This Changed How I See Keys In Music

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[@rickysguitar]

In this video demonstration, we're retaining the scale degree information by using flats on extended Roman numeral chord symbols. It's a common modern jazz convention to add flats to chord III, VI and VII in the minor. The flat is referring to the distance of the chord from the minor tonic. This is a diatonic harmony! We don't get entangled in harmonic or melodic!! Remember, root refers to scales, but tonic relates to chords. Major R 2 3 4 5 6 7 - these are the notes I ii iii IV V vi vii* - these are the triads from the notes. C Dm Em F G Am B* - Chords in C Major We do the same with the minor R 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 - these are the notes i ii* bIII iv v bVI bVII - these are the triads from the notes. Am B* C Dm Em F G - Chords in A minor (same chords as Major but in a different order) Chord bIII is a b3rd from the minor tonic. Chord bVI is a b6th away from the minor tonic, and finally chord bVII is a b7 distance from the minor tonic. Notice how the note and chords share the same information. If we leave it out we're losing information that translates as scale shapes and key grids. I've got another video coming up soon that explains how notes, chords and modes are synonyms. It simplifies how much information you need to carry in your head because you realise it's all about labelling chord, scale and arpeggio patterns. Trust me on this one. Get your head around it and EVERYTHING is easier on guitar.

[@BahDuh-ni6cx]

I want guitar😢😢.. Please help me🙏🙏 i can't get a guitar because I'm a poor ...

[@78tag]

Your "theory" lessons are great for reviewing my original learning from when I was a very young piano student. You are filling in gaps that I either forgot or never progressed to learning. I especially like your "outside-the-lines" take on theory - they are great. Looking forward to your next "BOOK". btw: good luck with your "adjustments" to satisfy the YT lords. Keep up your efforts towards teaching us less than prodigy musicians. 😀👍👍👍👍👍

[@78tag]

Another reason your lessons are so good: I have 2 Ron Greene Production "DIAL"s - RHYTHM GUITAR & BASIC IMPROVISATION. They are Circle of Fifth's dials with a ton of information beyond just the CIRCLE. This lesson in particular clears up a lot of mysterious ideas presented on the body of the dials. For the most part I had no idea how they came up with a lot of the "alternate" chords. I can now see where they came from. You just made my purchase of these 2 dials a better investment than I could have hoped for. Cheers bud.

[@tohaason]

One thing I did, as a guitar player, was to buy a cheap electronic keyboard. Not because I wanted to learn to play the piano, but because the keyboard lets you visualize the whole music theory thingy. Figure out how to make C chord (every second white key, then just move your hand one step up.. and you see why "ii" is minor. And "iii". And why "IV" is major. And so on. And you get what seventh's are, and nines.. it's all there. And you finally see exactly why C major and A minor are connected.. same for every other (G, Em etc)

[@ZopcsakFeri]

This is not closely related to music theory but I have to say I absolutely love your handwriting and the graphical rendition of what you explain. The graphs are easy to follow, they are well structured and consistent, these notes are a five-star support to the audio. Thank you!

[@ninobrn00]

To say that this was phenomenal would be an understatement! So much easier to digest and apply this way!

[@tnvalleyyoga7122]

Just purchased a copy of your book I've watched your KZbin presentation before but this explanation is very clear cut and even though I knew much of this the clarification was very helpful.

[@warrenallsopp]

Great stuff, Ricky. Clear & concise.

[@Chimp_No_1]

Incredibly helpful ! Thanks !

[@flapjackson6077]

Wow! That was the most informative short theory lesson I’ve seen. For a theory challenged guy like me, it’s still difficult to wrap my head around, but this video has really helped me to start making sense of the way chords and keys relate to each other. I was particularly impressed with your explanation of modes, and how they work within the context of given keys. I’ll have to watch this a few more times, but I’m already more informed from just watching it once. Thank you! 👍

[@myREALnameISiAM]

This is brilliant. I think this will spark many new musical ideas and great music (which is the point). Thanks.

[@kevinkeener]

I just spent the last few minutes scraping pieces of brain off the floor from when my head exploded. 😵‍💫

[@InsolentMusicalPeasant]

Wow what a game changer of a lesson! This has to be the easiest way of thinking about keys. Combined with your lesson on The Grid, it really unlocks the fretboard

[@xwdogg]

This is a fantastic lesson! Thank you.

[@mshparber]

Excellent explanation!

