Music theory concepts ranked by importance (tier list)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- MUSIC THEORY TIER LIST!
Music theory can certainly be a massively useful tool for musicians looking to unlock their potential. However, you certainly don’t need to every single facet of theory to reap the benefit! So today I’m going to rank different music theory concepts on their importance and value to hopefully give you a better idea of what is need to know and what is nice to know!
The outro song is my track "Running Man" and is available on my Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/0wKKJ... 🎶
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
0:00 Introduction
1:42 Note names
2:20 Triads
2:58 Seventh chords
3:43 Inversions
4:37 Upper chord extensions
5:23 Ear training
6:30 Intervals
7:17 Major scales
8:11 Pentatonic scales
8:51 Minor scales
9:32 Modes of the major scale
10:19 Modes of other scales
11:10 Exotic scales
11:58 Transposition
12:46 Key signatures
13:17 Roman numeral analysis
14:15 Note values
15:22 Articulation
16:13 Time signatures
17:24 Tuplets
18:20 Rhythmic solfège
19:38 Cadences & functional harmony
20:27 Clefs
21:15 Dynamics
22:24 Polyrhythms
23:24 Polymeters
24:41 Tritone substitution
25:54 Microtonality
27:01 Harmonic series
28:06 Temperaments
📌 SMALL CORRECTION: At 27:25 I've labelled the seventh harmonic as "E" when it should be "G". It doesn't take away from what I'm saying though, just a small typo. Thanks to Kroz Jr for bringing it to my attention. 😊
Stop reading my mind. This was the exact video I needed!
It is around 1/3 of a semitone flatter than G.
Also, 27:25 is the ratio of a major limma.
Western music: 81 = 80
"S" means super?
I've watched so many tier lists from lots of different channels, and I always wondered why the top tier was called "S" because none of them ever said why the top tier was called "S."
So thanks for that! :-)
Thanks! now i use this like a list of what i need to learn :-)
Right above S tier is SSS tier which is just the lick
SS tier is empty, nothing comes close to the importance of the lick
@@JGHFunRun what about giant steps?
@@itzscarrot still no where near THE LICK, S tier, probably
As a guitarist, the pentatonic should be there too
I think you mean toan.
Lest we forget a very important skill:
Being able to recognize Beatles songs in one second.
Super super tier!!
Dude why are you everywhere I go lmao
More like ultra tier.
I can do that on every song of Gary Moore.
This is me with Radiohead songs.
I love how all the major concepts that apply to drumming were D and F tier
drummers are associated with rhythm that's why they always like to talk about it.
But rhythm is important for every instrument and any instrument can do poly stuff too.
@@WoockerSocket2 A kazoo can't?
Rhythm is far more important than most people rever realize. I've taught guitar for about 15 years now and the difference in the kids that go on to have some success or even just become great players is almost entirely because they have the innate quality of feeling rhythm. When I learned piano as a kid, my teacher always emphasized that it was almost more important to play the notes at the proper time, rather than playing the proper notes, and I understood why years later. As an audience listening to music, we tend to pick up when things are off timing-wise much more acutely than if a note is missed or misplayed. Having an "ear" is more like a skill, something you can always improve, but having rhythm is pretty much something you either have or don't. A good example of realizing the importance of rhythm is watching two people on TH-cam playing a guitar cover of the same song. They'll both play exactly the same notes(for the most part), but we'll perceive the person who is more precise with the timing to be the better player. And it's probably because they are.
And arranging/orchestration.
@@KP-by4eu I tend to agree and to support the claim, consider this example. In a room full of random people, see how many can clap along with the rhythm. It boggles my mind how out of rhythm people can be without even noticing. Even to the point of clapping between beats. It's astonishing. A lot of people have no sense of rhythm whatsoever.
But play one dissonant chord and at least some people will notice.
I'm surprised you didn't include the Circle of Fifths (and Fourths). It's a very useful tool and relates to several of the concepts you did put on your tiers.
How is it important in a practical sense? 😎
@@richardrichard5409 (1) It helps identify the key of music from the number of sharps or flats in the key signature simply by counting around the circle. (2) It tells the I ii iii IV V vi chord names by their location in the circle relative to the root chord. (3) On fretted string instruments (guitar, ukulele, etc.) it identifies the transposed chord names when a capo is placed on the 5th ("up a fourth") or 7th ("up a fifth') fret. (4) It tells an ukulele player what chord fingering shape to make on a baritone ukulele (tuned "DGBE") if the player knows the chord shape on a standard "gCEA" tuned ukulele. (5) It helps transpose the key of a song and all of its chords. (6) It identifies the relative minor chord of a major chord, and vice versa. (7) Using their locations relative to the root chord, it tells the new chord names when transposing a group of chords to a new key. Search the TH-cam channel by Brian Kelly for his lessons on other facts about the Circle of Fifths.
I was wondering that as well.
Maybe because the key signatures concept kind of contains the concepts of the circle of fifths (sharps) and circle of fourths (flats)
@@belenlg5978 Nah that's weak. The circle of 5ths is about the RELATIONSHIP of the key signatures. He likely just forgot.
It's official, now that you've made a tier list, you're a REAL TH-camr
Off to put a tier list on my channel ...
