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Think I will stick to Boolean algebra! So much easier. You are a good teacher however. Music theory so arcane! Imagine you have been baking for years and then somebody tries to explain the molecular construction of glutens and how heat impacts physical properties of a food. Suddenly it stops being fun.

A little tangent on the diminished talk: the vii dim7 chord is interchangeable with the V7b9 chord. Exactly the same chord, with a V note in the bass. Conversely, if you play a V7b9 chord and delete the root, you’re left with vii diminished 7. E.g., G7b9 without a root is Bdim7. That B diminished chord sounds cool over G7b9 and is easily repeatable.And the half whole diminished scale starting from the V note sounds really good, and it’s also fairly easy to play over this sound. Literally half note, whole note until you hit the octave and it starts over. For a G7 leading to C, it’s G,Ab,Bb,B, C#, D and so on. Yes it has 8 notes if you’re finding that confusing lol, I certainly did at first. You only need to learn 3 of them because the pattern starts over once you’ve gotten to the minor 3rd. Here’s a very practical way to think of half whole diminished: take the vi dim 7 chord, which is 4 notes, and give every note a half step leading tone below it. That’s the 8 note scale. If you use these chromatic leading tones to the chord tones of vii dim7 and mix it up a bit, you sound like Stan Getz, ta da! Dominant b9 is a bebop staple especially in any V dominant chord leading to minor 1. Half whole diminished is kind of a dark bebop dominant scale to me, with very little to remember ;) . Btw, vii dim 7 naturally leads up a half step to minor 1, not major, it’s just a darker version of V7 to 1 minor, used often in classical harmonic minor music. You can absolutely use V7b9 (or vii dim 7, again, same basic chord) to major 1, but that’s the kind of thing the band’s going to want to agree on, not exactly interchangeable sounds. In other words, you don’t always want dark V7b9 chords leading to major 1’s, as it’s nice to have simple major sounds to contrast with dark, more complex minor sounds. Learning to use diminished chords is weird but useful, and all the greats use it. It’s generally easy to do physically, or at least, it’s only 3 patterns to learn on any instrument. Diminished is its own thing, man, but it’s in the dominant family. That’s why a lot of people don’t like calling minor7b5 chords “half diminished.”They’re minor family chords, they don’t normally act as dominant. They’re not “diminished” at all, they’re just dark minor chords. Their function is subdominant, not dominant. That’s a lot of nerding there but I’m stuck on a plane, whattyagonnado.

great video on this topic, slowly connecting a few more dots because of it. well done and thank you!

Has a very 1980s sitcom theme vibe

That was an excellent lesson. Explained beautifully.

A little knowledge here and see 2 5 in title and grab guitar and Dm G C F sounds nice. Then watch the video……But I’m still going to call it a backdoor progression.

You're reaction to the tri-tone insertion was so funny! :)

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Ok.

Hi Michael, you credited Radiohead with using chromatic mediants in popular music. However the only use of chromatic mediants in a MAJOR hit that I know of is by Kate Bush in Wuthering Heights - - and a spectacular use of them at that

At 1:58, that choꝛd pꝛogreſſion is miſſpelled. The Abm7 and Db7 ſpecifically are miſſpelled. Abm doth not exiſt in a C maioꝛ vicinity becauſe it containeth a Cb, where as the flatteſt note that can be held in C maioꝛ noꝛmally is Gb on a chain of fifths. Why thou playeſt this in true intonation, aka Pythagoꝛean tuning, the pꝛogreſſion is off at the part with the Abm7, eſpecially conſidering what commeth after that and the reſolution on a C maioꝛ choꝛd. The right ſpelling foꝛ the Abm7 is actually B6 (B D# F# G#) and the Db7 is actually a German Augmented 6th choꝛd on Db ( Db F Ab B). But I actually do not think it is right to think of augmented 6th choꝛds in this way. It is functionally a choꝛd baſed on the 7th degree of C, It ſeemeth only natural to me that the choꝛd ſhould be ſpelled in thirds and thought of as ſuch. In this caſe the root would then be B (B Db F Ab). The laſt two choꝛds are. Dm7 to B6 to Bo7dim3rd to C. It is a ii VII vii I (2 7 7 1) pꝛogreſſion. And it ſoundeth the beſt tuned and ſpelled this way. Anytime one is in C maioꝛ and an Abm choꝛd commeth vp, vnleſſe a modulation is occurring there, it is very very likely a choꝛd miſſpelling.

Thanks so much for this. I always knew this song had some crazy changes and couldn't replicate the chords for the life of me (Not a great pianist). I needed to see what was happening visually! I'm certainly having a play with it now. Could you please do ABBA's I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do? That song has chords that bounce about just like Uptown Girl.

Fabulous content great delivery, you and Adam, the other talent, inspire music. Many thanks for your generosity.

I watch lots of theory vids on youtube and I find the ones you make are especially useful and easy to understand, and for free makes it a steal thanks mate

Great video, Michael. Thank you. I'll have to watch this one several times and hopefully the penny will drop a little further on each viewing!! I love your channel. Absolutely brilliant.