[@jamesmcandrews9]

Great stuff Ricky, I really enjoyed the video

[@WesWestly]

I really like how you put this together. You help it make sense. Great videos. Thank you.

[@MusicManFernando]

Excellent lesson, it`s going to take me a long time to understand and memorize all this.

[@memkeskin14]

Great explanation . Always good to learn things with different perspective . I think deepens understanding rather than diminish …

[@m3m3sis]

I havent been diagnosed but i've noticed that what makes the starting so difficult, is the pressured we are conditioned to. Meditation and diet and excercise do wonders to the background anxiety, and once you get to those habits, the starting tactic changes from brute force to waiting for the slight moment your mind is at ease. Then the bump of starting is at its lowest, start by any means, and suddenly you're started and invested. This has gotten me to jog daily, read and even game as that was demonized as a child.

[@GareyKennebrew]

Thanks a whole lot! This is very Helpful !!

[@src97]

Thank you!!

[@MrVaibot]

Nice something new to noodle with without a guitar in my hands. Thanks man

[@78tag]

Your "theory" lessons are great for reviewing my original learning from when I was a very young piano student. You are filling in gaps that I either forgot or never progressed to learning. I especially like your "outside-the-lines" take on theory - they are great. Looking forward to your next "BOOK". btw: good luck with your "adjustments" to satisfy the YT lords. Keep up your efforts towards teaching us less than prodigy musicians. 😀👍👍👍👍👍

[@buckeroofirearms]

Fantastic!

[@ruthkerber942]

Great lesson! I like the aeolian and Phrygian modes!

[@StefanGBucher]

You are the MVP, Ricky! I went to the PDF download thinking it would be a scan of your notes here. "I'll just take that and clean it up a bit in Illustrator. Lo and behold, you'd already done it! Thank you! Before I finished the lesson, I actually started on a side quest that relates to an exercise I'm doing with my in-person teacher-playing the changes o "Room 335." With each chord change he's showing me how to alter the initial scale to play to the new chord. It's a lo to sort out, and I thought, "Is there a sort of unified field theory of how the scales change every time you play over a ii or a vi or whatever? Like, are there consistent rules that I can apply at playing speed? I got the relative and parallel minors worked out for C, but with G things started going off the rails already. Have you ever figured out an efficient framework for playing the changes that works like the Nashville system?

[@philjames1019]

Wow Ricky, what an incredible guitar video! Your mastery of the diatonic tonality cycle is truly impressive. Moreover, I appreciate the educational aspect of your performance. By showcasing the diatonic tonality cycle in this way, you not only entertained your audience but also provided a valuable lesson in music theory.

[@rickysguitar]

Mode videos imminent! Hold on to your hats…

[@sybillecyril2895]

Thank you ! I anderstand so much thinks now ! It's brillant !

[@thunderace4588]

Thank you for making this informative music theory lesson for us Ricky.

[@rickysguitar]

Thanks for watching buddy!

[@Schmiddelwutz2000]

Sitting at a piano and countig black and white keys can really help to understand this. 😊

[@rickysguitar]

Absolutely! Much easier to see on piano than on guitar!

[@danielbevan9024]

I have purchased the book. Haven't read it yet but I know its going to be solid!!!

[@aaronp6426]

Thanks Ricky you make it so easy for this old man to understand! I've got your book in my amazon cart as soon as I have the $....

[@aaronp6426]

@Mcfeedback68 thanks for your suggestion. Great idea!

[@TheWild_Living_Nature]

WOW!!! It makes sense why the A minor Pentatonic and the C major Pentatonic are the same! I’m still not on par with the modes but “little chunks “ of understanding are so cool!!!!

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

Awesomeness.

[@scsibert]

Thanks!

[@rickysguitar]

Thank you, super appreciate this. Ricky

[@brunoandlukas2994]

It does make sense, I probably have to watch this a couple of times, thx for the help . Really appreciate it . 😊. One thing though, is diminished notes same a bemoles ?

