@@Mathi80No, the dream OP was referring to ends with you having to return each and everything you've earned in your whole life because your diploma was flawed! 😂😢
LMAO. I'm watching and nodding and nodding and then all the sudden I have no idea what is being discussed. Then at other points I'm like, well I just learned this on piano and it was a lot easier to understand visually looking at piano keys, like you can flip a 4th and get a 5th, or like how you can move your fingers 5 white keys up or 4 white keys down (or is it the other way around) and you arrive at the same note.
Usually I’m unimpressed by music theory videos on RUclips (they give me the same energy as fitness RUclipsrs explaining science) but it’s clear you’ve done your reading and know the work. Great video.
Hey! I took jazz guitar lwssons from you back in 2022, and you changed the way i look at guitar. Got this video reccomended, and by 30 seconds i realized it was you lol. You continue to give MOUNTAINS of knowledge to people all over the world and thats awesome B) keep it up king
Holy christ, I can't believe I found this video today. I was literally just trying to explain the relationship between C major and Ab major to my father this morning. This was the best explanation of this I've seen so far. Thanks so much!
@@GrandpaJean Just think about how C ionian, D dorian, E phrygian etc are related (they are all the same notes, or the same scale with different starting points). In that same way, Ab ionian is the same scale as C phrygian. We can also think about it in Bb dorian or any other parallel scale to C phrygian.
I was into the theory part, but never expected you to play such great guitar music to demonstrate the ideas! (I'm sure there a lot of people who can theory their way to the stars, yet not play their way out of a cardboard box, and vice versa)
I hadn't yet been exposed to this type of analysis, thank you, this is awesome. I like how the chart shows how Dorian is symmetric about inversion, it follows that aeolian is mirrored mixolydian, and locrian is mirrored lydian. worth noting that this type of thinking (graphically on a scale representation) can be applied to the circle of fifths, where similar symmetries show up. Any major scale is a simple consecutive sequence of notes on the circle. In that system chromatic motion jumps across the circle, suspended chords are small groups & major/minor tonality can be seen graphically. The old trick of moving a major 7 chord up or down a major 3rd is a good example. What would be really cool is a way to look at this that incorporates multiple octave spread, like the fabled 7#9 Hendrix chord (which you most certainly can't play in any old inversion, say with the #9 in the bass). sorry for the long comment. too much coffee. shout out to logitech ergo trackballs.
Absolutely never came across this symmetry, and I was struggling to follow you, but once you played through those chords, the mirror was revealed. Fascinating, thanks for breaking it down!
Damn.. this really brings some of those nice smooth Holdsworth type runs into focus. Thank you for making it so easy to see these relationships. Amazing!
This is the best theory lesson I've had in a very long time, between the easy to grasp visualizations and your clear and concise teaching style, it's given me a lot to think about and work with. Thank you much!!
Mind: Blown! Also, the best mic drop ever at 17:23: "Any interval relationship that exist in a major key, if you flip it, it exists in phrygian", and proceeds to not give any further explanation. Very cool visual explanation of these concepts. Thank you!
You've just explained something I've done instinctively for years but (beyond modes) never understood exactly what or why of what was happening until today - the mirror image concept floored me: thank you, Noel!
Perfect timing. Dream weaving with those chromatic mediants. I love this explanation. I have always been drawn to chromatic mediants before i knew what they were called in music theory. Glad I found you! Sending your video to my theory teacher. Keep it coming!
Not quite got it theoretically from one viewing, but tonally from the playing demo, my ear gets it. You’ve definitely inspired me to read more about the concept.
In more crude terms, C phrygian is C major mirrored. Instead of WWHWWWH it is exactly backwards HWWWHWW. So in the way that a major 3rd interval and minor 6th interval are the same but different, C major and C phrygian (aka Ab major) are also the same but different. If that makes sense and assuming I understand correctly lol
cool stuff man, thanks! The mathematics of music never ceases to reveal some mindblowing stuff. Its like everything we've learned from the beginning of our education just continues to be this never ending series of aha moments!
I have intuitively understood this but could not figure out the symmetry. This is a wild way to look at harmony, but it makes complete sense. I could never figure out how many combinations of weird chords sounded so great together. Now I know. Thank you!🎸
No it does not. Look up the Pythagorean comma. Over time western society or musicians (or whatever you will call it) have agreed that a 12 tone equal temperament system will suffice. It is however full of compromise, as would any equal temperament system be. All the symmetries explained in this video simply boils down to clock maths (modulo counting). It is very cool, and interesting in both a mathematical and musical context, but there is no magic here, more than perhaps the equivalence class of octaves, and relative primeness.
