Thanks this is so helpful, I really appreciate it. The ethos behind this video - providing raw materials for people to use in any way, rather than a strict set of 'rules', really sets it apart. I am not a jazz musician but find this approach helpful. It is like you are working through the periodic table.
finally a guy that talks about chord progressions not with the typical diatonic proggressions, i 'll check your videos, so many songs dont follow the chords of the key, Great suff to get deeper. Thank you
On Facebook this turned out to be as much a discussion of what a key is along the way. I find it curious that it is so hard to define something so fundamental! What do you think?
great lesson Jens(like all of them pretty much)...but i particularly liked this one because it showed how some of the seemingly weird chord choices po up in tunes and how they function and why they make sense in the particular context....i'm gettin' this stuff man! you stretch my brain to its limits though! thanks again my friend! :)
Wow. At first I thought this video was erroneous. But at 2nd glance you've really opened up my eyes of a different way of looking at the "key of C". It's a perceptual vs technical view of the key center.
My fav video of yours ( besides) only 3 scales video, please please cover a video with these progressions you mentioned connected back to key of c to help us really see how mundane cadence's are and many more progressions avail in c thanks so much your time effort and energy I love this music it is alive and vibrant!
I love the way this breaks down every base chord type and makes you think of the subdominant and dominant key areas in relation to the root. I see a lot of the most common chromatic alterations, melodically and harmonically, as an exemplifying of the subdominant and dominant structures. Do you find this to be true?
+Kaitlyn Braman I am not entirely sure that I know what you mean with common chromatic alterations, but yes I do actually see mist of these chord spread out over a functional harmony spectrum ☺️
95% off the stuff flew right over my head. Having said that, it was absolutely *fascinating*! The transitions were so interesting to hear, my starved-by-modern-music ear perked up! May I ask for an intro to jazz harmony mini-series (3-5 eps.), targeted at beginners such as myself? Pretty please!
Assuming a 20-minute episode, that'd be an hour, an hour and a half total. To me this seems long enough for someone to get a taste of basic jazz harmony and get to know a few basics _without being overwhelming_ at the same time! Things such as 2-5-1, a few standards, some common practices and rules and maybe some simple improvisation samples could be enough to get people hooked and dive into the deep end!
Hm... I suspect that might be hard to cover in such a small amount of time 😃 But I'll keep it in mind. Until I do you might find the videos where I analyze standards worthwhile: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-frzyy30d3UY.html
Thanks David! Yes, the thought had crossed my mind but it would make the video too long and would for the biggest part just yield a ton of chords not in the key 😃
my gravity and taking a walk to another key analogy was a bit far off from what you had in mind but I guess one could look at music as a journey, your idea is very practical and a useful tool that makes good sense as always, Thanks Jens
Actually the gravity comparison is not so far off, I am in the video often a bit torn between when to include a chord in the key and when not to, simply because they are used extremely often but only as a part of another progressions. Usually a II V
some chords want to resolve or continue to another chord like a magnet, positive and negative others are just lazy chords that want to stay home and look in the mirror saying I'm a pretty chord listen to me! lol
Excellent video, Jens. I always enjoy your lessons. And by the way, I love that guitar. I have an old Artist that looks just like yours except it's a solid body.
Hehe excellent video! Im pretty amazed that you could just do this while thinking on your feet. Might have been good to write stuff down i guess but very impressive still! You could have done this video as a livestream. Excellent work. Not enough videos out there really are showing the wide possibilities of chord usage. As a musician i have been stuck with diatonic chords for so long - still able to use other chords not in the scale and make them sound cool but not understanding why. Thanks for your video. :)
the way you allways smile while you say your name makes me think ur not Jens Larsen.. By the way, i love ur chanel, i already ended my superior degree in modern music in spain, but i find ur videos a really usefull tool to organize my study.
Nice one Jens. Good video as usual. I have a question. You often talk of a 4 minor chord and yet seem to play some sort of major chord quite often. What exactly is meant by a 4 minor chord?