[@sullycliftona]

I’ve not tuned in for a while .. I’ve been buying synths .. somebody pressed on my takamine guitar getting off the setee and snapped the neck ../and I have only just got a replacement dean electro acoustic .so all good back to normal for the time being

[@alanfranb]

Another great lesson Rick. What would the sequence be if i was playing in Dflat major, Cheers

[@mdarlington5001]

This is how I've approached the subject my whole 40 yrs of playing. Everything else seems an over-complication, to me. As a guitarist, it's pretty much all you need to understand to get a long way down the line. If all guitarists watched this, it would make so much of what is on YT, redundant. It's so simple when you put it in these terms. I've shown other guitarists these ideas (all 10 minutes of them!) and it has allowed them to progress very quickly. If you understand that Bm is a flat 5 in key of C, you're pretty much there - and how long should that take? It baffles me that some guitar instructors don't seem to find their way there more quickly. This video needs a lot more than 14000 views. Well done.

[@acceptfilms9415]

Hi Ricky nice work ! Perhaps talking about how changing v minor to V major thus creating the leading tone might be a cool lesson cheers!

[@baadtaste1337]

8 mins in and I still cannot see how roman numerals and egyptian (?) symbols are going to make me understand this better…

[@rickysguitar]

Once you understand the roman numerals and the tonality you can apply the L7 grid which I explain in this lesson. If you've never seen my content before then that might explain why you're lost. Watch this kzbin.infonAd4eKiLZU4

[@andy196414]

Ricky thanks for your clear explanation. I already knew a lot of that but those little symbols denoting minor major etc very helpful. But I dont know what to do with this knowledge as I learned it in isolation and it has confused me a bit as I cant relate it to chord progressions. So now moving on from that If we said that the key was C and thererfore The Ionian scale is WWHWWWH or C D E F G A B C and a typical chord progression may be C F G Am 1 4 5 6 or mixture therefof those chords we could use the IONIAN major scale for solos? Would the DORIAN mode be WHWWWHW or D E F G A B C i.e the tonal centre would change and the formula wraps around but what would the chords be? Would I have to lean heavily on the Dm for it to be more DORIAN orientated? Obviously in terms of formulas(If my assumption is correct) from there on the (E) PHYRIGIAN would be HWWWHWW, (F) LYDIAN WWWHWWH, (G)MIXOLYDIAN WWHWWHW, (A) AEOLIAN WHWWHWW, (B)LOCRIAN HWWHWWW. So my confusion is what chords to use and how for each mode? Is it the same chords as the original C major but the tonal centre changes? And then there is the blues I want to understand! How? I think I need your book Ricky - next payday its coming my way! HELP!

[@winstonsmith9424]

very good thanks summarised a lot in a simple way - but i find. "flatIII" chord etc difficult to get. -- i would want to flatten 1 or all of the notes of C chord -- does flatIII have an accepted meaning in music theory? EDIT oh i see answer to tmb1065 below!

[@devinmcmanus]

Is this the Derivative approach to Modes?

[@user-kb1hw2yq2f]

F A C E G B D. Every note here is the 3rd. What is c chord made up for? c e g. Easy. Want to know the relative minor of a key? One letter back. G KEY will have E relative minor.

[@whyyeseyec]

Or simply - the relative minor of a major key is the 6th chord in any of the 12 major keys.

[@rickysguitar]

Don’t miss the point about tonal synonyms. More videos with demonstrations explaining it imminent.

[@MsDenver2]

Can you explain more please?

[@peterhansson7967]

Sorry, but this did not make it any easier for me… Still a lot to memorize, and thus one can learn it the ”old way”

[@lesavdesabonnes]

Yes, and for latin Do, Mi, Sol, Si, Ré, Fa, La. I'm French so I use a kinky mnemonic trick: Domi->Sol ciré-> Fella. Trad: Domi (Domination)->waxed floor...and you know->🍭💋💥🎉💦! 🤭😆☺️😒

[@tommaxwell429]

As a relative newbie to guitar and music theory, I find the patterns in music very fascinating. I think I can see how this theory is super useful in writing songs. As a new or intermediate player, I struggle with how this helps me play. In the end, I have to know what notes to play in the song, that someone else has compiled using this theory, and then know where they are on the keyboard. Then of course, I have to build the muscle memory to make it happen. That is the link I am missing, how does knowing this information help me actually learn to play songs on the guitar better?

[@mallninja9805]

I feel like you're doing it backwards. You're trying to work out whether it's major or minor based on the numbers capitalization. But you don't get the chord because the number says so, you get the number because of what the chord is.

[@rickysguitar]

You could perceive it as backwards. It's a chicken/egg situation. It depends where you're coming from. My point was that of "synonym thinking". I'll be explaining that more in a follow up video.