I think you might be slightly misunderstanding what I’m saying. I understand that this system is manmade, but we didn’t create the rules that allow for such a system to be possible.
First Time Here. The visual stuff was not plugging in but when you started playing it was like you were telling me how I feel. Thanks for sharing the way you play and for knowing what you know and sharing the puzzle of your connectedness!
Very cool! I discovered some of this on my own but love how you have flushed it all out, as well as that circular diagram is beautiful. Thanks! P.S. Love how the Dorian (my favorite mode) is so beautiful and symmetrical... that explains a lot!
As soon as you started playing over that chord progression with all the 11ths, I immediately heard some Allan Holdsworth in there. Absolutely love that open airy sound and I'll be playing around with these ideas to see if I can't absorb anything. Great video!
DUUUUUUUDE. 🤯 AND(!) I appreciate how you helped me realize how so much of all the “non diatonic” harmony I’ve been hearing in popular music works from a theory standpoint.
Very flippin' cool! So glad that I came across this video. It certainly made me click the like & subscribe buttons. Now I'll browse your channel and watch more videos. Cheers from Montreal!
I figured this out years ago messing around with inversions and understanding the relationship between intervals when they’re switched around. I’m so angry I never saw this spatial relationship before as you represented! 😩 This would’ve helped me so much years ago! Bravo! This is going to help so many people
While this relationship of inverted scales between C and A flat is conceptually interesting, I'm confident that it's not the reason why they sound consonant together. The reason any given musical device has a certain effect on us when we hear it is due to how it has been used to express a certain feeling in one culture's Musical history. Purely conceptual relationships like this scale inversion you talk about here don't affect the way we hear any musical device. For example, the reason a minor add 9 chords sad to us is not because of some objective relationship between the intervals or ratios, it's just because that cord has been used to express sadness countless times in our musical history. This is very similar to how words take on meaning in normal language. I think the palindrome example you gave is a good example for this. The words in that palindrome have absolutely nothing to do with each other in terms of meaning so unless a listener conceptually knew that this phrase was a palindrome they wouldn't feel or think that there was any special relationship between any of those words. Rather, I think the main reason that these two keys sound nice together is just that the A-flat major chord is the borrowed bVI cord from the parallel minor of C and for that reason it has been used as a musical device in our cultural history and thus has taken on some meaning or consonance to our ears
It’s an interesting debate, for sure: Nature vs conditioning. The older I get, though, I become more convinced that there’s something natural about why we as humans like the sounds we like. The harmonic series, for one, is made up of ratios consistent in nature - not just in musical pitch, but also in the order of the universe (the planets spinning in our solar system, and perhaps matter on the quantum level itself). I’m not smart enough to fully back up my claims, but I really do believe there’s something there. I do appreciate your comment, though.
How modest you are and how generous with your knowledge. I’m now wondering what’s possible if this visual system is combined with cymatics somehow… cooooool 😊
Thank you so much for sharing this lesson and your viewpoint on it!!! Having the graphics were so helpful. I kind of wish I got this with my theory, but I guess an undergrad wouldn't cover it. I remember the complimentary intervals and even a bit about how some of these transpositions can happen; however, having the geometry there helped me "visualize" it all better, much like examining things through a Circle of Fifths. I'm sure my ears kind of understand it anyway. And I really enjoy the colors of modal interchange, adding so much color to the "bread and potatoes" diatonic major scale. Heck, just seeing all those note relations and then rotating to show Ionic to Dorian flicked on a light switch in my head. I'm going to have fun exploring more of this "flippening".
Noel, great video. I have noticed in my many years of study of tone root mirroring this: fifths lift and fourths force. Meaning, on 2 levels, that that the 5th is a natural ascending harmonic in the overtone series and the same to the ear: 1-5-2-6 ^ Where, it's (mirror) opposite direction (4th) 1-4-b7-b3 'forces' a downward, non sympathetic 'grounding' path(os). It can be determined by the tonal output which direction generates 'Lift' and which does 'Decent', Major = Up and Minor = Down.
Nice work, Mr. Johnston. I subscribed with the hopes of seeing more about this topic in time. I "almost" get it. So I'm hoping to see something where you dumb it down a tad for us theoretically challenged. I've been playing for years, I actually do a lot of what you are showing, but by ear. To see it in structure is really satisfying. I am always in awe of the beautiful precision that music affords. Thank you, sir!!
