It takes a very special person to teach beneath themselves and totally understand pace, sounding like they care and supplying the right information. Thankyou for spending the time helping others. I have achieved being signed to major labels but im still learning everyday because of people like you. Sometimes writing without laws is great, its how i achieved. But now i want to master the structure too and you have really helped me. Thankyou
+Jay Welsh Jay, that is so well said. It takes a very special person to teach beneath themselves and totally understand pace, sounding like they care and supplying the right information. So many teachers teach way above the student and forget what is was like trying to learn a thing. They don't seem to be able to put themselves in the position of the student anymore. And so many start out with difficult or complex examples instead of something simple to build on. Thank you Mark, for this video. Well done.
I've been waiting for 7 years on youtube for a tutorial like this. You have no idea how much I appreciate your work right now. Thank you so, so, so, so much!
Thanks for this old video, I’m been looking at chords progression for months and this have helped me refine the system and you explain with good logic, thank you Mark
Thank you for this contribution to my music theory studies. I have learned so much thanks to people like you that take the time to put this type of content on RUclips. This was an excellent piece of information. I have been focusing on composition/songwriting and this really helps put a lot of things I have just learned into place. I understood what and where but not why. Now I do :)
Brother this video didn't only teach me a ton but it opened my mind to a whole bunch of things that I didn't know that I didn't know. Now I know what to start lookimg for to further my understanding of piano. That will include all of your videos
I've been playing & learning music for decades but this is a simple and very helpful approach, I think. 'Common notes' is s good way to explain why the substitutions work... and I like the idea of a 'journey' or 'story' - Tonic = home --> Dominant = far away as possible ( diatonically, anyway :) ) --> Tonic = and back to home. Thanks for posting the video.
Mark, a very nice job. I watched as a review to remind me how much I’d forgotten since ‘75 when I left school and stopped studying. I still used theory when playing but after that it was nil. ‘84 On TIL now and finally learning to play guitar. You really helped me. Thanks. Just a suggestion based on the comments: leave out the minor can be major for this level student. Cheers!
I like your idea of thinking of chord 4 as a backward tonic (is the glass half empty or half full). I think the word you are looking for A minor version of chord 4 is brief modulation without getting to technical. Your explanation is clear and concise yet reading the comments some people just don't get it. There phones are getting smarter but sadly the computer in there head is diminishing I am going to practise my scales now they help to keep my computer ticking over in lockdown.
Thks Austin. This is the best video that i have seen thus far. The way break things down and explain them is fantastic. Am able to also understand other videos that i have watched and didn't fully understand them. it will be nice if you can make a video on how to find the 1 4 5 to any song, like if someone was to be singing and im on the piano.
Wow, thank you so much for this informative video. You had my sub from ground zero, you have a wonderful way of explaining this stuff. Your time & this priceless knowledge has me smiling from the pre-tonic, --- ear to ear, lol. Tearing up the rug running to my silent writing buddy, Mozart, my sweet Pomeranian, as he rests between my feet & the petals of my ancient baby grand.
I appreciate the information which you passed over quickly, so as to make the real point of the video. When people have learned the real meaning of the lesson, they will slowly pick up the nuances and the exceptions. Good teaching strategy. Many other tutorials get bogged down with the details before getting to the focus of the lesson. Music theory can be illogical and verbose if it's taught strictly from the very start :) Nice one. Thank you.
i wrote a melody of 4bars. first 2bars are in Aminor, and next modulate into G#minor/Abminor. how does your cool storytelling-tonic/subdom/dominant work? the harmony goes like this: Aminor>Dminor>Eminor>Aminor>Eminor>G#minor>D#minor>G#minor. so it's tonic>subdom>dominant>tonic>dominant>??dominant?(vii)>??(flat V) subdominant??>dominant?(vii again). this is viewed all from the Aminor pespective. it could also be seen from G# perspective, because it feel like this is the final tonic. but doesnt the mind view it from A minor perspective until those weird (Gminor#>Dminor#) chords, and during those the mind gets lost, and when reaching the final G#minor its viewed as the tonic and the chords before interpreted in this new tonic view? sort of like the second half is perceived from the new tonic perspective..
"Don't look back in anger" by Oasis does pretty much everything you covered in this video. It starts with the Pachelbel's progression, but replaces the iii with a major chord (as does "Hook" by Blues Traveler). Then it leaves the Pachelbel pattern and instead goes on your journey to IV, then to the dominant V, and back home. It also uses the Radiohead style major chord to minor chord switch in the pre-chorus ("start a revolution in my head").
Nice lesson! I just wrote a song based on your lesson. A side note Elvis Costello often eliminated the 3rd in his guitar playing and writing leaving the maj and min tonality out. I use that a lot.
I prefer to call the 4th degree as sub-dominant (as do almost all methods and texts) because sub more clearly indicates it as below the dominant whereas predominant is easy to confuse with its formal definition which would mean that it's primary or the main element.
That's fair. I believe I call it both in the video, but yes the more common nomenclature is subdominant. I dislike subom in the context of explaining chord function because it implies that it comes from the dom, which in some ways it does (the interval of the fourth is derived from the interval of the fifth). But in terms of chord functions, I feel "pre" is more descriptive than "sub" so I chose that predominantly (no pun intended) for this video. You'll notice the accompanying graphic calls it the Subdominant because I'm assuming someone may stumble on that without the context I can provide in a video.
Hello Bill, I've just recently subscribed having found you whilst searching for something that could teach me piano. I've never had proper lessons,but know a little and have a lovely piano bought for me by my partner some years ago.I'm almost 62 now and have your book (bought last week). I'm desperate to be able to play and knew nothing about chords though can read music reasonably. So as you can see i'm right at the bottom with a long way to go up. I think i'm a good learner as I am very determined,but in your experience am I flogging a dead horse. I find it even tricky to reach for a 7th as it's not comfortable at the moment and could never in a million years reach to a 9th!!! I should say I've been trying for about 3 weeks now and understand major and minor chords and flats quite well. Practising like mad inversions too I do think you're a fabulous teacher by the way
@@kevinwoo8593 it’s called ‘how to really play the piano’ and it’s taught me loads Kevin. It seemed a little daunting at first if you know nothing, but soon became my go to. Honestly worth the money. It is written by Bill Hilton by the way. Good luck with your playing 😊
So this second part is the, cp 1 - 5 -6 - 4 - in C, like in " Someone like you " but in that case, 1 starts in the second inversion of C. Cool I get it, why we end on 4. Great video Ty!
