What's So Special About Dominant Chords?! 

Great comment! Thank you. I’d never thought about things like that before. I guess it just seems the most sensible and effective way to communicate some of these ideas. I’m glad you like the approach. Thanks for watching 👍🏼

Expiramental? Dude's speaking facts

Ditto

It IS a minor plagal cadence. Bm7b5 is just a Dm/B by another name. Coincidentally, this is also has the same notes as a C#7alt, which makes sense because that comes from A Major's relative minor F# and it also resolves directly there.

Ha! If only that was the truth! Glad you’re enjoying the channel, thanks for watching Joel. 👍🏼

Cheers John! 👍🏼

Oh Richard, your comment means so much! Thank you. I'm so pleased that you feel this way, it's very important to me that I come across as a friendly, fellow musician, sincerely talking about things that I find interesting and have helped me on my musical journey. I had been reluctant to start posting educational content out of fear that I might be perceived as someone who thinks they know everything (which I'm definitely not!) and have carefully tried to produce my content in a way that feels personal in a way that I'd communicate if you were in the room with me. Thanks for watching and thank you for taking the time to comment too, it's much appreciated. Hopefully I can keep you enjoying the channel as it continues to grow.

You are welcome Greyson! I’m really pleased that you found it useful! Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it!

@@michaelkeithson looking forward to more content and thoughts you have!

🤣 Ha! Yeah probably not the most technical analysis!

Hopefully there’s something useful in there somewhere! Cheers for your comment!

Thanks Frank! I appreciate your kind words. Thanks for watching! ❤️👍🏼🎹🎵

Thank you. Great comment! 👍🏼

Ah, thanks for the kind comment. I'm really glad you're here and enjoying the content!

Yeah, I think was getting hung up on trying to work out which notes/interval was pulling us to that resolution in the same way the 3rd and 7th of a dominant pull to the 3rd and root of a tonic chord. Cheers for the comment, glad you liked the video. 👍

Love this comment! I’m so glad you feel this way, I hope others feel the same too. I definitely make an effort to avoid it feeling like a lecture/lesson/instructional video and that I’m an expert so it’s great to read your comment, thank you 🙏

Thanks Peter, glad you're finding the videos useful. Appreciate you watching them several times too! 😂

🙏 Thanks David, I appreciate your kind words.

Hi Joe! I'm glad you stumbled over here too! I studied at music college here in the UK and really appreciate what I learned and the chance to spend my days focussed on music but I think I've probably learnt more since leaving through self discovery and studies than I learned in my 3 years there. Really glad you're finding some value in my lessons. Thanks for watching and leaving a nice comment 🙏

Yay berklee!

Hey Steve, thanks for sharing your breakdown 👍🏼

@@michaelkeithson Wishing your site well Michael and keeping a close eye. Working on iib5, Valt, Im at teh moment. Really trying to nail down impro over them. For that you need to have at least one scale absolutely nailed in 12 keys for each chord. I have chosen a Locrian raised 2nd, followed by the altered scale, followed by Aeolian. Lots of wonderful ambiguities in the minor world. Loving it all, trying to keep it super simple. Thank you.

@@Notmehimorthem Thanks Steve! Nice choices. Happy exploring!

Hey Evan, yeah it does contain those qualities of the iv minor but also is a simple modal interchange borrowed from the natural minor. I think I was getting hung up on trying to work out which notes of the iim7b5 were pulling us to resolve to the I chord. Thanks for the comment 👍🏼

I had to look up the word ‘magistrally’ but thank you! I’m pleased you enjoyed it!

Awesome, thanks for sharing Geoff!

Thanks for sharing Peng Chen! I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. Cheers 👍

Cheers Andre, I appreciate your comment. Yeah, I think I was getting too hung up on the lack of leading note to the A and trying to identify which notes were creating the pull to the A, it didn’t seem to match up with the other examples and fit into that reasoning. The iim7b5 definitely contains those IVm tones but also the iim7b5 is an example of modal interchange too. It’s fun pondering this stuff! Cheers!

😆 Sorry if I’m moving too fast. The beauty of these videos is that you can pause, replay, slow it down and view as many times as you like. I’m certain you’ll get where you want be with a bit of patience and consistency. Thanks for watching Laura. 👍🏼🎹🎵

@@michaelkeithson No, you're not too fast. It's more like the info is floating just beyond my grasp where I can see that it makes sense but I need to listen many times before the penny drops. Thanks again. I really enjoy your lessons.

