Wow, you explained it so well that in the middle of the video I could see clearly where you were going with the whole "that's why sharps and flats matter" and that's coming from someone who always had a hard time understanding "why flats even exist?" so, really, thank you Michael!
After googling this for hours I finally found your video. This finally made several things click for me and I cannot thank you enough. Specifically a few sections. (1) when you talk about how using all 12 notes is analogous to mixing every color and ending up with an ugly gray blob, and how the whole step scale gives a similar feeling. And how some asymmetry gives the scale character. That really helped me understand the basic idea of a key in a way I hadn't before. (2) Starting from a place of solving the problem of how to create a scale starting from nothing is brilliant. Explaining how the scales we're taught are just trying to solve this more fundamental problem (and then going through the problem and why various solutions have pitfalls) really helped me build some more mental structure around music theory. (3) Having the difference between sharps and flats explained in terms of what they communicate about key changes was a little bit over my head. I think I need to play more music for this to really click. But at the very least I'm satisfied enough now I can go to sleep :) Thanks again.
using 12 notes might sound like an ugly grey blob, and yet for some 12 are not enough. listen to Radiohead's wonderful How to Disappear Completely, which uses notes in between the semi-tones (making it 'microtonal') - and it sounds fantastic!
I actually get that the reasoning behind it always was the concept of thinking in scales, but with a modern, tempered 12-note chromatic scale it is kind of a paradox that the piano layout and traditional notation somehow robs us of a more intuitive understanding of scales and chords. While impractical for obvious hand anatomy reasons, a piano with only white, equally spaced semi notes would instantly make scales, chords and chord progressions into easily recognizable, moveable patterns. Chords and scales would look the same in all keys.
I was thinking the other day about getting a piano made exactly the same but with 2 more black keys to fill in the two empty spaces in the octave, and simply making the octave C to C go white to black, and I think that would make visualizing and understanding music a LOT easier if you were learning from the very beginning, and still be totally playable on piano (even make it a little bit more condensed requiring less stretch to hit the octave) I think it would be really cool to see/experiment with, but I'm not rich and don't have the space or knowhow to make my own keyboard lol
It wouldn't necessarily be impractical to play, but it would certainly be different. I've been thinking about such a keyboard for years, at least I would like to be able to try and see how it feels. I'm sure that it wouldn't work well for highly technical classical pieces, but when it comes to a more casual type of playing, or even possibly some advanced jazz improvisation, it could work and be an advantage. It would have to make use of some markers, just like a guitar, so you can tell which note you're playing.
@@WoodyGamesUK I always keep one of my guitars tuned in fourths.. (EADGCF in stead of EADGBE). I really like it.. it takes time to adjust but it makes all chord structures and scale patterns identical across the neck.. If I could start all over again, I'd probably prefer to learn the guitar this way!
Thanks Michael. It took me a couple years to ask myself all these questions and figure out answers. You did it in 20 minutes! Highly recommended video!
I generally do not comment on tutorials, however, your tutorials are very special. Your methodical teaching approach, selection of topics, pace, quality of information everything is of a very high standard. I am learning a ton. Kudos to you~!!! Thanks~~~
Your videos even on simple subjects like these are even great for intermediate and even advanced musicians. You are not teaching just for beginners. I'm seeing and hearing things that put a whole new fresh way of looking at music theory... Thank you!!!
The amount of extra steps that are shown to find the patterns don't showcase the actual theory that came from it. The diatonic scale happens because of the Greeks making modes out of two tetra chords, put together. All 7 notes are related in a cycle in the circle of 5ths. It's not about making patterns of wholesteps and halfsteps - that's an oversimplification. Greek Tetrachord method: Whole whole half + whole whole half, separated by a wholestep. That would be like C D E F, and G A B C. (F and G are separated by a whole step.) The other one is by circle of 5ths. If you start on F, you would get F C G D A E B if you go 7. These notes, arranged in order of pitch class, would give you C D E F G A B C (or any other diatonic mode). Once the diatonic scale was established, all accidentals are used to maintain the circle of 5ths. Equal temperament is used, of course, such that F# and Gb are tuned the same. But still, 'real' (Pythagorean) tuning names are still followed in traditional music, because C to say... G is a Perfect 5th and C to Fx is a doubly augmented 4th, which (in Pythagorean tuning) would sound RADICALLY different, even though in Equal Temperament they would sound identical. It all comes from the tradition of Pythagorean tuning.* Again - when using a diatonic scale, or anything based off of the order of notes found on the circle of 5ths (basically anything that is a natural mode off of Major - meaning Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Major, and natural minor scales, pentatonic scales and their modes (which are any 5 consecutive notes off the circle of 5ths), and then any other scale you can make from consecutive notes off the pentatonic scale, up to and including the chromatic scale) are all based on the circle of 5ths, not just arbitrarily making notes and patterns and 'finding the most common one by chance'. There's a reason. Final reference, the order of the notes on the circle of 5ths from double flat to double sharp are: Fbb Cbb Gbb Dbb Abb Ebb Bbb Fb Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C G D A E B F# C# G# D# A# E# B# Fx Cx Gx Dx Ax Ex Bx Exercise: Take any diatonic scale you know, and find the notes (underline/circle/point to them) on the order of notes on the Circle of 5ths I've provided. Please note this will not work for harmonic / melodic minors, whole tone scales, and many jazz/20th century inspired scales. Those were much more fabricated than the diatonic scales. Cheers~ *You'd think, after 400+ years of using Equal Temperament we'd update the system. But... what can you do?
Very well explained and demonstrated. As an engineer, I could put forward a case for a radical overhaul of music convention but I am resigned/accepting to the fact that tradition and history as well as convention will mean any such overhaul is very unlikely. No criticism is intended.
Your lessons are out of this world. I find it amazing how a teacher can get info through to someone so they understand, if the teacher is enthusiastic and wants to teach. This, sir, is you. Thank you so much for these videos! N/W Scotland.
Michael, thankyou so much for demystifying this for us. I've wondered for a long time why the sharps/flats system is the way it is, but people seem to never be able to explain it properly. You made it perfectly clear in this video. You're excellent at explaining things, and clearly have a good grasp of music theory. -Are 'double-sharps' only used in harmonic-minor scales, or are there other scales which use it? -Is there such thing as 'double-flats'? If so - where are they used? -If I was playing a Csus2 chord, would the sus2 note (2nd note of the scale) be considered a 'D', or would it be an 'E-double-flat'? -Does what you've shown in this video directly apply to modes other than Ionian and Aolian? -If I momentarily played a chromatic scale over any given key, would we still use sharps/flats in the manner shown in this video? -Would you recommend people to master C-major and A-minor keys before mastering the other 10 keys? Someone told me that Beethoven always based compositions on C-major and A-minor, then transposed those as necessary. I have a request for a future tutorial if you feel like doing it (inside the following curly-braces)... { How jazz progressions relate to classical music progressions, specifically the differences between the two, particularly keeping in mind someone who has a moderate understanding of classical composition and modal playing, but a very limited understanding of Jazz-specific composition. Also keep in mind someone who has never received proper structured music-theory training, but is self-taught through unguided research and study. I know things like using the 2-5-1 progression for use in helping key changes resolve better, but I can hear many things going on in jazz, which I cannot decode into some form of non-strict rule-set or guideline. I'm also well aware of using chord-voicings and chord-inversions to tighten up the sound and help the music not jump around all over the place. Could you please also incorporate into the video, how we can use the circle of fifths to create jazz progressions, if it is applicable. Studying existing jazz songs (the real book) is not helping me to grasp the specifics which make jazz different from classical music, because I just end up getting confused. } Michael - thanks again for this video, you're a scholar and a champ. Much MUCH respect to you.
