Reharmonization Tips (Jazz Harmony)

[@Sam-bp9yt]

i think you r just a genius thnx for sharing this precious treasure

[@HarmoniqMusiq]

Ruslan, you're awesome in reharmonization. Can you please make more videos on different reharm techniqes and chord substitutions in jazzy gospel style? God bless.

[@Highwater2008]

I just don't understand why anyone would dislike this... Thanks Ruslan!

[@ruslanpiano]

To be honest, I don't understand either. But people dislike orphan adoption videos too, so.. well.. :) hehehe.. thank you for your support.

[@shabzstarchintu1211]

I am a bass player and this teaching has really opened my eyes. I don't have the knowledge like most keyboard players about reharmonisations this video has really really really helped me. Wow man you are so clear so amazing. Thanks man! Wow!

[@ruslanpiano]

happy to hear this :) thank you for checking out the video!

[@tolbertpitman]

Bass player here too, with some piano background, anyway just loved this! Explains a lot and looking forward to more. Thanks!

[@kwixotic]

You're very correct in emphasizing how sparingly these techniques are to be employed else you'd find yourself being banned by so many club venues if the owners find you indulging in them while there's a not-so-appreciative audience then leaving in droves!

[@larealezadetierracaliente2165]

Who would have thought all of these was possible, thanks Ruslan and thanks KZbin. Man! Amazing treasures here.

[@miplandeestudio4570]

Ruslan , I am amazed at your generosity for sharing such an amazing content. Well , I have seen some very good channels but yours stands out far beyond rest. You get your meaning across in a clear, consice and meaninful way. Really awesome!!! Thank you very much again. Suscribed at once!!!

[@jackparker9259]

Amazing. This is what I have been looking for......revelation of the underlying principles of magical jazz harmonic sound. Thank you.

[@ernestparker4040]

I’ve watched a multitude of rearm videos and I appreciate the simplicity with which you teach and break down these techniques! Good stuff! Thanks

[@franksjazz]

Your logics impress me. I will use your method and try coming up with something from my ideas! Thank you kindly

[@maximeenlotboug]

yessssss ver nice harmonies ,i like this good version

[@Fuego.017]

Ruslan: use these with caution! Robert Glasper: We don't do that here

[@ruslanpiano]

VarunFuego Damn straight :-) Spices aren’t food. Spices are ADDED TO food.

[@elnur.hicaz80]

Ruslan thank you very much for beautiful chords !

[@Sprout.sk1901]

Oh God , sounds great guy

[@ThePlemon]

Not a piano player but I do appreciate every bit of your process and thinking on this subject. Just great videos so thanks :-)

[@jazzman1945ify]

Thanks, Ruslan!

[@anandgodane8022]

Thank you so much sir ❤️

[@nilangaga]

Thank you very much sir 🙏

[@oscarlaredo5035]

Awesome!

[@alamolalamol9426]

This is just so good and what I needed. I really appreciate this - thank you 🙌🏾.

[@teddobieski2336]

I love your harmonization videos. They are well done and your explanations make a lot of sense. Although you indicate that these types of techniques should not be incorporated into your every day compositions, I think they sound beautiful. I recently heard a harmonization of Over The Rainbow by a high school vocal group at the Berklee HS Jazz Festival and was blown away. I wish you would publish the chords to your video so we all could some further listening and experimenting .

[@ruslanpiano]

Ted Dobieski thank you. I think these reharms should absolutely be used in your everyday compositions, but in the same way that spices are used in food. You don’t want to eat a whole plate of pepper or cinnamon :) Regarding the chords - I have no problem releasing them. I just figured that with this exact demonstration and explanation, and you guys literally seeing every single key I press, folks would be able to pick out what they needed.

[@teddobieski2336]

@@ruslanpiano I wish I was that good. Since I play sax, chord visualization is a little more difficult for me. I do have a keyboard which I play to see the chords I'm going to improvise over. I've also been writing out the chords, scales, arpeggios, etc. To give me a flow through the chart Thanks for your videos. They are very good and informative. I'm working on a reharmonization of Happy Birthday just for fun. Besides, I like a lot of spice.😁

[@livegun5572]

as soon as ive watched the 1st minute "hint" of ur video, im on the piano playing already another tune. wow, great and helpful tip. thank u so much. keep on posting and we ' ll keep on supporting.

