It's really odd: your previous (related) video confused the hell out of me, but this video cleared everything up. For the longest time, i didn't realise it was the NOTES you change first, and then determine the chord after that. Amazing... and thank you!
It really screws with your head if you get that mixed up, because the root of the “positive” chord doesn’t correspond with the root of the corresponding “negative” chord, it corresponds with the FIFTH of the corresponding chord.
BRO Im so happy im about to cry! lol you literally explained something that has taken me forever to find finally in a 12 minute video that is super easy to understand and how to piece it together. THANK YOU!!!
I have watched dozens and dozens of music theory videos, Tommaso, from you and others. This one is, for me, the most enlightening, important and useful one I have watched. Thanks!
I find an easier way to remember negative chord. Think of a one-dimension coordinate axis, and just count from right to left. Like below: -b7 -b6 -5 -4 -b3 -2 -1 D。 bE Fm G(m) bA bB Cm For instance, a C G Am F chord progresion（1564 in C major） will be turned into Cm Fm bE G(m) by negative chord theory.
@@kozhikkaalan I think they're just re-stating that going up a 5th is the same as going down a 4th, up a 3rd down a 6th etc. In negative harmony you map 1 chords to 1 chords, 2 chords to 7 chords, 3 chords to 6 chords, 4 chords to 5 chords, and so on. The commenter above is just rephrasing this as saying that if you have a 2 chord instead of mapping it to a 7 chord you just map it to the '-2' chord. This is the exact same thing, since going up a 7th is the same thing as going down a 2nd. Whatever you find easier to understand and remember. I think calling it 'negative chord theory' makes it sound more complicated than it is. If you add 7 semitones to 0, this note will be the same as if you subtract 5 semitones from 12.
I loved that!! It was so interesting to recognize all the tricks they use in the movies to twist the same melody and accent a sad passage in the story or a scary moment!!!
Right I just spent quite a while working this out. For basic triads, it's easy once you know the diatonic chords of the key/mode. If you know the diatonic chords of the modes, then you just need to remember that these chords are swapped: 1 & 1, 2 & 7, 3 & 6, 4 & 5. So if you are in C Ionian, if you apply negative harmony transformation to the IV chord (F) you'll get the v chord (5 chord of Aeolian, Gm). If you transform the vii_o chord (Bdim) you'll get the ii_o chord (2 chord of Aeolian, Ddim). If you transform the tonic I (C) you'll get i (1 chord of Aeolian, Cm). It's easy to remember which chords swap, because the numbers are complementary (if you go up a 2nd, it's the same as going down a 7th, up a 3rd then it's down a 6th, up a 4th then down a 5th, and if you go 'up' a 1st you are just staying on the same note). This is most of what you need to know. If you want to transform seventh chords, it's a bit more complicated. You can do this 2/3 ways. The first way is you just transform the triad as before, and then work out the seventh 'manually'. For example, Am7 = ACEG is vi_7. Transform vi (Am) to bIII (Eb). Now you can just figure out how to transform the G by referring to the chart - the answer is C. So the result is Eb-G-B + C, which is Cm7. If you want to avoid the 'manual' part, do this. You can see that we transformed A-C-E-G to Eb-G-B-C. That's Am7 to Eb6. So if we just apply our familiar formulas, seventh chords become sixth chords. If you know (or can quickly work out) what the diatonic sixth chords are, then this is a quick method. If we want to find a seventh chord, not a sixth chord, we need to rearrange the notes to make that happen (which we can always do). I think the previous two ways are by far the easiest, but I'll offer the following for completeness. If you want to just transform straight from a seventh chord to another seventh chord, here's how. I just transformed all 7 diatonic chords of Ionian and got the following results: I(M7) to bVI(M7), ii(7) to V(7), iii(7) to iv(7), IV(M7) to bIII(M7), V(7) to ii(m7b5), vi(7) to i(7), vii(m7b5) to bVII(7). This probably won't look clear here so write it on a piece of paper. Remember that Aeolian is the 6th mode of the Ionian scale, and the tonic seventh chord of Aeolian here appears at the 6th scale degree of Ionian. However, while the Ionian seventh chords proceed 'forwards', the Aeolian seventh chords go in reverse order. So, there's a pattern, but it's not quick unless you memorise this paragraph. Just to be clear, the fact that Aeolian is the 6th mode is just a mnemonic here, I don't think it has structural relevance (for instance, for ninth chords, this does not hold). If you want to memorise this method, you need to remember that Aeolian is the 6th mode, the tonic is shifted by 5 (to the 6th position) and the diatonic seventh chords of Aeolian run backwards - then you can draw a little picture of which seventh chords go to which and use that when composing. Don't even ask me about ninth chords, etc. I think the 'transform the triad and then any added tones' method is the most versatile.