Can you PLEASE do a video explaining the theory behind BORROWED CHORDS. as beginner i learned you could only play chords in a key and in music they sometimes play chords that don't correspond to the key so can you explain please?
MARCO AYAN an actual explanation of every chord which can substitute for another would probably be way too long to watch,let alone to make. basically all you need to know os that any chord with 2 or more notes incommon can substitute for one another. the more common notes the better it works. thats really just a choice based on your tastes. hope this helps.
you can pull chord from a mode that is similar to the key you are in. You can be in C major but borrow a chord from the C Lydian key in order to set up tension, make transitions smoother, or change keys.
If it was up to me, I'd name all the notes from A to L instead of A to G with sharps and flats. You'd still have the same major and minor keys that would only use 7 of the notes, but the note names within each key would be different. Music notation would be a lot easier to understand.
Agreed. A to L sounds more complicated when you're already using sharps and flats and have to unlearn what you already know, but for an absolute beginner, having a single name for a single note is a lot easier to digest. Plus each note requires only one syllable to say. Like you said, the intervals are the same. Minor third. 4 note span; A to D. Diminished fifth. 7 note span; I to C. Every time. Much simpler without all these enharmonic conversions. Maybe for some people it's not, but I tried it for a few weeks on guitar and keyboard, and it definitely felt superior. K Major seems weird at first, but only because nobody uses it. I'm mainly using a DAW now with MIDI notes, and the names appear on each note, so it forces me to use the conventional method unless I want to actively ignore the printed names the whole time. It's annoying. Maybe it will take a few hundred years, but I imagine A to L has a good chance at becoming the standard.
Michael - thank you SO MUCH for this video. I don't know if it was a direct video-response to me and my question about this issue, or just a coincidence of timing, but thank you either way! You've answered the question more clearly than I've yet to encounter!!
Thank you so much for this! This is the best video ive found that really helped me understand why we use seven letters and sharps and flats. Thanks so much for making this
I'd love to see you write a song sometime. The theory alone is great, but I'd like to see some of the ways it can be applied in the songwriting process.
I've been trying to mess around with music theory for years now (I play electric guitar), but it would never stick, and I always went back to being a more intuitive type of player. I don't know exactly what it is, but your method of teaching has me addicted to learning more and more about it. Thanks for the great work Michael, you're truly a great teacher ^.^
Couple things: I used to think that music was a concept of literature or maybe poetry, but I've watched enough of your vids to realize its not that, its mathematical. Which is easier for my particular brain to deal with. And I wanted to thank you for that. Also, if anyone has a lead on the same type of youtube channel, but maybe just dumbed down a level or two, let me know. There are parts that I follow but other parts that go over my head.
Nickolai Belakovski - Even if we don't know or understand why a composer chose a particular key rather than its simpler enharmonic exchange (e.g., Cb with 7 flats rather than B with 5 sharps), no musician will refer to it by any key other than the one it was written in.
So in a scale we have to use every note (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)? We can't skip to G without suing F for example? I'm basing this on minor and major scales btw.
Hey Michael! Great video, as always. I'd like to see a video on forming chord progressions, and why some chords lead into certain chords better than other chords. For instance, why a V chord leads into a I chord, and what choice would be the best to lead into the V chord. Keep up the great work!
At about 3:35 you said you would explain why 7 (of 12) notes are usually used. But can you explain why interpolate an octave with 12 notes? (as opposed to 10 or 15)? Oh I see your description now, that you are leaving the explanation of 12 divisions for another video. Thanks for these videos.
i just want to say thanks for the awsome vids. I got my keyboard out for the first time and after studying your theory i managed to get a really good fullon psy trance lead in about 3 mins. Yes i did go of scale a note here and there but it was 145 bpm and no muscle memory with both hands but i wouldnt of been able to do it without your awsome lessons.... For my next song im gone to start in a harder key with more blacks in the scales.
19:16 “Some keys are super awkward, like C# Major […]” If I write a song in the C# major scale, why would I call the scale C# not D flat? That would at least avoid the E# confusion, no? I mean if I’m starting on one of the black keys, then I get to pick how I name it, correct? So why would I choose to introduce the E# issue by calling that scale C# instead of D flat?
Michael New Thanks for making these videos. Your teaching style is easy to learn from and enjoyable! I'm wondering if you can make a video that demonstrates how to construct more advanced chord progressions to achieve a certain "musical emotions"?
Excellent explanation. I'm a novice at music, but it's so nice to see a real explanation in terms of the scales instead of the usual 'black notes are sharps' rubbish.
Sir! When people talk about the transformative power of the internet to change lives and make humanity greater, I will include your video series as an example. In the bad old days, your reach would have been local, a few students perhaps. I have never heard such clear, succinct explanations for this. Wonderful. Thank you.
Michael could you please do more videos on composition. I'm trying to become a composer. One problem I have is I don't know whether I should write melodies or chord progressions first and also how to fit them together rhythmically.
this was a great video, congratulations. It would be interesting to explain this from a historical perspective: "why where Sharps and Flats created in the first place?". I think it would be a more difficult question to answer, but I'm curious about that. I read that is something related to Guido D'Arezzo way of constructing hexacords...but I couldn't comprehend.
You should do videos on musical notation at some point, as that may be the most important thing you haven't covered yet. Other potential topics worth discussing include: form, texture, cadence, motivic transformation and development, ornamentation, counterpoint, more topics in rhythm (e.g. additive meter, syncopation, rubato, free time), perhaps some major topics in 20th century experimental music (e.g. serialism, microtonality, aleatoricism, spectralism), and of course tuning, like you mention in the description. I'm sure you've considered nearly all of these, but I thought I'd throw them out there. I really enjoy your videos and approach to teaching, and appreciate that you're able to get this material out to such a large audience.
so what i understood is sharps and flats are used to make sure the key is pronounced in the music, for the musician to identify the change in key or change in scale
I think it's to refer to whether going up or down. Going up would mean sharp and going down would mean flat. Suppose you are on G# and the next key to press is C# then if you need to play in the same octave i.e; go down then one would use flat and if you have to jump up then it would be called sharp. That is what I believe.
totally helpful, and thank you! can you do a video on how to find the notes outside the chord progression or how to play off of another note? I'm trying to figure out how to create tension notes.
It would be awesome to see you rewrite som very popular songs, and show how the melody and chord play together, which Key it is in, and why it sounds sad/happy. It would help me alot. And im shure it would attract a wider audience. Found you yesterday. Already learned so much! Thank you!