@@lauraroberts2250 Yeah, unfortunately most of my videos come with an expectation that there's already a base level of understanding on certain topics and I guess if there are some gaps then it could make it tricky. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

@@michaelkeithson Thank you. I'll do that. 🙂

Awesome, really glad you found it useful! Thanks for the kind comment 🙏

Oh yeah, I love a good sus chord!

Thanks Sean, glad it's helping! 👍

Thanks for the comment, really glad you found the video interesting. Cheers!

Thanks John, I appreciate the kind comment. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks 🙏

Thank you Corentin! I really appreciate your kind words.

Cheers Michael, glad you’ve found some useful bits in there! Thanks for the comment 🙏

Hi Bhavishya, thanks for the comment, I'm really pleased you've been enjoying the content. Yeah, it's an example of modal interchange from the natural minor but I think I was getting hung up on which notes were pulling us to the resolution in the same way the tritone of the dominant 7 chord do. Thanks for the watching 🙏

😔 Oh dear 😂

Really appreciating your comments, thanks for the support and encouragement. Glad you’re finding some value in the videos. 👍🏼

Thanks Paul, appreciate your comment. It's other way for me, I didn't learn traditionally so I find the notation trickier!

Thanks Ruari! Glad you enjoyed the video 👍

Thanks for sharing!

Ah, cheers! Really nice to hear you feel that way! Thanks for the encouragement 👍🏼

Cheers John, I appreciate you're kind comment 🙏

Tell me about it! It never stops, but I'm ok with that! Thanks for watching 👍

Ha! If only RU-vid would do that for everybody! Thanks for the kind comment. Glad you're enjoying the videos. Thanks for the support 🙏

Yeah, I think you're right. I was getting stumped as to which notes we dropping/raising a semi-tone to resolve to Amajor but I think its the D and F of the Bø that both fall a semitone to the 3rd and 5th of A. Just like in a backdoor dominant it would be the 7th and 5th (D and F) of a G7 that leads the resolution to the A. Thanks for the comment and the other comments too 👍

Cheers Chris! Just checked out your stuff, sounds great. You can PLAY man!! Good to have you here. Subbed to you too. 👍🎹

@@michaelkeithson thanks dude! All the best

Ha! Cheers Joe! 👍

Hey Ashley, I’m glad your along for the journey! Cheers for the comment 👍🏼

Cheers man! I appreciate the comment. 👍🏼

Thanks for watching, I'm glad you've enjoyed the videos. 👍

Hey Cynthia! Thanks for your comment! Yeah, that’s the best/worst thing about learning music, it’s never ending!! 😂

😂 Ha! Tell me about it!

Cheers Tom, really pleased it's found you at the right time! Thanks for watching and leaving the nice comment 🙏

🙏 Thank you Malina, I appreciate the kind comment. I hope the video was helpful.

You are very welcome! I appreciate you working through my videos! Thank you 🙏

😂 I'm glad you found it illuminating! Thanks for watching

Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I think I was getting too bogged down in trying to work out which specific tones of the chord were pulling it in that direction and couldn't work it out. Cheers!

​@@michaelkeithson Of course, I know that you understood it, was moreso curious on if my analysis was in the right direction. Btw I love your videos, I watched your vid on modal interchange yesterday and have been working my way through all of your chord theory vids. I especially like the videos on dominant, diminished, altered, secondary dominants, tritone subs, and modal interchange. If I may make a suggestion, maybe a video on augmented chords in the future?

@@TheEpochCompanion Yeah, you're right, it has all but one note of a Bdim or E7susb9 which both resolve/pull to the A major. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll add it to my list! Nice to hear you're enjoying the content, I appreciate the support 🙏

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VGVsa0Fp8aM.htmlsi=qD9hkpg7As35OGU7 this is the video I was thinking of

I guess the term I’m looking for is modal interchange😂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-p5FSz9fifOg.htmlsi=G9p3YECQJ-WrCrkN

Thanks Darren, appreciate your comment and sharing your thoughts. I think I was getting hung up on trying to work out which notes of the Bm7b5 were pulling me to the resolution of the A, in the same way that the 3rd and 7th of the E7 would. Cheers

Morning! Thanks for making your way through my videos, I'm glad you're here. Hopefully you're finding them useful!

