📌 at 5:45 there is a typo... there shouldn't be a flat next to the note C. It should be a C natural, not C flat. Sorry for any confusion and thanks to the commenters who pointed that out 😅😊
Sorry for a nitpick but I found: the chord audio at 11:18 doesn't sound what you depicted there. Wonderful video though!! You covered almost all the explainations I wanted in a band practice. So helpful!
@@DavidBennettPiano Oui ah pardon je viens de noter mon erreur (Yes my mistake). Thank you very much for this other very interesting video, like everytime
@@DavidBennettPiano dude...you had the title in English musical notations....how about in DO, RE, MI....like the rest of the world!! México...Spain...all of Latin America etc...
@ my channel is English-speaking and is about music theory in the anglosphere. As much as I’d like to I can’t make my videos relevant to every single musical culture!
@ Latin America isn't the "rest of the world". If David Bennett had to cater to the entire world, the videos would become meaningless since there are hundreds of languages and cultures all over the world. Nothing wrong with turning on the "CC" button and reading youtubes auto-translation into your particular language.
2 роки тому+2
@@OTR392 his title is misleading. The "Rest Of The World ' does not use the English alphabet system. Have you been in other countries in Europe or Latin America where they use DO, RE, MI etc....and not the English letter sequence??
I wish you were alive when I was learning music! It took me years to figure out all of these chord symbols, and here you are giving out all this precious info in 16 minutes 🤣
hes wrong a number of times in this vid unfortunately. ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
@@infamouslyfamous2134 yeah, no, you’re the incorrect one here. The numbering system is based on the mixolydian scale, so you have to count up accordingly. A C13 would go C E G Bb D F A. You managed to forget the G and misplace the A in your “corrective” comment. The reason you think ppl don’t play the F is bc ppl don’t play 13 chords, it’s pretty much strictly theoretical, ppl actually play and notate 13(#11) chords, or opt for and altered chord or something else that’s dominant.
@@IAMASTICKSTUPIDPERSON: Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly. *Cherish each note the composer creates,* rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
Me too! I could teach people theory on the piano that I learned in 12 months. Now if only DB could express my fingers to learn as fast as my brain, I'd be playing at the Opera House in Sydney in no time.
That feeling is amazing, isn't it! I remember watching Adam Neely videos, and feeling as though he was speaking a different language... and I kind of picked it up like a second language, just from watching music theory videos. The feeling of everything clicking is so rewarding!
not everything! cause hes wrong a few times. heres one.... ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
This is absolutely the best music theory channel out there, straight to business, extremely clear descriptions and visuals, and ordered perfectly for anyone to learn piece by piece. I feel like my knowledge has increased immensely since subscribing, and this is coming from someone who hasn't studied theory from year 9.
ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
@@infamouslyfamous2134Let's count the notes in a C13 chord. C 1, E 3, G 5, Bb 7, D 9 (not 2), **F 11 (not 4),** and A 13 (not 6). The F is literally in the top chord. Are you new to octaves?
@@sunscraper1 youre not a musician....C13(in no particular order) is. C Bb D E A. no F. Moron. Sometimes a G is used but less common in C13 true voicing
Man you can't know how much useful this video will be, I've always wanted to look at the subject but never had the motivation neither found a good video about it ; you're definitely gonna change that, thanks a lot!
4:59 in jazz terminology it is worth to keep in mind that you will NEVER omit the third unless very clearly specified. The third and seventh is pretty much seen as the essence and charcter of the chord to the point where you can manage with those two notes alone (if you play with a bass player that will play the root) in the case of the C13 in jazz you would omit the 11’th for reasons i will explain below. I know in some music (mainly pop and soul) you might see C11 and C13 understood as a Bb/C and Bb^7/c like David did here. However in jazz this Bb/c would be considered a sus chord. So C7sus11 and the Bb^7/c would be considered a C7sus13. Also in traditional jazz you would never use a major or dominant 11 chord due to the clash between the 11 and the major third of the chord which creates a dissonant b2/b9 interval - therefore you will often sharpen the 11th to get a more consonant M2/M9 interval to avoid this clash. Hence the reason that the third is omitted when writing a C11 in pop/soul. This is not a problem with minor chords why you will more often find m11 chords. In more modern jazz, more open voicings, clusters and dissonance are more accepted so here you will se major and dominant 11 chords that have both the 11th and major third of the chord. So to sum up Bb/c = C11 in pop = C7sus11 in jazz (C11 in modern jazz refer to a chord with have both 11th and major third) Bb^7/c = C13 in pop = C7sus13 in jazz
I kinda tilted my head when he described an 11th chord, in a major context, as having the third and the 11 (half step/b9 clash) - just doesn't in my world - an 11 chord is essentially a sus chord, no third. Now if it's a minor 11, the third is fair game as there isn't the dissonance as the minor third and 11 are a whole step apart.
CORRECT, I was looking for this comment as soon as I saw Dbmaj11 written in the thumbnail🥴🥴🥴 some care has to be considered between adding the 3rd and 4th (F and Gb) to avoid the chord not functioning as a major chord.
That is only the case if you take the G as the tonic note. You dont have to. If you look at it from the perspective of the F als tonic, it would be an F maj 9 #11. You could even say Fmaj9#11/G to specify the G in the bass
Absolutely brilliant. An entire topic delivered concisely, nothing omitted, in a clear, easy to understand format, with examples that help reinforce the concepts. Every question I ever had about chord notation has been answered. This is why I love your channel and your content.
That last one could also be spelled as a polychord (F over Em with a horizontal, not diagonal slash), but you’re right, you’d pretty certainly have to write the actual voicing out to get what you wanted.
Yes, polychords were the only major omission here, though I expect they’re probably fairly rare in this sort of fake book/Real Book notation. Not often you’ll find a Petrushka chord in a chord chart for Penny Lane!
If you MUST write it on one line because your software doesn't support doing polychords with a horizontal bar, I think "E-/G and F/A" would be adequate. If you really felt it was necessary, you could add a margin note that "and" means both chords are to be played simultaneously.
honestly thanks david. understanding certain chord sequences was something i struggled with but i sort of learned to live with. it is amazing that i finally understand them now and use the correct notes without guessing lol
Such a great idea to make this video! It's hard to believe no one would think about doing it before. I wish it would exist back when I started to learn songs and harmony. Thanks a lot David for doing it with your usual crystal-like clarity
I’ve quiet learning music theory over and over again so many times because I get overwhelmed so easily. Your videos are helping me not get overwhelmed and learn things one by one. Im so thankful of your videos!
I am just beginning to learn drums and music theory, and my brain is close to melting after watching this. But I learnt quite few things that had puzzled me.
For 13 chords, the most standard practice is to omit the 11th and/or 5th, not the 3rd. For major 11-chords, the 3rd is typically omitted, but to avoid confusion, this chord is now taught as "9sus4" in the US.
At 3:20 you could also write the chord as Ebm6/C or Ebm/C, it is just an inversed minor-6 chord, which are more commonly used (and therefore this notation makes it easier to see the function of the chord in the harmony)
Major 6 is an inversion of minor 7, minor 6 is an inversion of half diminished, both are commonly used wrongly as a result (if you're trying to maintain some sort of ii-V-I logic). C6/A and Am7 are identical, Cm6/A and Aø are identical. No need to put a 7 after a half-diminished symbol, as there's no point specifying the quality of the seventh degree _and then_ saying "oh yeah, add a seventh".
@@mal2ksc I get the ii-V-I Thing, it makes sense but because of how I learned harmony theory, the minor6 isnmore Common for me (and thats why I Said it i more logical). But why is the 7 in the halfdim redundant? A-C-Eb hast no G which is the 7th, so the 7 in A(b5)7 would add Something new iirc.
It's worth mentioning that sometimes minor chords are not written as uppercase with "m", but as lowercase letters :) For example here in Poland we commonly write minor chords like that.
I did not learn much, BUT having this video 12 years ago would have saved me tens of hours trying to understand the logic of chord letter notation. So my former self thanks you very much!
