Thank you so much for breaking down all the tricks and sharing your knowledge with us! You're soooo good at song analysis and explaining theory in a easy to understand way! Feel like this type of video will gain you popularity! Wish you best of luck on your music career!
Aha you have a broader audience than you think! I’m into Japanese Anime, JPop, and Bass. UA-cam recommended your video when I was learning song analysis and music theory :)
Thanks, this video was really useful, clear and interesting. I notice you used your thumb a lot to help with some of the chords which, although not part of the lesson, was also interesting to me. I use my thumb from time to time but have tended to avoid it since it's typically considered "bad technique" but you've inspired me to actually embrace it to help make some open chord shape moveable and for voice leading etc.
Haha. John Mayer/Hendrix are big influences to me so I picked up that habit from them. For strumming it doesn't really matter whether the thumb is over or not but it's convenient for throwing in pentatonic licks and fills
Whenever I hear Japanese jazzy pop music, there's something about it that always sounds uniquely Japanese. So many of the chord voicings and changes you demonstrated were exactly that. Chord after chord had me thinking, this sounds sooo Japanese style.
dude you popped up on my algorithm out of nowhere....i love your explanations and layout with the chord shapes and names. makes it easy to study your content. cant wait to check out your other content.
Great video - I love the way you break down the chord progressions and give detail / explanations. Great job - thank you. Also, your guitar tone and playing is wonderful to hear.
are u kidding? lol. Tone.. this sound can be any budget guitar if you close ur eyes. You are confused by your eyes. It is a nice looking guitar. That s all. His strumming does not go beyond the camp fire level - Marty sucks at chording too. Anyways..
@@ymelfilmoh buddy - are you OK? Your response begs the question: then why are you here? If you don't have anything constructive to say, go start your own channel. 🙄
Good idea. To me 2000's Japanese power pop is as iconic and as nostalgic as 2000's American pop-emo punk. Just caught a show at Shimokitazawa for the first time in April too. Is there a shimokita-kei band that you recommend?
Appreciate you breaking this progression down. It was one of the first things i tried playing when i got a guitar but i never really understood why i liked it lol.
Ahh nice. I wish I knew about this progression when I was a beginner. Must've been fun to learn it. And to be fair I still don't completely understand it but I just know what the tricks are and try to apply them to my playing 😂
@5:56 that IV Major to iv minor works well because its the negative harmony replacement for the V chord. G Maj to F Min so its mimicks a IV-V progression but kinds in the opposite way, play a basic I-IV-V-I then play a I-IV-iv-I after and youll kinda get what i mean. Its interesting seeing things like this add up
@ it makes some really nice sounds, switching the V7 for a iim7b5 makes a really nice melancholy sound. I like pairing it with the V7b9 aswell like Marty, I actually learned this riff and broke it down like this to myself a few months ago and thought it was dope to see your video on it. Please post more analysis like these. The freestyle improv was also really informational and sounded really good
@@JimmyJangler1 thanks for the kind words. Yea I also broke down this riff myself years ago and came across the video again recently and realized how no one did an analysis yet so thought I’d do one. Will definitely do more analysis in the future. Learned a lot myself too doing the improv at the end. Super fun chords
I feel like this is more easily explained by iv and ii7b5 being borrowed from the parallel minor key (C minor). The Ab in Fm/Dm7b5/G7b9 resolving to a G in C major is like a bonus leading tone that's unfamiliar to the key, yet closely related to it. This relationship is why you can sneak in chords like Eb major, Ab major and Bb major in your C major progressions and have it sound interesting, yet safe. In the case of IV-iv-I there's the additional appeal of that chromatic movement.
@@channel-b Interesting. So essentially any borrowed chords from the parallel minor key would sound decent is what you're saying? I know blues commonly borrows licks from parallel minor/major keys
Haha. Like I said, even if you take even one trick away from this video, it'd have been worth. I don't have all of them ingrained yet too but the major 3rd trick I do a lot
That 2nd half of Marty's riff reminds me of the "Remembering Spongebob" tune in that one special episode. I could swear they're the exact same chords haha
Nice video mate, i've been playing a similar chord pattern that I saw in a talk he was doing as warmup. This one has slightly more sauce too it though, good stuff!
awesome! also, the "marusa" progression is also used in "if you want me to stay" by sly and the family stone I think. awesome sounding chords. thanks for the lesson, subbed!
also another reason the III7 works so well is specifically because it goes to the vi -- it's a secondary dominant, or the V/vi. it wouldn't be the same if the III went to something like IV
There are 2-5-1’s all over that! b dim - E7 - Am Gm - C7 - F And of course Dm - G - C You find these all over Gospel music as well. Search Chicago Mass Choir The IV - iv - I progression you can find in a lot of 50’s stuff. The iv I’ve seen described as a “Borrowed chord” - very fun rabbit hole to go down there! Loved the video!
@@jalock The Fooly Cooly soundtracks is a nice place to start. I think that's the anime that introduced The Pillows to international audiences, back in the 90s.
@@WailingRaven Oh shit. I watched FLCL a couple years ago. Didn't know they made the soundtrack for that. It feels so weird just listening to the music without the trippy imagery of FLCL lol
This is really great, love the melancholic/longing feel of it. For the switch from the 7th diminished to the major third (3:44) since the top D note is shared you don't have to move positions. You can keep your pinky on the D note and grab the E (D2) and G# (G1). It's a smoother transition and you don't have to move 7 positions.
Thanks for watching! Feel free to add your discoveries to the comment section. I learned a lot about Japanese music and jazz through the comment section :)
@ if you want rabbit holes check out Dennis Chambers’ discography on Wikipedia. He plays with everyone. Also Marc Andre Hamelin on the piano. He has a Liszt cadenza, performance of Scriabin’s 5th piano sonata, and Alkan’s concerto and symphony for solo piano. He also plays a majority of those at the same venue Yamashita played pictures at an exhibition on the guitar which is also amazing.
@@elementsofphysicalreality Damn just listened to Hamelin's Un Sospiro and Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. He's so smooth. I always thought Liang Liang was the most technically gifted but honestly I think Liang Liang makes it look too easy so Hamelin actually feels smoother. I'm a big romantic fan (Liszt/Chopin mostly) and favorite interpreters for Liszt are Jeno Sando/Li Yundi but Hamelin definitely showed me a style of Liszt I've never heard before. Dennis Chambers seems super cool too. He played with Parliament-Funkedelic (I'm a big fan of hard rock-funk like the Chili Peppers) and John Scofield (love the A-Go-Go album and caught him in Seattle many years ago) so I'll check him out too for sure. Thanks for the rec!