Amazing playing and knowledge, I couldn't follow along that well but still learned a few new things. I think you could package/deliver this in a more concise or ready to apply sort of way and I'm planning to watch it again to see what I can distill out of it. The tone and plying a ton the 12 min mark was pretty incredible.
nice. i've always seen this but it never occurred to me to use a circle, which is way more useful. i always laid it out in a straight line. 1=1, b2=7, 2=b7 etc... i appreciate what you're doing. thanks!
It makes it even easier that flipping the intervals mean that every flipped interval is not a note of the original key but since the 1,4,5 are perfect intervals there ain’t going “out of key” if u flip them, that’s why even when you flip the whole key, the 1, 4 and five will work every time!! Aman
So Cool! "Wind Cries Mary", my favotite song, all the Chords have Vs on the bottom, bewitching! Thanks for the visuals! And, Ive got a Tele with a firebird p/u in the neck, love it!
Movable Axis negative harmony for the major scale harmonizes with all 12 key centers. 7 modes and 5 "hyper" modes. Axis line on and between key centers on the circle of 5ths works out the same as having all the notes in order around the circle. C Major F/C = C Locrian C = C Phrygian C/G = C Aeolian G = C Dorian G/D = C Mixolydian D = C Ionian D/A = C Lydian A = C# Locrian A/E = C# Phrygian E = C# Aeolian E/B = C# Dorian B = C# Mixolydian I thought that was how it all worked out. I had to check and share. Great theory to work with!
agree, interesting palindrome, and even more interesting and satisfying progression and melodic improvisation. Reminds me a lot of some of the early ECM artists. Very nice!
I used to explore rotations of scale shapes on the fretboard: taking a given scale pattern and going down instead of up. I noticed the Dorian thing too. If you rotate it 180 degrees on the fretboard, it's still Dorian. Ionian is TTSTTTS (tone, tone, semitone, ...). Dorian is TSTTTST. And of course, that is a palindrome. I did also notice that when you rotate a major scale pattern 180 degrees on the fretboard, you get the Phrygian shape.
Congrats, you uncovered all the outtakes from Steely Dan's Aja sessions. I'm sure Larry Carlton has a closet full of notes that work out every possible chord partial at each position. Any major dude would surely tell you this.
Absolutely brilliant, I realise more and more that western music is really just all about having the twelve tones felt, and this is further poof, but like all scales and concepts, maps out a brilliant and additional way of exploring it all. Thank you!
Woah! I found this video looking into some theory, but I did not expect to see a former classmate! Dunno if you would remember, but we were at USC together (92-93) under Richard Smith (then Paul LaRose before his untimely death). Glad to see you are doing well. Best of luck in the future!
Great, I'm so glad I stumbled upon your video. Love your contant and the way you look/describe music. Also amazingly illustrated. Ill be checking you video's and music! Thanks!
Any astrologers here? Note Red/Blue triangles at 0:01 . They outline a pythagorean 3:4:5 ratio triangle whose sides form three astrology aspects. From root #1 to #3 = Trine aspect of 120 degrees, #3 to #5 = Square aspect of 90 degrees, and from #5 to #1 = Quincunx aspect of 150 degrees. Treat the Root note as the Ascendant of a person's natal chart, then you can see that the Perfect Fourth and Perfect Fifth are the two places of very, very high tension towards the Root (The Ascendant). This is perfectly audible in chord progressions, engendering an almost bodily need to resolve back to the Root, right? The Ionian Perfect Fourth and Perfect Fifth are equivalent to astrology's 6th house cusp and 8th house cusp, respectively. These cusps are sensitive places that are known danger zones for somatizing health problems or experiencing death and letting go. It's interesting that, while the 6th and 8th cusp of astrology hold high tension towards the Ascendant, they do have an extremely easy going relationship with the other significant angle of the chart, the Midheaven. In music theory terms, the Midheaven would be the 6th
Hey I would love to talk about geometry with you. I have some equations I base my music off that have ties to many different feats in the world completely unrelated to music "seemingly". Like mathematic ratios that perfectly makes a strong building and things like that. Universally applicable math that overlaps in even plain everyday ideas. I have many notebooks of information.
Tuvok covers his cell with notes and diagrams, nobody can understand his deranged ramblings... but in the end he's right! Actually I enjoyed this a lot, the theory and the playing. Great to have the key to your thinking on those chill licks. Will definitely try it out.
in practice, i find thinking about borrowing from the relative minor key to be much easier. there are differences, (off by one flat), but if you play between C and Eb (C minor) you get mostly the same harmonic characteriatics and beauty as the one demonstrated in this video! Thanks for sharing, i appreciate this as a hobby mathematician!
