THAT chord progression and the only FOUR alternatives that really work
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2019
- 'How To Write Music' takes you through the whole process from inspiration to final piece. Award-winning composer Guy Michelmore outlines a systematic, straight forward approach to writing music. It gives you a structure and a workflow. So if you are struggling with how to write better tunes, or how to write a chord progression, how to finish a tune, any of these really common problems for anyone writing music, this guide will get you started.
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A brand new mini-series, teaching you the basics of music theory.
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The music teacher that we wanted in high school but didn't get!
Absolutely.
We didn't have music in my high school.. 😢
Oh, man, the memories of music in school just hurts! :(
Both my main schools .. had music teachers that sucked ass.. (hope they are reading this) which is a shame because I'd have loved to learn music back then... But it's never too late!!
Most high-school music teachers took the only job they were possibly qualified to do. Those qualifications did not include personality, enthusiasm or the ability to motivate.
the progressions that don't end on a 4 or 5 chord tend to sound unresolved and are therefore potentially useful for a pre-chorus or bridge or a song that's supposed to sound unresolved 😉
I was thinking the exact same thing. And 6, 5, 4, 1 sounds like the end of a song.
Sam Lee - that’s exactly right..!
After three patterns of four, you switch it up and go to the minor, and that’s a great transition to a different section.
Good point!
@@tristanbach4421 right, the plagal cadence is totally acceptable, even though the perfect authentic cadence gives a stronger sense of resolution and finality. Wouldn't music be boring if we always did things the same way?
On 4 or 5 only in functional harmony. In modal , "cadances" placed not only at 4th or 5th step
Parents, if at all possible, give your children the gift of music. Your kids might find music lessons boring and tiresome at times, but they'll appreciate it when they get older. I wish I had learned this stuff when I was a child. And Mr. Michelmore, thank you for sharing your gift and your knowledge with us. 🙏
Checked out when he thought 6154 didn’t quite work. Off the top of my head “Hello”-Adele.
Lot of personal interpretation here.
I think I can make a one-chord song work with Adele though...
Thomas Avasol yeah i’m not an adele fan really but she could sing on anything and it would be a lmao
@SunTai its also the chord progression of taio cruz's song dynamite.
“This doesn’t work” 1 4 5 6. Tell that to the Trance people who use that progression in EVERY TRACK
They wont listen
yeah dude there are so many of these that apparently aren't "viable", but are used in so many top 40 and EDM tracks.
@@mehcustom24 you right in fact it sounds like EVERY prog house song ever lmao
lol!
:D I picked up that to, "the EDM Progression"
Yea, they all work.
I really dislike the phrase, "not viable".
It's all about context and how you use them.
I often worry that some people--particularly beginners--will take these kinds of video as fact.
but it is fact, at the same time it isnt
Chris Norris - agreed, absolutely. Guidance is good, dogma isn’t.
I am not implying that the composer in the video is being dogmatic, I’m speaking generally.
Agreed and what happens when you pair it with another combination but resolve it before you get back to the start.
This kind of analysis is stifling
Right, because he's auditioning them in root position only and you get a different flavor using inversions to keep your cord times closer together. I imagine many of the others would be very useful if we didn't have the parallel fifth movement dragging them down.
Great ! I'm litterally falling in love with this channel. I wish i could have such a teacher when i was at school. He proves that teaching music theory is not bound to be boring. Thank you very much. I am considering to buy the online course next month. Never too late to learn :)
Just discovered your channel and I quite enjoy it. I’ve been plinking around for years on keyboards without the vocabulary and theory to understand music properly. I find your approach understandable and fun. Keep up the great work!
I've been meaning to get around to exactly this experiment, thanks for doing a great job on it.
New sub!
Love every second of your videos. Utter brilliance, and useful info. Completely.
Love your videos. Thanks for this one!
I can literally watch you do stuff like this all day. Carry on please.
You're delivery is fun, random and ad lib and I love it. Glad I found this channel. Throughout my songwriting career which has spanned approx 38 years, I have more often than not tried to avoid this chord progression, simply because I prefer to write complex pop melodies away from the predictable, but that still work melodically. I really don't pull any influence at all from the 50s or 60s, or twelve bar blues music, which I guess is why my style is a little left of centre. Having said that, my personal listening taste does mean toward easy to listen to pop and ballads from the 70s and 80s. When all is said and done you can write a shitload of variations of melody from the norm f you really spend quality time on your songs. And this is always my aim when writing a new work..