Hi, Great topic!!! In most all cases that use chord symbols [jazz, pop, etc.], the degree mark ( C° ) is played as a four-note chord (a stack of minor thirds). This means C in the bass and C, Eb, Gb, and A. On the rare occasion when you want a true three-note diminished chord, you should mark it as C minor (-5). This gets the best results from the player. True diminished chords (triads) show up mainly in hymns and classical music and are a rarity in jazz and pop. Flat 11 chords don't really exist because a flat 11 is a major 3rd. If you need a major 3rd and minor 3rd, state it as a #9. If you desire the flat 13 on top of the voicing, the notes are C in the bass and Bb, D, F, and Ab. If you don't want the Ab on the top of the voicing, it is really an augmented 5th, so in this case, the chord is C11 +5. Because extended chords are almost always played as a four-note chord over a bass note, pay attention to how you want the chord to be voiced. In the case of C11, you need to think about the top note (F). Do you want it on top of the chord or somewhere in the middle. An 11 chord has the 7, 9, and 11 voiced as thirds and the 11 is on the top (C in the bass and a chord G, Bb, D, and F). If the same notes are needed, but the F note is NOT on the top, the best chord symbol would be C9 sus4. To avoid omit5 chords, try to state them with a slash bass note. For example, in my opinion, A7 sus4 (omit5) is better stated as D sus4/A. The chord that you describe at 13:10 is an [Emin & FMaj] / G.
Sometimes you have to choose between notating a chord for speed-reading in performance, or having it make sense theoretically. If the "omit 5" notation makes more sense in terms of functional harmony, then I'll call it that. But if the harmony is non-functional, then call it whatever you want, in which case I definitely go for "least effort for the performer".
The chord at 14:55 G-A-B-C-E-F can be written as a polychord. As Em/G and F/A. You would write it as you do division in math with a straight horisontal line separating the chords. This is how i would write it.
This was so useful, thank you! I've been playing keys at my church for a while, which meant switching from sheet music to chord charts. It's sometimes been a challenge to work out exactly what a particular chord symbol means, especially when the same chord can be written differently, and my chord theory was very poor to begin with. And now I'm switching to using number charts, which adds another layer of complexity lol.
Brilliant. Again. In 16min you've summarised what its taken me 50 years to know (most of) starting as a self-taught guitarist and teaching myself very rudimentory keyboards (mainly to bash along with keyboard-led Beatles/McCartney songs) just based on curiosity about how multiple notes combine into interesting chords.
@@DavidBennettPiano ... Well, 3 things: 1st, the flat symbol ♭ is not exactly like a b, plus the flat symbol was normally written in italics. 2nd, the sharp and flat symbols are usually put as a superscript, so in b♭, the ♭ symbol would be somehow elevated relative to the b. And finally, while I have seen both, the first ones that I encountered (when I was self-learning guitar from magazines that came with songs and chords and tabs), they came with the syllabic notes, so it was Do, Re, Mi (etc) for major vs do, re, mi for minor. Note that even if you had dob, that would not be any more or less confusing that Dob (and in fact you would have Do♭ with an elevated ♭). Plus, none of the note names has a b letter. But even with the letter notes, a b♭ (with an elevated ♭) is easy to tell from a bb or a ♭♭ (which would not make sense anyway... in most cases). And stop complaining of confusing things after you just spent 16 minutes to explain that a Em(♭9)(add11)(♭13)/G can be written in like 20 different forms, all equally complicated 😉
I don't get why this is the only example explaining the symbols I've found so far. These are so fundamental to understanding other chord progressions yet nobody talks about them. Really helpful video.
@2:37 I have used and seen alot of this minor major 7 just as Cmmaj7 or written so that the "maj" is slightly smaller font and put slightly lower on the line.
The clarifications in this video are very helpful, with the more complex chords they can get confusing. As a guitarist chords are more shapes than notes stuck together for beginners and this isn’t for beginners which is rare at least in the latter of the video. Great video 10/10
A few nits: "C11" is in practice a C9sus. Core of the sound being the 7sus, *without* the M3. "C13" is in practice a C7add13 or C9add13. Core of the sound being the b7, M3, and 13, usually voiced in that order. If you want both M3rd *and* 11th in a chord, use "add11". You almost only ever hear this on a basic triad.
That's true, but for a sus chord I'd rather use a C9sus instead of a C11. C11 can be confusing. It could be understood as a C9sus(add3) for some players. Also with a C11, it's not clear whether the 9th should be included or not (logically, yes), but with a C9sus, there is no doubt.
@@slapmyfunkybass That's true. However, "sus" implies that there are no 3rd (the 4th replaces the 3rd). So depending of what you want (3rd+4th or only 4th), it has to be more specific. When 3rd and 4th are both needed, I usually wrote C13(add11) or C13sus(add3). Either ways is fine. At least, it's not ambiguous. And yes, C13 by itself doesn't have a 4th in it. And it often implies a 9th as well, but not always. I've been in situation where a C13 with a 9th in it doesn't sound right. Depending of the harmony of some songs, the 9th tend to be minor (C13b9). Adding the flat 9th is better in that case, but still not the right sound. In that particular situation, the only voicing that works is a C13 without any 9th in it. I guess in that case the best would be to write it C13(omit 9th)
@@CyrilleBriegel I write Jazz orchestration and never really found a use for the 3rd and 11th with the 13th harmony. It’s just too difficult to arrange without a clash between the two intervals, even with spacing between them. Usually one or the other is enough. Yes, sus implies a lack of major or minor so the 3rd should always be omitted. It also, majority of the time, calls for resolution to the 3rd, either walking up or descending from the sus interval. Yes, his 13th chord, not necessarily wrong, but I wouldn’t advise it. For me C13 implies the 3rd and no 11th, Csus13 implies no 3rd and the 11th. That’s how I would score it too.
@@slapmyfunkybass I agree, 3rd+4th only sound right for simple chords such as Csus(add3) or C7sus(add3). But you're right, having a 13th and a 9th on top of that is way too much. In that case, it's more likely a cluster!
Excellent video. I recently extensively researched chord symbols, trying to make a consistent notation I could use with my students. (I did come up with a system.) The video is fully accurate. It is as close to a complete overview of this subject as anything you will find.
Your videos are my absolute favourite kind of music theory videos. I feel like I’ve been able to understand so many things just from watching, and it actively makes a difference in my own music!
Dear Chocolatemess2000: Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly. *Cherish each note* the composer creates, rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
In “The Bob Ralson Touch” organ book, for Maj.7 chords, they use a 7 with a slash in it (as we write the number 7 in French cursive). For instance , Eb Maj.7 would read Eb7 (with a slash through the 7). I have more than a hundred music books and I have never seen that way of writing a Maj.7 chord anywhere else.
I've seen the horizonral ine through a 7, 9, 11, or 13 chord to mean that the chord has a major 7. I like this compact form. My pet peeves are using "-" for minor and + or - for flat or sharp. + should always mean #5, in my universe, but I've seen 9+ mean #9, even if 7+ usually means #5.
I liked it without even watching because I already know that it's a great video. You definetly answering my burning questions with your videos, thank you man !
So you showed us here a C7 (b11) at 5:37 but elevenths are usually used only as naturals (11) or sharpened (#11) given that a flattered eleventh would result in a major third of the chord. C7 (b11) = C7
Awesome video! The most useful piece of information I got was which notes to eliminate and still maintain the essence of the chord 4:55 since on the guitar you are limited to 6 notes per chord. 10/10
This is excellent. I've been teaching music for years and this is some of the most clearly presented information I've run across. Very clear and easy to follow.
Having moved over to the ‘dark side’ from the brass band world where chords are never needed/given, this video is one of the most helpful I’ve come across.
Thank you for the explanation! One minor mistake: at 6:14, the E11(b13) has a C flat in it, but it should be a C natural since the 13th degree of the E major scale is C sharp.
