You're seriously one of the most brilliant people. Not only do you teach extraordinarily well, but you have the brightest personality. We need more people like you! 👏🏻
My favorite use of the Chromatic Mediant is actually for modulation, since my favorite way to modulate is to pick up the entire piece and drop it back in transposed up a minor third. I "came up with" the technique by accident solely because of the mathematical properties it has. Basically, I was doing a song and wanted to cycle through modulations until I returned to the original key. I was going to do it by modulating up by 4 semitones three times, but decided to try modulating just three semitones instead (which would give me four modulations before returning to the original key). Happily, I discovered it sounded amazing to do that. Before that trick, I would often modulate to the five chord via the "five of five" technique (so to modulate from C to G, you throw in a D major first sort of thing), but modulating up a minor third didn't require any setup of the dominant or to throw in a leading tone, etc. I loved it because you could play something 100% diatonic and then instantly modulate on a repeat and it adds a burst of energy to it with a sort of surprise modulation out of the blue.
I'm new to music theory, and your idea sounds interesting. I think your explanation was clear (well done!). Just to be sure I am following you, would you mind explaining further, by coming up with a 4 chord progression, and then tell me what the chords would be, after you transposed them. Please.
Can you please explain how you are able to instantly modulate to the minor third? If you’re going from C major to Eb major I would think you would in fact need some bridging chord. Or you could use the diminished chord with dominant function which is the same in both c major and Eb major if that’s what you’re referring to.
Interesting! I have always categorized (relative to a "C" tonic) Eb major (bIII) and Ab major (bVI) as being from the parallel minor (C minor), or "modal interchange." And E major (III) or A major (VI) as being "stripped-down" triadic versions of E7 or A7--functioning or non-functioning secondary dominants (V7 of vi and V7 of ii, whether or not they "resolved"), respectively. Leaving only Ebm (biii) and Abm (bvi) as "chromatic mediants" (those specific two being the super common eerie/spooky "film score" moves--especially in a minor key). But I see what you mean, a third on either side of the tonic, being some form of "mediant,"and if it has an illegal note, "chromatic." Thanks for covering this badass topic! LOADS of these (biii and bvi) in Thomas Newman's amazing SKYFALL score, btw!!
Dear Guy, I wrote it many times, but I need to wrote one time again: you are the most inspirational channel about music, learning and sensing it in the right way, good feelings, positivity, humor and many more things, on TH-cam and all the rest!!! Thank you immensely for your contribution to the beauty of this world, Stay safe, and again (did I say it jet?...): THANK YOU!! Christian R.
I just have to say that you are, by far, one of my most favorite people o come watch for musical instruction and guidance. I am nearly 100% self-taught and have thus far managed to learn a great deal of music theory and even produce several instrumental tracks on the various major platforms. I play most instruments well enough, especially if I program them to my midi pads via my DAW (LOL) but lately have been working on developing my piano and notation skills. ...Any time I come across a concept that I struggle to grasp, I generally look to see if you have provided a lesson or video on it, as my very first step. Thank you you, for both your very obvious passion for the subject on which you speak, but also for simply being willing to share what you know. Too often, it seems as if knowledge is hoarded. Later days. ♥
I learned this in college when I got my music degree --- but somehow hearing you describe it, it makes more sense -- I hadn't thought about using the minor versions of the chromatic mediants....very cool -- as always -- thanks again, Guy
The first I ever heard of this was in music school studying 16th century counterpoint and the cross-relations used by Carlo Gesualdo (d. 1613). He used chromatic mediants frequently and occasionally wildly. Such techniques were not used again until the late 19th century.
Jeez... thank the lord (so to speak). I can't tell you what a relief it is finding your channel, Guy. I've been considering the most concise way to explain the harmony of Kurt Cobain's songwriting to students and, after endless Reddit threads and music theory forums teeming with academics furiously trying to out-intellectualise each other in ever more ridiculous ways, I've finally stumbled across someone who actually has the intent of transferring his knowledge to others in a concise fashion. I love how you distilled this down to it's simplest form so eloquently - thank you!