I am so glad I found your channel because as an older musician/composer ,its good to see someone that knows DAW that I can relate to. I see you are using Cubase and I've started using it also. Thanks for the great tips and ideas.
Thank you, good information, helped me to understand chords and how they work better! :)
Thanks for this video , i really love this channel , its help me understand better about music theory
There's nothing quite like ending my day listening to an educated, well spoken and kind individual exploring the fundamentals of music. Thank you sincerely for sharing your perspectives and experience.
Many of the progressions that Don't Work for you actually do work when you combine those with progressions that Do Work for you.
synthartist69 - haha...!
Well there it is: Chords that do and don’t ‘work for you’
That's the biggest part of music that should be taught were trying to find u..... and how u make it work there just concepts u can create so much when u take away the can't a d just play.
His point is about sequences that work in a loop. Lots of them work of they're moving you to somewhere else.
What an awesome lesson and the enthusiasm was inspiring !
Thank you, great vid! Don’t forget the many different contexts in which these progressions can be applied. The different sequences can be used for different types of cadences and also build ups, and then that unresolved feeling can work perfectly.
Some of the ones you didn't like I I thought would work great. Probably depends upon the genre of though too. I could hear them in Future Bass music, which can sound kind of random sometimes. Great video for when I get stuck for a chord progression!
Dudes cool! Thx for the tutorial!
Awesome instruction 😊 ,thank you so much ! 😊👍👍💖
Excellent! Thanks for sharing
nice explanation and thanks for your upbeat personality :)
Watched 7 minutes yesterday and spent some 70+ minutes today engaging in this very clever musical practice / listening exercise!
I'm comfortable with borrowing here and there to get what I want from a line, either musically or lyrically, something I've heard in many songs I admire. Thanks to your videos, I've taught myself to manage a chord progression as it spills over into the next line, borrowing accordingly without breaking into complex time signatures which my little brain can't handle. So the expected four chord chain becomes a five, followed by a three and I have used the next near diatonic chords to subvert the expectation in a familiar sequence. Your video on inversions has helped enormously with that.
It just clicked - you're Guy Michelmore. Great energy in your videos.
I honestly give a Like to every video from this channel already from the intro...I have no doubt the rest will be good
You are a really a fantastic music teacher! Thank you !!!!
Just wonderful on so many levels Guy, thank you! Do you have any videos that show the software side of things? What you use, tutorials, etc?
You my friend..... are a Beast ! Loved this ! :) quite fun !
Thank you. Great stuff.
Hi Guy great stuff love your energy and videos. :)
Thanks for this. I have to mention your wonderful music room. Beautiful with all the glass and greenery outside. Perhaps not practical for recording live instruments with all the reflective surfaces, but, beautiful nonetheless.
All of the sequences you say no to are excellent as transitions or endings, however. Thank you for going thru these!
As a newbie the experimentation exercise just widened my horizon. Thanks.
Very cool - good job!
Very helpful. Thank you.
I love these kinds of analyses. I will sometime chart out my options too. What I also like to do with these common changes is play with the base set by swapping out alternate chords. Like swap a C maj for and Amin or Emin to see if it works in the context of the change. It's turned quite a few not so good changes into something interesting and usable.
6154 was the quintessential sound of top 40 edm a few years back
Watched two videos. You're relatable. Thanks for sharing.
"6514, mehish" lol. You are a terrific and fun teacher! You make learning music theory fun and memorable. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing going off to write a song very inspiring thanks
Actually I look at these progressions in a different way maybe because I'm a studio producer but for me I see progressions for different purposes. Some progressions are perfect for intros, verses, bridges, choruses and outros.
Dude. I stopped the video at 0:23 to see if I knew where this was going. My mind is blown. Thank You!!!
Thanks for all the amazing content. This video was great, but I would like to know what you are doing with your left hand to get such nice sounding full chords and a little ornamentation as well. I play along to all of this with just triads on the right hand and I am trying to learn how to use my left hand. I also noticed you sometimes play the second part of the number sequence lower rather than higher than the 1, makes a big dif. Thanks!
They all work just fine, and it's all about the rythm and tempo.
Yes I found this very useful, to help build my own Dance tracks face, great tips I definitely use this, thanks I find the suits my track, brilliant
awesome thank you, a 9 min video explains yrs of my music theory great job.....
Another great video, Guy. Thank you. "The 50s one": I remember my music teacher describing it as the "ice-cream change", presumably because of teenagers hanging out at ice-cream parlours.