I didn’t agree on his 13th harmony, if you’re omitting the 3rd it would be written as Csus13, if you omit the 11th it’s just C13. The problem doing it his way is there’s no way to tell the musician you want the 3rd and no 11th without it being more complex than it needs to be, C13(add 11, no 3rd)
Amazing video! I have a question though. The chord at 14:40 that you labelled G13(omit5), could you also describe is at F over Em (idk how you’d write that). I’ve heard people talking about stacking 2 different chords on top of each other and calling it smth like that I think 🤔
J bought two days ago a software to play keyboards for me and noticed it had a curious way to label the chords j was fooling with ! Today, j found you ! Just when j seriously consider diving deep into theory after few decades of ear practice ... J'm on the right path, and you have a new suscriber under your sharing wings ! Thank you very much !
DUDE! This all used to look like gibberish to me, and with your video I went from that to being able to name a chord accurately in under 20 minutes! Amazing work!
I don't know if it's only me, but all of my teachers in college (in jazz) have always taught me that the 11th is never automatically included in a 13 chord when the chord has a major 3rd degree (in order to avoid a minor 9th interval between 3rd and 11th). So I was told that the 11th is only ever included in chords with a flat 3, or in sus chords, in which the 11th replaces the 3rd.
Us guitarists sort of have this done for us, the instrument's layout makes it sort of impossible to include 11 in a 13 chord voicing anyway, common voicings we're taught have root, 3, b7, 9, 13, sometimes omitting 9.
@@dabekk111 : Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly. *Cherish each note the composer creates,* rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
I can't believe i found this video i've been looking for a resource that compiles all chord symbols into something digestible and easy to comprehend. Thank you so much!!!
perfect video man, just about 5 years too late in my case 😋 i'm a guitarist and i've noticed long ago that while *Csus2* and *Csus4* are commonly noted as such, people would not use the term *Cadd2* and *Cadd4* but rather *Cadd9* and *Cadd11* although most often it's really the 2 and 4 they're adding to the chord and not these _upper extensions_ that you would expect with 9 and 11 ... i will be extra clear from now on. makes life so much easier, especially when working with others and sharing music and knowledge. I know guys who have called Csus2 chords C9, and that's where it gets criminal ...
I was wondering something about these sus/add chords as well... I think the 'wrap around' into a C9 or C11 is there to ensure the sound is distinct (add2 in particular is very dissonant). Also doesn't the 'sus' terminology imply a (functional) resolution is expected (sus 2 UP to 3; sus 4 DOWN to 3)? ...and if so, why don't we have a sus 7? ... the flat/maj 7 has just as strong a 'pull' to the tonic as the 2 and 4 do to the 3... don't they? "It's all rather confusing, really" -Spike Milligan (Goon Show)
The difference between a sus2 chord and an add9 is the 3rd is still played in an add9 chord but no 7th is played. The difference between a sus2 and a sus9 is the voicing. For example, if you played a C chord you'd play a D one tone up from the root for sus2. For sus9 you'd play a D an octave plus a tone above the root.
Think of them in terms of octaves. If the note in question lands in a single octave, it's a sus2 or sus4. If it lands in the next octave it's an add 9 or add 11. Same goes for 6 and 13..if the note added sits a minor 2nd (m2) away from the other note, then the note in the 1st octave is usually omitted because of the dissonance it creates...
Omitting the 5 makes sense because it doesn’t really change the “feel” of the chord. But omitting the 3 for 11 chords is bizarre to me. The 3 is the essence of the chord. It gives it major or minor tonality. Unpopular opinion but C11 with no 3 is just Bb/C (or really Bbadd9/C)
But sometimes you want to avoid the major/minor sound - Zappa for example used a lot of sus2 and sus 4 because he wanted to be free to use either major or minor third when playing a solo over the chord changes. Here's Ruth Underwood who played with Zappa showing an example - ua-cam.com/video/e7Sq0chFjps/v-deo.html
It's because the clash between a major third and a perfect fourth or 11 is pretty harsh, it's considered the harshest dissonance in the entire scale. And usually it's not meant to sound quite as spicy as that. Likewise in an ordinary dominant 13 chords one also often omits the 11 because the rub between the dominant 7 and the 13 (or major sixth) gives it "enough" spice while the major third gives it a true dominant feel. And if the eleven was intended to be played instead of the third one might write 13sus11 or make a slash-chord. And also because it's really unusual to ever play more than 5 notes in a chord in actual practice, atleast not on a piano or guitarr. And then we have the fact that the natural 5th and the major third are the strongest overtones in the overtone series so they are sort of naturally implied anyway, and might even be heard from a strong base note, especially the 5th. He also forgot to mention the rule about 6ths. What is meant with a 6 is always a major sixth, even if it's a minor chord. If you want a minor 6th you have to write a b6, and then you might aswell call it a major 7 chord with the third in the root. So for example an Am(b6) would be a Fmaj7/A.
@@bq4454 Yes I know. But then you usually have it written out. C13(#11) for example. And mostly you do include the 11 in minor chords. But then you might still leave some other notes out (like the 5th or the 9th are both optional in this chord) for reasons of texture (so that it sounds like a chord and not a cluster for example), taste (how crunchy do you want it to be) or voice-leading or practicality (what can you actually play on a guitar for example). The one note you normally never leave out of the extensions are the extension itself, the dominant seven and the root ofcourse. And in minor chords also the minor third is mandatory, otherwise it wouldn't be a minor chord. So you actually should play at the very least the minor third and the eleven together in a minor 11 chord. If you have only four voices the mandatory notes for a minor 11 chord are the root, the minor third, the dominant 7 and the 11.
Sus chords aren’t major or minor, that’s why you can do it. When you get into orchestral arrangement it’s highly recommended to omit the 3rd with 11ths otherwise avoiding clashes is difficult.
at this point chord symbols might as well become maths.. anyways, thank you so much for making this video!! i self taught myself piano (after a bad experience with piano lessons) and i’ve always been confused with chord symbols. this video just explains everything not only clearly, but with concise, simple-to-understand words! hopefully i can memorize these soon..
Thank you, I always forgot the symbols and then had to ask every lesson, now I know all of them, and if I forget I can just watch the video again, it ended my struggle... This is a well explained video!
The final chord could also be thought of as an Emin/G played alongside an F/C. But I'm not sure if there's a way to notate playing two chords right next to each other like that.
There is: "Em/G and F/A, tight". Tight means the entire thing exists within the span of a single octave. I wouldn't expect someone to interpret this correctly on the fly if they've never seen it before, but if they have time to look the chart over, this should make perfect sense.
@@rome8180 I'd consider all the alternatives also impossible for sight reading as well though. So if none of the descriptors are going to be sight-readable, I choose to use the one that requires the least time to interpret, and I think a polychord delivers that.
Great video, this is something that ive really worked on the last few months because i got tired of learning music on my guitar and having to look up what certain chords were. I never really remembered them other than their fingering but after really practicing them and thinking about it i can make any chord now in any inversion. It feels very liberating because i can play something in a few different ways depending on how you place the bass note in the chord and its helped me my melodies flow better. Its funny how those little "ah ha" moments really change how you look at something.
Really excellent summary/review! Thanks. The origin of a “sus”pension, and the reason why “sus” alone means sus4, is as a _delayed resolution_ - suspended specifically in time. The didn’t originate as standalone block chords, but as delayed voice-leading. A *classic* example of a suspended fourth can be heard in the closing cadence of the first movement of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in Eb, BWV 998 (ua-cam.com/video/VEoOToX_PuE/v-deo.html): You can hear the suspended fourth at time index 2;44, with its delayed resolution a second later. A C-dominant-7 (C E G Bb), in Common-Practice harmony, resolves to an F-Major (F A C). Specifically, the C7’s Bb lowers down to the F-Major’s A, and the E goes up to the F. The most common suspension is: E->F, G->F, C->C, but delaying the fall of the Bb to A, meaning that the fourth of the destination F-Major keyframe, the Bb, is still “suspended” - held over - from the previous C7 chord. You could also thinking of it as “suspended” vertically, meaning in pitch, in that the Bb is “dangling” above its final resting A pitch. (Granted, what it’s suspended *from* is not clear in that analogy, but...)