I think this one should work fine and be pretty easy if you can remember that in the major key first, fourth and fifth chords are major, second, third and sixth are minor and seventh is diminished and you know the degrees for every major natural scale (if you don't, look Brian Kelly videos on the circle of fifths as it can be mostly remembered using the word BEAD and neighbour keys on the circle give you the notes for the one key in the middle with the correct degree). Keep in mind the degree of the chord on the original key in major (for example Fmaj is 4 in C major usually written as IV) go to the parallel key in minor (C minor) and think to its relative major scale (Eb major). Subtract from 7 the original degree (7-4=3 and since the third is a minor you get that the chord you're looking for is the third minor chord of the Eb major scale so Gmin). In practical terms, you could not even know the notes of each key if you can visualize the natural (or even just pentatonic) scale pattern on the guitar neck and its seven main chords patterns (which are actually the CAGED system for major, minor and diminished triads shifted by some frets and placed in a particular position respect the natural or pentatonic scale pattern underneath). Raise the scale pattern by 3 frets to go to the minor parallel key and play the 7 minus original degree chord which is major if the result is 1,4 or 5 minor if is 2,3 or 6 and diminished if it's 0. Just a basic example: Think of one of the pentatonic pattern box for C major string E fret 5 and fret 8 string A fret 5 and fret 7 string D fret 5 and fret 7 string G fret 5 and fret 7 string B fret 5 and fret 8 string e fret 5 fret 8. They are all notes taken from the C natural major diatonic scale and it's usually called the basic A minor pentatonic pattern since A is the relative minor of C, or also called "Aeolian" box even if modes and box patterns are a very different thing. Over that pattern (eventually adding 4th and 7th degrees not present in the major pentatonic scale) you can play the V chord of the C major scale which is a Gmaj triad on string G fret 7 string B fret 8 string e fret 7 or the ii chord of the C major scale which is a Dmin triad on string D fret 7 string G fret 7 string B fret 6. Both triads are so played with an "open chord" fingers positioning as they are that shape shifted from the open position along the neck: "Dmaj open chord" shape for the Gmaj chord which is V and "Amin open chord" shape for Dmin which is ii, and you can do that for any ii and V chord on the "Aeolian" box pattern of the pentatonic scale. You can do the same for I, iii, IV, vi and vii° too with other open chord fingers positioning above any box, overlaying to the box the CAGED system of each one. Now if for example you want the negative harmonic equivalent of Gmaj since it is the V chord, subtract the V degree from seven so 7-5=2, you play the ii with the "open Amin chord" shape just three frets higher (string D fret 10 string G fret 10 string B fret 9) without even realizing it's actually a Fmin chord. You could also move the pentatonic box 3 frets higher (string E fret 8 and fret 11 string A fret 8 and fret 10 string D fret 8 and fret 10 string G fret 8 and fret 10 string B fret 8 and fret 11 string e fret 8 fret 11), subtract the V degree from seven so 7-5=2 and then play the ii with the "open Amin chord" shape over the shifted pentatonic box as the third minor chord triad fingering position is the same relative to the scale box.
I watched the first video and I worked it all out by hand before I saw there was a second video. They say writing it out is better for memory too. I becomes i or ♭VI∆ ii becomes ♭VII or v-7 iii becomes ♭VI or iv-7 IV becomes v or iii-7♭5 V becomes iv or ii-7♭5 vi becomes ♭III or i-7 vii becomes ii-dim or ♭VII7 I can add this into what what makes a key (harmonized diatonic plus parallel modal subs plus borrowed chords from harmonic major/minor etc). *oops missed a ♭
I made this for myself and thought others might benefit from this more universal info for transposition: All chromatic major/minor chord possibilities should be covered but make sure to remember symmetric property (i.e. if looking for VI remember to read right to left as well) Major and Minor Scales Diatonic Chords I = i ii = bVII iii = bVI IV = v V = iv vi = bIII vii* = ii* Nondiatonic chords bII = vii bii = VII II = bvii biii = VI III = bvi #IV = #iv #iv = #IV
Some MIDI programs can invert notes automatically. It's still not exactly the same and it requires some manual adjustments, but it's close enough to make it usable. In the video I did everything manually to make clear what I'm doing.
Since I don't really play the guitar, would it be useful for me to buy your book, since I'm a keyboard player? I do like your videos, the three that I've seen thus far on negative melodies and negative harmonies really make me think I could re-organize some old songs into some refreshingly different ways of playing them. And maybe have quite a bit of fun with it during the process. Thanks for explaining these complex ideas in such a well structured and rhythmically interesting (energetic but not incoherent) way.
I don't know if it would make sense for you to take the course, but we can talk about it. Write me here: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/contacttheauthor.html so we can see if this course would work for you or not (if not, I'll be the first one to tell you to not take it).
Hey I was the last comment shown in the beginning, very dedicated of you to make this video! I love the clarifications you made in this video, mainly about how inversion is a key difference of negative harmony and modal interchange. I still think that the term Negative Harmony should be taken with a grain of salt as nonetheless it’s still highly related to modal interchange and general usage of the parallel minor mode (or major), but I can certainly see uses for Negative Harmony for improvisation that classical modal interchange doesn’t explicitly show at first glance. I think this is related to the fact that modal interchange strictly relates to brief harmony changes and negative harmony relates to inversion of intervals. This is a great video on learning how to use inverted melodies in the same context of its origin part.
Tomasso, you are awesome! I'm definitely going to check out this course! I have one question about this video, can negative harmony be applied to a minor scale in the same way? Thanks
Sure, you can. It's a bit harder to pull it off successfully, though, since you will now have chords that are part of the major key in a minor key framework, and this may sound weird at first. But you can definitely do it, and it's been done before.
great video!! i know you mentioned using negative harmony and modal exchange in different parts of the song like the chorus or bridge, but when else would you decide to change a chord to negative harmony? when do you decide to use it/what is its function in a song?
When you feel like it. Music Theory doesn't dictates what you do, I gives you options to work with. These things are like tools and you're the one who decides what's good for you.