A part of the progression shares a similar progression to the brazilian song by Seu Jorge - Tive Razão. Give it a listen, maybe you'll find it interesting
Just had a listen. I really liked it man. Super cool seeing this kind of feel get meshed up with Brazillian more Bossa Nova-like playing. Thanks for sharing!
@@jalock Oh man! So many.. I don't even know where to begin. Long Season was my entry point and I was blown away. It's a psychedelic suite, one long song comprised of different genres and styles. Most of the rest of their stuff is more accessible and 'pop' by comparison.
@@charlespancamo9771 Damn. Just listened to a little bit. Really love the lofi/indie-ness. So much Japanese music to discover. I'll finish the whole thing later tonight. Thanks for the rec!
my absolute favorite example of this kind of chord progression is the pillows’ discography. that jazzy melancholic pop sound is all over their softer songs, and is fairly present even in their more aggressive songs. super huge fan of this sound
This is a great video, I always wondered how the Japanese use pop music and anime themes to effect the listener so much, emotionally. Trick 7 reminds me of the L'Arc song Bless.
Very cool...i didnt know that about Marty. I love anything/everything by Shingo Nakamura!! BEAUTIFUL guitar dood!! What a nice clean sound. Ill give it a go. ✌️
Remember folks, this is the BASE FORM. You do want to experiment with it and see what you can come up with. It also allows you extremely more melodic possibilities IF yous tart from chord progression with your composing. Though personally I always feel that you should start with the melody. Happy composing!
Oh wow. Just took a listen again and you're right. Never noticed and listened to that song much despite being a huge RHCP fan. Thanks for pointing it out!
Hi as no one seems to have mentionned this 5:10 what is happening here is not what you say it is actually a secondary II/V/ I ( Gm/C/F) leading to the IV (F) here the C chord has the fonction of V of F not I . It is really nothing unusual in jazz we would often play a C7 chord but as the Bb (minor 7 of C) has been introduced in the previous chord (Gm) it is perfectly ok to play a C major triad . Nice video i hope you don't see that as criticism it is just complementary information.
Another great video thank you!! If you ever wanted to show all your chords used on a single frame in your videos (vs someone watching going back and photoshopping a cheat sheet to have for later like I did on your Mayer chords video 🙂) that would be extra awesome, big fan of your format and content so far and excited to watch more thanks again!!
Thanks for coming back :) Ahh yea that's a good idea. I probably could've included all the chords in the beginning or something. Honestly, still trying to figure out these "chord" videos. I think I've figured out the 'technique' video format way more like the Frusciante one I just did
Just listened to the song. I like it. Guitar tone is similar to this Marty Friedman riff and has an open string sound too for sure (very 7th chord sound). Always fun discovering new Japanese music. Thanks for the rec!
It's gotta be that funk, jazz influence, and the culture of zen...minimalism, economy of motion, and those are just the like technical reasons I would think...a lot of those chords I would arrive at, just been my style to realize theres always easierways to play the same chords....and better sounding one
the chord in chord substitution is not really a F chords anymore it becomes a Gdom7 (9,13) omit 3,5 but it can be notated as f/g also vminor to Imaj is a ii V to F
lol yea 😂 It's a cheap strat I bought for whenever I go back home to my parent's so thought I'd keep the plastic on to prevent dust since I only use it 2-3 times per year
So, I understand all the individual things you're saying, but I can't quite follow the bigger-picture. Any advice on how I can up my skill level here? I'm pretty much still at the I-IV-V level. But "advanced chords" (dim, 7, etc), "different" progressions, and unusual chord fingerings (like that X-0-5-5-0-0 thing you did) are some of the things I really want to be able to understand better.
For sure. I love your curiosity in trying to understand the bigger picture. I think it'd help to watch videos from channels targeting beginner players talking about chords in a key, maybe the CAGED system too, and then branch out to watching videos targeted at intermediate players and above like this one. This is a great video from Justin guitar explaining the chords in a key: ua-cam.com/video/q_0X6b_MFGw/v-deo.html Marty Schwartz is another great beginner guitar channel too
Thanks for watching! Not sure if there's a song with exactly this full progression but there're a lot of songs that have bits of it. This is kind of a mashup of common chords used in Japanese music. For ex. Here're some popular songs with the "Marusa" progression I talked about at 4:15 : "Idol" by YOASOBI (Opening from "Oshi no Ko"): ua-cam.com/video/ZRtdQ81jPUQ/v-deo.html Opening from "Jujutsu Kaisen": ua-cam.com/video/gcgKUcJKxIs/v-deo.html "Yoru ni Kakeru" by YOASOBI: ua-cam.com/video/x8VYWazR5mE/v-deo.html
@@PepegaeI Nice. Similar guitar sound for sure. I hear a variation of the Marusa chord progression but using a different chord in between vs the 5 minor. Love discovering new Japanese music. Thanks for the rec!
I'm glad you like it ! Very nice video, I'll come back once I have a better grasp of music theory to have a deeper understanding of what you showed The vibe of Japanese music is truly mesmerizing, I can't get enough of it
None of these are inherently "Japanese" per say and like I mentioned in the video, mostly taken from Western jazz. It's just that these combinations are more commonly used in Japanese pop (most people's exposure to 'Japanese music') vs Western pop. For ex. the royal road progression super commonly used in J-Pop ( 4 5 3 6 ) came from Western pop too like on Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", but it's more commonly associated with J-Pop vs Western pop these days
I swear, my brain registered the first 9 seconds of this video as Vino's "Taiyou wa yoru mo kagayaku" (The Sun Also Shines at Night) a.k.a. Hunter X Hunter 1999's second opening. It sounded so similar for that time.