I think you've already got this question a gazillion times, but I'm gonna ask anyway: Michael, what kind of whiteboard do you use? I've never come across this type before. It's clearly not a regular whiteboard: shadows that notes cast indicate that it's some kind of transparent material (looks like plexiglass) with sheet of white material (maybe an actual whiteboard) behind it.
Michael, the way I've always understood the sharps/flats is that each scale should have 'one of each letter A-F" in it, and the sharps/flats just keep that in check. e.g. you can't have a G and a G# in the same key, so the G might be called an F## to make sure the letters aren't doubled up, OR the G# might be called an Ab. Depending on what else is in the scale surrounding those two. Is this ever incorrect? is this a silly way of thinking of it?
I think you've gotten the logic a bit backwards; they didn't arbitrarily say "exactly one letter from A-G". You keep only one letter A-G because there are 7 notes (first bit of the video) in these scales, which lets you easily work out the degree of any note based on its letter alone. That property is why you keep the A-G rule, the [double] sharps and [double] flats dictate the scale.
Thank you so much! Your videos are amazing to watch, it's clear you have a strong grasp on music if you can explain these topics in a way that we can understand perfectly. Amazing work!
Maybe I'm writing this for 3rd or 4th time, but I would like to see how to rewrite a major song into a minor one by changing the modes correctly. Also it would be interesting to know how to spice the songs up with some jazzy 7th 9th chords or change modes to make them fit to a specific genre... Hope you will create a small blog/video on that.
Thank you so much for these videos. Your explanations are incredibly clear and I love learning what you teach. Fantastic videos and please keep going! I'll try to figure out what the Patreon system is all about.
I’ve done quite a bit of music theory on top of my playing and still don’t fully understand something which I feel I should … What’s the point of multiple scales of a given type, like having 12 (say Major) Scales? I know the point of alternate scales like minor, blues, jazz, chromatic etc… each giving a different impression due to the unique construction of the scale. So, picking on Major, why not just have one scale (say C) and write all music in this key as opposed to other Major Keys? Given the vast majority of us don’t have absolute pitch, does it matter what the tonic is - the Major pattern WWHWWWH of C is the same as for any Major Key. So whilst one major key has more flats/sharps in than another, so what, if the listener does not have absolute pitch? I presume that’s why some music is transcribed into C to make it easier to play, in which case what’s the value/difference in keeping other, harder to play, major scales? The only answer I can think of is because music can shift key WITHIN a piece - but then why not just start every piece off in C and shift around that, thus playing most notes on the easier C scale? I hope this question make sense, as its bothering me and I don’t know how to google it!!:)
Could you make a video about hand independence ? I've started learning jazz and can't get my right and left to play together and it would be great after your video about polyrhythms.
Where are you buddy? I need some more music theory to feed my brain. I recently bought the book 'Music Theory: The Essential Guide' by Julia Winterson which is a really useful little guide, but I like hearing your explanations.
I'd like to see your lessons on the similarities between the guitar and the piano also on the best times to use seventh chords(can't remember if you covered that one) Thanks for another outstanding video!
Can you do a recap about the most important things you've sumorized so far? Just when you haven't watched your old videos in a while and forgot an important aspect of music?
i really like your tutorials,your teaching is easy to understand.. Though it would be very nice with a tutorial on passing notes\chords and counterpoints? just a suggestion..
Your videos are extremely helpful! But I'm struggling with something. I have all these good ideas in my head, but I can't really write them down because I don't know which notes are which. Like if I hear a "B", I don't know that it's a B. Do you know of a way to get accustomed to that?
do you have recording abilities? I often don't write things down, I just play my idea on the piano or guitar and record it so I can remember it later. I found this works better for me then making notes (at least to remember my own ideas) When I play something in my head for the first time I sit down and press keys until I find the root note, then I can play it. What your describing is called "perfect pitch" supposedly; people with this can listen to a song they've never heard before and tell what key its in. I don't know if it's possible to practice at this or how, but I've been playing and writing music just fine without this ability. :)
The best way to do that is to hear B in its relation to your tonic (key) note. For example, if you're in C major, you have a solid sense of where C is, and the B will have a certain "feel" when you hear it, as the 7th of the C scale. You can develop that. Each note of the C scale will have its own feel in relation to the tonic.
Enharmonic spellings are a byproduct of the equal temperament tuning system. In other tuning systems, they are actually different notes. Edit: This is also why many keyboard instruments that use other tuning systems have split sharp/flat keys.
Micheal New... but does he... know? Interesting video, although I find it a bit interesting that you basically said a Whole Tone scale isn't "right" or that it "suffers" from its symmetry. I love symmetrical sounds, man, and so did many of my favorite composers (Debussy being one of the most well known users of the Whole Tone set)! I get why you did it though. Cheers!
I love whole tone scales and use them pretty frequently when I'm writing music. Diatonic scales tend to work better when you're trying to create a tonal center in your music, for the reasons I went over in the video. I'm not judging different scales; just trying to explain their characteristics.
I understand all of that which is why I stated, "I get why you did it though" and prefaced the entire comment with an awful pun to, hopefully, express a brighter tone.
100% with you.. What he says makes no sense either.. he has been trained and brainwashed to speak like this.. Those are not the reasons. It has to do more with historical reasons.. Evolution from ignorance.. and development where every generation and every musician has been putting patches to the old things..Modern music in a piano roll make more sense than music sheet and it´s easier to read and understand.. . Like the languages, that are full of stupid non sense.. like man in plural is not call mans, putting and s , you change the e and say men..It would be much easier to put an "s" to all plurals. Music is another language full of nonsense due to historical reasons and decisions of some individuals. We, the rest, are like parrots, following the messy nonsense system.
Do not try to conviniece anybody this is logical. It is just legacy. People first discovered 7 main notes as perfect ratios of the main note and assigned letters to them. Then they found there are gaps and filled them, but instead of assigning letters out of order or reassigning letrers for all notes they came up with this trade off in names.
Those keys are called theoretical keys, and while they technically _do_ exist, they're just cumbersome to use as they contain double flats/sharps. For example, A# would have the notes A#, B#, Cx, D#, E#, Fx, and Gx. Using the enharmonic key Bb would be so much easier to read and would probably be used, though there are rare instances where theoretical keys could be used.
Hey I posted this same post on another video thread (of yours) .. I just wanted to make sure you saw it so I found your most recent video .. Greetings fellow music freaks! .. I am fairly new, (I assure no pun intended) to your channel Michael, but I like your style quite a bit; you have a gift good sir .. Well the reason I am posting is to ask if you could maybe do a video on sight reading, (actually specifically sight singin) I am heading off to study musical therapy and majoring in voice and hopefully eventually piano and guitar and violin as well, but I am concerned that I won't get in if I fail my sight reading/singing exam if you have any thoughts I would be indebted .. thank you for all that you do! Stay passionate for music!
I'm curious why "C" ends up being the scale with no sharps and flats. Why not label that scale "A" and work up from there. Also why are we taught to put our right thumbs on C when starting out? This so called "home position"? Finally, when do composers choose to put "accidentals" in the music (notes outside their key signature) does his mean they're temporarily in another key or is there some other explanation. Thank you so much for your videos but I've never even thought about the topic in this video so it opens more questions than answers for me. Cheers! Edit: For grammar and added a third question.