Reaction? Unpacking? Click baiting 'quit' video?
But has he done a 'What I wish I knew when I started out in music.? Or '5 things you need to know" or '3 things the pros don 't want you to know'. 🥸
'In this video I learnt music theory in 10 minutes!'
I have met perhaps several hundred musicians in my life and I have yet to find one who said: "Man, I regret all the time I spent studying music theory. It has set me back so much."
I know right! The way I see it is that nobody ever regrets learning more about the thing they love!
@@DavidBennettPiano The dilemma mostly comes from individuals who have no knowledge of music theory what so ever, say for maybe the names of the notes and a scale or two. They have this false idea that when you know music theory that you are in some way compelled to follow it to the letter and thus limit your creativity. Which is total nonsense :D it's almost like if you know how to write and read that it limits the way you speak.
Btw, I agreed with the rankings 75%, the rest were a tier up or down, but it's mainly due to my perspective as someone who plays in a rock band :)
pretty much me
it's a little backwards though because "anything worth doing takes time and effort" doesn't mean that "if it takes time and effort it is worth doing". People are not going to admit that they wasted their time, or that they reached a point of diminishing returns. People are not good at knowing themselves in that way. And the annoying truth is no one will ever know; no one will ever know what they would have gone on to do if they hadn't done the thing they did. That's the nature of regret/not regretting. You'll never know.
@@relicofgold no you don't have to
as a drummer..... I have to say that note values (rhythm) DOES NOT come intuitively to most musicians... some form of it yes, but almost any instrument player whom I played with could greatly benefit from learning to read and comprehend rhythm better. and this is regardless of their knowledge of music theory or the genre we played together
An untrained person can generally hear and repeat a rhythm *much* easier than identifying a specific chord, for example. So if you're learning any instrument other than percussion, it would be silly to prioritize learning to read rhythm on a page over most of these other concepts.
@@jimjambananaslam3596 : 🤓
@@jimjambananaslam3596you've clearly never improvised with a rhythm section musician. My greatest musical breakthrough was getting grilled like a child who's got a bad report card by a drummer after consistently failing to land on beat almost every time over the course of two hours.
Just because you can repeat a rhythm after hearing it doesn't immediately mean you're a useful or talented musician
@@jimjambananaslam3596
This is truly a nonesense take
For a professional or very serious musician, definitely. Making a connection between notation of rhythms and feeling/hearing rhythms is very hard to learn, unless you specifically practice learning it.
David: “puts upper chord extensions in B tier”
Jacob Collier Somewhere: “🤬😡”
🤣🤣🤣
@@Kashimana There was also a "Sorry Jacob Collier" after microtonality went into F tier :D
lol....haha...love it!
LMAO
To me, you’re under valuing the rhythmic aspect of music. Understanding time signatures and knowing how to count is essential for every musician. Great video brother
But probably for most of the people it's only a matter of binary and trinary beat (thinking of popular music)
To be fair, the *entire* "Internet music theory scene" underplays both rhythm and melody, and defines music as "a bunch of chords". It's the Burj Khalifa approach to music: it's all vertical.
Yes! Having worked with a lot of anti-music-theory musicians, I can verify that rhythm is a very common stumbling block, especially when playing in bands. It can be quite frustrating trying to get everyone on the same page without basic time signature or rhythmic solfege knowledge.
@@FernieCanto yes, you're right. Everyone is steeped in this highly evolved western harmonic concept of music. I think it's because academia pushes it, because harmony is where you can have an absolute field day if you're an academic. And this scene is heavily influenced by academia. I'd like Adam Neely/Rick Beato/David Bennett to listen to a 90 minute Nikhil Banerjee raga, and find that they can't say anything about it. Yet that does not diminish its value. The "internet music theory scene" just doesn't go there. If it ain't harmony, it doesn't exist.
As a bass player, I'd put rhythm and articulations much higher.
So for those of you who aren’t interested in learning theory, the top half of this chart covers the normal stuff that musicians use everyday. The bottom half has all of the extra stuff that musicians use for fun!
Unless you’re a classical musician lol. Then articulations, time sigs, tuplets, rhythmic solfege, cadences, dynamics, and polyrhythms are still very relevant
@@gsm5104 And cadences too
Or if you play in a band. Everyone needs to be using the same rithm, so that's Time signature, tuplets and accents. And rithmic solvaige (idk how to type this) to communicate any of it.
Im better with and prefer playing with the techniques from the bottom half of the chart lol. Except for ear training and major/minor scales, i dont even think about the top half
For some reason time signatures are on the bottom half, so this isn't entirely true. Functional harmony as well, which should be far higher.
"You don't need to know theory to create music"
Of course.
You also don't need to explicitly learn grammar rules or how to write to be able to speak, but it sure does make you a whole let better at it.
music is more fun with music theory, my opinion
Absolutely.See my previous entry dovetails this.
Agreed
Great point. I always try to tell anti theory musicians that it's the grammar of the language of music
I’m glad to see other people share that opinion!
This list is SOOOO dependent on what kind of music you are doing and what role you are filling. I've done music for most of my life (60 years), and I've never needed to care at all about pentatonic or blues scales. But time signatures (not the signature but the concept of "beats per measure") and different kinds of note values seem very fundamental to me. And "ear training" is a HUGE area that involves all sorts of skills.