Hey, I don't mean this is in a hostile way at all, but there are some terminology errors in here that threaten to hold you back when listening and speaking to other musicians. I'm sorry for the essay ahead of time, but describing music via written text is always kind of long-winded. 1) When changing the bass note of a chord in Roman numeral notation, we wouldn't notate it like IV/V, for example. That would indicate that the chord is the IV in relation to the V chord, which would make it a I chord. Instead, we use Arabic numerals to indicate extensions and inversions. The format is usually two numbers written in vertical superscript, where the lower number indicates the next linear interval above the bass note, and the upper number indicates the linear interval above that one; it's usually enough information to indicate the intervals included in the chord, but it doesn't determine which order the intervals should necessarily be in. This kind of falls apart when it comes to extensions, like F/G, where the 9th (or 2nd) is in the bass. Roman numeral notation (and the figured bass it was built upon) was never meant to really account for chords like this. So it might be better to notate it as IV/2 (in relation to the chord itself) or IV/5 (in relation to the key). If we applied the rules of figured bass to this chord, its written expression would end up being IV4/2, which would be shared with 7th chords in 2nd inversion, confusing the whole thing. Although this could be said to be an inversion of the IV, adding a different bass note isn't really a good description of an inversion, unless you clarify that it's an inversion of Fadd9 specifically. An inversion is when a note that is not the root note is applied as the bass note of a chord, and in this case, we're looking at the fourth inversion of F. As some systems of Roman numeral notation use alphabetical characters to indicate inversions in order, this could be rendered as IVe (where IVa would be root position and is therefore not used, b is first inversion, etc.) 2) This F/G situation isn't a case of substitution. Substitution is when you replace one chord with a different chord that shares a functional category with it. In a diatonic major key, the substitution of IV is ii, as they both have subdominant function. Substitutions are generally a 3rd apart and have contrasting chord qualities; in this case, F major is contrasted against D minor, and are separated by a minor 3rd (up from Dm, or down from F). Substitutions don't always operate in both directions, though. For example, in the key of C major, the chord Am has two notes in common with both C and F, and is a third away from each, but its relative sense of resolution usually make it more similar to the tonic C chord than the subdominant F chord. I'm really sorry if this came across as negative! You shared a lot of information and expressed most of it very clearly, which I appreciate, but the two points above are an exception to that and risk miscommunicating some of the concepts at hand. Overall, this is still a really useful video for people unfamiliar with the harmonic tendencies of Japanese popular music (or traditional jazz, which as you explain, it draws from heavily).
Hey man, thanks for the long note and doesn't come across as negative at all! Couple comments/questions so I can understand better: 1) I kind of get what you're saying with notations but everywhere I've learned from like guitar instruction books and online sites like Justin guitars all notate switching the bass note of a chord with the "/", so F on G would be "F / G" so just afraid if I made it as you said "F / 2", that'd confuse more people, especially assuming most people learn from mainstream online resources that also notate it as "F / G". 2) Ahh, I could be wrong here yea. I always assumed it was called chord substitution cause' a guitar teacher told me like many years ago. At the same time it doesn't feel like an inversion though since an inversion is as you said, when the notes in a chord are rearranged. So what is the right or common terminology for switching the bass note of a chord like "F on G" then?
@@jalock Notating it as F/G is entirely correct from an alphabetical notation perspective, it's just more complicated when it comes to Roman numeral notation. Roman numeral notation is based on classical figured bass notation, which doesn't have a clean solution for this kind of chord, at least as far as I'm aware. So however you choose to notate it, I'd avoid IV/V, because that suggests a I chord. Sometimes notation styles differ between musical styles and I don't think anyone has an agreed upon solution for this, but all you have to do is indicate that it's fundamentally the IV chord, but the 2nd (or 9th if you prefer) is in the bass. You're expressing almost everything correctly, but came up against a kind of chord that Roman numeral notation wasn't designed to describe. Just so long as you avoid the IV/V situation and express the bass interval some other way, you should be fine. When you change the bass note of a chord to a less obviously related note, it's often called a "slash chord" because of the alphabetical notation (e.g. F?G). It's closer to an inversion than a substitution, because in this case, it's basically an Fadd9 chord, but the 9th is in the bass. A substitution is when the chord is replaced by an entirely different chord with the same function. If you want to try this out, play a melody in the key of C major over an F chord, then play it over a Dm chord. They should offer a similar degree of tension, whereas C and Am should feel more relaxed & resolved, and G and Bdim should feel more tense.
If you're a beginner and just trying to understand how chords work, channels like Marty Music and Justin Guitars would be great like this video: ua-cam.com/video/40WtL0Ehe9c/v-deo.html Otherwise, Tomo Fujita gives great lessons on interesting chords, especially Japanese chords so those would be worth checking out as well
La vidéo original date d'il y a 13-14 ans, j'ai appris ce que tu joues au debut à l'oreille il y a plus de 10 ans et aujourd'hui je me sers de ces accords tres souvent
Ikr. I got them for about $250 new, cheaper than a Squire but way better quality than a Squire. The roasted maple neck is pretty sick too. Never going back to a Squire again
@@chrisegonmusic haha for sure. Thanks for watching! Another great brand for cheap, well-built strats with roasted maple neck is the Korean brand Corona
Oh wow sounds really similar. Not 1 for 1 but probably cause' Marty plays some chords a bit differently on the neck. But like the beginning is pretty much the same for ex. (C - E - Am - G - F) 👀
lol someone else commented that too 😂 I kept it on since this is the guitar I keep at my parents so most of the year it's unused and I don't want it to gather too much dust
5:04 The chord you're showing is an A7add2. Using the open A string as the root, and you've dropped the octave a down a whole step, making it a minor 7th. The open B string is the 2nd scale position of A, hence add2. I love that chord!
hmm interesting ...it's odd that it's both a little bit complex but not so much yet also common enough to hear the "Japanese-ness" ..I wonder where it started from, probably someone famous and copied over years and years eh?
Yea that’s what I love about Japanese music too. It sounds complex yet accessible enough to the average music listener. I’m guessing the jazziness came from Japanese interest in American culture, especially jazz, sparking after WW2. People used to go to “jazz kissa” or jazz cafes to listen to American jazz and there’re still some in Tokyo today. The jazz influence became super apparent by the 80’s on city pop songs like the UA-cam-famous Plastic Love.
@jalock i was going to mention there's a hint of plastic love.. but only a small part of it...the one chord that sounds pretty familiar is the F/C kind of resolve...I tend not to listen to this type of Japanese music but more of the city pop and math rock - in math rock there's a lot of 7th chords, sometimes alternate tunings.
