the chords
Thank you 🙏 great lesson ✌️
couldn't spend my prom night any better
That chord at 1.40 is tricky
10/10 content as always. Thanks!
Thanks Howard!
How the fuck do you play that Major 7 and not mute strings? That's so wild to me.
YESS I’ve been waiting for this thank you, you are the best!
Hurray! No problem, thanks for the kind words!
Thanks!
You said everybody in the video but you say everyone in the description HUWY!!??
Thank you so much
thanks for the lesson :) this is technically my first lesson of all time maybe after 16 years of playin around with guitars. haha. all tabs n self taught beforehand. listening to records n playing along. this is easier :P haha
I got the c9 shape out of a guitar magazine from like ... someone like john mellencamp when i was 17 maybe that counts? haha
Liam MMIX is a cool post rock album great playing
emo Ronaldinho teaching guitar. wholesome
i dont know any of these silly words hes using someone help
Am I the only one that doesn't understand Trevor?
any chance of a collaboration with Let's Talk About Math Rock?
This guy is like the marty schwartz of math rock
The best thing that could happen is a few videos where Trevor and Steve from let's talk about math rock are collabing between the lessons on their RUclips and patreon pages I haven't been lost looking for something to learn in a while
I've been wishing for them to collab so badly!
shoegaze!!! 🤘
you look like ryu kawajiri when he's 48
I guess C/E should be 7th fret.
Bro what guitar is that, looks and sounds so damn good.
it's a fender telecaster :)
i'm sorry but i threw this on to learn chords, then got distracted by doing my nails and had this on still. your voice is so soothing omg.
Just started playing around with this tuning with a slide.... wow.... Glass slide makes it sound so wild.
What do I do with this information lol
Like how do I make a chord progression?
experiment!
@@assonance9057 I do that, I'm having a lot of fun with this tuning, but it doesn't end up sounding like math rock
@@yacoale8153 it doesnt have to
@@anuvette well yeah but whats the point then lol
ive been trying my hand at tapping, im not quite there yet but it sounds great. Very math rock-y
This is such a good video, everything was explained so well
I don't get it, so far they're all C's
How can i make a song using only the C chord
can you just play in E standard for those genre becoz you are too lazy to tune the guitar lmao
The thing though, is a lot of these chord shapes are more awkward to play in standard tuning. So you can either take the time to retune and open up more possibilities with easier shapes, or stay in standard and work your fingers harder. Both have their place and neither is right or wrong, but those are their trade-offs!
You can, but alternate tunings can give you some different sounds and can be a near instant source of inspiration.
The tuning is really easy but it is possible to do Midwest emo/math rock in E standard, there are plenty of videos about it
@@fromthistexasbreathcan't be more awkward than that maj7 moveable shape
Oooh. This will be fun to practice.
Totally! FACGCE is a lot of fun too
thanks for the chords! building an arsenal over here!
Following these videos has been such a joy, and sparked a newfound interest in guitar for me - thank you Trevor!
this video is great for a noob like me
I tuned my bass to facg
Super useful thx bro
You're the best! Thanks for this tutorial, very helpful
my hands are simply too small
Thank you sir
You are so competent , you got a sub
I am going to have to watch this a couple of times to remember everything you taught.
this tuning facgce is it tuned up or down from standard tuning?
both
nice
8:30 so smooth
1:45
Why do you say the Mi9 shape can be used for the 2 and 6 chords but not the 3 chord? (not a trick question, I know very little about harmony!)
It's not that you can't do it. It's just that in this context it doesn't work.
The C Major scale is as follows: C D E F G A B C - I'll refer to this a lot.
In math rock, commonly progressions are built off the 4th scale degree. Count up the scale and we can see in the key of C this chord would be the F major chord. As such, he's showing a lot of voicings as they relate to this common practice. Our bottom string is tuned to F, so to make use of that open note as our 4th scale degree we can always return to, he's showing us our chords in the key of C Major.
Learning how to build chords isn't hard, you just use your scales and learn the intervals used to build chords.
--------------------------
Scales:
Major keys are built using the formula WWHWWWH. A (W) represents a whole step and a (H) represents a semitone.