Finally, someone who can actually explain in detail, and a way I can actually understand. subscribed just because of that. ha-ha. been watching guitarists try and explain this to me and it was..... irritating to say the least. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MAN. it's appreciated more than you know,
de al motte once wrote: Mediants in Cmaj 1. degree. 2 common tones > Eminor > Aminor 2. degree 1 common tone > Emmas > Eb maj > Amman > Ab maj 3. degree. no common tone > Ab minor > Eb minor which shows the relation between the chords and makes using and composing eioth them a bit more logical...
Hi Guy! I really like when you cover music theory topics such as this one, short and sweet. I feel many who cover these topics do so with much verbiage, so much that's it's easy to get lost. As a person who's well-trained in theory, I haven't forgotten that many are not well-trained. This is a good presentation to dispense information on chromatic mediants in just a few minutes. It also happens to be one of my favorite ways to harmonically explore a melodic theme.
My favorite quote: "All this sounds vaguely sort of fantasy-esque, doesn't it. Yes, there's a good reason for that..." [me, expecting a detailed explanation] "...that's how it works." Thanks for the vid, Guy. It's a great, condensed reminder for those of us who have gotten a little fuzzy with their theory.
This is the best presentation I have seen Guy do. Often he loses himself with waffle and I get irritated and bored but this was great. More of the same please, Guy, you have all you need to engage your audience stick to this style; it works well.
Thank you for your explanation. Are mediants chords defined diatonic or chromatic only from a major scale? Because if we start with the c minor scale the E flat and A flat chords are in the scale of c minor. 🎶
Thank you so much Guy! This video was extremely educational and so well delivered. I’ve been watching your videos for a year but this one is by far the best :)
Hi there, if you ever get time I would like to know why augmented or diminished chords are not considered when discussing mediants? For example from C, Ab augmented is a major 3rd away and even shares a common tone of C so does this not still fulfil the criteria of a mediant chord? After all, C and Ebm share none, so my question is can't any chord type that can be achieved a major or minor third away (in either direction) from the root be considered a valid mediant? I totally get that there was a conservative approach to this and that it relaxed a little over time but I can't find any info that discusses why dim and aug chords cannot be part of the concept. I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this if possible. Thanks. Adam
since those chords are not exactly "stable" as major or minor chords, they are indeed used, but more as a "secondary dominant" function, which is a different function than "chromatic mediants", which, even though are chromatic, are quite "stable" chords, compared to the ones you mentioned :)
Hi Thanks for the video! Out of curiosity - is there a way to indicate you are playing a chromatic mediant in terms of composition i.e. I ii iii e.t.c. Also what is to keep us from doing variations of the Maj/ Min for example- could you use a chromatic mediant with a diminished chord? or better yet a dominant like C- E7? Also does a chromatic supertonic -/ sub tonic- leading tone exist? Thanks!
Isn't the opposite of "diatonic" notes "non-diatonic" notes rather than "chromatic" (which refers to the possible use of all twelve tones as a resource)? In other words, don't we say that G# is a non-diatonic note in the key of C major?
@@jurt3nland From Groves: In melodic and harmonic analysis the term ‘chromatic’ is generally applied to notes marked with accidentals foreign to the scale of the key in which the passage is written.
Hi! Nice material, but...still not much about using it, maybe some chord progression examples? Are chromatic mediant chords most often used chromatic chords in music when going out of the diatonic box? Is it most often used way of modulation? How about leading melody with those chords? How about extending those chords? Thanx anyway Guy!
I think of The Doors "Light My Fire" which has the Am to F#m use of the Chromatic Mediant, which creates the "moody" feeling. Thanks Guy for the lesson!
Fantastic video. Short, fun and filled with excellent clear information. I absolutely love when I get to learn some music theory that sheds a light on a subject that was previously a dimly lit pot hole filled path and now is a nice well lit carpeted hallway. :D
Hi Guy, great video al always! During my music study I also learned about replacing the main I, IV and V chords by using one of the 3 other chords that you get when created a diminished 7th chord on the I, IV and V step. It gives even more freedom to break out the classical chord progressions! I like especially the tritones alternatives. Maybe interesting to make a video over as well?
in Sweden we call the Mediant, the "Dominant Parallel". The logic behind it is the same as relative minors/majors. And the 2nd chord (for example Dm in C) is called a SubDominant Parallel. Because we are complicated... :) Personally I prefer the numbers (roman numerals), like how they do it in the states.
