Nice video for beginners, though it would be much better if you specified that many of your generalizing statements only relate to pop/rock music (ie. the claim that 99% of chords are in root position, or that half diminished chords are never used). Many of your viewers may have broader musical interests, and will get the wrong impression and perhaps think that classical composers also never use inversions, or that jazz contains no minor flat 5 chords. And in fact anyone who has tried to learn songs by Radiohead or their imitators knows that inversions and diminished chords are used in their music a fair bit. But anyway, still great content, keep up the good work.
Yeah, as someone who mostly listens to prog rock, I concur. One of the first songs I looked up when I decided to try and learn to recognize chords was The Lamia by Genesis, because it has one of the coolest-sounding chord progressions I've ever heard, and yeah, that song is literally half inverted or slash chords. Just identifying the bass note wouldn't have helped me at all there. I get that I should start with something simpler for learning purposes, but it's very much not true that "99% of chords are in root position" in the music I enjoy.
Ye i get where he was coming from, its true technically 99% of modern chords are in root position, but classical inverts chords all the time and m7b5 is one of the most common chords in jazz. It would have been helpful to viewers who didn't know to specify that, considering also how much is inspired by genres who use these chords all the time. Also modem pop is very basic, but go back a bit and even in pop slash chords are used all the time.
He probably refers to the overall distribution of listened music. I.e. if one, say, just takes all played instances of songs from spotify (i.e. each repeated song is a different instance) and looks at instances of played chords in this pile of played songs, would this stat not hold? That roughly reflects what kind of chords an average person listens to. Of course, jazz lovers will likely have a different distribution of chords, but this is a conditioned distribution, not a marginal one. Meaning it does not reflect overall statistics, but of a very small subgroup.
@@ArtML i guess you mean currently-listened-to music. That is, popular music of today. Popular music is a lot simpler today. Out of all of music listened to over the past 100 years, I would guess that a lot of is more complex although folk musics were always around as well.
Also it is used in almost every jazz standard in minor key. In my own compositions, I am using it for example as a dominant functional chords if I want a chromatic bass line. Such as Dm, D#0 to C
Julian, I completed you ear training course and it completed changed my relationships to music thank you! I have been transcribing Beatles songs during lockdown. Having transcribed a lot of them I was wondering if you have any advice on how to take the ideas I have learned from those songs and use them in my own compositions.
I cannot recommend "The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles" by Dominic Pedler enough. It had a $50 price tag, but it is probably thicker than the Bible. He doesn't focus as much on learning to play songs in entirety, but focuses on all those special moments that made their compositions unique. By really homing in on these special moments, you can study how to reproduce similar "tricks" in any key. Many of these tricks were copied by The Beatles from earlier artists they loved, and many were entirely new to them, but either way they are all up for grabs. Learn from the Masters!
On tone gym listening app. Before the chord progression is played I hear 3 arrpeggios which sound like 1,3,5, but when I hear the 5 again, they call it a vi. I am trying to figure out what those 1,3,5 is because I clearly hear it as stated
I was surprised when you said, that the II Diminished 7 is almost never used. Actually it is used in most minor key jazz standards. That would be good - I mean to state that your explicitly referring maybe to pop music.
Great video, very helpful. I'm having trouble believing that 99% of chords are played in root position! Do you mean that the left hand or a separate bass instrument always plays the root? That would seem more probable, but if not, why in the heck am I learning all these cadences with inversions if they aren't used?
10 months late, but here's a response: Inversions more or less "sound" like their root counterparts. They're really useful for supporting leading voices and provides a new context to a chord, by more than you should expect! G chord C 2nd inversion (G-B-D) --> (G-C-E) This chord progression doesn't seem as stable. G chord C First inversion (G-B-D) --> (E-G-C) Meanwhile this chord progression is very stable and doesn't want to go anywhere. Look at the leading voices! (G-C-*E*) vs (E-G-*C*). In C major, the root key is C- which explains why the second chord progression seems more final than the first. Same exact notes, but different position, and totally different sound quality. You are not limited to just 3 keys in the root position. The root position is a great tool to use, but you have 10 fingers, you can extend the chord beyond 3 notes and just use something like (G-C-E-G).
Hi, Mr. Bradley. I observe that accomplished musicians like yourself usually refer to Chords with Roman Numerals. With regard to the Scale of a Major Key, the 3 Primary Chords are written as I, IV & V. QUESTION - With regard to the Scale of a minor Key where the 3 Primary Chords are built on the same Degrees of the Scale, would the INVERSE hold true. Would the 3 Primary Chords be now written as common (lowercase) i, iv & v?
Great work there Please I really want to be a great piano player like you oneday but I don't have piano to practice everyday. Please I'm pleading if you have an unused piano there you don't mind giving it to me. I believe it will go a long way to help me. Thank you very much. God bless
Nice video for beginners, though it would be much better if you specified that many of your generalizing statements only relate to pop/rock music (ie. the claim that 99% of chords are in root position, or that half diminished chords are never used). Many of your viewers may have broader musical interests, and will get the wrong impression and perhaps think that classical composers also never use inversions, or that jazz contains no minor flat 5 chords. And in fact anyone who has tried to learn songs by Radiohead or their imitators knows that inversions and diminished chords are used in their music a fair bit. But anyway, still great content, keep up the good work.
Yeah, as someone who mostly listens to prog rock, I concur. One of the first songs I looked up when I decided to try and learn to recognize chords was The Lamia by Genesis, because it has one of the coolest-sounding chord progressions I've ever heard, and yeah, that song is literally half inverted or slash chords. Just identifying the bass note wouldn't have helped me at all there. I get that I should start with something simpler for learning purposes, but it's very much not true that "99% of chords are in root position" in the music I enjoy.