You are correct. Depending on the music genre you play, the tier list would be different. For example, in classical music you must take into account the time signatures and the key signatures, but in rock, the Roman numerals are more important to learn a song
@@santaguba2572 for rock i would say ear training is the most essential part, and articulation, but roman numerals?
@@gergoretvari6373 I mean, the chords of a song, or the chords of a scale are based in the grades of that scale, and those are represented with I, II, III, VI... If You learn a song, the chords could be like Ab7 or D#m, or they tell you the key and they show you the grades of the scale
I'd place note values in tier S. Knowing how beats are subdivided is essential both for reading music and communicating rhythms to others. You need them to understand grids in DAWs as well.
I think the rhythmic aspect of music should be learned by everyone, not only musicians, it really makes listening to music way more interesting
This is what I was going to say. I understand that in the current age we have TH-cam and Spotify (etc) allowing us to always hear a piece and therefore get a feel for the rhythm. But I grew up without the internet as a guitarist that learned everything through chord charts. I often had to make up rhythms and was almost always surprised at how wrong I was when I heard the actual recordings later in life. Getting my hands on Guitar Pro as an adult MASSIVELY elevated my playing because I could actually see note lengths as I listened to them playing and learned a lot.
We're all on different pages. I don't need to know this at all - my drummer knows it, and I know enough to communicate my ideas to him. But we probably play a different kind of music than you do.
I'm so glad you actually thought about this beforehand. Normally, when I watch a tier list video it involves the TH-camr debating with himself or herself for 10 minutes about whether to put something in A tier or B tier.
Intervals are the key to understanding music : why and how there are different scales. Should definitely be in S in my opinion.
THANK YOU MY INTERVALIAN BRUTHAH
Yeah Intervals is a great band :P
Intervals are a tremendous waste of time. You might as well study counter-point while you're at it.
@@Noitisnt-ns7mo ???? But you can understand why arrangements of notes give particular qualities and better understand relationships between chords 🙁
@@big_womp7764 Hearing a 4th or 5th or flat 5th by knowing the "key" is way easier than knowing how many "half-steps" there are, is much easier. Scales are less informing than looking at the fretboard as chordal shapes and structures. Once you see, hear and understand chords, the scales will stand out. But it is good to be aware of. I found in the college music classes a good way for them to suck up a lot of time and energy for very little return. If you look at the difference between Clapton and David Gilmore, you see the difference between someone who looks at playing from a scales versus chordal orientation. Of course IMO.
22:09 not a lot of people gives importance to dynamics but this is one of the reason why songs sounds great. Whether it be classical to pop songs
Dude, this is an evergreen video. This one will hit a million views at least. I had something to do but had to pause it for 30min :) This is definitely useful beginners wanting to find the best order to learn these things, and even for somebody like me who's learned most of this in music schools and music university, it will help me figure out where to go next. Thank you for another high level video!
Thanks so much! I was really unsure about this video because the format is so different from what I usually do so I’m really glad to hear that it’s going down well! 😃😃
@@DavidBennettPiano Yeah this one is definitely working
This video will not get many views at all.
@@OHYS I suppose you're right, which is a bit sad. Video is top quality though
@@DavidBennettPiano can’t wait to go back to “top 10 songs that use Mixolydian” lol
A-Tier in 2021: MIDI writing (rhythm and melodic instruments)
Reading notation for both rhythmic and melodic instruments is a pretty valuable skill, especially for producers and In-The-Box writers
Small Note:
The Tritone Substitution is not limited to jazz, and is commonly found in classical music as well, though called differently.
It's a (German/French/Italian) Augmented Sixth Chord, that is always used to resolve to the tonic. This concept has been used since Mozart, and it's very common in classical music. Very useful to know for composition!
As a classical pianist who teaches classically, I really enjoyed hearing your take on these concepts! If I was giving my perspective on these concepts, I would order them very differently based on how I teach. However, I've had some students come to me who want to learn some basic music-making tips (not necessarily note reading or notation), and I would definitely use this list to help me prioritize which concepts to teach first.
major and minor scales - both in "S" tier or "A" tier. Don't separate them. They are at the same level of importance and they are built from the same roots.
I agree! My students learn a major scale along with its relative minor at the same time! I think they are both equally important!
and both are modes - which was also seperated
a lot of these thing work together and build off each other, even if they are "not as important"
@@allenapplewhite majors are more important in my opinion because they are more happy oriented
@@mikepapadopoulos5968 That reasoning makes no sense whatsoever. Why do you imply/expect people prefer happy music over sad music? Who are you to say people want to write "happy" music?
I personally disagree with both ideas and tend to dislike happy music a lot more often than sad music. But my point is not trying to argue about which preference makes more sense. It is just that: preference.
My point is your reasoning is nonreasoning because it makes invalid assumptions that are subjective.
There may be points to be made why some modes are more "important" or make more sense to learn first. How "happy" they are is not among them. "useful", "common", "easy", whatevs might make some sense, maybe.
