Since you're asking, I'd really love to see a series in which you dissect popular songs or themes that feature a particular aspect of music writing (key change, counterpoint harmonisation, rythm patterns shenaningans,.. anything of interest) and explain how it's built and why it works. I'm quite sick of hearing the same three chord progressions at the top of the charts all year long, and I'd really like to learn ways to brake out of the box while maintaining harmony and ear pleasure ;) I'm sure the community can help you pick the titles, and I have some that I can think of, but I'd be curious to see what songs *you* would find interesting.
Great idea. Due to copy-writing issues this might not be possible. Though you could 'create' something that is similar to a popular track and go through 'what the artist might be thinking' at this point, or 'what they are trying to achieve with this chord/element'. i.e. a tutorial on if you want it to sound X then do Y - obviously this is incredibly difficult generally, but a few specific examples might be helpful for those amateur songwriters
Yes this! Song structure would be a great vid too just to touch on few basics and maybe some advanced stuff. I'm pretty lost when it comes to this and its so important to have a good flow.
You should check out "Classical Musicians React to Kpop", if you don't mind Kpop. Although you won't get super technical analyses on Kpop songs, they do comment on some interesting musical stuff that the reactors pick up, like interesting chord progressions.
Kent Hewitt Does this on his channel, they're spread around bc he uses different songs to explore different techniques. It's mostly piano-playing focused but he also talks a lot about keys and modulation and voicings etc when it's relevant. He also has theory tutorials (in playlists i think) and often uses jazz standards to illustrate concepts. I find his channel a great compliment to Michael New's. th-cam.com/video/BgItQOto_5g/w-d-xo.html here's an example.
A really cool example of using harmonic minor scale is a Coldplay song "Politik", where C7 resolves to Fmin. You can hear it right at the beginning of the song. Oh and Michael, keep up the stellar work, you're the best music teacher I've come across, hands down. I love that you put an example of a chord progression at the end, as for the future videos, I'd love to see some pop song dissections!
Awesome stuff! Your videos have been revelations that unlock those musical doors in my head.... After 18 years of playing guitar music theory has re-ignited my passion for music and guitar playing!
I've done a few attempts at learning some music theory it always seemed so complicated. In written lessons, the information tends to be to dense and I'll read it without really grasping anything. TH-cam tutorials on the other hand tends to make me feel stupid. After watching a few of your videos I realise that I'm not stupid, but a lot of content on TH-cam is really bad. I play the guitar and the amount of 'lessons' that really just showcase the 'teachers' skills without explaining what is really going on is bothersome. There are a lot of 'lessons' consisting of some guy playing some chord progression without even mentioning the chord names, how they are constructed, or their relevance. Watching your videos I'm beginning to slowly connect the dots. Your videos are very pedagogical. Thank you very much for taking the time to do these videos! Keep up the good work! :)
Best show as of yet more to come. I am sure! Your presentation as an instructor , ability to give insight, how theory works and its application, WOW! If only a guitarist be as instructional.
I second lolloled1's comment about learning more about jazz and blues scales! Specifically in relation to this video, and your other video on extended and altered chords, I think a video on how to add 9th, 11th, and 13th chords into a key would be great. So much to learn.. :) Thanks for all your videos, they are extremely useful. Cheers, Joas
Man u shud be charging for these as ur one of the best yt tutors. Give us a taste then put a website link n charge a small amount for the rest. People cannot expect quality like this for free!!!!
could you do a video on how to work out a chord progression in a more uncommon scale? such as the locrian, phrygian, melodic minor, etc. also thanks for this video, it helped alot.
@6:55 - for some reason I find it helpful when you 'hammer' the same cord... at one point I thought you are doing that with the purpose of imprinting the sound/feel to your listeners, and it works for me. side story: a long time ago I worked w/ a very talented keyboard player, me as a sound tech. the poor soul had this very annoying habit of slamming the keys whenever he would get frustrated for whatever changing reason. you can imagine the shock and pain when wearing headphones and the frustration would come thru...
I really don't mind the keyboard "hammering". You really can't call it hammering when you're just repeating the chord for tonal reassurance! Beyond that, I enjoy that there's also a rhythmic and dynamic element to the repetition. Introducing a 'feel' to theory anywhere you can improves the reception by the audience; music is a 'feeling' intellect! That is what I enjoy about your videos and that is what I say separates you from the other theory TH-camrs. Hope to see another video from you soon Michael... Maybe this time a more feeling related topic! I'd love to see you delve into phrasings and progressions that are your sort of signature! Something a little less 'how to' based and instead more intuitive. Cheers!
your videos are really useful and I thank you a lot! could you do a video on developing or writing unique and good-sounding chord progressions, with basic chords and extended chords, OR a video on off-key chord progressions, I.e. how to fit chords outside of a key into it (or just outside chords that work)
Michael, this is my first time commenting, but I've been watching your videos for years. Not only are they extremely informative, but they are also quite relaxing. I have a couple of suggestions for things I'd like to see in future videos. 1. If this is possible, I'd like to see you analyze the composition of an actual piece of music. Obviously copyrights could make this a problem, so maybe something that is public domain. 2. Anything super advanced. I could be in the minority, but I love it when you approach topics that are really out there. Like the poly-tonality you hinted at in a recent video for example. Keep up the great work, and I am happy for you that you are able to devote more time to something you obviously love. You are the best music theory teacher I've seen and definitely deserve the recognition.