Guitar player here who also writes for orchestra as a hobby. Thinking in flats is WAY easier, somehow, than thinking in sharps. Despite the fact that many famous guitar songs are in "sharp" keys. (A, E, G, D). But that has to do with the standard tuning of guitars. If I'm writing for guitar, I almost always use the open tuning to play to the the instruments strengths. For anything else, it's almost always flat keys. Bb, F, Ab, Eb. That may be due to many wind and brass instruments tuned to Bb. With all that said, it may just be easier to think in "half step down" than "half step up". Just taking a shot in the dark here :D

6th + 5th voicing (bass:3rd) = drop 2 of root position triad 6th + 6th voicing (bass:5th) = drop 2 of first inversion triad 5th + 6th voicing (bass:root) = drop 2 of second inversion triad Hope this helps people! 🙂

WTF is happening with the algorithms??? This video popped up into my feed after the Ellie song from 1972!!! Crazy.

Your content is a godsend - clear, concise and to the point. Keep it up Michael

Clear and concise, well done!

man THANK YOU. you explained all of this so well

Couldn't help but notice that the E7b9 that we don't see much, is the tritone sub for the V in a backdoor ii-V

Maybe the Bm7 - E7b9 - C resolution should be called a relative 2 5 1 or relative dominant as it resolves to Am7 which is the relative of C major. Or perhaps it makes sense to call these by their modal function, this one being an Aeolian 2 5. Anyway, they all sound cool and I’m gonna put them all to work! Thanks for a brilliant video!

Don’t laugh but this video was recommended me after I watched a video about cheating wives. Serial cheaters……😅

Anyone curious about Michael’s explanation of why one diminished chord is actually four diminished chords, just google “Barry Harris family of four diminished chords.” Harris has a whole musical system for bebop improvisation built up around it that concept.

Thank you for the clear to the point good stuff

great video. to your aside question, i can't think of an example of that "side door" cadence either, though now i'll be on the lookout. my guess about its rarity is that it strongly suggests a move to the relative minor... in C, Bm7-E7 is the ii-V to Am. that relative minor has its own host of associations and complications, and the two common tones from the triads Am and CMaj weaken the surprise element. that said, i don't recall ever thinking about this, so yay.

Id never really paid attention to the harmonic changes. It genius but also simple at the same time. Billy is definitely one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

Great stuff, as always, Michael! 👍

5:33 really got me

My two cents as to why E7 to C isn't as strong as the other resolutions is that E7 to C has weak root movement. Strong root movement is when the bass note moves by seconds, fourths, or fifths. Perfect, backdoor, and tritone sub cafences all have strong root movement while E7 has weak movement. E7/B has a much stronger pull to C in my opinion. As others have noted, E7 to C6 also has a nicer sounding resolution than with a regular C triad since it is effectively a perfect cadence (E7 to Am7/C).

As a guitarist this was one of this was an amazing lesson!

Awesome video! I did not really get why the E7 did not work as well as the orher 3 option. In my mind, it’s because the guide tones of the Cmaj7 chord is already in the E7 chord. Am i right?

You nailed it. So clear and concise. Keep it up sir!

I am a guitar player but I prefer a pianist like you explaining me these concepts. It's really a nice lesson.

Hey 👋 Just found your channel. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. So well explained 👏 Greetings from Germany/Cologne ✌️

I guess resolution is different than establishing the key. It seems like a dominant seven could resolve many ways say Bb could resolve to C or it could resolve to Eb or it could resolve to...

Awesome video!

My guess regarding why the E7 to C isn't as strong of a cadence as the others is because the third of C (which is E) is what gives the chord its color, so its presence in the previous chord makes it more similar to it than the others (less tension prior to the resolution). That's perhaps also why the dominant third (in this case, E7), especially with a #9, can even be used as a substitution for the I chord in, for example, a I vi ii V progression. So, instead of C Am7 Dm7 G7, you get E7#9 Am7 Dm7 G7, which sounds quite cool.

Nice! Btw, why is that named "Backdoor"..? Couldn't find a clear answer for a long time..

Nice, indeed ;)

If someone has insight into why in the key of c, the E7 isn't used more often to resolve to the one, I'd love to see a comment on that and have it pinned cuz I've been curious about that too

Dreamy. So glad I watched this video.

I love your videos! Your explanations are so crystal clear. Small correction, the cadence V-I that you referred to is called an authentic cadence. However, there are perfect authentic cadences, but that’s a qualifier. The type of cadence itself is called authentic.

About the E7-C: you’re right, this one is not being used at all. The other cadences (G7-C, Db7-C and Bb7-C) all have the important line F-E. This is not the case for the E7-C cadens. The E is the major 3rd of the C chord, arguably the most important chord tone. The E7 already contains the E, giving it away too soon. Also, think about III in C major: Em7. Why is this never used as a replacement for V, although it’s third related to it? Because it’s also third related to the tonic. It just sounds too much as a tonic. The same goes for the E7, although in a lesser degree.

Brilliant thanks 🙏

I think last thing works one afew levels. A B7 wants the E maj which A is the 5 of. So the half Bm7b5 has the f you technically resolving from the F# next to just doing the chromatic step down then doing the 37 resolution to the relative minor.

It sounds like you could keep going with different ii V’s at 13:37 but idk the theory behind choosing them

Hi Michael Kiethson ☺️ I am digging the fluff out of this vid son your coming hard in the paint.

Brilliantly explained.