The Simple Theory Of JAPANESE Music Scales [Pentatonics, Guitar]

[@MatthewAppleby42]

0:09 I definitely misheard that

[@BeN-bn5yb]

Fuc yous

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

Lols, you guys.

[@danibenedito3260]

Beats? Maybe refers to steps.

[@6drk6mrc6]

Was looking for this comment the instant I heard it, not dissappointed.

[@chileanguyfleegman]

I thought he said what you thought he said even though he didn't say what we though he said but the way he said it was fun.

[@jatodd3746]

Your voice just plain SOUNDS like a smile.

[@steamedrice5659]

Ryu Kyu - 3:55 Min-yo - 4:50 Ritsu - 5:20 Hirajoshi/Miyako Bushi - 6:28

[@misschanandlerbong05]

Here In Ethiopia we use the same scales as these. We call them Ambassel, Bati, Yanchi hoye, and Tizita.

[@Yet_another_placeholder]

Hirajoshi, or 平調子 ("Hira-Choushi", "Standard Tuning"), is a tuning scale originally created for the Koto, a traditional Japanese instrument. It was created by Yatsuhashi-Kengyou, who adapted the tuning of the Shamisen (a 3-stringed Japanese banjo, also sometimes called the "San-gen", which means "3 strings") to the Koto, which allowed for a lot more varied music to be played on the Koto. Before Yatsuhashi-Kengyou adapted this to the Koto, the Koto was strictly used for court-music, and there were only 6 pieces of music written for it, and to make it even more boring, these 6 pieces all used the same key, tempo and duration (according to what I've been able to find by researching this quite extensively during the Corona Quarantine thing). Creating the Hirajoshi system allowed the Koto-player to play virtually any Shamisen-piece on the Koto as well, which allowed for a lot more variation. Yatsuhashi also made the Koto much more accessible to the public, which made it lose its court-status. Also, a lot of sources incorrectly refer to him as "Yatsuhashi Kengyou", as if Kengyou was his given name. While I haven't been able to find any recordings of his given name, it is most likely that it wasn't Kengyou, as Kengyou is a title given to highly esteemed blind musicians, similar to how "Sensei" is a title given to teachers, doctors and authors. A modern-day example would be Stevie Wonder, who is probably the most famous blind musician nowadays. Also, don't sweat it with the pronunciation. Most of the time, it was better than what I've heard from many Japanese-learners.

[@ndub4014]

Thanks

[@JungleLibrary]

Great info. I agree about his pronunciation too, he did great. I don't even pronounce Japanese words 'properly' when speaking English because the sounds don't really flow well - I think people mangle Japanese words because they worry too much and add in sounds that aren't written. I've been called Sudoku a number of times, which is kinda baffling - just use basic vowel sounds! but then again I can't put myself in their shoes.

[@ismu34]

If you read Japanese words with a Spanish or Italian accent it's actually pretty close haha.

[@bongjovi4928]

Touch grass

[@binface9]

That trick with the tetrachords has been a revelation to me. Thanks!

[@appolinaireyapo1190]

So, do me

[@novajohansson3194]

Same, and in pretty good and music theory but I've never heard it out like this before^^

[@barefootarts737]

This is how turkish, arabic and persian music is often taught or broken down. Intervallic groups of 4 or 5 roughly speaking. Similarly in hindustani music also.

[@miriamlogan3733]

So you're telling me I get to make up my own scales? Awesome.

[@darkflamesquirrel]

I'll make my own scale. With blackjack and hookers!

[@promathinstituteofadvanced961]

The best music related channel on KZbin. Period.

[@appolinaireyapo1190]

There is an other Japaneese mode called "IN SEN" C-Db-F-G-Bb-C. Thé Ritsu scale can be also called "Kio" C-D-F-G-A-C

[@maxiapalucci2511]

Appolinaire Yapo so a major blues scale with no Tritone?

[@appolinaireyapo1190]

@@maxiapalucci2511 rather the fourth mode of a major pentatonic. For example : F-G-A-C-D major penta of F. The 4th mode it's a Ritsu scale: C-D-F-G-A-C

[@snottyboy9983]

I love the Ritsu scale

[@animemus6369]

It's just second mode and pentatonic no?

[@wolfthunder2526]

Wow, i recognize some of them like pelog, slendro, and madenda scale in Sundanese/Javanese/Balinese traditional music. 👍 Good work of presentation. Some of them are so jazzy, i like it Miyako-Bushi is the madenda one, Ritsu is slendro, and ryūkyū is pelog/degung

[@coastercook]

Love it! More videos on theory outside of Western music, please.