[0:39] A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. Doesn’t matter if it’s in the key or not. Just wanted to mention that. In this case, this was a C major (Cmaj) chord. In the key of C, “I” (Major Roman Numeral 1) is 1, 3, 5. Or Do, Mi, So.
This is/was a most excellent video. Thanks very much. Just a very quick question only ---- at 5:03 ---- we see that the '5' chord has conflict with the tonic. But at 13:01 ----- the 'I' to 'V' progression is used. And it was mentioned earlier that the 5 chord sounds just fine by itself. So does this mean that transitioning from the I chord to the V chord will may require notes from chord I to not be played at the same time with chord V notes? Whereas, chord I to chord IV transitions will generally be ok with notes from both chords to be mixed in during the transition, right? Thanks again!
You're both very right , but I'd like 2 say that if you love what you do, you enjoy teaching as well, cause it's not teaching, it's just loving our passion & want 2 split it with other erst, so we'll have great fun all of us musicals pals & girls 🤔😆😎👍✌☛💖☚🕉☛💋☚🎹🎸🎷🎧🎤🎶🎙
Sorry, you got it kinda wrong in the harmonic functions. It should have been like this: - I, iii, vi: Tonic - ii, IV: Subdominant - V, viidim: Dominant I will also add that in minor keys it usually goes as: - i, III, VI: Tonic - iidim, iv: Subdominant - v, VII: Dominant
play around with all sorts of chords, you'll know when something clashes or sounds good. you don't have to keep returning to route or tonic. you can transpose a key or just simply change key. so technically you can play what chords you like, but when it comes to writing your music you will simply indicate all your key changes from your starting key progression throughout your piece. don't get boxed in. the worlds your oyster. ;)
Pachelbel's Cannon has more than Four chords. The progression in Pachelbel's Cannon in D is I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V. That's five distinct chords and it uses the minor 3rd (iii) apart from the others you mentioned. The guy who performed the pachelbel rant lied for dramatic effect.
so WHEN you do chance the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, degree and play them in their minor forms , does that change the key?... for example I'm a musician of Regional Mexican music. We tend to play 99% of our music in a Major scale. The Tonic is major, Pre dominant is Major and the Dominant is Major and played in their major forms. The rest of the chords we play them in their minor form is this the correct way to do so? For example a simple rythm that we use is Tonic to Dominant, Tonic to Dominant and when we go into the chorus we use a Maj/Dominant7th chord ( C7) as a step into the Pre dominant which is how we start our chorus. Right before the ending of our chorus we usually end up in the Dominant and then start the music up again in the Tonic. For example , WE will go from CMaj to GMajor, CMajor to GMajor and then play a small step at C7 before our chorus and as we start the chorus we go into FMajor etc etc. (take note I am reffering to all of this being in CMAJOR SCALE) Now when we play the chords D, E, A we play their minor form. or so I beieve it is the minor form. We just drop the 2nd note of the chord down half a step .
Emanuel Guzman-Garcia You are correct. That is right for any major key. Here are the chords of a major scale(for this example the key of C) listed out in Roman numerals(the uppercase letters are major and the lowercase letters are minor): I ii iii IV V vi vii°. The I(C), IV(F), and V(G) are major, and the ii(Dm), iii(Em), and vi(Am) chords are minor, and the vii°(B°) chord is diminished. This will be the same for other keys. Take the key of A for example. The major chords in this case are D(I), G(IV), and A(V) and the minor chords are Em(ii), F#m(iii) and Bm(vi). The ii chord is commonly uses at cadences, right before the V chord. It is called a predominant chord, leading right into the dominant(V) chord. It serves the same purpose as the IV chord, but is used more at the end of phrases. The vi chord is commonly used right at the beginning of the chord progressions, right after the I or V chords, to start the progression. A simple progression is like I V vi IV I V I ii V I
Thanks man! I appreciate your response! Take in mind I am slowly teaching myself music theory and I'm learning solely by watching youtube videos. Everything I asked about, I had a very miniscule knowledge about 1-2 months ago. So I believe I'm picking it up fairly well. I didnt' learn the (CMajor/ Major7) (Cmajor/Minor7) (Cminor/Minor7) C7 stuff until about 2-3 weeks ago.
"so WHEN you do change the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, degree and play them in their minor forms , does that change the key?" No, it does not. It just means you are not using strictly diatonic harmony. The chords in a major scale are easy to remember: "major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished" Change e.g. ii to II and you're still in the same key. E.g. in C, playing E (rather than Em), you're still in C. Of course if you overdo it then the key will become ambiguous. I think it is said that it is V and I that really give the listener their "anchor" as to which key the music is in.
It is an interesting perspective, however, it contains errors. For example, the Lydian mode, is not what is presented here. On the other hand, it can not feature a mode only with one tetrachord - there are different modes with equal first tetrachord, as are the example of the EOLIO and DÓRICO, being different, are equal to the first tetrachord.
This is really great. I had these theories presented to me several times before, but this is the most elusive and informative explanation i've come across so far!
Thank you for an explanation, but I've a question. You've considered iii chord as 'dominant character', because it has two common notes with V chord - Em (EGH) vs G (GHD). How it compares to the Tonic? C (CEG) vs Em (EGH) ? It also has a two common notes. How do you find it this way? I like to consider iii chord as a tonic family, not dominant. I (tonic), iii (tonic family with some tension), vi (tonic family with some move) - it's like: iii - tonic with some tension, because it may has common notes with tonic or dominant - Em(EGH) -> C(CEG) or G(GHD) vi - tonic family with some move, because it may has common notes with tonic or subdominant - Am(ACE) -> C (CEG) or F(FAC).