YES OH MY GOD! I've always wanted to figure out if for example Cmin11 Cmaj11 and C11 have different upper extensions, but I never sat down to actually really research it, but now that you've pointed it out it doesn't it makes them so much easier, thank you very much!!
Articulations Are Great... Audible / Numerical Language is Played to Match a Specific Sound... Yet if We are Unable to Construct the Proper Numerical Structures... We Can Wander Around w/ in the Shadows of Darkness & Light Forever.. Do Re Me = C-D-E, it's the Representation of the C Major Scale.. If C = 1.. a CM7 = 1M7 ABCs are used to Keep the degrees of Scales Separate from the Names of Chords... Do = C, Re=D, Mi=E, Fa=F, So=G, La=A, Ti=B, Do= C octave on Scale.
Awesome video. As a classical nut (violinist for two decades) this feels like when you finally find that thing you've lost after a few years! I innately understand the sounds and contexts of these chords, and being able to after so long read lead sheets better scratches a huuuuge brain itch, as I'm able to put text to the 'words' I'm so familiar with.
The way the information is explained makes it easy to follow and the quiz at the end to make sure the information is understood. Great guide keep up the good work!
2:18 wait? I just wondered smth.. since a major chord can also be written as Xmaj, then Xmaj7 can be confused by X7 which has another chord meaning… The fact that there is multiple ways to write a same chord is kinda disturbing 😅. But great video anyways!
When you put up that triangle to represent a major seven chord, at first I thought I had never seen that, then immediately had a flashback to high school stage band and fusion band, where those triangles were everywhere. Great video!
Is it me, or are the sounds of the chords not matched up with the actual chords near the end? At 11:40 for example, it sounds like the C(add2) chord, instead of the Cm7(add11) chord, and a couple of them before that also don't sound how it should. The actual Cadd2 chord, sounds completely different to how it should sound.
He could even just extend the last example to show how F/A -- Em/G might be an even better description, and mention of the quartal notation could be shoehorned in when he touches on C7sus (omit 5).
That last chord sounds like a weirdly voiced F chord to me, the subdominant flavor is too strong for me to call it a G chord. If the G was an octave lower it would probably sound more like a dominant chord (a F/G specifically).
He never tells us that this chord is in the key of C, so why should the subdominant flavor make you think it's an F chord? G can be a subdominant chord too.
@@KingstonCzajkowski That's true, but the key of C major is the only key for which that chord would be diatonic, and for C major the subdominant chord is F (technically by the same logic it could also be a VI chord for A minor, but the IV-I relation is stronger than the VI-i one, at least to my ears). Besides, if the chord was interpreted as an F chord it would have a major 7th and an augmented 4th/11th which are both typical of a subdominant chord, while if interpreted as a G chord it would have a dominant 7th and a perfect 4th/11th which are typical of a dominant chord. Since I heard it and keep hearing it as a subdominant chord (which is admittedly subjective) I am basically forced to think of it as an F chord, I don't think it would make much sense to think of it as a G subdominant chord.
As a learner of music theory (not sure if I would describe myself as novice or intermediate), I'm surprised how much this video really connected everything together. Seeing differences side by side really helps with the applicative learning process (compared to learning them 1 by 1 to start)
I started learning piano on a phone piano app (SimplyPiano) a couple of months ago, and it’s okay enough for a lot of beginner skills, but trying to figure out how to fill in the holes I’m missing without a good piano authority is rough, this video is so massively helpful and informative. Thank you!
Thank you very much! I'm practicing guitar on my own and visualizing chord on a sheet music makes it much easier! There are very little videos about all the chords on a guitar. That really helped to improve my understanding of chords!
📌 at 5:45 there is a typo... there shouldn't be a flat next to the note C. It should be a C natural, not C flat. Sorry for any confusion and thanks to the commenters who pointed that out 😅😊
Thank you
Sorry for a nitpick but I found:
the chord audio at 11:18 doesn't sound what you depicted there.
Wonderful video though!! You covered almost all the explainations I wanted in a band practice. So helpful!
6:01 Em11b13 ???!!! (and not E11b13)
@@falsenotefest huh?
@@DavidBennettPiano Oui ah pardon je viens de noter mon erreur (Yes my mistake). Thank you very much for this other very interesting video, like everytime
this video is like having all the pieces of a puzzle suddenly all coming together. one of the most informative videos on this topic, amazing work!
Thank you!!!
@@DavidBennettPiano dude...you had the title in English musical notations....how about in DO, RE, MI....like the rest of the world!! México...Spain...all of Latin America etc...
@ my channel is English-speaking and is about music theory in the anglosphere. As much as I’d like to I can’t make my videos relevant to every single musical culture!
@ Latin America isn't the "rest of the world". If David Bennett had to cater to the entire world, the videos would become meaningless since there are hundreds of languages and cultures all over the world. Nothing wrong with turning on the "CC" button and reading youtubes auto-translation into your particular language.
@@OTR392 his title is misleading. The "Rest Of The World ' does not use the English alphabet system. Have you been in other countries in Europe or Latin America where they use DO, RE, MI etc....and not the English letter sequence??
1:46 Even people with the greatest willpower on Earth wouldn't be able to resist making this joke.
Sus
amogus
💀
LMFAO
AMOGUS
I wish you were alive when I was learning music! It took me years to figure out all of these chord symbols, and here you are giving out all this precious info in 16 minutes 🤣
Yooooo!
hes wrong a number of times in this vid unfortunately. ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
Hi
@@infamouslyfamous2134 yeah, no, you’re the incorrect one here. The numbering system is based on the mixolydian scale, so you have to count up accordingly. A C13 would go C E G Bb D F A. You managed to forget the G and misplace the A in your “corrective” comment. The reason you think ppl don’t play the F is bc ppl don’t play 13 chords, it’s pretty much strictly theoretical, ppl actually play and notate 13(#11) chords, or opt for and altered chord or something else that’s dominant.
@@IAMASTICKSTUPIDPERSON: Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly.
*Cherish each note the composer creates,* rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
It’s insane how a year ago I barely knew any music theory and now I’m actually able to understand everything in this vid.
Nice 😊
Me too! I could teach people theory on the piano that I learned in 12 months. Now if only DB could express my fingers to learn as fast as my brain, I'd be playing at the Opera House in Sydney in no time.
It’s not that hard he’s just really good at explaining because he’s an expert
That feeling is amazing, isn't it! I remember watching Adam Neely videos, and feeling as though he was speaking a different language... and I kind of picked it up like a second language, just from watching music theory videos. The feeling of everything clicking is so rewarding!
not everything! cause hes wrong a few times. heres one.... ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
This is absolutely the best music theory channel out there, straight to business, extremely clear descriptions and visuals, and ordered perfectly for anyone to learn piece by piece. I feel like my knowledge has increased immensely since subscribing, and this is coming from someone who hasn't studied theory from year 9.
Literally no one needs a formal music education anymore when they stumble luckily upon this channel
In spanish you can search for Jaime Altozano, who is a guy that make music theory videos and is one of the best in my opinion!
ive only watched up to the C13 chord, and already hes WRONG. C13 when written on a music chart will NOT have the F! its implied that it will keep the Major 3rd and have these notes ....C in bass, E A Bb D on top. if you want the F in that chord INSTEAD of the major 3rd(E), you must call it C13sus
@@infamouslyfamous2134Let's count the notes in a C13 chord. C 1, E 3, G 5, Bb 7, D 9 (not 2), **F 11 (not 4),** and A 13 (not 6). The F is literally in the top chord. Are you new to octaves?
