@@gabesanderson3339 You are partly right, but there's actually a bit more to tritone substitutions than what you stated. I'm guessing you said Db because in jazz the tritone sub is very commonly recognized as the substitution of the V chord going to the I. But actually, a tritone substitution is any substition of any dominant chord with another dominant chord exactly a tritone away, due to their sharing of the Maj3 and min7 chord tones. So in your case yes the Db7 would be a tritone sub to the I chord in the key of C, but it doesn't have to be V-I, there could also be something like Eb7 (tritone sub of A7, or the dominant V of ii) going to dmin (ii), then G (V) then C (I). An augmented 6th is specifically a replacement of a D7 (II7, now Ab7) going to G7 (V), then C (I) It is also not only a technique for improvisation. Many jazz and modern pieces have tritone subs composed within them. I do often use it in my own improvisation and comping though! I hope this wasn't confusing... I love explaining this stuff, but I feel as if I often do a poor job of doing so!
@@chandlermccoy1813 Nah, honestly man, thanks! I really appreciate any opportunity to learn this kind of thing, I guess I never even considered other chords when thinking about it. Thanks for your clarification!
In German terminology, there are more types which are present mostly in (late) Romantic music. How are these chords called in English? Key = A minor Chord 1: F-B-D# (Übermäßiger Quartsextakkord) Chord 2: F-A-C#-D# (Doppelt übermäßiger Quintsextakkord) Chord 3: F-G#-B-D# (Doppelt übermäßiger Sekundakkord) Chord 4: F-Ab-B-D# (Eulenspiegel-Akkord www.mu-sig.de/Theorie/Tonsatz/Tonsatz18.htm, although according to Ex. 7.4.1.3.-5. it would resolve to I6 of C major) [also Fr6+ but with minor 3rd] Key=C major Chord 5: Ab-C-D#-F# (Doppelt übermäßiger Terzquartakkord)
This is the video that made me understand augmented sixth chords. Thank you for starting with the German and then explaining the other ones from that perspective, makes much more sense to me.
Very nice video! In the same Chopin-piece (C# nocturne) you can see an example of the French +6-chord on the second page (staff 3, bar 2&3). And on the 3rd and final page he uses a dim-chord to get to the dominant (staff 3, last bar). That piece is a good example of creative use of these variations!
oh! something you just said in the middle of all this helped me to make sense of something I never understood: from where does it come the seventh of a diminished chord?! as with all other notes of the chord, it comes from the harmonic minor, this is why you have lowered and rised semitones grouped together! and the leading note is at the root while the seventh of the chord isn't a leading note at all and just appears lowered (even if in a major mode it shouldn't);
My theory teacher couldn't convey this concept as well as you did. thank you. 12 mins just saved my life. Now I can fare better on my final. Btw, do you have videos on Diatonic modulation?
When using the German aug6 the parallel fifths can stay like that. As you say, you could avoid them by resolving into the I 6/4, but it doesn't have to necessarily.
4 года назад+1
@@TheKABE09 , if we don't think as Ab7 the fifths (both) will not be between root and 5 of the chord (more tolerant, then, to have fifths) . This is a "jazzy" approach. This chords were largely used in Classical Period (as small change in II (major) and #iv or V/V and vii/V , if you prefer)
Thank you so much for this video, visual and logic explicitly explained!! I just love the Chopin Norturne in C# - , will delve into it as soon as I get the music.
My brain... Thank you so much for this video! It'll take me a few more watches to really get it into my system, but it's amazing to have such a great resource available for free! Thank you!!!
If anyone's interested in more examples, believe the second movement of Beethoven's "A Therese" (Piano Sonata No. 24) actually opens with an Italian 6 chord.
Yes, that's what I thought too. The I 6/4 is already dominant, even if it can't substitute for the V chord for the actual cadence. A pity to leave such a mistake in an otherwise useful video.
@@soundknight well as a composer I use the I6/4 as a pre-dominant but I agree it almost always leads to the dominant since it behaves like a V7sus4. Sometimes I suspend the cadence by moving back towards the IV but its pull towards a resolution is almost inescapble :P
Hello, In 3:28 it says that the secondary diminished 7th chord is built on the leading tone of G ascending melodic minor, but such ascending scale has E natural, not E flat, and the chord does have E flat.
Now... at 7:10 you speak about the fact that you have to resolve the italian augmented sixth’s double third in opposite directions to avoid parallel unison/octaves. But in the german augmented sixth I find it that you made a crucial mistake in saying it resolves to five immediately. There will be parallel fifths in the german augmented sixth if not treated correctly!
I get this. But, to be honest what's the point in avoiding parallel 5ths or 8ths? I mean, composers nowadays use them all the time, so I find it to be a rather useless rule.
@@lmichaelgreenjr Umm what? How are parallel 5ths dissonant? Anyways, you missed my entire point with my comment. Which came first, music theory or composing? Composing. And rules are always broken. Now, if you are referring to modern music meaning pop, then yes, it is not that complicated. But if you talk about modern classical composers, their music is waaaayyyy more complicated. Really in the end, I see music theory as a compositional toolbox. Follow the rules or don't. As long as the music is written in a way that is emotionally compelling, then I'm all game for a parallel 5th.