I was going to include Toe's "Goodbye" as an example on my previous John Frusciante 2-note trick video since Goodbye kinda does the same trick (playing a chord with 2 notes) but with a capo for the bass note
My entire existence is characterized by profound suffering, depicted by deep despair and marked by a constant sense of anguish, filled with overwhelming distress and relentless misery. 😒😔
Yup. As I said heavily inspired by western Jazz. As someone else pointed out, it's less that Japan invented these techniques but more that the combination of all these common jazz tricks gives the modern "j-pop" sound. For ex. the royal road progression ( 4 5 3 6) commonly used in J-Pop was originally taken from western music too but nowadays it's more commonly associated with J-Pop.
@ Thanks for the reply! I only asked because when I saw the title of the video I thought you were exploring traditional Japanese music as opposed to pop; but as an American musician I am very pleased to hear that Japanese pop music is obviously way more interesting than American pop :)
@@timcardona9962 lol. To be fair, I think American pop is pushing more in terms of style and sound texture but yea J-Pop harmony is awesome. And love how electric guitar is still a key part of the sound
Favorite Japanese song?
History from T-Square
Sigh - Shingontachikawa
Envy - Dreams Coming to an End
Shigeru Suzuki - Suna no Onna or
@@jalock Broken Youth - Nico Touches The Walls
Best explanation of this chord progression I've found
Thanks man!
Nice! Lots of familiar sounds here from pop and jazz mashed together. Makes me want to listen to Casiopea. Thanks mate
Thank you so much for breaking down all the tricks and sharing your knowledge with us! You're soooo good at song analysis and explaining theory in a easy to understand way! Feel like this type of video will gain you popularity! Wish you best of luck on your music career!
Thanks man! And great to see a bass player watch the video too, not just guitar players :)
Aha you have a broader audience than you think! I’m into Japanese Anime, JPop, and Bass. UA-cam recommended your video when I was learning song analysis and music theory :)
@@zzbassjourney Ahh got it. Great insight thanks! I guess videos like this can tap me into a wider audience vs regular guitar technique videos
Thanks, this video was really useful, clear and interesting. I notice you used your thumb a lot to help with some of the chords which, although not part of the lesson, was also interesting to me. I use my thumb from time to time but have tended to avoid it since it's typically considered "bad technique" but you've inspired me to actually embrace it to help make some open chord shape moveable and for voice leading etc.
Haha. John Mayer/Hendrix are big influences to me so I picked up that habit from them. For strumming it doesn't really matter whether the thumb is over or not but it's convenient for throwing in pentatonic licks and fills
Whenever I hear Japanese jazzy pop music, there's something about it that always sounds uniquely Japanese. So many of the chord voicings and changes you demonstrated were exactly that. Chord after chord had me thinking, this sounds sooo Japanese style.
Yea it's so interesting. I know they came from jazz but at the same time, the combination of all these jazz tricks somehow sounds "Japanese"
It's just jazz fusion, bro.
Great video and wonderful playing! Thank you, can’t wait for more videos :)
Thanks for watching! Come back next week for more :) Posting weekly now!
dude you popped up on my algorithm out of nowhere....i love your explanations and layout with the chord shapes and names. makes it easy to study your content. cant wait to check out your other content.
Thanks man! Come back every week for more!
You’re a really good teacher , thank you
Thanks for watching!
Very clear and concise. You are a good teacher!
Thank you!
Great video - I love the way you break down the chord progressions and give detail / explanations. Great job - thank you. Also, your guitar tone and playing is wonderful to hear.
are u kidding? lol. Tone.. this sound can be any budget guitar if you close ur eyes. You are confused by your eyes. It is a nice looking guitar. That s all. His strumming does not go beyond the camp fire level - Marty sucks at chording too. Anyways..
@@ymelfilmoh buddy - are you OK? Your response begs the question: then why are you here? If you don't have anything constructive to say, go start your own channel. 🙄
Awesome video. Some of the chord progressions in Japanese really catch my ear and I love it. Great breakdown of how it’s done
Thanks for watching :)
More videos on Japanese progressions, please. Especially power poppy/shimokita-kei stuff 🙏🏻
Good idea. To me 2000's Japanese power pop is as iconic and as nostalgic as 2000's American pop-emo punk. Just caught a show at Shimokitazawa for the first time in April too. Is there a shimokita-kei band that you recommend?
Are semi employed English teachers still drinking on the street in Shimokita, wishing they were cool?
@@ronaldnixon8226 Didn't see many last time I was there but definitely in Shibuya 😂
@@jalock Sapporo tall boys from Family Mart....at 80 yen a can
@@ronaldnixon8226 I miss Japan :(
Appreciate you breaking this progression down. It was one of the first things i tried playing when i got a guitar but i never really understood why i liked it lol.
Ahh nice. I wish I knew about this progression when I was a beginner. Must've been fun to learn it. And to be fair I still don't completely understand it but I just know what the tricks are and try to apply them to my playing 😂
Thanks so much for breaking it down and calling out the references! It is really helpful!
Thank you for watching! Was fun
@5:56 that IV Major to iv minor works well because its the negative harmony replacement for the V chord. G Maj to F Min so its mimicks a IV-V progression but kinds in the opposite way, play a basic I-IV-V-I then play a I-IV-iv-I after and youll kinda get what i mean. Its interesting seeing things like this add up
Wow... I just googled and learned about negative harmony. Never knew about this idea. Super cool. Gonna play around it. Thanks for the comment!
@ it makes some really nice sounds, switching the V7 for a iim7b5 makes a really nice melancholy sound. I like pairing it with the V7b9 aswell like Marty, I actually learned this riff and broke it down like this to myself a few months ago and thought it was dope to see your video on it. Please post more analysis like these. The freestyle improv was also really informational and sounded really good
@@JimmyJangler1 thanks for the kind words. Yea I also broke down this riff myself years ago and came across the video again recently and realized how no one did an analysis yet so thought I’d do one. Will definitely do more analysis in the future. Learned a lot myself too doing the improv at the end. Super fun chords
I feel like this is more easily explained by iv and ii7b5 being borrowed from the parallel minor key (C minor). The Ab in Fm/Dm7b5/G7b9 resolving to a G in C major is like a bonus leading tone that's unfamiliar to the key, yet closely related to it. This relationship is why you can sneak in chords like Eb major, Ab major and Bb major in your C major progressions and have it sound interesting, yet safe. In the case of IV-iv-I there's the additional appeal of that chromatic movement.