@@sunscraper1 youre not a musician....C13(in no particular order) is. C Bb D E A. no F. Moron. Sometimes a G is used but less common in C13 true voicing
As a person with years of classical training, who is now deep into jazz on steel pan, this was SUPER helpful. Thank you!
Man you can't know how much useful this video will be, I've always wanted to look at the subject but never had the motivation neither found a good video about it ; you're definitely gonna change that, thanks a lot!
4:59 in jazz terminology it is worth to keep in mind that you will NEVER omit the third unless very clearly specified. The third and seventh is pretty much seen as the essence and charcter of the chord to the point where you can manage with those two notes alone (if you play with a bass player that will play the root) in the case of the C13 in jazz you would omit the 11’th for reasons i will explain below. I know in some music (mainly pop and soul) you might see C11 and C13 understood as a Bb/C and Bb^7/c like David did here. However in jazz this Bb/c would be considered a sus chord. So C7sus11 and the Bb^7/c would be considered a C7sus13. Also in traditional jazz you would never use a major or dominant 11 chord due to the clash between the 11 and the major third of the chord which creates a dissonant b2/b9 interval - therefore you will often sharpen the 11th to get a more consonant M2/M9 interval to avoid this clash. Hence the reason that the third is omitted when writing a C11 in pop/soul. This is not a problem with minor chords why you will more often find m11 chords. In more modern jazz, more open voicings, clusters and dissonance are more accepted so here you will se major and dominant 11 chords that have both the 11th and major third of the chord.
So to sum up
Bb/c = C11 in pop = C7sus11 in jazz (C11 in modern jazz refer to a chord with have both 11th and major third)
Bb^7/c = C13 in pop = C7sus13 in jazz
I kinda tilted my head when he described an 11th chord, in a major context, as having the third and the 11 (half step/b9 clash) - just doesn't in my world - an 11 chord is essentially a sus chord, no third. Now if it's a minor 11, the third is fair game as there isn't the dissonance as the minor third and 11 are a whole step apart.
CORRECT, I was looking for this comment as soon as I saw Dbmaj11 written in the thumbnail🥴🥴🥴 some care has to be considered between adding the 3rd and 4th (F and Gb) to avoid the chord not functioning as a major chord.
He explains this in his other video. I can’t remember the name but it’s his most recent and it’s 50 minutes long
I looked at this and started working algebra before music…
Im overwhelmed with so much theory
the last chord you showed is a G(add2)(add6)(add7)(add10)(add11)(omit3)(omit5) very jazzy indeed
lol
A little too simplistic for my taste
You're quite mad, you know.
That is only the case if you take the G as the tonic note. You dont have to. If you look at it from the perspective of the F als tonic, it would be an F maj 9 #11. You could even say Fmaj9#11/G to specify the G in the bass
And even then. There is an B so its nott Add 10 its just the third of the chord
Absolutely brilliant. An entire topic delivered concisely, nothing omitted, in a clear, easy to understand format, with examples that help reinforce the concepts. Every question I ever had about chord notation has been answered. This is why I love your channel and your content.
Thanks Mr Bennett, I needed this for reading more difficult jazz charts!
not so brilliant though as ive described above.
That last one could also be spelled as a polychord (F over Em with a horizontal, not diagonal slash), but you’re right, you’d pretty certainly have to write the actual voicing out to get what you wanted.
Yes, polychords were the only major omission here, though I expect they’re probably fairly rare in this sort of fake book/Real Book notation. Not often you’ll find a Petrushka chord in a chord chart for Penny Lane!
here i thought it's both F and Em in first inversion played at the same time
i dunno what it's supposed to be written as
If you MUST write it on one line because your software doesn't support doing polychords with a horizontal bar, I think "E-/G and F/A" would be adequate. If you really felt it was necessary, you could add a margin note that "and" means both chords are to be played simultaneously.
Oi, we'd have to George Harrison it. There's a chord on a chord, don't have to ask Ringo if he modified any of them though.
honestly thanks david. understanding certain chord sequences was something i struggled with but i sort of learned to live with. it is amazing that i finally understand them now and use the correct notes without guessing lol
😃😃😃😃
@@DavidBennettPiano You forgot the microtonal ones!!!
@@ValkyRiver Hmm, that is admittedly a developing field. Solfège could potentially be used with movable double sharps and flats.
Such a great idea to make this video! It's hard to believe no one would think about doing it before. I wish it would exist back when I started to learn songs and harmony. Thanks a lot David for doing it with your usual crystal-like clarity
I’ve quiet learning music theory over and over again so many times because I get overwhelmed so easily. Your videos are helping me not get overwhelmed and learn things one by one. Im so thankful of your videos!
I'm actually a drummer but I'm also a music theory nerd so I really like this!
I am just beginning to learn drums and music theory, and my brain is close to melting after watching this. But I learnt quite few things that had puzzled me.
What are you gonna do? Play a chord on a drum?
@@spiffyavatar3611 if you have toms tuned to notes of a chord then yeah you could technically
The drummer of dream for my band😍😂
This is a FASCINATING and extremely helpful video!! As a pianist of 15 years I've never understood all the chord symbols until now! Well done!
Legend. I really admire how you keep your explanations concise, yet still clear and complete. That takes a lot of hard, smart work.
For 13 chords, the most standard practice is to omit the 11th and/or 5th, not the 3rd. For major 11-chords, the 3rd is typically omitted, but to avoid confusion, this chord is now taught as "9sus4" in the US.
Sus
9sus4?
At 3:20 you could also write the chord as Ebm6/C or Ebm/C, it is just an inversed minor-6 chord, which are more commonly used (and therefore this notation makes it easier to see the function of the chord in the harmony)
Major 6 is an inversion of minor 7, minor 6 is an inversion of half diminished, both are commonly used wrongly as a result (if you're trying to maintain some sort of ii-V-I logic). C6/A and Am7 are identical, Cm6/A and Aø are identical. No need to put a 7 after a half-diminished symbol, as there's no point specifying the quality of the seventh degree _and then_ saying "oh yeah, add a seventh".
@@mal2ksc I get the ii-V-I Thing, it makes sense but because of how I learned harmony theory, the minor6 isnmore Common for me (and thats why I Said it i more logical). But why is the 7 in the halfdim redundant? A-C-Eb hast no G which is the 7th, so the 7 in A(b5)7 would add Something new iirc.
@@janneswille5567 How can you half-diminish a chord if there's no seventh present? That's why the 7 is redundant and often not included.
Mad respect for the sponsors. Really fits what your audience loves, and its in the middle always so I know I have even more to see.
It's worth mentioning that sometimes minor chords are not written as uppercase with "m", but as lowercase letters :)
For example here in Poland we commonly write minor chords like that.
I did not learn much, BUT having this video 12 years ago would have saved me tens of hours trying to understand the logic of chord letter notation. So my former self thanks you very much!
Hi, Great topic!!!
In most all cases that use chord symbols [jazz, pop, etc.], the degree mark ( C° ) is played as a four-note chord (a stack of minor thirds). This means C in the bass and C, Eb, Gb, and A. On the rare occasion when you want a true three-note diminished chord, you should mark it as C minor (-5). This gets the best results from the player. True diminished chords (triads) show up mainly in hymns and classical music and are a rarity in jazz and pop.
Flat 11 chords don't really exist because a flat 11 is a major 3rd. If you need a major 3rd and minor 3rd, state it as a #9.
If you desire the flat 13 on top of the voicing, the notes are C in the bass and Bb, D, F, and Ab. If you don't want the Ab on the top of the voicing, it is really an augmented 5th, so in this case, the chord is C11 +5.
Because extended chords are almost always played as a four-note chord over a bass note, pay attention to how you want the chord to be voiced. In the case of C11, you need to think about the top note (F). Do you want it on top of the chord or somewhere in the middle. An 11 chord has the 7, 9, and 11 voiced as thirds and the 11 is on the top (C in the bass and a chord G, Bb, D, and F). If the same notes are needed, but the F note is NOT on the top, the best chord symbol would be C9 sus4.
