Hey everyone. I'm still very confused on dominants, diminished, and so many different variants of chords in terms of theory. I want to know the Roman numerals and how the chords relate to each other and why a certain chord sounds good next to another. I see chords being played and it sounds good and all but I'm frustrated I don't know what's going on. Can anyone help or tomo can you make a video on jazz or neo soul numerals and the chord shapes in terms of where to place them for good progressions. I want to CREATE chord progressions not copy everyone else's. That's my dream
Peter Kertesz
I hear you my friend it's a long road for me as well sounds like you need to start with basic music theory if I were you I would start with the circle of 5ths there is a ton of information there I would start there as well as the major scale and ofcourse as Tomo always says TRIADS ,!! hope this gets you started that is where I started
Theory 12 is perhaps the most important lesson to watch. Though I recommend watching them all.
Don’t worry so much about the voicings. The main idea is to take the notes in a major scale (any scale, but let’s use C maj). Rather than calling them C D E F etc, number them. C is 1, D is 2 E is 3 and so on. Now build a triad on each note by using every other note in the scale. You will notice that the triads built on C, F and G (1, 4 and 5) are major. The triads on D, E and A (2, 3 and 6 are minor). The triad on B (7) is diminished. This is where we switch from arabic numbers to roman numerals. Capitals mean major, lower case means minor. And we get:
I ii iii IV V vi vii(dim).
The advantage of roman numerals is that it shows the relationship between chords in a given key. What does that mean? Consider A minor. If we limit ourselves to just major scales there are actually three different A minors. First there is the A minor in this progression: F Am Bb C F. In this case the A minor is a iii in the key of F. Then there is A minor in this progression: G Am D G. A minor is now the ii chord in G major. Finally there is this A minor: C Am Dm G C. Now A minor is the vi chord in C major.
They are all A minor, and you can even use the same voicing, but their function (how they relate to the key and the rest of the progression) is different. Play the progressions to hear the difference. Remember, if you can’t hear it, nothing else really matters.
If you already have this down I apologize. But if not, start trying to think in terms of roman numerals all the time. Saying A minor doesn’t tell you anything about function. But describing it as a ii, a iii or a vi says a lot.
Once you have the triads for major keys under control, you can do the same thing for minor keys. Then start adding the 7ths, 9ths etc.
And be patient. At best this will take months to really nail down.
Here is Tomo's comment:
"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. Please study the Theory videos, and Neo Soul will seem much more simple. I am working on Jazz Standards/Song Analysis lessons for Guitar Wisdom. These new lessons will help you to understand Neo Soul, because many Neo Soul songs are based on jazz standards."