The reason as far as i know for 6 being known as submediant is because the mediant is mediating the Tonic and Dominant, the submediant mediates the Subdominant to Tonic, hence inheriting the sub prefix
But why the particular fuss over chromatic mediants? What about chromatic dominants or chromatic tonics? Is it just that we've given those different names?
very nice explanation. It's called 'chromatic' because it's additional 'colour' to the scale. Been trying to find a review of Noire, but can't find one. Have you reviewed it? I have a feeling it will speak to you.
I'm not Guy, but yes there are. Same rules apply - the roots are a major or minor 3rd away from the tonic (in your case, A), and at least one note isn't part of the (minor) scale. So in A minor: F major and C major are *diatonic* mediant chords, and F minor, F# minor, F# major, C minor, C# minor and C# major are all *chromatic* mediant chords
I love to improvise using nothing but chord progressions by the third. It gives you a lot of freedom not only regarding what the tonal center of the song is, but I also find that the melody is less constrained by the chord progression, or vice verse. For instance, an F natural in the melody over a D major chord usually works just fine.
"Is G# in the scale of C Major?"
Finally! A music theory question I can answer! :D
Hard questions first!
@@ThinkSpaceEducation Somebody needs to ask the hard questions.
But is A flat in the key of C major? XD
@@MikeOxmaul4 I believe it isn't, though I can never be sure
@@MikeOxmaul4 how about C flat? ;)
You're seriously one of the most brilliant people. Not only do you teach extraordinarily well, but you have the brightest personality. We need more people like you! 👏🏻
Here, here!
God I wish I had him as a theory teacher what a god
FYI, another similar music theory channel is Implied Music.
Was reading online for these answers and needed something in black and white to explain it and knew I'd find it in video form. Perfectly done, thanks.
Guy......YOU are an excellent teacher and wonderful composer. Thank you for all of the help! Doug G in LV
thank you
My favorite use of the Chromatic Mediant is actually for modulation, since my favorite way to modulate is to pick up the entire piece and drop it back in transposed up a minor third. I "came up with" the technique by accident solely because of the mathematical properties it has. Basically, I was doing a song and wanted to cycle through modulations until I returned to the original key. I was going to do it by modulating up by 4 semitones three times, but decided to try modulating just three semitones instead (which would give me four modulations before returning to the original key). Happily, I discovered it sounded amazing to do that.
Before that trick, I would often modulate to the five chord via the "five of five" technique (so to modulate from C to G, you throw in a D major first sort of thing), but modulating up a minor third didn't require any setup of the dominant or to throw in a leading tone, etc. I loved it because you could play something 100% diatonic and then instantly modulate on a repeat and it adds a burst of energy to it with a sort of surprise modulation out of the blue.
I'm new to music theory, and your idea sounds interesting. I think your explanation was clear (well done!).
Just to be sure I am following you, would you mind explaining further, by coming up with a 4 chord progression, and then tell me what the chords would be, after you transposed them.
Please.
Can you please explain how you are able to instantly modulate to the minor third? If you’re going from C major to Eb major I would think you would in fact need some bridging chord. Or you could use the diminished chord with dominant function which is the same in both c major and Eb major if that’s what you’re referring to.
Please keep doing these. The format is so easy to absorb and the knowledge sticks!
Interesting! I have always categorized (relative to a "C" tonic) Eb major (bIII) and Ab major (bVI) as being from the parallel minor (C minor), or "modal interchange." And E major (III) or A major (VI) as being "stripped-down" triadic versions of E7 or A7--functioning or non-functioning secondary dominants (V7 of vi and V7 of ii, whether or not they "resolved"), respectively. Leaving only Ebm (biii) and Abm (bvi) as "chromatic mediants" (those specific two being the super common eerie/spooky "film score" moves--especially in a minor key). But I see what you mean, a third on either side of the tonic, being some form of "mediant,"and if it has an illegal note, "chromatic." Thanks for covering this badass topic!
LOADS of these (biii and bvi) in Thomas Newman's amazing SKYFALL score, btw!!
Dear Guy, I wrote it many times, but I need to wrote one time again: you are the most inspirational channel about music, learning and sensing it in the right way, good feelings, positivity, humor and many more things, on TH-cam and all the rest!!! Thank you immensely for your contribution to the beauty of this world, Stay safe, and again (did I say it jet?...): THANK YOU!! Christian R.