To avoid omit5 chords, try to state them with a slash bass note. For example, in my opinion, A7 sus4 (omit5) is better stated as D sus4/A.
The chord that you describe at 13:10 is an [Emin & FMaj] / G.
Sometimes you have to choose between notating a chord for speed-reading in performance, or having it make sense theoretically. If the "omit 5" notation makes more sense in terms of functional harmony, then I'll call it that. But if the harmony is non-functional, then call it whatever you want, in which case I definitely go for "least effort for the performer".
The chord at 14:55 G-A-B-C-E-F can be written as a polychord. As Em/G and F/A. You would write it as you do division in math with a straight horisontal line separating the chords. This is how i would write it.
This was so useful, thank you! I've been playing keys at my church for a while, which meant switching from sheet music to chord charts. It's sometimes been a challenge to work out exactly what a particular chord symbol means, especially when the same chord can be written differently, and my chord theory was very poor to begin with.
And now I'm switching to using number charts, which adds another layer of complexity lol.
Brilliant. Again. In 16min you've summarised what its taken me 50 years to know (most of) starting as a self-taught guitarist and teaching myself very rudimentory keyboards (mainly to bash along with keyboard-led Beatles/McCartney songs) just based on curiosity about how multiple notes combine into interesting chords.
I plan on learning to compose, and I've always been bad at this stuff, so this is super helpful - thank you!
I always enjoy the topics you choose and how you summarize the intricacies of music in a clear and concise way. You are a master teacher in my book.
I have also stumbled upon minor chords being symbolised by a lowercase letter, so basically D Minor just written as d
Me too, and I like it.
That’s weird! I’ve never seen that! Wouldn’t that get confusing with a Bb minor chord? It would just look like a double flat symbol (bb)
@@DavidBennettPiano It's common in Germany, where we use the letter H for the key of B and B for the key of Bflat xD
@@skorp5677 makes sense! 😃
@@DavidBennettPiano ... Well, 3 things: 1st, the flat symbol ♭ is not exactly like a b, plus the flat symbol was normally written in italics. 2nd, the sharp and flat symbols are usually put as a superscript, so in b♭, the ♭ symbol would be somehow elevated relative to the b. And finally, while I have seen both, the first ones that I encountered (when I was self-learning guitar from magazines that came with songs and chords and tabs), they came with the syllabic notes, so it was Do, Re, Mi (etc) for major vs do, re, mi for minor. Note that even if you had dob, that would not be any more or less confusing that Dob (and in fact you would have Do♭ with an elevated ♭). Plus, none of the note names has a b letter. But even with the letter notes, a b♭ (with an elevated ♭) is easy to tell from a bb or a ♭♭ (which would not make sense anyway... in most cases).
And stop complaining of confusing things after you just spent 16 minutes to explain that a Em(♭9)(add11)(♭13)/G can be written in like 20 different forms, all equally complicated 😉
Simply explained! I remember learning bits and pieces of this in college, but most of us didn't get the jazz studies we should have. THANK YOU!
2:46 I've seen this chord being written as Cm(maj7) too
I don't get why this is the only example explaining the symbols I've found so far. These are so fundamental to understanding other chord progressions yet nobody talks about them. Really helpful video.
@2:37 I have used and seen alot of this minor major 7 just as Cmmaj7 or written so that the "maj" is slightly smaller font and put slightly lower on the line.
is it a subscript?
The clarifications in this video are very helpful, with the more complex chords they can get confusing. As a guitarist chords are more shapes than notes stuck together for beginners and this isn’t for beginners which is rare at least in the latter of the video. Great video 10/10
1:47 that sussy among us character appearance absolutely cracked me up
A few nits:
"C11" is in practice a C9sus. Core of the sound being the 7sus, *without* the M3.
"C13" is in practice a C7add13 or C9add13. Core of the sound being the b7, M3, and 13, usually voiced in that order.
If you want both M3rd *and* 11th in a chord, use "add11". You almost only ever hear this on a basic triad.
That's true, but for a sus chord I'd rather use a C9sus instead of a C11. C11 can be confusing. It could be understood as a C9sus(add3) for some players. Also with a C11, it's not clear whether the 9th should be included or not (logically, yes), but with a C9sus, there is no doubt.
I don’t agree on his 13th harmony, usually 13th’s imply the 9th but no 11th. If we want the 11th we would write Csus13.
@@slapmyfunkybass That's true. However, "sus" implies that there are no 3rd (the 4th replaces the 3rd). So depending of what you want (3rd+4th or only 4th), it has to be more specific. When 3rd and 4th are both needed, I usually wrote C13(add11) or C13sus(add3). Either ways is fine. At least, it's not ambiguous. And yes, C13 by itself doesn't have a 4th in it. And it often implies a 9th as well, but not always. I've been in situation where a C13 with a 9th in it doesn't sound right. Depending of the harmony of some songs, the 9th tend to be minor (C13b9). Adding the flat 9th is better in that case, but still not the right sound. In that particular situation, the only voicing that works is a C13 without any 9th in it. I guess in that case the best would be to write it C13(omit 9th)
@@CyrilleBriegel I write Jazz orchestration and never really found a use for the 3rd and 11th with the 13th harmony. It’s just too difficult to arrange without a clash between the two intervals, even with spacing between them. Usually one or the other is enough. Yes, sus implies a lack of major or minor so the 3rd should always be omitted. It also, majority of the time, calls for resolution to the 3rd, either walking up or descending from the sus interval.
Yes, his 13th chord, not necessarily wrong, but I wouldn’t advise it. For me C13 implies the 3rd and no 11th, Csus13 implies no 3rd and the 11th. That’s how I would score it too.
@@slapmyfunkybass I agree, 3rd+4th only sound right for simple chords such as Csus(add3) or C7sus(add3). But you're right, having a 13th and a 9th on top of that is way too much. In that case, it's more likely a cluster!
Excellent video. I recently extensively researched chord symbols, trying to make a consistent notation I could use with my students. (I did come up with a system.) The video is fully accurate. It is as close to a complete overview of this subject as anything you will find.
I downloaded The Real Book a month ago and until now couldn't read 2% of the chords. This is a godsend!!! TY
😊😊😊
Your videos are my absolute favourite kind of music theory videos. I feel like I’ve been able to understand so many things just from watching, and it actively makes a difference in my own music!
Dear Chocolatemess2000: Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly.
*Cherish each note* the composer creates, rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
In “The Bob Ralson Touch” organ book, for Maj.7 chords, they use a 7 with a slash in it (as we write the number 7 in French cursive). For instance , Eb Maj.7 would read Eb7 (with a slash through the 7). I have more than a hundred music books and I have never seen that way of writing a Maj.7 chord anywhere else.
I've seen the horizonral ine through a 7, 9, 11, or 13 chord to mean that the chord has a major 7. I like this compact form.
My pet peeves are using "-" for minor and + or - for flat or sharp. + should always mean #5, in my universe, but I've seen 9+ mean #9, even if 7+ usually means #5.
I liked it without even watching because I already know that it's a great video. You definetly answering my burning questions with your videos, thank you man !
So you showed us here a C7 (b11) at 5:37 but elevenths are usually used only as naturals (11) or sharpened (#11) given that a flattered eleventh would result in a major third of the chord. C7 (b11) = C7
Well yes, but actually no
I don't have any experience with music or music theory but this video is so clear and well put together, that even I could understand most things!
I actually understood wtf
Awesome video! The most useful piece of information I got was which notes to eliminate and still maintain the essence of the chord 4:55 since on the guitar you are limited to 6 notes per chord. 10/10
This is excellent. I've been teaching music for years and this is some of the most clearly presented information I've run across. Very clear and easy to follow.
Having moved over to the ‘dark side’ from the brass band world where chords are never needed/given, this video is one of the most helpful I’ve come across.
Thank you for the explanation! One minor mistake: at 6:14, the E11(b13) has a C flat in it, but it should be a C natural since the 13th degree of the E major scale is C sharp.
