Harmony too happy or too sad? Try this instead
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2021
- There are times when major chords are too happy and minor chords are too sad. When I want to maintain a neutral mood without pushing too extremely towards an explicitly positive or negative tonality, I use suspended chords.
In this music theory and harmony focused video I'll show you how and why I use sus4, sus2, sus7 to maintain a plain and neutral sound. Because they lack the third, sus chords have a nice open quality. This also makes them very harmonically flexible, allowing you to move and modulate to different keys smoothly.
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Now happily lost playing middle of the road sus chords. Appreciate your time and your thoughtful content Ryan.
Nice! I'm glad to hear you got something out of it.
As someone who makes dreary electronic music, I over-use sus2 and sus4 chords... It just keeps my music from being too obviously dark, depressing, and spooky.
If you want to go microtonal, you can use literal neutral chords (where the third is halfway between minor and major).
This! The thing is, neutral harmony sounds very empty and avoid of any feeling lol. (but at least it stays loyal to the name)
Finally someone that mentioned it. You can use supermajors and subminors too. They all add a TON of color.
I used neutral chords in my penultimate song (and if i remember correctly i think i used supermajors too)
Sus 4 chords always sound major to me, expecting the fourth to go down to the major third
20th Century Harmony!! Book changed my life. He was the teacher of my theory professor in college, Persichetti was a Philly guy.
I didn't know that about Persichetti, I'm a Philly guy myself!
1:58 that's cool, it really explains how these calm acoustic interludes work in the Opeth's songs
In 24-EDO you can have a NEUTRAL 3RD, by flattening the major third by a quarter tone, which sounds neither major or minor. You can also have supermajor third by sharpening the major third by a QT or the subminor third by flattening the minor third by a QT. All these chords add a TON of color to music and i love them.
There's a video on youtube that's literally only Cneu7 played on an accordion and it sounds real good.
Hey Ryan, in my last 4 years of watching youtube I have not written a single comment but your videos are just a goldmine of usefull, well thought out information that I have to say something. In the last 3 years of learning to be a composer you finally give me the sense that I understand many of the nuances of many aspects of music. I binge watched your whole channel in the last few weeks and always hopped in my daw to try everything out. It‘s also great to see you finally getting some more recognition and traction which you truly deserve!
I have a question and maybe idea for a video: Sometimes you talk about putting a chord over a different root note than that of the chord. So like c major over e. For me it was always the root note of the chord that has to be the bass that plays along with it. Maybe you have some insight on what options you have (with not just trying out what sounds good) and if there is a system behind that. Thank you for everything you do! Cheers!
Sounds like what your talking about is “inversions”. I don’t have a video on that at the moment but look up “chord inversions” and there are probably some solid resources already. Thanks for the support!
@@RyanLeach Hey Ryan, thank your for your fast reply. I don't know if you would consider C over E a statement for an inversion. From my understanding, inversion is when you take a note from a chord an octave up or down, so the voice leading is smoother for example. But the root note would still stay the same. So C Major first inversion is E-G-C. But the root note would still be C, although the lowest note now is E. And from what i've learn, you would always take the root note for a bassline for example and not the lowest not of a chord.
So this is where my question comes from. I guess im talking about slash chords or compound chords.
So my question: Would the root note C stay the same even with the first inversion and is there a technique when maybe changing the bass note (for example in choral writing style, when you have 3 notes from a chord and the bottom note is the bassline) to a different note in the chord. So when you have a C Major and put an E under it as bassline.
Thank you so much!
Hello @@TheLockNLol! I don't have much experience with music composition, so take this with a grain of salt, but I believe you can see a C/E chord (or any slash chord) in three ways :
1. It is a different voicing of your C chord, making it useful for voice leading. Seeing it this way would allow you to write a smoother bassline.
2. It is a Emb13 or a Emb6 chord with omission of some notes. Seeing it this way would allow you to write more colorful harmony.