You're a Godsend! Thank you. An interesting point, the note inversion concept you explained is an actual INVERSION, mathematically speaking. Think addition (mod 12), then the inverse of a 4th (5 semitones) is a 5th (7 semitones), since 5 + 7 = 12 = 0 (mod 12), so -5 = 7 (mod 12), literally!
Great lesson! The chromatic mediants are so warm and enchanting. The major scale reversed is the Phrygian scale. Instead of a rising tetrachord from C to F, you have a falling tetrachord of the same intervals two whole steps and one half step from C down to G. There is a beautiful Indian Raga built on that symmetry. half the scale is from C major and the other half is from C phrygian. The Geometry of music is an aesthetically pleasing way to embrace concepts in music theory. I'm just getting into it but I'm willing to wager a lot that it will be a fruitful path to pursue.
Thanks for your highly informative, and thought provoking exposition on a lot of deep and intense music theory. My - you certainly inverted my mind and thinking process - which is not a bad thing. 🤙🏻🙏🤙🏻
Really cool lecture, I never invisoned a circle to keep track οf things. I did know that the maj 6th of a natural (ionian) major scale was the minor 3rd of the natural (aeolian) scale. But I never thought to move it around different modes. I'm gonna use that circle technique when I'm writing stuff.
![Demonstrating The Modes of Harmonic Minor [MUSIC THEORY / SCALES]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qk8uobP4uJE/mqdefault.jpg)
Pitches be flippin
They so do
Pitch please
Change my pitch up!
@@karlricardo4088 smack my pitch up
Whoa!
That joke deserves a bigger audience
This is that dream where you show up for class and there's a test and you haven't studied or even attended all semester.
...but then you just start strumming and jamming and somehow get all the licks right intuitively, and get full marks. ♥
@@Mathi80No, the dream OP was referring to ends with you having to return each and everything you've earned in your whole life because your diploma was flawed! 😂😢
can confirm that this stuff can haunt your dreams if you think about it enough
LMAO. I'm watching and nodding and nodding and then all the sudden I have no idea what is being discussed. Then at other points I'm like, well I just learned this on piano and it was a lot easier to understand visually looking at piano keys, like you can flip a 4th and get a 5th, or like how you can move your fingers 5 white keys up or 4 white keys down (or is it the other way around) and you arrive at the same note.
I’m not at all sure why the complications in a theory that is essentially straightforward. K.I.S.S.
This is pretty cool, you did all the hard big brain work and then showed how it worked in simple terms
Usually I’m unimpressed by music theory videos on RUclips (they give me the same energy as fitness RUclipsrs explaining science) but it’s clear you’ve done your reading and know the work. Great video.
I don’t think I have ever encountered this level of analysis and i love your sharing and your sound
Hey! I took jazz guitar lwssons from you back in 2022, and you changed the way i look at guitar. Got this video reccomended, and by 30 seconds i realized it was you lol. You continue to give MOUNTAINS of knowledge to people all over the world and thats awesome B) keep it up king
Holy christ, I can't believe I found this video today. I was literally just trying to explain the relationship between C major and Ab major to my father this morning. This was the best explanation of this I've seen so far. Thanks so much!
I still don't understand where Ab major came from :(
@@GrandpaJeanC Phrygian has the same notes as Ab major.
C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb
(LUKE!), Use the Force---
@@GrandpaJean Just think about how C ionian, D dorian, E phrygian etc are related (they are all the same notes, or the same scale with different starting points). In that same way, Ab ionian is the same scale as C phrygian. We can also think about it in Bb dorian or any other parallel scale to C phrygian.
I was into the theory part, but never expected you to play such great guitar music to demonstrate the ideas! (I'm sure there a lot of people who can theory their way to the stars, yet not play their way out of a cardboard box, and vice versa)
Absolutely, I was stunned and immediately subscribed when he started playing, as my ears understood the concept before my head did.
Or a box made out of any other material.
oh my god I love this. I've been intuitively aware of this sound for a long time but to hear it explained so thoroughly makes me so happy!