Haha, saw the same thing
E11(bb13)😱
Well spotted! I’ll make a little note of it in the pinned comment
I didn’t agree on his 13th harmony, if you’re omitting the 3rd it would be written as Csus13, if you omit the 11th it’s just C13. The problem doing it his way is there’s no way to tell the musician you want the 3rd and no 11th without it being more complex than it needs to be, C13(add 11, no 3rd)
It's amazing how pianists can process this in real time as they play !
0:34 yo thanks for the shoutout bro
I am a year late to the party, but it's a great party! Thanks for being the only source I've ever found to explain all that so clearly.
Amazing video! I have a question though. The chord at 14:40 that you labelled G13(omit5), could you also describe is at F over Em (idk how you’d write that). I’ve heard people talking about stacking 2 different chords on top of each other and calling it smth like that I think 🤔
I was thinking the same. That chord is really an E-/G overlapping with an F/A, both played in open position.
Yeah. Personally, I find it to be much less of a headache to think of large chords as two smaller ones together.
i am just starting jazz band at my high school, and this video is extremely helpful for me. Thank you for this ! def will be watching multiple times
when the music is sus
Underrated comment
do do do do do do do
C is sus, he went into electrical and came out of medbay
J bought two days ago a software to play keyboards for me and noticed it had a curious way to label the chords j was fooling with ! Today, j found you ! Just when j seriously consider diving deep into theory after few decades of ear practice ... J'm on the right path, and you have a new suscriber under your sharing wings ! Thank you very much !
RIP to all the guitar players trying to play those upper chord extensions
DUDE! This all used to look like gibberish to me, and with your video I went from that to being able to name a chord accurately in under 20 minutes! Amazing work!
😊 great!
I don't know if it's only me, but all of my teachers in college (in jazz) have always taught me that the 11th is never automatically included in a 13 chord when the chord has a major 3rd degree (in order to avoid a minor 9th interval between 3rd and 11th). So I was told that the 11th is only ever included in chords with a flat 3, or in sus chords, in which the 11th replaces the 3rd.
Similarly, I was taught that if you want to add an 11 to a 13 chord, it has to be a sharp 11 to avoid the min9 between the 3rd and natural 11.
@@dabekk111 Exactly! Lydian and lydian dominant produce some awesome sounds!:)
My rules of thumb: "C11" in practice is C9sus; the 3 is to be omitted. "C13" in practice is C7add13 with optional 9.
Us guitarists sort of have this done for us, the instrument's layout makes it sort of impossible to include 11 in a 13 chord voicing anyway, common voicings we're taught have root, 3, b7, 9, 13, sometimes omitting 9.
@@dabekk111 : Everyone should stick to the score -- read music properly.
*Cherish each note the composer creates,* rather than just bang pretty chores with riffs and arpeggios.
I can't believe i found this video i've been looking for a resource that compiles all chord symbols into something digestible and easy to comprehend. Thank you so much!!!
perfect video man, just about 5 years too late in my case 😋 i'm a guitarist and i've noticed long ago that while *Csus2* and *Csus4* are commonly noted as such, people would not use the term *Cadd2* and *Cadd4* but rather *Cadd9* and *Cadd11* although most often it's really the 2 and 4 they're adding to the chord and not these _upper extensions_ that you would expect with 9 and 11 ... i will be extra clear from now on. makes life so much easier, especially when working with others and sharing music and knowledge. I know guys who have called Csus2 chords C9, and that's where it gets criminal ...
I was wondering something about these sus/add chords as well...
I think the 'wrap around' into a C9 or C11 is there to ensure the sound is distinct (add2 in particular is very dissonant). Also doesn't the 'sus' terminology imply a (functional) resolution is expected (sus 2 UP to 3; sus 4 DOWN to 3)? ...and if so, why don't we have a sus 7? ... the flat/maj 7 has just as strong a 'pull' to the tonic as the 2 and 4 do to the 3... don't they?
"It's all rather confusing, really" -Spike Milligan (Goon Show)
The difference between a sus2 chord and an add9 is the 3rd is still played in an add9 chord but no 7th is played.
The difference between a sus2 and a sus9 is the voicing.
For example, if you played a C chord you'd play a D one tone up from the root for sus2. For sus9 you'd play a D an octave plus a tone above the root.
Sus means don’t play the third
@@raidensama1511 it can also apply to the fifth
Think of them in terms of octaves. If the note in question lands in a single octave, it's a sus2 or sus4. If it lands in the next octave it's an add 9 or add 11. Same goes for 6 and 13..if the note added sits a minor 2nd (m2) away from the other note, then the note in the 1st octave is usually omitted because of the dissonance it creates...
THANK YOU ive been searching for a comprehensive explanation of chord symbols and this just answered all my questions. I LOVE THIS VIDEO
Omitting the 5 makes sense because it doesn’t really change the “feel” of the chord. But omitting the 3 for 11 chords is bizarre to me. The 3 is the essence of the chord. It gives it major or minor tonality. Unpopular opinion but C11 with no 3 is just Bb/C (or really Bbadd9/C)
But sometimes you want to avoid the major/minor sound - Zappa for example used a lot of sus2 and sus 4 because he wanted to be free to use either major or minor third when playing a solo over the chord changes.
Here's Ruth Underwood who played with Zappa showing an example - ua-cam.com/video/e7Sq0chFjps/v-deo.html
It's because the clash between a major third and a perfect fourth or 11 is pretty harsh, it's considered the harshest dissonance in the entire scale. And usually it's not meant to sound quite as spicy as that. Likewise in an ordinary dominant 13 chords one also often omits the 11 because the rub between the dominant 7 and the 13 (or major sixth) gives it "enough" spice while the major third gives it a true dominant feel. And if the eleven was intended to be played instead of the third one might write 13sus11 or make a slash-chord. And also because it's really unusual to ever play more than 5 notes in a chord in actual practice, atleast not on a piano or guitarr. And then we have the fact that the natural 5th and the major third are the strongest overtones in the overtone series so they are sort of naturally implied anyway, and might even be heard from a strong base note, especially the 5th.
He also forgot to mention the rule about 6ths. What is meant with a 6 is always a major sixth, even if it's a minor chord. If you want a minor 6th you have to write a b6, and then you might aswell call it a major 7 chord with the third in the root. So for example an Am(b6) would be a Fmaj7/A.
@@stoferb876 the #11 works well when extending dominant and major chords wheras the 11 works when extending minor chords
@@bq4454 Yes I know. But then you usually have it written out. C13(#11) for example. And mostly you do include the 11 in minor chords. But then you might still leave some other notes out (like the 5th or the 9th are both optional in this chord) for reasons of texture (so that it sounds like a chord and not a cluster for example), taste (how crunchy do you want it to be) or voice-leading or practicality (what can you actually play on a guitar for example).
The one note you normally never leave out of the extensions are the extension itself, the dominant seven and the root ofcourse. And in minor chords also the minor third is mandatory, otherwise it wouldn't be a minor chord. So you actually should play at the very least the minor third and the eleven together in a minor 11 chord. If you have only four voices the mandatory notes for a minor 11 chord are the root, the minor third, the dominant 7 and the 11.
Sus chords aren’t major or minor, that’s why you can do it. When you get into orchestral arrangement it’s highly recommended to omit the 3rd with 11ths otherwise avoiding clashes is difficult.
Really good format for showing the breakdown of chords. Thank you so much.
at this point chord symbols might as well become maths.. anyways, thank you so much for making this video!! i self taught myself piano (after a bad experience with piano lessons) and i’ve always been confused with chord symbols. this video just explains everything not only clearly, but with concise, simple-to-understand words! hopefully i can memorize these soon..
Thanks for assembling the information in one video. Will park this in my watch list to refer to it every now and then.
5:58 this just looks scary. I don't even have that many fingers!
Thank you, I always forgot the symbols and then had to ask every lesson, now I know all of them, and if I forget I can just watch the video again, it ended my struggle...
This is a well explained video!