If you want to change a chord to a more minor key tonality (not necessarily a minor tonality if you borrow major chords, but the parallel minor tonality as a whole) but want to maintain the same tension/release and harmonic functions as what you had before, you might want to consider what the negative harmony counterpart might sound like It’s like major->minor (or even minor->major) modal mixture, except it only points to a specific case for each chord that preserves those key aspects of the original chord progression (and/or melodic tension as well) for a certain effect But, yes, Finch Glass here above me is totally right in what they say as well^^ I just thought I’d give a bit of a more direct answer to add something to this conversation that may help you think about it more practically
So can you create negative harmony by first performing modal exchange C -> Am and then chromatically transpose the Am ->Cm? Can we say negative harmony amounts to a chromatic transpose performed on top of a diatonic transpose? Two steps to get from C to Cm.
Absolutely unbelievable! Excellent video! I am absolutely dying to take your Complete Chord Mastery course but it is so expensive I can't even come close to affording it. :-( Thanks anyway for the free videos you put on UA-cam!
A question about the negative Harmony: when you convert the notes of a song in negative, you have also to set an absolute axis of conversion or you can just replace the notes with the negative equivalents of any octave? Because I've seen people who made negative Harmony just flipping the notes like there is an absolute axis in the middle of the piano roll.
One step further, one more doubt... 😉 Everything is based on the "simmetry axis" between Eb and E, as you have brilliantly explained in the other video... That's exactly in the middle of the fifth interval... The question now are: Why C, and not any of the other 11 notes? What happens if I use another root-fifth interval? E.g. G-D, with simmetry axis between Bb and B?
The axis changes with the key. It's always the axis that transforms the 1st note pf the scale into the 5th note. It's the only axis that transform stable notes into stable notes, and active into active.
Negative harmony doesn't seem to preserve chord function. IF in C, a G chord gets mapped to F minor, both chords have the same number of stable tones (1) and unstable (2), but the root has shifted from a stable to unstable tone, and the chords are, by definition in functional harmony, opposed: dominant and predominant. So how can you substitute one for the other in a working chord sequence?
Very good, at last some clear examples appear on the net! The thing is: would you compose in Negative harmony, or instead in Regular and then apply the transformation to see what happens?
I would use both Negative and Regular harmony as tools to help me compose. Once I have a melodic idea, I try both tools and see what kind of variations they give me. This sparks more inspiration, etc.
Excellent explanation and a very useful tool. I'm excited to try these tricks! I was wondering if you could talk about the software you're using? What is it called? Is it easy to use? Does it work with or without a keyboard? Is it free and if not is there a good free alternative? I'm enjoying your videos very much, you explain everything extremely well!
Very informative videos! Would you say modal exchange also applies if for instance I were to go from, say C Ionian to C Phrygian, or any of the other modes? Or is it mainly from Ionian to Aeolian?
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I don't get what exactly is the 'exchange' here. When you are in C major and lower the E, A and B with a semitone you are just composing in C minor natural aren't you?
Excellent video as the one with Negative harmony ! Very clear and many possibilities to explore ! Nonetheless i have a question about chords : C major become C minor with negative harmony. How are you dealing with 4 notes chords ? C maj 7 becomes C minor 7 or Ab Major 7 as the note B becomes Ab ? And if you want to tranform a song which modulates in several keys i suppose you have to take care of all the changes and define the new major key every time a new keys happens so you can find the "righ" notes from negative harmony ? Thank you for your reply ! Best Regards from Paris. Olivier
Thanks so much for this! So does it only work in C major, or can it work for any key? If so, would the axis change accordingly or stay where it is? Thanks again!:)
grande ho capito in un attimo sei un ottimo didatta!! avrei una domabda... ma nell interscambio modale si usa soltanto la minore naturale ( o armonica) oppure si usa anche la minore melodica?? grazie
grazie.. fermo restando che nell interscambio modale di do maggiore io posso quindi usare qualunque tipo di do minore (che sia naturale armonica melodica Dorica frigia...) ma non un'altra scala minore per esempio sul minore e corretto ??
The courses (not books) are available only in electronic format. More info here: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/guitar-theory-lessons.html or write me at: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/contacttheauthor.html
Hey !! I just was reading my papers about music theory I got from everywhere .... and one of these golden lessons are not available .... Mr. Satriani erased it ... but I got printed !!!! Can you explain .... in your own words ... for us .... mere mortals ..... The Basic Pitch Axis ???? ..... and The Advanced Pitch Axis .... too .... if you don't mind ????? pls,pls,pls. I was a beginner when I read these BIZARRE lessons .... and still is amazing to read it again after 20 + years !!!! Cheers !
Hey Tommaso maybe you could make some cool video (like this one) on the topic N try to find a way to connect this composing harmony technic with the Negative Harmony ...what do you think ?
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I learn this in a book of jazz based harmony (Key to Harmony # Jo Anger Weller in french) you can basically apply this to scales' modes or chords just by inverting horizontally or vertically the intervals to extend the harmony n find new sonic directions or colorations (depends on how much you dose it)
There's only one thing I didn't get yet. On the other video, you explained Negative harmony using the circle of fifths and on this one, you used the chromatic scale circle, why??