Viewsk8 i'm gonna try and answer this but I'm such a newb so sorry if this makes no sense. 'A' does have no flats and no sharps but in the natural minor scale aka aeolian mode. This is the purple arrows in the video and you can see when you write down the intervals of this scale then name them A to G you get the notes we have today ie with B next to C and E next to F and such. As he says this is the most natural way of spreading out 7 notes along an octave. And I guess is why it's the basis for naming the notes. If you then rearrange the whole steps and half steps to a major scale the key with no sharps/flats begins on C. C major and A minor use the exact same notes but in different ways - he has a video on how they're different. I think the aeolian mode is much older than the major scale which was developed later, but major scales/keys are more common now and is why we learn them first. Hope this maybe helped lol 🙄
I love your videos Michael, but I had one question. Is this the only way we have to organize all 12 pitches? Has anyone ever proposed a different system? Also, as a favor to my OCD brain, if you're playing a certain scale could you please refrain from holding the 7th for too long? Again I really love all of your content. Keep it up!
Isn’t is much much simpler to just memorize 13 separate notes than to have to make all of these rules to get around inconsistencies that a “7 natural notes plus 5 sharps/flats” system creates?
I am being dense, but may I ask a question about A minor and C major? WHY do all theory books claim that A minor has no sharps or flats, just like C, when it clearly needs them to sound correct? I know that C and A minor use the same set of keys (per one of your video lessons), but A minor seems to me to need sharps, so I'm not sure why the theory books claim what they do.
I somehow have the feeling that there's missing something from this argument..... namely that frequency-wise it's not a coincident that we fix the scale on primes, fifths, and thirds.
It would to me :) ... or to anyone having had physics in high school and seen super-positioned waves, I would hope. Now of course... simple sine waves are not nice to listen to in them selves. You would probably have to discuss overtones/harmonics and how instruments sounds are created too.
So if you are in C major, there is a difference between D sharp and E flat, but is there any difference between say C sharp major and D flat major? Why would you choose one over the other?
As for your first question, yes, there certainly is a difference. One means you're borrowing from the sharp side of the circle of fifths, the other means you're borrowing from the flat side. As for your second question, respelled key signatures aren't used often, because they can be simplified to something else. There are exceptions, such as Cb major being used because in wind bands, keys with flats with them are preferred to sharps due to the tuning of their instruments, and they are more comfortable reading flats than sharps.
It's actually pretty simple, if you see this from the perspective of a natural trumpet. natural trumpet overtones go Do, Sol, Do, Mi, Sol, Do. if you transpose Do to sol, by making a shorter piped trumpet, overtones will be Sol, Re, Sol, Ti, Re, Sol. transpose one more time. Re, La, Re, Fa, La, Re. so by transposing just twice, you get complete Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.
Hey Michael. You're videos are super amazing and I am learning so much, so first of all, thank you. I feel that I am struggling with using both hands at the same time, specifically the left hand. I can play stuff with either hand, but whenever I try to combine them, I struggle and have to move very slowly. Are there any routines or drills that you could recommend for me to practice with to improve my left-right hand coordination? Thanks so much!
Your videos are great, thanks a lot. It would be great a video about vocal melodies composition and what differences there are compared to instrument melodies.
An A flat and G sharp are not the same note. They are made to be the same on a tempered instrument like a piano for convenience, but this is because a tempered instrument is tuned to play somewhat ok in every key, yet always sort of out of tune. Play a chord on a non-tempered instrument like a violin and you will see that A flat is really lower than a g sharp. The same holds for other notes, double sharps, etc.
Fester Blats: It depends on the repertoire and the performers. "Early Music" ensembles (performing medieval, renaissance, and/or baroque music) rarely tune using equal temperament, and in the other tuning systems that are commonly used these notes are not enharmonic and will sound different. That's true for the violins and pretty much everything else. This excludes keyboard instruments like the harpsichord, where compromises must be made if you need both the sharp and the flat of the next higher note, though compositions from these periods (esp. for keyboard) generally don't call for that. There are, however some harpsichords with pairs of adjacent keys for the accidentals (one each for the sharp and flat), so that these distinct notes can be played in tune.
I watch all your videos and your approach on subjects is awsome i can get it easily... What i would like to learn more is chord progression . I see alot of songs going from C to F and to G and back to C i know thats in the key of C but what if i wanted to go from C to D and F and.... you know other stuff ... I want to know more about how how people could hear a song and put chords in a song and sound like the song .Thanks
Funny thing is, I knew about sharps way way way before I did flats so even if I see and F minor chord, I know that it is F, A-Flat and C - however in my head I can only see the Ab/G# key as “G#” It’s weird because so many other musicians refer to the black keys as flats - please reply if you’re like me lmao it feels like everyone is using flats and I’m the only one who thinks of black keys as sharps.
Thank you. Appreciate the lessons. I am into music theory as if I will learn to play the piano. So your lessons work well for me. Learning a lot. my fingers are working better but I lack in ways to make my left and right hands work together. Some of that maybe?
This guy is the best teacher when it comes to music theory!
also patdavidmusic
#trueFacts I love this dude. He's a beast!
Wow, you explained it so well that in the middle of the video I could see clearly where you were going with the whole "that's why sharps and flats matter" and that's coming from someone who always had a hard time understanding "why flats even exist?" so, really, thank you Michael!
Raffz Vieira I've always prefered flats over sharps.
After googling this for hours I finally found your video. This finally made several things click for me and I cannot thank you enough. Specifically a few sections.
(1) when you talk about how using all 12 notes is analogous to mixing every color and ending up with an ugly gray blob, and how the whole step scale gives a similar feeling. And how some asymmetry gives the scale character. That really helped me understand the basic idea of a key in a way I hadn't before.
(2) Starting from a place of solving the problem of how to create a scale starting from nothing is brilliant. Explaining how the scales we're taught are just trying to solve this more fundamental problem (and then going through the problem and why various solutions have pitfalls) really helped me build some more mental structure around music theory.
(3) Having the difference between sharps and flats explained in terms of what they communicate about key changes was a little bit over my head. I think I need to play more music for this to really click. But at the very least I'm satisfied enough now I can go to sleep :) Thanks again.
using 12 notes might sound like an ugly grey blob, and yet for some 12 are not enough. listen to Radiohead's wonderful How to Disappear Completely, which uses notes in between the semi-tones (making it 'microtonal') - and it sounds fantastic!
I actually get that the reasoning behind it always was the concept of thinking in scales, but with a modern, tempered 12-note chromatic scale it is kind of a paradox that the piano layout and traditional notation somehow robs us of a more intuitive understanding of scales and chords. While impractical for obvious hand anatomy reasons, a piano with only white, equally spaced semi notes would instantly make scales, chords and chord progressions into easily recognizable, moveable patterns. Chords and scales would look the same in all keys.