3. It is a I/iii chord (in C major). Seeing it this way would allow you to get a chord function close to the iii but with the sound of a I chord.
I think a stricter music theorist would argue that, the root of a chord is always its bass note, no matter its other notes and voicing. However, everything gets more complicated this way as it forces us to think in 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. I think people are oriented towards using only the root note as the lower note because it's simpler this way, and makes sure you're not losing the function of your chords.
The way I see it, as long as you're leaving the right bass note in cadences, you can't really go wrong. Especially if your ears are telling you it sounds good!
Your channel is very underrated
Man, such a great tip. Binging your videos at the moment
very cool. Thank you. useful content
Thanks, glad it's helpful!
SUS Chords... sounds like you should be making music for Among Us.🚀🤔
Damn that is a missed opportunity right there. I might have to delete this and start over.
I'm glad someone finally mentioned this
sus4 is essential for corporate jingles
Impressive. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
very interesting thx Ryan
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Very nice video! I find your channel very useful regarding the practical part of the work of a composer!
P.S. (i believe you probably know it, but) at 2:33: any 3-note sus chord can be (at least) 3 things. On your example it can be 1) C7sus4(or Cm7sus4) , 2) Fsus4(or Fmsus4) and 3) Bbsus2(or Bbmsus2). The more notes you add to a sus chord, the fewer (tonal/diatonic) resolves you can have (e.g. a great chord C-F-Bb-D is mostly regarded as C9sus4 - let alone if we add the 5th of the chord-note G). This is useful for everyone to know in case you want to resolve a sus chord at some point in a different way for a new, unexpected, color!
I appreciate all the effort you put on your videos! Keep up the good work!
or just flat the third in the major chord, or sharp the minor chord by 50 cents, then u can have C, E half sharp and G, microtonality is wild man
What about using neutral third instead of minor and major?
Charly Garcia said "take out the third.." and it won't sound like happy or sad, "it will sound ambiguous"
sus
I never think of minor as sad though. They are just relaxed, or serious. Whereas major is excited. Often happy but happiness is not the only way you can be excited. Sadness is more IV maj7 to me rather than any minor. Or descending lines, be it major or minor.
Is there such a thing as a sus2 or sus4 in modes like Phrygian or Locrian mode? I know that major is just Ionian mode and minor is Aeolian mode. I'm just wondering how I'd go about using sus2 or sus4 in those modes while staying within those keys or modes. I don't really know how else to ask this.
Of course, sus chords are just another flavor of chord. In Phrygian sus4 is already there, although I’ve never really heard of susb2 but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it. Will be dissonant though, not neutral like a sus2
@@RyanLeach Thanks for answering. So if there is a sharp or flat, any of the notes would be raised or lowered? That's why I was asking. Anyway, thanks again!
@@uffevonlauterbach yea so I guess in Lydian it would be sus#4, again not technically "a thing" but also no reason you can't use it in the right context
@@RyanLeach Thank you so much for helping me out with this! There's some music I'm working on, and I've been using sus4 and sus2 for some parts, and I wasn't sure if this would be breaking a rule in music or not. I'm glad I found this video.
Try a 6/9 chord. It's really nice (also really neutral)
I think it might be because 6/9 chords are kinda like four stacked fifths, 1 5 2 6 3
6/9 Nice
Laughs in augmented
Augmented chords might be neutral in tonality but I don't think they are neutral in character
actually, if you stack perfect fourths you get an inversion of a sus4 chord
So, Sus chords are a super power basically
I've noticed your Nintendo switch :3
If Major is Yin and Minor is Yang, then Sus is the Dao
what if i just... Neutral third. C E half flat and G
I dunno, man, those chords are pretty sus…
So far, I'm glad I discovered you.
PLEASE don't turn into Adam Neely.
That guy can suck the life out of ANY music.
Keep up the good work, I don't want to unsubscribe.
Bill P.
Just use neutral chords lol