Both ways work. I initially thought that the chromatic ay was more intuitive, but it seems most people find the cycle of 5th way more intuitive. They are exactly the same of course ;)
Salve Tommaso - I dialing-in late but just to say that there is a web browser based tool called "Harmopark.app" (I am not affiliated) for quickly finding negative and parallels of any progression that you enter. It is quite quick/easy to use for those of us who are too lazy to do conversions using our brain. Of course, your complete chord mastery course might be a better way.... :-)
I think you have an unusual definition of modal exchange here. Are you saying it’s only modal exchange if the borrowed chord is explicitly replacing a chord with the same root? My understanding of modal interchange or exchange is that it describes any note or notes that are borrowed from a parallel mode. Thus, borrowing notes from the negative harmony rendered in the parallel major or minor key (ie the one derived from dissecting the octave as you have done - you can do it eleven other ways, each of which will render the same negative harmony but in different keys, ones less useful for chord substitution) IS a form of modal interchange. They are just two ways of thinking about the same thing.
Do you change the axis for different scales or not? And does the root and the 5th stay the same? And do she keep those the same but change the notes around it? Sorry, I’m a guitarist so music theory isn’t what I’m best at.
Hi ! Are modal interchange and modal exchange the same concept ? (I'll just assume it is for this question but please correct me if i'm wrong) In this video you showed only modal exchange as a way to borrow chords from the parallel C minor scale to put it in the C major scale chord progression, but i believe we can borrow chords for all the other major modes (like C mixolydian for example) Is that also possible with negative harmony or is it the limit of this technique ? Thank you so much i'm struggling to understand music theory but it's hard ! 😅
yes, interchange and exchange are just two names for the same technique. Yes, you can in principle borrow from other modes, but this is not what happens with negative harmony. If you find hard to understand theory, might I suggest you start from this playlist? ua-cam.com/video/WSB3iIkDy7o/v-deo.html Maybe it's too basic for you - I can't know - but then again maybe it will help you.
OK, looks like transposing C maj by negative harmony gives you Eb maj, harmony is transposed up by a minor third. Is that right and does the rule hold for all such transpositions?
![How To Use NEGATIVE MELODY To Write Beautiful Music [Negative Harmony]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0oI2iFrzA0o/mqdefault.jpg)
![How To Use NEGATIVE MELODY To Write Beautiful Music [Negative Harmony]](/img/tr.png)
![What You Can Do With NEGATIVE HARMONY As A Composer [Music Theory]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GdCFYTii1Gw/mqdefault.jpg)
![Most Aspiring Songwriters Don't Know How To Use This Chord [But They Should]](/img/n.gif)
I play the piano and I appreciate that there is no mention of FRETS in these GUITAR lessons!
The negative harmony actually sounds good... Kind of medieval haha. This is amazing, you're a great teacher
It's really odd: your previous (related) video confused the hell out of me, but this video cleared everything up. For the longest time, i didn't realise it was the NOTES you change first, and then determine the chord after that. Amazing... and thank you!
It really screws with your head if you get that mixed up, because the root of the “positive” chord doesn’t correspond with the root of the corresponding “negative” chord, it corresponds with the FIFTH of the corresponding chord.
Video Highlights:
- Listen to the difference: 0:25
- Theory: Modal Exchange: 1:14
- Theory: Negative Harmony: 2:22
- Practice: Modal Exchange (all melody): 3:27
- Practice: Negative Harmony (all melody): 5:17
- Practice: Modal Exchange (single bar): 6:59
- Practice: Negative Harmony (single bar): 8:27
- Practice: Modal Exchange and Negative Harmony together: 10:08
- How to use in songwriting: 11:05
Previous video on Negative Harmony: ua-cam.com/video/qHH8siNm3ts/v-deo.html
can ı use neg har on a minor scale ? ıf my song were a minor ? thank you
One thing I love about your videos is that I sometimes have to play yours at 0.75 while all others I usually play at 1.5.
BRO Im so happy im about to cry! lol you literally explained something that has taken me forever to find finally in a 12 minute video that is super easy to understand and how to piece it together. THANK YOU!!!
This is exactly what I'm looking for since forever and within ~13mins even included combinations of usages,
I have watched dozens and dozens of music theory videos, Tommaso, from you and others. This one is, for me, the most enlightening, important and useful one I have watched. Thanks!
You are an absolute gem! Thank you so much for these videos, it helps so much!
I find an easier way to remember negative chord. Think of a one-dimension coordinate axis, and just count from right to left. Like below:
-b7 -b6 -5 -4 -b3 -2 -1
D。 bE Fm G(m) bA bB Cm
For instance, a C G Am F chord progresion（1564 in C major） will be turned into Cm Fm bE G(m) by negative chord theory.
Hey, I'm sorry, could you explain it again? I didn't understand
@@kozhikkaalan I think they're just re-stating that going up a 5th is the same as going down a 4th, up a 3rd down a 6th etc. In negative harmony you map 1 chords to 1 chords, 2 chords to 7 chords, 3 chords to 6 chords, 4 chords to 5 chords, and so on. The commenter above is just rephrasing this as saying that if you have a 2 chord instead of mapping it to a 7 chord you just map it to the '-2' chord. This is the exact same thing, since going up a 7th is the same thing as going down a 2nd. Whatever you find easier to understand and remember. I think calling it 'negative chord theory' makes it sound more complicated than it is. If you add 7 semitones to 0, this note will be the same as if you subtract 5 semitones from 12.
Thats some nice way man, thx
yeah, but you have to keep in mind that you are in Eb tone, not in C tone
Best explanation of negative harmony and modal exchange in YT. Thank you.
I loved that!! It was so interesting to recognize all the tricks they use in the movies to twist the same melody and accent a sad passage in the story or a scary moment!!!
