How To Sound Like A Music Genius (In About 14 Minutes)

Howdy! Today I want to just talk about some music theory stuff because this is my channel and I do what I want. Also I think it's important.
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[@VenusTheory]

Left a few other tricks out of this video, but perhaps for another time. If you have some other reharmonization cheats, feel free to share...or don't. New FREE Cello Library ► bit.ly/vtstrands Become a Patron ► venustheory.com/patrons

[@lpearson88gmail]

Best way I’ve recently found to handle this stuff is working with Scaler 2 and manipulating the notes in the midi clip. With a reasonable ear, it’s super easy to choose interesting and abstract chord progressions. It’s not necessary to know why they work, just that they work for you. Previewing all the chords with a button click makes it easy to just use your ears and hear the emotion. Also worth stating, if you just pick a Key, and put a quantizer on, and noodle for a bit, you can come up with super dynamic progressions. Thanks for the video! Great work as always!

[@ramonmff5158]

I think I got one, a cheeky one... Use. Your. Ears. Seriously. By just messing around with the piano roll in a DAW you can achieve a lot of awesome chord progressions. I mean, music theory is very valuable, but you don't always need to know the rules to be able to break them successfully. That's why the human race grew ears 😄

[@Auditium]

@@ramonmff5158 Yeah. He could easlly go at last minutes of video in major-minor-minor-major and that would change whole feel of the riff/chord progression. But that what differents great music from any music - feel. Feel is all about emotion and music without it is just a noise or plain harmony without a context.

[@ryotaloremusic]

​@@ramonmff5158I believed that once, when I was a sweet summer child. I can definitely say that the little I've learnt has leveled up my craft. For instance, it's easier to figure out modes, and use them on purpose rather than by accident. Using your ears is important, but they can only go so far (especially if one's ears are untrained).

[@MechaNobi149]

Teaching peoples ear's is probably a better way to go about the entire thing. Theory is great for tone def people or analysts that dissect other peoples work or catalogue. Story telling using noise. That is pretty much what disciples of music do. The choice resides with the story teller. Any chord/sound progression can impress a feeling. It can be totally random. A progression icky sounding or otherwise is totally irrelevant if we are talking about feelings and story's in music totally subjective. Which I think throws off newer people to theory. Theory does not write itself if just provides a reference for options. Take it or leave it at ones own discretion. I beat my brains with to much in theory in the past thinking it was the answer to everything. I was dead and horribly wrong and certainly wasted far to much time in "logic mode" and not "creativity mode". Theory is a tool, a reference set. If I find something interesting on my guitar ( Chord wise ) I will dissect it with theory to see what some options are using theory and pulling out a circle. I do think that is how theory is supposed to be used. IT'S JUST A THEORY! A MUSIC THEORY! ( Exit conspiracy theory voice )

[@travismonk2804]

I just reharmonized a chord progression for my wife, and she cried and shook my hand.

[@marcussmithereens-smithert5409]

I enjoyed this comment.

[@GyldariaTanoGen]

wonderful comment. thank you travis!!

[@i_like_bananas1034]

Then I woke up

[@jjhaya]

wonder how her boyfriend would react . But seriously though; I'm here to learn; I just downloaded FL Studio after a week of watching Beat making content .

[@blvdes]

man in woods makes you feel talented

[@saadasif123]

Mustached* man in woods

[@neoconnor4395]

-Mustached man in woods- Ned Flanders*

[@saadasif123]

@@neoconnor4395 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@RYTMIKEISARI]

I did little bit of music theory like 20 years ago, but soon I realized that you can just place notes wherever you want and it either sounds good or not, and whether it actually sounds good (or bad) is little bit of a subjective matter.

[@Merczid]

A more fitting view of looking at music theory is that it makes it easier to describe what you do/did/want to do, instead of treating it like "rules" 💪

[@Arkansya]

​@@Merczidyes it's a descriptive language. music theory is quite a bad name for it, musical analysis suits better imo.

[@NeuroPete]

Like grammar, music theory is descriptive, not prescriptive.

[@daz4627]

How does the saying go? ... if you play a bum note but only play it once, it's a mistake but if you keep playing the same bum notes, it's jazz 🙂

[@RonaldFigura]

Music theory is "descriptive", not "prescriptive".

[@AndreasR86]

I started with music on bass. I learned quickly that I control what chord is being played. Reharmonization can be amazing and powerful. Remember to tell your guitarist though.

[@interstellarcastaway]

As a (primarily) guitarist who desperately wants to be a killer bassist, I love this so very much.

