How Basic Chords Work - Music Theory Lesson 1 — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00okay um i wanted to do a little music
- 0:04theory lesson on chords
- 0:06and uh just sort of how they work
- 0:08specifically chord names and how to know
- 0:11uh what you're looking at whenever you
- 0:12see a different chord written out um how
- 0:14to know exactly what that means and how
- 0:16to sort of put those notes together and
- 0:18how to play it
- 0:19um the the approach that a lot of people
- 0:21take to learning chords is um they'll
- 0:23sort of see something um you know say
- 0:25like that
- 0:26and uh let's just kind of memorize that
- 0:28chord so we're just one at a time okay
- 0:30when i see that i need to play
- 0:32those three notes or um
- 0:34you know if you saw something like that
- 0:36you'll learn that okay that means that i
- 0:38play that right there
- 0:40and that's fine that works for a while
- 0:42but um it turns out to be pretty
- 0:44limiting especially when you get farther
- 0:46along musically when you start to learn
- 0:48a lot more chords and different keys or
- 0:51you start to get into more advanced
- 0:52chords it just turns into so many
- 0:54different things to try to remember
- 0:56and if you were to see a chord uh
- 0:59say
- 1:01say something like that
- 1:03odds are you're not going to know what
- 1:04that means there's just so many
- 1:06different
- 1:07advanced chords and things to try to
- 1:08memorize that it just gets to be
- 1:09overwhelming
- 1:11but if you know how this system works if
- 1:12you know what these names mean and how
- 1:14they work then um this is simple there's
- 1:16really nothing to that chord you'll know
- 1:18exactly what to do there really right
- 1:19away so that's what i want to kind of
- 1:21break down
- 1:23and um there's actually a bigger reason
- 1:25to learn how the chords work and that's
- 1:26just sort of understanding music in
- 1:28general if you want to learn music
- 1:31theory and just kind of how it all works
- 1:32this is a great way to get into it
- 1:34learning how these chords fit and how
- 1:36they interact that's going to let you
- 1:38just sort of improvise and compose and
- 1:40just sort of lets you understand how
- 1:42this music fits and it's just a really
- 1:44really wonderful thing to get a hold of
- 1:46so we'll get started and we'll start
- 1:47with a real simple one i think we'll
- 1:49just start with this one right here um
- 1:51and kind of uh kind of work our way up
- 1:53from there so let's take that cord and i
- 1:56want to show you how this is going to
- 1:57work
- 1:59anytime you see a core doesn't matter
- 2:02how advanced it is there's always just
- 2:04two parts to it there's a there's this
- 2:06first part right here and this is what's
- 2:08called uh the the root of the chord and
- 2:11the root is just one single note it's
- 2:13the note that everything kind of starts
- 2:14on and it's not you're going to kind of
- 2:16measure everything else against you're
- 2:18going to use that note to find the other
- 2:20stuff in the chord so to find the root
- 2:21of the chord you just kind of find the
- 2:23note and there you go there's really
- 2:24nothing to that
- 2:25um but it's this next part here this uh
- 2:28they call us the chord quality um this
- 2:30is where things get
- 2:32a little more involved this is what i
- 2:34want to kind of break down
- 2:36so what this does this tells you what
- 2:39the other notes on the chord are going
- 2:40to be
- 2:41but it doesn't actually tell you what
- 2:43they are directly
- 2:45it just tells you how far away they are
- 2:47from your root note so to find these
- 2:49notes you have to know how to measure
- 2:51distance in music and the way you
- 2:53measure distance is you use something
- 2:55called an interval
- 2:57um now intervals are just how far apart
- 3:00two notes are they've tried to be pretty
- 3:01simple so let me show you a few of those
- 3:03and we'll kind of get going that way
- 3:05so the first interval you want to know
- 3:08is a uh what's called a half step
- 3:10half step is just two notes that are
- 3:12right next to each other so for instance
- 3:15like c
- 3:16and c sharp those are right next to each
- 3:18other there's a half step um
- 3:20see f sharp to g that's a half step any