@@twsbaritone The purpose of avoiding parallel perfect intervals between voices is that they tend to make the voices blend together and sound like a single voice. This isn’t necessarily bad, but if you’re trying to write counterpoint (which classical composers generally are) the whole point is to make the voices sound as independent as possible, and for this reason contrapuntal theorists always advise avoiding parallel perfect intervals between voices. However, if the goal is not voice independence, then there’s nothing wrong with parallel perfect intervals, even in classical music. Consider for example that melodies played in parallel octaves are ubiquitous in classical and post classical piano literature. These are not problematic precisely because they are meant to be perceived as a single voice.
@@lmichaelgreenjr This is wrong. Parallel fifths are not dissonant. In contrapuntal theory (which is where the prohibition on parallel fifths comes from) there are two kinds of dissonance: harmonic/vertical (e.g. 2nds, 4ths, 7ths, and aug/dim intervals), and melodic/horizontal (e.g. aug 4ths/dim 5ths and 7ths). There is no such thing as a dissonant parallelism.
I love that VII°7/V chord! I'll have to use that sometime! I'm familiar with all the other chords mentioned. That V/V chord, I was taught that it's called Chromatic Supertonic 7th. Alternative name I guess. Great video anyway!
in the case of the Napolitan sixth, "sixth" refers only to the interval, right? since the chord comes from the lowered 2nd degree; in case of augmented sixths, the root of the chord is actually also the lowered 6th degree (I could even think of it as a lowered second degree of the dominant!); does the name here comes from the interval, the degree or both? couldn't one call the 7 the root, understanding it as a chord whose root is the leading note (7th degree) to V (what seems to make lots of sense in relation to the German augmented sixth)? or perhaps view the chord as a dim7 chord of the V of V (what seems to make lots of sense in relation to the French augmented sixth)? another question: all the accidents we see in pre-dominant chords (Napolitan, augmented) can be said to "come from" the harmonic minor and the frygian (lowered 2nd degree) mode (respectivelly of the tonic and/or the dominant)?!
Hey there! first thing: All of the "chromatic pre-dominant chords" as you say are just different versions and inversions (alterations for example) of the V/V. So the reason the augmented sixth works so swiftly is because there is no physical key change happening. If you acknowledge the structural superiority of a dominant 7 voicing then you should know that your ear will alter the f# to a g flat if presented or established in a fitting key( if a flat were to be the root of the chord, which would pose a key change from c major). the way you present it (with a preceding c major tonic and the following dominant) a flat will never be percieved as the actual root note which in reality still is D and only D. Just because a note is not found in the voicing doesnt mean your ear will not percieve certain surroundings governed by their connection of frequencies anymore and follow a Dominant to tonic type of resolution. Nevertheless you are on the right track as a flat is the diminished fifth of that dominant chord( which is a dominant with a 7 and a minor 9 btw.). therefore this applies to the second type of "chromatic pre-dominant chord" you mentioned as well as its root note is also D. the minor 9 plus the tritone between 7th and 3rd really lock that in. whether people want to call it something else or not. second thing: I would consider your 1 6/4 chord a suspended dominant without a change of the root note, only because a 4th is much less stable than a 5th. third thing: finally an online educator acknowledging the sn chord (Neapolitan 6th)1 and not claiming it is changing the key! thank you! fun video!
Thank you for the thoughtful comment; it tickled my brain for a bit! While your account does represent the traditional teleology, I must disagree on cognitive and historical bases. (1) You raise an interesting point about perception and auditory imagination, in which you infer the agency of the ear. At the level of inferred harmonic function, what the ear attends to is the result of culture (collective attention). When you say that the Ab will never be perceived as a root because we preferentially assume a modulation, this might reflect common practice music (including Romantic), but doesn't reflect folk traditions in which Ab appears frequently, but rarely in modulations. A listener (like me) reared more by folk than common practice music, I don't quite I hear it the way you describe. Yet, how I hear it is the basis of my personal music theory, and the creative processes that result. (2) Your claim is also an example of an anachronism in traditional theory pedagogy. Historically, this sonority arises gradually in the Renaissance from chromatic passing tones, this predates the practice of modulating to unrelated keys (one where Ab exists as a root), and even predates the 'chord' as a standard percept. Unlike WAM listeners after Chopin, I'm not sure Mozart's listeners would preferentially perceive the Ab as an indicator of a key change, rather than a chromatic passing tone. Just my thoughts.
I think modal mixture should be introduced first before Augmented 6th, since that's a form of combination of both applied and mixture scale degrees. Also, German +6 resolves to V(6/4) because of parallel 5ths issues. (I say V(6/4) and not a I(6/4) cause functionally it's a V)
I tend to consider aug. 6th chords as V/V chords, either with (French) or without their root. And with a diminished 5th, of course (A flat in the key of C). In other words, different varieties of a II chord.
Hi there Thanks so much for this video. i just have one question: the root of augmented 6th is a minor 2nd above the dominant, for a MAJOR KEY (in other words a flat 6). But all examples i have looked at so far in a MINOR key, uses a normal 6 in stead of a flat 6 for the root of the augmented chord? Eg, your example in C# minor
Good point. This only occurs in the German 6th. The point of the Italian 6th was to avoid parallel 5ths. In looking at classical examples the parallel 5th rule is usually ignored in this case, or superseded by the voice leading. The contrary motion between the outer voices sufficiently masks the 5ths. If Chopin does it, it's good enough for me. :)
@@jawg22 those parallel 5ths occur in some Mozart scores aswell. This probably isn't an international thing but in Germany the parallel 5ths resulting from a german chord usually are referred to as Mozart fifths.
