This will change the way you think about music theory

Ever wondered why some times someone will play a G13#5b9 while in others they would play a regular plain old G7 or G9 chord? Well, wonder no further! In this lesson I will show you what I think is the right way to think about complex chords, tensions, altered tensions and all that jazz - literally. The idea is to think about scales and not chords. This simplifies things enormously and lets you group different "types" of chords together. It makes a lot more sense than memorizing a million different combinations, and simplifies harmony substantially (at least for me!).
0:00 Introduction
0:27 The complexity of harmony
3:51 Organizing complexity
4:24 The dominant scale
7:47 The altered scale
12:05 An example
15:00 Important dominant scales
18:50 Important major scales
22:19 Important minor scales

[@juanramonsilva1067]

I'm a classically trained musician and I found this so interesting. It made it more logical to understand from where Jazz musicians get those really weird chords, now it all begins to make sense.

[@odyssey21thcentury31]

This knowledge is more "useful" than "advanced", as a classical musician you basically know more about scales, modes, and mechanics which comes with. The sole "flaw" of classical music training is the endless learning process which tend to set strict parameters in someone mind.

[@pjbpiano]

If you are a classical musician and you studied harmony of four or more voices, you should be able to understand this type of thought process even better than the jazz musicians because it is basically first species counterpoint but with more than one note harmonizing the melody (which is usually either the bass/lowest note or the soprano/highest note). I highly suspect that some jazz musicians studied classical harmony (especially from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries) and got the idea of thinking of harmony as picking consonant notes from available scales rather than looking at chords as static shapes on the piano. Knowing all your options of choices of notes when given a bass note and a melody note (or even just a bass note) will instantly turn you into a very advanced jazz piano player.

[@keenanlarsen1639]

I'm a guitar player, but I actually love going to piano channels for theory stuff. Even though I can't do the exercises exactly as you present them, I can still make use of the idea. Thanks 👍

[@arthurmore427]

This is one powerful lesson.

[@AntaresValdemar]

This is really helpful. I feel like I've been bogged down for a long time thinking about specific chord extensions and inversions etc. Seeing it as just scales with avoid notes is a refreshing idea. Thanks for sharing!

[@MangoldProject]

Exactly my point! Happy it helped you out.

[@artsanchez6996]

As a gospel piano player I'm always looking to add veriety to original songs. Your chordings and progressions are a great way to add beautiful out of the box voicings.

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

I'll come back to this a bit later. It's out of my skill level.

[@MangoldProject]

All in good time.

[@rollandjoeseph]

Too much for my untrained playing

[@Rabbittavo]

Imo this important to learn in the beginning. It's helpful to understand that for every chord there are a bunch of scales that accentuate those notes and each add different flavor. Chord scale theory may be explained in a simpler way but it's important for improve and solos imo

[@malachisims3973]

This better now be the Lawrence I know talking like that? Va?

[@RandomGuy-ct7ns]

You'll get there, it isn't too far off from beginner knowledge

[@thesoundsmith]

This is how I have always approached improv. It increases the number of instantaneous choices exponentially- 8 to 10 notes rather than 3 or 4 plus their lead-in half-step or whole step. Bottom line, think this way and you CANNOT play a "wrong" note, you have four ways to make it correct....

[@MangoldProject]

Mingus once said, "there are no wrong notes, only wrong resolutions".

[@EubenM]

I feel this is a historic moment for me. I do have a nice improvisation ability, but I felt stuck and longing for another level. This was an epiphany for me! Thanks!!!

[@seanonel]

Really brilliant video. I'd recommend intermediate to advanced players to revisit this video regularly! Just as an aside; based upon whatever chord you're playing, you can take those chord tones, add a whole tone to each one of them, and you'll have a correct scale for every chord you play...

[@YawAnsongSnr]

I feel guilty because I feel like I should be paying for this video LOL. Perhaps the most useful tutorial I have seen that fits all the many pieces together. This actually simplified the art of playing advanced chords. Thank you my friend for this very useful free information.

[@TotalDec]

If you can't understand YT is free, music theory might be way beyond your ability to comprehend.

[@xyzyzx1253]

⁠@@TotalDecdude, what the hell, were you having a bad day or something, just dropping a snide insult at a stranger on the internet vaguely adjacent to their positive comment was and it was really uncalled for. Besides, he was saying “it feels like stealing because of how good the information is” not because he didn’t understand that he wasn’t paying for it.

[@rebanelson607]

Whatever it was that you played starting around 21:45 was fantastic! Immediately I recalled an anecdote about two brothers in the early '60s who were singing in a club when an old guy, who obviously dug their music, stood up and said, "That's righteous, brothers." The duo appreciated the complement and became the Righteous Brothers. Thanks for another great tutorial. I've been working on extensions for a while and this really helps.