+ThrawnTheater You know quite a few people have brought up the analyzing songs idea, so that's something I'm really starting to think about. Next lesson is going to be on polyrhythms, so that falls more into the "advanced topic" category. They're certainly more challenging for me to put together but I do really enjoy them.
Really helpful video. I hope you post more of your original music though! You're one of the few people I've found who is both good at teaching *and* using theory :)
This is really interesting and useful stuff. I haven't gotten any music theory in years so this is the kind of stuff I've been wanting to know for so long, though I just now stumbled upon it! So cool.
Great stuff, but you confused me. When talking about the diminished 7th chord you patterned out a B diminished chord (the 7th of Cmaj) instead of the E diminished chord of Fmaj. 😳
Yep, I noticed that when I was editing. I added a text correction, but if you're not looking at that specific moment it's easy to miss. Not sure how else to correct it though.
Also, regarding any suggestions for videos ideas, I got like 2. • Discovering different genres (you could probably make a small series..*wink wink, nudge nudge*) • A brief history on music/music theory. How it evolved/changed/branched out/etc.
Lots of people seem to be asking about genres lately. That's definitely going on the list. I like the idea of a few lessons on music history, but I wonder how many people would be interested. I think I'll do that at some point, but it's a bit of a lower priority I think.
First, I loved this video. It helped me to gel some pieces of theory together that just weren't quite fitting together for me. Thank you. Second, now that you've said How, I'd love to see a video on Why to use Seventh Chords. I know what they are, I know how to form them, and now I know how they come together in a key, but what I don't understand is why I would choose them when writing a chord progression or during an improv. I *do* understand the dominant 7, for it's tension and modulation uses. but I don't know why I would choose a maj7 or min7, especially whether one would use it during a progression of triads and/or 9ths. Third, I think Gm natural should have an Eb in it as well. It was breaking my brain while watching the video, because I knew that F major only has a Bb and G is not a minor third below F, which should be its relative minor. (Ah, I see now that you put in a subtitle note.) Always love your videos. Thank you so much for putting them out.
You're right about the E natural. I added some text to try and correct that, but it doesn't seem like many people are seeing it. I just added it to the video description as well. As far as why you would or wouldn't use 7th chords, it mostly just comes down to texture. A dominant seventh chord has a very strong function, as you mentioned, but choosing to play a major7 for your 1 chord rather than a basic major chord mostly just changes the sound and feel of the chord. It doesn't necessarily "do" anything different, but it can dramatically change the way the music sounds. Similar to how you'd choose to play a major chord or a minor chord based on the sound you wanted.
More great stuff, this helped me with the idea of having different types of chords in different keys (yea im nooby lol). So glad to hear things are working out on the patreon thing! Grats! I hope things continue to grow for you mike, have a good one!
i noticed this, don't completely know if Im right, but an E dimished chord - which u had shown, was actually a B diminished, and the seventh to a B diminished - not completely sure tho . but apart from that, great video , needed some time to process . Thanks - and suggestion : do try and explain how progressive rock work in terms of these music theories
I've seen these chord progression charts that show which chords work nicely after each other, while they are handy I'd like to know why those specific chords fit each other so well in succession. How was the chord chart conceived? It would be awesome if you could do a video on that, because that's been bothering me for ages.
even more tension for the fifth chord is to use it in an altered form, with like sharp fifth, I only recently found out how common it is in jazzy songs
I think its been 2 months since the last time I watched your channel And you really answer all the question that i have in my mind with your latest video. Especially the slash chord one.. And once again thx you for your effort to explained it in an easy way. I even understand your video well than my music teacher ever was. But if it possible if in the next videos you explain about jazz and blues scale? I just wanted to know, what that is capable of Thx before, You re the best
5:28-5:33 Caaaan barely staaaand on my feeeeett. Not the same key. But if we listen to "Somebody to Love" by Queen. They use and A#7(Bb7) to create tension throughout "stand on my" before resolving do a D#(Eb) when he says "feet"...in case anyone needs an example of the powerful, tasty, beautiful tension a dominant 7th chord can create, before being brought to a resolution!
Your videos are great, thanks a lot. It would be great a video about vocal melodies composition and what differences there are compared to instrument melodies.
Would love that! I'm really hungry for a dissection of some uniquely composed prog stuff. Why and how they work from a theory point of view. Like say some Mastodon or Animals as leaders or whatever.
One question, don't know if I'm having a thinking error. When you use the harmonic minor scale, in G for example, as you point out F becomes F#. Wouldn't the "rule" be that other chords within the scale change as well? E.g. Gmin7 -> Gmmaj7 (odd chord but sticking to the "rules" here) Aø7 or A°7 optionally Bbmaj7 -> Cmaj7♯5 Or do you "only" use the harmonic minor scale for that specific tension/release thing between the V and i chord? And I've learned so much already from watching your lessons. These are pure gold! But I guess you know that already :p
If you could please do a song breakdown that would be cool, not a simple song but nothing crazy difficult. Like Knocks me off my feet by Stevie Wonder or something like that would help us.