YOu are very welcome thank you
I just have to say that you are, by far, one of my most favorite people o come watch for musical instruction and guidance.
I am nearly 100% self-taught and have thus far managed to learn a great deal of music theory and even produce several instrumental tracks on the various major platforms.
I play most instruments well enough, especially if I program them to my midi pads via my DAW (LOL) but lately have been working on developing my piano and notation skills.
...Any time I come across a concept that I struggle to grasp, I generally look to see if you have provided a lesson or video on it, as my very first step.
Thank you you, for both your very obvious passion for the subject on which you speak, but also for simply being willing to share what you know. Too often, it seems as if knowledge is hoarded.
Later days. ♥
I learned this in college when I got my music degree --- but somehow hearing you describe it, it makes more sense -- I hadn't thought about using the minor versions of the chromatic mediants....very cool -- as always -- thanks again, Guy
You're welcome Linda!
The first I ever heard of this was in music school studying 16th century counterpoint and the cross-relations used by Carlo Gesualdo (d. 1613). He used chromatic mediants frequently and occasionally wildly. Such techniques were not used again until the late 19th century.
Really awesome tutorial. First time hearing such a clear explanation of chromatic mediants.❤
man, your content is very enjoyable
Jeez... thank the lord (so to speak). I can't tell you what a relief it is finding your channel, Guy. I've been considering the most concise way to explain the harmony of Kurt Cobain's songwriting to students and, after endless Reddit threads and music theory forums teeming with academics furiously trying to out-intellectualise each other in ever more ridiculous ways, I've finally stumbled across someone who actually has the intent of transferring his knowledge to others in a concise fashion. I love how you distilled this down to it's simplest form so eloquently - thank you!
Right, I'm having a composing sesh later this evening, I will deliberately lob in a couple of chromatic mediants in your honour.
You're a great teacher, Guy. Thank you for the great videos! Love you buddy!
This was SO useful, thank you!
Finally, someone who can actually explain in detail, and a way I can actually understand. subscribed just because of that. ha-ha. been watching guitarists try and explain this to me and it was..... irritating to say the least. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MAN. it's appreciated more than you know,
Thank you, that is very useful indeed! Really would like to see more of these short videos on advanced music theory topics
OK!
That was fun! Thanks, Guy. I'd love to see more videos like this!
Now THAT was very useful. Thanks Guy!
2:58 Doggo!!
Excellent explanation, thanks, Guy!
Thank you very much for your tut. I also liked very much your dog passing in your garden (min 3).
Brilliant! Thanks Guy
Gotta love how excited this guy sounds when talking about his stuff 👍
Chromatic Mediant I got a cream for that, it cleared up in a few days.
Lol.
You stole my home! Ha!
Ha ha ha....
Recovery is often hastened if you are prescribed a tonic. I'll get my coat...
@@martifingers no sugar in mine yes I prefer a diettonic
Great explanation, no messing. Liked & subbed, thanks
Brilliantly explained, I think I can now actually remember it! Thank you 🙏
Watched the first ten seconds and immediately liked and subbed! Love it :)
de al motte once wrote:
Mediants in Cmaj
1. degree. 2 common tones
> Eminor
> Aminor
2. degree 1 common tone
> Emmas
> Eb maj
> Amman
> Ab maj
3. degree. no common tone
> Ab minor
> Eb minor
which shows the relation between the chords and makes using and composing eioth them a bit more logical...
You missed one. The Ab#5.
Thanks so much Guy. I like the way you throw in some theory stuff to chew on a while without intimidating the people.
I kinda think u jumbled this a bit mate ,I followed it though, and now I know why the 6 is sub mediant ,bravo ty
Would augmented and diminished chords +/- a Major / Minor 3rd from the tonic also be considered chromatic mediants?
You may call them chromatic augmented/diminished mediants, if you like.
You are a genius thanks for breaking this down I really appreciate it
Fantastic lesson guy!
Hi Guy! I really like when you cover music theory topics such as this one, short and sweet. I feel many who cover these topics do so with much verbiage, so much that's it's easy to get lost. As a person who's well-trained in theory, I haven't forgotten that many are not well-trained. This is a good presentation to dispense information on chromatic mediants in just a few minutes. It also happens to be one of my favorite ways to harmonically explore a melodic theme.
awesome lesson, thank you.