I'm working on a progression now, that I like, but just can't get a melody around....so frustrating. Saw this, and though why not change the order a bit and see how it sounds. Thank you.
1564 is actually a (very slightly) modified version of the oldest sequence in the book, 1514-also in the form 1415. It was used extensively from the very beginning of the Baroque period, and on through the Classical and Romantic styles. It’s also been ubiquitous in Folk music as well as Country music. It basically consists of an oscillation between the tonic (I), the dominant (V), and the subdominant (IV). The 6 is actually a substitute for the 1. You might visualize it as: I V7 I6 IV.
I like this guy. He is fun and talented. I feel like he could discuss music in depth all day.
I appreciate these videos so much.
youre welcome
Great video! A lot of the progressions you’re rejecting actually sound amazing with inversions and modified chords (sus4, 9s)
yes but its interesting to look at it stripped down -no inversions or sus 4s
You're right ! My prefered ones are those ones !
Great video thanks but please dial back the massive 4 second cathedral reverb :)
On headphones anyway its killing me haha
@@banterbanter What reverrrrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb?
Yes, inversion will make them work.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for this.
PS: THAT place is so peaceful.
This was a very good experiment, great ear training.
I do want to say that with some of the progressions that you were calling “random“,
I probably would’ve done different inversions so that the voice leading wasn’t so overbearing...that would probably soften the sounds and make those chords more accessible to your ears.
I’m from Russia and your accent is real pleasure for my ears. No cockney😄
And of course your style of talking and thinking is so attractable. Thank you just for the fact that you are exist😁👍
Thanks very much. This was really inspiring! Is there a comparable progression in minor?
Thank you so much😁
The progression IV - V - I - VI its a good idea when you substitute the I chord with the III and add the minor seven to the V and you have:
IV - V7 - III - VI
Hundred of J-pop music its based on this progression and you, if want, can alterate, substitute or color some chord.
But I think this progression is rare nowdays in the western Pop music.
Another funny progression its:
I - V - V/VI - VI - II/IV - I - IV - IVm
Is another super common in the J-pop style and I think all of this progression its based on the concept of the alternative IV - V - I - VI that you have rejected.
Thanks for all your videos, you are awesome!
Thank you for the interesting post :)
@@JeiShian not at all!
That's interesting! :D
I knew about the IV - V7 - III - VI progression but wondered if it only works in a Major key? Is there some sort of a equivalent progression for something in a Minor Key? because not all J-pop songs are written in Major, right?
And what does V/VI or II/IV mean?
@@YVZSTUDIOS Yeah, its working in the minor key, it is: VI - VII - V - I
If in C major we have: IV - V - III - VI
in the A minor (relative minor of C)
we Have: VI - VII - V - I
But basically share the same chord: F - G - Em - Am
This concept its for all key.
V/VI mean V grade of the VI grade of the key of the song or the key in that portion of the song. Is complicated at the begin, this concept is called: "secondary dominant".
Any chord can be preceded by a dominant, in this case if we are in the C major tonality the V of VI mean: E7
Because E7 is the dominant of Am, the VI grade of C major tonality.
This is for all key and relative minor.
Sorry for my poor english and not very didatic but i'm Italian and this kind of arguments aren't simple to transpose.
Brilliant as always. Don't be afraid to pedal those chords with whatever.
New video from Guy makes me a happy guy
Interesting. Never thought about taking one chord progression and twisting it into it's many variations. thanks for the video.
You're welcome :)
Man I love your videos.
very useful sir thank you
I enjoyed that. thanks
Im new to the piano and the Penny just dropped. Wow. At first I was not sure at all what was going on. Then tested it out and l was right. I'm gobsmacked. Thanks.
The stepwise thing can work if you use inversions and melodically play with the bass a bit. :)
My thoughts exactly.... also could be cool with extensions and subs.
Yeah also I love the I IV V vi progression just not the way he played it
Interesting look into how the 4 chords could be used...thank -you
Thanks for this! I wonder if you'd be interested in making a video that explores substitutions, such as swapping a minor for a major chord, or the double dominant for the dominant, or adding 7ths, or diminished, or augmented chords.
Trouble with alot of music written today it's just in major and minor.
Very good 👍 Sir I have learned something senseable hello from Malaysia
I want to be like u when i grow up. Great video!