@@markchapman6800 absolutely. I think the confusion was between the melodic and harmonic scale. To me it sounds weird to build chords on a scale rather than notes of a mode. The f sharp is borrowed from the parallel key of g major.
Doug P I have heard that aug 6ths are like tritone subs in jazz. Not sure about borrowed chords tho, as in your example. And if we’re in C Locrian, we wouldn’t spell it Ab , it would be G#, no?
Doug P no...c locrian has Db. Notice French6 has D natural. The mode you want for Ab7 is not mixolydian, it’s lydian dominant. Tritone sub is D super locrian.
Hey man sweet vid. In Rick beato’s vid, he says that these chords are built on the #4 so that the chord is in first inversion with the b6 in the bass. But you say that the chords are built on the b6, just wondering about that distinction
Beato teaches correctly as per college theory class rules. Basically the entire system of calling these “Aug6” chords is to account for the misspelled Gb as an F#. The composers used F# for ease of reading the voice leading, horizontal, even though it’s harmonically or vertically wrong. The chords are analyzed upside down based on the 7th of Ab chord. They do this because Ab7 is the V7 of flat 2 in C, which is messed up in terms of your Roman numerals. So they devised this German French or Italian thing to deal with it’s weirdness. In Flamenco we often put the leading tone in the bass. F# moves up to G. I call it spanish 6 lol
Hi! thanks for this video. One thing is perplexing me slightly, and that is that you say that the F sharp diminished 7 is built on the leading tone of G melodic minor ascending, although G melodic minor ascending has an E natural and not an E flat? Am I missing something? Thanks again, Ed
F#o7 is the (usual chosen) VII chord of the key of G minor. Building the F#o7 = use the G harmonic minor scale. The note F# is from the raised pivot tones, and the note Eb is from the lowered pivot tones. F#o7 can be thought of as a rootless D7(b9)!
Can you explain Schecter voicing a bit? I can't figure out how to use aug 6ths in that voice without sounding terrible. They seem to sound so dissonant - and they instantly make my 8-month old cry. In fact Schecter voicings seems to totally alter the sound of the chord rather than change the shade of the harmony. I figure I must be doing something wrong. Any explanations or tips would be helpful. And if that's not a big enough ask, could you answer this question as well - I've always read that tritone intervals were considered dissonant and strongly discouraged through the Baroque era, yet there seems to be a tritone interval in the aug 6ths, as well as in Dominant 7s, and both fit nicely into western-theory based chord progressions. Is all that stuff about the devil's interval just myth? And is it that Tritone interval that gives Aug 6ths their unique abilities, or is the presence of the TT interval not that relevant to it's use?
Is it called augmented sixth chord because the chord is built off the lowered sixth degree of the key or because the actual interval is that of an augmented sixth ? Or both ?
They are similar, but not identical. Here is a good article about the differences: digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1534876343083~404
Nope, they are different conceptions. First, you can't call smthing s 'tritone sub' just because some note is a tritone away frim a diatonic note, since every chromatic note of a scale is a tritone away some diatonic note. Second, 'tritone substitution' is a... substitution. Which basically means 'some-chord-we-play-instead-of-another-chord'. Aug6 chords are just particular chord type. So, you could use them as a substitution or they could be in the song initially from the start. In a similar way, dom7 chord (which is a type of a chord) could be used as a substitution, or it could just be there (as a typical V7 or bluesy I7 and IV7 etc) Third, tritone sub is a particular kind of substitution. Which is a replacement of one 7th chord with another 7th chord. From all mentioned Aug6 chords only German6 is close to a 7th chord (it's enharmonical to a b6 7th chord), so you can treat it as tritone sub of II7 chord (like on typical II-V-I progression). Fourth, tritone sub is a pure harmonical device. Which means you could use it to replace any 7th chord in a song you want. It6,Fr6, and Ger6 are functional devices. So to speak, they have their own place in a particular scale and that place only. It's always b6-1-#4 and some other note if needed. You can't move them some steps up or down without losing their function thus losing the right to call them Fr6,It6 etc
As Paul Hindemith said we can do all the harmony exercises and not even make a fox trot. Great composers do not follow hamonia rules. They were the harmony itself and only used paper and pencil to compose without using instruments
A good reminder, especially for budding composers, but only half true. While great composers (and artists broadly) often resist engaging consciously with rules, the muse inspires them in highly patterned ways. The rules part of theory attempts to describe not just the composer's auditory imagination, but how they were finding the sounds that, apparently, everyone wanted to hear but didn't know it. The "harmony itself" is a fluid social contract, with symmetry and order than can be observed, represented, and articulated. I agree, deeply, that the rule-form of theory pedagogy sends a wrong, and anachronistic message, the result of post-war standardization of text books.
Bro, your videos are fast precise easy to understand and also accurate, do you have a webpage or a program that provides all of these courses progressively?
Hmmm why is F- sharp the 7th instead of G -flat. I have always thought that the G flat resolves to F ,its funcntion is to lead us to the G 7 chord. Can someone explain to me please
Macedonian Piano Master The reason F# is used is because F# is the leading tone in G major or G minor. This is, in equal temperament, the same pitch, but it does not have the same function. It is also a tradition of musical spelling that notes that have been raised resolve up and notes lowered down resolve down.