I tend to agree with people stating one should learn all modes and/or decide for thenselves though. :)
@@jojoyear I don’t recall asking u to correct what I think… I am a professional musician the last 10 years, I also graduated Musicology Department @ university and started playing music at the age of 10. I was trolling obviously the internet as usual but it seems that people don’t understand that we purposefully use the verb “play” in music instead of “working on” or “executing” music because music is a playful process. Anyways, stay playful in life, have a nice attitude and don’t fall for the trap to correct anyone that has an unexplained opinion different opinion than yours. My best regards.Mike.
I love how you start with the most important "tiers" in music theory challengeing the common youtube habit to start list at number ten and letting people wait for a number one that always is a dissapointment and often one ends up regretting having taken the time to watch 10 or 20 minutes. I subscribed because of this at 2:59. also your way of explaining with the sound of a major and minor chord layered under your speech when you say those words, makes it really good studymaterial that is fun and insightful to see/listen to. Thank you for going the extra mile to produce this video so aware of didactics and so information dense. Glad i found you amongst the many "i have the solution to all musicians problems gurus". I guess i'll stick around and will be watching some more of your material.
Music theory is the map, music is the landscape. Some people get lost in the map and loose their touch with the landscape - the expression of the soul.
I got the spark of interest when my music teacher in school explained why the chords in Dvorac's 9th sinfonie, second movement (largo) create the image of a vast space. I always have the inner image of huge river flowing through the wide open land. So I learned on the distances of chords in the circle of 5th. This was so amazing to me, that I wanted to know the forms, the math behind music.
I also discovered the CAGED system on guitar by myself as it just relies on finding different chord shapes for the same melody.
Oh I think dynamics are SO so important, that's really one of the key things that differentiates 'good' musicians from really proficient ones. I guess it's more of a performative thing than 'music theory' anyway
I think that knowing dynamics from a theory standpoint would be knowing the difference between mp and ff in a score. That skill is only valuable if you’re reading a lot of music in an ensemble. Knowing how to feel the music and play louder or softer is a performance skill, which I agree is one of the most important aspects of music which can separate a good performance from an emotionally impactful one.
I 10000000000000000000% agree, without dynamics you music will sound flat like a pan or sound like hammer hands playing cuz you might be too loud.
Conclusion: melody and harmony require theory. For rhythm, timbre and dynamics "Just feel it"?????
Unless you’re looking to be a professional musician... pretty much yeah!
@@DavidBennettPiano Unless you’re looking to be a professional musician who performs but does not compose! If you are performing your own material, you scarcely need to write it down.
I had to teach myself some theory when it came to notes, intervals and chords in order to progress. I simply had to.
Rhythm/time signatures come pretty naturally - but that might be because more or less everything I like is some form of pop/rock and is almost all 4/4 or triple time.
I would like to disagree on rhythm coming naturally to us. I have a good relative pitch so I can recognise and play a song by ear within a few seconds. But I cannot play it faithfully to the rhythm of the song. I also cannot compose any percussive bits but I can happily employ melodic and rhythmic concepts. If it were me I'd say we shud be putting basics of rhythm atleast in S tier
@@DavidBennettPiano is the concept of a pulse, even subdivision, and a system of rhythmic solfege theory?
I'd like to see variations on this chart for specific musical genres and styles: as a choral singer, key signatures, time signatures, note values, clefs, and rhythmic solfege deserve a higher spot, especially to support learning new pieces.
THIS IS SO TRUE!! As a choral singer, I scoffed at several of these placements 😅. But I do think it’s really different based on instrument.
First off, it's good to see fellow choir singers! ❤️
Secondly, this music theory tier list seems to be quite biased toward skills useful for pianists and composers. As you likely know, choral music is unfortunately quite undervalued and unappreciated in today's society (at least in the US where I live). Because of that, it never seems to get the love it deserves and lacks any real standardization of teaching practices that other instruments enjoy.
@@newmeta2668 It IS "David Bennett Piano," not "David Bennet Vocals," so I suppose we oughtn't to be too surprised if it favors his instrument… It's a great channel, and full of excellent tips for music in general.
You have a terrific way of explaining concepts in an understandable manner. Your method of speaking, your delivery, is excellent.
This is a great video. I'm glad you did this.
One thing, though: different musicians/players of different instruments are going to have their own ways of ranking the importance of musical concepts. I'm primarily a percussionist. To me, dynamics are almost all of my range of expression because of the limited tonal range of most percussion--other than, of course, keyed percussion like piano, marimba, vibes, etc. With drums, playing at an appropriate volume and velocity is essential.
So, a new uber-category. We can call it S-plus for super-SUPER important. Know what instruments are yours and what kind of music you play. With that knowledge, you can fully understand which theory concepts are more and less important for you. That's an important thing to know, which is why I say "this is a great video."
Nobody whoever learnt any theory regretted it. It just makes life a bit easier.
GD bless you Mr. Bennett. Ty for creating the content in the format which you did.Ty, for the time plus effort it took. I pray you have a very blessed New Year.
Thanks so much for the efforts and music wisdom behind this video. Having been learning music by myself for almost 20 years, I still have some doubts concerning some music theories, especially when it comes to using them in practice. Your brilliant work literally answers all my questions that haunted my mind for so long. ❤
This is one for the top shelf, front and center, of all-time great reference materials for any music learner. I know I'll watch this over and over again. You are a treasure, David, thank you!