@@channel-b Interesting. So essentially any borrowed chords from the parallel minor key would sound decent is what you're saying? I know blues commonly borrows licks from parallel minor/major keys
This was super fun to learn! Now to actually get good at it XD
Haha. Like I said, even if you take even one trick away from this video, it'd have been worth. I don't have all of them ingrained yet too but the major 3rd trick I do a lot
That 2nd half of Marty's riff reminds me of the "Remembering Spongebob" tune in that one special episode. I could swear they're the exact same chords haha
haha just checked it out. Seems like they were going for a retro Carpenters vibe, which I'm sure J-Pop took inspiration from
i freakin love your music ippo, kinda crazy seeing you under a random video like this
ippo holy shit
holy shit ippo.tsk greatest voca p jumpscare
Especially with that beautiful slightly overdriven strat, the intro reminded me so much of The Brilliant Green, and The Pillows, and soooo much more
Yea many other people have pointed out too. Too many music I'm queuing up to listen too after reading through comments lol. Thanks for the comment!
Sorry we need to take a second and appreciate how bright and clear your tone is. Mmmmm. Gorgeous Strat sound.
haha thanks! Jet makes great affordable strats
The tone is crunchy, not clean.
Nice video mate, i've been playing a similar chord pattern that I saw in a talk he was doing as warmup. This one has slightly more sauce too it though, good stuff!
Thanks for watching! What video is that? Curious to check it out
I learned so much from this video! You earned a new sub 😊
Thanks for watching :)
Really insightful stuff - appreciate the video!
awesome! also, the "marusa" progression is also used in "if you want me to stay" by sly and the family stone I think. awesome sounding chords. thanks for the lesson, subbed!
Oh wow. You're right. Haven't listened to that song in so long. Thanks for pointing it out!
Thank you, very informative. Great playing. Bless you
Thanks for watching :)
great overview of these chords!
also another reason the III7 works so well is specifically because it goes to the vi -- it's a secondary dominant, or the V/vi. it wouldn't be the same if the III went to something like IV
Yup. Same interval as 2-5
There are 2-5-1’s all over that!
b dim - E7 - Am
Gm - C7 - F
And of course
Dm - G - C
You find these all over Gospel music as well. Search Chicago Mass Choir
The IV - iv - I progression you can find in a lot of 50’s stuff. The iv I’ve seen described as a “Borrowed chord” - very fun rabbit hole to go down there!
Loved the video!
@@deauxmeaux610 Thanks! I've heard the borrowed iv chord described as the "most emotional chord" in a key and I think it's somewhat true
Great video. I can't wait to try out some of these ideas.
great video, thanks!
Very cool. I wish we had more videos like this on UA-cam
Come back every week for more!
Man this is awesome! thank you!
that improvised run you did was beautiful
Thanks!! It's always fun to try to apply what I learned through improv!
Sounds similar to The Pillows
I’ve heard about the band for so long but never got into them. Is there a song you recommend that sounds like this?
@@jalock The Fooly Cooly soundtracks is a nice place to start. I think that's the anime that introduced The Pillows to international audiences, back in the 90s.
@@WailingRaven Oh shit. I watched FLCL a couple years ago. Didn't know they made the soundtrack for that. It feels so weird just listening to the music without the trippy imagery of FLCL lol
@@jalock _Be careful, playing their songs on the guitar might just summon a giant Steam Iron._
@ shit. You saved me 😂
Thanks! Greetings from Colombia!
Thanks for watching!
This is really great, love the melancholic/longing feel of it. For the switch from the 7th diminished to the major third (3:44) since the top D note is shared you don't have to move positions. You can keep your pinky on the D note and grab the E (D2) and G# (G1). It's a smoother transition and you don't have to move 7 positions.
Ahh good point. I do like the abruptness of the move too though
@@jalock Hey it's all good brother sounds great, love the moves!
In-deep demo, but easy to follow! Thx!
Thanks for watching :)
A whole bunch of stuff clicked in my head from this video, thank you!
Thanks for watching! Feel free to add your discoveries to the comment section. I learned a lot about Japanese music and jazz through the comment section :)
Right on. Very cool video. I remember watching that video of Marty. I think it was after watching his guitar battles on that TV show.
lol yea. The guitar battle with Paul Gilbert was so funny. Miss going down a rabbit hole watching those videos
@ if you want rabbit holes check out Dennis Chambers’ discography on Wikipedia. He plays with everyone. Also Marc Andre Hamelin on the piano. He has a Liszt cadenza, performance of Scriabin’s 5th piano sonata, and Alkan’s concerto and symphony for solo piano. He also plays a majority of those at the same venue Yamashita played pictures at an exhibition on the guitar which is also amazing.
@@elementsofphysicalreality Damn just listened to Hamelin's Un Sospiro and Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. He's so smooth. I always thought Liang Liang was the most technically gifted but honestly I think Liang Liang makes it look too easy so Hamelin actually feels smoother. I'm a big romantic fan (Liszt/Chopin mostly) and favorite interpreters for Liszt are Jeno Sando/Li Yundi but Hamelin definitely showed me a style of Liszt I've never heard before.
Dennis Chambers seems super cool too. He played with Parliament-Funkedelic (I'm a big fan of hard rock-funk like the Chili Peppers) and John Scofield (love the A-Go-Go album and caught him in Seattle many years ago) so I'll check him out too for sure. Thanks for the rec!
very well explained sir
Thanks for watching :)
A part of the progression shares a similar progression to the brazilian song by Seu Jorge - Tive Razão.
Give it a listen, maybe you'll find it interesting
Just had a listen. I really liked it man. Super cool seeing this kind of feel get meshed up with Brazillian more Bossa Nova-like playing. Thanks for sharing!
As a big Fishmans fan I recognized these chords and progressions immediately. Very cool!
Oh wow just checked them out. They sound really sick and the tone is pretty similar too. Thanks for the rec! Is there a song you recommend from them?
@@jalock Oh man! So many.. I don't even know where to begin. Long Season was my entry point and I was blown away. It's a psychedelic suite, one long song comprised of different genres and styles. Most of the rest of their stuff is more accessible and 'pop' by comparison.
@@charlespancamo9771 Damn. Just listened to a little bit. Really love the lofi/indie-ness. So much Japanese music to discover. I'll finish the whole thing later tonight. Thanks for the rec!