[@ruslanpiano]

+livegun seazar that’s awesome to hear!!

[@Anorexiaification]

So incredilby musical for reharmonization excercise!

[@gerardkirkpatricksanchez2121]

What’s the trick sir in knowing the Chord “Connection” between Root and Melody? Coz you’re so fast in thinking and making chords out of it. Im so curios. Thank you for this wonderful tutorial. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 God bless you

[@BruïnGebakken]

You're just an amazing musical creator! You're playing sounds that I've only heard in my mind. Thanks for sharing your gifts.

[@CharlesK441]

I don't play piano..... but so trying this on guitar! AWESOME!

[@Sharmasurajlive]

Thanks a ton Sir. It's a gem of a lesson !!

[@ArgoBeats]

An other Gem from you, Ruslan, thanks man!

[@cvader7]

I enjoyed the twinkle twinkle very much...good stuff

[@balladkeys20]

Great job man! Always enlightening to watch your videos

[@kwalegbanago6553]

You are interesting ! Welcome to you man !

[@tolbertpitman]

Can you do a video on what might help out bass players, for example in your reharmonization tips for replacing the root 5s. Get out of the “safe zone” and make it interesting. Thanks again and looking forward to more.

[@ruslanpiano]

Tolbert Pitman yes. I already have made that video. It’s the most recent video I posted. And I’ll make more.

[@tolbertpitman]

Ruslan Sirota Thanks so much! I saw, I learned and actually doing some of that already. I’m really digging your videos.

[@kjobejs]

Good job! Very interesting

[@eboyeman8457]

Are you just playing dominant 7th? How do I know which chord to make a major or dominant 7th

[@roanmccormick2297]

Great lesson :)

[@edwardvivenzio5843]

So killin’,thanks Ruslan!

[@DojoOfCool]

Excellent lesson and great tool for reharm or practicing thinking about bass movement and chord voicings.

[@thtr9647]

Hi Ruslan, I have been trying to find this material for so long!! what is the relationship between selecting a bass note for reharm vs current chord, does it follow the chord tone? and what is the relationship between the reharmonined notes (using chord voicings) vs current base chord? I asked this because I have always think about song structure as chord progression and i am trying to see how can I select reharm notes to follow chord rules (maybe?).Thanks!

[@masterllama321]

thank you ruslan

[@MacMic333]

Wow, I just found you by accident.You are a great musician and teacher and your cred is so high! I am a drummer but I love jazz and harmonization is where it’s at for me.I compose by ear but I haven’t a clue what I’m playing but it seems what I do is exactly what you teach here.My next move? Guess I need to go away and learn piano properly now? Thankyou.

[@ruslanpiano]

MacMic333 sounds like that might be in the cards for you, in deed :) thank you for your kind words!

[@jazzcat1625]

Thumbs up, Ruslan! Great stuff, thanks for sharing

[@ruslanpiano]

jazzcat1625 thank you my friend!

[@user-gi3ro9rm9k]

I think you could also not only but the root in the bass, but other chord tones as well. For example, in the first Bb, bass note, you could play a C7/Bb and resolve it down to an F/A

[@ruslanpiano]

Q absolutely

[@jeremylarez]

My left hand is crying for the tenths :), excellent material brother complementing the previous video. I was leaving when I see the new post, and I´m here practicing on the piano, that's not done on a Sunday brother jajajaja....God bless you

[@ruslanpiano]

JEREMY LAREZ 😅👍🏼

[@neya2222]

Sublime... Thx

[@SYWPiano]

Hi Ruslan, if I don't want to just do min7th or maj 7th chords, is there some common chord progressions I can use? Say a walking descending bass or a 2-5-1 progression? Please let me know and your videos are awesome!

[@ruslanpiano]

SYW Piano absolutely. You can do whatever bass you want and then adjust the chords accordingly. I have a video about that too

[@DreamzAnimation]

Great video

[@michanestorowicz6577]

Great content! And easily explained. Would you mind sharing your setup? I see a casio piano, but the sounds don't sound like casio :) (all the layers etc.)