I was thinking the other day about getting a piano made exactly the same but with 2 more black keys to fill in the two empty spaces in the octave, and simply making the octave C to C go white to black, and I think that would make visualizing and understanding music a LOT easier if you were learning from the very beginning, and still be totally playable on piano (even make it a little bit more condensed requiring less stretch to hit the octave) I think it would be really cool to see/experiment with, but I'm not rich and don't have the space or knowhow to make my own keyboard lol
Guitar moment
It wouldn't necessarily be impractical to play, but it would certainly be different. I've been thinking about such a keyboard for years, at least I would like to be able to try and see how it feels. I'm sure that it wouldn't work well for highly technical classical pieces, but when it comes to a more casual type of playing, or even possibly some advanced jazz improvisation, it could work and be an advantage. It would have to make use of some markers, just like a guitar, so you can tell which note you're playing.
not earlier than in 14 minute he said finally something interesting. overall waste of time
@@WoodyGamesUK I always keep one of my guitars tuned in fourths.. (EADGCF in stead of EADGBE).
I really like it.. it takes time to adjust but it makes all chord structures and scale patterns identical across the neck.. If I could start all over again, I'd probably prefer to learn the guitar this way!
Thanks Michael. It took me a couple years to ask myself all these questions and figure out answers. You did it in 20 minutes!
Highly recommended video!
I generally do not comment on tutorials, however, your tutorials are very special. Your methodical teaching approach, selection of topics, pace, quality of information everything is of a very high standard. I am learning a ton. Kudos to you~!!! Thanks~~~
Your videos even on simple subjects like these are even great for intermediate and even advanced musicians. You are not teaching just for beginners. I'm seeing and hearing things that put a whole new fresh way of looking at music theory... Thank you!!!
this wasn't making much sense to me until you said at the end "like in the key of C#, where you end up with a Bbb." resolution :)
The amount of extra steps that are shown to find the patterns don't showcase the actual theory that came from it.
The diatonic scale happens because of the Greeks making modes out of two tetra chords, put together. All 7 notes are related in a cycle in the circle of 5ths. It's not about making patterns of wholesteps and halfsteps - that's an oversimplification.
Greek Tetrachord method: Whole whole half + whole whole half, separated by a wholestep. That would be like C D E F, and G A B C. (F and G are separated by a whole step.)
The other one is by circle of 5ths. If you start on F, you would get F C G D A E B if you go 7. These notes, arranged in order of pitch class, would give you C D E F G A B C (or any other diatonic mode).
Once the diatonic scale was established, all accidentals are used to maintain the circle of 5ths. Equal temperament is used, of course, such that F# and Gb are tuned the same. But still, 'real' (Pythagorean) tuning names are still followed in traditional music, because C to say... G is a Perfect 5th and C to Fx is a doubly augmented 4th, which (in Pythagorean tuning) would sound RADICALLY different, even though in Equal Temperament they would sound identical. It all comes from the tradition of Pythagorean tuning.*
Again - when using a diatonic scale, or anything based off of the order of notes found on the circle of 5ths (basically anything that is a natural mode off of Major - meaning Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Major, and natural minor scales, pentatonic scales and their modes (which are any 5 consecutive notes off the circle of 5ths), and then any other scale you can make from consecutive notes off the pentatonic scale, up to and including the chromatic scale) are all based on the circle of 5ths, not just arbitrarily making notes and patterns and 'finding the most common one by chance'. There's a reason.
Final reference, the order of the notes on the circle of 5ths from double flat to double sharp are:
Fbb Cbb Gbb Dbb Abb Ebb Bbb Fb Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb F C G D A E B F# C# G# D# A# E# B# Fx Cx Gx Dx Ax Ex Bx
Exercise: Take any diatonic scale you know, and find the notes (underline/circle/point to them) on the order of notes on the Circle of 5ths I've provided. Please note this will not work for harmonic / melodic minors, whole tone scales, and many jazz/20th century inspired scales. Those were much more fabricated than the diatonic scales.
Cheers~
*You'd think, after 400+ years of using Equal Temperament we'd update the system. But... what can you do?
You are one of the best music teachers on RUclips. Fabulously explained ...
Very well explained and demonstrated. As an engineer, I could put forward a case for a radical overhaul of music convention but I am resigned/accepting to the fact that tradition and history as well as convention will mean any such overhaul is very unlikely. No criticism is intended.
Your lessons are out of this world. I find it amazing how a teacher can get info through to someone so they understand, if the teacher is enthusiastic and wants to teach. This, sir, is you.
Thank you so much for these videos!
N/W Scotland.
Michael, thankyou so much for demystifying this for us. I've wondered for a long time why the sharps/flats system is the way it is, but people seem to never be able to explain it properly. You made it perfectly clear in this video. You're excellent at explaining things, and clearly have a good grasp of music theory.
-Are 'double-sharps' only used in harmonic-minor scales, or are there other scales which use it?
-Is there such thing as 'double-flats'? If so - where are they used?
-If I was playing a Csus2 chord, would the sus2 note (2nd note of the scale) be considered a 'D', or would it be an 'E-double-flat'?
-Does what you've shown in this video directly apply to modes other than Ionian and Aolian?
-If I momentarily played a chromatic scale over any given key, would we still use sharps/flats in the manner shown in this video?
-Would you recommend people to master C-major and A-minor keys before mastering the other 10 keys? Someone told me that Beethoven always based compositions on C-major and A-minor, then transposed those as necessary.
I have a request for a future tutorial if you feel like doing it (inside the following curly-braces)...
{
How jazz progressions relate to classical music progressions, specifically the differences between the two, particularly keeping in mind someone who has a moderate understanding of classical composition and modal playing, but a very limited understanding of Jazz-specific composition. Also keep in mind someone who has never received proper structured music-theory training, but is self-taught through unguided research and study.
I know things like using the 2-5-1 progression for use in helping key changes resolve better, but I can hear many things going on in jazz, which I cannot decode into some form of non-strict rule-set or guideline.
I'm also well aware of using chord-voicings and chord-inversions to tighten up the sound and help the music not jump around all over the place.
Could you please also incorporate into the video, how we can use the circle of fifths to create jazz progressions, if it is applicable.
Studying existing jazz songs (the real book) is not helping me to grasp the specifics which make jazz different from classical music, because I just end up getting confused.
}
Michael - thanks again for this video, you're a scholar and a champ. Much MUCH respect to you.
I love the Eb major and E major keys because it sounds like tears of joy.
Can you PLEASE do a video explaining the theory behind BORROWED CHORDS. as beginner i learned you could only play chords in a key and in music they sometimes play chords that don't correspond to the key so can you explain please?
Yes, I agree 100%!
MARCO AYAN an actual explanation of every chord which can substitute for another would probably be way too long to watch,let alone to make. basically all you need to know os that any chord with 2 or more notes incommon can substitute for one another. the more common notes the better it works. thats really just a choice based on your tastes. hope this helps.
NEVER BORROW CHORDS DUDE UNLESS YOU'RE SURE YOU CAN RETURN THEM !
TRICK-OR TREAT W!
you can pull chord from a mode that is similar to the key you are in. You can be in C major but borrow a chord from the C Lydian key in order to set up tension, make transitions smoother, or change keys.
Amazing lesson. Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying what seemed impossible to understand.