- 3:22one of those two notes that are right
- 3:24next to each other those are a half step
- 3:26apart now the the one spot where it's a
- 3:28little bit weird is right here e to f um
- 3:30these two notes are also a half step
- 3:32they are right next to each other there
- 3:34is nothing in between so they're a half
- 3:35step but if you're kind of just looking
- 3:37at the white notes that can look kind of
- 3:39strange you know these two are a half
- 3:40step apart but these two are not there's
- 3:42something in between those so just make
- 3:44sure that in that little area there you
- 3:46kind of know how that works
- 3:49but other than that half step real
- 3:50simple then you can find those anywhere
- 3:53so once you have that um that's kind of
- 3:54one of the basic building blocks there's
- 3:56another one you need and that's what's
- 3:57called a whole step
- 3:59um whole step is kind of just what you
- 4:01think it's just two half steps so if you
- 4:04start on a note and you want to go up a
- 4:05whole step you go up a half step you go
- 4:07up another half step and then you have
- 4:09your your whole step
- 4:10now when you're looking for these you
- 4:12don't really want to have to count up
- 4:14you don't want to be thinking you know
- 4:16half step half step every time you want
- 4:17to just see these right away so what
- 4:19you're kind of looking for here is you
- 4:21just look for this little shape where
- 4:22you have two notes with one note in
- 4:24between just kind of
- 4:25see that and then this gets to be really
- 4:27easy um you know so right here here's
- 4:29another whole step here's your your one
- 4:30note in between um there there
- 4:33one of those places you just have a
- 4:35whole step now the one weird spot is
- 4:37going to be like right in here or right
- 4:38in here where
- 4:40you get this now this is a whole step
- 4:42here's your one note in between but it
- 4:44looks a little strange at first so just
- 4:46make sure that you're comfortable with
- 4:47just kind of how a whole step works in
- 4:49that area
- 4:51um and and that's pretty much it those
- 4:53two are what we're going to use to kind
- 4:55of find any other intervals any of these
- 4:57bigger ones so as long as you're
- 4:58comfortable with that then figuring out
- 5:00this chord should be pretty simple
- 5:03so let's actually get into what this
- 5:05means
- 5:06this right here
- 5:07this is this name and this chord quality
- 5:10it's going to tell you what these other
- 5:11notes are now this is what's called a
- 5:12simple chord it's just a it's a triad it
- 5:14means it just has three notes in it
- 5:16and the first note we've already got is
- 5:18that f so this is just telling you where
- 5:20these other two notes are
- 5:23now the the first one we're going to
- 5:24start on our f we already have that one
- 5:26figured out um but the first nut we need
- 5:29is going to be
- 5:30up above f somewhere it's going to be a
- 5:33major third higher
- 5:35um and that's kind of what this name is
- 5:38coming from this major here is saying
- 5:39your next note up needs to be a major
- 5:41third higher now a major third is just
- 5:44an interval in the same way that uh that
- 5:46a whole step or a half step is an
- 5:47interval
- 5:48um now this interval is two whole steps
- 5:51that's what a major third is it's like
- 5:53the definition of a major third so if
- 5:55you want to go up a major third say
- 5:57we're starting on our f right um you're
- 6:00going to go over a whole step that'll
- 6:01put you right here here's that one note
- 6:02in between and you go up another whole
- 6:04step to put you right there
- 6:06there's that one note in between and
- 6:08there you go there's your major third
- 6:10and it doesn't matter it doesn't matter
- 6:11what instrument you're on or where you
- 6:13start whatever note it's always going to
- 6:14be the same thing a major third is two
- 6:17whole steps in the same sense that a
- 6:19foot is 12 inches so we could start
- 6:21anywhere else we could start on uh
- 6:23starting in an a and we go up a whole
- 6:24step another whole step and i'll put you
- 6:26right there and there's a major third
- 6:28you could start saying this a flat go up
- 6:30a whole step another one there's a major
