Well, the best way to thank TH-camrs is to like their videos, subscribe and generally recommend their channel (tastefully). By the way, I have several other neo soul chords/progressions related video which you can easily find if you just search for them on TH-cam (just search for neo soul and mangoldproject together). Good luck!
"I am primarily book learned in piano theory and practice, other than learning songs by ear!. This video is particularly helpful because it demonstrates the use of the principles as well as the theory!. Inversions. Augmentations. Cluster's!. Starting from a base melody and developing a progression was an excellent way of getting it across!. This was the major difference from book learning for me. "I can already feel my skill level improving by just watching two of your videos without even touching the keyboard yet!. Thanx!.👍
in the first example when the bass note moves up a tritone from the d to the a flat sounds so good and juicy, and makes the resolution to the a so much sweeter
Dude. So grateful for your videos, I love your approach, structure and guidance. They’re easy to follow, a good speed and informative. Nga mihi nui from Aotearoa. Keep me coming and best wishes
Thank you so much for posting! You are my favorite piano instructor/tutorialist on TH-cam. Not only are you great in playing, your organization and simplistic style in teaching is very clean and direct which makes things easy to comprehend and follow along.!! In short videos you have made it easy and possible to learn what took me years of study and frustration. I look forward to mastering all of your videos and lessons. Thank you again!!!!!!!!!! -a hungry and passionate musician
Thank you for the kind words. I hope you find what you're looking for on this channel. If you're looking for something a bit more in-depth and structured, may I recommend my jazz piano course? th-cam.com/play/PLP9cbwDiLzdKVOHbx4B0EhwYNksXYaX3s.html
Man you're the best! Thank you so much explaining it so clearly. Lots of videos in youtube but this one is extremely clear and concise, exactly what an intermediate level player like me needs. Hope the best in your life bro!
So basically you got a simple melody, and a simple progression, then you add 11th, 13th, 9ths to the chords, duplicate some of the original notes, eliminta son others. The you add a II-V-I progression, do the same with those chords and you got. Did i get it right?
This is a bit of an extreme example. It’s not like we always add all extensions every single time. Usually we add 1 or 2 extensions depending on what color we’re looking for. He explains it in a way of like “just add complexity! Presto! Neo Soul”. That’s not really how it works lol. We are making decisions about when to add color or tension depending on the situation. We invert chords to keep the tension in the middle of the voicing; you can’t just put a minor 2nd anywhere. And doubling is much more rare. It’s only used to emphasize a particular chord tone in situations where it goes with the melody, or to help “ground” a complex voicing so the dissonance doesn’t overwhelm it. And sometimes we add or remove notes just to make it more comfortable to finger.
Thank you so much ...honestly , sometimes, when I making a song ... basically with some chords , maybe simple melody or simple chords ...but , when I listened back to my demo ....I can say too pretty simple chords ...no colours or outstanding sounding ....and after that , I tried to put more 7,9,11,13....into it ...some simple songs vitalised ....and just like what you shared us in this lesson !! And i m lucky that this way of making songs also works!!!!and you got one more followers !!!!!!hahhah
To be honest First i didn't like the melody just the other day. Now today i see myself humming it😀. So i came to here to watch it again.this simple melody you created is dope❤️👍
i watched that prequel before...no, i absorbed it :) yesterday i was playing around with my new knowledge about rnb chords, and came up with a decent idea that already sounds like something serious ;) I guess you not only teach but compose as well ? If so, is any of your work online ? I'd love to hear it.
U R AWESOME, both technically and (I'm sure) as a person! The idea of whistling... hahahah very cool, I don't know how to thank u for your time for us! ...All the best, cheers from Rome :)
Really cool video man, clear explanation. What software do you use to get the onscreen keyboard to display? I've been thinking of making a few piano videos, myself.
Beginner here (sort of). Help me understand something. If the melody implies an Am scale or C, then diatonically E would be minor right? Dm Em Am... But E dom is awesome and soulful. If I'm trying not to write so diatonically, what's the theory behind chord selections that borrow notes from other scales?