[@CleisonRodriguesComposer]

You are one of the best teachers that I follow! Thank you for this amazing lessons!

[@raysaade]

This lesson is unbelievably important

[@yoloyo7019]

I want to let u know how well made this video was. It’s clear that you know much, much more on this subject, but you stayed very focused and didn’t let unnecessary information disrupt the logical progression of the lesson. I’m a guitar player and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to follow along, but it was easy and student-focused.

[@jnoliveros18]

Think about scales and not chords. your amazing! Thank you

[@viniciuslucca6886]

I have been a self-taught pianist for about 4 years, and I always had trouble understanding those complex jazzy chords (especially the dominant chords). Seeing those chords by their respective scales (instead of trying to memorize every type of chord independently) really opened my mind! Thank you SO much for this lesson!!!

[@btkenobi2]

This is brilliant, love your approach and explanation. I've been playing and writing for 30 years amd there's always something new and beautiful to learn. Music is the neverending journey 🎶

[@RO-Channel]

Wow! This was a GREAT lesson.

[@MangoldProject]

Thanks RO.

[@guang-xingli9228]

jacob collier once said he played the G chord using his left hand and played all others using his right hand, and made a note of the emotions of all possible combinations. One additional lesson here is one can group those combinations using a few scales. At the end of the day only emotions matter.

[@philippedavid3591]

Thank you so much ! For a non professional composer as myself, I found this video fantastic, very useful and well explained. An other way of explaining your concept should be that, even when you play chords, you should never forget that music is essentially horizontal and melodic, not vertical. An other way should be that the same chord sounds differently in regard of what chords are placed before and after. Best regards from France !

[@lengisen9637]

Thank you for your enlightenment, makes things a lot simpler

[@coloaten6682]

So great to see you back. Another brilliant video from a great teacher. Thank you :))

[@Fr3etd4nc3r]

Thank you, this one is really a great lesson. It did change the way I look at voicings now. As a guitar player I still have a lot of work to put into it, due to the various string set combinations, but I see a road ahead I can now take. Bless ya!

[@jamalkargbo1112]

Thanks for the content. It’s really helping me understand more complex chords

[@hanankhalifa2589]

Seriously! Im beyond grateful to you❤

[@DunEddyG]

This is the best explanation I’ve seen. Pure (Manu)Gold. Was trying to puzzle my way through this, but now I will make huge steps forward. Thank you very much. 🎉

[@MangoldProject]

You're welcome.

[@amusicment4829]

Super helpful … and awesome keyboard/notation graphics make all so clear, thank you!

[@hisnibs1121]

That's really helpful. Thank you! As a 'mere' bass player (though I do play other instruments) I am rarely directly involved with the upper extensions of chords, but this approach to them really puts a lot of information I've only ever half understood into perspective, and helps me to see how it all fits together. The groupings of the common scales you presented, and the 'avoid notes are going to be really useful to me.

[@MangoldProject]

Bass players are the harmonic foundation of a band. The best bass players I've met were as or more knowledgeable than the best keyboard players, because you need to act as the glue between the harmony and the groove. You have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders to be the best music theorist you can ;)

[@raphaelscaletta4697]

This is the most informational video ever. Thank you!

[@skrijgsman]

Okay, let me start by saying that it's actually a helpful way to think about this, and I really like the concept and the video. Just a note (bad pun intended) on the G altered scale (8:12): There is no B in the G altered scale if you're writing it enharmonically (i.e. Super Locrian) the way you are now. In that case it'd be a Cb. An easy way to spot this is that there are no scales that contain the same named degree twice (in this case, the B is in there twice). If you are going to write it as an actual altered scale, it's going to look completely different again. The altered scale contains the following notes: 1 b9 #9 3 #11 b13 b7, so your G scale becomes G Ab A# B C# Eb F#b. And okay, I can forgive somebody for writing F#b as F, because that makes no sense at all :) It's also quite confusing to talk about the #5 and call it Eb. It's a raised 5th degree, the 5th degree is a D, so the raised 5th is a D#, not an Eb.

[@bohnulus]

Brillant!!!!!!!!!!!! this has really opened my eyes and simplified my approach ( IDENTIFY and understand the scale first ) THEN...... lay down the voice accordingly .... thank you, AWESOME brother!!!!!

[@MangoldProject]

Excellent!

[@alamolalamol9426]

I have been thinking about this concept a lot latterly. Thank you so much for this explanation 😊.

[@stephenb4164]

Glad you are back!

[@scottfoster3643]

This may be the most important concept (perfectly explained) I have come across. Thank you kind sir 🙏

[@MangoldProject]

Thanks Scott.