It’s a tritone sub for V/V...even if you go to V7, the F# is acting and thought to be the leading tone of a secondary dominant function. It’s just a mental trick on the ear, but it works. For poor sight singers it’s easier to read F#-G than Gb-G.
it cant be called as Ab7,b5 cuz thats another french chord that should resolve to to a Db7...the french chord on the key of C is D43,b5 that goes to G7
日本の6th augはないのか？ｲｷｽｷﾞコード ・blackadderchordも追加したほうがいいと思う Please add Japanese 6th aug nickname ecstasy chord・orgasm chord HIDEKAZU aug. officially name blackadder chord it R=C R♭5 7th 9th(F#[♭5]/C[R]aug)
I'm not understanding why it's called an augmented 6th chord? To me it looks more like a flat 2nd with a 7 than a augmented 6th, could someone explain?
The "augmented 6th" refers to the presence of an augmented 6th interval in the chord. It may be enharmonically equivalent to a dominant 7th chord (Ab-C-Eb-Gb), but the m7 is instead spelled as an A6 (Ab-C-Eb-F#) because it tends to resolve upward (to G) rather than downward. Some would say that none of that really matters unless you're interested in classical formal rules, but the writers of the songs in this video all seemed to understand, maybe intuitively, the cool effect when an interval by whatever name resolves outwardly by half step to an octave.
You can and it would just make it german 6+. I guess in some particular voicing position situations it comes naturally. Also the 5th is quite a strong sound just take the example with Mozarts magic flute it was such a delicate sound that a 5th would change the vibe :)
For less classical peeps, if you spell it as Ab7, you basically get tritone substitution
Was literally coming down here just to ask about that and just saw this at the top of the comment section! Lol
Augmented sixth chords are tritone substitutions.
Um what isn't tritone substitution just an improvisation technique, and based off Db7 rather than Ab7
@@gabesanderson3339 You are partly right, but there's actually a bit more to tritone substitutions than what you stated.
I'm guessing you said Db because in jazz the tritone sub is very commonly recognized as the substitution of the V chord going to the I. But actually, a tritone substitution is any substition of any dominant chord with another dominant chord exactly a tritone away, due to their sharing of the Maj3 and min7 chord tones. So in your case yes the Db7 would be a tritone sub to the I chord in the key of C, but it doesn't have to be V-I, there could also be something like Eb7 (tritone sub of A7, or the dominant V of ii) going to dmin (ii), then G (V) then C (I).
An augmented 6th is specifically a replacement of a D7 (II7, now Ab7) going to G7 (V), then C (I)
It is also not only a technique for improvisation. Many jazz and modern pieces have tritone subs composed within them. I do often use it in my own improvisation and comping though!
I hope this wasn't confusing... I love explaining this stuff, but I feel as if I often do a poor job of doing so!
@@chandlermccoy1813 Nah, honestly man, thanks! I really appreciate any opportunity to learn this kind of thing, I guess I never even considered other chords when thinking about it. Thanks for your clarification!
I always watch this video everytime I have a doubt on Augmented Sixth. Thanks! Now I can finally pass my Harmony 4 class hehe.
Crystal clear - brilliantly communicated! Thank you very much.
In German terminology, there are more types which are present mostly in (late) Romantic music. How are these chords called in English?
Key = A minor
Chord 1: F-B-D# (Übermäßiger Quartsextakkord)
Chord 2: F-A-C#-D#
(Doppelt übermäßiger Quintsextakkord)
Chord 3: F-G#-B-D# (Doppelt übermäßiger Sekundakkord)
Chord 4: F-Ab-B-D#
(Eulenspiegel-Akkord www.mu-sig.de/Theorie/Tonsatz/Tonsatz18.htm, although according to Ex. 7.4.1.3.-5. it would resolve to I6 of C major) [also Fr6+ but with minor 3rd]
Key=C major
Chord 5: Ab-C-D#-F# (Doppelt übermäßiger Terzquartakkord)
This is the video that made me understand augmented sixth chords. Thank you for starting with the German and then explaining the other ones from that perspective, makes much more sense to me.
Very nice video!
In the same Chopin-piece (C# nocturne) you can see an example of the French +6-chord on the second page (staff 3, bar 2&3). And on the 3rd and final page he uses a dim-chord to get to the dominant (staff 3, last bar). That piece is a good example of creative use of these variations!
so glad I came across this channel
oh! something you just said in the middle of all this helped me to make sense of something I never understood: from where does it come the seventh of a diminished chord?! as with all other notes of the chord, it comes from the harmonic minor, this is why you have lowered and rised semitones grouped together! and the leading note is at the root while the seventh of the chord isn't a leading note at all and just appears lowered (even if in a major mode it shouldn't);
My theory teacher couldn't convey this concept as well as you did. thank you. 12 mins just saved my life. Now I can fare better on my final. Btw, do you have videos on Diatonic modulation?
You can use this chord to modulate chromatically upward, which I find very neat
Very very good. I think this is as good a harmony video have so far seen!
I found this particular (video and) explanation of augmented sixth chords very helpful, thank you.
Thanks for the informative content. My greatest aspiration would be to write my own compositions so this is all very helpful
Brilliantly clear analysis of augmented sixth chords. Thanks so much!
Really love all of your videos! You explain everything so well, Thank you so much!!
