Stuck Playing Boring Chords? Watch This Video 

Jake appreciation thread GO

Moments like the one at 5:53 are way funnier when you remember Jake is the editor

THIS is probably the most inspiring, liberating and mind-expanding lesson I've ever received since Victor Wooten's "there are no wrong notes" speech

Love how uncomfortable Jake looked every time you said the funny music words.

Yeah I fall into the trap of just playing root chords over an over again, this is really helpful

This is exactly how I write music. It takes forever to write something longer than a few bars, it's really hard to get a consistent theme/style going, but at least it's never boring. It's more like coral growing slowly bit by bit, not like building a house from a floorplan, but that's what works for me. I really like the video. Gotta play random chords again sometime soon

Man with magical illustrated arms presses white and black buttons chaotically and magical jazz alien translates button sounds into number sentences.

I feel like a super cool addition to the videos would be an overhead cam pointed downward at the keyboard, so that we could have footage of the player's hands as they play. You're doing something similar with the CG graphics already, that illustrates specific notes, chords, scales, etc. But I think it would be so cool to have that perspective of the player's hands as they play that you don't really get from the current front-facing setup. Just a thought. Cool video though regardless of anything!

One of my favorite musicians said “MUSIC before Method” which means the goal as a musician is finding/creating sounds you like and then afterwards use theory as a way to conceptualize it. This is a great exercise and I’ll definitely try this out!

I love how Jake is a little anxious from doing this video because it is just unnatural as hell to talk to a camera when you aren't used to it. :D Really shows how much of a professional you are, Charles.

Polychord fractions. A great way to learn, remember and incorporate complex chord sounds into your playing.

13:36 This chord has some serious Howie Mandel vibes. I absolutely love it.

That look Charles gave to Jake at 7:22 had me laughing. And btw nice chord progression, Jake!

Thats how i started learning piano.. and ukulele aswell.. just exploring the instrument and finding patterns that fit good together.. later i recognized that as scales n stuff xD.. still much to learn, but the journey is a blessing 🙏 hope you and everyone reading this has a beautiful day! ✨

You know something interesting. In all other fields of art, its difficult to find more advanced stuff. Like the majority of stuff you find on the internet is directed at beginners. With music however, I see the opposite. Nothing really teaches you the basics, what you can do without music theory, Ive never found a video walking you through on a step by step basis making a musical piece. But here, for once, I see you making a video, on how someone might play chords without music theory. And then you explain it, like youre talking to someone with lots of music theory knowledge, explaining the theory behind it, despite the person playing it having none of that theory. Its just interesting to me that music is so complex that most people interested in it dont really need the basics but already kind of know that part. At least thats how it seems to me.

I just pick a scale in my DAW, slap down root notes, and add more notes until it sounds good to me, and I've gotten some pretty damn good results out of that

Thank you, I will definitely try this with my students 😍 In music schools there's way too much theory before they really use their ear with attention, and creativity.

I've been searching for this video for 5 years! Such an invaluable, inviting conversation for beginners alike to start exploring harmonies without rules. In high school I always wondered how people started to create such beautiful progressions, and this video finally gave me peace of mind in that regard. Thank you for all your amazing content Charles. A diamond in our community.

I want MORE of Jake's reactions 😂😂😂 that could be it's own channel lmao

This really incentivizes that part of my brain that always wants to spend practice time doing random shit

I've been falling in love with J-pop recently. They often use the famous 4-3-6 progression. With some minor 5th Chord to create tension. This video will definitely help me create more beautiful chords. This is mainly how I found your channel. You're such a great musician and teacher. I've played piano for over 20 years, but it's just this month I've started learning about roman numerals. I know a lot of people make fun of not understanding anything in your comment section: "Don't understand, but love his enthusiasm". However, you make this really easy to grasp, and lots of people will benefit from this 👏🏼✨🎹

Jake, PLEASE don't stop making good videos at charles' expense.

9:45 That chord sounds pretty cool with the distance between the lowest note and the rest of the notes, it kind of sounds like there's some beating between the notes.