Thanks for the comment. I’ve heard lots of people talk about Barry Harris and watched the odd clip but never really jumped in to his stuff. Could you recommend a starting point for studying his work? Cheers. MK

@@michaelkeithson ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-59iooHhigmQ.htmlsi=G92nYXlp9dcliH9a ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zDBOs-HGj6U.htmlsi=O2EmPUR9uCrdXTdP Also George Shearing block chords

@@michaelkeithson ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KQgBnh9vUgI.htmlsi=9aN6jBXM-AIL86xZ

Cheers man, really good to hear you're finding some value in the videos. Appreciate you leaving a comment 🙏

Thanks Dad! 😉

Cheers!

🙏

Hey Don, thanks for watching til the end! 😉 Thanks for your comment. I guess it’s more like a sus b9 as there’s no third and a 4th instead. So could be described as E7susb9/B. My confusion is in what elements of the chord want to make it fall to the A, we don’t have the tritone of G# and D that want to resolve to the root and third of A. Is the D alone strong enough to pull the ear to A or is there another combination that’s pulling us to A?

​@@michaelkeithsonMinor fourths keep popping out to me when I'm thinking about this stuff. I think a less complicated way to think of it is the Bm7b5 contains a Dm (it's a Dm/B basically), so then the question of why might be the same as asking, why does the iv like to resolve almost as strongly as the V? I'm becoming more convinced that negative harmony is a great explanation for it: the minor third of the iv chord is a flatted sixth degree in the key, which in negative harmony terms is a "leading tone" down to the fifth. Actually, on top of that, in A major the negative of Bm7b5 (scale degrees 2, 4, b6, 1) should be scale degrees 4, 2, M7, 5... oh hey it's E7. So I guess we figured out that iiø is V7's negative harmony equivalent. (Also interesting that it's a borrowed chord from minor.) I guess we'd call your mystery chord a "negative dominant seventh" then? Like stacking another "downward third" on a minor fourth. Anyway, I think this video connected some dots for me. It makes sense to me that Bm7b5 resolves to C since it's the diatonic viiø. I've heard it described as dominant in function but I hadn't noticed til now that it shares the same tritone as the V7 so that's easy to explain I guess. And the "substitution" resolution Bm7b5 to F#, well there's another iv-I situation, cool.

To anyone trying to understand this the cheatsheat is take the chromatic intervals from b7, 7, 1, b2, 2, b3, draw a line, then continue 3, 4, #4, 5, b6, 6. They're reflected across the line, so 1 changes places with 5, major thirds with minor thirds, b7 with natural 6, etc. Or take a circle of fifths, slice it in half between the root and fifth of the key, and reflect across the line you drew. Or, take a note and instead of stacking thirds up, stack thirds down but invert major/minor and dim/aug. It's all the same.

@@silphv Dude! You're a fount of knowledge, please can I get you to respond to all my comments 😂, you seem to be more versed in weeds of this stuff than me. Yeah, I hadn't connected the dots to negative harmony. I need to spend some more time on Negative Harmony, I understand it in theory but yet to really get to grips with its practical applications. Thanks so much for your contributions to the comments, I really appreciate it and it certainly has made me think harder on these points. Cheers! MK

🙏 Thanks for comment, glad you enjoyed it! 👍

You’re welcome! I hope you found it interesting. 🎹

No worries Dexter, glad you enjoyed it 👍

Thanks Greg, that's great to hear. Really glad you're enjoying the videos. Thanks for the kind comment 🙏

Thank you!

Thanks Ken. Yeah, I think I'm getting too hung up on the function/importance of the tritone. I guess maybe the tritone gives it the unstable character but it's the movement of the 3rd (D) and 5th (F) stepping down semitones to the 3rd (C#) and 5th (E) of the A that feels enough to be a nice resolution. Cheers for your comment Ken!

Thank you very much for the kind comment. Glad you're enjoying the content. 🙏

Thanks for the great comment 🙏 really appreciate it and glad you’ve found some value in my videos. 👍🏼