Thank you for this in-depth video! Great explanation!!
This tutorial was excellent . 10/10
Great lesson, this guitarist thanks you 👍
The German Aug6 has to resolve to I 6/4 to avoid those parallel fifths between Ab/Eb to G/D (8:19)
Or to a i 6/4
When using the German aug6 the parallel fifths can stay like that. As you say, you could avoid them by resolving into the I 6/4, but it doesn't have to necessarily.
@@TheKABE09 , if we don't think as Ab7 the fifths (both) will not be between root and 5 of the chord (more tolerant, then, to have fifths) . This is a "jazzy" approach. This chords were largely used in Classical Period (as small change in II (major) and #iv or V/V and vii/V , if you prefer)
Wrong
This is a valid approach tho, since parallel fifths a semitone apart are permitted, except when they happen between outer voices
very useful and clear. more examples: the cadence on the dominant near the beginning of beethoven's 5th, the last page of Schubert's wanderer fantasy.
You're a good educator.
Thank you so much for this video, visual and logic explicitly explained!! I just love the Chopin Norturne in C# - , will delve into it as soon as I get the music.
thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you very much! It's so useful!
Thank you; you are the reason I'm not failing chromatic harmony rn :')
Thank you for such an enlightening tutorial!
A very clear and complete explanation, thank you!
My brain... Thank you so much for this video! It'll take me a few more watches to really get it into my system, but it's amazing to have such a great resource available for free! Thank you!!!
If anyone's interested in more examples, believe the second movement of Beethoven's "A Therese" (Piano Sonata No. 24) actually opens with an Italian 6 chord.
(Breathes in) “I 6/4 is dominant function!!”
Yes, that's what I thought too. The I 6/4 is already dominant, even if it can't substitute for the V chord for the actual cadence.
A pity to leave such a mistake in an otherwise useful video.
It's that because it behaves like a V7sus4? Cheers.
@@soundknight well as a composer I use the I6/4 as a pre-dominant but I agree it almost always leads to the dominant since it behaves like a V7sus4.
Sometimes I suspend the cadence by moving back towards the IV but its pull towards a resolution is almost inescapble :P
THANKS for highlighting those chords...what a great review!
Excellent tutorial 💙
Hello, In 3:28 it says that the secondary diminished 7th chord is built on the leading tone of G ascending melodic minor, but such ascending scale has E natural, not E flat, and the chord does have E flat.
great observation!
Goos analysis here. I took some screen shots to help a student. Thanks.
This is perfect!
THANK YOU! Well you explained it so well that the last question was only difficult because of the key not the type of chord :)
Great explanation! Thanks for all your videos!
For me, this is the easiest method. Thank you!
Thank you so much! That was a great explanation, I finally understood.
So incredibly clear. Thank you!
this was really helpful studying for my Theory exams thank you
Hey! your videos are awesome, really really really helpful. Thanks for sharing them
Now... at 7:10 you speak about the fact that you have to resolve the italian augmented sixth’s double third in opposite directions to avoid parallel unison/octaves. But in the german augmented sixth I find it that you made a crucial mistake in saying it resolves to five immediately. There will be parallel fifths in the german augmented sixth if not treated correctly!
I get this. But, to be honest what's the point in avoiding parallel 5ths or 8ths? I mean, composers nowadays use them all the time, so I find it to be a rather useless rule.
@@lmichaelgreenjr Umm what? How are parallel 5ths dissonant?
Anyways, you missed my entire point with my comment. Which came first, music theory or composing? Composing. And rules are always broken.
Now, if you are referring to modern music meaning pop, then yes, it is not that complicated. But if you talk about modern classical composers, their music is waaaayyyy more complicated.
Really in the end, I see music theory as a compositional toolbox. Follow the rules or don't. As long as the music is written in a way that is emotionally compelling, then I'm all game for a parallel 5th.
@@twsbaritone The purpose of avoiding parallel perfect intervals between voices is that they tend to make the voices blend together and sound like a single voice. This isn’t necessarily bad, but if you’re trying to write counterpoint (which classical composers generally are) the whole point is to make the voices sound as independent as possible, and for this reason contrapuntal theorists always advise avoiding parallel perfect intervals between voices. However, if the goal is not voice independence, then there’s nothing wrong with parallel perfect intervals, even in classical music. Consider for example that melodies played in parallel octaves are ubiquitous in classical and post classical piano literature. These are not problematic precisely because they are meant to be perceived as a single voice.
@@lmichaelgreenjr This is wrong. Parallel fifths are not dissonant. In contrapuntal theory (which is where the prohibition on parallel fifths comes from) there are two kinds of dissonance: harmonic/vertical (e.g. 2nds, 4ths, 7ths, and aug/dim intervals), and melodic/horizontal (e.g. aug 4ths/dim 5ths and 7ths). There is no such thing as a dissonant parallelism.
