The keyboard appearing on the screen makes your videos absolutely perfect, even better understandable than before. It really is a highly appreciated new feature. Thanks a lot David!
I did my GCSEs last year. I ended up doing my music exam at home. I did music production and produces a creative song in FL studio. Is your more theory based?
I've always heard you talk about Radiohead for years and now I've been dragged into the world of Kid A and it feels so depressing and just perfect. It speaks to me. How To Disappear Completely, beautiful song. When he harmonises with the melody literal heaven.
I won’t lie, your channel has made understanding music concepts so much easier, I’ve always been really good at understanding time signatures and writing with them, but chord theory used to be completely alien to me until I started watching your channel. now I’m actively seeking out new musical concepts to learn and apply to my own music because I can actually comprehend and digest them because of your videos.
One of my favourite inversions: the first chord in ‘Aint no mountain enough’ i just thought of it and came on immediately in your video. Coincidence! Minds thinking alike!
What makes that chord is the half diminished chord that follows, because there's only one note different. The inversion just lines things up nice to establish the downward motion.
Outstanding video. Helps me to realize the color added to a song by merely performing an inversion. Helps me to realize why listening to Brian Wilson's compositions can be so emotional.
Thanks David for giving me ptsd from my days in AP Music Theory, when you started talking about the figured bass all the bad memories of using it came back 😂, I just graduated high school and we did a lot of figured bass and even my teacher thought it was stupidly complicated/unnecessary 😂
I never knew that made such a big difference, i usually play a chord with whatever the triad notes are. i didnt care for what the bass was, just used what sounded the best/easiest to play. Great video as always
I completely agree! His video explaining why there are 12 notes and how that creates intervals in standard Western music was an epiphany and made me understand what was previously confusing. th-cam.com/video/lvmzgVtZtUQ/w-d-xo.html
Your videos are awesome David. I always look forward to them and learn a lot. I love the fact that you’re always using real world examples of these ideas in practice.
A superb introductory explanation! I love watching your videos that cover more advanced topics too, but this is MY level. Thanks, David! 😃 So many other things I've seen make so much more sense now.
Makes them even easier to play on guitar than regular power chords. Richie Blackmore loved them (though I believe he talked about them as parallel 4ths, but same diff -- a 4th is an inverted 5th) as evidenced by songs like "Smoke on the Water" and "Burn". Page used them in Zep's version of "In My Time of Dying". An easy way to make great-sounding riffs.
Interestingly I learned inverted chords (specifically second-inversion ones) before even the root position ones as the first chart I learned chords off of had them in second-inversion. As such it is one of my favorite musical concepts and I've begun to realize that just like the examples you've used in this video, inverted chords tend to resolve rather than be resolved to, almost in my mind having some semblance of instability. I-4 tends to resolve to IV (as the third in the bass leads up to the fourth) and I-6-4 tends to resolve to V (as the root of the V is already there in the bass). Notable examples of inversion heavy songs I can think of include "These Dreams" by Heart which has a chorus of almost all inverted chords along with "Baby Hold On" by Eddie Money which uses a combination of I-6-4 and augmented chords. These both have chord progressions I would describe as unstable.
Great video! I agree that figured bass is confusing and messy. Here's how I personally write inversions and other slash chords using roman numerals. Take Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate": C - - - Em/B - - - C/B♭ - - - F/A - - - Fm/A♭ - - - C/G - F - C - G - C - - - (Each dash is one additional beat.) In roman numerals: I - - - iii/5 - - - I/m7 - - - IV/3 - - - iv/3 - - - I/5 - IV - I - V - I - - - The bass note is always relative to the chord root, not the tonic. Thus a 1st inversion is always /3, a 2nd inversion is always /5, etc. Note that "3" refers to A in the F chord, but to A♭ in the Fm chord, because "3" refers to whatever the chord's 3rd is. If you wanted to do something weird like F/A♭ or Fm/A, that would be IV/m3 or iv/M3. In other words, to add a bass note that's not in the chord, just write the interval from the root to the bass note. Thus the C/B♭ chord becomes I/m7. (But C7/B♭ would become I7/7.)