- 6:32third
- 6:33really
- 6:34now
- 6:35same with the with the whole step you
- 6:38don't really want to have to count your
- 6:39way through this this is i'm showing you
- 6:41this to start with but you want to get
- 6:43good just kind of seeing those just kind
- 6:44of looking for that pattern kind of
- 6:46seeing those those two whole steps right
- 6:48away so it'd be great to just kind of
- 6:50spend a little while just sort of trying
- 6:52to find these real quickly just sort of
- 6:54starting on random notes and and spend a
- 6:56little while in these little areas this
- 6:59is where things tend to look a little
- 7:00bit strange just because of that little
- 7:03funny business around these notes so
- 7:05there's your major third there's a major
- 7:07third and sort of just kind of get used
- 7:10to that but after a little while
- 7:12it's pretty easy
- 7:13so
- 7:14there's our major third we started on f
- 7:17that was our root note and then this
- 7:18told us that we need to go up a major
- 7:19third to get to our next note and that's
- 7:21two out of three notes already
- 7:23now there's one more note on this chord
- 7:25um and that note is going to be
- 7:28um up a little higher it's going to be
- 7:30up here somewhere i don't know what it
- 7:31is yet so just leave it like that and uh
- 7:33it's going to be
- 7:35what's called a perfect fifth higher
- 7:37than f
- 7:38um now a perfect fifth is just another
- 7:40interval in the same sense that a major
- 7:42third is an interval it's a bigger one
- 7:44this one is going to be
- 7:46three whole steps and a half steps and
- 7:48i'll show you how to kind of find that
- 7:49in a second but first you may be
- 7:51thinking okay
- 7:52i understand how this would be telling
- 7:55you that you need to do a major third
- 7:57that sort of makes sense but there's
- 7:58nothing in this chord name that really
- 8:00says anything about a perfect fifth so
- 8:02you think okay how do i know that i'm
- 8:04supposed to do a perfect fifth and the
- 8:06way this works um just about every
- 8:09course you do is going to have a fifth
- 8:11in it
- 8:12they almost always have a perfect fifth
- 8:15um and so
- 8:16it would be kind of nice if this chord
- 8:18was called you know f major third
- 8:21perfect fifth that would be like okay
- 8:22that tells you exactly what you need to
- 8:24do over here but almost every chord has
- 8:26this and so you usually just leave this
- 8:28off most chords just kind of tell you
- 8:30this part and they don't really tell you
- 8:31anything about the fifth and whenever
- 8:32that happens you just assume that you
- 8:34need to have a perfect fifth of the
- 8:36chord
- 8:37now there are times when your fifth is
- 8:39going to be different you can do
- 8:41like an altered fit called like a
- 8:42diminished fifth or an augmented fifth
- 8:44or something like that but if that ever
- 8:46happens the chord is going to tell you
- 8:48that it will specifically say diminished
- 8:50or augmented or something like that to
- 8:52change this fifth if it doesn't say
- 8:53anything about it you just assume that
- 8:55you have a perfect fifth and you kind of
- 8:57get used to that pretty quickly
- 8:59so anyway we have our third we figured
- 9:01that out now we need to find this
- 9:02perfect fifth and like i said it's just
- 9:04three whole steps and a half step so if
- 9:06we start from start from this f again
- 9:10we start counting over um here's a whole
- 9:12step there's one go another whole step
- 9:14there's two another whole step it's
- 9:16three and this last little half step
- 9:18that takes us right there and that gives
- 9:19us our fifth
- 9:20now same as the third um you don't
- 9:22really want to have to count through
- 9:24this you will at first to kind of get
- 9:25used to where this is but you want to
- 9:27just be able to see this right away but
- 9:29this is kind of a bigger interval and it
- 9:31can be kind of hard to uh to count all
- 9:33the way up with something like this so
- 9:35there's a real simple pattern you can
- 9:36kind of look for on a piano that makes
- 9:38this really easy to find
- 9:40if you start on a white note and you
- 9:42sort of skip over three white notes and
- 9:44you wind up right here that should give
- 9:46you a perfect fifth right here go to