Michael, Describing polyrhythm, I have a hard time visualizing where to place the vertical bar line between measures. You draw 2 measures in a continuum w/o a bar line i.e. how does it fit between 2 notes in time? I.e does it squeeze between the end of beat 4 and the start of beat 1? There’s no room for this in your example. Thanks for your work, you’re a great teacher, for me!
I think it's be awesome to hear your opinion on movie scores and how the music really mourns or has this great amount of emotion and why/how it sounds the way it does. Just a thought :D
Hi ! Amazing video as always :-) Could you do a video about advanced jazz techniques/scales/chords ? I'm really into this kind of music but it's so hard to fully understand it without a teacher. Keep up the good work !
Hey Michael thanks alot for your videos! I honestly like how you break down the concepts in a easy way! And yeah I also noticed that whole Eb thing and I was so confused because the minor scale of F major is D minor hahaha! Its so cool though, thanks again!
Hey! Big fan here. But you said at 5:54 you're going to play an E diminished basic chord but you're playing a B diminished chord. Further ahead, instead of E half diminished you end playing B half diminished versions. An error or something I'm missing out on?
Hi Michael, I found this and many of your other videos very helpful and greatly helped me improve my guitar playing! I am wondering if you'de be interested in doing a similar video like this but then explaining how to add extended and/or altered chords into a key? Thumbs up in any way for the great vids
It's one of those things that I've thought about for a long time, but just haven't woken up and thought "yes, today's the day I start a guitar series". I think it will happen eventually, but there's so many things I'm working on with the piano that I'm not sure when it will be.
+Michael New Understood. One idea I'd like to propose (I hear you mention, we should comment with ideas/requests), would be to take a song analyze it, and structure the lesson around the song. Personally, lessons have that much greater impact when the application is present.
Hey Michael. Thnks for making these videos they are very well done. I've noticed there are songs that use dominant chords on the first note of the scale instead of the fith note. For example "I'm gonna find another you" by John Mayer has both an A chord and an A7. and The rest of the chords indicate the song is written in the key of A. It sounds pretty good, do you have any videos that talk about this ?
Hi Michael, Great video, as always. I think there's a mistake at 5'57, as you're mentioning the diminished E chord turned into a seventh, and yet what you play is a B instead... Thought i'd let you know, just to be sure i understood correctly :)
Hey, your videos are great. Could you show us how to substitute chords so that we can make an usual song with the usual chord progression more interesting? Like hlw we can substitute the usual major and minor chords in "Happy Birthday" to something more jazzy? Thanks! Wished I had you to teach me theory when I was a kid
Question. At 15:24 'Fdominant' (I think it should be FACE). You play FACE# - which is correct please Michael? Also at 16:19 - you use E# rather than E for the alternate minor key?
6th chords and 7th chords are only really separated by function, they're the same collection of notes with a different 'root' tone. Once you notice that a 6th chord has the same notes as the 2nd inversion of a 7th chord, it's more or less smooth sailing... A Gmaj6 chord has the same notes as a Emin7 chord, but with a different function- to pick out which note is functioning as the root you have to look at the context it's in. For example if you play a Gdom7, then move to a chord with notes from lowest to highest EGBC, it's probably functioning as a Cmaj7 in first inversion even though if you just look at the notes in order it could be a Emin6. This is because the Gdom7 that was just played resolves strongly back to C, so you're going to have a hard time convincing the listener's ear that you're going to an E when there's a C in the chord. Conversely, if you were playing a phrygian modal vamp in E, say a i bII progression (Emin Fmaj), and you substituted in an Emin6 for the i chord, there wouldn't be much argument for that functioning as a Cmaj7 since the rest of the progression (and the melody being played over it) points to E as the root. As far as the conversion to go from the 7th chord to the 'equivalent' 6th chord you move up a third (Emin6 has the same notes as Gmaj7, since G is a third up from E) and to get from a 6th chord to the 'equivalent' 7th you move down a third (Amin7 has the same notes as Cmaj6- C down to A is a third). There're 4 kinds of 6th chord, corresponding to the 4 kinds of 7th chord (that exist from the major scale, anyway), in order of 'weirdness': A minor 7th chord has the same notes as a major/major 6th chord with root a minor third above. Basically works like a major triad with the 6th thrown in there for flavour/walking bass/etc. Usually written as a maj6 chord. A major 7th chord has the same notes as a minor/minor 6th chord with root a major third above. As with the maj/maj6 chord above it basically works like a minor triad with a melodic tone thrown in there in a lot of contexts. Written as min6. A half-diminished 7th chord has the same notes as a minor/major 6th chord with root a minor third above. I've also heard this called a 'Dorian 6th' chord since it has the minor 3rd/major 6th combination that specifies the Dorian mode. Otherwise it's basically a flavoursome minor triad. Possibly the easiest one to get to function as a 6th chord instead of a 7th chord since half-diminished 7th chords aren't exactly strong- there's no perfect 5th above the root. Written as min/maj6. A dominant 7th chord has the same notes as a half-diminished 6th chord with root a major third above. This one doesn't really get much usage functioning as a 6th because it's so hard to get it to not sound like a dom7. Written as dim6, or not at all- I can't remember the last time I came across it.