Dude... You are the bomb. Thank you for your hard work and simple explanations of music theory. I am a fan!
It's a shame I can't hit the like button twice.
Thank you very much just what I needed for breaking out of boring key functions !
Is there a "quick" or convenient way to learn/memorize what chords will become what under negative harmony?
counting the half steps seems to be the fastest way and memorizing the reverse half steps if u will
Right I just spent quite a while working this out.
For basic triads, it's easy once you know the diatonic chords of the key/mode. If you know the diatonic chords of the modes, then you just need to remember that these chords are swapped: 1 & 1, 2 & 7, 3 & 6, 4 & 5. So if you are in C Ionian, if you apply negative harmony transformation to the IV chord (F) you'll get the v chord (5 chord of Aeolian, Gm). If you transform the vii_o chord (Bdim) you'll get the ii_o chord (2 chord of Aeolian, Ddim). If you transform the tonic I (C) you'll get i (1 chord of Aeolian, Cm). It's easy to remember which chords swap, because the numbers are complementary (if you go up a 2nd, it's the same as going down a 7th, up a 3rd then it's down a 6th, up a 4th then down a 5th, and if you go 'up' a 1st you are just staying on the same note).
This is most of what you need to know.
If you want to transform seventh chords, it's a bit more complicated. You can do this 2/3 ways. The first way is you just transform the triad as before, and then work out the seventh 'manually'. For example, Am7 = ACEG is vi_7. Transform vi (Am) to bIII (Eb). Now you can just figure out how to transform the G by referring to the chart - the answer is C. So the result is Eb-G-B + C, which is Cm7.
If you want to avoid the 'manual' part, do this. You can see that we transformed A-C-E-G to Eb-G-B-C. That's Am7 to Eb6. So if we just apply our familiar formulas, seventh chords become sixth chords. If you know (or can quickly work out) what the diatonic sixth chords are, then this is a quick method. If we want to find a seventh chord, not a sixth chord, we need to rearrange the notes to make that happen (which we can always do).
I think the previous two ways are by far the easiest, but I'll offer the following for completeness. If you want to just transform straight from a seventh chord to another seventh chord, here's how. I just transformed all 7 diatonic chords of Ionian and got the following results: I(M7) to bVI(M7), ii(7) to V(7), iii(7) to iv(7), IV(M7) to bIII(M7), V(7) to ii(m7b5), vi(7) to i(7), vii(m7b5) to bVII(7). This probably won't look clear here so write it on a piece of paper. Remember that Aeolian is the 6th mode of the Ionian scale, and the tonic seventh chord of Aeolian here appears at the 6th scale degree of Ionian. However, while the Ionian seventh chords proceed 'forwards', the Aeolian seventh chords go in reverse order. So, there's a pattern, but it's not quick unless you memorise this paragraph. Just to be clear, the fact that Aeolian is the 6th mode is just a mnemonic here, I don't think it has structural relevance (for instance, for ninth chords, this does not hold).
If you want to memorise this method, you need to remember that Aeolian is the 6th mode, the tonic is shifted by 5 (to the 6th position) and the diatonic seventh chords of Aeolian run backwards - then you can draw a little picture of which seventh chords go to which and use that when composing.
Don't even ask me about ninth chords, etc. I think the 'transform the triad and then any added tones' method is the most versatile.
I think this one should work fine and be pretty easy if you can remember that in the major key first, fourth and fifth chords are major, second, third and sixth are minor and seventh is diminished and you know the degrees for every major natural scale (if you don't, look Brian Kelly videos on the circle of fifths as it can be mostly remembered using the word BEAD and neighbour keys on the circle give you the notes for the one key in the middle with the correct degree).
Keep in mind the degree of the chord on the original key in major (for example Fmaj is 4 in C major usually written as IV) go to the parallel key in minor (C minor) and think to its relative major scale (Eb major). Subtract from 7 the original degree (7-4=3 and since the third is a minor you get that the chord you're looking for is the third minor chord of the Eb major scale so Gmin).
In practical terms, you could not even know the notes of each key if you can visualize the natural (or even just pentatonic) scale pattern on the guitar neck and its seven main chords patterns (which are actually the CAGED system for major, minor and diminished triads shifted by some frets and placed in a particular position respect the natural or pentatonic scale pattern underneath). Raise the scale pattern by 3 frets to go to the minor parallel key and play the 7 minus original degree chord which is major if the result is 1,4 or 5 minor if is 2,3 or 6 and diminished if it's 0.
Just a basic example:
Think of one of the pentatonic pattern box for C major string E fret 5 and fret 8 string A fret 5 and fret 7 string D fret 5 and fret 7 string G fret 5 and fret 7 string B fret 5 and fret 8 string e fret 5 fret 8. They are all notes taken from the C natural major diatonic scale and it's usually called the basic A minor pentatonic pattern since A is the relative minor of C, or also called "Aeolian" box even if modes and box patterns are a very different thing. Over that pattern (eventually adding 4th and 7th degrees not present in the major pentatonic scale) you can play the V chord of the C major scale which is a Gmaj triad on string G fret 7 string B fret 8 string e fret 7 or the ii chord of the C major scale which is a Dmin triad on string D fret 7 string G fret 7 string B fret 6. Both triads are so played with an "open chord" fingers positioning as they are that shape shifted from the open position along the neck: "Dmaj open chord" shape for the Gmaj chord which is V and "Amin open chord" shape for Dmin which is ii, and you can do that for any ii and V chord on the "Aeolian" box pattern of the pentatonic scale. You can do the same for I, iii, IV, vi and vii° too with other open chord fingers positioning above any box, overlaying to the box the CAGED system of each one.