Talk about timing. Coincidentally, I was just watching your video on augmented chords and you brought up how they’re the only form of chords that can’t be inverted. After you said that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Now here we are.
Interesting. I always thought of some of those inversions as just walking the bass line up or down to the next chord but now I see that there is some music theory behind it.
A fantastic italian song full of inversions is Paolo Conte's "gli impermeabili". Actually the tune you composed at the end sort of reminded me of it. I really reccomend it for the English listeners ;)
I've personally found with my own song writing that inversions really add some great colour to a song, and believe it or not, they really suit alternative rock and power chords
The thing with figured bass is that there are numbers that are let out to write it faster. Maybe because they were obvious at the time. For example first inversion is 6-3, but people let out the number 3, it's like writing "n't" instead of "not". Those two numbers represent the intervals between the bass and the next note of the chord, hence 6-3 in a C chord is a third from E ( the bass) to G, and a 6th from E to C. That's why 6-4 doesn't get rid of the 4, as in this kind of chord with 3 notes, its the only inversion with a 4th from bass to the other note of the chord. In the C chord, that will be the interval from G (in the bass) to C. With 7th chords things get complicated, as there are more intervals... time to count and figure what is the number they let out this time...
When I started to hear "in the KFC" instead of "in the key of C", I finally realized, that the TH-cam is holding me tight for too long 😄. This comment is intended to support you. Anyway, thank you for your channel, you really helped me a lot in understanding of music theory!
5:46 Bbmin7b5 is bii dim The key is A, Bb is the flat 2. Bm6 is the ii-6, think you just had a typo on the flat 2 (#1) diminished. Awesome video, I love these kinds of videos a lot. The examples make retention easier. Thank you.
Great lesson I know Elton John uses a lot of slash chords to create diffrent emotion and really helps with voice leading. Sus chords and clusters also create incredible about of emotion as well because they help extend chords and melodies also . Ty
Hi David, I would love it if you could do a lesson on how you have acoustically treated your room for recording. BTW, your videos/lessons are inspiring, educational and entertaining!!
David, would love to see songs that use maj6 and min6 chords! They’re my favorite chords right now. I love using a V6 instead of V7 and I6 instead of Imaj7. The ending vocals of “Help!” and “She Loves You” are both great examples.
Yeah,that D/F# chord is very commonly used by guitar players. And for the exact reason you gave,of course. It makes for a very nice--if not slightly vanilla at this point--transition between a G and an Em.
David in some of the examples have hardly any harmony like that of Ed Sheeran and American Pie - and also sometimes the bass movement becomes difficult to listen - how do you then get the chords from? P.S. : Thank you, so much for your work - your vids have are a great help of learning music through REAL EXAMPLES : Can't thank you enough
An understanding of these inversions can also help in figuring out how to play a recorded song that you like. If you've ever been stuck unable to reproduce a harmony at a given point in a song, it may be because you didn't try inversions.
I use inversions in my keyboard noodling all the time. My reason for this is to have the shortest distance between notes when I change chords. ( I hope that makes sense). I just never thought of the sonic possibilities.
I love this channel! Is there anything noteworthy about "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" by Simon and Garfunkel? I know absolutely 0 about music theory, but love watching your channel so I can learn something. To me this song feels like it does something unusual, but I have no idea how to express it - is it a song you have thought about before?
Thanks--I had never heard that song before and it's quite beautiful. There are definitely some interesting things going on there, but it will take a few listens for me to parse out what they are. In the spirit of that song I'd highly recommend listening to Sufjan Stevens, especially songs from Carrie and Lowell or Seven Swans. It's got the same kind of harmonies and nuance.
without knowing for sure, I'd bet the "So long..." section (from around two and a half minutes in and afterwards) inspired Yebba and James Francies My Day Will Come's "Yes I know..." section. There's a lot to unpack in Frank Lloyd Wright, I think there are #9s, maj7, a b6-b7-I part, so much more... that would take a whole episode to break down!