Ian. You're clearly incredibly knowledgeable but my head was exploding after the third sentence!! This is waaaaay too much for mere mortals like me to take in. could there be a more concise way of explaining?
The only bit that's really necessary as far as understanding is the first paragraph of my original comment; the rest is just some examples and how to get from a 7th to the 6th with the same notes. It all revolves around the ideas of context, function and resolution; if you understand how they work and how they interact, you're good to go. Is it a matter of not knowing what the terms I've used mean, or information overload? If it's information overload, I'd recommend sitting down with an instrument and playing through/around the ideas and examples. It's a heck of a lot easier to think about resolutions and so on on an instrument than on paper; a piano/keyboard would be ideal, since it lays out the notes and voicings being played so clearly. If it's a terminology issue, I'm pretty sure the channel this video's on has a theory 101 series of videos- that should sort out most of the terminology issues you could be having. That or google the problem terms.
Great work😊 love the minor seventh to harmonic minor seventh for that full diminesh 7th chord and back to minor chord😉 Great work. When I get rich I am going to pay you.
at 3:40 when playing a Gmin7 you call the 7th E but you play F, and skipping a note after D when constructing the chord also leads to F. what am i missing?
Would the seventh chords I should use change when I'm using a different mode, e.g. G Lydian? If so, I think that might be a good idea for a video. Anyways, thanks for your content! I have been reading this book by Michael Hewitt called "Music Theory For Computer Musicians" and I think your videos are perfect accompaniment to the book as the way you explain things help me have a reinforced understanding the concepts I've learnt from the book. So as you can imagine, your videos are a very important to me and I'd like you to know that you have my support! ;) I would help you out on patreon, but I can't right now due to me not having any money xD but keep up the good work! :D
Hey Michael. Great video! You may have already answered this, but are you allowed to mix the seventh chords with just the regular chords when you're doing a chord progression? For example, if you're doing a 1, 2, 5, 1 chord progression in F major, can you play F major seventh, then G minor, then C major, then back to F major seventh? Or do all the chords have to be the seventh version (eg, F major seventh, G minor seventh, C dominant seventh, back to F major seventh)? Hope I worded that question not too confusingly. Haha. Thanks!
You can absolutely mix different types of chords together. It's pretty common in classical music to make the 5 chord a dominant seventh chord, but leave the others as just basic majors or minors. It really just comes down to how things sound and if you like the effect it creates or not.
Since you're asking, I'd really love to see a series in which you dissect popular songs or themes that feature a particular aspect of music writing (key change, counterpoint harmonisation, rythm patterns shenaningans,.. anything of interest) and explain how it's built and why it works.
I'm quite sick of hearing the same three chord progressions at the top of the charts all year long, and I'd really like to learn ways to brake out of the box while maintaining harmony and ear pleasure ;)
I'm sure the community can help you pick the titles, and I have some that I can think of, but I'd be curious to see what songs *you* would find interesting.
I totally agree. Very good idea. Song analysis. There is so much to say. Thanks a lot for your excellent tutorials.
Great idea.
Due to copy-writing issues this might not be possible. Though you could 'create' something that is similar to a popular track and go through 'what the artist might be thinking' at this point, or 'what they are trying to achieve with this chord/element'.
i.e. a tutorial on if you want it to sound X then do Y - obviously this is incredibly difficult generally, but a few specific examples might be helpful for those amateur songwriters
Yes this! Song structure would be a great vid too just to touch on few basics and maybe some advanced stuff. I'm pretty lost when it comes to this and its so important to have a good flow.
You should check out "Classical Musicians React to Kpop", if you don't mind Kpop.
Although you won't get super technical analyses on Kpop songs, they do comment on some interesting musical stuff that the reactors pick up, like interesting chord progressions.
Kent Hewitt Does this on his channel, they're spread around bc he uses different songs to explore different techniques. It's mostly piano-playing focused but he also talks a lot about keys and modulation and voicings etc when it's relevant. He also has theory tutorials (in playlists i think) and often uses jazz standards to illustrate concepts. I find his channel a great compliment to Michael New's. th-cam.com/video/BgItQOto_5g/w-d-xo.html here's an example.
I'd love to learn more about jazz and blues scales!
Not all heros wear capes!
I started learning music theory on your channel and now I'm back watching everything all over again. The clarity is insane. Thanks a lot
A really cool example of using harmonic minor scale is a Coldplay song "Politik", where C7 resolves to Fmin. You can hear it right at the beginning of the song. Oh and Michael, keep up the stellar work, you're the best music teacher I've come across, hands down. I love that you put an example of a chord progression at the end, as for the future videos, I'd love to see some pop song dissections!
Your tutorials are really fantastic, thank you very much !