[@ryanflynn5805]

Yeah man, everyone's playing a C major until you play and A on your bass and everyone's playing an Am7. fun stuff.

[@louisaruth]

@@ryanflynn5805 super fun. i'm just a dumb uke girl, but at least i know that's why i got 4 strings

[@gejugfeguug5623]

im a guitarist and i don't need to be told that. My ears already have that covered.

[@DanLaDue]

Any advice on writing bass parts when working with sample loops? Always tricky for me when I don’t necessarily know the chord progression

[@velvetsound]

Thanks Cameron. Chromatic mediants as a quarter turn + 1 on the circle of 5ths was something I never learned in theory class, but it makes complete sense. That will be forever stored away in my useless theory bank, to be brought up at band rehearsals with the prefix: “Well, actually….”

[@danieklerr]

You are seriously expressing your disregard for KZbin's standards, haha. Great video so far; I've just noticed a slight change in your metaphorical language lately. ❤

[@feralfarmgirl]

So would you say, his language has been reharmoninized? 😅

[@religionoffreedom]

@@feralfarmgirlhaha nice one

[@GadiantonsRobber]

It is a bit of a bummer because I can’t watch these with my kids around anymore

[@evanbarnes9984]

​@@GadiantonsRobberI mean, how old are your kids? If they're like 5th grade or older, I guarantee they're hearing and saying much raunchier things with friends when you're not there. I used to teach middle school and high school. You would not believe some of the crazy shit I heard kids say sometimes. I had one kid tell me to (exact quote) "get off my dick" when I wouldn't let him skate by without actually trying to do math in math class. I mean look, we all have different takes on this, but personally I think some spicy language is far more appropriate for kids than the kinds of glorified violence we expose them to in media all the time. The conversation I always had with my students was about how swearing is conversational spice. You add a pinch of cinnamon or cayenne to make a dish more vibrant; a well placed "fuck" does the same for language! You just don't eat a spoonful of cinnamon. As the adult, just like you teach your kids to cook and use spice judiciously, you can do the same with swearing. Plus there are cool effects like the fact that swearing diminishes your experience of acute pain. Literally every kid I explained it to that way would swear less afterward. It helps define the power and purpose of swearing while removing some of the transgressive appeal that makes it so enticing for kids. I would also say don't worry too much about a cool video on music theory including the word "balls" occasionally, and instead keep your kids shielded from Roblox streamers and the like, which crazily can be a right wing radicalization pipeline. Anyway! Sorry for the rant. It's something I'm weirdly passionate about. KZbin has become a really weird kind of censorious, where saying fuck gets you demonetized, but it's totally fine for Ben Shapiro to put up videos saying trans people are demons in disguise, or whatever that precious little snowflake is crying about now.

[@ivers1001]

@@GadiantonsRobber This channel has been pretty pg-13+ for a while now

[@craiggybear1807]

This is the International Space Station - Can you please lower the luminance of your keyboard LED's? It's affecting our ability to take snaps of the Earth. Thanks. :D

[@PatrickBreenMusic]

I was not prepared for “butthole pucker” 😂😂

[@glovebunniesvideos4278]

Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" has always intrigued me with it's harmonic transitions; the main melody is so simple but all those changes underneath really convey the emotion. Great video!

[@dnbsoldier7259]

As a guy who works in the ER I can tell you that there are definitely dudes out there whom would enjoy that pineapple colonoscopy scenario

[@VenusTheory]

I can't even imagine the things you've seen haha.

[@SteamvilleQuintet]

Venus knows his stuff without being snobby pretentious. Good film, love!

[@murphydupler4282]

In a world where I no longer belong, I admire your spicy humor. So many genres of music have already been stretched like art beyond recognition as music (e.g. Experimental music of mid 1900's). During your "I need a break from music" periods, consider comedy (or writing?). I admire your teaching w humor methodology.

[@-303-]

If'n ya want jazzy, try a danged tritone substitution! A "tritone" means the note three whole tones away, and luckily, it doesn't matter if you go up or down. For example, a tritone away from G is C#/Db (up: G A B C#; down: G F Eb Db). Put into practice, take the the venerable 4-5-1 progression in the People's Key, C. That's F major -> G major -> C major, Instead of plain vanilla F, G, C, do this: Dm, Db, C. You're subbing the Dm for the F (a diatonic sub), and Db for the G (this is the tritone sub). To make it even jazzier, add a note to each chord: Dm7, Db7, Cmaj7. That's just adding the 7th of the chord. Stuff gets even jazzier if you add the 9th: Dm9, Db9, Cmaj9. How about making a tritone substitution on the Dm7 instead? I bet you've heard this before: Ab7, G7, Cmaj7. Sometimes you don't even have to change the harmony, you just change the bass note to a tritone away. Have fun with these!