@@jalock no problem! I got more if you want but Fishmans might be my favorite 😊
@@charlespancamo9771 haha sick. Throw any recs my way. Love discovering new Japanese music. Wouldn't have known about Fishmans if it weren't for you
that g to the F is really nice
Thank you anime music and Nobuo Uematsu for drilling these jazz concepts into my smooth brain.
ikr
my absolute favorite example of this kind of chord progression is the pillows’ discography. that jazzy melancholic pop sound is all over their softer songs, and is fairly present even in their more aggressive songs. super huge fan of this sound
yea I keep hearing about The Pillows on other comments too. What's your favorite song from them?
@@jalock A couple of mine from the FLCL soundtrack are Bran-new Love Song and I Think I Can
This is a great video, I always wondered how the Japanese use pop music and anime themes to effect the listener so much, emotionally. Trick 7 reminds me of the L'Arc song Bless.
Oh you're right. So cool to see all these comments from people of songs the chords remind them of from Japanese artists I used to listen to
really cool !
Thanks for watching :)
Very cool...i didnt know that about Marty. I love anything/everything by Shingo Nakamura!! BEAUTIFUL guitar dood!! What a nice clean sound. Ill give it a go. ✌️
Ohh, never heard about Shingo Nakamura. Thanks for the rec!
Shingo Nakamura - Always
Shingo Nakamura & Kazusa - Dice
Remember folks, this is the BASE FORM. You do want to experiment with it and see what you can come up with. It also allows you extremely more melodic possibilities IF yous tart from chord progression with your composing.
Though personally I always feel that you should start with the melody.
Happy composing!
This kind of reminds me of I could die for you by RHCP. You start off with A and and in that base note in the manner that he shows in the video
Oh wow. Just took a listen again and you're right. Never noticed and listened to that song much despite being a huge RHCP fan. Thanks for pointing it out!
Hi as no one seems to have mentionned this 5:10 what is happening here is not what you say it is actually a secondary II/V/ I ( Gm/C/F) leading to the IV (F) here the C chord has the fonction of V of F not I . It is really nothing unusual in jazz we would often play a C7 chord but as the Bb (minor 7 of C) has been introduced in the previous chord (Gm) it is perfectly ok to play a C major triad . Nice video i hope you don't see that as criticism it is just complementary information.
It's usually just ii-V's everywhere 😅just with different tonal centers
That makes sense, I was wondering why that C7 doesn't actually sound a I chord there.
Thanks a lot mate!
Thank you for watching :)
Another great video thank you!! If you ever wanted to show all your chords used on a single frame in your videos (vs someone watching going back and photoshopping a cheat sheet to have for later like I did on your Mayer chords video 🙂) that would be extra awesome, big fan of your format and content so far and excited to watch more thanks again!!
Thanks for coming back :) Ahh yea that's a good idea. I probably could've included all the chords in the beginning or something. Honestly, still trying to figure out these "chord" videos. I think I've figured out the 'technique' video format way more like the Frusciante one I just did
my goat! 🔥🤘
Ayy!
If you haven't already, check Spitz - Robinson, very similar to "marty" example :)
I've heard of it and you're right! Such a great song. Thanks for reminding me of it :)
This reminds me a bit of the song from Luna Sea.. great band...
Just listened to the song. I like it. Guitar tone is similar to this Marty Friedman riff and has an open string sound too for sure (very 7th chord sound). Always fun discovering new Japanese music. Thanks for the rec!
nice Jet, I have the Tele. Cool brand of guitars
Nice. Didn't know they made Teles too
That’s a very nice stratty tone
Thanks man. Jet guitars ftw!
When I think of Jrock, Brilliant Green comes to my mind first
Cool video! These chords remind me of the song "Carnival" by The Cardigans.
Oh wow yea. Just took a listen. The main progression is exactly the 2-5-2-5 run at 6:00
a dash of oasis a dash of the pillows
I left this on pause for a while, and realized the pick guard still has the original plastic peal on top... I soo wish to peel it :S
lmao. This is the 4th or 5th comment mentioning the plastic 😂
@@jalock P.S thanks for the amazing lesson. /salute
@@MarchalisVan Thanks for watching :)
That 2 fingers A, actually I first learnt that from Paul McCartney many years ago, there's a video of it, just search Two Fingers - Paul McCartney
oh wow. You're right. Never knew. Thanks for pointing it out!
It's gotta be that funk, jazz influence, and the culture of zen...minimalism, economy of motion, and those are just the like technical reasons I would think...a lot of those chords I would arrive at, just been my style to realize theres always easierways to play the same chords....and better sounding one
Yea. Love Japanese culture
the chord in chord substitution is not really a F chords anymore it becomes a Gdom7 (9,13) omit 3,5 but it can be notated as f/g also vminor to Imaj is a ii V to F
Yea you're right. Just thought it's easier to think of it as F / G vs a new chord with a scary name 😓
Thank for the video, you sholuld probably remove that plastic from your pickguard?
lol yea 😂 It's a cheap strat I bought for whenever I go back home to my parent's so thought I'd keep the plastic on to prevent dust since I only use it 2-3 times per year
Reminds me of Not Found - Mr. Children
Nice. Yea I hear the 4major to 4minor trick. Thanks for the rec!
stop it, my eyes are growing to the size of tangerins and getting that weird hard reflection in the pupils. uWu!
😂
So, I understand all the individual things you're saying, but I can't quite follow the bigger-picture. Any advice on how I can up my skill level here? I'm pretty much still at the I-IV-V level. But "advanced chords" (dim, 7, etc), "different" progressions, and unusual chord fingerings (like that X-0-5-5-0-0 thing you did) are some of the things I really want to be able to understand better.
For sure. I love your curiosity in trying to understand the bigger picture. I think it'd help to watch videos from channels targeting beginner players talking about chords in a key, maybe the CAGED system too, and then branch out to watching videos targeted at intermediate players and above like this one.
This is a great video from Justin guitar explaining the chords in a key: ua-cam.com/video/q_0X6b_MFGw/v-deo.html
Marty Schwartz is another great beginner guitar channel too
Wow, it’s really sound Japanese! Can you recommend any songs with this progression please?
Thanks for watching! Not sure if there's a song with exactly this full progression but there're a lot of songs that have bits of it. This is kind of a mashup of common chords used in Japanese music.