[@JunkYour925]

Don’t see music in a one dimension straight line. See it as a TWO DIMENSIONAL matrix, boxy rectangle, or 3x4 table. “The box of fourths”. Even more powerful for the guitar since it is a TWO dimensional instrument tuned in fourths. On the guitar a more useful pattern (tool) is by adding in a third string to form a 3 string 4 fret rectangle that can be seen as a matrix or table of rows and columns with cells (like a bingo card). The major chords of a key all fall along the leading fret side (column) of the box and the minors are on the trailing fret side. Since the strings (rows) are tuned in fourths going from the bass to treble string the modes on the trailing minor side are Phrygian(iii) Minor(vi) Dorian(ii) on the leading major side are mixolydian(V) major(I) Lydian(IV). All six points or cells can be labeled in letters or numbers if you know your circle of 4ths in notes or scale degrees (numbers). You can use it to figure out what modal key a song is in, which three pentatonic shapes to play in that region of fretboard to cover all six chords in the modal key, determine which chords are the characteristic chords, etc. A wealth of valuable info if you study it closely. The root of the diminished locrian (vii chord) is one fret behind the major (I), or middle string one fret behind the majors leading edge of box. Labeling the cells in this table view of the fretboard is easy. Can do it in your head. Just picture drawing the letter N. Starting in the trailing minor side (column) on the lowest string (bottom left hand cell corner) start labeling (in letters or numbers) in fourths moving across the strings (rows). When you reach the last of the three strings then diagonally jump over to the leading side (bottom right hand cell), still continuing in fourths until you reach the last of the three strings on that side (column). Picture drawing the letter N when doing this. Circle of fourths to have memorized: B E A D G C F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb or VII III VI II V IV vii iii vi ii v or 7 3 6 2 5 1 4 b7 b3 b6 b2 b5 The cells in the table can be labeled in your head in any of the above. Now you can figure what a key is if someone gives you the chords. You will know which chords are major minor or diminished in ANY key and not just the major but mixolydian or Dorian or Lydian or whatever. You become a walking musical computer.

[@truthtorpedo99]

Ricky, this is a good tool but im not sure how to translate it to the guitar neck. Perhaps this could extend to several example vids where you do a major key song improv, a minor key song, a rock song that mixes minor pentatonic and mixolydian, another example using dorian, etc. Making tools available is great but they wont be used till you train people all the different ways the tool can be used. I fully understand the theory of tool, but i have no idea how to improv using a mode or arpeggio of a chord but have a feeling this could help with that

[@rickysguitar]

Apply it to this pattern and you’ll see how it all fits together Guitar Chords (Astonishing Revelation That Got Me Playing All Over The Neck) kzbin.infonAd4eKiLZU4

[@Idiots_Savant]

So, first off, you are a phenomenal teacher and have taught me so much. Your way of teaching and explaining clarifies ALOT!! In the last video with tetrachords, you used C Major and it had R, M2M3P4P5M6M7. How come this C Major has RM, minor 2&3, M4&5,minor 6, dim7th? TL;DR: how is this C major different from the last tetrachords video where it had all majors and perfect 4&5ths? Your help is greatly appreciated !! 😊

[@Alechgy]

Thanks so much Ricky. Wish I had this education when I was young. Education has failed in so many areas. (Refer also, J. Peterson for this) I got your book. I’m in the music industry, I would like to market for you in a way, where i am, but it may have to remain a pipe dream.

[@rickysguitar]

Thank you for your comment! Learning and applying the information I give you is enough. Share these ideas with someone else! “Teach and you learn twice”.

[@Schmiddelwutz2000]

I just realized how closely related the e minor pentatonic scale is to the phrygian scale in this example. This is likely the main reaon why many metal songs use phrygian. Start with an e (minor) chord/riff (the heaviest you have on a 6 string) and solo with e minor pentatonic. Then add some random notes which sound dark and you are there.😊

[@rickysguitar]

The minor pentatonic sits comfortably underneath Phrygian, Dorian and Aeolian. There’s power in knowing that!

[@alpardal]

In fact, pentatonic scales are so universal precisely because they remove the "trouble" notes - ie the semitones, the notes that identify the modes. That's why the minor pentatonic works with dorian/phrigian/eolian (2nds and 6ths removed) and the major pentatonic works with ionian/lydian/mixolydian (4ths and 7ths removed)

[@3cardmonty602]

This just complicated the faulks out of me

[@rickysguitar]

You might not be ready for this information. What was your sticking point?