[@NeuroPete]

Yes! Thanks so much.

[@Trickey2413]

Great writeup.

[@PFSTR]

You're not the boss of me, guy! *puts pineapple in sideways

[@michaldivismusic]

Hey man, I love the content, the format, and your delivery!

[@SlyxDemon]

Thank you for the video. Some more stuff clicked together and I have a bit more understanding. It will be a lot of fun to get back in my studio and play with it a bit. Appreciate all you do, and doing it hilariously.

[@scottcollins4456]

This is one of the best videos I’ve seen about this topic. Thanks for putting this out there.

[@wolfboy_777]

You just reminded me how much I love your videos, Venus. Thank you sincerely for everything. Videos like these always get the old think noodle going in a different way for me!

[@rescored7320]

3:04 "hey, vsauce, Michael here.."

[@pudoo6661]

you almost reached 300k sub :0 i remember you had only 50k and i always used to wish you to deserves million of sub :)

[@indigoskywalker]

such brilliant delivery as always

[@cjhlsdfj]

Perfect timing! I was just looking for a good explainer on reharmonization last week.

[@chinidadian]

Those darn pineapples!! Great video!! Been loving the outdoor setting for the 'talking to the camera' sections.

[@PeterToml1nson]

Great video! Every time I see your channel there’s a ton more subscribers. Congrats dude

[@ckatheman]

E flat is also the parallel minor (note wise) to C. A lot of songs from the 70s and 80s would pivot between major and parallel minor, for different feeling verses and choruses. Hall and Oates did it a lot for example.

[@DEADLINETV]

Awesome video! Very interesting on the theory side and wonderfully edited! Quality! And the humor is on point. Pineapple point.

[@elijahreasoner4927]

I love polyphia fans slander

[@selfsaboteursounds5273]

5:28 my brain is so rotted by musictube that I thought you were gonna bust out radiohead as a meme for a second there and tbh you almost did

[@noahsherman8295]

everything was just in its right place

[@monobloom]

mf woke up sucking on a lemon

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

Another great video! Thanks for the music tutelage and your wonderful sense of humor.

[@CryogenTheMusicMan]

Brilliant as always!

[@henryaudubon]

A good watch! One of your best videos.

[@Wakingupdaily]

Hey man, this video really put a lot of pieces of theory together in my head that I've been learning with my teacher. Sometimes it helps us to hear it from somebody else from a different different perspective. Thank you man.

[@erekhronmusic]

How this video single handedly helped me fully understand cirle of fifths for the first time. It just clicked after the 4th point, and i am producing for 20 years now :D Props to you VT!

[@synth-eticfantasies5683]

Amazing video! You are great at teaching complex themes in a simple way! Advanced harmony is still too hard for me but this was more than helpful!!!

[@alexgrunde6682]

One of my favorite reharmonization tricks is using a borrowed/substitute chord in place of the dominant that still has leading tones back to the root. In fact, the E and A flat in your quarter turn plus one examples both do this: for the former, E stays put, G# drops a half step to G, B go up a half step to C (can make it an E6 for another note resolving to the C). The latter, well I’ll be damned that’s the same notes as in an E major 7th chord (edit: except for the C) sans the root so same resolutions but the E flat goes up a half step to E (could make it an A flat 7 for another note resolving to G).

[@LeVi-mq1ok]

Love your videos man. They’re very aesthetically pleasing. Also for someone who wants to learn more theory, you’re really helpful. Thank you keep up the great unique, informative, inspiring, helpful content. Seriously thanks for all your contributions back to the starving artist community

[@thefloatguru2841]

Hey man! Thank you for this video. This helped me more than any other video on music theory so far in my musical journey.

[@sickcallranger2590]

Also that first jam is giving me serious Kid A vibes. Absolutely lovely stuff. This is how I always wrote music subconsciously, lingering on a few core notes and harmonizing them with others to build a progression. Probably because I was always a bass player first and foremost. It is a bit limiting if you’re like me and don’t push past it, but it works for those haunting alternative soundscapes.

[@kumquat125]

This video was super inspiring and I can already tell this information is going to be astronomically beneficial. Thank you!

[@ottermods3212]

Great content, thanks for the reminders of some basic harmonic theory I've forgotten over the many years.