Awesome stuff! Your videos have been revelations that unlock those musical doors in my head.... After 18 years of playing guitar music theory has re-ignited my passion for music and guitar playing!
Congratulations and thank you for the video, it would be really awesome to have a video like this about the 9th Chords
I've done a few attempts at learning some music theory it always seemed so complicated. In written lessons, the information tends to be to dense and I'll read it without really grasping anything. TH-cam tutorials on the other hand tends to make me feel stupid. After watching a few of your videos I realise that I'm not stupid, but a lot of content on TH-cam is really bad. I play the guitar and the amount of 'lessons' that really just showcase the 'teachers' skills without explaining what is really going on is bothersome. There are a lot of 'lessons' consisting of some guy playing some chord progression without even mentioning the chord names, how they are constructed, or their relevance. Watching your videos I'm beginning to slowly connect the dots. Your videos are very pedagogical. Thank you very much for taking the time to do these videos! Keep up the good work! :)
Best show as of yet more to come. I am sure! Your presentation as an instructor , ability to give insight, how theory works and its application, WOW! If only a guitarist be as instructional.
Thanks for the video! As it happens, I was just talking to a friend about throwing 7 chords into a song. This helped clear it up.
13,301 views...no down votes. Impressive! You're a huge help with all this music stuff. Thanks.
I second lolloled1's comment about learning more about jazz and blues scales! Specifically in relation to this video, and your other video on extended and altered chords, I think a video on how to add 9th, 11th, and 13th chords into a key would be great. So much to learn.. :)
Thanks for all your videos, they are extremely useful.
Cheers,
Joas
Man u shud be charging for these as ur one of the best yt tutors. Give us a taste then put a website link n charge a small amount for the rest. People cannot expect quality like this for free!!!!
could you do a video on how to work out a chord progression in a more uncommon scale? such as the locrian, phrygian, melodic minor, etc. also thanks for this video, it helped alot.
@6:55 - for some reason I find it helpful when you 'hammer' the same cord... at one point I thought you are doing that with the purpose of imprinting the sound/feel to your listeners, and it works for me.
side story: a long time ago I worked w/ a very talented keyboard player, me as a sound tech. the poor soul had this very annoying habit of slamming the keys whenever he would get frustrated for whatever changing reason. you can imagine the shock and pain when wearing headphones and the frustration would come thru...
Your videos are great. You have a natural talent for simplifying concepts into very easy to follow terms.
I was literally just looking for a tutorial for this yesterday and I'm so glad you uploaded, Michael! You're my favourite music teacher
Awesome, so could you do a video explaining where augmented chords fit in?
Love your channel man you’ve helped me so much.. forever grateful🙏🏻
I really don't mind the keyboard "hammering". You really can't call it hammering when you're just repeating the chord for tonal reassurance! Beyond that, I enjoy that there's also a rhythmic and dynamic element to the repetition. Introducing a 'feel' to theory anywhere you can improves the reception by the audience; music is a 'feeling' intellect! That is what I enjoy about your videos and that is what I say separates you from the other theory TH-camrs.
Hope to see another video from you soon Michael... Maybe this time a more feeling related topic! I'd love to see you delve into phrasings and progressions that are your sort of signature! Something a little less 'how to' based and instead more intuitive.
Cheers!
your videos are really useful and I thank you a lot! could you do a video on developing or writing unique and good-sounding chord progressions, with basic chords and extended chords, OR a video on off-key chord progressions, I.e. how to fit chords outside of a key into it (or just outside chords that work)
Michael, this is my first time commenting, but I've been watching your videos for years. Not only are they extremely informative, but they are also quite relaxing. I have a couple of suggestions for things I'd like to see in future videos.
1. If this is possible, I'd like to see you analyze the composition of an actual piece of music. Obviously copyrights could make this a problem, so maybe something that is public domain.
2. Anything super advanced. I could be in the minority, but I love it when you approach topics that are really out there. Like the poly-tonality you hinted at in a recent video for example.
Keep up the great work, and I am happy for you that you are able to devote more time to something you obviously love. You are the best music theory teacher I've seen and definitely deserve the recognition.
+ThrawnTheater You know quite a few people have brought up the analyzing songs idea, so that's something I'm really starting to think about.
Next lesson is going to be on polyrhythms, so that falls more into the "advanced topic" category. They're certainly more challenging for me to put together but I do really enjoy them.
You are so good at teaching through video. I hope you come back to making videos.
Really helpful video. I hope you post more of your original music though! You're one of the few people I've found who is both good at teaching *and* using theory :)
Michael - awesome as always! Is chord substitutions something that's on your radar for the future? Keep up the excellent work!
+Heinrich Olivier Chord substitution is definitely on the radar.
This is really interesting and useful stuff. I haven't gotten any music theory in years so this is the kind of stuff I've been wanting to know for so long, though I just now stumbled upon it! So cool.
Great stuff, but you confused me. When talking about the diminished 7th chord you patterned out a B diminished chord (the 7th of Cmaj) instead of the E diminished chord of Fmaj. 😳
I believe that your Gm scale should have included an Eb rather than an E. Otherwise, great video as always!