Stunning… feels like entering a parallel universe, accompanied by beautiful sounds and melodies🙏
I hadn't yet been exposed to this type of analysis, thank you, this is awesome. I like how the chart shows how Dorian is symmetric about inversion, it follows that aeolian is mirrored mixolydian, and locrian is mirrored lydian. worth noting that this type of thinking (graphically on a scale representation) can be applied to the circle of fifths, where similar symmetries show up. Any major scale is a simple consecutive sequence of notes on the circle. In that system chromatic motion jumps across the circle, suspended chords are small groups & major/minor tonality can be seen graphically. The old trick of moving a major 7 chord up or down a major 3rd is a good example. What would be really cool is a way to look at this that incorporates multiple octave spread, like the fabled 7#9 Hendrix chord (which you most certainly can't play in any old inversion, say with the #9 in the bass). sorry for the long comment. too much coffee. shout out to logitech ergo trackballs.
Absolutely never came across this symmetry, and I was struggling to follow you, but once you played through those chords, the mirror was revealed. Fascinating, thanks for breaking it down!
I like how you made this practical! Nice work!
Damn.. this really brings some of those nice smooth Holdsworth type runs into focus. Thank you for making it so easy to see these relationships. Amazing!
Exactly what I was thinking!
This is the best theory lesson I've had in a very long time, between the easy to grasp visualizations and your clear and concise teaching style, it's given me a lot to think about and work with. Thank you much!!
hopefully you get to a point where you realize this guy stinks
@@ili626do tell
@@ili626only my wife gets to that point!
y tu mama tambien
Mind: Blown!
Also, the best mic drop ever at 17:23: "Any interval relationship that exist in a major key, if you flip it, it exists in phrygian", and proceeds to not give any further explanation.
Very cool visual explanation of these concepts. Thank you!
It's explained at about 9 min mark
@@vecernicek2 and right at the start?
George Russell, in da House!
Awesome theory 🔥
You've just explained something I've done instinctively for years but (beyond modes) never understood exactly what or why of what was happening until today - the mirror image concept floored me: thank you, Noel!
Holy shit i think this is exactly what I've been looking for for *years* now, thank you!
Brilliant playing and utilization of visual tools. Long time admirer of yours, Noel. Cheers! ✌🏽
Perfect timing. Dream weaving with those chromatic mediants. I love this explanation. I have always been drawn to chromatic mediants before i knew what they were called in music theory. Glad I found you! Sending your video to my theory teacher. Keep it coming!
Thanks man took me a minute to get it but this opens a whole new world to explore lol
Not quite got it theoretically from one viewing, but tonally from the playing demo, my ear gets it. You’ve definitely inspired me to read more about the concept.
In more crude terms, C phrygian is C major mirrored. Instead of WWHWWWH it is exactly backwards HWWWHWW. So in the way that a major 3rd interval and minor 6th interval are the same but different, C major and C phrygian (aka Ab major) are also the same but different. If that makes sense and assuming I understand correctly lol
I kinda get it now in theory, but my ears certainly understood it before my head
cool stuff man, thanks! The mathematics of music never ceases to reveal some mindblowing stuff. Its like everything we've learned from the beginning of our education just continues to be this never ending series of aha moments!
My ears are enjoying the more recent technology. Thanks for lightening the sound space Noel.
I watched part 2 first, and felt like I better understood your explanations because of it. So interesting!
I have intuitively understood this but could not figure out the symmetry. This is a wild way to look at harmony, but it makes complete sense. I could never figure out how many combinations of weird chords sounded so great together. Now I know. Thank you!🎸
This opened up my ears with the demonstrations & eyes with the diagram, Wow!
Great explanation! This is all stuff I've picked up in various ways over the years, but I haven't seen it all distilled like this.
The fact that sound can work in a such a structured way says a lot about the nature of the universe.
No it does not. Look up the Pythagorean comma. Over time western society or musicians (or whatever you will call it) have agreed that a 12 tone equal temperament system will suffice. It is however full of compromise, as would any equal temperament system be.
All the symmetries explained in this video simply boils down to clock maths (modulo counting). It is very cool, and interesting in both a mathematical and musical context, but there is no magic here, more than perhaps the equivalence class of octaves, and relative primeness.
The video is great though, and I think all musicians can benefit from this sort of knowledge.
I think you might be slightly misunderstanding what I’m saying. I understand that this system is manmade, but we didn’t create the rules that allow for such a system to be possible.
@@romanwyatt9994exactly
@@romanwyatt9994 ?
is math created, or discovered? cause it comes down to that, pure semantics
Wow, I've never thought of it like this.. it changes everything and really opens the concept up.. THANK YOU, subscribed !