[@RandyBakkelund]

Indian Ragas come to mind with that

[@BECOMEASALITTLECHILD]

Been improvising these for years (the last two) just didnt name them. Your playing puts me instantly in touch with indian rather than japanese sounding

[@schierlingsbecher7778]

Arab maqams

[@oriyan2]

I know the ritsu-scale also by the name "scottish pentatonic". Interestingly, many scottish songs are also well known and popular in Japan (but with japanese lyrics).

[@vxru5]

I can actually hear it as well, especially with the C pedal tone, I can almost hear the drones of the bagpipes.

[@Walaard]

Love this eastern sounds codificated in western ways. We cannot be like them, for many cultural (even musically) differents, but we can search for an inspiration in their culture, and that's freaking great! Thank you for your videos, from an italian fellow.

[@StonefieldMusic]

Quite possibly the most useful video I've ever seen about alternate scales. As a person who plays a five-string bass alternate tuned in a mix of fifths and fourths, this one lesson might keep me busy for a year or two. Thank you.

[@sharadsemilo]

Please provide an example of a tuning that you would use and if you wouldn't please tell us how you would use it

[@seamusmckeon9109]

How is it tuned exactly?

[@juliuswarburton]

I was wondering about animé theme tunes, and I've always been a fan of video game music, and I saw another KZbin video last week about chord progressions in Pokémon games that got me like experimenting, but this video really helped me get into the heads of those guys. Great work. Thank you.

[@ParsevalMusic]

Ma che bravo... finalmente un po' di chiarezza. Salutoni dall'Italia!!

[@aylbdrmadison1051]

The beginning of this was my first day in beginning music theory. My introduction to these scales though was a huge book my friends dad gave him. Best book on scales I've never seen again. It had scales from all over the world, and even had all the Indian ragas with all the quarter tones.

[@yashhbodhare]

Which book is it...can you tell me too?

[@sharadsemilo]

Please provide us the name of the book

[@NandaJuliansyahAJ]

the Ryukyu scale totally same as the one used in Javanese and Sundanese music known as “Damilatilada” scale. very exciting to found similarities between distant cultures around the globe :)

[@rinz7572]

I think, Hirajoshi pattern too 😀

[@tdh95]

Actually the Ryukyu scale is the same as Javanese, and the Miyako-bushi is the same as Sundanese :)

[@MetalMaestro]

In Bali this is known as “pelog”

[@StuartWoodwardJP]

If Island hop from Java by boat heading north and east sailing to the closest island you’ll eventually come to Okinawa. These were the sea highways in the past.

[@afuriousblackman]

YES!! This is exactly what I wanted to see. All for more content like this!

[@OdaKa]

Wow, knowing how tetrachords form scales makes memorizing scale degrees so much simpler. why don't they teach this in beginners classes??

[@1349-o2m]

Some scales dont have a perfect 4th and 5th which changes the tetrachord idea a lot. See how in the video he showed that by mixing and matching the tetrachords you get major minor phrygian and dorian , but you dont get lydian myxolydian and locrian

[@ruebene2223]

@@1349-o2m Actually it's only lydian and locrian that you cannot use tetrachords with (traditionally). Myxolydian has both a perfect 4th and 5th.

[@1349-o2m]

@@ruebene2223 My mistake you are correct.

[@AlbertGorek]

actually they do

[@flashraylaser157]

@@ruebene2223 That's only out of the seven modes of the most familiar major diatonic scale. Many of the modes of harmonic minor don't have both an unaltered fourth and unaltered fifth, and some diatonic scales (and modes thereof) actually lack both.

[@kittavares4334]

Great explanation. You saved me a lot of time. When you see all these different names, it's very confusing, but if you approach it with the concept of clusters (trichords) and modes, it all becomes clear.

[@cnner1997]

4:00 Holy crap that brought me back to when I lived in Okinawa I miss it there man, I miss my mom 😭

[@RandyBakkelund]

I learned something new today. I knew what tetrachords were before, but I've never seen a use for them like you explained here. Pretty neat stuff!

[@alixchatelain2913]

Once again you’ve hit a bull’s eye with your lucid explanations of tetrachords and their many possible practical uses - congratulations! Your presentations are always very illustrative, stimulating, friendly and to the point.

[@egocentral1]

Horajoshi has me feeling some kind of way.

[@HarlanHarvey76]

Hirajoshi scale - 1 2 b3 5 b6 8 Or W H M3 H M3 Great over minor chords/ minor add b6 chords My favorite is the: In scale - 1 b2 4 5 b6 8 or H M3 W H M3 - great over sus4 and dominant chords Kumoi scale - 1 2 b3 5 6 8 or W H M3 W m3

[@colmcq]

It's really cool to use over a minor progression

[@jamesnesser8993]

I never knew there were so many Japanese scales. I was blind to most of this but now the, ahem, scales have fallen from my eyes.

[@theeniwetoksymphonyorchest7580]

Excellent! Loads of new musical ideas in under 9 minutes!