[@ruslanpiano]

Michał Nestorowicz thank you! The Casio serves as a midi controller, I run it directly into my laptop, where it controls piano/pad in “Ableton live” (which is what you HEAR), AND controls “Chordie”, the keyboard/staff application (which is what you SEE on the screen). Then I do ‘screen capture’ on my laptop, to capture what “chordie” looks like and set ‘ableton live’ on record to record the piano sound. While all that is going on, my iPhone is filming me from the front. At the end I have: 1. iPhone footage, 2. Audio file of my voice+piano from ableton 3. Video file of the screen capture (the footage of “chordie”) I later bring it all together into Final Cut Pro, and quickly re-size the iPhone footage to fit neatly inside the “Chordie” visual field. The only issue I’m experiencing is that the “ableton live” audio, “chordie” video and iPhone video don’t go fully in sync when I bring them all together in ‘final cut pro’. I sync the beginning of the files and slowly over the course of a minute or two things begin to drift out of sync.. So I’m having to manually sync them piece by piece, which is a drag and takes forever. But hey.. these are 3 different capture sources and i guess it happens sometimes. Overall the system works. I just wish my different capture sources rendered video/audio that run in perfect sync with one another, so that I could just drag it all into Final Cut Pro and edit it, without having to sync it manually piece by piece first.

[@michanestorowicz6577]

@@ruslanpiano thanks a lot for such extensive answer! I guess audio/video desynchronization is the phone's fault, specifically due to the fact that smartphones record videos with variable framerate. Perhaps it's time to invest in some camera :) Best wishes from Poland!

[@ruslanpiano]

Michał Nestorowicz Oh I do have a dslr camera. Plus it’s worse than that. When I import the audio from ableton and the video from screen capture (chordie), the two of them are already not in sync, and this is before I even bring in my phone footage. So annoying 😅

[@michanestorowicz6577]

Ps. Another thought: if you see that audio "drifts" away from video then you might try to simply slow down or speed up thee audio by a tiny amount. Worked for me. Edit: oh I see. Good luck finding solution then.

[@ruslanpiano]

Michał Nestorowicz Hmm! That’s actually a good idea! Even if it would take time to calibrate the speed, it would still take less time than catching it every 1.3 minutes when it starts to drift, which is what I have been doing so far... Thank you for the tip!

[@HappyHackingVideoBlog]

I think I did not see diminished or augmented chords in your reharm. Would those work as well? Or would it be too much to sound good? Did you keep them out on purpose?

[@ruslanpiano]

Happy Hacking Video Blog oh those will definitely work. I just showed the principle with some simpler chords. But now - apply as you wish. The melody note can be an Augmented 5 in an augmented chord for sure! Use your taste and don’t reharm for the sake of Reharming. Aside from that - all and any options are good!

[@Streux]

Man I truly appreciate your videos! You explain things exceptionally well. I’ve learned so much. Do you teach privately? I’m here in So Cal as well and I would love to get knowledge like this from you on a weekly or biweekly basis.

[@ruslanpiano]

Streux Thank you, I’m happy to hear it helps. Sure thing, shoot me an email [e-mail]

[@Streux]

Ruslan Sirota Thx for the response. However I tried emailing you but my email came back undeliverable. Do you have another address I can send it to?

[@ruslanpiano]

Streux hit me up on Instagram @ruslanpiano

[@GeometryDashAcamar]

Thank you for this method! What would you call it?

[@ruslanpiano]

rylothh תודה descending bass reharm, or predetermined bass reharm. ✡️

[@mikaelsyndergaard9319]

thanks...thats just what i needed to proceed my discovery in the world of chords......mikael danmark

[@abrahamgb1]

Hey Ruslan! Your are very kind sharing deeply info thanks for that man !!! I have a question of this lesson ) it’s super clear the technique that you explain , I start to practice doing a basic melody over a major scale , and then I start find the chords using that pattern of bass , but , can you give a way or meaby advice , an efficient way to find the chords between those 2 notes ( the bass and the melody ) I found that very hard , is there some easy steps to find those chords ? Thanks for that !!!

[@ruslanpiano]

Abraham G Buchanan Start by determining the relationship between the melody note and the bass. Suppose the bass is F and the melody note is E. Ask yourself: what is a note E to the note F? It’s a major 7th interval. It means that the chord can be Fmaj7. And then come up with a cool Fmaj7 chord. Suppose the bass note is D and the melody note is E. Ask yourself: what is a note E to the bass note D? It’s a 9th. Ok then the chord can me D9, Dm9, where else is there a 9? Oh, in C/D. And then pick whichever of these options you like the most. Hope this helps!