I love that VII°7/V chord! I'll have to use that sometime! I'm familiar with all the other chords mentioned. That V/V chord, I was taught that it's called Chromatic Supertonic 7th. Alternative name I guess. Great video anyway!
in the case of the Napolitan sixth, "sixth" refers only to the interval, right? since the chord comes from the lowered 2nd degree; in case of augmented sixths, the root of the chord is actually also the lowered 6th degree (I could even think of it as a lowered second degree of the dominant!); does the name here comes from the interval, the degree or both? couldn't one call the 7 the root, understanding it as a chord whose root is the leading note (7th degree) to V (what seems to make lots of sense in relation to the German augmented sixth)? or perhaps view the chord as a dim7 chord of the V of V (what seems to make lots of sense in relation to the French augmented sixth)? another question: all the accidents we see in pre-dominant chords (Napolitan, augmented) can be said to "come from" the harmonic minor and the frygian (lowered 2nd degree) mode (respectivelly of the tonic and/or the dominant)?!
very well explained! thank you so much!! ❤️❤️
very clear!
thanks! very useful and clear!
the "dream a little dream of me" chord
Hey there! first thing:
All of the "chromatic pre-dominant chords" as you say are just different versions and inversions (alterations for example) of the V/V. So the reason the augmented sixth works so swiftly is because there is no physical key change happening. If you acknowledge the structural superiority of a dominant 7 voicing then you should know that your ear will alter the f# to a g flat if presented or established in a fitting key( if a flat were to be the root of the chord, which would pose a key change from c major). the way you present it (with a preceding c major tonic and the following dominant) a flat will never be percieved as the actual root note which in reality still is D and only D. Just because a note is not found in the voicing doesnt mean your ear will not percieve certain surroundings governed by their connection of frequencies anymore and follow a Dominant to tonic type of resolution. Nevertheless you are on the right track as a flat is the diminished fifth of that dominant chord( which is a dominant with a 7 and a minor 9 btw.). therefore this applies to the second type of "chromatic pre-dominant chord" you mentioned as well as its root note is also D. the minor 9 plus the tritone between 7th and 3rd really lock that in. whether people want to call it something else or not.
second thing: I would consider your 1 6/4 chord a suspended dominant without a change of the root note, only because a 4th is much less stable than a 5th.
third thing:
finally an online educator acknowledging the sn chord (Neapolitan 6th)1 and not claiming it is changing the key! thank you!
fun video!
Thank you for the thoughtful comment; it tickled my brain for a bit! While your account does represent the traditional teleology, I must disagree on cognitive and historical bases. (1) You raise an interesting point about perception and auditory imagination, in which you infer the agency of the ear. At the level of inferred harmonic function, what the ear attends to is the result of culture (collective attention). When you say that the Ab will never be perceived as a root because we preferentially assume a modulation, this might reflect common practice music (including Romantic), but doesn't reflect folk traditions in which Ab appears frequently, but rarely in modulations. A listener (like me) reared more by folk than common practice music, I don't quite I hear it the way you describe. Yet, how I hear it is the basis of my personal music theory, and the creative processes that result. (2) Your claim is also an example of an anachronism in traditional theory pedagogy. Historically, this sonority arises gradually in the Renaissance from chromatic passing tones, this predates the practice of modulating to unrelated keys (one where Ab exists as a root), and even predates the 'chord' as a standard percept. Unlike WAM listeners after Chopin, I'm not sure Mozart's listeners would preferentially perceive the Ab as an indicator of a key change, rather than a chromatic passing tone. Just my thoughts.
please teach us the classic harmony with love from egypt
This is very good and useful. Thank you.
I think modal mixture should be introduced first before Augmented 6th, since that's a form of combination of both applied and mixture scale degrees.
Also, German +6 resolves to V(6/4) because of parallel 5ths issues. (I say V(6/4) and not a I(6/4) cause functionally it's a V)
Wow, this is slightly out of my pay grade, but it sure does help for learning the keyboard.
ITS A DOMINANT 7TH WITH A FLAT FIFTH.
3rds always resolve up. 7ths/5ths always resolve down. There. You're welcome.
We’re doing these and Neapolitan 2nd’s in my advance keyboard skills class. This theory shit is so hard
2:21 Aug. 6 ger (↗️↘️
6:48 italian (↘️↗️
7:20 french (➡️➡️
7:44 alle
I tend to consider aug. 6th chords as V/V chords, either with (French) or without their root.
And with a diminished 5th, of course (A flat in the key of C).
In other words, different varieties of a II chord.
14jemima yes, specifically they are tritone subs of the V/V
So clear, thank you!
Love your clip.
? Is 7(b5) =(1 3 b5 b7) a Dominant chord
? Is 7(#5) =(1 3 #5 b7) a Dominant chord
Hi there
Thanks so much for this video. i just have one question:
the root of augmented 6th is a minor 2nd above the dominant, for a MAJOR KEY (in other words a flat 6). But all examples i have looked at so far in a MINOR key, uses a normal 6 in stead of a flat 6 for the root of the augmented chord? Eg, your example in C# minor
Also : in a minor key, does the augmented 6th chord always resolve to a major 5, or can it also resolve to a minor dominant?
Great video! Thank you
Please make more video like these!
Thanks!
Excellent, thanks!
Great Content, man!
Great video, thank you!
love it
good way to explain this but what about the parallel fifths Eb-Ab to D-G between alto and bass??? I think you should have at least mentioned that.
Good point. This only occurs in the German 6th. The point of the Italian 6th was to avoid parallel 5ths. In looking at classical examples the parallel 5th rule is usually ignored in this case, or superseded by the voice leading. The contrary motion between the outer voices sufficiently masks the 5ths. If Chopin does it, it's good enough for me. :)
@@jawg22 hell yeah! Chopin is the man!