Okay, rarely do I say this because I love many aspects of theory and I'm accepting of the parts/concepts I don't like or agree with, but truly from the bottom of my heart, unapologetically, FUCK figured bass...
I've mainly got used to it now, but I still think it weird and unhelpful that the same "slash chord" system is used to denote straightforward 1st and 2nd inversions and also things like G/Bb, Gm/E and others where the bass note is not from the chord. It often tripped me up, and makes sight reading on piano from chords harder than it need be if the simple inversions were more obviously marked and didn't look the same as these more exotic chords.
That's why your first example should just be labelled as a Bb with a sixth and flatted ninth, and your second example as just a root position E half diminished.
@@tedl7538 hmmm… your use of “just” suggests those are simpler but they’re actually much harder to work especially when sightreading. It’s very easy to play a G chord in right hand and a Bb in the bass. I just think it’s confusing things like that use the same notation as simple inversions. Probably the simple inversions are the ones you’d want to label differently…
The outro piece is amazing. I love that you always do one of these
Same inversions as Take It Easy On Me by Little River Band! Nice!
Totally! The 4 4m 1/3 add9 is the best
Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows” is a brilliant example. I can’t even conceive how he came up with those inversions. Incredible ear.
The keyboard appearing on the screen makes your videos absolutely perfect, even better understandable than before. It really is a highly appreciated new feature. Thanks a lot David!
You are helping me SO much to get through my GCSEs. Especially during the analysis of songs!!! ❤️❤️👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Great!!
@@DavidBennettPiano 😇😇
I did my GCSEs last year. I ended up doing my music exam at home. I did music production and produces a creative song in FL studio. Is your more theory based?
@@DeKevers that’s amazing! i’m learning FL Studio on mobile but their orchestral samples are 💀🥴 but it’s so good to use
@@kay-412 fl has been my favourite DAW for the past 3 years because of how intuitive and immersive it is
David Bennet, is truly the teacher I wish I’d had when I was young. I always enjoy his examples and narratives.
I've always heard you talk about Radiohead for years and now I've been dragged into the world of Kid A and it feels so depressing and just perfect. It speaks to me. How To Disappear Completely, beautiful song. When he harmonises with the melody literal heaven.
The song you wrote as an example is stunningly beautiful!
I won’t lie, your channel has made understanding music concepts so much easier, I’ve always been really good at understanding time signatures and writing with them, but chord theory used to be completely alien to me until I started watching your channel. now I’m actively seeking out new musical concepts to learn and apply to my own music because I can actually comprehend and digest them because of your videos.
One of my favourite inversions: the first chord in ‘Aint no mountain enough’ i just thought of it and came on immediately in your video. Coincidence! Minds thinking alike!
Good choice!
What makes that chord is the half diminished chord that follows, because there's only one note different. The inversion just lines things up nice to establish the downward motion.
If my professors had been more like you, David; my college experience would have been soooooooo much better.
Brian May often used D/A on guitar -it's formed a big part of the Queen guitar sound!
God only knows what invertions I play by time I splatter the chord tones all over the neck, good vid thanks.
Outstanding video. Helps me to realize the color added to a song by merely performing an inversion. Helps me to realize why listening to Brian Wilson's compositions can be so emotional.
Thank you!
Thank you!
You are really hitting your stride, just putting out so many awesome videos so frequently! Thank you David!
Very sweet and pretty melody you composed at the end. I really, really liked it a lot.
One of your best, and there are no bummers in your library of videos thanks to your skill at teaching and hard work.
Very, very beautiful composition.
Use Somebody was the song that taught me inversions, although I didn't know until now it was in inversion; I just knew it had a slash chord
Beautiful piece of music you have there at the end
Thanks David for giving me ptsd from my days in AP Music Theory, when you started talking about the figured bass all the bad memories of using it came back 😂, I just graduated high school and we did a lot of figured bass and even my teacher thought it was stupidly complicated/unnecessary 😂
Inversions are a favorite trick of mine to use in songwriting, a relatively simple yet effective way of making basic chords sound more interesting
Wonderful segment, David. You filled in a number of blanks for me in a clear and concise manner. Well done, as always!