[@Hexbyte965]

@@rickysguitar Everything after EyUp....;)

[@TheEpochCompanion]

This is basically just modal thinking, right? Like if a song is in the key of Dm with a natural 6 (D Dorian) then can think of the chords in the context of C Ionian. Is that basically it or did I miss something more?

[@HopperDragon]

You didn't, this is just second semester music theory

[@vincemincevince]

why for example is the G major in the A minor scale then called G a flat because you would still play exactly the same chord/note you wouldn't shift it down one fret? i hope that makes sense

[@rickysguitar]

The a minor scale (harmonised into chords) contains the same chords as the C Major scale (harmonised into chords). Look at my pinned comment on the video.

[@mingosutu]

Great job. Thank you so much. I like your accent. Is it Yorkshire accent? Sheffield?

[@rickysguitar]

Aye! It's a Yorkshire accent. Sheffield is about 30 miles away from Huddersfield where I live

[@josephgugliuzza46]

[@josephgugliuzza46]

This has been the most informative lesson I have found on the internet. I will be looking for more of your lessons in the future. Your lesson has answered a lot of question of what I have been looking for. Thank You

[@noscrubbubblez6515]

'Major minor tells his Cadets, Key up troops and Note this half Step'= My first composition in theory class (summer 1973) See the thing was the Viet Nam War at the time and as a 17 year old long hair I was stymied by the regimentation and seriousness of theory. Not sure I passed because the professors hated long hairs. In fact I failed everything music and cut my hair for a job 2 years later. Suddenly my grades improved. I still don't value theory. Ear training was the bridge to music.

[@screamingjimmy]

great lesson. thankyou.

[@ronfrancis6012]

I find the idea of resetting the Roman numerals back to i for A in the Aeolean mode really odd. What if you wanted to base a song on the Dorian mode? Would you reset E to i as well and work you way through the degrees of the scale in a similar way to what you did with the Aeolean, or would it stay as ii? And what about all the other modes? Do you re-set the numerals for each of those as well? If not, then why is Aeolean more special than the other modes?

[@rickysguitar]

Aeolian is the fancy term for relative minor. No need to overthink it. This is what I mean with synonym thinking. The chord, scale and arpeggio shapes are all exactly the same. Why associate a whole slew of different shapes/patterns? It’s extremely inefficient and slows down your learning. I have a follow up lesson planned which will demonstrate this.

[@ronfrancis6012]

@@rickysguitar Well I was thinking that resetting the Roman numeral for Aeolean was unnecessarily complicated considering one would just be playing in the key of C but using A as a root, but maybe your follow up lesson will make the benefits more clear. But so it is clear in my mind, regarding my question, if playing in Dorian, would you regard that as being i or ii using Roman numerals?

[@rickysguitar]

This is a jazz notation convention. I didn't invent it lol! Yes you can do it with the modes as well so in answering your question the extended Roman numerals for dorian would be: R 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 i ii bIII IV7 v vi* bVII Making it "sound" dorian is another story...

[@ronfrancis6012]

@@rickysguitar OK thanks, that was the information I was after. (Yes, I know you didn't invent the notation. :) )

[@faelquerque]

Been thinking this way my whole life! So much easier to make music theory work this way!

[@georgekurywczak6766]

🙂

[@Matt_Houlihan]

Hey Ricky, nice video! You and I are on the same page. But I have to ask, where did you learn this technique? I recently published a bunch of guitar chord diagrams (NFTs) that included this information and alternate approach, and since publishing all of my findings have been popping up here and there without any credit. I am wondering if you figured this out on your own? Did somebody show you? Did you happen to view M.Houli's Guitar NFT's? Anyhow, you did a great job explaining the cycle! I can't believe how many people don't think the bIII is real/usefull, it's the 3rd mode of natural minor, and is Ionian! I love abusing this cycle and sticking in all the parallel minor chords instead of the relative minor chords, try that out! You will get all kinds of borrowed chords from your parallel :D

[@rickysguitar]

I’ve been teaching the diatonic tonality cycle concept for over 20 years. I’m not a fan of NFTs so I wouldn’t have ever come across yours. As I’ve explained to many others the bIII notation is common practice in jazz so that is really nothing new.