Amazing examples of harmony that I’ve been working on! Secondary dominants, Passing Diminished Chords, Tritone subs, Modal Borrowing. Do you have any videos on Italian/French/German 6s and the Neapolitan Chord?
I’ll make a case for a few more: D#dim7 is often called the passing tone dim between Em and Dm but I rather think of this as the viio/iii. Bm7 absolutely! As the secondary ii of Bm7 E7 Am in “Yesterday”. Eø and Gø aren’t quite as common as the secondary dominants they lead to: V/ii and V/IV, but still deserve consideration. I think Fm7 and FmMaj7 deserve separate mention. Similarly Bb7 can be played over with aeolian or mixo b6 for quite a different sound. Aside: in Ave Maria (in C) there’s a cadence Dm/F - F#dim7/A - G. I know not really Adim7 but Schubert thought it was a good inversion.
Hmmm...I think this video is one of those for which I've been waiting for a long time :) but I hope it is not the first and the last at the same time. I feel that it is still a lack of certain things here. I still do not know how to answer the question: - How to stay in one key(of C for example ) in the mood of one chosen scale (dorian for example) using all possible diatonic and non-diatonic chords? I would like to know rules for combining diatonic chords with non-diatonic chords. I mean, rules that apply to stylistics. For example, if we combine diatonic chord X from key of C with another non-diatonic chord X, we get the typical mood for bossa nova,for example of curse :) But, if we combine the same diatonic chord X from key of C with another non-diatonic chord but this time chord Y it will no longer be bossa nova mood but neo soul for example or some other gospel etc :) You know what I mean? Bonus suggestion of further interesting videos "...explanations and analysis of the creative and improvisational techniques musicians use for style, phrasing, solo development, and motivic improvisation in an easy to follow step-by-step format". "CONSTRUCTING MELODIC JAZZ IMPROVISATION C INSTRUMENTATION" - Brian Kane "Motives - also referred to as motifs, licks, or clichés - are the building blocks of a good jazz vocabulary. This book shows how motives may be developed using simple five-note major, minor, and diminished scales and how to apply chromatic embellishment to those scales. The “magic” appears when you discover that any motives created from these scales may be superimposed over a variety of chords with equally good results. Includes detailed explanation and pages of motives in a variety of harmonic situations, including standard chord changes". MAGIC MOTIVES - Dan Haerle
Thanks! If you want to learn how to write chord progressions you should probably first learn to analyze the songs so that you know what happens in a Bossa Nova or in a Jazz Standard. That's the way to learn how to write progressions, not a bunch of rules. Modes is by the way not the way to learn that 🙂 In fact it is the same as writing a good melody or lick, you can't just be mechanical there is (luckily?) a part that is also inspiration.If you search on my channel you can find quite a few lessons on motif improvisation btw.
...I think I dont like "there is no rules" ;) because When there are rules - I can get to know them When I know the rules - I know how to break them to create my own style ;D
Then study other styles to learn their habits, though don't expect stylistic habits to be rules, and expect to have to study the styles to understand them.
Jens, the Cdim in the key of C is explained in classical theory as a #2dim, which is usually found in intros where the Cmaj and Cdim are alternated to create tension due to the lowered 3rd and 5th continually resolving. In this way it is functioning as a subdominant as you said, though the emphasis is on the D#(Eb) as the root. Thoughts?