Clear explanation. Thanks.
Wonderful explaination!!
lovely explanation. Thanks Guy! :)
Happy to help
Very helpful 👍
My favorite quote: "All this sounds vaguely sort of fantasy-esque, doesn't it. Yes, there's a good reason for that..." [me, expecting a detailed explanation] "...that's how it works."
Thanks for the vid, Guy. It's a great, condensed reminder for those of us who have gotten a little fuzzy with their theory.
Lord of the rings soundtrack by Howard Shore as well as other things I’m sure
This is the best presentation I have seen Guy do. Often he loses himself with waffle and I get irritated and bored but this was great. More of the same please, Guy, you have all you need to engage your audience stick to this style; it works well.
I had no idea about this... That's gorgeous!
Its fun to play with
Never heard about that before but it is a nice addition to the tools we can use to make music, thanks for this brilliant video! 🙏
It works great
Thank you for your explanation. Are mediants chords defined diatonic or chromatic only from a major scale? Because if we start with the c minor scale the E flat and A flat chords are in the scale of c minor. 🎶
Well explained! Love the cut of your jib by the way.
This was such a helpful and straightforward video. Thank you!
excellent explanation for the theory of these chords!
Awesome tutorial!!!!
Great explanation!
Thankyou for the jaunty ''can do'' style.
Very good!! Well explained, funny as always and simply useful to start trying it out!
Thank you so much Guy! This video was extremely educational and so well delivered. I’ve been watching your videos for a year but this one is by far the best :)
Thank you so much for this stuff. It is otherwise a difficult topic to get through, I wasted two hours on it prior to finding your video
A really great video Guy - thanks.
Great sounds.
Fantastic Guy! I have struggled to explain this to our students! I'm just going to direct them to this in future! Thank you for being so inspiring.
Exactly the lesson I needed today as I work on this game score. Thanks Guy!
Glad to help
Very nice explanation. Would these chords with an augmented 5 also be considered chromatic mediants?
Also works with dimished chords or augmented? Like E°,E+,Eb°,Eb+,A°,A+,Ab°,Ab+?
Hi there, if you ever get time I would like to know why augmented or diminished chords are not considered when discussing mediants? For example from C, Ab augmented is a major 3rd away and even shares a common tone of C so does this not still fulfil the criteria of a mediant chord? After all, C and Ebm share none, so my question is can't any chord type that can be achieved a major or minor third away (in either direction) from the root be considered a valid mediant? I totally get that there was a conservative approach to this and that it relaxed a little over time but I can't find any info that discusses why dim and aug chords cannot be part of the concept. I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this if possible. Thanks. Adam
Could you apply the same idea to other chords ? Chromatic Supertonic? Chromatic Dominant ?
Presumably Edim, Eb dim, Adim, Ab dim, E+, Eb+ etc would also count as chromatic mediants?
Also curious about this
since those chords are not exactly "stable" as major or minor chords, they are indeed used, but more as a "secondary dominant" function, which is a different function than "chromatic mediants", which, even though are chromatic, are quite "stable" chords, compared to the ones you mentioned :)
Yup - but Im not sure they work as well - Francisco is right. Play them -if they work for you go for it
Love your energy!
Thanks for posting!
Thank you, fantastic video!
When you say the third should be at the bottom are you excluding inversions? Or is it very literal?
Thanks so much guy... Time to go make a tune
Go for it
Hi Thanks for the video! Out of curiosity - is there a way to indicate you are playing a chromatic mediant in terms of composition i.e. I ii iii e.t.c. Also what is to keep us from doing variations of the Maj/ Min for example- could you use a chromatic mediant with a diminished chord? or better yet a dominant like C- E7? Also does a chromatic supertonic -/ sub tonic- leading tone exist? Thanks!
Question for Guy (or anyone who knows). How do you get that keyboard to show playing notes on the screen? (Cubase 12 Pro)
Excellent ! Thanks so much, very often use with film music.
One more of your incredible videos I enjoyed and learned from. Thank you Guy Michelmore!
