The Unicorn of Chords?

Adam Maness demonstrates one of the mythical, but most useful, piano chords over timeless standards like: "All The Things You Are", "Spring Is Here", "Body And Soul" and "My Romance"
FREE PDF to follow along to the video - openstudiojazz...

[@MarkEisenman]

Great stuff! The original 1st chord (as written) of Stella By Starlight is the Tonic Diminished.

[@tatianakomissarova1404]

I mean... It's just gorgeous...;-) Thank you Open Studio for such a beautiful music and so effective ideas!

[@bobbachelor5930]

Adam, i love how you're using standards to demonstrate harmonic shapes.

[@internetfunnymanrob]

You can also use this shape as sort of a slash chord if you imagine it like a half diminished iv over the V (ie; Fdim7/G)

[@fabiancosster2992]

Many thanks for the free PDF God Bless you forever

[@88KeysMan]

“Enharmonic gangsters” That made me laugh out loud. 😂

[@simonbencik2270]

Haha, that's truly a good one 😁

[@vsezonov]

Same here 😆

[@landolin_music]

One thing I stole with the omaj7 shape is moving it in minor 3rds. Wynton Kelly does some of that in the intro to "Someday My Prince Will Come" by Miles

[@scheck006]

Chick does that ALL over the place on light as a feather, too.

[@els1f]

Not unicord?🤔😋

[@ratrindade3617]

so simple and it sounds so rich

[@simonbencik2270]

I truly love Unicorns, you know. So this will probably be my favourite Chord of all time

[@fiscaldisco5234]

"Enharmonic Gangsters" is a good name for a jazz band

[@MarcoZarco]

🦄Great stuff! 🦄

[@cecilkeebler4254]

@Open Studio Missed opportunity for video title....unichord :)

[@martinlehfeldt5514]

Thanks!

[@doce7606]

that tonic diminished used to ruin my day as a guitarist.... cool lesson. i can also see how the four related altered dominants all share the same diminished structures... hip

[@housethegrate6093]

Have you done a video on the other unicorn chord, FABE? My old teacher at Portland State taught this and it would be cool to have a refresher. Major 3rd, whole step, perfect 4th.

[@patodiblasi]

This same shape works beautifuly over a C bass, as a dominant C: C Bb Db E A

[@jazzgreens]

Adam, your term “enharmonic gangster” immediately filled me with the confidence that it ain’t no thing, chicken wing when you are fully immersed in wtf is going on in the music 😮

[@arimalzbeil844]

great tutorial as always Adam. Could you play "blue unicorn" by Silvio Rodrigues with unicorn chords please ?

[@xaverk]

How about the interpretation of the "unicorn" as C 7/b9/b11/13? Tonic then for example F 6/9. Quite natural also.

[@strings41]

Have you ever done a vid on 2-note left hand chords ala Bud Powell?

[@chuangtsu]

So if the diminished seventh has a double flat seventh degree, and a half diminshed chord has just a regular flat seventh degree, would that make this a quarter diminished chord?

[@eydiguttason1961]

Thanks Adam here from Aalborg danmark

[@88KeysMan]

Secret use @ 11:08, correct? You used it as a 1 dominant sub.

[@Breakbeat90s]

Lmao this is the chord that haunted Jacob Collier as he explained to Herbie

[@danielmshillah9712]

❤

[@wojciechgrochowski82]

Enharmonic gangsters...love it! XD

[@CiliophoraEuplotes]

I thought that the video was going to be about the song Unicorn by Dizzy Gillespie lol

[@Passeira1]

THE UNICHORD CORN!

[@MarcosBacon-SoundDesign]

Do you mean... unichord?

[@antoniopizarro7670]

Lol, A. Then 2. Then Lastly.

[@tonimena1121]

He just wanna teach, I just get depressed

[@strandedcandid]

The secret unicorn was the Bb7(b9) going to Eb. Dick Grove used to call that the diminish/ major Shape from the diminished scale. Thank you Adam for this video and PDF!

[@giringuha4229]

Thanks!

[@joaopedromelao]

The mythical unicorn is at 11:07, starting at the b7, resulting in a dominant b9 13 chord. Where are my 10 internet points at? :)

[@bryanbinnema1902]

Not only that, but because that shape is based on diminished harmony, it can be moved by minor thirds and still work on the same dominant chord. So on a Bb7, you can start that shape on B natural and get a b9 chord, start on D and you get a #9, start on F and you get a b9#11 chord. It sounds cool to cycle through them as well

[@cuoredibue4180]

Btw The Last Unicorn is one of the most beautiful movies i've seen in my childhood. I will always remember the fear and wonder I felt watching that magical world of images and sounds as a young boy. Astounding.

[@aleksandarstojceski3139]

One of the darkest children movie.Animated in Japan.

[@JohnHorneGuitar]

Thanks for this. Great information Adam! I’ve definitely played this sound before, but never codified it in quite this way. Very helpful and I’m sure I will be over using this chord in the days ahead

[@MrPaul8870]

Ah something to work with That'll keep us quiet for a bit This chord was used a lot in ragtime piano Love the dim 5 to 5 to 1 Sounds sweet I'm not a keyboard player but a guitarist Locrian mode full of diminishes 😆

[@detodounpoco37]

Spinetta-Kamikaze opens with that chord 🤩

[@WaitingForTheHook]

unichord was right there

[@BiasProd]

I'm curious if anyone is going to catch the 3 ways it can be used 😂 A. 2. Lastly

[@mattkwest468]

Ha, missed that one.

[@doce7606]

* plus: I think 'I wish that I knew how it was to be free' has all three in a very hip gospel context in F

[@Bashanvibe]

Nice I use that chord on regular!!! Especially in Misty!!!

[@ADream54321]

i was JUST playing around with these on guitar, and LO! you make a video about it. SPOOKY!

[@maloneycraig]

Herbie mentions this in the Jacob Collier wired interview. A maj triad resolving to Bb instead of F7 resolving to Bb. They were commenting on how Amaj doesn’t share any notes with F7 but they can both function in exactly the same way. Herbie: “People used to do this all the time in the 30s”.

[@ericwinter4513]

I’m not sure whose version it is, but I’m pretty sure the recording of Stormy Weather that they play on Marketplace on NPR whenever the stock market was down for the day uses this chord as the pickup.

[@mawesters]

Besides the one at 11:08 I got two more at 0:40 and 0:49. Both as a I-dim 9 chord at the end of the cadence... :)

[@jonnyhopkins6887]

There’s some enharmonic gangster shi…stuff

[@mr7clay]

It's the top of C13b9 and F#7#9!

[@Muravchix]

Excellent as always

[@SilverTheFlame]

I LOVE YOU ADAM MANESS

[@GizzyDillespee]

Thanks, even though this is probably basic for many people, I didn't know how this passing sound was done... I can hear the "diminished" aspect easily, but I always had a hard time hearing the major 7th, apparently🤪.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Of course I've gotten there accidentally by playing that major triad a half-step below, with a lazy bass hand that didn't move down with it... but I didn't connect the dots conceptually while I was doing that... so it wasn't intentionally repeatable in other circumstances (specifically the b3 on the way down, and b5 on the way up, that you showed). Without that conceptual framework, I didn't think to notice what that shape was, and apply it in those other cases. Even though I'd heard people doing exactly that, all my life. Just goes to show.