Because of this, the key of C Major is as follows: C D E F G A B C
The keys of C Major and it's relative minor A are unique in that they don't contain any sharps or flats (F#/Gb for example).
--------------------------
How to build chords:
Knowing that there aren't any sharps or flats in the key of C, let's see why chords work the way they do first, because to actually internalize why it doesn't work it's important to learn how to build chords from scales.
In a major key, your major chords are the I, IV and V (1,4,5). If we just count up our scale, we can see that means C, F, and G will be our major chords.
In a major key, your minor chords are ii, iii, vi, and you have a diminished chord on vii. Counting up the scale again, we can see that our minor chords will be D, E, A, and we will have a diminished B chord.
Chords are built using intervals, the distance between notes in the scale.
A major chord is built with a Root, Major third, and a perfect fifth. (1-3-5) So a C chord would contain the notes C E and G.
A minor chord is built with a Root, Minor third, and a perfect fifth. (1-b3-5) So a C minor would contain the notes C Eb/D# and G.
Easy enough right? Your third interval determines whether the chord you are playing is a major chord or a minor chord.
We can see the notes in C minor don't match our C Major scale because the Eb note doesn't match our scale formula for the key of C Major and we already learned the key of C Major doesn't contain any sharps or flats.
--------------------------
Upper Extensions:
Now that we understand that, let's look at upper extensions (Our 7th and 9th chords).
We know out C major chord is (1-3-5) CEG.
If we wanted to make this chord a major 7th chord, we just add the major 7th interval, giving us CEGB.
To go beyond that to make a major 9th, we add the major 9th interval to the chord and get the notes CEGBD.
It's that simple.
When we play guitar, we often omit notes we don't need or make shell voicings, we focus on our root and what are known as our color notes: Our thirds, 7ths, 9ths, and beyond.
---------------------------
Building a m9 on the 2:
Now let's build a m9 chord for our ii(2) chord using our C Major scale: CDEFGABC
The second note of the C Major scale is D, so we're building a Dm9 chord.
We know minor chords are built off of their root with (1-b3-5), and we start at D for 1 because D is the root note of the chord.
So, that means the notes D-F-A make our D minor chord.
Add a minor 7th on top of it because we are further coloring it and we get D-F-A-C.
Add a major 9th on top and we get D-F-A-C-E.
That's our ii(2) chord and we apply the same logic to our 6th chord.
------------------------
Building the m9 on the 3:
So now to answer the question, why doesn't a m9 chord work for our iii(3) chord?
Well, let's build the chord just like we did before.
Third note of C Major is E, so we are making an Em9 chord.
(1-b3-5) gives us E-G-B. That's our E minor chord.
Now for the upper extensions.
Add a minor 7th - E-G-B-D - that's our Dm7
Add a major 9th on top of that and: E - G - B - D - F#
Oh no, it looks like by adding that major 9th interval on top of our chord gave us an F# note, and as we already know, the key of C Major doesn't contain an F# because there aren't any sharps or flats in the key of C major. Bummer. Anyway, I hope this lengthy explanation helps at all.
----------------------
TL;DR
The m9 chords for 2 and 6 contain notes within the key of C Major, that's why they work.
The m9 chord on the 3 chord uses an F# note, which isn't in the key of C Major.
@@mistersadaimusic Whoa, I didn't expect to get a quick harmony tutorial as a reply haha. Thanks a lot, this was useful!
When you say like this kind of chord can work as the tonic and the fourth of the scale, how did you figure that out?
Only two diatonic chords are both major and contain a natural 7; I and IV. It wouldn’t work for V because it has a flat 7. Diatonic ally of course. Hope that helps.
@@AgressiveElevatorMusic thank you, i was wondering the same thing as well!
Yesssss thank you I've been trying to find this info!!!
Trevor anyone ever tell you you look like Bill Cosby
Do modes still work the same as they would on standard tuning with this alternate tuning
Some alternate tunings “want” to be in Lydian I’ve found
can these shapes be used in other keys ? for example: i have a capo on the third fret and im building an Eb major scale on the low a string