I literally play around like this on the piano all the time. What I need to get better at is getting in the habit of recording it every time so I can remember what the hell I did.

this is such a useful video. i had formal training for years but when i went to try and do stuff on my own this is sort of where i got hung up. big love to jake who crushed it!

I'm just now seeing this video and I just have to say... Somebody was eventually going to do it, and I haven't seen it in the comments yet, so I'll do it lol... What Jake plays at 14:30 is... (and I've tried to simplify this to the most basic root position, accounting for repeating notes, also with one inversion to try and represent most accurately what he plays for the last chord in the sequence) 1st chord: *_F6/11(no5)_* with an F Major 3rd on top (F, A) F, A, Bb, D, F, A 2nd chord: *_Ab6/9_* with an Ab(add2) triad on top. (Ab, Bb, C) Ab, Bb, C, Eb, F, Ab, Bb, C 3rd chord: *_E6/9_* with an Ab on top. E, Gb, Ab, B, Db, Ab 4th chord: *_AbMaj9/13/F_* and if he played the F right next to the G he plays with his right hand middle finger, it would've been a root position AbMaj9/13... But since he plays the F an octave lower with his left hand ring finger, it's an AbMaj9/13/F. F, Ab, Bb, C, Eb, G

This video was exactly what I needed. I’ve been struggling with chord inversions a lot lately and since I’m auditioning for a Jazz study this year I really need to know all these different voicing. But with practices like these I can definitely enjoy exploring the path down to the finish line

Thanks for useful and joyful content, Charles!

Such a good mix of introductory ideas with advanced insights! I had to rewatch a few moments to internalize the various finger voicings you flew through- but it really helped me see how multiple chords can live within a single hand shape. Thank you for the lesson

This is genius, this a great way to both give us confidence and the ability to learn thank you 🙏

That's an awesome chord progression, Jake! 💪🏼

We want a whole lot more like this kind of videos. Take love Cornell❤

I have a good ear for harmony, but know very little music theory. This approach is so liberating! Thank you so much Charles Cornell.

Jake looked so anxious but he made a very nice voicing. Definitely sounded very jazzy

Thank you so much for this. it's so helpful. I'm always here for the enthusiasm on this channel

My problem is I struggle finding the next chord to play. I can hear it in my head where the movement wants to go but struggle getting there.

This is brilliant Charles, from someone who just messes around playing my favourite songs (badly), knowing nothing of the theory, this simple concept here speaks volumes!

Man I wish I could find a music teacher like you!! This was amazing and inspiring

In my opinion, *as soon as I have any reason to play a note / sound in a musical context, this is considered as music theory* . If I play a major chord because it sounds happy, this is theory. If I play "HONK" after "VROOM" by wanting to make a car-like effect, this is theory. If I wanna play random notes, this is also theory, because it being random is a criteria itself. I think the so-called "music theory" nowadays is more of a bunch of theories that have been proved to work especially well... But to me, the worst thing for a musician wouldn't be not to know music theory, but rather, *to satisfy itself of its current music theory and stop searching further* . Take Jacob Collier, considered by many as an irreplaceable genius, at the end, how did he get that much theory? It's not a blessing or anything, but very likely, all he did was just accepting that there could be stuff that he wouldn't know yet, and so he would always have considered that he could go further and further (Well there're probably willpower and brain condition too but I aint go that far). I think a very good approach for new composers would be to question everything : "Why does it work like that?", "Could I do the contrary?", then build their own music theory. I must say nowadays, "industrial" music (especially western) kinda sounds more and more... Déjà vu, many producers seeming to barely understand anything in music theory, just sticking into what they already know... (Although Japan sure did understand they could push theory further instead of doing the same thing again and again, so for me, it's one of the best place to look for modern music). Because at the end, the time signature, the tempo, the key, the instruments,... all these are just parameters that make the music actually "understandable" by the human brain, and there's nothing telling that it would stop working if one tweaks any of these. Also, finding the best parameters ever to make the ultimate song is a nonsense to me. Like in everything in art, if something becomes too common, people will be used to it and will be more likely to enjoy something else.