Hey Ward- It's definitely a matter of degrees. A major chord is more consonant than a minor chord. A major 7th more so than a 7th. Or to put it another way - now "resolve" that Fmaj7 into a straight F major and tell me whether or not the E doesn't create tension in that chord. Surely less tension than another interval, but it still feels unsettled. I go into more depth on this concept in my video here: ruclips.net/video/tafPfbm4jug/видео.html If you want some specific reading materials I can recommend some books. These things are mathematically provable, and once you "grok" the mathematical concepts, you can "hear" them as well with a bit of practice. Mark
You are magical man.. I guess I've seen every fuckin video on music lessons and almost everyone is unclear and confusionale, BTW it's not easy to give lessons on RUclips, but however your explanation is clean and simple
+anievestor Well, here he showed the chord progressions I-VI-V and I-V-vi-IV, so if you for example put these in the scale of C, your chords would be C-F-G and C-G-Am-F, but you can transpose this to any scale.
Hi, Mark. First of all, thanks for such valuable information. When it comes to psychelelic progressive trance, most of the tracks are produced in minor keys. How could I transpose the ideas you presented here to the case of A minor chord progressions? Do the progressions I-IV-V-I and I-V-vi-IV-I remain the most popular ones? Does the similarity in terms of roles between degrees 1 and 6 ("tonics"), 2 and 4 ("pre dominants") and finally 3, 5 and 7 ("dominants") remain validy? Thanks a lot for the help, best wishes from Brazil, and sorry for possible english mistakes. Cheers!
Without knowing too much about the genre, I'd say that trance probably stays away from a strong V - I chord progression as V - I signals the end of a section or end of a song. (called a cadence). So the opposite progression (I V IV I) is probably more common. Also minor keys are their own strange weird beast and maybe one day I'll make a video on them...
So I've been playing music for years now, and I always felt discouraged when it would come to studying theory because it makes broad statements like "every song starts and ends on one chord" etc., also I don't get how it claims some things sound bad while I find them perfectly acceptable, so basically I just feel like arguing everything. On the other hand, I do realize that theory didn't come out of nowhere and many people were working on it, so it shouldn't be disregarded.
Wow a lot of flack on the whole "starts on the one chord" thing - Of course that's not true for every situation, it's just a quick way of explaining the "purpose" of the one chord without going too far into diatonic theory so I can get on with the rest of the video.
A lot of people have the misconception that music theory is proscriptive when in fact it’s descriptive. So it’s not that “every song should start on the I”, it’s that theorists realized, “Hey, there are a lot of songs that start on the I or resolve to the I, that seems pretty important”.
"A lot of people have the misconception that music theory is proscriptive when in fact it’s descriptive." This is exactly it. Music theory is not actually "rules" stating what you have to do -- when you're actually writing real music (and not just school exercises), you may find it useful to understand what you can make the audience feel, and that's why you're taught conventions of how people have tended to understand the music they hear, and what they tend to expect. They're like tools or building blocks. But as we all know, just because something hasn't been done much or at all doesn't mean it's bad -- there's nothing keeping you from combining those blocks and using those tools in your own special way, as long as you think it sounds meaningful.
Heck, there are a bunch of pop songs that don't start on a I chord (e.g. starting on a IV chord and then doing a IV V I or a IV V iii vi or something else), and don't even end on a I chord (e.g. ending on a half cadence or "in the air" on a IV chord or something).
If music theory were a set of rules then jazz wouldn't exist. Think about it. Music theory just helps you to know and understand what you're listening to or writing.
It's even simpler than that. Everything is a "one four five". So take out the minor chords and place them on the Am scale; then Am = i, Dm = iv and Em = v; et voilà, there's your minor one four five.
I still don't get how they work if someone isn't playing along u when ur soloing. How these chords work or how can u use them when u are improvising a solo without any backing track ?
2:41 that is so incorrect. Avicii's Levels was writen in E Maj, but starts on C# also so many other songs in the same genre dont start of the 1 chord to make it less predictable and more interesting.
Are you sure it's not just in a different mode? C# is the vi chord of EMaj. I've never heard the song, and I'm still learning modes, but your vi gives you your aeolian mode as well as your parallel minor.
Isn't the iii or mediant usually substituted for tonic in major key. Or acts as more of an extension to the I chord. ...Becouse it has two of the same notes in it.
That's a fair point. Some of these concepts are bastardized from great Jazz guitarist Joe Pass who divided chords into predominant, dominant & tonic. ii and V are predominant. V7 and 7!° dominant I is tonic. You can expand the tonic up to a I maj7 and the V down to a iii min7 - the overlap in notes is pretty great. Once you get into Jazz and start thinking of all chords as 7ths and 9ths, the hard & fast divisions you had become really, really blurry. 1 3 5 7 9 2 4 6 8 10 3 5 7 9 11 4 6 8 10 12 etc. But really, I advise tracking down his videos & not taking my bastardized & simplified versions as gospel.
+EnergeticWaves I IV V because those occur first in the overtone series. Take a length of string I - the whole string (1/1 and 1/2 - octave) (12th fret) V - 1/3 and 2/3 the string (7th fret) IV 1/3 and 3/4 the string (5th fret) If you have a guitar get a tape measure and confirm this.
+Sean Monroe I suppose it's a solution for any genre you like until you write in diatonic scale. There is no difference if you play a chord on keyboard or distorted guitar (for an example Em is Em no matter if played on guitar, strings, piano, ect.). It's still the same chord.
sometimes i found in a few songs that the 3rd could be major and the 4th could be minor. and then i think that they add notes 5# or 6b to the scale of the key. i think that notes could be fit on the scale because it's relative to minor scales version of the key. example : C major = A minor . is it true?
There are no hard & fast rules here and thirds are sort of like 'flavor' notes - they can be major or minor. Mixing major & minor chords in this way is usually called "borrowing from the parallel minor" (or major) key. Minor keys are a strange a complicated beast, because they don't tie up as neatly as major keys and often intermix elements of major & minor to achieve certain effects.
okay, thanks for the info. great video btw!. and sometimes i rarely found that in the song there is a specific chord that borrowed from the previous key (?) such an example if i play on Gmajor key and then i add Fmajor in the middle of progress and it sounds great. it got 'happy-sad' vibe for me and i love it.
amirul wafa yeah part of my goal with this series is to demystify the whole thing and make music less about rules and more about following your intuition... which kinda makes it hilarious that the biggest argument on this video is over my throw away simplification "songs start and end on the tonic" you keep doing what sounds good!
what if your in a E major key (tonic) and theres a G chord in there? i never got the theory behind that. its popular in blues, rock and metal music. could i have a slideup progression E f# G g# A B or something?