[@VIRALBEATS360]

Thanks, man! I really appreciate the timing of this 🤠👍

[@You-ud2fp]

The progression at 5:26 is pure vibes omg

[@beatsandstuff]

Radiohead - Everything is in the right place ;)

[@TraxtasyMedia]

Reminded me a bit of Hans Zimmer - Interstellar

[@beatsandstuff]

btw, if you have sylenth1, there's a preset for this in splice.

[@erikjohnson2976]

Great, simple overview of Circle of Fifths! Makes much more sense in your demonstration than most of the purely pedantic reviews of the concept. Very practical and thought provoking!

[@DDiltzProductions]

Your sense of humor made me instantly follow 😂 Great content and info 🙌🏼

[@ceekei_]

Oh boy this makes me wanna play with some new ideas. Thank you Cameron!

[@whitex4652]

"re-" means back to anything, backwards. Comes from Latin. "re-arrange", "re-treat", "re-vive", "re-harmonize" = harmonize again, go back and harmonize in a different way. [/wiseass modus off]

[@TrueMeHow]

so rewind, rethink and rewrite

[@marvinbell7007]

U have the voice for this and voice-over work. Cool stuff!

[@hhhAmbientElectronic]

This exercise tugs on my thinkie-meat eight ways from Sunday! "Much obliged, sheriff" (a line from the film, Rango). Some of these tricks I already use, but I'm inspired to try some other methods now. Thanks!

[@ForkySeven]

This isn't even music theory for normies, this is just straight up music theory.

[@Turtlpwr]

0:29 the start of this video is one of the many reasons why i love you as a person.

[@calenaur]

I watched a lot of videos about music theory but this is by far the best compromise between entertainment and education. Thank you for your videos!

[@interstellarcastaway]

Beautiful work Mr. Veeny. I bashed my head against the wall for so long with music theory, trying to "memorize all of the rules". Turns out I get a lot more mileage out of memorizing a few fundamentals and then riffing from there. Given that this video is serving as confirmation bias fuel, I like.

[@BenjaminFranceMusic]

I’m going to have to rewatch this several times to really get a handle on it. Thanks Cameron, you always come through with helpful stuff! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@Jonezky313]

Great content with great execution! Thank you 🙏

[@Cenotaff]

I will watch the whole video later when I have time. Hopefully I grasp anything said as I usually just load your free banks on decent sampler (thank you very much) and use the white keys and feel like a boss. It's nice to feel like a musician even if I'm just cheating on the keys using beautiful presets.

[@DjTahoun]

Thank you so much, that was insightful on so many levels, i love the way you explain things and make it simple to be understood i can't play the piano, i understand the concepts and try to implement them into my Daw's piano roll

[@mitsostim07]

I have taken classical theory and harmony lessons.. And I have never been taught the circle of fifths. I had seen the image of it in multiple YT videos but always thought it is musical jibber jabber that I don't need to know. Until some weeks ago I was jamming with a friend of mine and he played the circle of fifths. I was like waaaait a minute, how can you play those smooth chords so fast and they all work together? And then he told me the secret... He then played to me the chords, while I was viewing the circle of fifths on my PC. I was blown away that the circle has a...sound!

[@BluessNRock]

Man I LIKED THIS VIDEO A LOT 😊😊 thanks for sharing this knowledge, I would pay for a in Depth video of you explaining the 5ths circle 🎉

[@JeanWJoseph]

Great video. Thanks for the tips!

[@G.A.Gauthier]

Really love the way you popularize these theories for us peasant folks ! Have a great day man

[@TheSonicAlchemist]

Love the content man, I love your unorthodox approach to different actualities and brain - scratchers that creatives face and the various ideas you discuss. This one definitely had me trying to play Clair de Lune in C Major of the top of my head. Thanks for sharing your passion with music and always making my day better.

[@jonathanwingmusic]

I originally learned reharmonization from a church pianist, taking both church hymns and popular/folk/traditional music (most of which use basic triads) and then taking the melody to swap out with different chords and added 7ths. It was both practical and unpretentious, and it drastically transformed my musicianship to understand how truly simple, musical, educational, and fun it is to take basic songs and spice them up a bit.

[@ninjabiscuit]

This is an amazing video. Great production and great information.

[@sonnyhancock]

Great video. I really love the info as well as the circle of 5th graphic rotating around you,

[@Cpmnk]

Im a metal guy, like really heavy stuff. But your videos on music creation and such are always my go to. Never doubt your sh*t man. You've helped me a lot in the past years

[@thekingsmatter5845]

Thanks Venus Theory. This is probably the most valuable lesson in music composition I have yet encountered.