Great!!
I never knew that made such a big difference, i usually play a chord with whatever the triad notes are. i didnt care for what the bass was, just used what sounded the best/easiest to play. Great video as always
David Bennett Piano, the man who makes music theory seem easy, understandable and the only person who has made it make sense to me
Thank you Mike!!
100% agree!
I'm Brazilian, and my English is not so good, but he can make me understand everything without subs
yep, totally agree
I completely agree! His video explaining why there are 12 notes and how that creates intervals in standard Western music was an epiphany and made me understand what was previously confusing.
th-cam.com/video/lvmzgVtZtUQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank you David and please compose some more. You have a great talent there.
Adam Neely laid into figured bass two weeks ago in his “Can I pass AP” piece - its time on earth must soon be up if you two are combining forces.
Your videos are awesome David. I always look forward to them and learn a lot. I love the fact that you’re always using real world examples of these ideas in practice.
Thanks David. You've explained thinks that have been bugging me for ages in such an easy to understand way.
Great!
Beautiful progression at the end. Voice leading and color. Cool post, and informative
A superb introductory explanation! I love watching your videos that cover more advanced topics too, but this is MY level. Thanks, David! 😃 So many other things I've seen make so much more sense now.
Great 😊
Inverting powerchords is a fun little trick, too
Song 2 by blur is the first that comes to mind
Agreed!
Yeah, I saw that in Paul David's recent video 😀😀
Makes them even easier to play on guitar than regular power chords. Richie Blackmore loved them (though I believe he talked about them as parallel 4ths, but same diff -- a 4th is an inverted 5th) as evidenced by songs like "Smoke on the Water" and "Burn". Page used them in Zep's version of "In My Time of Dying". An easy way to make great-sounding riffs.
Video idea:
Can you make a video about songs that use the prygian dominant scale?
Thanks for this!
Thanks for watching!
I love the way that Queen's "You're My Best Friend" ends on a first inversion, at least to my ears. It's the only example I can think of!
Interestingly I learned inverted chords (specifically second-inversion ones) before even the root position ones as the first chart I learned chords off of had them in second-inversion. As such it is one of my favorite musical concepts and I've begun to realize that just like the examples you've used in this video, inverted chords tend to resolve rather than be resolved to, almost in my mind having some semblance of instability. I-4 tends to resolve to IV (as the third in the bass leads up to the fourth) and I-6-4 tends to resolve to V (as the root of the V is already there in the bass).
Notable examples of inversion heavy songs I can think of include "These Dreams" by Heart which has a chorus of almost all inverted chords along with "Baby Hold On" by Eddie Money which uses a combination of I-6-4 and augmented chords. These both have chord progressions I would describe as unstable.
10:33 Dammit, you forced me to stand up and salute! 😛
I love your channel. You make music theory digestible, education and most importantly fun!
Great video! I agree that figured bass is confusing and messy. Here's how I personally write inversions and other slash chords using roman numerals. Take Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate":
C - - - Em/B - - - C/B♭ - - - F/A - - - Fm/A♭ - - - C/G - F - C - G - C - - -
(Each dash is one additional beat.) In roman numerals:
I - - - iii/5 - - - I/m7 - - - IV/3 - - - iv/3 - - - I/5 - IV - I - V - I - - -
The bass note is always relative to the chord root, not the tonic. Thus a 1st inversion is always /3, a 2nd inversion is always /5, etc. Note that "3" refers to A in the F chord, but to A♭ in the Fm chord, because "3" refers to whatever the chord's 3rd is. If you wanted to do something weird like F/A♭ or Fm/A, that would be IV/m3 or iv/M3. In other words, to add a bass note that's not in the chord, just write the interval from the root to the bass note. Thus the C/B♭ chord becomes I/m7. (But C7/B♭ would become I7/7.)
Well done 💙
Cheers!
thanks David!