- 9:48right there i have those three white
- 9:49notes in between there is your perfect
- 9:51fifth same thing there
- 9:53so really anywhere you start you should
- 9:55just be having those three notes right
- 9:56in between that makes that really easy
- 9:58to find
- 9:59if you were to start on a black note
- 10:00like here
- 10:02you want to have exactly two black notes
- 10:04in between so you should be seeing that
- 10:06and that can be really easy to find too
- 10:08just look for this two in between and
- 10:10you've got your perfect fit so that
- 10:11works great the only time that doesn't
- 10:13actually work is when you start on the
- 10:15note b or b flat if you start on b and
- 10:19you try to do that little pattern you
- 10:20kind of skip over these three you wind
- 10:23up right here and if you look at it this
- 10:25actually isn't quite far enough
- 10:28if you start from here you go up a whole
- 10:29step go up another whole step and
- 10:31another whole step you wind up with
- 10:33three whole steps between here and here
- 10:35and that's not quite enough you actually
- 10:36need three whole steps and a half step
- 10:38to make a perfect fifth so you need to
- 10:40go all the way up to there and the
- 10:41reason for that is just because there's
- 10:44these two spots where there's no black
- 10:46note and that means that these notes are
- 10:47kind of squished closer together than
- 10:49they would be if you were say over here
- 10:51there's actually more notes in between
- 10:52these two so that's the the one spot
- 10:54where it's going to be weird you have to
- 10:55kind of just watch out for that so b
- 10:57go all the way up to here there's your
- 10:59perfect fifth and then for b flat if you
- 11:01tried to go to this black note to put
- 11:03these two in between um you have kind of
- 11:05the same problem this is actually going
- 11:06to be too wide um you've got all these
- 11:09extra notes kind of crammed in here so
- 11:10you need to do this and that will give
- 11:12you your perfect fit so most cases it's
- 11:15really easy to find but just watch out
- 11:17for b if you start on b you got to kind
- 11:19of remember that you need to be doing
- 11:21that or if you start on b flat you're
- 11:23going to go to right there
- 11:24so as long as you're used to that these
- 11:26these fists get real easy so anywhere
- 11:29you start from like say for our chord
- 11:31here you know first thing you find is
- 11:32your major third then for that fifth
- 11:34just here to there you should be able to
- 11:36see those three notes in between
- 11:38and then you pretty much got it so
- 11:41that's our
- 11:42major chord um and and this is going to
- 11:45work for any any root note and you can
- 11:47put any kind of note in here this is not
- 11:49going to change this is like the
- 11:51definition of what a major chord is so
- 11:53this is not able to change so it's let's
- 11:56say we started on c sharp um we would
- 11:58start right here here's our new root
- 11:59note but we're going to go up a major
- 12:01third so that'll take you from there to
- 12:03right there and then you're going to
- 12:04have your perfect fifth so from here to
- 12:06right there you can kind of see here's
- 12:08these two with those two black notes in
- 12:09between it gives you c sharp major right
- 12:12there we can start on uh i don't know g
- 12:15there's our major third and then our
- 12:16perfect fifth there you go
- 12:18anywhere you want to start from this is
- 12:20not going to change
- 12:22okay so there's a major chord and that's
- 12:24probably the most common chord you're
- 12:25going to see now quick little note a lot
- 12:29of times since this is such a common
- 12:31chord a lot of times you'll see it
- 12:33written
- 12:34just like that
- 12:36it's just a single note and what's
- 12:38happening here is just kind of the the
- 12:40chord quality is just being left off
- 12:41completely figure that a major chord is
- 12:44kind of your default chord if you just
- 12:46see a chord like f or d sharp assume
- 12:48that it's a major chord it's such a
- 12:50common thing that this sort of gets left
- 12:52off the next one we're going to do is a
- 12:54minor chord and if if a chord is going
- 12:56to be a minor chord it has to say minor