As a geek of music theory I just have to say... Really love the video! Bravo, maestro.
Thank you!
Thank you for this video. I felt like I was checking things off a list I didn't know I had. I also realized I need to work on transposing. It's very interesting to me to hear what your thoughts on these priorities are. I think it just goes to show how many individual approaches there are to music and the more your study and focus in different schools of music your priorities on that list totally change, i.e. improvising vs performing composed pieces vs singing in church. Thank you for all the knowledge dropped.
The quality of this video is phenomenal; thank you for your time and elaboration. This video has definitely helped me learn a bit more Music Theory and what it is I should study more on.
If I taught a music class, this video would be one of the first things I would show to my students. What a great video.
Thank you! That means a lot 😃
Why? Because your main goal is to ultimately discourage everyone in the class?
@@relicofgold No. Quite the opposite. I’d show it to said hypothetical students as a sort of syllabus. In fact I’d say this video would be great in that role as it outlines concepts that would be gone over in class and show that they vary in importance. Also, unless someone is somehow being forced to be in a class where music theory is taught in such depth as to cover all of those subjects, the students would likely be in class because of an enthusiasm for the content and would be excited to hear about what would be covered.
@@nathanielfechtelkotter It's about the most discouraging thing I've ever seen. Most of those rectangles are years of study.
@@relicofgold They’re really not, when taught in an efficient order. Everything builds on the previous thing. It would only take that much time if you didn’t understand what came before. I think a more apt word would be “mastery” rather than “study”. But then again, pretty much everything in any field takes that sort of time. Especially in areas of art.
Great video, thank you.
I personally would put intervals up in the S tier, because without them you would have trouble understanding and building triads. Also, you placed rhytm-related music theory concepts in B tier and below. I think that note values and time signatures deserve a higher tier, if we are talking about modern western music.
Indeed! Also, the human voice and ear are innately microtonal. The first lie we have to learn is that octave intervals are “fundamental”. They are fundamental to music theory, not to biology or physics. Frequency and duration are the true fundamentals.
Mr. Bennett, you are utterly brilliant to listen to, from here in Canada. I love how you can explain some very complicated concepts in a very understandable way. I could listen to you talk about music theory for hours. Thanks!
Excellent video. As someone with no formal music training, I found it encouraging to see how many of these concepts I regularly use while listening to and writing music. Your explanations are incredibly clear and make it easy to understand complex ideas.
David, this has just cleared up confusions I’ve had about how to understand music theory for almost half a century, since those childhood Associated Board exams. Thanks.
Preface: Music teacher myself.
I agree with most but I'd put functional harmony and control of dynamics in at least "A" tier. Ear training is number 1.
Articulations should be a solid A tier
Does a musician need to be taught functional harmony when they can already “feel” the functions at work? You don’t need to know what a dominant chord is to play C F G7 C and know it sounds resolved 🙂🙂
@@DavidBennettPiano That instinctive knowledge really depends on if you play a chordal instrument. I'm a violinist and never learned how to play the piano (yeah, terrible I know!). I found learning about chord progressions, picking them out in what I could hear and understanding the movement of them extremely difficult, especially when it comes to classical music. It was only when I studied Kodàly musicianship I was able to learn about functional harmony in both an intuitive aural and intellectual way. When I did get that understanding it really opened up my interpretation. I also found most piano playing orchestral musicians didn't have the aural grasp of functional harmony that I had learned, which I found strange.
It's a lot different for popular music I guess.
@@DavidBennettPiano From personal experience: I had been writing music for many, many years before I ever heard of the concept of "functional harmony" for the first time; and a lot of the music I had written before then can be easily seen as functional. I just got an intuitive sense of how it works just by listening to a lot of music. The cycle of departure and arrival in music doesn't _really_ need to be formalised if you want to play or write music, I believe. It's far more important for understanding and categorising Western music and distinguishing it, for example, from more free flowing harmonic styles ("non-functional"), or modal music from other cultures.
I think people overstate the importance of functional harmony because people like things with pretty names. "Tonic-Dominant-Subdominant" is cute and makes you sound smart.
@@FernieCanto It's not to sound cute. It's to have a deeper understanding of the art we love. Knowing, from a theory perspective, as well as an auditory perspective why chords want to resolve or move to other chords can only make you a better musician.
Knowing how to create working chord progressions (whether by ear or by using theory) is very important and I make sure my students know what works from a theory perspective, an auditory perspective, and possible chord substitutions/how to break the rules once learned.
I teach theory that can only help the auditory/ear writers arrive at their goal even faster. Theory is a re-enforcement to the natural process.
Very interesting, as are your other videos. I loved the way the audible examples were handled in the background. Ideally illustrated without slowing down the narrative. Great stuff.
I like how you have given some priorities for learning even though I can't follow this as an unchangeable law. My main instrument is guitar, my secondary instrument is keyboard and finally recording as an art-form. I like pop music with a little bit of jazz flavor. This video is a great starting point for someone trying to assess their point in learning and where to go next. Good job! Thanks!