Such a beautiful melody of yours at the end!
Another good show and a nice song at the end to boot. Keep it up and have a nice day.
Thanks, will do!
Beautiful outro piece
Talk about timing.
Coincidentally, I was just watching your video on augmented chords and you brought up how they’re the only form of chords that can’t be inverted. After you said that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Now here we are.
Interesting. I always thought of some of those inversions as just walking the bass line up or down to the next chord but now I see that there is some music theory behind it.
Well these inversions ARE the "next chord." That's a distinction here.
A fantastic italian song full of inversions is Paolo Conte's "gli impermeabili". Actually the tune you composed at the end sort of reminded me of it. I really reccomend it for the English listeners ;)
Another one of your best episodes.
I've personally found with my own song writing that inversions really add some great colour to a song, and believe it or not, they really suit alternative rock and power chords
I thought power chords were just two-note intervals (usually fifths), how do you do an inversion with that?
Best music theory channel on TH-cam!
Thank you so much!!
The thing with figured bass is that there are numbers that are let out to write it faster. Maybe because they were obvious at the time. For example first inversion is 6-3, but people let out the number 3, it's like writing "n't" instead of "not". Those two numbers represent the intervals between the bass and the next note of the chord, hence 6-3 in a C chord is a third from E ( the bass) to G, and a 6th from E to C. That's why 6-4 doesn't get rid of the 4, as in this kind of chord with 3 notes, its the only inversion with a 4th from bass to the other note of the chord. In the C chord, that will be the interval from G (in the bass) to C. With 7th chords things get complicated, as there are more intervals... time to count and figure what is the number they let out this time...
I'll take my inversions via slash chord symbol thank you very much😊
I absolutely enjoy your videos, thank you!!!
Loved your piece at the end!
Your composition is beautiful, thanks for sharing
Excellent video. Clear and informative. Keep up the great work!
Nicely done
When I started to hear "in the KFC" instead of "in the key of C", I finally realized, that the TH-cam is holding me tight for too long 😄.
This comment is intended to support you. Anyway, thank you for your channel, you really helped me a lot in understanding of music theory!
Looking forward to an extended album with all your outro tunes.
5:46 Bbmin7b5 is bii dim
The key is A, Bb is the flat 2. Bm6 is the ii-6, think you just had a typo on the flat 2 (#1) diminished.
Awesome video, I love these kinds of videos a lot. The examples make retention easier. Thank you.
Nice original piece at the end.
Thank you!
Wonderful video! I'm so glad I found your channel!
I genuinely said "that's so cool!" out loud
This was extremely intrresting, even more than usually, if possible! ☺️
Wow - sharing
Damn, I think that could be my favourite of your example compositions.
Thank you!
Outstanding video! I must try using this ASAP
That thumbnail is dope! love the colours
Thanks David!! Beautiful piece of music at the end! Bet that wasn't composed in 5 minutes!
Always informative, thank you.
Amazing explanation tank-you!
Hi david, i think it would be really helpful if you had a go at explaining figured bass in its entirety. thanks.
Fantastic
Great lesson I know Elton John uses a lot of slash chords to create diffrent emotion and really helps with voice leading. Sus chords and clusters also create incredible about of emotion as well because they help extend chords and melodies also . Ty
Yes! Also, sometimes these inversions create a momentary pedal point effect in the bass.
what a fantastic lesson
Hi David, I would love it if you could do a lesson on how you have acoustically treated your room for recording. BTW, your videos/lessons are inspiring, educational and entertaining!!
Roman numerals were added after the invention of figured bass. So the two were never meant to played like a lead sheet.
Just yesterday I realized the pre-chorus in Tori Amos's "Crucify" has an inverted chord: B F# G#m F# C#/E# E. It sounds just great there.
David, would love to see songs that use maj6 and min6 chords! They’re my favorite chords right now. I love using a V6 instead of V7 and I6 instead of Imaj7. The ending vocals of “Help!” and “She Loves You” are both great examples.