@@jawg22 those parallel 5ths occur in some Mozart scores aswell. This probably isn't an international thing but in Germany the parallel 5ths resulting from a german chord usually are referred to as Mozart fifths.
3:20 "built on the leading tone of G ascending melodic minor" Shouldn't this be G harmonic minor (due to the e-flat?)
@@matyashale6768 Don't you want the F to be sharp though?
@@matthewbaumann630 F is sharp in G harmonic minor.
@@markchapman6800 absolutely. I think the confusion was between the melodic and harmonic scale. To me it sounds weird to build chords on a scale rather than notes of a mode. The f sharp is borrowed from the parallel key of g major.
So could the Ab7 in C major also be called a modal interchange chord (bVI7) from C Locrian (key of C# major)?
Doug P I have heard that aug 6ths are like tritone subs in jazz. Not sure about borrowed chords tho, as in your example. And if we’re in C Locrian, we wouldn’t spell it Ab , it would be G#, no?
Doug P no...c locrian has Db. Notice French6 has D natural. The mode you want for Ab7 is not mixolydian, it’s lydian dominant. Tritone sub is D super locrian.
Thank you so much
Hey man sweet vid. In Rick beato’s vid, he says that these chords are built on the #4 so that the chord is in first inversion with the b6 in the bass. But you say that the chords are built on the b6, just wondering about that distinction
Beato teaches correctly as per college theory class rules. Basically the entire system of calling these “Aug6” chords is to account for the misspelled Gb as an F#. The composers used F# for ease of reading the voice leading, horizontal, even though it’s harmonically or vertically wrong. The chords are analyzed upside down based on the 7th of Ab chord. They do this because Ab7 is the V7 of flat 2 in C, which is messed up in terms of your Roman numerals. So they devised this German French or Italian thing to deal with it’s weirdness.
In Flamenco we often put the leading tone in the bass. F# moves up to G. I call it spanish 6 lol
i think 'Fretjam' and 'Kent Hewitt' channels explain this a lot better
Hi! thanks for this video. One thing is perplexing me slightly, and that is that you say that the F sharp diminished 7 is built on the leading tone of G melodic minor ascending, although G melodic minor ascending has an E natural and not an E flat? Am I missing something?
Thanks again,
Ed
F#o7 is the (usual chosen) VII chord of the key of G minor. Building the F#o7 = use the G harmonic minor scale. The note F# is from the raised pivot tones, and the note Eb is from the lowered pivot tones.
F#o7 can be thought of as a rootless D7(b9)!
There's also the British Doubly augmented 4th.
Can you explain Schecter voicing a bit? I can't figure out how to use aug 6ths in that voice without sounding terrible. They seem to sound so dissonant - and they instantly make my 8-month old cry. In fact Schecter voicings seems to totally alter the sound of the chord rather than change the shade of the harmony. I figure I must be doing something wrong. Any explanations or tips would be helpful.
And if that's not a big enough ask, could you answer this question as well - I've always read that tritone intervals were considered dissonant and strongly discouraged through the Baroque era, yet there seems to be a tritone interval in the aug 6ths, as well as in Dominant 7s, and both fit nicely into western-theory based chord progressions. Is all that stuff about the devil's interval just myth? And is it that Tritone interval that gives Aug 6ths their unique abilities, or is the presence of the TT interval not that relevant to it's use?
The resolution of the tritone is what makes these chords function as secondary dominants...they are tonicizing the V chord.
3:21....not melodic minor, HARMONIC minor...the Eb.
Is it called augmented sixth chord because the chord is built off the lowered sixth degree of the key or because the actual interval is that of an augmented sixth ? Or both ?
It's a result of the augmented 6th interval. In this example the A flat to F sharp.
is this chord in David Bowie's Space Oddity at all? Can you hear me Mr Tom ...
Don't Jazz men call this tritone sub?
That's what I think too, when I read Ab7 -> G -> C, I understand that Ab7 as the tritone substitute of a secondary dominant (D7).
They are similar, but not identical. Here is a good article about the differences: digitool.library.mcgill.ca/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=0&dvs=1534876343083~404
Nope, they are different conceptions.
First, you can't call smthing s 'tritone sub' just because some note is a tritone away frim a diatonic note, since every chromatic note of a scale is a tritone away some diatonic note.
Second, 'tritone substitution' is a... substitution. Which basically means 'some-chord-we-play-instead-of-another-chord'. Aug6 chords are just particular chord type. So, you could use them as a substitution or they could be in the song initially from the start. In a similar way, dom7 chord (which is a type of a chord) could be used as a substitution, or it could just be there (as a typical V7 or bluesy I7 and IV7 etc)
Third, tritone sub is a particular kind of substitution. Which is a replacement of one 7th chord with another 7th chord. From all mentioned Aug6 chords only German6 is close to a 7th chord (it's enharmonical to a b6 7th chord), so you can treat it as tritone sub of II7 chord (like on typical II-V-I progression).
Fourth, tritone sub is a pure harmonical device. Which means you could use it to replace any 7th chord in a song you want. It6,Fr6, and Ger6 are functional devices. So to speak, they have their own place in a particular scale and that place only. It's always b6-1-#4 and some other note if needed. You can't move them some steps up or down without losing their function thus losing the right to call them Fr6,It6 etc
Can any kind human being provide me with the name of the intro piece? Been trying to find it for the past hour. Thanks in advance
Mozart's Magic Flute Overture. This part is after the slow intro.