[@stephenbarrette610]

Another wonderful video - thank you. - I just love your content and I’ve learnt so much at my advanced age. ‘Always put the pineapple pointy side down,’ quote of the week!

[@VINZVANGO]

HOLY SNAP, FINALLY A VIDEO WITH A WIDER FIELD OF VIEW!! What aspect ratio is this?? I love this cinematic/educational take on music theory!! Wow, I feel very inspired :D

[@Akosmo]

Hell yea music theory! Wondeful video, love your content c:

[@Steampark]

Mr mustachio débonnaire ! You are an essential part of what makes KZbin still interesting, I know it's hard to swim in that sticky ocean of dead jokes and sad memes but please, keep on keeping on! 🙏

[@delineater]

Great explanation of these ideas! Thanks

[@buxycat]

There is so much I need to learn. I think I've found my mentor, thank you.

[@seth_andal]

Great video. Appreciate your immense amounts effort put to your videos.

[@BobMcGowan-NotTheChairCircle]

Hello again. Thanks for this. The Music Theory videos are always really interesting and useful. it is good to know that these progressions are 'real' with names and everything. I especially like what I call the 'talking hands'. These are also really useful and entertaining. Regards, Bob McGowan.

[@tripledoubletroubful]

Gosh I can’t wait to do this to some Christmas music. Everybody will love those chipper ditties drenched in existential dread

[@arrmundo]

Thank you for the amazing content!

[@GoogleAccount-kw1mz]

Easy way for me to learn (and what I wish someone showed me) was: the black keys are aligned how every pentatonic scale is aligned. (2 black keys - 3 black keys - 2 black keys - 3 black keys). With either one interval between or 2. Now just follow that pattern for any key that you’re trying to play in.

[@corrosive135]

The irony of getting a Berkeley ad at the end of this video. 😂 Love this channel. Thanks

[@noisebrick9248]

Fantastic video, this was not new for me but i did like the simplification of the idea, really this made wanna go on the piano and fuck around, and that's what it's all about

[@GianlucaTruda]

fantastic video!

[@AngryPhotoGuy]

This video was fantastic. You did a great job of explaining this concept clearly. Thank you. I wanted to let you know that the panel lights are too intense for me to pleasantly watch. I don't know if it's a shutterspeed issue or what, but it's too much for me to look at for longer than a couple of seconds.

[@dammitdancanjam9536]

Thank you man very informative

[@cheemsdog1524]

WE LOVE THIS CONTENT MR. THEORY ❤❤❤❤

[@CINEMARTYR]

I just learned stuff! Thanks!

[@mrclaytron]

We like to call this Venus Theory Theory! By the way, your music theory teacher sounds like an absolute sweetheart 😂

[@dsanj4745]

About 4 seconds into the chord progression at the beginning I was humming 'How Dry I Am'. Powerful stuff, this music thing!

[@dirtysolarremix]

So talented😎ps loving the 70's filter

[@zemonic3734]

Most music stuff feels like I'm learning OR I'm vibing. Venus theory, your stuff is a lesson AND a vibe.

[@mikebrigs1218]

love YOUR VIDEOS!!! LOVE your sarcasm. Peace!!!

[@ecou1915]

Thank you for the video, this is exactly I was looking for. But I did not know what to search for.

[@towmotornoises]

I love the Venus Theory anti-hero arc

[@rlyehlabs4677]

I have never studied music theory and that way is how i learn to make my melodies, blending all the notes until they sound good enough for me, the hard way but the most empiric

[@syroyid]

Your video quality is art itself. How do you get these colors? Incredible

[@lilpin9349]

great video as alwayssss but one question . where do you get that effect for your font like at 3:24 ?

[@djlick2]

Or you could make Techno, and only play a single note the whole time.

[@lpearson88gmail]

And some how that note is out of tune 😅

[@Positive_Tea]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmm7nahtmdt_gsU

[@IntrigueJunkie]

Apart from in the breakdown

[@AlkisT]

And leave the pitch intentionally unquantised!

[@fireraid]

Lol, if I only made techno, this would be so simple, but my heart found Trance!

[@appuser]

What a tantalizing taste. Please expand on this more!

[@botorg]

gyatt dayum dude your voice is buttery smooth i want you to narrate my life like a movie trailer

[@benjaminlehmann]

Super helpful. Thanks man :D

[@Tonepusher]

the intro 😂😂😂 just perfect