@@JensLarsen Ah, so you covered the same chord later. I missed that! I think you are right, as the basis for it being centered on the raised supertonic seems a bit confusing. Thank you for the quick response and your amazing work, I hope to clarify my own thoughts on music to the level you have done on this page
Hi, thank you for the great lesson, but I have a one problem, as a new comer to Jazz music i don't know how to catch any of these guitar chords :( where can i find the chord charts for these guitar chords? if you can add chord charts alone with the chord names that would be very helpful to beginners like me
This video is not about how to play chords and to be honest I don't think diagrams or charts would really help make it easier. If you want to learn some Jazz chords check this out on my website jenslarsen.nl/study-guides-how-to-learn-jazz/
7:35 the song “Seigfried” by Frank Ocean is in A minor and the chord progression is Am7 Em7 Dmaj7 Cmaj7 It’s a beautiful chord progression I’m surprised you’ve never heard something like it. 16:05 “Guns” by Quelle Chris Chords: Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 F#m7 Sounds nice imo
I just found this, thanks very much. I would like to ask for tips to improvise over progressions that stay within the same key but use non-diatonic chords now and then. What to do when such chords come in the progression? Avoid using the non-diatonic notes in that passage? I am not looking for rules, but a just a way to approach the problem. Perhaps you already have a video about this. Thanks again! Greetings /Carlos.
Specifically, the progression I am working on now is the first part of a tune by Larry Coryell called "Thurman Manson". (I don't know if I have to join Patreon to ask this, but I will start doing it here.) The progression goes like this: Am9maj7 - D7b9 - Gmaj7b5 - Cmaj7b5 - F#m7b5 - B7#5 - Em7. To me this sounds as being in a E minor (b3 b6 b7) kind of key without modulation (it will modulate in the second), but many (most) of the chords here contain notes outside the key. If you advice me to go back to the record and listen what they are doing, then I'll try again. But if you have a more general advice to approach situations like this, I'd be very grateful. Thanks again. /C
When a song stays in one key (which I think your example does) that doesn't mean that you have to use the same scale all the time, so you do need to play the scale that fits the chord. So that is how you solve this problem!
Thanks, but some of the chords stay for just one beat, no much time to play any scale at all. May be one or two notes max. It seems to me that thinking about scales in these cases may not be all that helpful. Perhaps it's just better to internalise the harmony till it becomes second nature, and simply play what it feels right. May be just singing on top of the harmony, but with the guitar.
Sorry, forgot to say that I love your work and am digging as much as I can. I'll try and get the book. Would you accept a donation? I am not much fond of subscriptions. Many thanks.
Thanks! :) If the chord is that fast then just ignore it. Play the sounds that you hear in the music. I don't know the piece so I can't tell. If you want to you can donate on my website, or make a purchase in the webstore? Both arehelping me to keep making YT videos!
Could consider the C dominant in a C blues as a tonic dominant? Although it goes to the four chord eventually (like an auxiliary dominant), it tends to stay a dominant chord every time you come to it, unless you're playing the type of type of blues chords that use a major 6 chord on the tonic instead of a dominant chord, like the older style.
+bills48321 The C7 tonic basically makes the blues atonal, which fits with its African roots that are also not really tonal and often some sort of modal pentatonic.
Could you explain a bit how the bVIIMaj7 chord works (e.g. Dindi) please? I suppose it could be borrowed from the parallel Dorian mode but that seems like a bit of a stretch! Is there more to say about that chord''s function/why it works?
Well, I have wondered a bit myself about that, so that is a very good question 🙂 I hear it as a subdominant chord, it doesn\t sound like a dom7th. I feel tempted to describe it as a Dm(b6) with the b6 in the bass. So similar to the bIImaj7. Mind you that's just my best take on explaining it!
So you were talking about axillary dominant being c7 which dominant of f major but said it was to modulate to Bb 2 keys away from were c would be Dorian so it would be the super dominant 2 keys away right? I want make sure I understand I've never heard about this before and I want to make sure I understand its function I've always used as a dominant to get to the key of f and am not even sure what that is called and also are there other axillary modes ?