Wow thanks. I was guessing if its Mozart or Haydn xd
Its dumb of me to forget this piece. I was listening to it last week 🤦🏻♂️
As Paul Hindemith said we can do all the harmony exercises and not even make a fox trot. Great composers do not follow hamonia rules. They were the harmony itself and only used paper and pencil to compose without using instruments
A good reminder, especially for budding composers, but only half true. While great composers (and artists broadly) often resist engaging consciously with rules, the muse inspires them in highly patterned ways. The rules part of theory attempts to describe not just the composer's auditory imagination, but how they were finding the sounds that, apparently, everyone wanted to hear but didn't know it. The "harmony itself" is a fluid social contract, with symmetry and order than can be observed, represented, and articulated. I agree, deeply, that the rule-form of theory pedagogy sends a wrong, and anachronistic message, the result of post-war standardization of text books.
🤩
Bro, your videos are fast precise easy to understand and also accurate, do you have a webpage or a program that provides all of these courses progressively?
they're not accurate.
11 people have sixths that are diminished instead of augmented
Hmmm why is F- sharp the 7th instead of G -flat. I have always thought that the G flat resolves to F ,its funcntion is to lead us to the G 7 chord. Can someone explain to me please
Macedonian Piano Master The reason F# is used is because F# is the leading tone in G major or G minor. This is, in equal temperament, the same pitch, but it does not have the same function.
It is also a tradition of musical spelling that notes that have been raised resolve up and notes lowered down resolve down.
Look at chopins funeral march it is spelled as a flat
It’s a tritone sub for V/V...even if you go to V7, the F# is acting and thought to be the leading tone of a secondary dominant function. It’s just a mental trick on the ear, but it works. For poor sight singers it’s easier to read F#-G than Gb-G.
it cant be called as Ab7,b5 cuz thats another french chord that should resolve to to a Db7...the french chord on the key of C is D43,b5 that goes to G7
CD SIEMA Ab7#11 is the correct spelling.
What's the difference between a tritone sub of five and the Gr+6?
Justus Otter German 6 is the tritone sub of V/V, not V.
日本の6th augはないのか？ｲｷｽｷﾞコード
・blackadderchordも追加したほうがいいと思う
Please add Japanese 6th aug
nickname ecstasy chord・orgasm chord
HIDEKAZU aug.
officially name blackadder chord
it R=C R♭5 7th 9th(F#[♭5]/C[R]aug)
Whats the difference between an augmented sixth and a Tritone sub?
Aug6 is tritone sub of V/V....not V.
A simple way to comprehend how Augmented Sixth Chords are derived: IV - iv - iv6 - X+6
I'm not understanding why it's called an augmented 6th chord? To me it looks more like a flat 2nd with a 7 than a augmented 6th, could someone explain?
The "augmented 6th" refers to the presence of an augmented 6th interval in the chord. It may be enharmonically equivalent to a dominant 7th chord (Ab-C-Eb-Gb), but the m7 is instead spelled as an A6 (Ab-C-Eb-F#) because it tends to resolve upward (to G) rather than downward.
Some would say that none of that really matters unless you're interested in classical formal rules, but the writers of the songs in this video all seemed to understand, maybe intuitively, the cool effect when an interval by whatever name resolves outwardly by half step to an octave.
MusicTheoryAdvanced Oh! Can I use the augmented 6th to move to a chord other than the dominate?
Jonathan Gomez yes, Schubert did it. See Wikipedia augmented 6. IMO you can use it to tonicize anything you want...similar to diminished 7ths.
I don't understand the 'double thirds' bit. Why do we need to write it that way? Why can't we just leave out the fifth?
You can and it would just make it german 6+. I guess in some particular voicing position situations it comes naturally. Also the 5th is quite a strong sound just take the example with Mozarts magic flute it was such a delicate sound that a 5th would change the vibe :)
3:03 the F#°7/A sounds like it has a function of a minMaj7
No, it’s the upper structure of D7b9...it’s a dominant 9th function
Me: *repeats **4:50** - **5:04** about a hundred times or so*
"Where is the root of an augmented 6th again?"
where is it???
TheHolnemvolt
I don't know, and I had to take a test for this. Whoops
Giovanni I
It's 4 semitones below the tonic. Or a major third below. The tonic is the main note of the key signature. If the key is C major, the tonic is C.
omg, I misheard him say "a minor third above the dominant" the whole time. I was so confused for a bit there.
So it’s basically a flat 6th dominant. Ab7>G7>C
Nope
unknownkingdom well it works for me cuz I use it all the time so screw the fancy nomenclature.
@@lukaszha8826 well it doesn't work because it's wrong
unknownkingdom I know how to use them so screw you and your ostentation.
@@lukaszha8826 lmao no you don't you're not even playing augmented sixth chords you're playing something else lmao
The only confusing thing is about A flat major 7 that has F sharp !!! How can we call A flat - C - E flat - F sharp ( A flat major 7 ) !!???
3:00 Why the key of G minor and not G major????? G minor 7th note is F, and G major 7th is F#. This is so confusing.
este acorde es comunmente usado en modo menor
@@PiPi_AE86 pero ahi lo esta usando en G major, lo que no entiendo es porque dice que ese F# lo saca de G minor si esa nota no existe en Gminor
7:44