Yep, I noticed that when I was editing. I added a text correction, but if you're not looking at that specific moment it's easy to miss. Not sure how else to correct it though.
You can put an annotation with the letter 'b' next to the E. :D
Also, regarding any suggestions for videos ideas, I got like 2.
• Discovering different genres (you could probably make a small series..*wink wink, nudge nudge*)
• A brief history on music/music theory. How it evolved/changed/branched out/etc.
Lots of people seem to be asking about genres lately. That's definitely going on the list.
I like the idea of a few lessons on music history, but I wonder how many people would be interested. I think I'll do that at some point, but it's a bit of a lower priority I think.
Watch "how music works" on yt you'"ll love it 😬
Very good video! Will you please do one on augmented chords?
Only 5 dislikes. Proves the quality of your videos.
Thanks this really helped me understand why the dominant 7th chord does what it does.
Michael, thanks very much for your classes!
First, I loved this video. It helped me to gel some pieces of theory together that just weren't quite fitting together for me. Thank you.
Second, now that you've said How, I'd love to see a video on Why to use Seventh Chords. I know what they are, I know how to form them, and now I know how they come together in a key, but what I don't understand is why I would choose them when writing a chord progression or during an improv. I *do* understand the dominant 7, for it's tension and modulation uses. but I don't know why I would choose a maj7 or min7, especially whether one would use it during a progression of triads and/or 9ths.
Third, I think Gm natural should have an Eb in it as well. It was breaking my brain while watching the video, because I knew that F major only has a Bb and G is not a minor third below F, which should be its relative minor. (Ah, I see now that you put in a subtitle note.)
Always love your videos. Thank you so much for putting them out.
You're right about the E natural. I added some text to try and correct that, but it doesn't seem like many people are seeing it. I just added it to the video description as well.
As far as why you would or wouldn't use 7th chords, it mostly just comes down to texture. A dominant seventh chord has a very strong function, as you mentioned, but choosing to play a major7 for your 1 chord rather than a basic major chord mostly just changes the sound and feel of the chord. It doesn't necessarily "do" anything different, but it can dramatically change the way the music sounds. Similar to how you'd choose to play a major chord or a minor chord based on the sound you wanted.
More great stuff, this helped me with the idea of having different types of chords in different keys (yea im nooby lol). So glad to hear things are working out on the patreon thing! Grats! I hope things continue to grow for you mike, have a good one!
i noticed this, don't completely know if Im right, but an E dimished chord - which u had shown, was actually a B diminished, and the seventh to a B diminished - not completely sure tho . but apart from that, great video , needed some time to process . Thanks - and suggestion : do try and explain how progressive rock work in terms of these music theories
loving all your videos loving them.Today I studied the 7 chords
Why don't you put the link to your patreon page in the description?
Good call
One can see that you are really eager to put down good videos. Successful. Thanks!
Best videos on youtube, great to watch, learning heaps!
Another grate session. Thanks Michael !!!
I've seen these chord progression charts that show which chords work nicely after each other, while they are handy I'd like to know why those specific chords fit each other so well in succession. How was the chord chart conceived? It would be awesome if you could do a video on that, because that's been bothering me for ages.
even more tension for the fifth chord is to use it in an altered form, with like sharp fifth, I only recently found out how common it is in jazzy songs
you are out of this world
Michael New, responsible for whatever understanding of music theory I possess.
I think its been 2 months since the last time I watched your channel
And you really answer all the question that i have in my mind with your latest video. Especially the slash chord one..
And once again thx you for your effort to explained it in an easy way.
I even understand your video well than my music teacher ever was.
But if it possible if in the next videos you explain about jazz and blues scale?
I just wanted to know, what that is capable of
Thx before,
You re the best
Thanks Michael! Cleared a few things up for me! THANK YOU.
5:28-5:33
Caaaan barely staaaand on my feeeeett.
Not the same key. But if we listen to "Somebody to Love" by Queen. They use and A#7(Bb7) to create tension throughout "stand on my" before resolving do a D#(Eb) when he says "feet"...in case anyone needs an example of the powerful, tasty, beautiful tension a dominant 7th chord can create, before being brought to a resolution!
Michael, please, make a video about, how to write progressions in Greek modes
Your videos are great, thanks a lot. It would be great a video about vocal melodies composition and what differences there are compared to instrument melodies.
make a tutorial of for when you want to change a chord to another key that it sounds almost identical i think its call slash chord
Great video, I learnt a lot, helping demystify this stuff. Thanks 😊
Can you do a video on parallel minors and the best ways to transition to them please? Thanks.
You are a great teacher. May God bless you
hey thank you for awesome lesson! I'm not sure if you do requests, but if you do I would ask for covering harmonic sequence topic!
Love your videos, very helpful, could you possibly start putting up chord formulas on the board as well when describing ( 1-3-5 etc. )
idk what your piano is, but it sounds beautiful.
can you tackle some progressive rock/metal music theory ideas?
Would love that! I'm really hungry for a dissection of some uniquely composed prog stuff. Why and how they work from a theory point of view. Like say some Mastodon or Animals as leaders or whatever.