[@skooliganwtf5592]

Brilliantly demonstrated

[@gaagoimusic]

Thank you so much for this lesson! Even for a person with little music theory knowledge like me it was really helpful

[@neebeeshaabookwayg6027]

Thank you, kindly, i really needed this, and enjoyed it, and, it makes very good sense ❤

[@ahknu1671]

Learning equations instead of memorizing solutions. Nice! I have a math/science background and recently started watching music stuff. Has been very interesting to explore a new area. Even though I get lost with all the notes, I think I understand what you are saying, and I am glad I saw this early :)

[@ecuadoriantaco27]

Always upvote mangold. This is such a wonderful channel

[@veiltheseries8585]

Great video! I appreciate the way you teach. Thank you for sharing.

[@MrStevem121]

Good to see you back with great content as usual. Thanks for sharing

[@robbes7rh]

That is the sauce! Kind of a simple idea to move chord shapes up and down based on a scale, but it sounds so sophisticated and harmonically coherent. I hear so much of the music I'm fond of in today's lesson. I know the lesson is about thinking in terms of scale, but the polychord aspect of some of those altered dominant chords jumps out at me like Bb minor over G7(no 5th) or Ab minor over G7(no 5th) [both come from the G diminished scale, I believe]

[@mrman6436]

Glad you're back making videos

[@rickrocketts183]

Super helpful way of looking at this, thank you!

[@aswardjnocharles5305]

Straight to the target. Thank you .

[@odyssey21thcentury31]

I learned scale modes way before chords. I wouldn't suggest to begin like I did because it's a long, even though I knew how to build a chord before learning it, what's important is to explore and have good time with all of this. The lesson is, there's nothing wrong as long as you know what you're doing, theory acquired or not. Note: it would be possible to add more variation if we had more fingers 😉

[@lospopularos]

Great idea. It does make it simpler indeed. Thank you!f

[@vladthelad3408]

As a self thought guitarist this really helped me a lot understanding the harmony between every chord in a key

[@meileechew3189]

Thank you again…this is such a great insight, n playing gets smoother😊

[@mrlee6740]

Merd!!! Mangold, you're a real Gold. Thank you for this.

[@john_latch_]

This is amazing stuff Sir! Thanks for sharing 🙏🏽

[@nevermindthebull0cks]

Me a knuckle dragging mostly rock guitar player.... Brain hurt. I do find myself counting tones out on scales to figure out odd chords though. I think of colors or moods when I'm looking for a chord. Really smooth ivory tickling you have going on there. I have heard there are no wrong notes until you play the next one.

[@PlaylistProductions]

Oh have to try this with my own music! Thank you :)

[@mgd9151]

Very insightful!

[@impacc]

I actually think in the exact opposite way by using arpeggios and embellishments vs scales. So in order to improvise over G altered chords, I just solo using whatever Ab minor lines and melodies I already know. Gives you most if not all the altered sounds without having to think of a separate scale.

[@TomMoose]

Holy moly. Love it

[@TotalDec]

This is the kind of video I always hope to see, but only see about once in 5-10 years.

[@helenrushful]

The ‘diminished scale’ is Messianes mode 2 of limited transposition. It’s worth mentioning that because there are only 2 of them possible because of their inherent symmetry. Understanding the symmetry in musical harmonic structures (through basic transposition) is an important point to get to if you’re serious about improvising. Most people get stuck in this obsession over chords, chords are the gravestones of most peoples musical education unfortunately. It’s sad that so much emphasis is put on them in most educational environments.

[@theofficiallobst6592]

also worth mentioning that this (octatonic scale), whole tone scale and the hexatonic scale also have a similar symmetry/alternating intervals, and limited number of transpositions.

[@TheRealSandleford]

Thanks for that. Flip side of everything is good.(what people call good really means they like it) (there is no real good) usually you hear dont think about scales but chords. That keyboard plastic raising sounds like large hail falling when you play dreamy with the #4!

[@willavanilla]

Amazingly instructive and useful

[@bendover1078]

This taught me so much thank you

[@dustindrews24-tet79]

This is a great video, thanks!

[@stolencoats63]

Super helpful! Thanks.

[@AiMR]

This is a real game changer!

[@zedxxx9]

Fantastic!

[@widitruth]

I remember better finger positions, same pattern, but where my thumb compared to the bass. This video is so enlightening about Altered positions.

[@plutogamstrumframe]

Very helpful , thanks

[@sydrose13]

I use this method to think about my guitar playing and it helps a lot. Mark Levine's book was very helpful. These 4 scales are really the only ones I use (including pentatonics within that)

[@MangoldProject]

Yes! That's the whole point: There really aren't a lot of "interesting" scales (interesting as in "widely used"), which is why this concept has so much merit.

[@EvangelistJoeArnold]

Keep the videos up. We need that light build to go off!