Had heard of this stuff but never seen it put in such a way where I immediatly grasped Flippertronical Concepts 👍
First Time Here. The visual stuff was not plugging in but when you started playing it was like you were telling me how I feel. Thanks for sharing the way you play and for knowing what you know and sharing the puzzle of your connectedness!
This is possibly the most valuable lesson for fusion guitarists. Amazing!
Very cool! I discovered some of this on my own but love how you have flushed it all out, as well as that circular diagram is beautiful. Thanks! P.S. Love how the Dorian (my favorite mode) is so beautiful and symmetrical... that explains a lot!
I've never seen or heard of this pitch clock, but it makes my brain happy
Thanks man, this was great! it was so good to SEE the relationships of the notes!
I was a student of Noel's several years ago. One of the best minds and humans in the business.
As soon as you started playing over that chord progression with all the 11ths, I immediately heard some Allan Holdsworth in there. Absolutely love that open airy sound and I'll be playing around with these ideas to see if I can't absorb anything. Great video!
DUUUUUUUDE. 🤯
AND(!) I appreciate how you helped me realize how so much of all the “non diatonic” harmony I’ve been hearing in popular music works from a theory standpoint.
Very flippin' cool! So glad that I came across this video. It certainly made me click the like & subscribe buttons. Now I'll browse your channel and watch more videos. Cheers from Montreal!
I figured this out years ago messing around with inversions and understanding the relationship between intervals when they’re switched around.
I’m so angry I never saw this spatial relationship before as you represented! 😩
This would’ve helped me so much years ago!
Bravo! This is going to help so many people
While this relationship of inverted scales between C and A flat is conceptually interesting, I'm confident that it's not the reason why they sound consonant together. The reason any given musical device has a certain effect on us when we hear it is due to how it has been used to express a certain feeling in one culture's Musical history. Purely conceptual relationships like this scale inversion you talk about here don't affect the way we hear any musical device.
For example, the reason a minor add 9 chords sad to us is not because of some objective relationship between the intervals or ratios, it's just because that cord has been used to express sadness countless times in our musical history.
This is very similar to how words take on meaning in normal language. I think the palindrome example you gave is a good example for this. The words in that palindrome have absolutely nothing to do with each other in terms of meaning so unless a listener conceptually knew that this phrase was a palindrome they wouldn't feel or think that there was any special relationship between any of those words.
Rather, I think the main reason that these two keys sound nice together is just that the A-flat major chord is the borrowed bVI cord from the parallel minor of C and for that reason it has been used as a musical device in our cultural history and thus has taken on some meaning or consonance to our ears
It’s an interesting debate, for sure: Nature vs conditioning. The older I get, though, I become more convinced that there’s something natural about why we as humans like the sounds we like. The harmonic series, for one, is made up of ratios consistent in nature - not just in musical pitch, but also in the order of the universe (the planets spinning in our solar system, and perhaps matter on the quantum level itself). I’m not smart enough to fully back up my claims, but I really do believe there’s something there. I do appreciate your comment, though.
Thank you so much, Noel. I really appreciate your knowledge and musicality.
This more than earned a subscription. You're a good teacher dude. Good player too.
How modest you are and how generous with your knowledge. I’m now wondering what’s possible if this visual system is combined with cymatics somehow… cooooool 😊
Man i love your tone
Thank you so much for sharing this lesson and your viewpoint on it!!! Having the graphics were so helpful. I kind of wish I got this with my theory, but I guess an undergrad wouldn't cover it. I remember the complimentary intervals and even a bit about how some of these transpositions can happen; however, having the geometry there helped me "visualize" it all better, much like examining things through a Circle of Fifths. I'm sure my ears kind of understand it anyway. And I really enjoy the colors of modal interchange, adding so much color to the "bread and potatoes" diatonic major scale. Heck, just seeing all those note relations and then rotating to show Ionic to Dorian flicked on a light switch in my head. I'm going to have fun exploring more of this "flippening".
I like how even you are marveling at this whole crazy thing! :)
What an encouraging aditude.
Discovering common sense' how to's' inside harmonies vs theory vs thefretboard...Brilliant! Thank you for sharing
Noel, great video. I have noticed in my many years of study of tone root mirroring this: fifths lift and fourths force.
Meaning, on 2 levels, that that the 5th is a natural ascending harmonic in the overtone series and the same to the ear: 1-5-2-6 ^
Where, it's (mirror) opposite direction (4th) 1-4-b7-b3 'forces' a downward, non sympathetic 'grounding' path(os).
It can be determined by the tonal output which direction generates 'Lift' and which does 'Decent', Major = Up and Minor = Down.
this lesson is great, and I'm really diggin' your tone.
