This has to be the most effective tutorial on any subject I have seen on RU-vid - perfectly judged level, pace, explanatory examples, and no repetition or waffle. Thank you so much for sharing these and helping to make the world a better place.
That's a wonderful comment and very helpful to me. This video has not had a comment in a year, so sometimes I wonder if I should re-post previous vids with new titles, because people watch only the recent videos now. I liked the way this one worked out, and you've just confirmed that. Thanks!
Kent- This is terrific. The applications you show are way beyond where my teacher, bless her heart, leaves off. This is the stuff I've tried to get her to show me! Thanks, a lot. You are the man, man! - mark
Mark Kautsky Thanks. Had to stop taking lessons because of this. All we ever did was sight reading, but I get so much more understanding from Kent's videos. I can do the sight reading thing on my own--I do miss the critiques she gave me at times, but after a few years of that (as an adult at least) you kinda start to anticipate it.
Thanks for commenting...much appreciated. I did another video with diminished chords on "Someone To Watch Over Me". I've seen Barry's class video and I believe that's a diminished scale based a a major 6th chord but I'll have to do some more "unraveling" before I can comment on it !.
My man you got some skills! You re good at the explanations too. Very much like the examples you picked as demos. You made me think of Mr Alleyne the church organist and my first piano teacher. Damn i shoulda paid more attention!😎
Thanks, great video man.. I really find it hard to keep track when descending in a key from a inverted chord, to a diminished in between another inverted chord. I've practiced inverting chords in my left hand all the way up a key but it still seems hard to mix it with diminished chords as well
Sorry... I missed your question. It's complicated.... but the diminished chord should be formed on the chromatic note or bass note that doesn't fit the diatonic scale. The bass note that fits the scale can then be a root or an inversion...that's the tricky part. That is the important thing to understand regarding all the various ways a diminished chord can resolve.... because each move is a kind of resolution. Do you understand?
thanks a lot for your tips.brought tears to my eyes to finally begin to understand jazz!i took classic courses and played in jam sessions so I had a good base but I never touched jazz caus it seemed so complicated! you explain it so good now time to practice.again thanks!!!
+patrick caramanlian Patrick, Thanks so much!!.....that is a very generous and sincere comment, and I will always cherish it. Music does that for me, and I consider music a great gift (as a listener and player).
Hi Kent, So, it's so interesting I came across this video! So I learned about fully diminished seventh chords when I was learning how to play a R&B song. There was this really cool, strange chord progression that just led into the next tone and it just sounded like a beautiful step. So I figured out that it was just moving half steps from minor sevenths but then adding a diminished seventh in between. And, I now have that in my vocabulary and have been practicing it. And to know that this is a common thing, that you in fact laid out here, it makes me wonder how many other concepts I have yet to learn. Thanks for your video! It was nice to see my discovery formalized into technical language!
Antonio Hodges Thanks for your comment...it's a pleasure to share the knowledge. Please subscribe and give a thumbs up to videos you like..,,.much appreciated.
WOW KENT !! I'M JUST NOW TUNING IN TO YOUR FANTASTIC CHANNEL, AN' I'M BLOWN AWAY FOR GOOD !! HOW DOES ONE PERSON LEARN SO MUCH IN SUCH A SHORT TIME ? YOU ARE SUCH A GREAT RESOURCE ! I HOPE THIS MUSIC NEVER DIES, OR YOU EITHER FOR THAT MATTER !! I'D LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR MUSICAL TRAVELS. AND HOW DID YOU LEARN ALL OF THIS WONDERFUL KNOWLEDGE ? IN OTHER WORDS HOW CAN I STUDY THIS MOST EFFECTIVELY? I'LL BE BACK FROM NOW ON MAAAAN !!! ALSO YOUR CHOPS ARE AMAZING DUDE !! YESSSS !!
Thanks, Steve. It's the product of many years of study, practice, and playing. In 2008 I decided to write a book that I had dreamed doing for many years...so for me that was an important goal achieved. I'm happy to pass on the knowledge. I appreciate your comment. Write to me at kenthewitt@hotmail.com
Thank you so much for sending me the invitation to your channel. I thought "man, another spam", but I looked and I watched few of your videos and I gotta say, you sir, are great! You're an amazing player and you really can explain things in a simple way. And I like the songs that you pick as examples. Really nice!
+Jakub Urbánek Hi, thanks so much! That's a superior comment and I really appreciate the compliment because I only get a 5% response from the invitations and it's very gratifying to hear that you are benefiting from my invitation. That keeps me going, so please subscribe and keep listening!
