Chord progressions are hidden melodies (Blocking Technique) 

I made a free guide on how I like to think about harmony. You can grab it here if you'd like :) bit.ly/FreeHarmonyGuide

”Or learn to play it, if you really hate yourself” 😂

I have no real formal music training, but I write music on grooveboxes, daws etc. This video and the chord one are probably the most useful 20minutes of music theory I have listened to on RU-vid. Very well explained, and enormously useful. Thanks.

I love the way you think through these musical thoughts. I have been exposed to music all through my life. My sister was a classically trained vocalist who attended University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory and finished at Ohio State. I would travel to Cincinnati with her in the summer and take percussion lessons with one of the guys in the symphony. These days I spend time with my DAW “playing” with music as a hobby. Your ideas are always so interesting and challenge me to think differently. Thank you for sharing these cognitively rich sessions with us. It’s always good.

“Inevitable not predictable” ❤

I think it speaks volumes about your skill and insight as a composer and music educator that, whenever I watch a video like this from you, I feel like I should or could have realized it myself way earlier already - like, it's so simple and useful, and there's nothing gimmicky about it, yet I didn't realize it earlier myself. Ingenious! It's like the way you describe a musical phenomenon makes me auto-understand it. Thank you.

Thanks

Thank you for what you're doing on this channel. Quickly becoming my favorite stop. I love how you manage to translate your in-depth knowledge into terms a simpleton, like me, can understand (mostly). Even more, I enjoy your dry whit. A remarkable combination.

Speaking of your composition teacher, I’ve recently performed “Lou’s” Beatles arrangements. His rules for harmonic freshness are preset in those as well. I was honestly blown away with them when reading through them for the first time. Absolutely incredible. I don’t even like the Beatles tbh

This feels nice and meaty! Thank you for this great video! Really good stuff!

Great video, sir!

Really interesting. I never thought about splitting up the chords into left hand base chords, right hand melody. I shall now go away and experiment. Thank you.

Very interesting and I appreciate the way you explain these concepts. I write this way fairly often where I'll extract a melody from a 'chord progression' I'm hearing. Of course it can go the other way too where a melody will inform a chord progression or maybe better said a particular voice leading. Great stuff and thanks for sharing.

Amazing video as always!!! An studio tour would be great!

voice leading comes in handy

Great video as usual, and like others, I particularly enjoyed the moment when you extracted your melody from the block chord progression (which itself to me was very interesting in its ''strangeness'' even though not jarring). Often I get a melody and try to put chords around it, or try to put a melody on top of all the chord notes - now I'm going to try extract the melody and transform chord into melody notes! Will add that to my toolbox...

FANTASTIC!! Thank you so much for this!! 😀

About ten years ago, when I got into synths and all, I learned how to make efficient chord changes, by preferably moving but one finger. That ultimately got me stuck in writing everything like Cm -> Ab. I will try this technique out to see if I can get away from my pattern. I guess it also kinda really depends on what kind of music you make tho. I love making Synthwave, which is basically pop. But yes, this could bring me new colors! I hope they're neon!

loved this video thank you for being one of the best music theory teachers on youtube!

Good principles. Thanks 😃

nice. Thanks for these videos. They are always good to hear and think about.

Harmonic freshness sounds like only playing sus chords. It keeps the surprise and tension..

thanks x 1000 to you, lately, my synth pads sound amazing!

As a bassist, I feel there's another harmonic element that was perhaps overlooked, possibly Rhythmic Harmony? Bass players are the glue between the keyboardist's chords, the electric guitarist melodies, and the drummer's rhythmic patterns. As the glue of this operation, bassists typically only play the _root note,_ but it's a type of *foundational Harmony* that has a rhythmic element involved. I don't know if I explained this very well, but you seem to be missing the harmonic element of a bassist role in music, perhaps maybe... 🤔 Great video btw 😊

Never heard of non-functional harmony. Could you do a video on that in the future, please

May I ask about "Cyclic Chord Progression" because there is a time and place for this? Your instructions and motivation to go anti-loop is revolutionary and thank you for opening up a new world to me! But I fear that most of my music is, uh, cyclic :P

Thank you.

ahh beautiful

oooh this is some good stuff

This was an awesome video thank you so much

Thanks, very inspiring, will try that on the weekend. but some times it sounds like sounds a bit like Schönberg's 12 tone music

Soooo cool!😎

Awesome video good sir

❤😮 I totally get the idea behind this but your fingers seem to natural abstract a lovely melody from these chords whereas mine, at best, arpeggiate them.

Great stuff! Are there any composers (or any pieces or albums of your own music) you'd recommend in particular for getting your ears used to non-functional harmony?

That’s interesting, because analysis for function when it was explicitly not part of the writing process is the most fascinating kind of analysis for me. Precisely because there’s no “true” answer, not even any “true” key centre, so compelling arguments can be made for all sorts of different “sounds”. Also, by putting your teacher’s freshness term in your video, it’s functionally become your term too regardless of disclaimer :P

Hey Jameson what do you think about "off grid" music. I really started experimenting with that and making more atmosperic and a bit more "chaotic" music, Any thoughts about that?

Okay, okay, I just signed up for the ebook🤣. It hasn't shown up yet... if it doesn't, I'll try again later, no big deal.

Who's the author of "Passcaille" ? It sounds just . . . beyond words !

That harmonic lift and freshness is nifty, albeit not popular with a broader audience at all. But in the short time I’ve started watching your videos, popular music doesn’t seem to be your goal.

your example of non-functional chords immediately had me thinkin of Planet X ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-E-8e2r5CJAs.html

The music I write is typically non functional. I didn't know that before I watched this video.

I can play L'acension with one hand and eyes closed.

Eyebrows 🤣

Brilliant! But please we have to have a different name "non functional harmony" sounds terrible and very negative. I put diesel in my petrol car once, it made it "non functional" see what I mean.

I can't understand organ music. It sounds terrible to me, usually way too reverby and all the notes just run together into a muddy slop

Do you ever smile? 👀 👄

I wish I´ve had a music teacher (a very very long time ago 🧓) in my school days presenting the exciting theory as you do. Although being a pure amateur I still like music and making music for my own pleasure. Nevertheless I´ve learned a lot of you and appreciate the way you share and teach your knowledge. Thank you 👍.