This is a very helpful, useful video. I'll probably be coming back to this one often. Thank you, Charles and Jake, for sharing your musical gifts and lesson with us.

I love this video SOOO much! As someone who really loves music theory now, I got my start playing around on the keyboard (or sax) in my room and just experimenting and seeing what sounded good. There are even chord progressions that I came up with when I was a lot younger that I've only learned in later years what they actually are.

Great video, would love to see more of these teaching-style videos. Would love to see Jake again too.

It's definitely a fun way to explore and bond with an instrument. I'm at home on piano but really studying and trying to understand the guitar now. I know a bunch of chords. Just messing around with the theory I know and trusting my ears and what sounds good has led to some wonderful inspirations and given me extended practice times on guitar to see where it all leads (and then take some of this stuff and toss it back to piano...and slowly tossing piano stuff to guitar).

Wow what a great video! As a novice piano player who mostly plays by ear and wonders where to go sometimes this video is really an inspiration to sit down at my piano and just 'play' and come up with things that sound good to me. You never know where it might lead right? Thank you guys!

I am a beginner pianis t and watching this video, I think its a good way to start.... There are many thing we do wrongly but this will help clarify things

13:40. Nice sound that. I'll play around with it when I get home. This is really cool content Charles. Especially for me, I've been playing about 8 years, but don't know much theory, nor do I read.

I just saw you with Sungazer in Denver. It was such a great show and congratulations on the induction!

I just got your MORE KEYS sweatshirt for my birthday recently and i just want to thank you so much for all this great content that both is informative and funny

This really helps me a lot and changed my perspective in playing thank you!

I think so far this is one of the best video you ever made for beginner who try to learn piano

Love this video. Please do more of this!!

Awesome video🔥 made learning and playing chords less complicated🙏🏾💪🏾💯

I'M THANKFUL FOR THIS!!!

Why does Jake look like he was held at gun point for this video?

3:37 😊 smile!

Absolutely great! That's how I taught music "theory" to my daughter. We called it "Töne finden" = "find the tones". She learned some theory afterwards. That "lack" of theory didn't never kept her from playing super crazy stuff on the piano.

Amazing format, more of this!

amazing approach! once being graduated from Music University, your brain is stuck to all the rules and this is exactly what fresh graduates need to get out of the box and make new experiences. Music University is amazing, we learn lots of techniques, which are super useful for surviving in the industry and making money. But the way of seeing things, is an artistic thing, has nothing to do with what we've all learnt in the university. Respect and please do more videos like this.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This was such a fantastic resource, 11/10 content!

Dude this is awesome, James u save us all the time. This is amazing🥰😍

MORE VIDEOS LIKE THIS PLEASE!!!😭

This is an awesome video. I'm a music producer who really struggles to play keys. I love piano but I'm awful at it, and when I sit down at the keyboard I just get overwhelmed with what I should play and default to known chords and progressions, mostly the root chords and I make something that sounds boring. It was great to see how blind exploration can create some interesting sounds. I've heard a lot of visual artists say "paint like a child" and I think it applies well to music as well. When we're children we're not afraid to play something that sounds bad, but when we grow up we start to judge our own creations because we have perspective on what sounds "good" and "bad". I think this is a great way to break out of that habit.

theres alot to learn here even outside of being applied strictly to piano! i am mostly a guitar player and this concept of using your ears to shift almost random shapes into lush, full and gorgeous chords is something ive done for years because of lack of music theory knowledge.

Very inspirational. Your vids always make me want to jump on the piano after watching!

jake playing a g minor chord led me down a 20 minute rabbit hole of me looking at a whole bunch of my old music and i'm not sure how i feel about that also jake's a cool guy 👍

Its delightful to discover new beautiful sounds

I wanna learn so much about music theory but don't have the recourses but this channel helps me a lot

Absolutely incredible lesson!

any time Jake plays anything: ANOTHER TRIUMPH!

My cat: Steps on piano Charles: Ooooo, interesting

SOOO helpful! And it was nice meeting Jake!!