Now if for example you want the negative harmonic equivalent of Gmaj since it is the V chord, subtract the V degree from seven so 7-5=2, you play the ii with the "open Amin chord" shape just three frets higher (string D fret 10 string G fret 10 string B fret 9) without even realizing it's actually a Fmin chord.
You could also move the pentatonic box 3 frets higher (string E fret 8 and fret 11 string A fret 8 and fret 10 string D fret 8 and fret 10 string G fret 8 and fret 10 string B fret 8 and fret 11 string e fret 8 fret 11), subtract the V degree from seven so 7-5=2 and then play the ii with the "open Amin chord" shape over the shifted pentatonic box as the third minor chord triad fingering position is the same relative to the scale box.
Great video Tommaso! Loved seeing you work through the examples in the piano roll.
Mille grazie! I found both videos on the topic amazingly easy to follow and easy to implement.
I'm very much a kinetic learner but this helped me understand exchange more than anything. Great video!
I watched the first video and I worked it all out by hand before I saw there was a second video. They say writing it out is better for memory too.
I becomes i or ♭VI∆
ii becomes ♭VII or v-7
iii becomes ♭VI or iv-7
IV becomes v or iii-7♭5
V becomes iv or ii-7♭5
vi becomes ♭III or i-7
vii becomes ii-dim or ♭VII7
I can add this into what what makes a key (harmonized diatonic plus parallel modal subs plus borrowed chords from harmonic major/minor etc).
*oops missed a ♭
miglior canale in assoluto, spiegazioni assurde!
I wish I had seen your video 40 years ago.
You explain so simply.please can u drop a video explaining the parallel motion, contrary motion, oblique motion etc n how to write four parts.pls
I made this for myself and thought others might benefit from this more universal info for transposition:
All chromatic major/minor chord possibilities should be covered but make sure to remember symmetric property (i.e. if looking for VI remember to read right to left as well)
Major and Minor Scales Diatonic Chords
I = i
ii = bVII
iii = bVI
IV = v
V = iv
vi = bIII
vii* = ii*
Nondiatonic chords
bII = vii
bii = VII
II = bvii
biii = VI
III = bvi
#IV = #iv
#iv = #IV
Just amazing how much I learned in two small videos... Thank you so much!!!
It’s crying out for a music program that would help without having to work everything out yourself.
I’d buy it.
Facinating👍
Some MIDI programs can invert notes automatically. It's still not exactly the same and it requires some manual adjustments, but it's close enough to make it usable. In the video I did everything manually to make clear what I'm doing.
Brilliant Tomasso. Great content and explanation. Molto grazie
Wooow hey man this is great. Best illustration I have ever come across.
Since I don't really play the guitar, would it be useful for me to buy your book, since I'm a keyboard player? I do like your videos, the three that I've seen thus far on negative melodies and negative harmonies really make me think I could re-organize some old songs into some refreshingly different ways of playing them. And maybe have quite a bit of fun with it during the process. Thanks for explaining these complex ideas in such a well structured and rhythmically interesting (energetic but not incoherent) way.
I don't know if it would make sense for you to take the course, but we can talk about it. Write me here: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/contacttheauthor.html so we can see if this course would work for you or not (if not, I'll be the first one to tell you to not take it).
Tha accent is eargasm relaxing and learning at the same time subscribed
This and your other negative harmony video are so well done, so well explained - thank you!
Hey I was the last comment shown in the beginning, very dedicated of you to make this video! I love the clarifications you made in this video, mainly about how inversion is a key difference of negative harmony and modal interchange. I still think that the term Negative Harmony should be taken with a grain of salt as nonetheless it’s still highly related to modal interchange and general usage of the parallel minor mode (or major), but I can certainly see uses for Negative Harmony for improvisation that classical modal interchange doesn’t explicitly show at first glance. I think this is related to the fact that modal interchange strictly relates to brief harmony changes and negative harmony relates to inversion of intervals. This is a great video on learning how to use inverted melodies in the same context of its origin part.
Yes I agree that the hype around Negative Harmony is exaggerated. For the record, I think "Inverted Harmony" would be a much better term for it.
Whole new information and opens many doors for my composition journey..... Thanks a tonne....:)
Thanks for these great tutorials🙌
Beste YT Kanal Entdeckung für mich in 2019! Weiter so!
Danke schoen!
I have learned so much in 12 minutes! Great that you made this come alive by using your simple melody. Thank you!
Tomasso, you are awesome! I'm definitely going to check out this course! I have one question about this video, can negative harmony be applied to a minor scale in the same way?
Thanks
Sure, you can. It's a bit harder to pull it off successfully, though, since you will now have chords that are part of the major key in a minor key framework, and this may sound weird at first. But you can definitely do it, and it's been done before.
What is the software you are using? I love the insight the visual element gives you.
In this video I am using Logic Pro
Love it! Very cool concepts. Thank you for the detailed explanation!
This is like rocket fuel!! So much colour!
This is gold! Sei un grande Tommà
Tommaso... .
Another great lesson
What computer program did you use for the lesson?
Your explanation is so clear and useful. Thanks Tommaso. By the way, which sequencer program are you using in this video?
Thanks. Logic pro X.
great video!! i know you mentioned using negative harmony and modal exchange in different parts of the song like the chorus or bridge, but when else would you decide to change a chord to negative harmony? when do you decide to use it/what is its function in a song?