I'm not sure if there's a good or correct answer to this. My take on this, and it may not be correct, is that modern music theory, theory that relates to popular music of the last hundred years (jazz, rock, blues, pop, funk, etc...) was mostly learned by listening to music and working it out, talking with other musicians about it, learning from someone who learnt it from someone else and it was assimilated into peoples knowledge by way of trying to connect traditional classical theory with a personal perspective and understanding. I think we have a number of different ways of calling things, and differing opinions on this because the traditional theoretical 'rules' and conventions have been bent or twisted to fit a modern musicians understanding and as a result we sometimes get confusing nomenclature. For modern musicians there's little regard for adhering to conventional naming because I think the priority is internalising in a way that helps them best understand it and in turn perform. I think we can sometimes get too bogged down in this stuff and it's not that important, although I'm sure there are plenty of people who might disagree. IMHO 'modern music' doesn't fit neatly into the traditional theory box and is a bit of an overlapping new paradigm. In an attempt to give you a more satisfying answer, I think it could be called a b13 when there is already another 5th present. For example, in an altered scale, the fifth note of the scale is the b5 so it could make sense to call it a b13 instead of a #5 - however, typically we think of the 3rd note of an altered scale as a #9, not a b3 - which goes against what I just said. But because altered scales are used typically on dominant 7 chords, it makes more sense as player to think of it as a #9 and then have a major 3rd instead of thinking of that as a b11/b4. I'm sure there's probably someone else who might feel they can give you a definitive answer but I'm not convinced there is one! Hope I've not muddied the water!

@@michaelkeithson Hmm, the use/application of musical notation seems to be idiosyncratic in several ways … eg. I think the triangle originally meant “triad”, as in “major” triad … but, as I understand it, because a major triad could be signified by just the note name without more, the triangle (without more) came to mean “major7” (at least, in jazz circles?) - for the sake of economy in scrawling … so, now - some see a triangle and think just “major”, some see a triangle and think “major7”, and the true meaning/intention must actually be interpreted/gleaned from some broader context …

@@kierenmoore3236 Yeah, chord naming and spelling can be confusing and frustrating sometimes. It would be good to get everyone in a room and sort these out once and for all! I've always understood the triangle to mean 'major 7'. Someone commented on my recent video about Augmented chords saying that I was incorrect for using the '+' to identify an augmented chord because he believed the '+' meant a 'major 7' chord! I think he's wrong but he must have learnt that from somewhere or someone!

@@michaelkeithson I did some research into the triangle the other day … I think the most popular understanding of the triangle is as “major 7”, yes - especially amongst jazz cats - thanks to John Coltrane’s use of it for such as early as 1959. However, Wayne Shorter wrote out the full “triangle””7” in his lead sheets in that same year … and going back 2 more years to 1957, Charles Mingus used “-triangle””7” altogether to mean “MinMaj7” … seemingly, because when drawn within a circle of fifths, the corners of an equilateral triangle point to the notes of an augmented triad, which is the ‘upper portion’ of a MinMaj chord. So, whilst the triangle actually initially represented the * upper portion * of a(n augmented) chord shape, it seems Shorter borrowed it as if it were representing the * latter half * of the chord description (ie the Maj part of MinMaj), and then Coltrane adapted (shortened) it even further by dropping Shorter’s “7” (whilst keeping his full Maj7 meaning). A nice illustration/reminder of how the history of musical notation (of all human endeavour, I guess) can be a lot more like a game of Telephone, than ordered and intentional progress.

@@michaelkeithson … and no, I’ve never seen the “+” used to represent anything other than augmented … No idea how that one started!! 😉🙃

Ah, thanks for the nice comment. Great to hear you feel this way about the videos, really appreciate you leaving a comment 🙏

Thank you! 🙏

Thanks David 🙏

Ah thank you my friend. I appreciate your comment. Hope you found it useful!

🙏

Hey Jezreel! Thanks for your comment and thanks for watching my videos! I hope you’ve been finding them helpful. Did you see my video about learning to improvise on the piano? It will be similar to some of the stuff you may have already learned but I think there could be some extra bits that you find useful. I’ll have a think about what I could offer to help. My first suggestion would be to do the same as before, working out the major scales and chords for the keys of G major and F major as you’ll only be adding one new black note in each key and you’ll learn three new chords in each key that will incorporate the black note. There’s also a lot of crossover of notes and chords between those keys and C major. Then practice playing some songs that are in those keys. It’s really just familiarisation with the chords and scales that incorporate the black notes. If you became really familiar with a Db major scale and the chords related to that key, you wouldn’t be afraid of playing black notes anymore! Hope that helps a bit!

@@michaelkeithson thank you for your tips. I will definitely try to explore the G major and F major scales.

I hope they weren't mid-roll ads as I specifically turn them off. Really annoys me get ads in the middle of a video.

@@michaelkeithson Yes, in fact. And, thanks for the insights about the Dom.

@@myname1469 😡 Good to know. Thanks for sharing

And thank you for the kind comment, much appreciated! Glad you enjoyed the video 👍🏼