Love this. It kinda broke my heart a little bc I actually remember the very first time I played a C Maj 7 just like that when I was a kid. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. But now that I'm all grown up, I don't play it that way anymore. I don't miss the chord, I miss being young!
@@IntelligentsiaUS triad noun tri·ad ˈtrī-ˌad also -əd Synonyms of triad 1 : a union or group of three : trinity 2 : a chord of three tones consisting of a root with its third and fifth and constituting the harmonic basis of tonal music triadic trī-ˈa-dik adjective triadically trī-ˈa-di-k(ə-)lē adverb
Don't you think that if you habitually add the 9 11 13 to everything it all starts sounding same same ? Like those are some of the extensions we use to add colour and dissonance . If everything is colour and dissonance then it becomes a wash
Completely agree. I also agree with what Adam is saying here but I hear that. I tend to play a G13 when the music calls for a G7 and I fall into the same extension usage which results in, maybe prettier chords, but the 'same' chords nonetheless. Even rich chords can get boring after a while so recently I've been trying to switch and vary it up! Sometimes play some extensions but sometimes just stick to a G7 but with a unique voicing to change it up. I do agree that stacking thirds can sound monotonous and uninteresting though
@@simonn8312Agreed. It has an inclusive sing-a-long aspect in the composition. If more color tones were added in the intro it might have been too out of place. (maybe I'm overthinking this, he could have just liked the stacked sound).
LOVE IT! RE: the G7 voicing, the trap is THE 5th.... 5ths on dominant 7th chords are the kiss of harmonic death. WHY? It's obvious, it undermine ALL of the juicy possible upper extensions especially the ALTERED ones, (b13, #11) In general 5ths are a problem, in a sense it's like doubled a note, because the 5th is the 1st overtone of the root after the octave (and it quite loud). So playing it is like doubling a note (something that is thing to be avoid or very careful with. You are onto something, it's smart to learn the shit you should NEVER do (a few principles) than the million things one COULD do (theoretically) that sound awful. Have you ever seen the extensive list of chord voicings in Bill Dobbins book? OMG, Nobody learns like that.
Fifths are great for voice leading as they’re shared among many chords in a way that isn’t as awkward as the other common notes. Also I completely disagree that a fifth, especially when in a lower range, undermines a flat 13 or a #11, and I would even say it’s wonderful as a close minor second if placed in the proper context, but it could easily be spoiled
For people following along. Of course the 5th as a pedal point is a wonderful sound. But if one plays this chord.... Bb G Eb right h. B -------------------- F left hand G It sounds great, but now add the 5th in between the G and F in the left hand while keeping everything else the same? Woah, do you REALLY want to go with that sound? You're talking about voice leading? In the case of G7#9,b13 the Eb will naturally resolve to the 9th of the following C chord (D). BUT if one is already playing the the "D" that undermines the function of the G7#9,b13 chord. Where does that b13 want to go, and why would anyone play that note (D) before the resolution? That's what the ear hears. Confusion. That's what I meant when I said the 5th "is the kiss of death for domination chords" because it undermines the function of the chord. I ask anyone reading this to play those to voicings and ask yourself "which one sounds better? 5th or no 5th." Please place your opinions below if you like.
I get what you’re saying and I’ve heard this sentiment a lot. There are contexts where this chord sounds great however especially in more pop/rnb settings. Using it over A or D to make A-9 or Dsus13 and then moving the G down to F# and the E down to Eb to make D713b9 is a sound we’re all familiar with.
Great information with a HORRENDOUS delivery. The first minute of this video is exactly the kind of garbage music pedagogy that has ruined formal music education. No context, no explanation for the myriad situations and styles in which you actually WOULD use those voicings, just "THIS IS BAD AND PLAYING MUSIC THIS WAY IS WRONG." Inspiring.
There are truly situations where these "basic" chords sound just perfect. So "never play this chord" is too stringent. Yes, you may choose a Kenny Barron voicing for a minor 11 or a Bill Evans "So What" voicing or any iother sophisticated stuff; but in some places the closed position maj7 voicings may sound really nice, even in root position. Also, if you add the "13th" to a major chord, it is should be called the 6th as it is a major chord, and with the 7 and the 6th in place at the same time it does strongly sound like an ending chord of a piece and not something that sound necessarily good while playing. I find that each chord, no matter which voicing, open, closed, thirds, quartal chords, stacked in fifth, crunched cluster chord, or whatever, w/ or w/o colorful extensions..... each has its unique character and place.
Funny how tastes change - Playing the 6th and 7th together on a major chord is something I used to think sounded bad, until the whole neo soul thing got me used to it, and now I do it all the time. Especially the quartal voicing of 7-3-6, but also the crunchier closed version here.