A lot of these concepts were a bit confusing in my music theory classes but you somehow explained them in a way I could understand them better so thank you very much
As a person who has yet to become comfortable with music theory, this is invaluable information. I will use it as a training framework. Thank you.
I truly appreciate this video. As a new, late-in-life musician, guidance regarding organizing and prioritizing learning these theory topics is enormously helpful. As a beginning string player (who lives with a pianist) it is especially helpful to see how pianists might prioritize concepts versus what's important to string player. And finally, having appreciated music deeply, and just now learning (at last) to read sheet music, I feel a little validation for the first six decades of my musical life! Thanks so much.
Great stuff mate, absolute gold. Even just going over all the concepts was super helpful, filling in the gaps of what I don't know, and probably should.
I would love it if you did a series on the Different Tier Concepts, and dig deeper on why they are so crucial, or not, and provide examples like you did in your intervals videos (i.e. Famous songs that prominently feature those concepts).
This is the kind of quality content that helps musicians a lot. Great job
This video is fantastic! I've been really overwhelmed by TH-camrs like yourself, Adam Neely and Charles Cornell talking about all these concepts, and this is a great way to know more or less where to start. Thanks so much
Thank you! 😃😃😃
I absolutely loved this video!
Using it like a checklist it made me personally proud knowing that I was at least aware of all these concepts and pretty versed in the top tiers. I get confidence issues with music a lot, this has helped me realise that I actually do know my stuff!
Cheers Dave
What a treasure! Print screened the final chart and saved this video. This will go with me for a long time.
Naturally subbed - This is gold
Thank you
I think Key Signatures should at least be A tier, but I personally would put them in S tier. My reason being that knowledge on key signatures would go hand in hand with knowledge on scales. If you’re going to know your scales or modes, knowing key signatures would be pretty vital.
I would say that learning your scales is the far more useful skill there... but it is true that, if you know your scales, then learning key signatures will be much easier!
Key signatures are important for reading sheet music. For playing or writing music, not so much.
a lot of people dont read sheet music though
@@joeldcanfield_spinhead
_Writing_ music? Unless you're playing guitar or...accordion, I feel like having knowledge of your key signatures would help considering using accidentals for every sharp or flat note is extremely inefficient.
It's maybe very helpful to learn other music concepts, but it's not applicable to all musicians for sure. For example, to play and compose songs in a band you generally don't need those.
bro this is immaculate. someone commented an all time great reference material, couldnt agree more. much thanks king this is literally gods work
Wow, thank you! 😃
dude.. this video is amazing thank you. you are helping people bro.. helps me prioritize what i should learn. someone that watched this and learned from it is gonna do great things thanks to you.
Thanks for the great content! I love your graphical representations for each concept. Could you post a pdf or svg version of your tier list?
It would definitely make a great music theory check list / cheat-sheet. Keep up the good work.
I would disagree about articulation. That's extremely important for the expressive qualities of the music beyond just the notes, chords, and rhythms. That's where all those things BECOME music.
Yes! I was sooooo shocked when he put articulation so low. Articulation is what brings music to life!
you can articulate music without knowing what you're doing, but just by feeling the music, or by hearing it
@@alelaera13 That's true, but articulation marks are still the most direct and accurate way to understand a composer's intentions. This tends to apply more to the classical world, though. And even then it's not always followed 100% given performance practice considerations.
@useD raW whats annunciation
at least in jazz yeah really is like 40% of the feel.
Hello David: This is wonderful. I constantly paused this video in order to take notes. Keep up the good work.
Brilliant and practical as always, David. I’m making this grid my screensaver, and I’ll rate how confident I am in each category (maybe 1 to 3) to accelerate and track my progress. I’ve been helped massively of late by seeing much of this theory with all notes in colour @ Mike George 360 [no affiliation]. Every ingenious learning approach makes music sweeter to enjoy and create. Thank you yet again.
This first minute of your explanation is actually quite good. I just want to point out that knowing music theory is only a language to describe the feelings concepts and things that you've already written to other people. Music notation simply and music theory complexly are merely a way to convey what music is to people that already know that language. We all know that music is music and things that sound good are fairly universal. That isn't to say that music by one ear is music by another obviously. I just wanted to point out that music theory is not a prerequisite for listening. It is only and I mean only a prerequisite to communicating from creator to creator as long as the other person knows this same language.
interesting, as someone with a classical/composition background I'd definitely have a different looking tier list. Not majorly different, but some notable differences for sure.
Yes, came to say this. This list would look drastically different depending on your specific situation/experience/interests.
Same. This seems to more apply with rockers and live performers, maybe jazzers as well. But I think it would be different for composers, classical musicians, and country artists.
Seems to me that this list is geared to people who only improvise. So they never have to tell other people musical ideas, or understand musical ideas from other people.
@@tjohns25 And where you live in the world too! He acknowledges this in terms of microtonality, but there are plenty of cultures (even "Western" cultures) that value rhythmic skill and understanding over melodic skills and understandings.
@@rosiefay7283 I'm not sure about that. Folk musicians around the world usually play pre-created music by definition, and some of it is pretty sophisticated, but they communicate their musical ideas in other ways. It's true that Western classical music would be really hard to communicate without sheet music though!