- 12:58you can't just put an f and
- 13:00imagine that it's a minor chord this
- 13:02would mean major chord that's kind of
- 13:04your default but let's go ahead and do
- 13:06the minor chord once we have the major
- 13:08chord the minor chord is really easy
- 13:11um so let's say
- 13:13we actually wanted to do
- 13:15this this time
- 13:16all right so for a minor chord
- 13:18for now we have the same root note so
- 13:20we're gonna start on f again but our
- 13:22quality is different um this is telling
- 13:24you that now you need a minor three
- 13:25that's why this says minor you're doing
- 13:27a minor third here now a minor third is
- 13:30just another interval um and there's
- 13:33actually a lot of intervals that sort of
- 13:35have these two versions you have sort of
- 13:37a major version and a minor version um
- 13:39for a third major third minor third
- 13:41there's also an interval of a second
- 13:42there's a major second and a minor
- 13:44second um there's also a sixth he'll
- 13:46have a major six and a minor six and a
- 13:48seventh of a major seventh and a minor
- 13:50seventh and and understanding a minor is
- 13:53real easy um it's always just a half
- 13:56step lower than the major interval so if
- 13:58our major third
- 14:00was uh two whole steps then our minor
- 14:02third is just going to be a whole step
- 14:03and a half just one half step back so if
- 14:06you're if you're pretty familiar with
- 14:07this major third by now then finding
- 14:09those minors should be really easy
- 14:11uh let me go ahead and change that
- 14:14and uh that gives us our minor three
- 14:16that's all you really need um now up
- 14:19here there there's nothing about the
- 14:21fifth here again and so you're just
- 14:23gonna assume that you still need a
- 14:24perfect fifth so this isn't gonna change
- 14:26if we start on f so now we have our
- 14:28minor third so that's a whole step and a
- 14:30half step remember just a half step
- 14:32lower than a major third that's going to
- 14:34put you right here
- 14:35and then the perfect fifth isn't going
- 14:37to change there to there is still a
- 14:38perfect fit so that's going to be the
- 14:40same thing so that right there is your f
- 14:42minor chord now same deal that's going
- 14:44to work on any root note you want to
- 14:46start from so let's say we were doing e
- 14:48flat
- 14:50start on e flat go up a minor third
- 14:52remember be careful in this little area
- 14:53things look strange but there's your
- 14:56whole step and a half step
- 14:57and then for your fifth same deal here
- 14:59to here here's those two black notes in
- 15:01between
- 15:02and there you have your
- 15:03e flat minor
- 15:05okay
- 15:06so those two chords the uh the major and
- 15:09the minor those are by far the most
- 15:11common you're going to see lots and lots
- 15:13of those
- 15:14and even the more advanced chords are
- 15:15usually built kind of on top of those
- 15:17will be sort of adding extra notes on
- 15:18top but you want to be very familiar
- 15:20with the majors and the minors just sort
- 15:21of spend a little while just kind of
- 15:23picking a random note to start on
- 15:25and just kind of finding the rest of the
- 15:26chord try to see it as quickly as you
- 15:28can just get used to how this whole
- 15:29shape works
- 15:30and if you're pretty good with your
- 15:32intervals you know being able to see a
- 15:33major third minor third then this should
- 15:35be pretty simple
- 15:36now there's two other uh three note
- 15:39chords that i want to show you
- 15:41um and these are
- 15:42these are a little less common but they
- 15:45do still happen and uh they're still
- 15:46good chords so i'm going to show you
- 15:47those um so i'm going to start with uh
- 15:51what's called a diminished chord
- 15:53and we'll pick a different root note
- 15:54this time
- 15:55let's say
- 15:57we'll start on a
- 15:58all right so we're going to do it's
- 16:00called an a diminished
- 16:02now
- 16:03sometimes you'll see diminished written
- 16:04like this
- 16:06sometimes you'll see this little circle
- 16:09thing that means the same thing that's
- 16:11an a diminished um for now i'm just
- 16:13going to leave it as a as this it's a
- 16:14little easier to remember
- 16:17but a diminished