[@JTakasa]

Your Pronunciation is better than 98% of America. 👏

[@prewettcr]

Fascinating! My knowledge of chord theory and exotic scales has been enlarged immensely. Thank you!

[@jahangiramiri6119]

Wow! You explained such a complex system in the most simplest way. Immensely appreciated 👍

[@Emenut]

the ryu kyu is so beautiful !

[@MysteronLunaris]

Incredible video, thanks a lot. Really helpful deconstruction of Japanese musical scales.

[@leascaart]

I love your channel. I am a new subscriber. I look forward to seeing many of your videos. Thank you.

[@EmilioParker]

6:16 the difference between the "Miyako-Bushi scale" and the "Hirajoshi scale" is that in the Hirajoshi scale, you replace G with Fsharp ( replace tone from 4th [F]) with a semitone [Fsharp]). So the "Hirajoshi scale" goes like so: C - Csharp - F - Fsharp - A sharp - C.

[@AurumVoxMusic]

I got much more than what I was looking for. Amazing teaching!! I will use it on my music 🎶

[@ebell404]

Thanks! This was news I could use. I used the pentatonic with a C E F G Ab C and it sounds great! I've been playing with it for two days.

[@antjamnow1286]

Ryu Kyu Scale is used in the Main Theme of Ty the Tazmanian Tiger (PS2) game. Look it up! Super rad theme.

[@MahatmaLevolence]

Many years ago i read Japan had five pentatonic scales, each one coming from a specific area/region/prefecture. My favourite is Hira Joshi (or Miyako Bushi) as you can get some particularly oriental triads from it over a (low) E pedal tone.

[@riverdelavidawilliams9624]

It’s been amazing having such an informational source for learning all the possibilities that exist outside the normal major scale. Thank you. Some time you should do a video on renaissance scales

[@HitTheRoadMusicStudio]

Man you really just make music theory fun and easy to understand, gracie gitarrero amigo haha 🌴

[@subhojitchoudhury5876]

Wow!! That was great!!! It's really fun to know these "outside" theories.. you have definitely expanded my realm of knowledge and playing. Thank you.. Love from India.

[@mjinsantafe]

I LOVE your tutorials! So the ritsu scale is basically playing along the black keys. I remember in 20th century comp class that Gustav Holst use to play along the same scale in his Military Suites especially for the marches.

[@guilhermevitor8656]

i dont now to much, but i think the hirajoshi is (in C) C D Eb G Ab (C)

[@_gheo]

Questa cosa dei tetracordi è fenomenale, non la conoscevo proprio! Interessantissima! Grazie per la condivisione 😊

[@hijmestoffels5171]

Playing the Hiratoshi scale A B-flat D E F A on guitar, with the open D-string as a drone is an easy way to impress your friends.

[@sc1ss0r1ng]

Since you use D as a drone, it seems like D is the root and you are starting on the fifth, A. And the scale is basically a D minor scale, missing the fourth and the seventh degree of the scale. I would take a guess and say that if you were playing in that scale and added a C# (after a D for example), and then resolved that C# up to a D, it would sound good. If you were in the key of A (which i doubt since you're missing the third), playing a G# and resolving to an A, should sound good. But I doubt that it will. My money is on D being the root, just from seeing your layout of the scale.

[@EclecticEssentric]

@@sc1ss0r1ng That's interesting. I recently learned a Mixo scale minus the 2+6 as if a minor scale, and I wondered if any minor scales were played minus the 4+7 as if major. I guess so. I didn't try any out and forgot to check because sleepy. Zzzz.

[@musicmangm7572]

I enjoy your videos so much. You have so much knowledge and I thank you for sharing it.🎸

[@johnberg1326]

This is stunning. A simple explanation of such an interesting approach. Thank you again! I love your lessons.

[@liquidsolids9415]

That was fascinating. Thank you for the great lesson!

[@themusicgaragetmg2330]

Awesome work, very insightful and very helpful in a totally new perspective of a very common scale, you've made it refreshing to look at the pentatonics!

[@carquest3748]

Thanks so much this makes so much sense

[@juyumea42]

Arigatougozaimasu! This is great. Clarified so much for me

[@shailenleelreea7878]

The best music teacher

[@Roman-is4jj]

Thank you, enjoyed

[@camiloduartemusic2052]

Amazing lesson!!!!!! much love from Colombia!!!!

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Thanks! 😃

[@gerardocorrea9559]

Very good video. Thanks for sharing this

[@LouCadle]

brilliant! And of course now it makes sense to me as a matter of physics, because strings depressed at specific fractions of their length make the perfect fourth and fifth, and that would be universal musical knowledge, I imagine.... so a pretty good AHA for me here, that within that "tetrachord" structure lies the other scale tones. Grazie.