Isn't the opposite of "diatonic" notes "non-diatonic" notes rather than "chromatic" (which refers to the possible use of all twelve tones as a resource)? In other words, don't we say that G# is a non-diatonic note in the key of C major?
yes
Both are fine
@@simonpassmore no. chromatic is just wrong in this context whilst non-diatonic is the precise term
@@jurt3nland That's okay, both make sense. G# is both a chromatic and a non-diatonic note in the scale of C
@@jurt3nland From Groves:
In melodic and harmonic analysis the term ‘chromatic’ is generally applied to notes marked with accidentals foreign to the scale of the key in which the passage is written.
This was a really fun and straightforward tutorial to watch, how did I not know this channel?
Hi! Nice material, but...still not much about using it, maybe some chord progression examples? Are chromatic mediant chords most often used chromatic chords in music when going out of the diatonic box? Is it most often used way of modulation? How about leading melody with those chords? How about extending those chords? Thanx anyway Guy!
I think of The Doors "Light My Fire" which has the Am to F#m use of the Chromatic Mediant, which creates the "moody" feeling. Thanks Guy for the lesson!
Thanks for sharing your precious knowledge with us ... Respect from india 🙏
How does the upper harmonies of those work? Is there any theory behind it or is this just triad stuff and you go from there?
Fantastic video. Short, fun and filled with excellent clear information. I absolutely love when I get to learn some music theory that sheds a light on a subject that was previously a dimly lit pot hole filled path and now is a nice well lit carpeted hallway. :D
Would Augmented (III+) or diminished (iii*) not be considered chromatic chords? For example, (E Augmented) or (em7b5).
So the Nobody Knows You chord progression is a kind of chromatic mediants? Thanks for the info.
Very interesting - really enjoy these music theory videos - as well as all the others of course!
Entertaining as always....and extremely informative and useful...
Hi Guy, great video al always! During my music study I also learned about replacing the main I, IV and V chords by using one of the 3 other chords that you get when created a diminished 7th chord on the I, IV and V step. It gives even more freedom to break out the classical chord progressions! I like especially the tritones alternatives. Maybe interesting to make a video over as well?
Thank you!!!!
Does anyone know what app Guy uses to show his keyboard on screen like that?
This is a brand new one called Midiculous gospelmusicians.com/midiculous/
@@ThinkSpaceEducation thanks, Guy!
Excellent explanation Guy thank you!
glad to help
so which chord do you play AFTER a chromatic mediant? You go back to diatonic harmony you came from? Or are you now typically in a new key?
Very nice explanation as usual, thank You
What a great explanation. Thank you !!!
You are an amazing teacher.
in Sweden we call the Mediant, the "Dominant Parallel". The logic behind it is the same as relative minors/majors. And the 2nd chord (for example Dm in C) is called a SubDominant Parallel.
Because we are complicated... :)
Personally I prefer the numbers (roman numerals), like how they do it in the states.
If it sounds good it is good....even in Sweden :)
@@ThinkSpaceEducation that's true :)
The reason as far as i know for 6 being known as submediant is because the mediant is mediating the Tonic and Dominant, the submediant mediates the Subdominant to Tonic, hence inheriting the sub prefix
Very inspiring thank you !
But why the particular fuss over chromatic mediants? What about chromatic dominants or chromatic tonics? Is it just that we've given those different names?
very nice explanation. It's called 'chromatic' because it's additional 'colour' to the scale.
Been trying to find a review of Noire, but can't find one. Have you reviewed it? I have a feeling it will speak to you.
cheers Guy. Is there such a thing as a Chronatic Mediant of Aminor?
I'm not Guy, but yes there are. Same rules apply - the roots are a major or minor 3rd away from the tonic (in your case, A), and at least one note isn't part of the (minor) scale.
So in A minor:
F major and C major are *diatonic* mediant chords, and
F minor, F# minor, F# major, C minor, C# minor and C# major are all *chromatic* mediant chords
I can’t see the picture. Only your logo on the right side bottom. Should this be without video?
I love to improvise using nothing but chord progressions by the third. It gives you a lot of freedom not only regarding what the tonal center of the song is, but I also find that the melody is less constrained by the chord progression, or vice verse. For instance, an F natural in the melody over a D major chord usually works just fine.
Channeling my inner Elfman. Thanks, Guy