Yeah, the first time I saw someone do something like that it threw me for a loop too. Like - E, G and A are from the E minor pentatonic, but how are you playing them all as major chords? The root, fourth and fifth - think of them as planets. They have a gravitational pull. Any note that's adjacent to them melodically wants to be pulled into those notes. Adjacent notes are dissonant and will want to resolve into the root, fourth or fifth. I'm speaking broadly in terms of melody but borrowing those concepts for chord structure here. What you're describing is borrowing from the "parallel major" - borrowing chords from the E major tonality, while being basically in the E minor tonality. Let's keep the gravitational pull metaphor going. Let's say that 1 is the Earth. The center of our universe. 4 is the moon and 5 is the sun. The sun and moon are always equidistant from the earth & we measure our lives in how these 3 gravitational fields interact. But all the major & minor notes - 3, 6, 7 and to a lesser extent 2 have a more fluid relationship and can switch between major & minor for whatever context best serves the song. They're like Venus and Mars - their distance to us varies. Take for example the Melodic Ascending minor scale. The upper half of the scale is fifth major 6 major 7 tonic when we're ascending - because the tonic "gravity" pulls the 7th upwards towards it. Why? Because adjacent notes are dissonant to each other & that dissonance wants to resolve. If the 7th is minor, you don't get that dissonance or resolution. When the melody descends it's tonic minor 7 minor 6 fifth For the same reason - the gravity of the 5th pulls the 6th into it. You don't want 5th, minor 6th, major 7th, tonic - because the step and a half gap is awkward and not very melodic. So whether or not a chord or a note is major or minor can change and is allowed to change. If I ever produce a video on the minor scale you'll learn lots about this. In your particular example, you're tempted to think you're in E major because the E chord is major. But you may actually be in E minor (the presence of the G major tells you this) and borrowing chords from the E major scale. The presence of the g# could serve as a sort of passing tone, but I think its presence is mostly because of the gravitational pull of the A. Plus music nerds love chromaticism and that F#, G, G#, A four notes together is too delicious to pass up. In this context the g#minor may be serving as a quasi Amajor7 chord intending to resolve into the A major chord. If there is a melody here pay attention to what the melody is doing & if it plays out an Amajor7 to A major concept.
This "the 5th is the sun and the 4th is the moon" analogy is especially apropos as the moon is a reflection of the sun & the 4th is a reflection of the 5th. That is - the discovery of the 4th is as the distance from the 5th up to the octave, and there are those who argue that when the 4th is used melodically, it's almost always as a 5th to tonic. For example "Here comes the Bride" - this is what everyone in music school learns so they can recognize the 4th. But look at the notes - is it from tonic to 4th or is it a 5th up to an octave? ruclips.net/video/eMMcMcajOz4/видео.html
thanks a lot. I think I've been playing them as a blend of e minor blues and e major rock'n'roll xD. I'm gonna try to apply what you told me to make the best out of it, so far i've used it in a descending from B. and bending the 'major note' a half step as melody, making each chords a diminished other chord so i know B with the bend is E diminished...
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It takes a very special person to teach beneath themselves and totally understand pace, sounding like they care and supplying the right information. Thankyou for spending the time helping others. I have achieved being signed to major labels but im still learning everyday because of people like you. Sometimes writing without laws is great, its how i achieved. But now i want to master the structure too and you have really helped me. Thankyou
+Jay Welsh
Jay, that is so well said.
It takes a very special person to teach beneath themselves and totally
understand pace, sounding like they care and supplying the right
information.
So many teachers teach way above the student and forget
what is was like trying to learn a thing.
They don't seem to be able to put themselves in the position
of the student anymore.
And so many start out with difficult or complex examples
instead of something simple to build on.
Thank you Mark, for this video. Well done.
+jay welsh well excuse my ignorance but Im sorry i didnt notice how majorly famous you were lol
I've been waiting for 7 years on youtube for a tutorial like this. You have no idea how much I appreciate your work right now. Thank you so, so, so, so much!
iii chord also shares two notes with tonic and can function as a tonic, common in flamenco and eastern euro music
Thanks for this old video, I’m been looking at chords progression for months and this have helped me refine the system and you explain with good logic, thank you Mark
Been messing with music for a long time but never learned theory. You're channel is helping me finally learn theory. Thank you.
Thank you for this contribution to my music theory studies. I have learned so much thanks to people like you that take the time to put this type of content on RUclips. This was an excellent piece of information. I have been focusing on composition/songwriting and this really helps put a lot of things I have just learned into place. I understood what and where but not why. Now I do :)
Brother this video didn't only teach me a ton but it opened my mind to a whole bunch of things that I didn't know that I didn't know. Now I know what to start lookimg for to further my understanding of piano. That will include all of your videos
This is sweet. It affirms at lot of how I approach writing songs.
I've been playing & learning music for decades but this is a simple and very helpful approach, I think. 'Common notes' is s good way to explain why the substitutions work... and I like the idea of a 'journey' or 'story' - Tonic = home --> Dominant = far away as possible ( diatonically, anyway :) ) --> Tonic = and back to home. Thanks for posting the video.
That's a great explanation of the "I vi IV V" progression. I have always used the song "Duke of Earl" as an example of this progression.
I like the idea of a 4 chord being a 1 chord backwards, and "travel but not conflict"
nice and clean lesson
wow, I really like your approach of describing a music piece like jorney. It really broadens my perspective on music and scales in general
Echoing the majority of comments, very well explained. I sincerely thank you, Sir!
Mark, a very nice job. I watched as a review to remind me how much I’d forgotten since ‘75 when I left school and stopped studying. I still used theory when playing but after that it was nil. ‘84 On TIL now and finally learning to play guitar. You really helped me. Thanks. Just a suggestion based on the comments: leave out the minor can be major for this level student. Cheers!
This was very good. I've tried to learn this concept a few times, but you really did a good job of keeping it simple.