*Beautiful soul-sound, but can you please tell me, that with so many different ways of harmonizing the melody, how did you know which chord to use in the first place, to then apply the 2-5-1 progression? Is it a matter of trial and error, or are there rules to determine which starting chord to use? Thank you.*
ivor worrell Well, circle of fifth is a strange thing, because it "always work on his own". Begin with a simple harmony, it will be your tonal skeletton, like here we feel an Amin tonality (the Dm-E7-Amin + the melody). Then, you can apply the "Harmonic Arrival theory" : in a tonal song, there is important moment where pertubating the tonality with outside chords CAN feel strange, but sometimes you can "play outside the tonality". At this moment (end of a phrase for exemple), try playing things with strong voice leading, or effective harmonic mouvement like 2-5-1.
That comes from both analyzing many many songs and from studying (some) music theory. The thing is, there is no clear cut answer to your question, because there are many many ways one could harmonize a particular melody. This ambiguity is usually difficult for beginners to come to terms with. My best suggestion to you would be to simply start analyzing songs you like harmony-wise, and you will see which patterns please you and then slowly start using them.
transcribe lots of songs. At a point, you will start hearing chords you want to go with the melody, and then the "harmonizing" part is just a matter of transcribing the chords from your head out to your instrument.
Cool. In that case, check out these additional lessons which also use fairly advanced concepts/voicings: th-cam.com/video/8kEe0DR7YZE/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/T2WV80h3P04/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgxJ7SNjhx6yfj-aLFh4AaABAg
would you kindly explain a bit more on how those extra two chords(Em, A) in the end as a transitional chords are in accordance to your 2-5-1? awesome lecture, by the way!😁
kagoon0709 the Em A is a 2-5-1 to the dminor itself, with the 1 being dminor in that case but still all in the key of a, only difference being is that the i in that context lands on the iv, making v(2) i(5) iv(1)
Im learning so much from your videos! Youre really blessed with talent also what program do you use for your midi because i would like to do the same for my spanish piano channel but i dont know which one too use , id appreciate any recommendations
Hey video for thanks and ask a few questions; -Pianos and notes how to learn at my home?And when start learning? -Especially youtube and google not enough R&b and soul lessons . should i buy books for learning?And which book? Thanks a lot sorry english not good
You are almost correct (the A doesn't fit in there). There's an "Interesting Chords" video coming up in about a month which explores precisely this voicing!
Absolutely wonderful sounding chords and progression. Thanks for showing how to construct them, it's really great. Now for the reverse: if I just heard the chord, or saw someone play it, or had notes without a chord symbol, I don't think I could recognize that Emaj for example as you play it. Is there a trick to recognize chords where the root has been removed? Any insight would be appreciated.
This isn't always obvious or easy. In many cases it's also ambiguous. You learn to do it by doing the reverse many times (constructing chords ... lots of chords!)
it would be nice to have notation on top of your highlighted key choices. i'd appreciate it to see how voice leading applies to these voicings. the way they're being chosen makes it seem like the voice leading doesn't apply as much as i'm used to.
how do you decide whether to make each chord a major or minor, i would've thought it would be based on it's position within the key, so if you were in C major, you would play a D minor, but I'm not really following along here
I'm slowly building some bases around music theory and this video was super advanced to me. Luckily, I'm gradually filling all the missing gaps by researching and self-teaching and I can say I'm actually getting somewhere, so thanks a lot for this video and for giving me a clear mark I can set as a goal. However, I still don't understand why for the E chord you went with a dominant? Why not a Major 7th? And why for the A chord you went with a Major 7h and not a dominant?
Well, first of all, if you find something sounds good to your ears, then you should use it regardless of what other people are doing. As for the E, it can be considered a secondary dominant of the Am. As for the Amaj7, this is a unique feature of neo soul/hip hop which actually breaks tradition. It is not easy to explain using "standard" (diatonic) harmony, and you should treat it as a special feature of neo soul harmony in my opinion. Major 7th chords are just part of the "sound" of the genre. They won't always work, but you should try to use them and see if they fit.
