The secret behind Them Changes by Thundercat

Thundercat has some really cool chord progression ideas. In this video I do a quick breakdown of his tune Them Changes. Let me know if you enjoy this kind of video format!
• Special thanks to Hyoseon Kim for lending her lovely voice! •
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[@versechorusverse2470]

The drum beat is from footsteps in the dark by the Isley brothers. The same song that Ice cube sampled in his song it was a good day

[@percyhoff1586]

This channel definitely deserves more viewers!

[@ev29xyro]

Great content! Exactly what I was looking for

[@martyg374]

Good explanation. Thanks for getting that info out.

[@PuntiS]

This is a great video. Thanks!

[@jangobec8290]

🤯 these vids are now hitting up the big leagues

[@liammbrookman8544]

Really good and too the point analysis!

[@adam__mark]

Thank you so much bro!! 💯💯💯

[@lambrusco1970]

excellent. thank you!

[@noahlomax1]

I've played instruments in band and that's as far as my musical theory knowledge goes...very elementary. However, your video and breakdown is easy to follow and very knowledgable. This is definitely a video I didn't know I needed.

[@rodrigolourenco1968]

Man, THANK YOU!

[@martian9999]

excellent analysis! I felt there was something special going on with that song, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it...

[@thepedalarchive2]

Gotta have that 6 string bass to put all your fingers on them changes 🤣

[@voodoochili12]

Great video, thanks. You mentioned a few substitute chords over the non-diatonic Gm7 and Fm11 - in future videos it'd be helpful to speak to the chord/scale approach to soloing over those chords as written and as substituted.

[@0MuffinMaffy]

Nice 💕🎶

[@alexn8139]

I love u brada

[@carloszagal1934]

MORE THUNDERCAT ANALYSIS

[@juwonnnnn]

👌

[@lemonlacroix]

i always thought it sounded a lot like “tell me something good” by chaka khan🤔🤔😍 still a great song

[@AfiScruggsplaysbass]

You're absolutely right! I just learned Tell Me Something Good and I could see the influence when I listened to Thundercat

[@electorize]

Can you explain please, why an Eb harmonic over Bb7 and why Diminshed on Eb7? Why not Ab harmonic again over Eb7 for example? Are these scale choices based on chord tones, chord functions, something else... or just random?

[@TineSinko]

Both choices are based on what Thundercat played there. On that Bb7 he plays a descending scale line and that scale he is using is an Eb harmonic minor. The diminished on the Eb7 is because the melody which is an A (thats why you cannot use Ab harmonic minor scale there) and I spent a lot of time listening to what Denis Hamm plays there for example and his voicings suggest the diminished (octatonic) sound. Its a bit hard to explain it in a youtube comment. Send me an email and I can give you some more explanation if needed :)

[@electorize]

@@TineSinko Great, thank you! I appreciate the answer. I will send you an email becuase I'd like to hear about these scale choices and superimpositions. I am learning to improvise over changes and understanding these concepts is crucial.

[@nerdycatgamer]

@@electorize there are also many other choices of scales to use, but im sure Tine gave the examples he did for very good reason (like he said, based on what thundercat plays). The melody plays an A natural over the Eb7, so you could really use an dominant Eb scale with a #4, like Lydian Dominant. Personally, I don't really like the chord-scale mindset. The way I think of playing over changes is just "what notes give this chord its sound/function, and how do those move melodically". For example, over the Bb7 the important note that gives it its "flavour" is the D natural, and the fact that it moves to Eb7 would motivate me to play D -> Eb, and then similarly for the Eb7 to Abm7 I would want G -> Ab, as that is the important sound. That itself is only one choice though, as there are 4 notes in a chord (not even counting the tensions) and you can have them move many different ways melodically. In the end I think this ends up being the same thing as chord-scales, and it gets you the same result of playing the """right""" notes over the chords, but from what I've studied it seems like this is closer to the way the original jazz players thought of it, and we came along with chord-scales to analyze it after the fact. don't mean to be negative or anything btw so sorry if i came across that way. this is just how i think of soloing and it really helped when i started, so i hope it could help you maybe :)

[@Christopher-md7tf]

I find it pretty wild to call 2+4 the "weaker beats" in a funk context, a genre famous for emphasizing back- and off-beats. Classical music theory doesn't automatically translate to modern genres.

[@TineSinko]

Weaker beat in this context means weaker in harmonical rhythm, even tho funk emphasizes different beats rhythmically, that does not mean that the strong harmony beats are different aswell. 1 and 3 still remain 'heavy beats' even in straight ahead jazz or funk

[@Christopher-md7tf]

@@TineSinko But what, apart from this pre-conceived concept in your mind, indicates that either of these beats are strong or weak in this concrete example? Harmonic rhythm refers to the rate at which chords change. So, if the chords each last one beat and are played with the same volume and expression (I'm talking about the studio version here for simplicity's sake, he likes to throw in all kinds of different variations live), how can they possibly have different "weight"?

[@TineSinko]

@@Christopher-md7tf I feel like its quite self explanatory in the video. The beat 1 and 3 chords are the main harmonical framework of the song, substituting the beat 2 and 4 chords for something else or leaving them out all together does not actually change that. What it does tho is add colour and flavour to the song. I guess you could try and do the opposite (change the beat 1 and 3 chords) and tell me if that sounds more like the tune or not. I think when a chord can be substituted or left out, it serves a bit of a different purpose. Of course there are many factors that determine that... whether you have functional harmony, what is the bpm, what is the feel of the song, style, ... The concept might come out of classical music but I couldn't tell you that for sure since I never studied classical music.

[@nerdycatgamer]

even in a funk context these are still the weak harmonic beats. part of what makes a backbeat groovy is the fact that you're accenting the weaker beats. you're putting the emphasis where it ""naturally"" isn't. This isn't even classical music theory, this is part of the jazz tradition, which funk draws from (and obviously thundercat very much so as well)

[@martyg374]

Works for me, college theory, teacher