I feel like a lot of people take pride in making a song without theory or classes, but youre really setting yourself back by doing it. I remember thinking that music theory would limit my creativity because I would have to follow rules, but after taking it in highschool it really helped me understand music and made me experiment more. If youre interested in music or a specific instrument learning from a teacher would really help in the long run
Really cool video! Enjoyed it! I think some of the concepts (for example, time signatures/note values/rhythmic subdivision) you put lower in the chart are actually vitally important to understand - but I think you are saying “they’re lower on the chart because you probably already know what you really need to know.” If someone can’t find the downbeat in 4/4, that’s gonna be a big problem. Maybe the biggest problem. But since most of us already have that down pretty innately, even if we haven’t studied music - they end up lower on your chart. Which is fair. Good stuff, David!
The moment I found out the BASIC approach of using the modes around a pedal point (E), it all started making sense. Once I realized the emotional differences- it gave me the drive to learn everything past that- chords, etc.
Rhythmic patterns is the essence of music without it we do not have the form, the structure of music. Without rhythm we do not have the motives that composition is made of. Only rhythm can be a song or a massage without scales cadences or triads. Our language is fundamentally rhythm like music. Thank you an excellent video.
Thank you so much for this, you're a fantastic teacher! This is so helpful, I'm gonna use this as a road map!
One of the best music related channels on TH-cam. Your content is super organized and very helpful! Keep up!
A tremendous video, thanks for all the effort you have put into this. It helps me pigeonhole the areas for improvement. I've identified mine from this video: rhythmic solfege. I probably knew this word when I was studying music at school, but you have reminded me of it. There are lots of videos on TH-cam to help with this. Thank you once again!
Dave, as a musician,
I can’t tell you how freaking important what you said in the first minute was !!! Listen players !!!
No lame excuses !!!
Inversions in the A tier but Dynamics in the D tier is gonna give me an aneurysm
Dynamics are an important part of music but they are just so intuitive that you don’t really need to formally learn them unless you are faithfully reading from a score. There are lots of environments and situations where you can pick up on when to play softly and when you play loudly just with intuition.
Inversions are certainly less important than basic chords but they are not really intuitive, hence why I placed them higher as a concept to learn 🙂
@@DavidBennettPiano
Oh I get why you did it and you did a fine job explaining it in the video. I just dislike it because playing with people with no intuitive understanding of dynamics has scarred me for life 😂
Gimme someone that’s never heard of inversions over someone that has no concept of dynamic control any day
@@DavidBennettPiano as a pianist I thoroughly disagree. Not even going to start with string players... In academy we literally spend hours, days, years! Trying to play the same note with different intonation and dynamics. This is something that splits armatures from professionals.
Otherwise a really nice video! Cheers!
@@lerunya17 String players? I might stomp my supressor pedal and leave it on for weeks. It's low on the list for a reason, not everybody is on an academy. And somebody starting out on a musical instrument is NOT a professional. Therefore they sould start with the most important Theory. Which is NOT dynamics as somebody can quite easily get the basics of this. Just as a person naturally would do when talking. Try to think out of your own referece did you start your pre-academy mucial theory journey with dynamics? Nah, I didn't think so.
@@UmVtCg we all start playing with dynamics literally from day one. As academics yes. Because otherwise you can't learn to be free in your expression and later on you will not be able to play as you feel it. Kids feel first and then understand why they played the way they did. The understanding in this case comes later yes but we begin with dynamics straight away.
I think this video is extremely valuable for adult learners who are working their way through music without the structure of a music University, where they would be guided along the way by professionals. This really helps to relate the world of of music theory to where you need to start and how you can progress through it....so thank you!
Brilliant video !! I absolutely love these overview videos made by experts. My feedback would be to also show the hands playing the piano whenever we hear the piano in the video ( you could simply add a picture-in-picture to your current video). I think seeing the hands on the piano would really help illustrate your music theory concepts like: chords, inversions, scales etc.
I love the idea of how he summarized the major concepts of music theory in a single page. That being said, this entire analysis is done considering the aspect that most people want to play by ear or trom the perspective of someone who doesn't read sheet music
If you start learning music at a school, a lot of your mid tier concepts come on the very first day
Haven't watched yet but this a great idea for a video
Thank you!
I was just about to comment the same thing haha
same
Genuinely the small amount of theory that I’ve learnt from these videos has done wonders for my playing
This was EXTREMELY helpful. I am a newbie at Music Theory so this kind of gives me a path to walk on. Thank you very much. Hope this blows up on TH-cam 😁❤
Wonderful video!
As someone who is very passionate about learning the piano and improving my knowledge in music theory I find this video very helpful in showing me what I should prioritise.
About the ear training. How do you achieve this skill?
@@sskuk1095 I didn't start grasping this until about 3 years into self studying music (ocasionally i did it in school but it was mainly on my own)
what helped my ears grasp those concepts was becoming familiar with the 12 major and minor scales on the piano and solfege
Note Values are 100% S tier
before I knew any music theory, note values was the first thing I had to learn to use programs like Guitar Pro and write my own songs, or even read tabs for songs I wanted to play. Knowing what a full, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth note is is so fundamental you cannot ignore it.
Please, do a specific video about articulation! I'm studying for a music exam (ABRSM music theory) and your videos are helping me a lot to have concrete examples of what I'm studying!