The worst chord I ever heard was when a friend in high school was performing 'happy birthday' on guitar and accidentally landed either a fret higher than intended on the final resolving chord. Sounded something like a G#m/C when playing the song in G.
Its why for most of western tonal history the maj7 was considered a tension note and a non chord tone. (NCT). In Barry Harris world you never play the tonic as a maj7, but as a maj6. Maj7 is inherently unstable. 7 is a leading tone and wants to go somewhere else… the 6 or the 1. Even if you use it for a IV chord, its as a maj9. (eg Cmaj6/F).
I feel attacked... Since I watched this video I had to have a heart to heart (with myself) about boring voicings. At the time, it was kind of depressing to think I was playing "the worst chords ever" on occasion and thinking it was OK. For a day or two I felt pretty shitty about it. Thing is, sometimes somebody has to tell you what you are doing wrong in strong words or it just doesn't get through. Like that friend that actually tells you about the boogie hanging out of your nose when everyone else was just trying not to look. It's embarrassing, and you may want to hide in a hole, but if you keep on going like that people might laugh at you.
I love this! Thanks for all the content! How about a video about Stardust? Why are there a million versions? What changes do you prefer and why? I avoid this tune like the plague on gigs because everybody uses a different version, but it's a shame since it's so beautiful. Any thoughts? Peace yall!
It’s funny you how you was teaching these chord!!! My md from the Tams was telling my that he voice im his chords in block form I told I spread my chords like I’m in the studio writing!!!! All of the instruments are covered live on stage so I spread with added layers to make us so bigger than what we are!!!
first thing that came to mind with the Dm7 voicing was Piano Man - don't know the song too well but I'm pretty sure it begins on that voicing. It definitely has uses in other styles of music, but something to avoid if you want to play Jazz
I usually play too many (even by my estimation) of those muddy stacked 3rd, unfortunately, but thankfully I moved out yesterday, so my only piano at the moment is a Reface CP, with its tiny keys. It's got the cutest little gig bag. Therefore, I'll be trying some unusual voicings for the next few days just because... But the previous lesson found its way in thru my skull to my hands somehow, so maybe this one will too. Really, that doesn't happen as often as it should or as I'd like, so I think this video format is pretty good.
I think the D-7 sounds good to some people bc that's basically a G7(9,11) chord. If you played D-7 and went strait to Cmaj13 that'd sound good. Especially if you play Fmaj6 to D-7 to Cmaj6.
Safely to say, a chord may not necessarily be totally out of the realm of possibility, and never completely isolated as an invalid option (that is, if it is used in a good and sensible context of a composer, in the best of their judgment and discretion). But of course, there are always the ineffective ways to apply harmonic texture if musical care isn’t thoroughly exercised. But this brought some very good and useful points in light of great harmonic language and elegant flow of jazz voicings and the plethora of viable options for tonal structure!🙂
My issue is that I get lost playing solo if I don't include the root. Like if I haven't practised a set of voicings in particular for a standard then I won't ever come up with something rootless whilst playing and trying to keep track of what melody works at the same time
This entirely clickbaity intro completely ignores most of (or at the VERY LEAST a large amount of) normal jazz (anything from 1910 or earlier up until the mid-1950s). I get that it's more "hip" to not play these types of root-/close-position chords, but it's just straight up revisionism to call these "the worst chord(s) ever/in the history of music", or "a terrible choice, no matter what you're playing". Even just the concept of implying "root- and close-position chords are never a good choice" or saying "take away the root 'cause we don't need it" is insane. I kinda get that you're trying to get people to default to rootless voicings because it's more likely to sound appropriate in a modern jazz context (and I guess that's what most people who learn jazz nowadays probably want to learn) but I highly question the educational value of just pandering to that ignorance, and not even discussing the tradition at all. Also, I feel like it's worth pointing out that the most common four-note, rootless LH voicing for a m7 chord is a major 7th built from the third (e.g. Gmaj7/E for Em7), and vice versa (e.g. Gm7/Eb for Ebmaj7), so clearly these shapes are not actually valueless. And one final note - the most egregiously wrong thing about this video (and the thing which, to me, feels the most un-jazzy) is that you played a natural dominant chord with no alterations for the G7. If you're going to go down the modern jazz route by default, at least flatten the ninth.
I feel a little called out here but also feel 'don't ever do it' is very harsh. When you played the Cmaj7 in standard voicing I thought it sounded great - coming from someone with a big background of ambient and house music, the simplicity of those chords really brings something to the table that is lost in the more jazzy voicings...