Thanks Kent. Yes ,I was thinking that the family was applying to the diminished triads. Ex. C Family contains Eb F# and A. What you explain at the start of your video indicates this. I will have to read your explanation again.
Louis Levy Thanks for the nice comment, Lou. I don't know why you don't show up on my subscribers list unless your Google account is private. I can see Gene and Bill there. Please keep in touch.
Thaks for share your knowledge with us, master. I really enjoyed this video and i can't wait for play the piano and use a lot of half diminished chords!
Lewis Mathias I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for the nice comment! This is encouraging and I hope to do more with diminished chords...I'll be back home from a teaching assignment after 7/26. Please subscribe and check out my videos.
hi Kent great tutorials for piano solo. I wish I found some tutorials on how to comp on piano in a trio or in a quartet. They would be helpful when playing with friends. Thanks anyway, great job!
+Kent Hewitt Given you are a fantastic pianist and teacher, that would be greatly appreciated, almost nobody has made tutorials on that topic in the internet but there is no good pianist if he can't play in a band!
This is all new to me, so PLEASE help and clearly with much detail explain why when the root is a C#/Db (enharmonic) do you call it a "G Family" just because it has a G in it? How does this "Family" theory work in transposition and did you make this "Family" theory up? I have yet to see it in a theory book, but I am only on Level 7 Theory:) Other theory tutorials have implied that Family names are set according to the root of a chord or the function of a chord within a specific musical mode (such as Ionic, Aonic etc. or something like that) or Music Key. I enjoy learning and can barely wait to hear your reply? Also please what chord name from (Prelude in C By J.S.Bach origional manuscript measure 29) is: G and Eb (in bass staff) and low G C E (in trebble staff)? Thank you for your sincere and prompt reply:) Why don't you name the families according to the root name?
I haven't seen it in any theory books. I reduced the concept to 3 families + C, F and G, because those are the 3 simplest keys. The families are built on diminished chords (all minor 3rd intervals) So the C family would be C , Eb, Gb, A, and so on in the same manner for each family. I have more videos that explain this in detail...go top my playlists. Also watch this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8A41X1RbKdk.html
When I was 14 I ran into this semi hip sax player who'd been hanging around our great playing Stan Kenton alumnus jazz band director who had really kinda help establish the scene in the town I grew up in. Long story short I was playing cello in the amature chamber group at UNCC . So was hanging out there once a week and ran into this semi hip player and asked him what he was doing when he improvised. He replied man I only know one thing you don't and that's how to use diminished scales. He meant over dominants but anyway it was the 1st chromatically altered chord to enter western music. It's where the shit gets serious ☺🙋♂️😎☯️
Wow! Excellent! Thanks for explaining the Evans chord and run in Someday My Prince. Still don't understand the function of the dim chords in descending patterns. Doesn't sub for a dominant with the root a major 3rd below...
+Vico Re Thanks! You're are right and that's a good point. the dominant 7th a major 3rd below wants to resolve to the 1/2 step above the diminished chord (ascending). But because of the stacked tritones the diminished chord can resolve (or move) in a variety of ways. So descending it could move down a 1/2 step but that note could be a root, or 3rd, or 5th of the chord. Are you with me? anyway...you bring up a good point...and I might do another video on this subject. Hope you gave it a thumbs up.
awsome video! ... when you say that it's posible to move from a diminished chord to any other chord inverted or vice versa . Is it because of semitone relation?
I'm a big fan of your tutorials and I'm really a novice in jazz piano as a whole so I would really appreciate if you showed these examples twice or a little bit slower because it's really hard for me to figure out what notes exactly are you playing - like for example this diminished run of Bill Evans. Thanks again.
Here’s a suggestion on how slow down the pace of the video without changing the pitch: While the video is running, just go the settings under the video (a wheel icon), select the option: speed, then select .5. That will play the video slower or at half speed w/o changing the pitch. You can also forward and reverse the vid using the arrow tabs and stop or start the video using the space bar. Let me know if this helps...thanks!