[@necudavamkazem]

I still cant imagine that this channel, with all this useful stuff, is still relatively small keep up the vids are so good both the topics and the explanations And i also agree with mister @Fishy Phish that more non-western music lessons would be great

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Thank you. If you have friends who would enjoy this channel, feel free to share with them any video :)

[@오쌍-g3g]

Thank you !!

[@JamieFifthring]

I have just discovered your channel. It's just amazing!!! Thanks for it!

[@pancon5]

Fantastic sounding, please do more on non-Western music!

[@CamilaFuentes0227]

Thank you! I was looking for this since years ago

[@jeanlucchapelon]

Excellent explanation « comme d’habitude « !! You’re a good teacher !

[@charaiveti-charaiveti]

wow! i was blind, now i can see! i noodle using some of these constructs, to match my hapidrum, but this video takes everything to another level of expression. arrigato, grazie tommaso!

[@geeleeggan]

I stumbled onto the Ritsu scale after doing some noodling and couldn’t figure out which western scale it matched (it didn’t 🙁) but C# Ritsu matched perfectly. It’s all very new and confusing but I discovered you can make some nice music with it 😀

[@chocomalk]

This is the most intelligent and inspiring beard I have ever seen.

[@dhaneshs131]

Mind Blowing... Thank you Tommaso

[@TheCitizenmax]

best video yet!

[@bmarks75]

Thanks for the video. Very informative. Love the sound of those scales.

[@uncletaromusic2565]

wow very nice. im from okinawa(ryukyu). thanks for sharing our music scales to internet~!

[@christopherheckman5392]

Pentatonic scales are designed to have little to no dissonance in them; that's why they seem so relaxing.

[@brianlobue4649]

This is brilliant. Thanks

[@mazhijun1107]

jay chou use hiratoshi scale E-F-A-B-C-E,and add G# to become A minor scale A-B-C-E-F-G#-A,refer to jolin tsai 骑士精神written by him

[@mbmillermo]

Fascinating stuff! You've been making a lot of great videos. You make a lot of intriguing choices and your explanations are excellent. Thanks!

[@BibaswanNarayanDatta]

Hi Tomazzo, You can search for raga Gunakali on KZbin .. the notes of the miyako bushi scale and raga gunakali are same.

[@StuartWoodwardJP]

Starts playing guitar…. out comes the introduction to every Okinawan rock song. 😆

[@BeN-bn5yb]

I realised I've been ising the ryu kyu scale in my improvs without knowing its called the ryu kyu scale

[@Theunknownshredder]

I love this 👍

[@RobertJones-et7gh]

Great video

[@CraftyOldGit]

Fascinating and useful, thanks. I'm enjoying all your theory videos - I come away with some learning and something to experiment with.

[@yasmine7518]

Dude i love you so much. Thanks for all you do

[@davidsummerville351]

Good video. Thanks

[@seiph80]

Now *this* is interesting!

[@GodsUnrulyFriends]

This is very informative. Thank you. I use miyako bushi (or its western equivalent) quite often. I composed a few pieces with that scale.

[@wuba556]

Favorite youtube music teacher!!! :D

[@johnnorton4314]

The first thing we learn about mode is that we will never understand them because no-one else ever did. Liked your video .

[@Mazoane]

I really enjoy your videos. They are interesting and very informative

[@StanAlter]

Some of these scales work like modes. So you can link them together. I really like the Balinese Pelog scale.

[@christopherheckman5392]

That also shows that some modes might be "neighbors" of others (only varying by one note). There's probably a composition lurking in this idea.

[@billjackson8641]

I figured that there would be a lot of overlap, considering that all human beings have ears.

[@danibenedito3260]

Thanks man! U explain clear the things ❤️

[@Raibrary]

3:57 as a javanese, this sounds like a javanese piece of music

[@MusicTheoryForGuitar]

Wow, thanks

[@wulfenii64]

Love your videos. Very informative.

[@camjay11235]

Very cool video! Thanks!

[@nhchau]

Thanks a lot for the interesting video. The Ryukyu scale's sound is very similar to Tay Nguyen's in Vietnam.

[@davidemanenti2431]

Grazie mille per la spiegazione, ma soprattutto grazie per avermi fatto rivivere Okinawa con la RyuKyu: se la memoria (e il nome della scala) non fa brutti scherzi, e' proprio questa la sonorita' che caratterizzava le canzoni popolari dell arcipelago! rock n roll

[@aspirativemusicproduction2135]

Haven't seen cool video for a while. This gives me some ideas to experiment with.

[@christopherheckman5392]

Every one of his videos is cool!

[@mastertimb]

This is fascinating, thank you!

[@wyg2935]

the ryukyuan scale is identical to one of javanese scales. you guys wanna check that out

[@DarmaniLink]

its a bit late, but your pronunciation is actually really good

[@SifuAlanMencke]

Great stuff as always

[@stainless641]

Very interesting and cool as hell!