Yeah I love that chord at the end of ' she loves you ' Cm6...D7 ..G
Hey David, 6:48 why is the bIII (Eb) in Something from the Beatles?
Where is the logic behind that chord?
Yeah,that D/F# chord is very commonly used by guitar players. And for the exact reason you gave,of course. It makes for a very nice--if not slightly vanilla at this point--transition between a G and an Em.
David in some of the examples have hardly any harmony like that of Ed Sheeran and American Pie - and also sometimes the bass movement becomes difficult to listen - how do you then get the chords from?
P.S. : Thank you, so much for your work - your vids have are a great help of learning music through REAL EXAMPLES : Can't thank you enough
When I heard the C over E I immediately thought of the outro of Layla
I’m learning so much from your channel! Not sure how much I’ll retain though, haha
I write C/G = I/V if I'm in C Major, in G Major for example I'd write C/G = IV/I. Works not only with inversions but all kinds of slash chords...
An understanding of these inversions can also help in figuring out how to play a recorded song that you like. If you've ever been stuck unable to reproduce a harmony at a given point in a song, it may be because you didn't try inversions.
excellent
Great vidéo, as always! Thx
I use inversions in my keyboard noodling all the time. My reason for this is to have the shortest distance between notes when I change chords. ( I hope that makes sense). I just never thought of the sonic possibilities.
By "shortest distance between notes" you're basically describing "voice leading," which is one of the concepts mentioned in this video.
I love this channel! Is there anything noteworthy about "So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright" by Simon and Garfunkel? I know absolutely 0 about music theory, but love watching your channel so I can learn something. To me this song feels like it does something unusual, but I have no idea how to express it - is it a song you have thought about before?
Thanks--I had never heard that song before and it's quite beautiful. There are definitely some interesting things going on there, but it will take a few listens for me to parse out what they are.
In the spirit of that song I'd highly recommend listening to Sufjan Stevens, especially songs from Carrie and Lowell or Seven Swans. It's got the same kind of harmonies and nuance.
That song has a lot of chords and a lot of weird stuff going on. It would definitely be a good song to cover.
without knowing for sure, I'd bet the "So long..." section (from around two and a half minutes in and afterwards) inspired Yebba and James Francies My Day Will Come's "Yes I know..." section.
There's a lot to unpack in Frank Lloyd Wright, I think there are #9s, maj7, a b6-b7-I part, so much more... that would take a whole episode to break down!
It has a chromatic element to it ...it doesn't follow normal tonal patterns.
Paul Simon wrote many songs with sophisticated harmonies...I've seen his progressions referred to as "adult chords." 🎹
Thanks so much for explaining that figured Bass shit to me!
You rock. Do you compose for movies? We are looking.
super helpful thank you!
Scatterbrain would have been beyond perfect for this.
Is the start of "Fool on The Hill" in second inversion? It seems to be that in my memory!
I propose using the tilda symbol
I~2 (2nd inversion)
V7 ~3 (3rd inversion of a 7th chord)
(would be improved with a superscript use as well)
wunderbar
13:47 Where our fingers gone to :P.Those patron names really made you put an overlay of keys huh.
Okay, rarely do I say this because I love many aspects of theory and I'm accepting of the parts/concepts I don't like or agree with, but truly from the bottom of my heart, unapologetically, FUCK figured bass...
I've mainly got used to it now, but I still think it weird and unhelpful that the same "slash chord" system is used to denote straightforward 1st and 2nd inversions and also things like G/Bb, Gm/E and others where the bass note is not from the chord. It often tripped me up, and makes sight reading on piano from chords harder than it need be if the simple inversions were more obviously marked and didn't look the same as these more exotic chords.
That's why your first example should just be labelled as a Bb with a sixth and flatted ninth, and your second example as just a root position E half diminished.
@@tedl7538 hmmm… your use of “just” suggests those are simpler but they’re actually much harder to work especially when sightreading. It’s very easy to play a G chord in right hand and a Bb in the bass. I just think it’s confusing things like that use the same notation as simple inversions. Probably the simple inversions are the ones you’d want to label differently…