If it was up to me, I'd name all the notes from A to L instead of A to G with sharps and flats.
You'd still have the same major and minor keys that would only use 7 of the notes, but the note names within each key would be different.
Music notation would be a lot easier to understand.
Agreed. A to L sounds more complicated when you're already using sharps and flats and have to unlearn what you already know, but for an absolute beginner, having a single name for a single note is a lot easier to digest. Plus each note requires only one syllable to say.
Like you said, the intervals are the same.
Minor third. 4 note span; A to D.
Diminished fifth. 7 note span; I to C. Every time. Much simpler without all these enharmonic conversions. Maybe for some people it's not, but I tried it for a few weeks on guitar and keyboard, and it definitely felt superior. K Major seems weird at first, but only because nobody uses it.
I'm mainly using a DAW now with MIDI notes, and the names appear on each note, so it forces me to use the conventional method unless I want to actively ignore the printed names the whole time. It's annoying.
Maybe it will take a few hundred years, but I imagine A to L has a good chance at becoming the standard.
@@majorninthwarden7167 Glad someone finally agrees with me! :-D
this is the khan academy of music, congrats you're such a good teacher & musician
Michael - thank you SO MUCH for this video. I don't know if it was a direct video-response to me and my question about this issue, or just a coincidence of timing, but thank you either way! You've answered the question more clearly than I've yet to encounter!!
So how do you say the notes of an A minor chord will it be A C E or A C#flat E ?
Amazing as always. Complicated matters explained not simply, but very clear to grasp.
Thank you so much for this! This is the best video ive found that really helped me understand why we use seven letters and sharps and flats. Thanks so much for making this
I'd love to see you write a song sometime. The theory alone is great, but I'd like to see some of the ways it can be applied in the songwriting process.
This may sound cheesy but you really are a awesome human being. You seem so nice and generous with your knowledge
I've been trying to mess around with music theory for years now (I play electric guitar), but it would never stick, and I always went back to being a more intuitive type of player. I don't know exactly what it is, but your method of teaching has me addicted to learning more and more about it. Thanks for the great work Michael, you're truly a great teacher ^.^
Couple things: I used to think that music was a concept of literature or maybe poetry, but I've watched enough of your vids to realize its not that, its mathematical. Which is easier for my particular brain to deal with. And I wanted to thank you for that. Also, if anyone has a lead on the same type of youtube channel, but maybe just dumbed down a level or two, let me know. There are parts that I follow but other parts that go over my head.
Quick question, would you ever want to refer to the key of C sharp major, as opposed to D flat major?
Nickolai Belakovski - Even if we don't know or understand why a composer chose a particular key rather than its simpler enharmonic exchange (e.g., Cb with 7 flats rather than B with 5 sharps), no musician will refer to it by any key other than the one it was written in.
So in a scale we have to use every note (A, B, C, D, E, F, G)? We can't skip to G without suing F for example? I'm basing this on minor and major scales btw.
You are correct in that assumption.
Hey Michael! Great video, as always. I'd like to see a video on forming chord progressions, and why some chords lead into certain chords better than other chords. For instance, why a V chord leads into a I chord, and what choice would be the best to lead into the V chord. Keep up the great work!
At about 3:35 you said you would explain why 7 (of 12) notes are usually used. But can you explain why interpolate an octave with 12 notes? (as opposed to 10 or 15)? Oh I see your description now, that you are leaving the explanation of 12 divisions for another video. Thanks for these videos.
i just want to say thanks for the awsome vids. I got my keyboard out for the first time and after studying your theory i managed to get a really good fullon psy trance lead in about 3 mins. Yes i did go of scale a note here and there but it was 145 bpm and no muscle memory with both hands but i wouldnt of been able to do it without your awsome lessons....
For my next song im gone to start in a harder key with more blacks in the scales.
19:16 “Some keys are super awkward, like C# Major […]”
If I write a song in the C# major scale, why would I call the scale C# not D flat? That would at least avoid the E# confusion, no? I mean if I’m starting on one of the black keys, then I get to pick how I name it, correct? So why would I choose to introduce the E# issue by calling that scale C# instead of D flat?
Michael New Thanks for making these videos. Your teaching style is easy to learn from and enjoyable! I'm wondering if you can make a video that demonstrates how to construct more advanced chord progressions to achieve a certain "musical emotions"?
Do you have a fundamental playlist?
Excellent explanation. I'm a novice at music, but it's so nice to see a real explanation in terms of the scales instead of the usual 'black notes are sharps' rubbish.
I have no idea what it is; I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the way this guy explains things just makes sense to me.
Sir! When people talk about the transformative power of the internet to change lives and make humanity greater, I will include your video series as an example. In the bad old days, your reach would have been local, a few students perhaps. I have never heard such clear, succinct explanations for this. Wonderful. Thank you.
Michael could you please do more videos on composition. I'm trying to become a composer. One problem I have is I don't know whether I should write melodies or chord progressions first and also how to fit them together rhythmically.
Could you make a video on the pedal ?
this was a great video, congratulations. It would be interesting to explain this from a historical perspective: "why where Sharps and Flats created in the first place?". I think it would be a more difficult question to answer, but I'm curious about that. I read that is something related to Guido D'Arezzo way of constructing hexacords...but I couldn't comprehend.
You should do videos on musical notation at some point, as that may be the most important thing you haven't covered yet. Other potential topics worth discussing include: form, texture, cadence, motivic transformation and development, ornamentation, counterpoint, more topics in rhythm (e.g. additive meter, syncopation, rubato, free time), perhaps some major topics in 20th century experimental music (e.g. serialism, microtonality, aleatoricism, spectralism), and of course tuning, like you mention in the description. I'm sure you've considered nearly all of these, but I thought I'd throw them out there.
I really enjoy your videos and approach to teaching, and appreciate that you're able to get this material out to such a large audience.
so what i understood is sharps and flats are used to make sure the key is pronounced in the music, for the musician to identify the change in key or change in scale
I think it's to refer to whether going up or down. Going up would mean sharp and going down would mean flat. Suppose you are on G# and the next key to press is C# then if you need to play in the same octave i.e; go down then one would use flat and if you have to jump up then it would be called sharp. That is what I believe.
So, why does someone choose to write a song in the key of C sharp instead of D flat? Does that imply something else?
totally helpful, and thank you! can you do a video on how to find the notes outside the chord progression or how to play off of another note? I'm trying to figure out how to create tension notes.
It would be awesome to see you rewrite som very popular songs, and show how the melody and chord play together, which Key it is in, and why it sounds sad/happy. It would help me alot. And im shure it would attract a wider audience.
Found you yesterday. Already learned so much! Thank you!
I think you've already got this question a gazillion times, but I'm gonna ask anyway: Michael, what kind of whiteboard do you use? I've never come across this type before. It's clearly not a regular whiteboard: shadows that notes cast indicate that it's some kind of transparent material (looks like plexiglass) with sheet of white material (maybe an actual whiteboard) behind it.