Thanks, David. As someone new to music, but with a somewhat overzealous hunger to learn, this scope overview is great.
Such a cool video. Hope this one goes far. I disagree with several things, like cadences, but that is expected for a tier list. I love your channel.
I could also see a more subjective tier list on this channel being for rock, pop, jazz, folk, etc. bands and artists and having you rank them by your own opinion OR you could rank them by their use of music theory or influence or some other metric.
That was awesome. Literally a blueprint for my music theory learning journey.
Thank you!
I recommend jumping in at the deep end of the pool and starting with Piston's _Harmony._ That's what got me started
@@Jay_in_Japan wouldn't call the piston text the deep end (although i do like it). I would these days reccomend texts like Harmony and Voice leading (aldwell and schachter).
@@oibruv3889 To someone who didn't know anything beforehand (me haha), it sure felt like the deep end! Until I realized my feet could touch the bottom.
Then I found the xenharmonic theory wiki and that felt like being tossed into the middle of the freakin' ocean! I'm still treading water there
@@Jay_in_Japan i find xenharmonism rather simple as someone with experience with stem. Most of it is focused on resources. Resources aren't that difficult
This is super helpful! I've been playing guitar for a year now and I am ready to start getting into more things than songs with tabs. This is a good first step for me because I'm not lost in the world of music theory now. I know where to go now... Except I think triads are super important haha
You are awesome. I love all your videos and I refer my students to them. I teach musicianship/ear training at a Canadian university and am a professional orchestral, pop, folk musician. Thanks for your work!
Really good video! Love your work mate.
@14:30 first time I ever heard of note values such as minim, quaver or crotchet.
In German it's pretty easy a 1/2 (halbe) , 1/8 (achtel) , 1/4 (viertel) and so forth, like fractions in maths.
It's a mostly Euro/countries of European descent or ownership i.e. Australia
In US, we use
1/2 = half note
1/4 = quarter note
1/8 = eighth note
1/16 = sixteenth,
Direct like the German usage.
This is a great concept of a video and I really appreciate it’s out here! I even mostly agree with the priorities, but I do think that melodic and harmonic minor modes (some of them) are just as important as the major ones. Think of altered or the frygian(b2) scales. You will probably use them more often than, say, frygian or locrian and probably at least as often as lydian and dorian. Also, knowing note values seems to me more comparable to knowing actual names and intervals, as their importance goes a lot further than just reading. To me it’s more like the pillar of understanding the rhythm itself.
David, thank you for this music theory class.
David, you are very much S Tier! Thank you for sharing all that you know. I have learnt so much by watching your videos over the last few weeks.
Thank you Louise! 😃😃😃
Rick Beato once said '' You only need as much music theory as you _think_ you'll need ."
And that has stayed with me.
Well done on putting up with those people you have to endure, when you have such a great channel.You promote the Love of music so admirably well.
As someone who has been learning and applying music theory for a while, this really helps to connect the dots, thanks!
I love this video so much. It made me feel like there is nothing else for me to learn in Music Theory😅. Also, now i have a better way to describe some musical concepts because the way you described them was so eloquent. I love your channel.
A massive amount of information in a very condensed format! What an achievement. Thanks
Thank you!
Oh lordy having to transpose on the spot for music exams was one of the main reasons I quit playing, my brain just could not do it
I found with sight reading part of the exam just expect to fail that and ace your pieces and scales
Or sing it instead
@@maxlove8894 yeah that's what I had to do but I wasnt great at my pieces either, I scraped a pass and then cried on the train home lmao
@@tubthungusbychumbungus you still passed tho! You can always retake the exam or just work harder for the next grade (:
Transpose on the spot - no thankyou.
I have had to transpose (given the piano tune and have to transpose for a Bflat trumpet), but I've always had overnight, and never anything complicated.
What an excellent video. Really great to see a roadmap laid out like this, so much appreciated.
The best 30mins on the YT as of today. Awesome video!
What a great video! In one thing I beg to differ: I think that cadences and functional harmony are much more important than ranked here. I would put them in A if not S.because for me they are central to understanding any piece of music at all. And about temperaments: You might have mentioned that the well temperated tuning allows to make music in different keys in the first place (see J. S. Bach's "Das wohltemperierte Klavier").
I dig the tier list format for presenting it a lot. One criticism I have is that several of these concepts are easily taught simultaneously as one concept rather than several. For instance, I think if one learns extensions as a single concept, 7th chords and upper extensions fuse into one. Likewise, key signatures and Roman numerals (probably should just be phrased as "scale degrees" or something to be more universal) are devoid of meaning unless paired. Who cares that I'm in the key of A major if I don't know what chords are in A Major?
This tier list is also only applicable to music in a traditional western context part of the classical school of thought. I don't think this is an accurate list for other cultures, and there are also some differences in position I could see if this was a Rock tier list or Jazz tier list. Overall, great video tho!
Thank you for this. I'm teaching basic music theory to elementary students and this is helping me prioritize. Plus, smart as they are, some of this stuff stumps us grown up musicians too...
You’re so young and and an expert in music theory. It amazes me how much you know! You’ve taught me a lot! Thank you!
Thanks!