When you feel like it. Music Theory doesn't dictates what you do, I gives you options to work with. These things are like tools and you're the one who decides what's good for you.
If you want to change a chord to a more minor key tonality (not necessarily a minor tonality if you borrow major chords, but the parallel minor tonality as a whole) but want to maintain the same tension/release and harmonic functions as what you had before, you might want to consider what the negative harmony counterpart might sound like
It’s like major->minor (or even minor->major) modal mixture, except it only points to a specific case for each chord that preserves those key aspects of the original chord progression (and/or melodic tension as well) for a certain effect
But, yes, Finch Glass here above me is totally right in what they say as well^^
I just thought I’d give a bit of a more direct answer to add something to this conversation that may help you think about it more practically
You are so good teacher!
So can you create negative harmony by first performing modal exchange C -> Am and then chromatically transpose the Am ->Cm? Can we say negative harmony amounts to a chromatic transpose performed on top of a diatonic transpose? Two steps to get from C to Cm.
Good experiment...learned something good
Where and when this idea of negative harmony comes from? Great didactic content. Muito Obrigado!
Dude you're a very good teacher. Subscribed ☺
Thanks for making this video Tommaso...love the way you explained the application concepts
Absolutely unbelievable! Excellent video! I am absolutely dying to take your Complete Chord Mastery course but it is so expensive I can't even come close to affording it.
:-(
Thanks anyway for the free videos you put on UA-cam!
A question about the negative Harmony: when you convert the notes of a song in negative, you have also to set an absolute axis of conversion or you can just replace the notes with the negative equivalents of any octave? Because I've seen people who made negative Harmony just flipping the notes like there is an absolute axis in the middle of the piano roll.
One step further, one more doubt... 😉
Everything is based on the "simmetry axis" between Eb and E, as you have brilliantly explained in the other video...
That's exactly in the middle of the fifth interval...
The question now are: Why C, and not any of the other 11 notes?
What happens if I use another root-fifth interval?
E.g. G-D, with simmetry axis between Bb and B?
The axis changes with the key. It's always the axis that transforms the 1st note pf the scale into the 5th note. It's the only axis that transform stable notes into stable notes, and active into active.
In addition to Eb-E, you could also use A-Bb. There are always 2 axes.
Negative harmony doesn't seem to preserve chord function. IF in C, a G chord gets mapped to F minor, both chords have the same number of stable tones (1) and unstable (2), but the root has shifted from a stable to unstable tone, and the chords are, by definition in functional harmony, opposed: dominant and predominant. So how can you substitute one for the other in a working chord sequence?
Good question! My answer is here: ua-cam.com/video/KZzqjHrlugY/v-deo.html
I hav to say best explanation..👍👍
OK, this is the vid RADIOHEAD watched in the 90's after Bends *D
great vid!!
Thanks a lot, mate. A new world is open for me. I subscribe!!!
Very good, at last some clear examples appear on the net!
The thing is: would you compose in Negative harmony, or instead in Regular and then apply the transformation to see what happens?
I would use both Negative and Regular harmony as tools to help me compose. Once I have a melodic idea, I try both tools and see what kind of variations they give me. This sparks more inspiration, etc.
thank you for the outstanding content this site
9:14 It sounded way good!!
Excellent explanation and a very useful tool. I'm excited to try these tricks!
I was wondering if you could talk about the software you're using? What is it called? Is it easy to use? Does it work with or without a keyboard? Is it free and if not is there a good free alternative?
I'm enjoying your videos very much, you explain everything extremely well!
Just found the answer in the comments section. Thanks! Still think we could all benefit from a software tutorial. 😊
Very informative videos! Would you say modal exchange also applies if for instance I were to go from, say C Ionian to C Phrygian, or any of the other modes? Or is it mainly from Ionian to Aeolian?
Yes, you can use modal exchange with any mode. It's just more common to do it from Ionian to Aeolian.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I don't get what exactly is the 'exchange' here. When you are in C major and lower the E, A and B with a semitone you are just composing in C minor natural aren't you?
Using C minor notes/chords while being is C major is called "modal exchange" (or "modal interchange", or "modal borrowing").
This is amazing... btw what is the computer program?
Thank you! Logic Pro X
Does that negative harmony circle you draw work with all keys? If so, you explained this VERY well. Thank you so much!!
Excellent video as the one with Negative harmony ! Very clear and many possibilities to explore ! Nonetheless i have a question about chords : C major become C minor with negative harmony. How are you dealing with 4 notes chords ? C maj 7 becomes C minor 7 or Ab Major 7 as the note B becomes Ab ? And if you want to tranform a song which modulates in several keys i suppose you have to take care of all the changes and define the new major key every time a new keys happens so you can find the "righ" notes from negative harmony ? Thank you for your reply ! Best Regards from Paris. Olivier
Thanks so much for this! So does it only work in C major, or can it work for any key? If so, would the axis change accordingly or stay where it is? Thanks again!:)
Any key. The axis is always between maj3 and min3.
Brilliant !
Excellent explanation! What software do you use? 🌷
Thanks! Logic pro X.
grande ho capito in un attimo sei un ottimo didatta!! avrei una domabda... ma nell interscambio modale si usa soltanto la minore naturale ( o armonica) oppure si usa anche la minore melodica?? grazie
Puoi usare anche la melodica se vuoi.
grazie.. fermo restando che nell interscambio modale di do maggiore io posso quindi usare qualunque tipo di do minore (che sia naturale armonica melodica Dorica frigia...) ma non un'altra scala minore per esempio sul minore e corretto ??