I can't answer this well, but he is using the 2-5-1 to figure out a temporary scale. th-cam.com/video/Oy3KE_z3Qg0/w-d-xo.html What Jeff says at this time stamp in this video is what I am trying to say
You have to understand secondary dominant chord, it's non diatonic to key of A natural minor but it always sounds strong or unresolved leading to tonic
This is the fckin' tutorial i've been looking for years. Sir, i don't know how to express my thankful to you. Greetings from Dominican Republic!
Well, the best way to thank TH-camrs is to like their videos, subscribe and generally recommend their channel (tastefully). By the way, I have several other neo soul chords/progressions related video which you can easily find if you just search for them on TH-cam (just search for neo soul and mangoldproject together). Good luck!
you've literally upgraded my skills tenfold in the past week or so - thank you my friend!
Sattam Deb you
good work on the virtual piano setup. now its more easier to understand.. thanks a lot😇
I've found a new calling in life! Neo soul all the way now :p
darkrayer1 yeah boi!!
Haha, I didn't know my video would have such an effect :)
Pol Smout FAAAAAACTS!
Yup! Got bit by the neo soul bug a while back for guitar but now I’m all about the keys now
You’re the best teacher I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen plenty. Thank you from Australia!
I'm totally gonna try this in like a couple days.
Cool. Why postpone? The keyboard is calling out to you ... :)
Always loved listening to Neo Soul and now I'm learning how to create - thank you! :-)
that dmin sounds so good, even on its own.
thanks for the quality work!
SamandRie The Dmin triad sounds good with the melody because the melody is playing the 9 of Dmin, so it's like a Dmin9 chord with the 7th omitted.
"I am primarily book learned in piano theory and practice, other than learning songs by ear!. This video is particularly helpful because it demonstrates the use of the principles as well as the theory!. Inversions. Augmentations. Cluster's!. Starting from a base melody and developing a progression was an excellent way of getting it across!. This was the major difference from book learning for me. "I can already feel my skill level improving by just watching two of your videos without even touching the keyboard yet!. Thanx!.👍
Hey!. You forgot an exclamation mark in one of your sentences!. Please fix?!.
in the first example when the bass note moves up a tritone from the d to the a flat sounds so good and juicy, and makes the resolution to the a so much sweeter
Dude. So grateful for your videos, I love your approach, structure and guidance. They’re easy to follow, a good speed and informative.
Nga mihi nui from Aotearoa. Keep me coming and best wishes
Thank you so much for posting! You are my favorite piano instructor/tutorialist on TH-cam. Not only are you great in playing, your organization and simplistic style in teaching is very clean and direct which makes things easy to comprehend and follow along.!! In short videos you have made it easy and possible to learn what took me years of study and frustration. I look forward to mastering all of your videos and lessons. Thank you again!!!!!!!!!! -a hungry and passionate musician
Thank you for the kind words. I hope you find what you're looking for on this channel. If you're looking for something a bit more in-depth and structured, may I recommend my jazz piano course?
th-cam.com/play/PLP9cbwDiLzdKVOHbx4B0EhwYNksXYaX3s.html
Man you're the best! Thank you so much explaining it so clearly. Lots of videos in youtube but this one is extremely clear and concise, exactly what an intermediate level player like me needs. Hope the best in your life bro!
These chords are so good, I started to relax/sleep/study
Benjamin Wescott you sir are a talented man. I aspire to relax sleep and study all at once
So calming to listen to this video
So basically you got a simple melody, and a simple progression, then you add 11th, 13th, 9ths to the chords, duplicate some of the original notes, eliminta son others. The you add a II-V-I progression, do the same with those chords and you got.
Did i get it right?
I think that summarizes the content quite good. +adding tension (flat 9ths etc...)