Hi Kent, I'm kinda new in Jazz Music, and i feel i haven't known anything yet. i would be grateful if u point me out to ur videos would be great for starters, so i can learn to crawl before walking. thanks for you anticipated reply. And thanks for sharing your knowledge
+jeffrey ikechukwu Thanks for the comment and question. If you go to my channel page (click on my name under the video), then go to the category Playlists, that will take to all the categories organized in groups. Select the group Easy Jazz Lessons by clicking on the title (not the video). You will see a list of videos in that category...you can watch one or any number. There's other categories you might try and select songs or subjects that interest you, because I don't have that many easy ones. Here's a link: ru-vid.com/group/PLFuMibnl_h5aTaUnQpBtsc6p1ZsLsxagq
+imkitsoularas You might start by checking out my tutorials on Someone To Watch Over Me and Fly Me To The Moon. Both of those tutorials make use of diminished chords.Another song to check out is Bewitched, Bothered , and Bewildered which I may do a tutorial on later. Please subscribe...thanks!
Hi Kent, the print out the Pdf file called (cool) Parallel Diminished Patterns appears to list the families incorrectly. The F family is shown with C at the bottom. Am I on the wrong page?
What measure(s) are you referring to? If you're playing an F altered- dominant scale starting on F with a half step, then the voicing in the left hand can read (from bottom) C-Gb-B which is the 5th-b9-#11. The left hand could also be played Eb-A D... (same chord up a minor 3rd now reads b7-3-13). The families are referring to the altered dominant chords, not the diminished chords. It's easy to confuse them. F family= F-G#-B-D = scale F-Gb-G#-A-B-C-D-Eb-F (symmetrical and alternates between 1/2 and whole). Notice that the chord tones for both 3- note voicings are in that scale.
The "stationary diminished" resolution seems to be the basis of the first change in "Out of Nowhere". From Gmaj7 it goes to Bb-7 Eb7 and back to Gmaj7. (Say what?) But it makes sense if you consider the Eb7 as a substitution for the Gdim, leading to a common tone resolution back to G. Then just approach the Eb7 with its ii chord and voila.
Yes, but the F natural in the melody in the 3rd measure to accommodate the Bbm7 chord, kind of messes up your concept. You are right about the Go7 being an inversion of the Eb7 chord. The problem is the b9 is E (common tone to Go7) and I think you want a 9th in the chord which is the altered F natural. G diminished will resolve back to Gmaj7...you're right about that.
I'd really like to get good at hearing harmony and I've heard of people who can call out the chords for really complex tunes right away, how do I get this ability? Also, the kind of music I listen to tends to be in the post-bop kind of genre, so, the Miles Davis Quintet, Keith Jarrett's European Quartet, V.S.O.P., Mcoy Tyner and so on, and I'd like to be able to get the harmonies for their music by ear so I can imitate the players I love.
+TFP 3141 I've found a program called "Transcribe" which helps a lot if you want to transcribe from a recording or mp3. You can highlight sections, even measures and put them on a loop so that they keep repeating. Then I try to match the sound on the keyboard. Even one wrong note will be obvious and the chord won't sound right. You can even slow down the tempo without changing the key. Before that I had to approximate, but I always did it a lot and got better at it over time. The more practice you spend doing it, the better it gets. But the program is helpful. All practice is good either way.
+Kent Hewitt I deleted that comment because it was essentially what I laid out here, I have subscribed and I've found transcribe on my computer, turns out I have the full version. Would you know any recordings by Miles Davis' Second Quintet- my favorite band- ('65-'68) that would be easy to transcribe? I want to be able to get into the music that they created in their time.
Use the wheel (gear) below the video to select the language for sub-titles. Also watch this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-07Qlhd_-p0s.html
RE: Bewitched: The only problem (at 4:10) is that I think the melody, on the 4th beat of measure 2 was written originally as an F NATURAL, which really screws things up for the Eb diminished chord we like to play... What the hell was Richard Rodgers thinking... damn.
+Mark Eisenman Good Point and most people wouldn't have caught that. If you were playing it for a Broadway show or movie you couldn't use the diminished chord there and the progression wouldn't be as good. Rodgers was not a jazz composer (or Gershwin either for that matter) but as jazz musicians we have the liberty to alter the melody to fit the better progression. An interesting question is what would Bill Evans or Erroll Garner have done with that issue? Many thanks!
+Mark Eisenman That's interesting to know. Good for you for checking that out! So I guess some of the greats will take the liberty and others are more purists, and respectful of the composer. Very interesting to know how such a small detail could be an important issue. Thanks!
Please watch this video...it will give a lot of tips on how to slow down the video and other features, to have a more comprehensive experience w/ my tutorials. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-07Qlhd_-p0s.html
I use the wheel below the video...it's the settings button. There you'll see options , one being to slow the video down...also for sub titles in different languages, etc. Check this video of mine: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-07Qlhd_-p0s.html