[@Matt_Houlihan]

@@rickysguitar Okay, thanks Ricky! I hope I didn't sound rude, I just had to ask one music lover to another! I figured out the 'diatonic tonality cycle' all on my own while creating chord diagrams (but I didn't have a name for it), it stuck out like a sore thumb to me when compiling groups of seven diatonic chords into one big major/minor sheet. Anyhow, I guess putting this into guitar chord diagrams was my unique creation, but certainly not the foundations of the cycle itself! Cheers! PS: Where did you find this when you first learned it? I'd love to read the book if it was a book!

[@MM-rr1kp]

no one saw your nft jesus

[@banjomark9900]

🤯

[@Idiots_Savant]

Mnemonic I. Do. Play. Loud. Music. At. Lunch= Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian

[@hhernandezgo]

Why do you emphazise the aeolian mode over the others? What about the other modes. This method could bring further confusion to the understanding of the theory.

[@rickysguitar]

Modes belong to the parent Major scale. Ionian is just another name for Major. Scale degree structures are the same. Aeolian is simply the modal name for the relative minor. This method brings clarity for the player as the chords, scales and arpeggio shapes are the same. No need to associate anything new. I’ll be doing a follow up video that will clarify this concept.

[@satchice9102]

I found it confusing when you started introducing the flat (b) symbols, like for the three chord (C-chord) in the A minor scale written as bIII , it made me think of C-flat. Not sure why you did that because there are no flats in the notes of C-major or A-natural minor.

[@Erlewyn]

Because the whole point of using roman numerals is that it doesn't depend on the actual key. But III means something different depending on if it's in major mode or minor mode, so there's a convention to always write the degree as if it was a major scale. So if I is A, then III would be C#, so C is bIII.

[@modernlifeisadam]

@@Erlewyn so this applies to things out of key aswelll? IE bV in c major would be f#? been wondering this for AWHILE and cant find decent explanations

[@rickysguitar]

read my pinned comment. :)

[@modernlifeisadam]

@@rickysguitar there is no pin ;/

[@modernlifeisadam]

@@rickysguitar i watched the vid and got it now lol sry didnt watch it all before asking. good on you for explaining this all as a whole

[@Thoseaboutto911]

In A minor ,what is the purpose of putting a flat symbol by a major chords?

[@rickysguitar]

To retain the scale information. I explain it in the video. The bIII is a minor third away from the root/tonic etc. watch it again!

[@davesplace144]

@@rickysguitar When explaining A minor and saying it has a flat 3rd, 6th and 7th you don't explain that these are actually in relation to A major which consists of (A, B, C#, D, E, F# and G#). If you lower the 3rd, 6th and 7th of A major i.e. (C#->C, F#->F and G#->G) you end up with the A minor scale. You do mention the interval between A - C is a minor 3rd, but it is very quick and you also just referred to the relative major - which may lead to confusion. I do appreciate the effort you put into this.

[@smileyfdave]

bIII in Am would be Cbmajor (B major) by Nashville system so that bit didn't make sense to me. Confusing chords and notes, but otherwise good.

[@timread641]

Thanks Dave’s Place this made it all make perfect sense! I kept thinking the flat 6 would be B.

[@chesterkelsey1234]

@@timread641 Thats what I was thinking.About to give up on this for that reason.Back to watching it for about the tenth time

[@garrymoss8021]

Lost me. I guess I need it in choonks

[@Mr4Strings]

You start out talking about notes in a scale then all of a sudden the words "chord" and "thirds" appear. I get the Notes to Roman Numerals. But what makes "C" a Major and "D" & "E" Minors?

[@alpardal]

C has a major third (ie there are two whole steps between C and E) - both D and E (and A as well) are minor because they have _minor_ thirds: 1 ½ steps between D and its third (F) and also between E and its third (G) - same with A and C, that's why the vi is also a minor chord

[@500JM500]

The fact that when you play their triad in that scale, the triad chord is major or minor (or diminished).

[@Mr4Strings]

@@alpardal Thank you for the explanation. I am going to have to ruminate on it for a while. Thanks again for your help.