This is a bit of an extreme example. It’s not like we always add all extensions every single time. Usually we add 1 or 2 extensions depending on what color we’re looking for. He explains it in a way of like “just add complexity! Presto! Neo Soul”. That’s not really how it works lol. We are making decisions about when to add color or tension depending on the situation. We invert chords to keep the tension in the middle of the voicing; you can’t just put a minor 2nd anywhere. And doubling is much more rare. It’s only used to emphasize a particular chord tone in situations where it goes with the melody, or to help “ground” a complex voicing so the dissonance doesn’t overwhelm it. And sometimes we add or remove notes just to make it more comfortable to finger.
wow! I've never seen a lesson like this, understanding the neo soul chord like never before! thanks bro!
You're welcome! Happy to have helped out.
you have a way of explaining things, sir! one of the best if not the best on TH-cam
ManGold I have to say this sounds professional! You really surprised me with this one. I could hear it on the radio😁😂
Time to go over to FL studio and write some lofi neo soulhop lol
exactly why im here
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You know the drill
That was so easy to understand, I always wanted that neo-soul sound. thankyou.
Fantastic you just improved my playing so much. Thanks I needed this!!!!
This is extremely helpful. Thanks a ton! Keep the videos up. I love how you break the skills down!
This series is teaching me a lot. Thank you sir for that.
You're welcome Julio.
Very very useful. Thank you.
Complexified my lord
Thank you so much ...honestly , sometimes, when I making a song ... basically with some chords , maybe simple melody or simple chords ...but , when I listened back to my demo ....I can say too pretty simple chords ...no colours or outstanding sounding ....and after that , I tried to put more 7,9,11,13....into it ...some simple songs vitalised ....and just like what you shared us in this lesson !! And i m lucky that this way of making songs also works!!!!and you got one more followers !!!!!!hahhah
Great lesson
To be honest First i didn't like the melody just the other day. Now today i see myself humming it😀. So i came to here to watch it again.this simple melody you created is dope❤️👍
Thanks!
this guy is awesome. Thank you so much for your training.
Happy to help out, Marcel.
This is such a good tutorial and explanation, THANK YOU!
Im subscribing.
Add every extension possible to create cool chords. Got it
Haha, pretty much :)
I find this satisfying as well. Great video!
you blowed my mind! really good way of explain!
Woah!!! Ur incredible!! So much love
Thank you 😊 another great lesson 👍
You are the greatest!
very helpful video. thanks for the video
this is pure gold, thanks a lot !
You're welcome. Don't forget the prequel as well:
th-cam.com/video/DEYzVzJmZk4/w-d-xo.html
i watched that prequel before...no, i absorbed it :)
yesterday i was playing around with my new knowledge about rnb chords, and came up with a decent idea that already sounds like something serious ;)
I guess you not only teach but compose as well ? If so, is any of your work online ? I'd love to hear it.
U teached me more than busyworksbeats with this one vid when talking about chords/melodies.
I'm not sure who busyworksbeats is, but I'm going to assume that was a compliment :).
ofc it's a compliment man
Great work, thank you
Great Video and explanation thanks a lot!
U R AWESOME, both technically and (I'm sure) as a person! The idea of whistling... hahahah very cool,
I don't know how to thank u for your time for us! ...All the best, cheers from Rome :)
so cool! thanks for the lessons!
Your voice can teach how to terrorize the global and still sounds so soothing
Great teacher
Thanks for watching.
Really cool video man, clear explanation. What software do you use to get the onscreen keyboard to display? I've been thinking of making a few piano videos, myself.
Very helpful. Thanks a bunch
Thank you, you are a Master.
Awesome work! Keep it up, greetings from Argentina!
I like whistling part!
Subbed man, this is crazy. such a good teacher
Thanks, and welcome aboard!
oooh. i enjoyed it a lot.
This sounds similar to Lotus Flower Bomb by Miguel
Never heard that one, but ok :)
👀
@@MangoldProject are you serious??