8:49. Nevermind the bollocks, this is just a timestamp for my own personal use
Michael, the way I've always understood the sharps/flats is that each scale should have 'one of each letter A-F" in it, and the sharps/flats just keep that in check.
e.g. you can't have a G and a G# in the same key, so the G might be called an F## to make sure the letters aren't doubled up, OR the G# might be called an Ab. Depending on what else is in the scale surrounding those two. Is this ever incorrect? is this a silly way of thinking of it?
P.S. thanks for the vids :) love them!
I think you've gotten the logic a bit backwards; they didn't arbitrarily say "exactly one letter from A-G". You keep only one letter A-G because there are 7 notes (first bit of the video) in these scales, which lets you easily work out the degree of any note based on its letter alone. That property is why you keep the A-G rule, the [double] sharps and [double] flats dictate the scale.
@Anifco67 your comment is 1000x more clear than video. the simpliest and most accuracy answer ever
Thank you so much! Your videos are amazing to watch, it's clear you have a strong grasp on music if you can explain these topics in a way that we can understand perfectly. Amazing work!
Maybe I'm writing this for 3rd or 4th time, but I would like to see how to rewrite a major song into a minor one by changing the modes correctly. Also it would be interesting to know how to spice the songs up with some jazzy 7th 9th chords or change modes to make them fit to a specific genre... Hope you will create a small blog/video on that.
Thank you so much for these videos. Your explanations are incredibly clear and I love learning what you teach. Fantastic videos and please keep going! I'll try to figure out what the Patreon system is all about.
I’ve done quite a bit of music theory on top of my playing and still don’t fully understand something which I feel I should … What’s the point of multiple scales of a given type, like having 12 (say Major) Scales? I know the point of alternate scales like minor, blues, jazz, chromatic etc… each giving a different impression due to the unique construction of the scale. So, picking on Major, why not just have one scale (say C) and write all music in this key as opposed to other Major Keys? Given the vast majority of us don’t have absolute pitch, does it matter what the tonic is - the Major pattern WWHWWWH of C is the same as for any Major Key. So whilst one major key has more flats/sharps in than another, so what, if the listener does not have absolute pitch? I presume that’s why some music is transcribed into C to make it easier to play, in which case what’s the value/difference in keeping other, harder to play, major scales? The only answer I can think of is because music can shift key WITHIN a piece - but then why not just start every piece off in C and shift around that, thus playing most notes on the easier C scale? I hope this question make sense, as its bothering me and I don’t know how to google it!!:)
Wouldn't renaming the key from C# to Db or G# to Ab fix the issues of double sharp and renaming white keys (e.g. F->E#)? Why not always do that?
Could you make a video about hand independence ? I've started learning jazz and can't get my right and left to play together and it would be great after your video about polyrhythms.
Where are you buddy? I need some more music theory to feed my brain. I recently bought the book 'Music Theory: The Essential Guide' by Julia Winterson which is a really useful little guide, but I like hearing your explanations.
Total confusion... What is he talking about! Until 15:00 then it clicked. Watched the second time it made much more sense. Thank you.
Just a random question, what are your thoughts on Brian Wilson & Pet Sounds?
Nice lesson, but you seemed to only talk about sharps in this video. So I wonder how you know if a note is for example a C flat instead of a B sharp?
Wow i actually kinda got a hold of sort of understanding where flats and harps are applied in music. Great vid
I'd like to see your lessons on the similarities between the guitar and the piano also on the best times to use seventh chords(can't remember if you covered that one) Thanks for another outstanding video!
Can you do a recap about the most important things you've sumorized so far? Just when you haven't watched your old videos in a while and forgot an important aspect of music?
Hi Mike, I love your videos and how got explained them. Please don't stop making them.
i really like your tutorials,your teaching is easy to understand.. Though it would be very nice with a tutorial on passing notes\chords and counterpoints? just a suggestion..
What's the difference between calling a scale C# or Db?
How do you read nuemes?
What camera do you have? I have a AC adapter you can have if it is a Canon DSLR that uses the LP-E6.
Your videos are extremely helpful! But I'm struggling with something. I have all these good ideas in my head, but I can't really write them down because I don't know which notes are which. Like if I hear a "B", I don't know that it's a B. Do you know of a way to get accustomed to that?
do you have recording abilities? I often don't write things down, I just play my idea on the piano or guitar and record it so I can remember it later. I found this works better for me then making notes (at least to remember my own ideas)
When I play something in my head for the first time I sit down and press keys until I find the root note, then I can play it.
What your describing is called "perfect pitch" supposedly; people with this can listen to a song they've never heard before and tell what key its in. I don't know if it's possible to practice at this or how, but I've been playing and writing music just fine without this ability. :)
The best way to do that is to hear B in its relation to your tonic (key) note. For example, if you're in C major, you have a solid sense of where C is, and the B will have a certain "feel" when you hear it, as the 7th of the C scale. You can develop that. Each note of the C scale will have its own feel in relation to the tonic.
Enharmonic spellings are a byproduct of the equal temperament tuning system. In other tuning systems, they are actually different notes.
Edit: This is also why many keyboard instruments that use other tuning systems have split sharp/flat keys.
Micheal New... but does he... know?
Interesting video, although I find it a bit interesting that you basically said a Whole Tone scale isn't "right" or that it "suffers" from its symmetry. I love symmetrical sounds, man, and so did many of my favorite composers (Debussy being one of the most well known users of the Whole Tone set)! I get why you did it though. Cheers!
I love whole tone scales and use them pretty frequently when I'm writing music. Diatonic scales tend to work better when you're trying to create a tonal center in your music, for the reasons I went over in the video. I'm not judging different scales; just trying to explain their characteristics.
I understand all of that which is why I stated, "I get why you did it though" and prefaced the entire comment with an awful pun to, hopefully, express a brighter tone.
I've seen chords that are notated as -9 and m-9. for example C-9 and I don't quite know what that means. does anyone know?
can you do a video on cadences?
I don't buy it. The cons outweighs the pros, and you totally ignored the historical aspects that has led to the current messy system.
100% with you.. What he says makes no sense either.. he has been trained and brainwashed to speak like this.. Those are not the reasons. It has to do more with historical reasons.. Evolution from ignorance.. and development where every generation and every musician has been putting patches to the old things..Modern music in a piano roll make more sense than music sheet and it´s easier to read and understand.. . Like the languages, that are full of stupid non sense.. like man in plural is not call mans, putting and s , you change the e and say men..It would be much easier to put an "s" to all plurals. Music is another language full of nonsense due to historical reasons and decisions of some individuals. We, the rest, are like parrots, following the messy nonsense system.
Do not try to conviniece anybody this is logical. It is just legacy. People first discovered 7 main notes as perfect ratios of the main note and assigned letters to them. Then they found there are gaps and filled them, but instead of assigning letters out of order or reassigning letrers for all notes they came up with this trade off in names.
This is by far the best video I've ever seen!
Hey Michael, could you do a video on why certain keys don't exist? (d#, e#, fb, g#, a#, b# major)
Those keys are called theoretical keys, and while they technically _do_ exist, they're just cumbersome to use as they contain double flats/sharps. For example, A# would have the notes A#, B#, Cx, D#, E#, Fx, and Gx. Using the enharmonic key Bb would be so much easier to read and would probably be used, though there are rare instances where theoretical keys could be used.