[@heftyjo2893]

It's easier to visualize the chord tones on a piano because the white and black keys are laid out in a linear fashion. It can be done on a guitar if you play a scale on one string. Notably the A string is best because the notes just go up the alphabet A-B-C-D-E-F-G. You can then physically see the distance between the notes of the scale by counting the number of frets between the respective notes. Each time your finger has to physically hop over a fret that is a half step or a semi-tone. Two half-steps makes a whole step. The chord tone is built by taking a root, the three, and the five of the scale and playing them together. Whether the chord is a major or a minor is defined by the physical distance between the root, three, and five. Spcifically, whether the chord is major or minor is define by whether the Three of the scale is a Major Third(two whole steps) or Minor Third (a whole step and a half step) from the root note. The 'Three' is the numerical value of the notes of the scale on paper. The 'Thirds' are a measure of the actual distance between the notes on the instrument.

[@vincemincevince]

if you play the triads of each chord in the scale of C it will help you hear it

[@rodneyhhillsr6088]

As a general rule, the 5 chord in a minor scale should be dominant, not minor. Why? 1) It’s constructed from the Harmonic Minor scale, not the relative minor, and 2) V7 to i has a resolution that sets the i minor chord as the tonic. In your example of A minor, the 5 chord is more often shown as E7, as opposed to e minor. Interesting concept though, circle of scale degrees. But, hey, rules are made to be broken and I’m far from an expert. (Maybe you explained this and I missed it)

[@rickysguitar]

We're using the relative minor. Simple diatonic harmony as used in most pop and rock. minor harmony can be a minefield, because there are 3 minor tonalities available in any composition. Natural, (because it's born of the relative Major), Harmonic and Melodic. Even then there are 2 forms of the melodic minor. The jazz melodic is the same formula ascending and descending whereas the classical melodic minor descends in the natural minor. Like I said. A minefield. Absolutely rules are made to be broken! The most common music theory we all get taught is classical harmony, but in my humble opinion, theory is just a tool to convey what music should be played on the instrument. minor v to i isn't as strong a resolution, but then again we might not want a strong resolution. This is certainly the case when we use modes. Jazz based music theory takes us down another road. If we use a V7 to i then we have modulated to the harmonic minor. This is quite common due to the strong resolving effect as you stated. I think of the chords available to us as colours on a palette. What do we want to paint? As long as what we create makes sense to other listeners and ourselves then the goal has been achieved.

[@bustacap3791]

IMO you gained tonality when you write them I II III 😛

[@fredclarke801]

This rapidly gets complicated! A bit like Einstein explaining Relativity. This is academic info, which most guitarists shy away from. Good luck!

[@postoffice146]

Not at all, it's just one major scale, and the minor scale is one of the five modes of this major scale, and each mode starts from a different position in the major scale. Aeolian mode/minor scale starts from the sixth of the major scale.

[@rickysguitar]

Cool, thanks!

[@tomheineman4369]

Do you copyright any of your cool ideas?

[@rickysguitar]

Yes. But I think it’s more important to share knowledge than gatekeep. I have so many more cool ideas and unique perspectives to share. I’m here on the planet to teach guitar.

[@ericjencson9489]

I'm soooooooo confused!

[@rickysguitar]

Too much too soon. Do you know what a Major scale is?

[@ericjencson9489]

@rickysguitar I'm 60 and I've played drums for 50 years. I could never understand guitar or keyboards.

[@MsDenver2]

Your just adding more confusion to the way music works, so many people keep coming up with there Owen way of understanding music that it causes confusion?

[@rickysguitar]

"It’s impossible for a man to learn what he already thinks he knows" - Epictetus

[@MultiCugel]

There is more than one way to explain everything, people learn differently.

[@DaveBroTube]

That Owen. What a bastard.

[@djh6970]

There Owen?

[@faelquerque]

Lady, with all due respect, there's no right way to learn something. If something work for you, great! Stick with it! But I've been doing what he said in the video my whole life, and was the way I found to understand music theory; the thing is, 20 years ago, I had to figure out this stuff all by myself, and it was kinda hard! Kids nowdays are lucky to have people like Ricky to show that some subjects are not that complex at all.

[@frankguernier2280]

You lost me as soon as you said the for Roman numerals some are minors ? Where did you get that ? Not explained. Clear as mud.! As with most music teachers they see it but they brush over critical points as if the student should just know it.

[@BenjaminIdle]

If you don't know about major and minor, you should be watching a video for someone who has never studied or even heard about any music theory before moving on to further learning materials. That is your indicator that you are looking at inappropriate content for where you're at in your journey.