- 16:18now
- 16:19same thing as before you have a root
- 16:20note and then you have a chord quality
- 16:22so to find the root note that's simple
- 16:23just look for an a and there's our a now
- 16:26this name here this chord quality this
- 16:28is actually referring to the fifth this
- 16:31time i told you the fifth wouldn't
- 16:32change much but it does for this chord
- 16:35um so over here we're still starting on
- 16:37a that's our root note and uh we're
- 16:39still going to have a third we're going
- 16:40to have you know some note here
- 16:43that we're going to go up to with a
- 16:44third but we don't actually know what
- 16:45kind of third that's going to be it
- 16:46might be a major third or minor third
- 16:48i'll show you that in a second
- 16:49but this interval
- 16:51um going all the way up to uh
- 16:53to this note up here this is what this
- 16:56needs to be what's called a diminished
- 16:57fifth
- 16:58right there now diminished fifth real
- 17:01simple this is just a it's just like a
- 17:03perfect fifth but it's a half step lower
- 17:06sort of the same way that like a minor
- 17:08third is a half step lower than a major
- 17:09third so we're starting on our note a
- 17:12right here um to get a perfect fifth we
- 17:15go from here
- 17:16right to there but that's not what we
- 17:18need this time we need our diminished
- 17:20fit so we're just going to lower it by a
- 17:21half step and put it right there
- 17:23now you might think okay
- 17:25why not just call it a major fifth and a
- 17:27minor fifth that seems like it's doing
- 17:28the same thing as the third and
- 17:30that
- 17:31kind of has to do with just how the
- 17:33music is set up and how these things
- 17:34work but um kind of think of it this way
- 17:37the the fifth is not gonna change very
- 17:39often this is a little bit of an unusual
- 17:41chord you're gonna see it but not that
- 17:42much
- 17:43um so that the fifth is almost always
- 17:45going to be this it's a it's what's
- 17:46called a perfect interval it's usually
- 17:49that right there um but the other ones
- 17:51like the the third you're going to have
- 17:52major thirds and minor thirds all the
- 17:54time those are constantly being kind of
- 17:56shifted around so think of that as
- 17:58something that's going to change a lot
- 17:59this doesn't change much so you just
- 18:01kind of think of it as it has this one
- 18:02version of this perfect fifth and uh
- 18:04every now and then you get these sort of
- 18:06altered fits but they're a little bit
- 18:07less usual
- 18:08so anyway this diminished thing that's
- 18:10referring to this your fifth becomes a
- 18:12little bit lower so so far we have that
- 18:15a here's our perfect fifth
- 18:17lower little bit and then you have your
- 18:18diminished fifth
- 18:20now
- 18:21this chord name this chord quality
- 18:23doesn't tell you anything about this
- 18:25third so you don't actually know what
- 18:26kind of third you need here so you could
- 18:28think okay this could be a major third
- 18:30or it could be a minor third but when
- 18:31you start looking at it
- 18:33it actually turns out that it can only
- 18:34be a minor third i'll show you why
- 18:38let's say that we tried to put in a
- 18:39major third thinking okay maybe this
- 18:41should be a major third we have our
- 18:42diminished fifth so you start on a you
- 18:44go up your major third there's a whole
- 18:46step whole step so put you right there
- 18:48and then we still have our diminished
- 18:49fifth which was right here
- 18:51now this doesn't actually work as a
- 18:54chord and there's there's this sort of
- 18:56rule about the way chords have to work
- 18:58um any two notes when you line a chord
- 19:00up like this um any two notes can at the
- 19:03most be a major third apart and at the
- 19:06least be a minor third apart so like
- 19:08from here to there that note to that
- 19:10note that's a major third and that works
- 19:12fine um it's no bigger or smaller than
- 19:14the major third of minor three so that
- 19:16that fits perfect but from here to there
- 19:19these two notes they're only a whole
- 19:21step apart that's even smaller than a
- 19:23minor third and that kind of breaks that
- 19:25rule that means that this can't really