Haken is a band you should look up or anyone else interested in prog, id love to see a video about how to get sounds like them.
Upvote!
Great work, easy to follow lesson.
One question, don't know if I'm having a thinking error.
When you use the harmonic minor scale, in G for example, as you point out F becomes F#. Wouldn't the "rule" be that other chords within the scale change as well?
E.g.
Gmin7 -> Gmmaj7 (odd chord but sticking to the "rules" here)
Aø7 or A°7 optionally
Bbmaj7 -> Cmaj7♯5
Or do you "only" use the harmonic minor scale for that specific tension/release thing between the V and i chord?
And I've learned so much already from watching your lessons. These are pure gold! But I guess you know that already :p
If you could please do a song breakdown that would be cool, not a simple song but nothing crazy difficult. Like Knocks me off my feet by Stevie Wonder or something like that would help us.
Michael, Describing polyrhythm, I have a hard time visualizing where to place the vertical bar line between measures. You draw 2 measures in a continuum w/o a bar line i.e. how does it fit between 2 notes in time? I.e does it squeeze between the end of beat 4 and the start of beat 1? There’s no room for this in your example. Thanks for your work, you’re a great teacher, for me!
You are very good dude. Very good explaining it. Thank you very much. I really appreciate this.
I think it's be awesome to hear your opinion on movie scores and how the music really mourns or has this great amount of emotion and why/how it sounds the way it does. Just a thought :D
Hi ! Amazing video as always :-)
Could you do a video about advanced jazz techniques/scales/chords ?
I'm really into this kind of music but it's so hard to fully understand it without a teacher.
Keep up the good work !
Hey Michael. I think you played Bdim instead of Edim (6:10).
Big fan by the way!
...yep. Not idea what I was thinking there.
THE GLASS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA !!!
please make a how to fit added 9 chords and 9 chords
Hey Michael thanks alot for your videos! I honestly like how you break down the concepts in a easy way! And yeah I also noticed that whole Eb thing and I was so confused because the minor scale of F major is D minor hahaha! Its so cool though, thanks again!
Thank you, this is really helpful!
Hey! Big fan here.
But you said at 5:54 you're going to play an E diminished basic chord but you're playing a B diminished chord. Further ahead, instead of E half diminished you end playing B half diminished versions. An error or something I'm missing out on?
Yup, it's like he just exemplifies with Bdim instead of Edim
A problem is that we don't have e in g minor key
Your right
Hi Michael, I found this and many of your other videos very helpful and greatly helped me improve my guitar playing! I am wondering if you'de be interested in doing a similar video like this but then explaining how to add extended and/or altered chords into a key? Thumbs up in any way for the great vids
you're awesome and your videos motivate me to follow my dream
Very good way of explaining!
Another gem. Thank you! Do you intend on starting a series with Guitar? Would be a dream...
It's one of those things that I've thought about for a long time, but just haven't woken up and thought "yes, today's the day I start a guitar series". I think it will happen eventually, but there's so many things I'm working on with the piano that I'm not sure when it will be.
+Michael New Understood. One idea I'd like to propose (I hear you mention, we should comment with ideas/requests), would be to take a song analyze it, and structure the lesson around the song. Personally, lessons have that much greater impact when the application is present.
Hey Michael. Thnks for making these videos they are very well done. I've noticed there are songs that use dominant chords on the first note of the scale instead of the fith note. For example "I'm gonna find another you" by John Mayer has both an A chord and an A7. and The rest of the chords indicate the song is written in the key of A. It sounds pretty good, do you have any videos that talk about this ?
Your lessons have helped me a lot, thanks man :)
Hi Michael, Great video, as always.
I think there's a mistake at 5'57, as you're mentioning the diminished E chord turned into a seventh, and yet what you play is a B instead... Thought i'd let you know, just to be sure i understood correctly :)
Yep, sure did. Sorry :/
Thanks Michael, great video as always!
Hey, your videos are great. Could you show us how to substitute chords so that we can make an usual song with the usual chord progression more interesting? Like hlw we can substitute the usual major and minor chords in "Happy Birthday" to something more jazzy? Thanks! Wished I had you to teach me theory when I was a kid
Well done as always
Question. At 15:24 'Fdominant' (I think it should be FACE). You play FACE# - which is correct please Michael?
Also at 16:19 - you use E# rather than E for the alternate minor key?
This guy is doing God's work.
Michael Could you do another video same as this one but for 9th and 11th? Also 13ths maybe?
You're simply the best !
Great lesson, it was awesome!
Thank you, really useful video !
Awesome! Please some more Advanced stuff :)
I don't really see the chords as "turning into" min/maj 7ths. The chord pattern is the exact same, just shifted over two
Thank you, Michael!
Great videos ! Could you please make a video about cadences ?
Great video man, by the way, adding the F#, the I and III chords should be Gm7M and Bb7M/5+ as well?
I need an answer as well.
Perhaps you could do something along the same ideas of this video but with 6th chords instead?
and by 6th chord I mean chords with the 6th interval from the root added on, not like vi chords.