I like your idea of thinking of chord 4 as a backward tonic (is the glass half empty or half full). I think the word you are looking for A minor version of chord 4 is brief modulation without getting to technical. Your explanation is clear and concise yet reading the comments some people just don't get it. There phones are getting smarter but sadly the computer in there head is diminishing I am going to practise my scales now they help to keep my computer ticking over in lockdown.
Thks Austin. This is the best video that i have seen thus far. The way break things down and explain them is fantastic. Am able to also understand other videos that i have watched and didn't fully understand them. it will be nice if you can make a video on how to find the 1 4 5 to any song, like if someone was to be singing and im on the piano.
Aloha!
Thanks so much for taking the time and care and attention to producing and sharing this video. Feeling the love.... Have a blessed day 🎵 🎶
This caused a 'click' so severe I nearly had a nose bleed! Thank you thank you thank you! I get it now!
hahaha, great way to put it
This is gold
Wow, thank you so much for this informative video. You had my sub from ground zero, you have a wonderful way of explaining this stuff. Your time & this priceless knowledge has me smiling from the pre-tonic, --- ear to ear, lol. Tearing up the rug running to my silent writing buddy, Mozart, my sweet Pomeranian, as he rests between my feet & the petals of my ancient baby grand.
This was absolutely outstanding. Thank you so much for doing this. Every musician should learn the chords from this perspective
I appreciate the information which you passed over quickly, so as to make the real point of the video. When people have learned the real meaning of the lesson, they will slowly pick up the nuances and the exceptions. Good teaching strategy. Many other tutorials get bogged down with the details before getting to the focus of the lesson. Music theory can be illogical and verbose if it's taught strictly from the very start :) Nice one. Thank you.
i wrote a melody of 4bars. first 2bars are in Aminor, and next modulate into G#minor/Abminor. how does your cool storytelling-tonic/subdom/dominant work? the harmony goes like this: Aminor>Dminor>Eminor>Aminor>Eminor>G#minor>D#minor>G#minor.
so it's tonic>subdom>dominant>tonic>dominant>??dominant?(vii)>??(flat V) subdominant??>dominant?(vii again). this is viewed all from the Aminor pespective. it could also be seen from G# perspective, because it feel like this is the final tonic. but doesnt the mind view it from A minor perspective until those weird (Gminor#>Dminor#) chords, and during those the mind gets lost, and when reaching the final G#minor its viewed as the tonic and the chords before interpreted in this new tonic view? sort of like the second half is perceived from the new tonic perspective..
"Don't look back in anger" by Oasis does pretty much everything you covered in this video. It starts with the Pachelbel's progression, but replaces the iii with a major chord (as does "Hook" by Blues Traveler). Then it leaves the Pachelbel pattern and instead goes on your journey to IV, then to the dominant V, and back home. It also uses the Radiohead style major chord to minor chord switch in the pre-chorus ("start a revolution in my head").
this makes sense . by the way that u2 bass line is also let it be by the beatles
Nice lesson! I just wrote a song based on your lesson. A side note Elvis Costello often eliminated the 3rd in his guitar playing and writing leaving the maj and min tonality out. I use that a lot.
Pulse2AM yes that works, but it's often implied anyway depending on other elements.
This is very in depth and really goes over any questions I really love this video thank you !!!
Great way to explain pop music!
I prefer to call the 4th degree as sub-dominant (as do almost all methods and texts) because sub more clearly indicates it as below the dominant whereas predominant is easy to confuse with its formal definition which would mean that it's primary or the main element.
That's fair. I believe I call it both in the video, but yes the more common nomenclature is subdominant.
I dislike subom in the context of explaining chord function because it implies that it comes from the dom, which in some ways it does (the interval of the fourth is derived from the interval of the fifth). But in terms of chord functions, I feel "pre" is more descriptive than "sub" so I chose that predominantly (no pun intended) for this video.
You'll notice the accompanying graphic calls it the Subdominant because I'm assuming someone may stumble on that without the context I can provide in a video.
Hello Bill, I've just recently subscribed having found you whilst searching for something that could teach me piano. I've never had proper lessons,but know a little and have a lovely piano bought for me by my partner some years ago.I'm almost 62 now and have your book (bought last week). I'm desperate to be able to play and knew nothing about chords though can read music reasonably. So as you can see i'm right at the bottom with a long way to go up. I think i'm a good learner as I am very determined,but in your experience am I flogging a dead horse. I find it even tricky to reach for a 7th as it's not comfortable at the moment and could never in a million years reach to a 9th!!!
I should say I've been trying for about 3 weeks now and understand major and minor chords and flats quite well. Practising like mad inversions too
I do think you're a fabulous teacher by the way
Hi Esther, what's the name of the book? I'd like to buy a copy too. Regards, Kevin
@@kevinwoo8593 it’s called ‘how to really play the piano’ and it’s taught me loads Kevin. It seemed a little daunting at first if you know nothing, but soon became my go to. Honestly worth the money. It is written by Bill Hilton by the way. Good luck with your playing 😊
You are an amazing teacher. Thank you so much for posting these videos.
So what if I want to add gin to my tonic? What do I need to do?
you go to the black keys
I like you
A steady hand.
So in that context, would the vii-dim chord be the club soda of chord theory?
You play Caddgin instead of Cadd9
This video is SO much better compared to standard I - IV - V - I overview!
That helped a lot thanks! I'm new to chords and this explanation was easy to understand.
What a great video. It just gave me a new level of understanding. It is a well constructed simple video, that is easy to watch and follow. Thank you.
So this second part is the, cp 1 - 5 -6 - 4 - in C, like in " Someone like you " but in that case, 1 starts in the second inversion of C. Cool I get it, why we end on 4. Great video Ty!
[0:39] A chord is three or more notes played at the same time. Doesn’t matter if it’s in the key or not. Just wanted to mention that.
In this case, this was a C major (Cmaj) chord. In the key of C, “I” (Major Roman Numeral 1) is 1, 3, 5. Or Do, Mi, So.