I feel really called out because I write a lot of music that uses just regular stacked 7th chords, and sometimes some inversions lol. I'm not actually a keyboard player proper (i'm a guitar player) but I do think of music theory in my head on a keyboard, and as soon as you start spreading out the voicings and stuff, it just starts to break my brain. But I admit that I have to agree that I like the voicings in this video more. I've been doing music stuff for so long but Open Studio reminds me of how little I actually know.
definitely get where you're coming from. A good rule is to follow nature, eg. a perfect 'harmonic series' chord is C - C - G - middle C - E (like the harmonics on a string) and note how the notes are far apart near the bottom and get more bunched up near the top. So you can just adjust the stacked 7th chords to have a similar kind of shape. Then again Beethoven didn't seem to care lol
So then start practicing these spread voicing with an intention :) take a chord and know exactly which degrees are you hitting - on a piano it's much easier than on a guitar!
I Can see the meaning of this, but when I attend a jam session the Music runs so fast I can’t overcome to play this new learning, so its more easy to go for the safe “bad sounding and bland voicings”. I wonder how to throw the Old and play the new.🥵
It's not a sin to include the fifth you know. For the d minor having the 5th (A) sounds quite nice. having the g instead make it sound more like a g sus4. Of course it depends on what the bass player is playing as well. I know he's joking some, but he didn't have to destroy the basic voicing so hard.
at some point, deforming the chordS that much makes it as boring as not spicing it up. Chord changes with notes so close to each other sound repetitive.
It's frankly a little disappointing to see this kind of video being put out by Open Studio. I fell in love with jazz because I listened to someone on RU-vid play these basic sounding root voicings many years ago. I'll probably love these chords until the day I die. Maybe this video is entirely facetious, but that wasn't clear throughout the entire 5 minutes, so I can only assume this video is entirely serious. I hope the beginners who watch this video aren't discouraged from playing jazz with these chords, or feel like they need to play the complex voicings shown to be a "good" jazz musician.
I think the video is more aimed at the intermediate pianist who has had some piano lessons or maybe even an advanced pianist who plays classical music but is new to jazz. You need to know some fundamentals to even be able to put together 7th chords and a ii V I progression. He's really just teaching fairly standard jazz piano voicings here but in an engaging way, IMO. To your point, if a student is excited about having just figured out 7th chords they'll hopefully be even more excited to learn all the cool color tones. Or there's always shell voicings if needed. Anything to get them thinking early about voice leading. I had a degree in piano performance before I ever did any jazz playing at all, and I really wish I'd seen this before I bought a copy of the real book and started putting together tunes without knowing any stylistically appropriate voice leadings lol
I don’t disagree with the argument that there are ways to improve upon basic sounding voicings, that the fifth can often be omitted, etc. I mostly disagree with how the video claims that Cmaj7 and it’s corresponding root position voicings are the “worst chords in the history of music”. Music is all about creating motion and tension. Ugly sounding, tense, voicings have a purpose, as well as dull, “boring” voicings built from a stack of thirds or that double the fifth or root. I’m a huge fan of Open Studio and want them to continue creating an open and inclusive jazz community. Videos like this don’t align with that mission, in my opinion.
BUT............ if you add an Eminor7 over the top of it (right hand)............it becames a different chord!!!!! Now spread it out in a plethora of ways that I know you're about to show!
I get the message of the video, however, play whatever you like however you like. You don't have to always play all the tensions. I used to think like this and now i'm screwed and can't play a straight triad without thinking it sounds cringe. Hear your music, play whats needed. If the part needs a root Cmaj7, play a root Cmaj7. Sophistication is beautiful but don't go too far. Edit: i know the video is made in a sarcastic way. I just thought i'd add my opinion for those who take things more literally xd
Adam I have something worse: You play those same stacked thirds voicings but a whole step higher because you’re a trumpet player and you got the chords from your Bb Real Book.
Reading all the comments here, I'm also kind of disappointed from that vid. Make a vid to show instead when and where these basic chords sound just right and why.
Please ALWAYS use this digital keyboard display! I love love LOVE your videos but have so much difficulty in discerning which keys are being pressed when it's just a camera hanging over your piano.
You probably shouldn’t be telling students this. First of all, Barry didn’t say not to play those chords. I disagree with your notion of those chords don’t sound good, but instead, I think you’ll agree that they should be moved or resolved. Anyway, I enjoy do enjoy your teaching, just disagreement about this
@@userziocaro Cmaj7 is not the same as Cmaj11. It sounds better, richer, etc... Because of the extensions. He's not manipulating the voicings, he's making new voicings. It's just fucking click bait, a desease that's all over youtube