Nice work, Mr. Johnston. I subscribed with the hopes of seeing more about this topic in time. I "almost" get it. So I'm hoping to see something where you dumb it down a tad for us theoretically challenged. I've been playing for years, I actually do a lot of what you are showing, but by ear. To see it in structure is really satisfying. I am always in awe of the beautiful precision that music affords. Thank you, sir!!
Amazing playing and knowledge, I couldn't follow along that well but still learned a few new things. I think you could package/deliver this in a more concise or ready to apply sort of way and I'm planning to watch it again to see what I can distill out of it. The tone and plying a ton the 12 min mark was pretty incredible.
heavent seen such a well composed lesson in a long time! you have an awesome way of teaching! keep it going man!
Very cool and interesting! also your playing versatility is amazing, you are a great musician!
Dude I really like your professional attitude about Music.
Good teacher coming from another teacher
Awesome video! I’ve been meaning to get around to negative harmony and just randomly saw your video. Super excited to apply this to my songs!
Keep making these videos! Also please record something with that progression cause it was real nice
Great video. Always wondered about why Ab sounds so powerful in C major. What an excellent explanation. Super valuable information here. Thank you!
Thank you! Anyone that can play the Chaconne deserves my respect! 🙇
@@nohjoh08 Aww, thanks so much! Glad I found your videos. Will be paying attention.
nice. i've always seen this but it never occurred to me to use a circle, which is way more useful. i always laid it out in a straight line. 1=1, b2=7, 2=b7 etc... i appreciate what you're doing. thanks!
It makes it even easier that flipping the intervals mean that every flipped interval is not a note of the original key but since the 1,4,5 are perfect intervals there ain’t going “out of key” if u flip them, that’s why even when you flip the whole key, the 1, 4 and five will work every time!!
Aman
This is the best thing I've discovered since quartal harmony
So Cool! "Wind Cries Mary", my favotite song, all the Chords have Vs on the bottom, bewitching! Thanks for the visuals! And, Ive got a Tele with a firebird p/u in the neck, love it!
Movable Axis negative harmony for the major scale harmonizes with all 12 key centers. 7 modes and 5 "hyper" modes.
Axis line on and between key centers on the circle of 5ths works out the same as having all the notes in order around the circle.
C Major
F/C = C Locrian
C = C Phrygian
C/G = C Aeolian
G = C Dorian
G/D = C Mixolydian
D = C Ionian
D/A = C Lydian
A = C# Locrian
A/E = C# Phrygian
E = C# Aeolian
E/B = C# Dorian
B = C# Mixolydian
I thought that was how it all worked out. I had to check and share.
Great theory to work with!
I love that chord progression that you created. You are a mad scientist! 😂🤣😅😆😁
agree, interesting palindrome, and even more interesting and satisfying progression and melodic improvisation. Reminds me a lot of some of the early ECM artists. Very nice!
I am obsessed now. This is amazing. Thank you 🙏
I used to explore rotations of scale shapes on the fretboard: taking a given scale pattern and going down instead of up. I noticed the Dorian thing too. If you rotate it 180 degrees on the fretboard, it's still Dorian. Ionian is TTSTTTS (tone, tone, semitone, ...). Dorian is TSTTTST. And of course, that is a palindrome. I did also notice that when you rotate a major scale pattern 180 degrees on the fretboard, you get the Phrygian shape.
Have never thought of chromatic mediants this way, fascinating stuff!
Congrats, you uncovered all the outtakes from Steely Dan's Aja sessions. I'm sure Larry Carlton has a closet full of notes that work out every possible chord partial at each position. Any major dude would surely tell you this.
great work Noel and an invaluable resource
Absolutely brilliant, I realise more and more that western music is really just all about having the twelve tones felt, and this is further poof, but like all scales and concepts, maps out a brilliant and additional way of exploring it all. Thank you!
Woah! I found this video looking into some theory, but I did not expect to see a former classmate! Dunno if you would remember, but we were at USC together (92-93) under Richard Smith (then Paul LaRose before his untimely death). Glad to see you are doing well. Best of luck in the future!
You have just entered - Steely Dan song writing territory
Yep, near the end when he's soloing with C Maj and Ab Maj he definitely played licks right out of Aja.
And Stevie Wonder ;)
Like "Looking For Another Pure Love" Intro goes from Emaj7 to Cmaj
This is super interesting and new way of looking at theory than I've ever really seen taught.
