Bonus Lesson #1 - Chord Progressions

[TheLoconess]

4/17/2011...I like the way you pateintly teach Sir! I cant read music and am currently trying to learn to play by ear. My goal..to follow my voice as I sing so I can record a self produced Latin Salsa Album and Disc #2 will be an Urban r&b cd. How can I memorize chords faster? and..how do I know which cord is the right one to follow my voice on that given vocal note??? Can I crash course myself and later learn the theory of learning to play keyboard? Ps. I Love your Fantom-X!!!

[FightorDieBand]

I have a question. How is the Ab-Bb-C chord progression written in roman numerals? As Ab and Bb triads don't naturally belong to the C Major scale I was just wondering how this is displayed :D

[badzulu44]

@FightorDieBand Hello Fightor. You asked how the chord progression is written in roman numerals since those chords don't belong to the C scale. In this case you wouldn't use Roman numerals. You really only use roman numerals when you hear someone say "play me a 1 chord in the key of G Major", or "play a 4 chord in the key of A Major". What they mean by this is to play the chords according to the key that you are in

[FightorDieBand]

@badzulu44 K Thanks for that. I'm doing a basic songwriting course atm where the lecturer is far more interested in theory than practice. But if I don't need to use RNs then I wont!

[badzulu44]

@FightorDieBand So basically there is a formula for this. The chords of the major scale are: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°. (Major 1, Minor 2, Minor 3, Major 4, Major 5 (dominant), Minor 6, Diminished 7.) So the chords in the key of C according to this formula would be: C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, B diminished. So if someone says play a 2 chord in C major, they mean for you to play a D minor chord, and so forth. This usually how roman numerals are used.

[aunn2535]

You face same Steve Job.

[walmartninja]

does this apply to synthesizers as well?

[keyblader118]

@walmartninja yep! same notes!

[feewert42]

lol suddenly i see!! nice lesson, reaaally helpfull, by the way, is that the roland gx?

[Pianopod]

Another brilliant tutorial. Thanks.

[Londonsmostwantedtv]

good vid!

[stonward]

Brilliant - six months I've been teaching myself to play - this is the type of lesson i have been seeking! Thank you!

[vientoo1987]

i like this

[MiguelKertsman]

Check out the music of Miguel Kertsman. If you liked this video, you'll definitely enjoy it! - MK Marketing Team

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[thebeatschool]

check out my channel for more vids on chord progressions and melodies.

[lionelldixon]

Thanks alot man. You don't know how much this helped me. You're definately going to get blessed for this. Not only didn't you help me, but as I could see, you helped many others. Keep up the good work!!!

[paulallen34]

great tutorial your a very good teacher.any chance of you doing john lennons HOW DO YOU SLEEP i love nicky hopkins electric piano on it.nobody on youtube does it.

[ja24]

once you understand chord progressions....you have the key to mind blow every single person on earth with your music

[mauricehiraheta]

Thanks, great lesson. you are a great teacher.

[skylineavs]

A huge, HUGE eye opener.  THANK YOU!!

[ankhaton]

Hi - Fascinatng

Is there a database of midi

in a kind of sequence of all songs using

the same progressions ?

H& I gave the 101th star today

seemypianopagetoo

[potatoboat]

this was extremely helpful

[abelizable]

awesome lesson

[advait2312]

Simply gr8 man !! Its helpful , ur a good teacher keep it up !

[xikidi]

Great man, keep it alive,number one teacher

[pcesar12]

Hi, i'm from brazil, very good web teacher Thx

[masterpatric07]

i ve been watching a video yesterday that uses the circle of fifths to forsee the chords and works great.

[treydarnellh]

you're kinda sexy, in a weird way... you can make my music lol

[Nathanvu921]

Is it a good thing to mix Major and Minor chords in the same song?  I mean to make the listen feel happy when they listen to the major chord, then sad when listening to the minor one? Does this really spice up the song?

[felippemalta]

thanks Moby for the nice vid...

[bobtheknobrob]

lmao

[pagasp1]

fu..... quality man

[optimuskurt15]

@felippemalta haha Moby! x)

[RockShot777]

Question: What key is being played at the progression at 3:37 (sowing the seeds)? It has Ab and Bb, which is not part of the A minor scale (though the harmonic minor VII would make there an Ab). How is a Bb in this? Or is it just aesthetics?