6th chords and 7th chords are only really separated by function, they're the same collection of notes with a different 'root' tone. Once you notice that a 6th chord has the same notes as the 2nd inversion of a 7th chord, it's more or less smooth sailing... A Gmaj6 chord has the same notes as a Emin7 chord, but with a different function- to pick out which note is functioning as the root you have to look at the context it's in.
For example if you play a Gdom7, then move to a chord with notes from lowest to highest EGBC, it's probably functioning as a Cmaj7 in first inversion even though if you just look at the notes in order it could be a Emin6. This is because the Gdom7 that was just played resolves strongly back to C, so you're going to have a hard time convincing the listener's ear that you're going to an E when there's a C in the chord.
Conversely, if you were playing a phrygian modal vamp in E, say a i bII progression (Emin Fmaj), and you substituted in an Emin6 for the i chord, there wouldn't be much argument for that functioning as a Cmaj7 since the rest of the progression (and the melody being played over it) points to E as the root.
As far as the conversion to go from the 7th chord to the 'equivalent' 6th chord you move up a third (Emin6 has the same notes as Gmaj7, since G is a third up from E) and to get from a 6th chord to the 'equivalent' 7th you move down a third (Amin7 has the same notes as Cmaj6- C down to A is a third).
There're 4 kinds of 6th chord, corresponding to the 4 kinds of 7th chord (that exist from the major scale, anyway), in order of 'weirdness':
A minor 7th chord has the same notes as a major/major 6th chord with root a minor third above. Basically works like a major triad with the 6th thrown in there for flavour/walking bass/etc. Usually written as a maj6 chord.
A major 7th chord has the same notes as a minor/minor 6th chord with root a major third above. As with the maj/maj6 chord above it basically works like a minor triad with a melodic tone thrown in there in a lot of contexts. Written as min6.
A half-diminished 7th chord has the same notes as a minor/major 6th chord with root a minor third above. I've also heard this called a 'Dorian 6th' chord since it has the minor 3rd/major 6th combination that specifies the Dorian mode. Otherwise it's basically a flavoursome minor triad. Possibly the easiest one to get to function as a 6th chord instead of a 7th chord since half-diminished 7th chords aren't exactly strong- there's no perfect 5th above the root. Written as min/maj6.
A dominant 7th chord has the same notes as a half-diminished 6th chord with root a major third above. This one doesn't really get much usage functioning as a 6th because it's so hard to get it to not sound like a
dom7. Written as dim6, or not at all- I can't remember the last time I came across it.
Ian. You're clearly incredibly knowledgeable but my head was exploding after the third sentence!! This is waaaaay too much for mere mortals like me to take in. could there be a more concise way of explaining?
The only bit that's really necessary as far as understanding is the first paragraph of my original comment; the rest is just some examples and how to get from a 7th to the 6th with the same notes. It all revolves around the ideas of context, function and resolution; if you understand how they work and how they interact, you're good to go.
Is it a matter of not knowing what the terms I've used mean, or information overload? If it's information overload, I'd recommend sitting down with an instrument and playing through/around the ideas and examples. It's a heck of a lot easier to think about resolutions and so on on an instrument than on paper; a piano/keyboard would be ideal, since it lays out the notes and voicings being played so clearly.
If it's a terminology issue, I'm pretty sure the channel this video's on has a theory 101 series of videos- that should sort out most of the terminology issues you could be having. That or google the problem terms.
What about in the melodic scale? What happens when the 6th and 7th note is raised?
Great work😊 love the minor seventh to harmonic minor seventh for that full diminesh 7th chord and back to minor chord😉 Great work. When I get rich I am going to pay you.
at 3:40 when playing a Gmin7 you call the 7th E but you play F, and skipping a note after D when constructing the chord also leads to F. what am i missing?
Great stuff as usual. Could you do a vid on key modulations please :)
Would the seventh chords I should use change when I'm using a different mode, e.g. G Lydian? If so, I think that might be a good idea for a video. Anyways, thanks for your content!
I have been reading this book by Michael Hewitt called "Music Theory For Computer Musicians" and I think your videos are perfect accompaniment to the book as the way you explain things help me have a reinforced understanding the concepts I've learnt from the book. So as you can imagine, your videos are a very important to me and I'd like you to know that you have my support! ;) I would help you out on patreon, but I can't right now due to me not having any money xD but keep up the good work! :D
Hey Michael. Great video! You may have already answered this, but are you allowed to mix the seventh chords with just the regular chords when you're doing a chord progression? For example, if you're doing a 1, 2, 5, 1 chord progression in F major, can you play F major seventh, then G minor, then C major, then back to F major seventh? Or do all the chords have to be the seventh version (eg, F major seventh, G minor seventh, C dominant seventh, back to F major seventh)? Hope I worded that question not too confusingly. Haha. Thanks!
You can absolutely mix different types of chords together. It's pretty common in classical music to make the 5 chord a dominant seventh chord, but leave the others as just basic majors or minors. It really just comes down to how things sound and if you like the effect it creates or not.
am confused..watched a tutorial..a guy played 7th chord in c major..and every note he played was a major 7th. cmaj7, Dm7, Em7 ....kindy explain