@@damonterrell5262 Yes.
this is actually one of basic progressions on neo soul so no wonder you’d find it in so many song🙏🏼
Beautiful
Beginner here (sort of). Help me understand something. If the melody implies an Am scale or C, then diatonically E would be minor right? Dm Em Am... But E dom is awesome and soulful. If I'm trying not to write so diatonically, what's the theory behind chord selections that borrow notes from other scales?
You can hear that melody in the song "The Golden Throne" by Temples :D
also in the wonderful "I'd rather be with you" of Bootsy Collins :-)
no you cant
@@afrosymphony8207 No i can. What you mean to say is you cant.
Wow... you're amazing
Thanks Gabriella!
Can you do more videos about neo-soul? More specifically on creating melodies because I find that the toughest part
For the start I would use pentatonic scales to write melodies. You can spice things up by modulating between different pentatonic scales.
Awesome stuff. Really helped me with writing. :)
*Beautiful soul-sound, but can you please tell me, that with so many different ways of harmonizing the melody, how did you know which chord to use in the first place, to then apply the 2-5-1 progression? Is it a matter of trial and error, or are there rules to determine which starting chord to use? Thank you.*
ivor worrell Well, circle of fifth is a strange thing, because it "always work on his own". Begin with a simple harmony, it will be your tonal skeletton, like here we feel an Amin tonality (the Dm-E7-Amin + the melody). Then, you can apply the "Harmonic Arrival theory" : in a tonal song, there is important moment where pertubating the tonality with outside chords CAN feel strange, but sometimes you can "play outside the tonality". At this moment (end of a phrase for exemple), try playing things with strong voice leading, or effective harmonic mouvement like 2-5-1.
That comes from both analyzing many many songs and from studying (some) music theory. The thing is, there is no clear cut answer to your question, because there are many many ways one could harmonize a particular melody. This ambiguity is usually difficult for beginners to come to terms with. My best suggestion to you would be to simply start analyzing songs you like harmony-wise, and you will see which patterns please you and then slowly start using them.
*Thank you ver much sir.*
transcribe lots of songs. At a point, you will start hearing chords you want to go with the melody, and then the "harmonizing" part is just a matter of transcribing the chords from your head out to your instrument.
*Easier said than done, id say, for a beginner like **me.Is** there not a simplier approach, especially for beginners?*
Gmin sounds really nice after the Amin
thank you ! learned so much
You're a great teacher.
This and the video before made me Subscribe. Thank You so Much!
Thanks! Hope you enjoy many more videos to come.
So good! Thanks you:)
You're welcomes :)
very advanced, i like it.
Cool. In that case, check out these additional lessons which also use fairly advanced concepts/voicings:
th-cam.com/video/8kEe0DR7YZE/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/T2WV80h3P04/w-d-xo.html&lc=UgxJ7SNjhx6yfj-aLFh4AaABAg
Thanks! Great videos and awesome channel 😆
Thanks LMLL!
mans a genius
would you kindly explain a bit more on how those extra two chords(Em, A) in the end as a transitional chords are in accordance to your 2-5-1? awesome lecture, by the way!😁
kagoon0709 the Em A is a 2-5-1 to the dminor itself, with the 1 being dminor in that case but still all in the key of a, only difference being is that the i in that context lands on the iv, making v(2) i(5) iv(1)
Thanks so much..was very helpful
thanks a lot sir ..
Hey there, just curious. How did you come up with the initial Dm, E, Am? Or I should ask why
Basic stuff 4 5 1
thanks really good video
Fantastic series, subbed *100.
Thanks! It's not a series really. It's just two videos. I usually cover a wide range of topics (although I do dwell a lot on harmony & voicings).
awesome!
AWESOME!
Can anyone help me? I'm confused as to which key this is in
Im learning so much from your videos! Youre really blessed with talent also what program do you use for your midi because i would like to do the same for my spanish piano channel but i dont know which one too use , id appreciate any recommendations
Hey video for thanks
and ask a few questions;
-Pianos and notes how to learn at my home?And when start learning?
-Especially youtube and google not enough R&b and soul lessons . should i buy books for learning?And which book?