[MangoldProject]

Hi RockShot,

The progression played is in C major, not A minor; nevertheless, that still doesn't answer your question :). It isn't uncommon to play "passing-chords", much like passing-notes, which do not belong to the scale, as long as the resolve to the scale. Their purpose is to create tension in the progression. Learning how and when to use them is a matter of experience, but there are some "classics" you should be familiar with.

[MangoldProject]

For example, suppose you wish to resolve to C. The progression shown above goes: Ab-Bb-C, which is one way of doing so. Here's another: F-Bb-G-C. Here's another: Eb-Bb-F-C.

Another example: in going from C to F (on the C Major scale), you can insert an E in the middle, which is definitely not part of the scale. Or, in going from C to G, you could insert a D (this, by the way, is a trademark Queen move - check out, e.g., 'Somebody to Love').

[RockShot777]

Thank you! I am not familiar if there are sringent "rules" or so in music theory, I just remembered the VII is sharpened in the harmonic minor, which is why I thought it was in A minor. That begs the question, is there a standard for "passing notes" or tension? I know the Ab and Bb were shortened to one beat each... so do passing chords avoid getting regular beats of the other standard chords? Is there a number of semitones between two chords of a key to obtain passing chords?

[MangoldProject]

There are no rules that I know of, but there are certain "tricks" that get used repeatedly. I believe recognizing them is a skill that can be picked up only by analyzing and playing hundreds of songs - can't offer any better advice unfortunately :).

[Lamename90210]

That was interesting. Thanks.

[tangman314]

Very useful!

[Hanzyyy]

i read that chords transistions using the inversions is easier. what are ur views?

[MangoldProject]

I'm afraid I don't follow your question. Are you asking whether it's better to find suitable inversions rather than just keep the root form? If so, the answer is a resounding YES. If I've misunderstood, please elaborate.

[Hanzyyy]

yes.. thats my question. because from this video, ur playing the chords in root form which i thought it would be easier to use inversion in progressions.. i just saw your video on voice leading too. Thanks for the reply :)

[MangoldProject]

No problem. My aim was to keep it simple and keep inversions out of the picture, as I was merely discussing the progressions themselves.

[mangasprai]

That helped, infact. Thanks!

[otharennaur]

Man, this is realy good, thanks, it'll be great if you upload some more videos about chords, and theory... =) again, very good video

[JamaicaGary]

This is brilliant. Thanks man. Thanks for the clarity. Bless you.

[emosrpplto0]

Thanks!

[reptilespantoso]

very nice! thank you.

[champoldw8]

progression rocks, like somebody said i don't know who said it but I'm going to say excellent.

[nntran]

Hi everyone,

For chord pregession, you need to understand the circle of fifth. The key signature is the first thing that will determine what series of chord are suitable. And each chord has to sound right based on the melody note, taking into account of one melody note and the next note.

[pianonewbie]

Thank you. Fantastic, I now understand what chord progression means :)

[Faust1587ad]

Brilliant!

[Gamota79]

thanks for the lesson.

But let say you start singing a song and i want to play. what's the best way to find out which progression to use? and thanks for the answer

[MangoldProject]

Dear Gamota,

Finding out which progression to use is called "Harmonization". There is, of course, no single or "best" progression for a given melody line. It is, in fact, even more complicated, since there is also no "wrong" progression.

I will try & touch upon your questions in a later video. As a rule of thumb, try to have the notes of the chords be as similar as possible to the notes in your melody.

[MangoldProject]

(continued:)

For example, in harmonizing "twinkle-twinkle-little-star" in the key of C,

Melody: C C G G A A G F F E E D D C

you'd might go for:

Melody: C C G G A A G F F E E D D C

Harmony: C F C F C G C

Every note in the underlying chords is derived from some note in the melody you play over it. This is a greatly simplified example, but I hope it gets the message across.

Best wishes,

Assaf.

[MangoldProject]

(Added:)

I see YouTube has erased my spacings in the above example :). Let me try to work around it (melody is on first line, harmony on 2nd):

C_C_G_G_A_A_G_F_F_E_E_D_D_C

C________F___C_F___C___G___C

[AGpraise]

Great lesson sir. Great job teaching. I'm inspired. Thank you.

[itsstevol]

that first one is used in tons of songs... its also used in linkin park

[moretalme]

Another great lesson. Thanx.

[gingerbob88]

Thanks alot for this, has really helped me!