Thank you
4:50 6541 - But I like this one! At the end of a phrase maybe? (don't know music terms sorry!) I really appreciate how you went through them all so we could hear them! Love this! ❤️ PS Part of the reason I clicked your video was your choice of font! Lovely! 😊
Some of the alternate progressions might not work well as a repeating loop, but they can be used to create the desire to resolve to a particular chord. These less-than-ideal progressions can be used to powerful effect in a pre-chorus or bridge, to draw extra emphasis to the coming chorus or next bridge.
i'd love this as a series
Watches all these cool progressions in awe... Eyes bulge as host says “I don’t really like that.”
“I’ll take that MIDI if you’re not interested. Every song needs a good bridge.” (Chuckles.)
6514 is the late 2000’s Dr Luke favorite (Dynamite, Perry, Kesha). Funny how some you feel arent OK are David Guetta et al progressions!!!
Great video.
They all sound great.
They all work! Its a matter of preference and their application.
Amusing video. Love it! There were many chord progressions that clearly didn't work for you but sounded great. 6145 and 6415 are used in many electronic dance music songs... well in EDM is filled with progressions that have 6 & 4 dominating chords (like 654 or 456 and throwing in the 1 sometimes). But it gets funnier when looking at Iron Maiden songs :D
6145 is pretty much 'I Got Rhythm'and 1001 other tunes on the same sequence.
Thanks very much
And when you want to introduce a little tension? Delay the resolution?
Of course, the pedant in me wants to point out you can't really have 'four' alternatives...but the rest of me wants to say how much I enjoy your videos!
You have behind you the makings of what would be my perfect man-cave, if I had the space, the wife who wasnt uptight about clutter and the collection would need a DX7 and Juno somewhere, Sadly 6 guitars and a Yamaha keyboard is all I can have in a small apartment.... I just love the sound of that sequence
I have a question about breaking the chords into voicings for strings. I know it's common to have the bass and cello play the bass notes in octaves. Is this referring to the ROOT notes or the BASS notes? For example (and why I'm asking), if you're using inversions for smooth chord transitions would you have the cello and bass playing the lowest notes in the chord (say E in a first inversion C chord) or the root note (i.e. playing C even if it's an inverted C chord). I hope this question makes sense. Thanks!
Well, you never get to the "why"... So, here's a couple of thoughts on that.
1. Those four chords give you all the notes in the scale, so there's no ambiguity about the key (you don't need the vi chord for this)
2. You get more major chords than minor (3 to 1), so there's no doubt about the sonority. Contrast ii-iii-viiº-vi.
3. You have a I! ...and a resolution back to I. And you don't feel the resolution is too strong, because it's plagal rather than authentic. Leave out the I and you don't have this problem (vi-viiº-V-IV, for example)
4. The vi chord functions like a deceptive cadence, saving you from I V I, which might feel too cadential to keep repeating.
So why is it that you accept vi-IV-I-V but not IV-I-V-vi or V-vi-IV-I (well, you changed your mind about that one)? I think it might be because you're thinking in four-measure phrases in 4/4 time. Why does that matter? Because the relative strength of the beats of the 4/4 measure is paralleled by the stronger and weaker bars in the four-bar phrase. This helps to reduce the impact of the V and IV chords in the cycles you prefer, while increasing their impact in the cycles you don't favour. That doesn't explain vi-I-V-IV, but that was "yes and no".
I'm not too keen on I-V-IV-vi (retrograde) but it's quite nice as I-viiº-IV-vi... (retrograde with substitute dominant function).
When I saw the title of the video on my homepage, I knew it. "Oh yeah... THAT one." I clicked, and I was correct.
Love your videos! I agree with your findings, but sometimes an interesting melody can be teased out of those "ho-hum" chord progressions. Or a small change to Emin in lieu of Amin can evoke a very pleasing sequence.
I thought so too. Actually more than half of them kinda worked for me.
Awesome!!! :)
Interesting video..I always wanted to someone to through this chord progression..Does the minor scale and modes have any such cliché chord progression???
Yes - czcams.com/video/j-j4g0ktPGw/video.html
I'm intregued by the Pianoteq you're using. Never heard of this before and I'd by interested on you opinion of it, do you have a review? Do you use it in the DAW or just stand alone?
4, 5, 6, 1 is used well in the song "berth". I really dig that song
The reason these chords are so popular is historical songwriters are afraid to step out of the winning sequence, which I get. Hit Songs on radio why break the formula? But you have bands like prefab sprout who write great tunes for the sake of making great music that breaks moulds. Great video. Love your work.
all my progressions always start on 1 or 6 and this makes me feel better about it
4 works too. or even 2. See it as a sub. 2 can sub 4 in a progression and 6 can sub 1. You should try it xD