[@abrahamgb1]

Ruslan Sirota that’s exaclly the tool why I need, very clear man ( it’s crazy how you can find a great harmony over a consistent bass pattern ) !!! Now is just practice !!! Thanks man , actually it’s a great way also to practice voicings , it is an amazing exercises , and super fun . Thanks a again I’ll practice this .

[@EnricoDellAquila]

any particular hint for guitarists, that have not all those notes (and fingers) at their disposal? :)

[@ruslanpiano]

Enrico Dell'Aquila Absolutely. You don’t need MY voicings or any piano voicings for that matter. Great jazz guitar players have had great voicings since forever :) The lesson here is the “descending bass” thing. Or any other pre-determined bass motion as a tool for reharmonization. That part you can definitely adopt for your reharms, and then fill in the inner voicings like a Guitarist would, will awesome guitar voicings! :)

[@espr7564]

Another awesome vid thankyou ❤ I bet that one thumbs down came from a dixie band banjo player 🤣

[@jhoylangoncalves3127]

Alô, alô marciano rsrsr

[@jasneskis]

You don't seem to be concerned in sticking to one key? You do cords with sharps and flats that may or may not be in the music key signature of the piece. Does it not matter?

[@ruslanpiano]

jasneskis No. It doesn’t. This is why there is such a thing as Functional Harmony (where all the chords are in the same key), and non functional harmony, where the chords are borrowed from other keys, in order to add color to the harmony.

[@brianbannock9343]

♪♫ 😎 ♪♫

[@eboyeman8457]

Why do u Call it a sus chord when they are major nine

[@elcuajinaislara9046]

im trying😢 but

[@3deeguy]

I've just decided to make a playlist called keyboard tutorials. This video will be the first and I'm going to include Nicholas Semrad.

[@alandakerharley]

I just wish my small hands could reach a tenth. Yes, I could spread, but it's not the same. ( I envy Oscar Peterson's bass lines in tenths)

[@ruslanpiano]

Alan Harley I know the feeling...

[@OlivvYeah]

Very suspect 😂

[@ArturoSenni1257]

The problem with this Coller-esque sort of reharmonization party trick wankery, is that it isn't inherently musical. It is, rather doing something for the sake of doing it. Showing off. And that just isn't very interesting, nor does it move me as a pianist, a music lover and a composer. There are people who do this well though, one being Jon Baptiste for example. But he thinks like a composer, where as this individual does not. EDIT: And granted, he admitted in the video, that his attempt was not to make something musically worthwhile or engaging.

[@ruslanpiano]

Arturo Senni I address your exact point at 11:11 in this very video.

[@jazzcat1625]

Ruslan Sirota thats right, Ruslan

[@ArturoSenni1257]

@@JocelynForget1 I think I understand the "purpose" of this lesson quite fine. Unlike you, I happen to see the subtle gradations between these two hypothetical opposing (I see no reason to create any artificial and primitive juxtapositions, like the one you presented, in the first place) approaches to harmony. You probably think things like Negative Harmony are these ("OH MY GOD!!1") exquisite, wild and amazing concepts, and the only way to make composition "exciting". :D That's pretty dumb, I have to say, as a person whose studied classical composition and jazz harmony for over 29 years. It tells more about you, than anything else really... And Ruslan makes the pitfalls of these sort of potentially gimmicky approaches to harmony very clear in this video.

[@ArturoSenni1257]

@@JocelynForget1 Your English is obviously not very good. I explicitly stated, that I noted the part where Ruslan made this point. Read my comment again, this time carefully and take your time. I am Italian, English isn't my first language either Jocelyn, but I bothered to learn I thoroughly so that I could communicate effectively with other people. I suggest you do the same, my friend. Never too late.

[@ArturoSenni1257]

@@JocelynForget1 Let's end this, I agree, but you still insist in maintaining this blind spot concerning the fact, that I've quite clearly articulated the fact, that I acknowledge the utility dimension of this lesson, I merely pointed at the clear and obvious pitfalls it has in it's potential implications towards the new generations of music pupils. Am I being clear enough for you now? I've seen this happen first-hand, time and time again... But then again, people can do whatever they wish. It won't exactly _catch on_ I suspect - and for good reason too. Jacob Collier will learn this the hard way I think. No offense, he will fair just okay, I just think the kind of wankery ideas of his ilk furthers are of absolutely zero value towards any aesthetic worth anyone's salt. xD