I believe that these two very sympathetic human beings manage to show the magic of music or harmony or how you want to call it! To keep it short: it’s magic!

As a guitarist who just puts some pads and some fills with my midi keyboard in my demos this is absurdly useful.

Man this content is top-gosh-darn-shelf

14:35 - I'm a FL user and imma compose those notes sequences into some full Jazz music,it sounds so good in my head you don't even know... Like you said I don't need to know music theory in detail to compose my own sounds.

This episode was hilarious haha loved it

nice video. thanks charles.

This video made me SO happy! That's pretty much my approach to harmony. Good to know I'm not crazy! haha

Great! Very freeing

Noice. Also check out soundtrack of Kirby Forgotten Lands, specifically Blizzard Bridge. Solos in that one sound super jazzy

Nice riff Jake!

more videos like this Charles 🙏🙏🙏

Haha The dude's face expressions as Charles talks about chrods are priceless.

This is why I started out by just smashing the keyboard and enjoy the all the wonderful sounds that came up... all the theory, the context the "what the hell is that?" came later... But I feel it's valuable part of going forward.

Wow thats helpful and also you had double notes in there (two keys played at the same time with no space in between the notes) I always thought the rule of thumb was to never let that happen ever but it actually sounded alright with the rest of the keys

Yeah my brain when immediately to that F6 first inversion, too!!!! It didn't, I lied. I was kinda laughing along with Jake in the same total confusion when you started into the "I could call it" loop. When you hit B minor I though, ah, time to write a mass. :-) Cluster voicing...barber shop? I don't even play piano but your videos are always informative and interesting even so, from just the standpoint of listening to music with greater knowledge and a appreciation for what is going on. I pointed out to one organist that was playing some humongous organ with many very wide rows of stops that if you played that organ twelve hours a day, trying each different combination of stops available you couldn't BEGIN to have gotten all of them. You could give one hundred people one thousand years each and you still wouldn't have covered even the tiniest percentage. With music you have voicing, many instruments, dynamics, timing, perhaps text, etc that means the same is FAR more true there. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. There will never be, even if man is around a million more years, all the music written that can possibly be. WELL, let's get started. You need to tone Jake down a bit, that dude is just way too wild and out of control. Seriously though, nice job learning Jake. I've been saying forever that I'm going to pick up a keyboard and learn...you on the other hand, are doing it. Good luck in your endeavor. You've got one HELL of a teacher there, when he does, I will say that. Sometimes when he really starts digging into theory it makes my hair hurt, but I would take some music classes from him any time. He really knows how to keep it fresh and interesting.

6:43: One of the best ever bro moments on RU-vid starts here.

I kinda want a sample pack of "Jake drops hands on piano" chords

Way to go, Jake.

Can you do a video similar but combines melody and chord? This style is really helping

Can you review the music from the NieR games? I've fallen in love with the minor chords and vocals in the music.

This was a great video!

Jake the photogenic natural or something like that. Also sick sleeves dude!

Yo was Jake playing 'Beginning of the End'? Did not expect to see that here, super cool song!

Great video now I'm gonna see it

I needed this video

I would love to hear an improv progression from you with a voice-over of your thought process AS you are playing? Can we get a little something like that?

This is kinda what I needed. I can make chord progressions sound great, but a lot are root stuff. Now I can take my minute of complete unsettled dissonance and see what happens when I break it down chord by chord and change/omit some notes in each chord

11:38 I immediately thought "that's the first chord Freddie plays on the piano in the Queen song You Take My Breath Away." Though now that I looked it up, it's a half step off, the Queen song starts on Cm7 apparently! Maybe the voicing is very similar, interesting. (I'm a guitar player, not a piano player lol) Also, the chord sequence Jake came up with reminds me of something Adam Neely would play, especially the last two chords, lol....I'm not quite a point where I can name a chord instantly by hearing it, but I think I'm slowly getting there. I kinda do the same thing on guitar myself sometimes actually, I'll mess around and put my fingers in weird places, and sometimes end up with something that sounds cool, then I try to figure out what the heck I just played!

I love this so much