The final chord could also be thought of as an Emin/G played alongside an F/C. But I'm not sure if there's a way to notate playing two chords right next to each other like that.
There is: "Em/G and F/A, tight". Tight means the entire thing exists within the span of a single octave. I wouldn't expect someone to interpret this correctly on the fly if they've never seen it before, but if they have time to look the chart over, this should make perfect sense.
@@mal2ksc good to know. And yeah, that seems impossible for sight reading
@@rome8180 I'd consider all the alternatives also impossible for sight reading as well though. So if none of the descriptors are going to be sight-readable, I choose to use the one that requires the least time to interpret, and I think a polychord delivers that.
Great video, this is something that ive really worked on the last few months because i got tired of learning music on my guitar and having to look up what certain chords were. I never really remembered them other than their fingering but after really practicing them and thinking about it i can make any chord now in any inversion. It feels very liberating because i can play something in a few different ways depending on how you place the bass note in the chord and its helped me my melodies flow better. Its funny how those little "ah ha" moments really change how you look at something.
Really excellent summary/review! Thanks.
The origin of a “sus”pension, and the reason why “sus” alone means sus4, is as a _delayed resolution_ - suspended specifically in time. The didn’t originate as standalone block chords, but as delayed voice-leading.
A *classic* example of a suspended fourth can be heard in the closing cadence of the first movement of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in Eb, BWV 998 (ua-cam.com/video/VEoOToX_PuE/v-deo.html): You can hear the suspended fourth at time index 2;44, with its delayed resolution a second later.
A C-dominant-7 (C E G Bb), in Common-Practice harmony, resolves to an F-Major (F A C). Specifically, the C7’s Bb lowers down to the F-Major’s A, and the E goes up to the F.
The most common suspension is: E->F, G->F, C->C, but delaying the fall of the Bb to A, meaning that the fourth of the destination F-Major keyframe, the Bb, is still “suspended” - held over - from the previous C7 chord.
You could also thinking of it as “suspended” vertically, meaning in pitch, in that the Bb is “dangling” above its final resting A pitch. (Granted, what it’s suspended *from* is not clear in that analogy, but...)
you made an essay just to make us stop using sus memes
Nice try
BUT *WE WON'T STOP*
@@mikechad27, gosh, such “meme” chords are fine in themselves too. I’m just pointing out where they, and their name, originally came from.
@@mr88cet ok understandable
a great help...i can finally feel free to label all my mde-up chords in a musical, contextual, sensible way....thanks to YOU 'ol boy !!
6th graders at 9:01: 😳🤣💀😱🤯💩🤡
YES OH MY GOD! I've always wanted to figure out if for example Cmin11 Cmaj11 and C11 have different upper extensions, but I never sat down to actually really research it, but now that you've pointed it out it doesn't it makes them so much easier, thank you very much!!
14:00 that is clearly a C6add2add4
Or CM7 add4 add6
Articulations Are Great... Audible / Numerical Language is Played to Match a Specific Sound... Yet if We are Unable to Construct the Proper Numerical Structures... We Can Wander Around w/ in the Shadows of Darkness & Light Forever..
Do Re Me = C-D-E, it's the Representation of the C Major Scale.. If C = 1.. a CM7 = 1M7 ABCs are used to Keep the degrees of Scales Separate from the Names of Chords... Do = C, Re=D, Mi=E, Fa=F, So=G, La=A, Ti=B, Do= C octave on Scale.
Awesome video. As a classical nut (violinist for two decades) this feels like when you finally find that thing you've lost after a few years! I innately understand the sounds and contexts of these chords, and being able to after so long read lead sheets better scratches a huuuuge brain itch, as I'm able to put text to the 'words' I'm so familiar with.
“A Cmaj11, which for fun we’ll put as a triangle” direct quote from musicians making their notation as indecipherable as possible
Figuring fragments of this took me 10 years :)
As always your content is top notch clarity and richness
Is the expanded chord from the intro ( 00:17) written as (notes):
E(bass) C F (B?) D F# G#?
that's just sharps and flats No chord?😅
The way the information is explained makes it easy to follow and the quiz at the end to make sure the information is understood. Great guide keep up the good work!
2:18 wait? I just wondered smth.. since a major chord can also be written as Xmaj, then Xmaj7 can be confused by X7 which has another chord meaning…
The fact that there is multiple ways to write a same chord is kinda disturbing 😅. But great video anyways!
When you put up that triangle to represent a major seven chord, at first I thought I had never seen that, then immediately had a flashback to high school stage band and fusion band, where those triangles were everywhere. Great video!
Is it me, or are the sounds of the chords not matched up with the actual chords near the end?
At 11:40 for example, it sounds like the C(add2) chord, instead of the Cm7(add11) chord, and a couple of them before that also don't sound how it should. The actual Cadd2 chord, sounds completely different to how it should sound.
I noticed that the Cadd2 sounds similar to what the Cm7(add11) should sound like, which was weird.
Same thoughts, this video's C add2 sounded dark (unlike the actual Cadd2) which is how i noticed too
I’ve watched tonnes of theory videos and this is easily the most straightforward one on chords! Super helpful
I would add Q, for representing quartal voicings, and the fraction symbol to represent a chord played over another chord.
He could even just extend the last example to show how
F/A
--
Em/G
might be an even better description, and mention of the quartal notation could be shoehorned in when he touches on C7sus (omit 5).
Wonderful! Removes a lot of mystery from chord naming. Thanks David!
That last chord sounds like a weirdly voiced F chord to me, the subdominant flavor is too strong for me to call it a G chord. If the G was an octave lower it would probably sound more like a dominant chord (a F/G specifically).
Fmaj7(#11)/G
Definitely a subdominant flavour. Well put
Fmaj7#11/G :)
He never tells us that this chord is in the key of C, so why should the subdominant flavor make you think it's an F chord? G can be a subdominant chord too.
@@KingstonCzajkowski That's true, but the key of C major is the only key for which that chord would be diatonic, and for C major the subdominant chord is F (technically by the same logic it could also be a VI chord for A minor, but the IV-I relation is stronger than the VI-i one, at least to my ears). Besides, if the chord was interpreted as an F chord it would have a major 7th and an augmented 4th/11th which are both typical of a subdominant chord, while if interpreted as a G chord it would have a dominant 7th and a perfect 4th/11th which are typical of a dominant chord. Since I heard it and keep hearing it as a subdominant chord (which is admittedly subjective) I am basically forced to think of it as an F chord, I don't think it would make much sense to think of it as a G subdominant chord.
As a learner of music theory (not sure if I would describe myself as novice or intermediate), I'm surprised how much this video really connected everything together. Seeing differences side by side really helps with the applicative learning process (compared to learning them 1 by 1 to start)
1:10 ok but what is a diminished chord? Is it a flat 5th?
Diminished chord is flat third and fifth. Basically a minor triad with a flat 5.
Example of a C diminished triad:
C
Eb
Gb
Just go up in minor thirds 👴🏻
This video is like actually insanely good I’ve watched through it all like 5 times
1:48 😂
NOOOOOOOOO
I started learning piano on a phone piano app (SimplyPiano) a couple of months ago, and it’s okay enough for a lot of beginner skills, but trying to figure out how to fill in the holes I’m missing without a good piano authority is rough, this video is so massively helpful and informative. Thank you!
1:37 SUS AMOGUS
i already knew a little kiddo would comment this
@@Mizai Hello, reimu
Do a flip
@@Mizai reimu gaming reimu gaming
I just knew bits and pieces of naming the chords, but this cleared EVERYTHING. THANK YOU! New sub!
It's a lot too much for me, but still a very informative video
Extremely helpful! You always explain it so clearly and analytically! Keep on going!
When the chord is sus
Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
tshk
bumbumbum
DOON DOON
Thank you very much! I'm practicing guitar on my own and visualizing chord on a sheet music makes it much easier! There are very little videos about all the chords on a guitar.
That really helped to improve my understanding of chords!