For ex. Here're some popular songs with the "Marusa" progression I talked about at 4:15 :
"Idol" by YOASOBI (Opening from "Oshi no Ko"): ua-cam.com/video/ZRtdQ81jPUQ/v-deo.html
Opening from "Jujutsu Kaisen": ua-cam.com/video/gcgKUcJKxIs/v-deo.html
"Yoru ni Kakeru" by YOASOBI: ua-cam.com/video/x8VYWazR5mE/v-deo.html
Probably not the same but the intro reminded me of this song m.ua-cam.com/video/0lASG1aB5lE/v-deo.html
@@PepegaeI Nice. Similar guitar sound for sure. I hear a variation of the Marusa chord progression but using a different chord in between vs the 5 minor. Love discovering new Japanese music. Thanks for the rec!
I'm glad you like it ! Very nice video, I'll come back once I have a better grasp of music theory to have a deeper understanding of what you showed
The vibe of Japanese music is truly mesmerizing, I can't get enough of it
Arigato by Ikimono Gakari - that’s where this progression is from originally! (I think Marty even says it’s the chord progression from ‘arigato’)
An analysis on the music of Himouto! Umaru-Chan??? Please :)
That F/G is often thought of as a G11.
Ahh that makes sense too
Fishmans vibe❤️
Japanese music is very sappy. Like the music of a 1980’s romantic comedy starring Dudley Moore
haha great point. Sappy is a great word to describe it. Very anime-like
What makes this Japanese per se and not your bog standard Beatle-style harmony?
None of these are inherently "Japanese" per say and like I mentioned in the video, mostly taken from Western jazz. It's just that these combinations are more commonly used in Japanese pop (most people's exposure to 'Japanese music') vs Western pop.
For ex. the royal road progression super commonly used in J-Pop ( 4 5 3 6 ) came from Western pop too like on Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time", but it's more commonly associated with J-Pop vs Western pop these days
3:21 that's just slash chords, no chord is getting replaced per se
The chords you've played in the intro sound a lot like PS2 Bully's Theme
lmao, good times
I swear, my brain registered the first 9 seconds of this video as Vino's "Taiyou wa yoru mo kagayaku" (The Sun Also Shines at Night) a.k.a. Hunter X Hunter 1999's second opening. It sounded so similar for that time.
Damn. Brings back memories. I'm sure Marty Friedman's seen Hunter Hunter 😂
Hey, I don't mean this is in a hostile way at all, but there are some terminology errors in here that threaten to hold you back when listening and speaking to other musicians. I'm sorry for the essay ahead of time, but describing music via written text is always kind of long-winded.
1) When changing the bass note of a chord in Roman numeral notation, we wouldn't notate it like IV/V, for example. That would indicate that the chord is the IV in relation to the V chord, which would make it a I chord. Instead, we use Arabic numerals to indicate extensions and inversions. The format is usually two numbers written in vertical superscript, where the lower number indicates the next linear interval above the bass note, and the upper number indicates the linear interval above that one; it's usually enough information to indicate the intervals included in the chord, but it doesn't determine which order the intervals should necessarily be in.
This kind of falls apart when it comes to extensions, like F/G, where the 9th (or 2nd) is in the bass. Roman numeral notation (and the figured bass it was built upon) was never meant to really account for chords like this. So it might be better to notate it as IV/2 (in relation to the chord itself) or IV/5 (in relation to the key). If we applied the rules of figured bass to this chord, its written expression would end up being IV4/2, which would be shared with 7th chords in 2nd inversion, confusing the whole thing.
Although this could be said to be an inversion of the IV, adding a different bass note isn't really a good description of an inversion, unless you clarify that it's an inversion of Fadd9 specifically. An inversion is when a note that is not the root note is applied as the bass note of a chord, and in this case, we're looking at the fourth inversion of F. As some systems of Roman numeral notation use alphabetical characters to indicate inversions in order, this could be rendered as IVe (where IVa would be root position and is therefore not used, b is first inversion, etc.)
2) This F/G situation isn't a case of substitution. Substitution is when you replace one chord with a different chord that shares a functional category with it. In a diatonic major key, the substitution of IV is ii, as they both have subdominant function. Substitutions are generally a 3rd apart and have contrasting chord qualities; in this case, F major is contrasted against D minor, and are separated by a minor 3rd (up from Dm, or down from F). Substitutions don't always operate in both directions, though. For example, in the key of C major, the chord Am has two notes in common with both C and F, and is a third away from each, but its relative sense of resolution usually make it more similar to the tonic C chord than the subdominant F chord.
I'm really sorry if this came across as negative! You shared a lot of information and expressed most of it very clearly, which I appreciate, but the two points above are an exception to that and risk miscommunicating some of the concepts at hand. Overall, this is still a really useful video for people unfamiliar with the harmonic tendencies of Japanese popular music (or traditional jazz, which as you explain, it draws from heavily).
Hey man, thanks for the long note and doesn't come across as negative at all! Couple comments/questions so I can understand better:
1) I kind of get what you're saying with notations but everywhere I've learned from like guitar instruction books and online sites like Justin guitars all notate switching the bass note of a chord with the "/", so F on G would be "F / G" so just afraid if I made it as you said "F / 2", that'd confuse more people, especially assuming most people learn from mainstream online resources that also notate it as "F / G".
2) Ahh, I could be wrong here yea. I always assumed it was called chord substitution cause' a guitar teacher told me like many years ago. At the same time it doesn't feel like an inversion though since an inversion is as you said, when the notes in a chord are rearranged. So what is the right or common terminology for switching the bass note of a chord like "F on G" then?
@@jalock Notating it as F/G is entirely correct from an alphabetical notation perspective, it's just more complicated when it comes to Roman numeral notation.
Roman numeral notation is based on classical figured bass notation, which doesn't have a clean solution for this kind of chord, at least as far as I'm aware. So however you choose to notate it, I'd avoid IV/V, because that suggests a I chord.
Sometimes notation styles differ between musical styles and I don't think anyone has an agreed upon solution for this, but all you have to do is indicate that it's fundamentally the IV chord, but the 2nd (or 9th if you prefer) is in the bass. You're expressing almost everything correctly, but came up against a kind of chord that Roman numeral notation wasn't designed to describe.
Just so long as you avoid the IV/V situation and express the bass interval some other way, you should be fine.