This is/was a most excellent video. Thanks very much. Just a very quick question only ---- at 5:03 ---- we see that the '5' chord has conflict with the tonic. But at 13:01 ----- the 'I' to 'V' progression is used. And it was mentioned earlier that the 5 chord sounds just fine by itself. So does this mean that transitioning from the I chord to the V chord will may require notes from chord I to not be played at the same time with chord V notes? Whereas, chord I to chord IV transitions will generally be ok with notes from both chords to be mixed in during the transition, right? Thanks again!
Man this is pure gold! Thanks for this!!! Keep it up!
Can´t wait to put this in practice! :D
This video helps out a lot, thank you so much
Thank you so much for this perspective. Very inspiring for me, and opens my mind to new possibilities.
Very informative, and very clear. Great quality video, and I'm sure I'll be watching it again! :D
You're both very right , but I'd like 2 say that if you love what you do, you enjoy teaching as well, cause it's not teaching, it's just loving our passion & want 2 split it with other erst, so we'll have great fun all of us musicals pals & girls 🤔😆😎👍✌☛💖☚🕉☛💋☚🎹🎸🎷🎧🎤🎶🎙
Sorry, you got it kinda wrong in the harmonic functions. It should have been like this:
- I, iii, vi: Tonic
- ii, IV: Subdominant
- V, viidim: Dominant
I will also add that in minor keys it usually goes as:
- i, III, VI: Tonic
- iidim, iv: Subdominant
- v, VII: Dominant
play around with all sorts of chords, you'll know when something clashes or sounds good. you don't have to keep returning to route or tonic. you can transpose a key or just simply change key. so technically you can play what chords you like, but when it comes to writing your music you will simply indicate all your key changes from your starting key progression throughout your piece. don't get boxed in. the worlds your oyster. ;)
These videos are so useful. Thanks!
thank you man you really have a gift to teach!
Pachelbel's Cannon has more than Four chords. The progression in Pachelbel's Cannon in D is I-V-vi-iii-IV-I-IV-V. That's five distinct chords and it uses the minor 3rd (iii) apart from the others you mentioned. The guy who performed the pachelbel rant lied for dramatic effect.
Watching this as a guitar player, great lesson! Thanks.
Mark, thank you for the great video!
so WHEN you do chance the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, degree and play them in their minor forms , does that change the key?... for example I'm a musician of Regional Mexican music. We tend to play 99% of our music in a Major scale. The Tonic is major, Pre dominant is Major and the Dominant is Major and played in their major forms. The rest of the chords we play them in their minor form is this the correct way to do so? For example a simple rythm that we use is Tonic to Dominant, Tonic to Dominant and when we go into the chorus we use a Maj/Dominant7th chord ( C7) as a step into the Pre dominant which is how we start our chorus. Right before the ending of our chorus we usually end up in the Dominant and then start the music up again in the Tonic. For example , WE will go from CMaj to GMajor, CMajor to GMajor and then play a small step at C7 before our chorus and as we start the chorus we go into FMajor etc etc. (take note I am reffering to all of this being in CMAJOR SCALE) Now when we play the chords D, E, A we play their minor form. or so I beieve it is the minor form. We just drop the 2nd note of the chord down half a step .
Emanuel Guzman-Garcia You are correct. That is right for any major key. Here are the chords of a major scale(for this example the key of C) listed out in Roman numerals(the uppercase letters are major and the lowercase letters are minor): I ii iii IV V vi vii°. The I(C), IV(F), and V(G) are major, and the ii(Dm), iii(Em), and vi(Am) chords are minor, and the vii°(B°) chord is diminished.
This will be the same for other keys. Take the key of A for example. The major chords in this case are D(I), G(IV), and A(V) and the minor chords are Em(ii), F#m(iii) and Bm(vi).
The ii chord is commonly uses at cadences, right before the V chord. It is called a predominant chord, leading right into the dominant(V) chord. It serves the same purpose as the IV chord, but is used more at the end of phrases. The vi chord is commonly used right at the beginning of the chord progressions, right after the I or V chords, to start the progression. A simple progression is like I V vi IV I V I ii V I
Thanks man! I appreciate your response! Take in mind I am slowly teaching myself music theory and I'm learning solely by watching youtube videos. Everything I asked about, I had a very miniscule knowledge about 1-2 months ago. So I believe I'm picking it up fairly well. I didnt' learn the (CMajor/ Major7) (Cmajor/Minor7) (Cminor/Minor7) C7 stuff until about 2-3 weeks ago.
Emanuel Guzman-Garcia buy a textbook online! It will help a lot
"so WHEN you do change the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, degree and play them in their minor forms , does that change the key?"
No, it does not.
It just means you are not using strictly diatonic harmony.
The chords in a major scale are easy to remember:
"major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, diminished"
Change e.g. ii to II and you're still in the same key. E.g. in C, playing E (rather than Em), you're still in C. Of course if you overdo it then the key will become ambiguous. I think it is said that it is V and I that really give the listener their "anchor" as to which key the music is in.
It is an interesting perspective, however, it contains errors. For example, the Lydian mode, is not what is presented here. On the other hand, it can not feature a mode only with one tetrachord - there are different modes with equal first tetrachord, as are the example of the EOLIO and DÓRICO, being different, are equal to the first tetrachord.
This is really great. I had these theories presented to me several times before, but this is the most elusive and informative explanation i've come across so far!
Maybe you mean illuminating? Elusive means "hard to remember/understand". :)
Yes! Good point.
i love you man this video is gold
Thank you for an explanation, but I've a question.
You've considered iii chord as 'dominant character', because it has two common notes with V chord - Em (EGH) vs G (GHD).
How it compares to the Tonic? C (CEG) vs Em (EGH) ? It also has a two common notes. How do you find it this way?
I like to consider iii chord as a tonic family, not dominant.
I (tonic), iii (tonic family with some tension), vi (tonic family with some move) - it's like:
iii - tonic with some tension, because it may has common notes with tonic or dominant - Em(EGH) -> C(CEG) or G(GHD)
vi - tonic family with some move, because it may has common notes with tonic or subdominant - Am(ACE) -> C (CEG) or F(FAC).
03:50
E/F don't clash .
PLay C/E/F/A ...an inverted Fmaj7 ...sounds good
Hey Ward-
It's definitely a matter of degrees. A major chord is more consonant than a minor chord. A major 7th more so than a 7th.