- 19:27work as a chord
- 19:28um so when you see that you got to think
- 19:30okay this doesn't work it doesn't fit
- 19:32that rule so i can't be using a minor
- 19:35third here that would put these two
- 19:36notes too close together
- 19:38so the only kind of third you can use is
- 19:41that minor third and when you do that
- 19:43everything works fine you start on a and
- 19:45you go to here there's your minor third
- 19:47and then if you compare this note to
- 19:48that note that's also just a minor third
- 19:50and both of those work just fine
- 19:52so just remember that rule when you're
- 19:54kind of figuring out chords they have
- 19:56any two notes have to be either a major
- 19:58third apart or a minor thread they can't
- 19:59be anything else so when you see this
- 20:01you think okay that can't work it has to
- 20:03be this
- 20:04and that's why there's there's nothing
- 20:06about the third in this chord name is
- 20:08because it can only be one thing it can
- 20:10only be a minor third write that in just
- 20:12you can see it um and that's how
- 20:16that's how diminished chord works so and
- 20:18same thing as before you can start at
- 20:20any root note you want like let's say
- 20:21you start on an f
- 20:23up a major third and then your
- 20:25diminished fit over here is your perfect
- 20:27fifth and there's your diminished fifth
- 20:28right there
- 20:30now
- 20:31one thing that could maybe make these a
- 20:32little easier to find is um if you think
- 20:35about how this lines up there's a
- 20:37there's a minor third between here and
- 20:38there just measuring that distance
- 20:40that's a minor third but when you're
- 20:41doing this diminished chord you have
- 20:43your minor third and your diminished
- 20:44fifth there's also a minor third between
- 20:46here and there if you measure the
- 20:48distance between these two notes it's
- 20:50also a minor third so when you're
- 20:52putting together this chord instead of
- 20:53looking for your fifth making it a
- 20:55diminished fifth you can just kind of
- 20:57compare this note to that middle note
- 20:59and think okay this needs to be a minor
- 21:00third that's just how this is going to
- 21:01work out
- 21:03so that can sometimes be easier to see
- 21:04either way it's the same thing but it
- 21:06kind of helps to sort of be able to see
- 21:08that from both directions so like i said
- 21:10any room you want to start on say c
- 21:12g right there
- 21:14there's any flat diminished all they all
- 21:16work the same way same formula no matter
- 21:18what you're doing
- 21:19and and that's a diminished chord um
- 21:22pretty basic once you get sort of how
- 21:23this works there's there's one more i
- 21:25want to show you out of the um
- 21:27kind of these simple three note chords
- 21:29and this is what's called an augmented
- 21:31chord and this chord is pretty unusual
- 21:33you're really not going to see very many
- 21:34of these
- 21:35the major and minor are by far the most
- 21:37common you're going to see some
- 21:39diminished chords they they pop up from
- 21:41time to time but the augmented chord
- 21:43doesn't happen a whole lot so let's
- 21:45start on
- 21:46say a g this time
- 21:48um this a lot of times gets written like
- 21:50this like just a plus
- 21:52and other times you'll actually see
- 21:55the words kind of abbreviated a u g
- 21:58let's go and leave it at that for now
- 22:00um so when you do an augmented chord it
- 22:03works a little bit like the diminished
- 22:05um this this quality here is referring
- 22:08to that fifth again
- 22:10so here's our root note um starting on g
- 22:13we're going to have this third still not
- 22:15sure which kind it is yet but we know
- 22:17that our fifth
- 22:19going all the way up to whatever that
- 22:20note is needs to be what's called an
- 22:22augmented fifth
- 22:24now an augmented fifth is um it's just a
- 22:27perfect fifth that is raised by a half
- 22:29step this time so if you you start on g
- 22:32and you look for your perfect fifth
- 22:33which would put you right here you just
- 22:35have to raise that by a half step put
- 22:37you right there
- 22:38and there's your augmented fifth easy as
- 22:40that um
- 22:42if you if you get confused between these
- 22:44two just remember that the word