Nice visualisation and cool combining scales so effectively
Tasty melodies. Rich harmonies. For a classical musician who improvises, this is fertile ground information and thought provoking.
Great, I'm so glad I stumbled upon your video.
Love your contant and the way you look/describe music. Also amazingly illustrated. Ill be checking you video's and music!
Thanks!
Any astrologers here? Note Red/Blue triangles at 0:01 . They outline a pythagorean 3:4:5 ratio triangle whose sides form three astrology aspects. From root #1 to #3 = Trine aspect of 120 degrees, #3 to #5 = Square aspect of 90 degrees, and from #5 to #1 = Quincunx aspect of 150 degrees. Treat the Root note as the Ascendant of a person's natal chart, then you can see that the Perfect Fourth and Perfect Fifth are the two places of very, very high tension towards the Root (The Ascendant). This is perfectly audible in chord progressions, engendering an almost bodily need to resolve back to the Root, right? The Ionian Perfect Fourth and Perfect Fifth are equivalent to astrology's 6th house cusp and 8th house cusp, respectively. These cusps are sensitive places that are known danger zones for somatizing health problems or experiencing death and letting go. It's interesting that, while the 6th and 8th cusp of astrology hold high tension towards the Ascendant, they do have an extremely easy going relationship with the other significant angle of the chart, the Midheaven. In music theory terms, the Midheaven would be the 6th
PS Pitch Class Inversion = Antiscia in astrology, the principle upon which world monuments such as Tikal Mayan Pyramid or Stonehenge were built.
Hey I would love to talk about geometry with you. I have some equations I base my music off that have ties to many different feats in the world completely unrelated to music "seemingly". Like mathematic ratios that perfectly makes a strong building and things like that. Universally applicable math that overlaps in even plain everyday ideas. I have many notebooks of information.
Tuvok covers his cell with notes and diagrams, nobody can understand his deranged ramblings... but in the end he's right!
Actually I enjoyed this a lot, the theory and the playing. Great to have the key to your thinking on those chill licks.
Will definitely try it out.
Thanks.It's a beautiful mood too.
I've studied music theory for years (just as a hobby), but I've never even heard of this concept before!
Thank you Noel
Yeah man! Thank you for this breakdown, ima use this on the bandstand and in my writing 🔥
Causally drops the craziest palindrome and then just moves on
Very helpful video! Thank you for putting this out.
Very interesting. I appreciate your visualizations. Makes sense! Thanks.
Oof! Great video - very interesting. PS great tone on your Tele
in practice, i find thinking about borrowing from the relative minor key to be much easier.
there are differences, (off by one flat), but if you play between C and Eb (C minor) you get mostly the same harmonic characteriatics and beauty as the one demonstrated in this video!
Thanks for sharing, i appreciate this as a hobby mathematician!
What a great lesson! Had me playing for hours😊
Damn great video. Ive always wondered how my favorite rock/metal bands can switch to chords in a different key and sound amazing.
That sounded beautiful!
Sounds great. Beautiful tone, so rare on YT.
Awersome lesson, thank you. Your guitar sounds amazing!
You're a Godsend! Thank you. An interesting point, the note inversion concept you explained is an actual INVERSION, mathematically speaking. Think addition (mod 12), then the inverse of a 4th (5 semitones) is a 5th (7 semitones), since 5 + 7 = 12 = 0 (mod 12), so -5 = 7 (mod 12), literally!
Nice playing, great video, & awesome teaching!
Great lesson! The chromatic mediants are so warm and enchanting. The major scale reversed is the Phrygian scale. Instead of a rising tetrachord from C to F, you have a falling tetrachord of the same intervals two whole steps and one half step from C down to G. There is a beautiful Indian Raga built on that symmetry. half the scale is from C major and the other half is from C phrygian. The Geometry of music is an aesthetically pleasing way to embrace concepts in music theory. I'm just getting into it but I'm willing to wager a lot that it will be a fruitful path to pursue.
Thanks for your highly informative, and thought provoking exposition on a lot of deep and intense music theory.
My - you certainly inverted my mind and thinking process - which is not a bad thing. 🤙🏻🙏🤙🏻
Really cool lecture, I never invisoned a circle to keep track οf things. I did know that the maj 6th of a natural (ionian) major scale was the minor 3rd of the natural (aeolian) scale. But I never thought to move it around different modes. I'm gonna use that circle technique when I'm writing stuff.
Amazing! Music has such cool geometry.
🚬😎 you bet it does
This is a great video. You explained this concept excellently in simple language with practical examples.