Or to put it another way - now "resolve" that Fmaj7 into a straight F major and tell me whether or not the E doesn't create tension in that chord. Surely less tension than another interval, but it still feels unsettled.
I go into more depth on this concept in my video here: ruclips.net/video/tafPfbm4jug/видео.html
If you want some specific reading materials I can recommend some books. These things are mathematically provable, and once you "grok" the mathematical concepts, you can "hear" them as well with a bit of practice.
Mark
Yes please , recommend some books , the harder the better .
I've done some theory in the past and quit at a certain point
You are magical man.. I guess I've seen every fuckin video on music lessons and almost everyone is unclear and confusionale, BTW it's not easy to give lessons on RUclips, but however your explanation is clean and simple
CAn you please include some typical chord progressions like the ones you explained here in your notes? Thanks for a great video Tony
+anievestor Well, here he showed the chord progressions I-VI-V and I-V-vi-IV, so if you for example put these in the scale of C, your chords would be C-F-G and C-G-Am-F, but you can transpose this to any scale.
Thanks for video. Would you do video about song with two keys or two relative scales and using chords within them?
Could not follow half of this video. Need to watch it again a couple of times.
Happy new year. 💖💖💖💖
what if I am in a minor scale?
Nice explanation. Thanks
Hi, Mark. First of all, thanks for such valuable information. When it comes to psychelelic progressive trance, most of the tracks are produced in minor keys. How could I transpose the ideas you presented here to the case of A minor chord progressions? Do the progressions I-IV-V-I and I-V-vi-IV-I remain the most popular ones? Does the similarity in terms of roles between degrees 1 and 6 ("tonics"), 2 and 4 ("pre dominants") and finally 3, 5 and 7 ("dominants") remain validy? Thanks a lot for the help, best wishes from Brazil, and sorry for possible english mistakes. Cheers!
Without knowing too much about the genre, I'd say that trance probably stays away from a strong V - I chord progression as V - I signals the end of a section or end of a song. (called a cadence). So the opposite progression (I V IV I) is probably more common.
Also minor keys are their own strange weird beast and maybe one day I'll make a video on them...
Try playing in minor melodic. It's a bit easier to get into.
And to learn about Melodic Minor, check out my video Ancient Modes: ruclips.net/video/-3oo45vpQV4/видео.html
You can go: i vi v i instead I VI V I
Thanks a lot sir, Great.. finally I could really understand about progression and relation between chords
Your channel is so interesting, why you're not updating it anymore?
I wonder what the "panic" keys do
Absolutely brilliant
So I've been playing music for years now, and I always felt discouraged when it would come to studying theory because it makes broad statements like "every song starts and ends on one chord" etc., also I don't get how it claims some things sound bad while I find them perfectly acceptable, so basically I just feel like arguing everything. On the other hand, I do realize that theory didn't come out of nowhere and many people were working on it, so it shouldn't be disregarded.
Wow a lot of flack on the whole "starts on the one chord" thing - Of course that's not true for every situation, it's just a quick way of explaining the "purpose" of the one chord without going too far into diatonic theory so I can get on with the rest of the video.
A lot of people have the misconception that music theory is proscriptive when in fact it’s descriptive. So it’s not that “every song should start on the I”, it’s that theorists realized, “Hey, there are a lot of songs that start on the I or resolve to the I, that seems pretty important”.
"A lot of people have the misconception that music theory is proscriptive when in fact it’s descriptive." This is exactly it.
Music theory is not actually "rules" stating what you have to do -- when you're actually writing real music (and not just school exercises), you may find it useful to understand what you can make the audience feel, and that's why you're taught conventions of how people have tended to understand the music they hear, and what they tend to expect. They're like tools or building blocks. But as we all know, just because something hasn't been done much or at all doesn't mean it's bad -- there's nothing keeping you from combining those blocks and using those tools in your own special way, as long as you think it sounds meaningful.
Heck, there are a bunch of pop songs that don't start on a I chord (e.g. starting on a IV chord and then doing a IV V I or a IV V iii vi or something else), and don't even end on a I chord (e.g. ending on a half cadence or "in the air" on a IV chord or something).
If music theory were a set of rules then jazz wouldn't exist. Think about it. Music theory just helps you to know and understand what you're listening to or writing.
This is great and all, but the whole time I'm wondering... what do the PANIC keys mean on your piano?
Typically on synthesisers the Panic function cuts all MIDI and audio messages in case something gets stuck on. It's probably the same here.
I'm in love with this response
How can we write chords for pantatonic scale
It's even simpler than that. Everything is a "one four five". So take out the minor chords and place them on the Am scale; then Am = i, Dm = iv and Em = v; et voilà, there's your minor one four five.
I still don't get how they work if someone isn't playing along u when ur soloing. How these chords work or how can u use them when u are improvising a solo without any backing track ?
2:41 that is so incorrect.
Avicii's Levels was writen in E Maj, but starts on C# also so many other songs in the same genre dont start of the 1 chord to make it less predictable and more interesting.
Are you sure it's not just in a different mode? C# is the vi chord of EMaj. I've never heard the song, and I'm still learning modes, but your vi gives you your aeolian mode as well as your parallel minor.
@@ItsJustAdrean exactly correct! It's in c# minor, the relative minor of the key of E
@@user5214 Thank fren 💙
Great explanation Mark. Thanks 👍
It's a clean way of thinking
Thanks for making it simpler. Keep it up!
EXCELLENT explanation!
Wonderful video. Thank you so much!
I just learned something new in the first 2:00 minutes.
Thank you kindly🤍
The fact that he has a tortex 0.60 to the side makes everything he says plausible!
Nikolai Megdanov lol. I'm primarily a bass player so the 0.60 is too light for me. 1.14 is where it's at.
Why These Notes - Adventures in Music Theory yeah for bass the 0.60 is waay to light, but for guitar it's awesome!
.60... great thickness.
Phenomenal Tutorial! Straightforward and insightful. Thanks man
Eddie Pinero straightforward... just like pop
This helped understand so much
Isn't the iii or mediant usually substituted for tonic in major key. Or acts as more of an extension to the I chord. ...Becouse it has two of the same notes in it.
That's a fair point. Some of these concepts are bastardized from great Jazz guitarist Joe Pass who divided chords into predominant, dominant & tonic.
ii and V are predominant.