Hey I posted this same post on another video thread (of yours) .. I just wanted to make sure you saw it so I found your most recent video .. Greetings fellow music freaks! .. I am fairly new, (I assure no pun intended) to your channel Michael, but I like your style quite a bit; you have a gift good sir .. Well the reason I am posting is to ask if you could maybe do a video on sight reading, (actually specifically sight singin) I am heading off to study musical therapy and majoring in voice and hopefully eventually piano and guitar and violin as well, but I am concerned that I won't get in if I fail my sight reading/singing exam if you have any thoughts I would be indebted .. thank you for all that you do! Stay passionate for music!
I'm curious why "C" ends up being the scale with no sharps and flats. Why not label that scale "A" and work up from there.
Also why are we taught to put our right thumbs on C when starting out? This so called "home position"?
Finally, when do composers choose to put "accidentals" in the music (notes outside their key signature) does his mean they're temporarily in another key or is there some other explanation.
Thank you so much for your videos but I've never even thought about the topic in this video so it opens more questions than answers for me. Cheers!
Edit: For grammar and added a third question.
Viewsk8 great questions, I wish someone could answer because I'm curious now xD
Viewsk8 i'm gonna try and answer this but I'm such a newb so sorry if this makes no sense. 'A' does have no flats and no sharps but in the natural minor scale aka aeolian mode. This is the purple arrows in the video and you can see when you write down the intervals of this scale then name them A to G you get the notes we have today ie with B next to C and E next to F and such. As he says this is the most natural way of spreading out 7 notes along an octave. And I guess is why it's the basis for naming the notes.
If you then rearrange the whole steps and half steps to a major scale the key with no sharps/flats begins on C. C major and A minor use the exact same notes but in different ways - he has a video on how they're different.
I think the aeolian mode is much older than the major scale which was developed later, but major scales/keys are more common now and is why we learn them first. Hope this maybe helped lol 🙄
This isn’t why we have sharps and flats, but it is a useful byproduct of the fact that we have them!
I love your videos Michael, but I had one question. Is this the only way we have to organize all 12 pitches? Has anyone ever proposed a different system? Also, as a favor to my OCD brain, if you're playing a certain scale could you please refrain from holding the 7th for too long? Again I really love all of your content. Keep it up!
Isn’t is much much simpler to just memorize 13 separate notes than to have to make all of these rules to get around inconsistencies that a “7 natural notes plus 5 sharps/flats” system creates?
I am being dense, but may I ask a question about A minor and C major? WHY do all theory books claim that A minor has no sharps or flats, just like C, when it clearly needs them to sound correct? I know that C and A minor use the same set of keys (per one of your video lessons), but A minor seems to me to need sharps, so I'm not sure why the theory books claim what they do.
I somehow have the feeling that there's missing something from this argument..... namely that frequency-wise it's not a coincident that we fix the scale on primes, fifths, and thirds.
Sure. You could get into ratios, but I'm not sure that would be clearer.
It would to me :) ... or to anyone having had physics in high school and seen super-positioned waves, I would hope.
Now of course... simple sine waves are not nice to listen to in them selves. You would probably have to discuss overtones/harmonics and how instruments sounds are created too.
So if you are in C major, there is a difference between D sharp and E flat, but is there any difference between say C sharp major and D flat major? Why would you choose one over the other?
As for your first question, yes, there certainly is a difference. One means you're borrowing from the sharp side of the circle of fifths, the other means you're borrowing from the flat side.
As for your second question, respelled key signatures aren't used often, because they can be simplified to something else. There are exceptions, such as Cb major being used because in wind bands, keys with flats with them are preferred to sharps due to the tuning of their instruments, and they are more comfortable reading flats than sharps.
Thanks Michael. This has been extremely helpful in furthering my understanding of music and how it all works.
It's actually pretty simple, if you see this from the perspective of a natural trumpet.
natural trumpet overtones go Do, Sol, Do, Mi, Sol, Do.
if you transpose Do to sol, by making a shorter piped trumpet, overtones will be
Sol, Re, Sol, Ti, Re, Sol. transpose one more time. Re, La, Re, Fa, La, Re.
so by transposing just twice, you get complete Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.
Hey Michael. You're videos are super amazing and I am learning so much, so first of all, thank you. I feel that I am struggling with using both hands at the same time, specifically the left hand. I can play stuff with either hand, but whenever I try to combine them, I struggle and have to move very slowly. Are there any routines or drills that you could recommend for me to practice with to improve my left-right hand coordination? Thanks so much!
Your videos are great, thanks a lot. It would be great a video about
vocal melodies composition and what differences there are compared to
instrument melodies.
Thanks Michael, keep them coming your vids have helped me a ton, I've watched them all multiple times, some many times.
An A flat and G sharp are not the same note. They are made to be the same on a tempered instrument like a piano for convenience, but this is because a tempered instrument is tuned to play somewhat ok in every key, yet always sort of out of tune. Play a chord on a non-tempered instrument like a violin and you will see that A flat is really lower than a g sharp. The same holds for other notes, double sharps, etc.
Fester Blats: It depends on the repertoire and the performers. "Early Music" ensembles (performing medieval, renaissance, and/or baroque music) rarely tune using equal temperament, and in the other tuning systems that are commonly used these notes are not enharmonic and will sound different. That's true for the violins and pretty much everything else. This excludes keyboard instruments like the harpsichord, where compromises must be made if you need both the sharp and the flat of the next higher note, though compositions from these periods (esp. for keyboard) generally don't call for that. There are, however some harpsichords with pairs of adjacent keys for the accidentals (one each for the sharp and flat), so that these distinct notes can be played in tune.
Does anyone even use the term C# major or do people just call it D flat? I only have basic musical training so I'm unsure about this.
I watch all your videos and your approach on subjects is awsome i can get it easily...
What i would like to learn more is chord progression . I see alot of songs going from C to F and to G and back to C
i know thats in the key of C but what if i wanted to go from C to D and F and.... you know other stuff ...
I want to know more about how how people could hear a song and put chords in a song and sound like the song .Thanks
Funny thing is, I knew about sharps way way way before I did flats so even if I see and F minor chord, I know that it is F, A-Flat and C - however in my head I can only see the Ab/G# key as “G#” It’s weird because so many other musicians refer to the black keys as flats - please reply if you’re like me lmao it feels like everyone is using flats and I’m the only one who thinks of black keys as sharps.
Sorry if I didn’t explain that very well it’s really complicated and I can’t put it into words
This was a fantastic video. You really put a lot of pieces together for me. Liked and shared.
Is there any difference between C# major and Db Major
You probably should've explained secondary dominants first, because they really help you understand what cases call for sharps or flats
Thank you Michael, for your coherent explanations.
You nailed it Michael, terrific teaching as usual !
Thanks. You've made this clearer to me than anyone before you.
Thank you. Appreciate the lessons. I am into music theory as if I will learn to play the piano. So your lessons work well for me. Learning a lot. my fingers are working better but I lack in ways to make my left and right hands work together. Some of that maybe?