When you change the bass note of a chord to a less obviously related note, it's often called a "slash chord" because of the alphabetical notation (e.g. F?G). It's closer to an inversion than a substitution, because in this case, it's basically an Fadd9 chord, but the 9th is in the bass. A substitution is when the chord is replaced by an entirely different chord with the same function. If you want to try this out, play a melody in the key of C major over an F chord, then play it over a Dm chord. They should offer a similar degree of tension, whereas C and Am should feel more relaxed & resolved, and G and Bdim should feel more tense.
@@MadassAlex Ahh got it. "IV / V" looks confusing as hell anyway. Will definitely avoid in the future. Appreciate the clarification!
Hi, I play guitar for a while but I never learned this chord progression, the intervals etc. Do you have any learning resource you'd recommend?
If you're a beginner and just trying to understand how chords work, channels like Marty Music and Justin Guitars would be great like this video: ua-cam.com/video/40WtL0Ehe9c/v-deo.html
Otherwise, Tomo Fujita gives great lessons on interesting chords, especially Japanese chords so those would be worth checking out as well
@@jalock Thank you, much appreciated :)
Reminds me of Odd Taxi chord progression
Surely the III chord is just the V of vi?
Yup. Yet another 2-5 idea
Don't forget about my girl, 'bvi°' leading from 'V' to 'vi'
oh yea for sure. Too many great examples of voice leading/transition chords in J-Pop
Jesus the guitar mix all panned to the right...
:O
La vidéo original date d'il y a 13-14 ans, j'ai appris ce que tu joues au debut à l'oreille il y a plus de 10 ans et aujourd'hui je me sers de ces accords tres souvent
Megadeth jumpscare
😂
Those Jet guitars are very noice 👌
Ikr. I got them for about $250 new, cheaper than a Squire but way better quality than a Squire. The roasted maple neck is pretty sick too. Never going back to a Squire again
@
Going to have a look into them now haha.
Great playing and informative video too btw.
I learned something!
Thanks 🎸
@@chrisegonmusic haha for sure. Thanks for watching! Another great brand for cheap, well-built strats with roasted maple neck is the Korean brand Corona
@ ah nice 👌
@@chrisegonmusic Come back next week for the new video :)
I don’t think he improvised it. I think it’s the chord progression to ‘arigato’ by Ikimono Gakari?
Oh wow sounds really similar. Not 1 for 1 but probably cause' Marty plays some chords a bit differently on the neck. But like the beginning is pretty much the same for ex. (C - E - Am - G - F) 👀
Great video, but dude. When are you gonna take the plastic film off your pick guard?
lol someone else commented that too 😂 I kept it on since this is the guitar I keep at my parents so most of the year it's unused and I don't want it to gather too much dust
Reasons to buy Strat as a Tele guy
1. Motifour of Tricot
2. Jack Lo (NEW)
Haha thanks man. This means a lot. And I love Motifour! Her riff on potage is just so tasty (no pun intended)
5:04 The chord you're showing is an A7add2. Using the open A string as the root, and you've dropped the octave a down a whole step, making it a minor 7th. The open B string is the 2nd scale position of A, hence add2. I love that chord!
Great explanation. Thanks!
Always just thought of it as a variation of the barred chord except using open strings from the open Am chord
Not quite. It’s an Am9.
You even nailed the standard Japanese guitarist's boring, scratchy tone style too!
lmao
Sounds a lot like Yesterday
Haha love Yesterday too and yea it also uses the 4-3-6 that's really common in Japanese music
Get a load of how long this dude's thumb is.
Is it? 😂
@@jalockyeah my thumb can’t even reach over the neck 💀💀
Don't look back in anger
Oasis
Thank me later
lmao. Never noticed
hmm interesting ...it's odd that it's both a little bit complex but not so much yet also common enough to hear the "Japanese-ness" ..I wonder where it started from, probably someone famous and copied over years and years eh?
Yea that’s what I love about Japanese music too. It sounds complex yet accessible enough to the average music listener. I’m guessing the jazziness came from Japanese interest in American culture, especially jazz, sparking after WW2. People used to go to “jazz kissa” or jazz cafes to listen to American jazz and there’re still some in Tokyo today. The jazz influence became super apparent by the 80’s on city pop songs like the UA-cam-famous Plastic Love.
@jalock i was going to mention there's a hint of plastic love.. but only a small part of it...the one chord that sounds pretty familiar is the F/C kind of resolve...I tend not to listen to this type of Japanese music but more of the city pop and math rock - in math rock there's a lot of 7th chords, sometimes alternate tunings.
@@sonicase oh yea true. Math Rock sounds super open-string-y too
I was going to include Toe's "Goodbye" as an example on my previous John Frusciante 2-note trick video since Goodbye kinda does the same trick (playing a chord with 2 notes) but with a capo for the bass note
🙇♂️💓🍀🎶 🤘😊
🤘🏻
My entire existence is characterized by profound suffering, depicted by deep despair and marked by a constant sense of anguish, filled with overwhelming distress and relentless misery. 😒😔
😂
Maybe that should be the title of this video
Bruh, this needs to be embroidered on a pillow. It's perfection 👌🤌
@@Hadrian1616 Thanks man! Funny you say that since so many people commented how this sounds similar to The Pillows (pun intended)
Nice video but isn’t this western harmony?
Yup. As I said heavily inspired by western Jazz. As someone else pointed out, it's less that Japan invented these techniques but more that the combination of all these common jazz tricks gives the modern "j-pop" sound. For ex. the royal road progression ( 4 5 3 6) commonly used in J-Pop was originally taken from western music too but nowadays it's more commonly associated with J-Pop.
@ Thanks for the reply! I only asked because when I saw the title of the video I thought you were exploring traditional Japanese music as opposed to pop; but as an American musician I am very pleased to hear that Japanese pop music is obviously way more interesting than American pop :)
@@timcardona9962 lol. To be fair, I think American pop is pushing more in terms of style and sound texture but yea J-Pop harmony is awesome. And love how electric guitar is still a key part of the sound
@@jalock As a guitarist, I wholly concur!
Isnt this what marty friedman played too?
EDIT: i type too fast than listen. Lol wwwwwwwwww
lol
IV7 to iv is not necessarily japanese
none of these are “necessarily” japanese, they’re just common in japanese music and give that kinda feel when put together
@@jessinsurfgreen4964 Well put