[@rickysguitar]

I have explained Roman numeral notation in other videos on my channel. It's impossible to include absolutely every grain of prerequisite required knowledge in each video as they would all be 3 hours long. People don't have time to watch for that long. That's why i answer those people that ask proper questions in the comment section without scathing remarks. *Please be mindful I am a real person and to temper the tone of your comments. Talk to me as if we were face to face in real life. I usually just hide rude people from my channel. However, I feel this could be useful to others reading the comments, To clarify for your benefit, originally Roman numerals were written in UPPERCASE. That means if you read I II II IV V VI VII it could apply to either Major or minor keys. Later someone clever decided it lacked vital information about the tonal quality of the chord and it was decided lowercase would denote minor and uppercase would denote Major. Thus, I ii iii IV V vi vii* this changed how we looked at Major and minor. The minor key became i ii* III iv v VI VII. This is called the EXTENDED Roman numeral system. It became super easy to associate the quality of the chord with the Roman numeral. Awesome! As we entered the Jazz age, further shorthand symbols arose and extended how we treat Roman numerals. (Bear in mind there is a fork in the road where classical music theory notation and jazz notation because different species of the same animal). Myself, despite being more entrenched in the jazz way of thinking (despite extensively studying classical music theory) as this is more practical to explaining guitar concepts. Classical music theory is very pianocentric which is why I do my best to translate it into PRACTICAL guitar language. This means sometimes what might be considered ugly/incorrect terms are invented (according to music theory purists). We use music theory to explain an idea to another person. It SHOULD in my opinion facilitate the practical application of creating music. I feel, as suggested you may need to take a step back in your learning journey and learn more fundamental concepts before you tackle the content in this video. Many of my video cover such topics and I invite you to look deeper into the lessons on my channel.

[@flapjackson6077]

That was a very classy and informative response! I understand the frustration of watching people discuss music theory because my theory knowledge is very basic at best, but I also understand that people who know music theory can “simplify” what they know only so much. Often times getting a simplified explanation requires at least a certain level of understanding to begin with.

[@revitalm8195]

This is a thorough explanation, but I think you leaned into the history side of things too much. For a complete beginner, I think the simple explanation he was looking for was something more along the lines of- in a major key, the 1st, 4th and 5th degrees become major chords (hence the uppercase letters). 2nd, 3rd and 6th degrees become minor chords (lowercase letters). 7th degree is a diminished chord.

[@rickysguitar]

I explained that in the video and many other videos on my channel.

[@thesecret111]

the III, VI and VII ARE NOT FLAT!

[@joeland87]

They are flat in relation to the major key. A Major has a F# C# G#. So when you write out the minor key you have to flatten those degrees.

[@rickysguitar]

They are in the minor key.

[@ganko2240]

C MAJOR= C D E F G A B C MINOR= C D Eb F G Ab Bb

[@tycumbie788]

Eight minutes in you lost me completely.

[@rickysguitar]

I've just had a watch around the 8 minute mark to see what information you needed to make it make sense. It looks like you need more information on the relative minor. I already made a video on that here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIHMl51_r6l6mrc

[@tycumbie788]

@@rickysguitar if a chord has a flat third how can it still be called major?

[@rickysguitar]

We're retaining the scale degree information. It's a common jazz convention. The flat is referring to the distance of the chord from the tonic. Remember, root refers to scales, but tonic relates to chords. Major R 2 3 4 5 6 7 - these are the notes I ii iii IV V vi vii* - these are the triads from the notes. We do the same with the minor R 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 - these are the notes i ii* bIII iv v bVI bVII - these are the triads from the notes. Chord bIII is a b3rd from the tonic. Chord bVI is a b6th away from the tonic, and finally chord bVII is a b7 distance from the tonic. Notice how the note and chords share the same information. If we leave it out we're losing information that translates as scale shapes and key grids. I've got another video coming up soon that explains how notes, chords and modes are synonyms. It simplifies how much information you need to carry in your head because you realise it's all about labelling chord, scale and arpeggio patterns. Trust me on this one. Get your head around it and EVERYTHING is easier on guitar.

[@MsDenver2]

I can see what you doing but that’s not the way I learned, I’m dyslexic so I can’t use the Roman the way your doing

[@MultiCugel]

That's nice for you, enjoy. Most of the human race are not dyslexic and can use the Roman numeral way of doing this.

[@t2dev]

Thanks!

[@rickysguitar]

Thank you, I really appreciate this. Ricky

[@liberatetutemeexinferis5902]

🤯