Thanks a lot sorry english not good
How to learn: best approach is to get a teacher.When to start: now.
Not sure about books.
I might be wrong. but is this an iv V i chord progression in A natural minor?
Correct.
Just a silly question. Could it be called 2 - 3 - 6 progression, analyzing it from c major scale's perspective?
That wouldn't make a lot of sense, because C major isn't your tonic (that isn't where the progression gravitates to).
Oh I get that. Thanks for responding :)
can you elaborate more, please ?
Awesome! Thank you so much 😊 so that A major rearranged was also a C# minor if I am not wrong.
You are almost correct (the A doesn't fit in there). There's an "Interesting Chords" video coming up in about a month which explores precisely this voicing!
Sherlock Holmes C6m7 9th
I thought that was the answer, too. Well, I am just starting out. Still a bit starstruck from all this great information..
תודההה רבההה לך!!!
מלךךךך
lol what a nice surprise
Absolutely wonderful sounding chords and progression. Thanks for showing how to construct them, it's really great.
Now for the reverse: if I just heard the chord, or saw someone play it, or had notes without a chord symbol, I don't think I could recognize that Emaj for example as you play it. Is there a trick to recognize chords where the root has been removed? Any insight would be appreciated.
This isn't always obvious or easy. In many cases it's also ambiguous. You learn to do it by doing the reverse many times (constructing chords ... lots of chords!)
Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the advice. I'll be over there constructing chords then, if anyone needs me.
it would be nice to have notation on top of your highlighted key choices. i'd appreciate it to see how voice leading applies to these voicings. the way they're being chosen makes it seem like the voice leading doesn't apply as much as i'm used to.
By notation you mean conventional staff notation?
yeah, it would be valuable to me to see how these voicings work together. thanks for reading my comment!
Thanks!
how do you decide whether to make each chord a major or minor, i would've thought it would be based on it's position within the key, so if you were in C major, you would play a D minor, but I'm not really following along here
Watch my piano jazz course here on youtube (it's free):
th-cam.com/play/PLP9cbwDiLzdKVOHbx4B0EhwYNksXYaX3s.html
Love it.
Those chords are some . . . *T H I C C B O I S*
When you are playing how do we remember the chords perfectly or we just depend on muscle memory? Appreciate your answer.
A *lot* of muscle memory. Start practicing :)
MangoldProject Thank you for the response.
Does it matter what you add or move around with these chords or is it personal preference?
I'm slowly building some bases around music theory and this video was super advanced to me. Luckily, I'm gradually filling all the missing gaps by researching and self-teaching and I can say I'm actually getting somewhere, so thanks a lot for this video and for giving me a clear mark I can set as a goal. However, I still don't understand why for the E chord you went with a dominant? Why not a Major 7th? And why for the A chord you went with a Major 7h and not a dominant?
Well, first of all, if you find something sounds good to your ears, then you should use it regardless of what other people are doing. As for the E, it can be considered a secondary dominant of the Am. As for the Amaj7, this is a unique feature of neo soul/hip hop which actually breaks tradition. It is not easy to explain using "standard" (diatonic) harmony, and you should treat it as a special feature of neo soul harmony in my opinion. Major 7th chords are just part of the "sound" of the genre. They won't always work, but you should try to use them and see if they fit.
Awesome
If it's in A Natural Minor how does the F# C# fit into this harmony ??
I can't answer this well, but he is using the 2-5-1 to figure out a temporary scale.
th-cam.com/video/Oy3KE_z3Qg0/w-d-xo.html
What Jeff says at this time stamp in this video is what I am trying to say
You have to understand secondary dominant chord, it's non diatonic to key of A natural minor but it always sounds strong or unresolved leading to tonic
Просто здорово!
The sound is characteristic of Neo Soul, but why is that A chord major and not dominant? Do the usual jazz rules not apply in neo soul?
so this is in C right? because minor 2 to secondary dominant to 6 and then minor 6
You missed an Eb at 12:00
Bravo!
Thanks!
heavy chords respekt for teaching
Respect for learning.