- 22:46diminished means like to make smaller
- 22:48kind of think of it as being squished so
- 22:50when you diminish a fifth you're sort of
- 22:51squeezing it together you're going to
- 22:53lower that when you augment something
- 22:55you make it bigger you're sort of
- 22:56expanding it so that's going to sort of
- 22:58push you outwards you're going to get to
- 22:59a bigger interval just try to keep those
- 23:01straight you should be fine
- 23:02now same as before this doesn't tell you
- 23:05anything about the third but if you look
- 23:06at the way this chord works it turns out
- 23:08there's only one kind of third you can
- 23:10use
- 23:11if you try to use a minor third so you
- 23:13want to try that first start on g you go
- 23:16up your minor third put you right here
- 23:18you have kind of the same problem if you
- 23:20look at these two notes they work fine
- 23:22but if you compare this note to that
- 23:24note they're too far apart this is this
- 23:26is bigger than a major third a major
- 23:28third from here would put you right here
- 23:30there's a whole step there's a whole
- 23:31step
- 23:32right there and this is too far away
- 23:34it's bigger than that so this can't
- 23:36really work as a chord
- 23:38so that means that putting a minor third
- 23:40into an augmented chord is not gonna
- 23:41work the only one that's going to work
- 23:43is that major third so you go from here
- 23:45go to right there there's your major
- 23:47third and then from here to there to our
- 23:50augmented fifth that's also a major
- 23:51third i think from there there's a whole
- 23:53step there there's a whole step and that
- 23:55works fine so same as before this chord
- 23:58doesn't tell you anything about the
- 23:59third because it can only be one thing
- 24:01it can only be that uh that major third
- 24:05and uh
- 24:06that's that's how that score is going to
- 24:08work um same thing as before same same
- 24:11formula here anywhere you start it's all
- 24:13going to wind up the same way start on a
- 24:14d
- 24:15major third and then you have your your
- 24:17augmented fifth
- 24:19and then same as the other chord too if
- 24:21you if you want kind of a different way
- 24:22to look at this um you know you find
- 24:25your major third if you're looking for
- 24:26this augmented fifth you know when you
- 24:29think augmented fifth you're measuring
- 24:30from this root note here all the way up
- 24:32to here but if you want to just measure
- 24:35it from the second note it should just
- 24:36be a major third you can think of it
- 24:38that way i think okay if i need to do an
- 24:40augmented chord i go up a major third
- 24:42and then from here i go up another major
- 24:44third or you can just think of it the
- 24:46other way and think okay major third
- 24:48from my root note and then an augmented
- 24:50fifth from the root note either way is
- 24:52going to take you to the same place
- 24:54so that's um that's pretty much it for
- 24:56these these three note chords um all the
- 24:58other more advanced chords are going to
- 25:00be built right on top of these and if
- 25:02you have a pretty solid understanding of
- 25:04how these work then those more advanced
- 25:06chords of four note chords or five note
- 25:07chords there's really not a lot extra to
- 25:09that it's all just sort of real simple
- 25:12intervals you're going to kind of put on
- 25:13top and sort of learn what these
- 25:14different names mean
- 25:16and i think i'm going to leave it at
- 25:17that for now it's already pretty long so
- 25:18i'm probably going to do some of these
- 25:20other chords in like a separate video
- 25:22um so
- 25:23yeah that's going to be it if this helps
- 25:25you um if this worked for you then let
- 25:27me know leave me like a comment or
- 25:29something like that and you could thumbs
- 25:30up the video or um or even subscribe um
- 25:34if this works for people and this is
- 25:35helpful then i'm probably gonna make a
- 25:36lot more um if not then i'm probably
- 25:39just gonna play more starcraft too so
- 25:40let me know and i'll kind of decide what
- 25:42i want to do but yeah that's it for now
- 25:44so i hope that helps you and
- 25:46i will see you next time thanks
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