Esatto. Devono avere la stessa tonica.
Tra l'altro... com'e' che 'Russell Kane' parla Italiano? ;-)
Great! Why do we have the option to change the B to Bb or not?
I wonder what software this is. Looks like it would be fun to play around with.
Logic Pro X
This is great stuff. About the books, its available in a electronic format? I'm very interested. Thank you again.
The courses (not books) are available only in electronic format. More info here: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/guitar-theory-lessons.html or write me at: www.musictheoryforguitar.com/contacttheauthor.html
Hey !! I just was reading my papers about music theory I got from everywhere .... and one of these golden lessons are not available .... Mr. Satriani erased it ... but I got printed !!!!
Can you explain .... in your own words ... for us .... mere mortals ..... The Basic Pitch Axis ???? ..... and The Advanced Pitch Axis .... too .... if you don't mind ????? pls,pls,pls.
I was a beginner when I read these BIZARRE lessons .... and still is amazing to read it again after 20 + years !!!!
Cheers !
I like to see more of this
your vids are so well done
Thanks you. Very intéresting and clear systèm.
Thanks very much...
😚😉😁
11:56 nice segue *coff coff*... brilliant follow-up theory post ty! : )
Hey Tommaso maybe you could make some cool video (like this one) on the topic N try to find a way to connect this composing harmony technic with the Negative Harmony ...what do you think ?
Sure. Do you have any sources on Interval Mirroring? It's the first time I hear this and I can find very little on it.
@@MusicTheoryForGuitar I learn this in a book of jazz based harmony (Key to Harmony # Jo Anger Weller in french)
you can basically apply this to scales' modes or chords just by inverting horizontally or vertically the intervals to extend the harmony n find new sonic directions or colorations (depends on how much you dose it)
what software is that you are using?? Thanks for the lesson ;)
Logic Pro X
Very very educational
There's only one thing I didn't get yet.
On the other video, you explained Negative harmony using the circle of fifths and on this one, you used the chromatic scale circle, why??
Both ways work. I initially thought that the chromatic ay was more intuitive, but it seems most people find the cycle of 5th way more intuitive. They are exactly the same of course ;)
What I'd like to know is what DAW are you using? looks so clean an comfortable to work with lol
Logic Pro X
Thank you sir... its realy good lesson... ❤❤❤
Just for info, the seventh chord derived from the major scale is NOT a diminished chord, it's minor seven flat five or "half diminished".
That's correct. In this video I'm talking only about triads to keep it simple.
Valid point ;)
why do you choose to move the c note in the negative harmony up a fifth rather than down the fourth?
would there be a way to set up cubase to apply a MIDI function to change the notes/chords?
bravissimo, grazie!
Why did you start with Bb as the 1st note in the modal exchange incersion table?
Great video!!! Thank you!!!!
hi, may i ask what software are you using? thank you so much :)
Salve Tommaso - I dialing-in late but just to say that there is a web browser based tool called "Harmopark.app" (I am not affiliated) for quickly finding negative and parallels of any progression that you enter. It is quite quick/easy to use for those of us who are too lazy to do conversions using our brain. Of course, your complete chord mastery course might be a better way.... :-)
I think you have an unusual definition of modal exchange here. Are you saying it’s only modal exchange if the borrowed chord is explicitly replacing a chord with the same root? My understanding of modal interchange or exchange is that it describes any note or notes that are borrowed from a parallel mode.
Thus, borrowing notes from the negative harmony rendered in the parallel major or minor key (ie the one derived from dissecting the octave as you have done - you can do it eleven other ways, each of which will render the same negative harmony but in different keys, ones less useful for chord substitution) IS a form of modal interchange. They are just two ways of thinking about the same thing.
Can they sound well when both are applied to the same bar?
Do you change the axis for different scales or not? And does the root and the 5th stay the same? And do she keep those the same but change the notes around it? Sorry, I’m a guitarist so music theory isn’t what I’m best at.
I think I get it, modal exchange changes some while negative harmony changes all? Sorry I barely play piano nor do I know how to use midi lol
Hi ! Are modal interchange and modal exchange the same concept ? (I'll just assume it is for this question but please correct me if i'm wrong)
In this video you showed only modal exchange as a way to borrow chords from the parallel C minor scale to put it in the C major scale chord progression, but i believe we can borrow chords for all the other major modes (like C mixolydian for example)
Is that also possible with negative harmony or is it the limit of this technique ?
Thank you so much i'm struggling to understand music theory but it's hard ! 😅
yes, interchange and exchange are just two names for the same technique. Yes, you can in principle borrow from other modes, but this is not what happens with negative harmony. If you find hard to understand theory, might I suggest you start from this playlist? ua-cam.com/video/WSB3iIkDy7o/v-deo.html Maybe it's too basic for you - I can't know - but then again maybe it will help you.
Does the negative harmony rule work for minor scales?
Yeah same question here
How will negative harmony on a modal exchanged version - or the other way around - work? And will all fit together with the original version?
Are there any standalone SW or plugins for reharmonization e.g. using neg. harmony or modal exchange?
Is there a chart online anywhere that has all of the keys in original & negative harmony form?
OK, looks like transposing C maj by negative harmony gives you Eb maj, harmony is transposed up by a minor third. Is that right and does the rule hold for all such transpositions?