Ye i get where he was coming from, its true technically 99% of modern chords are in root position, but classical inverts chords all the time and m7b5 is one of the most common chords in jazz. It would have been helpful to viewers who didn't know to specify that, considering also how much is inspired by genres who use these chords all the time. Also modem pop is very basic, but go back a bit and even in pop slash chords are used all the time.
Agreed, amazing content, but this needed to be said.
He probably refers to the overall distribution of listened music. I.e. if one, say, just takes all played instances of songs from spotify (i.e. each repeated song is a different instance) and looks at instances of played chords in this pile of played songs, would this stat not hold? That roughly reflects what kind of chords an average person listens to. Of course, jazz lovers will likely have a different distribution of chords, but this is a conditioned distribution, not a marginal one. Meaning it does not reflect overall statistics, but of a very small subgroup.
@@ArtML i guess you mean currently-listened-to music. That is, popular music of today. Popular music is a lot simpler today. Out of all of music listened to over the past 100 years, I would guess that a lot of is more complex although folk musics were always around as well.
Awesome video! Thank you for the great tips and I look forward to taking your course at some point.
thank a lot, I play guitar and watching this video twice has really helped me
Very clear and useful information
The D diminished is very popular within R&B/Gospel
word
Also it is used in almost every jazz standard in minor key. In my own compositions, I am using it for example as a dominant functional chords if I want a chromatic bass line. Such as Dm, D#0 to C
OMG thanks sooo much! Please make more of these ear training videos. It helped me out a lot
Chords are like a town map. If you know to recognize the few big streets you can drive in a small one and still know where you are.
Julian, I completed you ear training course and it completed changed my relationships to music thank you! I have been transcribing Beatles songs during lockdown. Having transcribed a lot of them I was wondering if you have any advice on how to take the ideas I have learned from those songs and use them in my own compositions.
I cannot recommend "The Songwriting Secrets of The Beatles" by Dominic Pedler enough. It had a $50 price tag, but it is probably thicker than the Bible. He doesn't focus as much on learning to play songs in entirety, but focuses on all those special moments that made their compositions unique. By really homing in on these special moments, you can study how to reproduce similar "tricks" in any key. Many of these tricks were copied by The Beatles from earlier artists they loved, and many were entirely new to them, but either way they are all up for grabs. Learn from the Masters!
Thank you sir for explaining it in a such a simple way..
On tone gym listening app. Before the chord progression is played I hear 3 arrpeggios which sound like 1,3,5, but when I hear the 5 again, they call it a vi. I am trying to figure out what those 1,3,5 is because I clearly hear it as stated
What song is he playing at 8:00? Anyone know?
So nice and clear. Thank you.
I was surprised when you said, that the II Diminished 7 is almost never used. Actually it is used in most minor key jazz standards. That would be good - I mean to state that your explicitly referring maybe to pop music.
These videos are so helpful!! Thank you.
Great video, very helpful. I'm having trouble believing that 99% of chords are played in root position! Do you mean that the left hand or a separate bass instrument always plays the root? That would seem more probable, but if not, why in the heck am I learning all these cadences with inversions if they aren't used?
10 months late, but here's a response:
Inversions more or less "sound" like their root counterparts. They're really useful for supporting leading voices and provides a new context to a chord, by more than you should expect!
G chord C 2nd inversion
(G-B-D) --> (G-C-E)
This chord progression doesn't seem as stable.
G chord C First inversion
(G-B-D) --> (E-G-C)
Meanwhile this chord progression is very stable and doesn't want to go anywhere.
Look at the leading voices! (G-C-*E*) vs (E-G-*C*). In C major, the root key is C- which explains why the second chord progression seems more final than the first. Same exact notes, but different position, and totally different sound quality. You are not limited to just 3 keys in the root position. The root position is a great tool to use, but you have 10 fingers, you can extend the chord beyond 3 notes and just use something like (G-C-E-G).
@@nathandam6415 Thanks! I will play around with this and listen for the leading tones
Amazing video and very helpful thank you!
Thanks for the good contents
Beautifully explained, thank you so much!
Thanks Julian,great stuff.
Hi, Mr. Bradley. I observe that accomplished musicians like yourself usually refer to Chords with Roman Numerals. With regard to the Scale of a Major Key, the 3 Primary Chords are written as I, IV & V. QUESTION - With regard to the Scale of a minor Key where the 3 Primary Chords are built on the same Degrees of the Scale, would the INVERSE hold true. Would the 3 Primary Chords be now written as common (lowercase) i, iv & v?
Great work there
Please I really want to be a great piano player like you oneday but I don't have piano to practice everyday.
Please I'm pleading if you have an unused piano there you don't mind giving it to me. I believe it will go a long way to help me. Thank you very much. God bless
You are awesome
It would be nice to actually see what you are pressing
Somebody that I used to know
Loads of 1st inversions in church music.
5:10 source trust me bro
More theory training than ear training
99.99% in piano… but not on a guitar… inversions are used all the time… often more so than bass root chords.
CDEb
I felt so lonely in your company
95% of music is diatonic?
Destiny's Child!
way too limited. This is useless for Stevie Wonder or Sting or The Alabama Shakes or Nirvana and so and so on.
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@@sussyamonguscharacter thank for the reminder of this lesson 😂😂
@@diretoaospontos-victorbarb7377 .
@@megy2 thanks for the reminder! I’m way better at ear NY now!
@@diretoaospontos-victorbarb7377 Glad to hear