V7 and 7!° dominant
I is tonic.
You can expand the tonic up to a I maj7 and the V down to a iii min7 - the overlap in notes is pretty great.
Once you get into Jazz and start thinking of all chords as 7ths and 9ths, the hard & fast divisions you had become really, really blurry.
1 3 5 7 9
2 4 6 8 10
3 5 7 9 11
4 6 8 10 12
etc.
But really, I advise tracking down his videos & not taking my bastardized & simplified versions as gospel.
One four five because those are the major ones? Is that it?
+EnergeticWaves I IV V because those occur first in the overtone series.
Take a length of string
I - the whole string (1/1 and 1/2 - octave) (12th fret)
V - 1/3 and 2/3 the string (7th fret)
IV 1/3 and 3/4 the string (5th fret)
If you have a guitar get a tape measure and confirm this.
+Why These Notes - Adventures in Music Theory from the nut to the 12th fret is one octave? Is that what you are saying? Remember I don't know much.
Yes. The octave of the 12th fret. On a 24" scale guitar, that's 12".
Great video!! Thank you
Could you do a video like this for Rock,Punk, and/or Metal?
Yeah, without problem, just do it with style!
+Sean Monroe I suppose it's a solution for any genre you like until you write in diatonic scale. There is no difference if you play a chord on keyboard or distorted guitar (for an example Em is Em no matter if played on guitar, strings, piano, ect.). It's still the same chord.
the best tutorial by far!
sometimes i found in a few songs that the 3rd could be major and the 4th could be minor. and then i think that they add notes 5# or 6b to the scale of the key. i think that notes could be fit on the scale because it's relative to minor scales version of the key. example : C major = A minor . is it true?
There are no hard & fast rules here and thirds are sort of like 'flavor' notes - they can be major or minor. Mixing major & minor chords in this way is usually called "borrowing from the parallel minor" (or major) key.
Minor keys are a strange a complicated beast, because they don't tie up as neatly as major keys and often intermix elements of major & minor to achieve certain effects.
okay, thanks for the info. great video btw!.
and sometimes i rarely found that in the song there is a specific chord that borrowed from the previous key (?) such an example if i play on Gmajor key and then i add Fmajor in the middle of progress and it sounds great. it got 'happy-sad' vibe for me and i love it.
amirul wafa yeah part of my goal with this series is to demystify the whole thing and make music less about rules and more about following your intuition... which kinda makes it hilarious that the biggest argument on this video is over my throw away simplification "songs start and end on the tonic"
you keep doing what sounds good!
Awesome video. No bullshit only useful information.
what if your in a E major key (tonic) and theres a G chord in there? i never got the theory behind that. its popular in blues, rock and metal music. could i have a slideup progression E f# G g# A B or something?
they usually have a E A G A type progression.
Yeah, the first time I saw someone do something like that it threw me for a loop too. Like - E, G and A are from the E minor pentatonic, but how are you playing them all as major chords?
The root, fourth and fifth - think of them as planets. They have a gravitational pull. Any note that's adjacent to them melodically wants to be pulled into those notes. Adjacent notes are dissonant and will want to resolve into the root, fourth or fifth. I'm speaking broadly in terms of melody but borrowing those concepts for chord structure here.
What you're describing is borrowing from the "parallel major" - borrowing chords from the E major tonality, while being basically in the E minor tonality.
Let's keep the gravitational pull metaphor going. Let's say that 1 is the Earth. The center of our universe. 4 is the moon and 5 is the sun. The sun and moon are always equidistant from the earth & we measure our lives in how these 3 gravitational fields interact.
But all the major & minor notes - 3, 6, 7 and to a lesser extent 2 have a more fluid relationship and can switch between major & minor for whatever context best serves the song. They're like Venus and Mars - their distance to us varies. Take for example the Melodic Ascending minor scale. The upper half of the scale is
fifth
major 6
major 7
tonic
when we're ascending - because the tonic "gravity" pulls the 7th upwards towards it. Why? Because adjacent notes are dissonant to each other & that dissonance wants to resolve. If the 7th is minor, you don't get that dissonance or resolution.
When the melody descends it's
tonic
minor 7
minor 6
fifth
For the same reason - the gravity of the 5th pulls the 6th into it. You don't want 5th, minor 6th, major 7th, tonic - because the step and a half gap is awkward and not very melodic.
So whether or not a chord or a note is major or minor can change and is allowed to change. If I ever produce a video on the minor scale you'll learn lots about this.
In your particular example, you're tempted to think you're in E major because the E chord is major. But you may actually be in E minor (the presence of the G major tells you this) and borrowing chords from the E major scale.
The presence of the g# could serve as a sort of passing tone, but I think its presence is mostly because of the gravitational pull of the A.
Plus music nerds love chromaticism and that F#, G, G#, A four notes together is too delicious to pass up. In this context the g#minor may be serving as a quasi Amajor7 chord intending to resolve into the A major chord. If there is a melody here pay attention to what the melody is doing & if it plays out an Amajor7 to A major concept.
This "the 5th is the sun and the 4th is the moon" analogy is especially apropos as the moon is a reflection of the sun & the 4th is a reflection of the 5th.
That is - the discovery of the 4th is as the distance from the 5th up to the octave, and there are those who argue that when the 4th is used melodically, it's almost always as a 5th to tonic.
For example "Here comes the Bride" - this is what everyone in music school learns so they can recognize the 4th.
But look at the notes - is it from tonic to 4th or is it a 5th up to an octave?
ruclips.net/video/eMMcMcajOz4/видео.html
thanks a lot. I think I've been playing them as a blend of e minor blues and e major rock'n'roll xD. I'm gonna try to apply what you told me to make the best out of it, so far i've used it in a descending from B. and bending the 'major note' a half step as melody, making each chords a diminished other chord so i know B with the bend is E diminished...
What style keyboard is that I really like how thin the top is
thank u for the huge wisdom
Great explanation.
Newbie; Thanks, I like your explanation, but your fingers are covering most of the white keys, hard to make out which ones your pressing.
good got some more clarity now
wonderful teacher, thank you.
brilliant teaching . thanks a lot