What do you think is important when it comes modulations or the outer function of the key I mean like I'm playing in c and want to borrow some chords from I know like cm is the most common I dont like it to be any chord in c to any chord in eb i mean you could but I want to use the ones have an ease of flow in the sound the best right which learning about these outer extremities of the diatonic key in jazz has given me alot more options but I'm still new to the ways they do it in jazz but have been searching for ways to combine different keys I used to listen to alot of gypsy flamenco how do you feel about that style? It has certain chromatic enclosures on certain chords to take you one key away in the circle of fifths forward or back but they were simple (and effective ) but all I've known about interluding keys and have been searching for ways to get farther and not be as limited by the key jazz has seemed to do that although I used to listen to jazz but know I'm realizing I didn't know much about how it all worked as I might have thought but your videos have taught me the most your doing an excellent job and its very generous that you are making such what is to some pretty profound musical knowledge accessible for anybody to watch and learn its going to take me along time to watch every thing but I intend to I'm trying to watch 2 a day and I know there is going to be some I have to return to such as this one but its possible but all in all my about previous comment I guess a better question is what is an axillary dominant what does it refer to maybe if you have another video explaining it you can link it to me
Well I answered one of my questions by rewatching that part and I had it mixed up the chord you were talking about and miss read the progression in the example 😅 it was cm7 and you did use it as Dorian to modulate to Bbmaj and you used cmaj7 Cmin7 F7 Bbmaj7 my bad on the confusion on that part but I still want to know more about auxiliary dominant and what it is exactly it's at about @1:44 you say c7 works as an "auxiliary dominant to the 4th degree" does to the 4th degree imply there are auxiliary dominant in other degrees or is it just that ?
Jens, I think there's a misspeak here. At 22:30 you state A dim isn't relevant to C, but of course it's an inversion of F# dim as you state, and that was relevant (you talked about that). In other words, what you say about A dim don't jive with what you say about all the #IV dim inversions.
+frdagaa Well, what songs in a major key do you know with dim on the 6th degree? I couldn't think of any, but if you can point out a few then I would like to know ☺️
Thanks Jens. I checked out your examples with the chord charts. It looks a little different in Girl from Ipanema, being a dominant #11 chord rather than a major, but I guess I still don't understand all the aspects of this. I looked for an example of the deceptive cadence type like you play in the video and can't find it, although it sounds very familiar as an ending.
Why do you refer to the #1 and the b2 chords? You say that C#dim is part of the key and then you say that DbMaj7 Db7 are part of the key as well. Why don't you just pick one way to refer to non-natural notes in this context?
Ship of fools by grateful dead the beginning of the verses start from a gmin to a g diminished and is in the key of gm so that would be an equivalent of the a diminished so your talking an about the key of c
I know understand an earlier conversatiobn we were having and your description of "subdomiant" i get where you coming from now, because i use different description of "key collection" referring to static1.squarespace.com/static/53318a44e4b0d734e85c1501/t/533dcafee4b057b06881e38c/1396558591671/?format=750w
in my description the keys of C major Eb major F# major A major form a "family" or "collection" in which all the 7th resolve back to cmajor ex. your description of Fminor also #IV etc. now i understand what you mean by "subdominant" you are not just referring to dmin7 and fmaj7 but the familys as well.
@@edwinpaul4301 it is not really a lesson on chord voicings, it is about theory. Maybe try out some of these jenslarsen.nl/how-to-learn-to-play-jazz-chords-study-guide/
But can you even answer the question of how many "chord types" are possible, *regardless* of whatever key you're in, and *regardless* of whether they still can be used tonally? And don't say that it's useless/trivial information. I see you have a minor in mathematics like myself...so, you *should* find this "really interesting", if nothing else.
Your knowledge and ability is excellent, for which many thanks, but your presentation is very weak, because you wander from this to that, losing FOCUS on what you are trying to convey. For example you start by saying the half diminished is not of consequence for this demonstration, then three minutes later play and demonstrate the half dimished (in C) saying after all it is useful and important. Your presentation needs to be SCRIPTED and CAREFULLY communicated rather than wandering aimlessly. If only you would slow down and be more measured in the way you teach you would get much better results. May I respectfully suggest you watch Frank Vignola, a seminal example of how to communicate quite difficult concepts in a CLEAR and focused way?