[@JesseLD3]

Coming from a youtube learner. The G dominant has all of the same notes of the C major scale just in different degrees. Interesting. I never knew that was what i was playing. I was just tired of playing from the C root position and trying different bass notes. Funny where a little education/understanding will take you. The idea to use shapes is genius because thats how i found chords on accident lol.

[@RochelleM491]

I also think this concept might help in training one’s ear to recognize, locate and understand the diminished sound components when used in chord progressions.

[@sammakwela]

Thank you

[@Gregorywillard777]

He real makes things clear

[@noelwhite9350]

11:37 Thank you for helping me very much you make it clear for me to understand am going to stick with your tin man it bad bless

[@Spherical_El]

Absolutely love it! I've always preferred scales over chords - but this is exactly what I needed. Expertly put 💯 plus I love your playing style. I'd love to see how you would use other exotic scales. I like Hungarian minor/Byzantium major or Huawei scale.

[@Spherical_El]

I look forward to practicing your advice ,thanks so much 👍

[@drgpenman]

Very useful, and I like the idea of using the different scales to essentially group possible chord structures. I was a bit confused by the use of the term "altered scale" - this video only describes one type, but when googled there are in fact a number of different ones. But with a little bit more digging I found that the superlocrian is also called THE altered scale, and is one scale in the group of altered SCALES. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks again for the video! Has given me some stuff to practise.

[@got2bharmony]

Thank you again for sharing your beautiful playing and masterful. explanations. The challenge of teaching music is to avoid treating it as dry mathematical theory, naming chords to define their core tone and intervals. As you say, it isn't helpful to attempt to memorise hundreds of chords by name or even shape. Far better to learn the intervals that create a certain feeling and how to transition them. Music to listen to creates emotions with tension, resolution and progression with a pallette of notes, and you explain how this can be done. Something that is very hard to put into words. So many musical educators use a ton of jargon and treat it as science, when the magic of music is as an art. You explain things that are useful, not in answering quiz questions or passing written exams but in making music that people will appreciate listening to. If I lived in your part of the world, I would hire you as my teacher without a moment's hesitation.

[@janscott602]

Mind blown!

[@alejandromedina2349]

I've personally found easier to think in terms of chords over chords, incorporating sixes and diminished chords using the Barry Harris approach. It simplifies things a lot and allows for easier movements and inversions compared to complex, lengthy chords. However, it still requires substantial effort and practice. It seems to share similarities with the scales of chords approach you've described. I can't speak for everyone, but it's possible that certain approaches may be more accessible to different individuals. Thanks for the video, quite interesting!

[@djhardcorehengst6356]

Just do what works for you, this is how the best songs are made

[@StopWars420]

Barry's teaching is jazz focused only. Diminished chords don't really work in other genres.

[@bob-tshade99]

I'm using this idea to apply it to my guitar skills.

[@6moon18]

I like your channel, thank you❤

[@suga4all]

Great insight! 👍 I also observed that from a certain point it doesn't make any more sense to think of chords. Especially in improvisation it makes more sense to think of a scale and seperate between the left hand base which defines the root and the right hand "color notes" (similar to the concept of slash chords, but without the chords, if that makes sense 😅). And then there are rules for the color notes. Sometimes it takes me a while to even analyze what chord I actually just played.

[@MangoldProject]

Exactly. That's the philosophy behind polychords (left hand = "basic chord", right hand = triad that focuses on extensions).

[@makcings4764]

This is genuinely interesting :O

[@harrisbeatsfrankou6304]

Learning this... GIT we did Secondary Dominants and tritone substitution to a high degree and 24 keys. But altered scales and chords were glossed over. My freind plays guitar and piano is helping me. I can count or spell any chord...but I learned them all via the Fourths and Then Fifths... The Harmonic Minor and Melodic minor. But I will take this slow. Interesting Berklee Professor says Cycle of Fourths always first as it's like eternal 2 5 1's. Altered is a new rabbit hole I will learn but slowly. Im a 24 key guy (Bach😂)Not 30 like Collier and Victor Wooten... but I respect where they are coming from. Your chord ideas are like John Novello's in a way.

[@MangoldProject]

Thanks Harris. Hope this gives you interesting.

[@harrisbeatsfrankou6304]

@@MangoldProject Very.Thankyou.

[@user-cx8qf1lb8n]

This video is top top video for piano players and those who like to play chords

[@calvinkingston_]

Would love a vid where you talk ab all of the other scales possible over those chords. Maybe min maj diminished and aug too

[@MangoldProject]

Most of the complexity (and altered tensions) occur over dominant chords, and the four scales I gave are really the main core of it. But I will think about your suggestion!

[@es330]

Because songs are built on chord progressions I memorise the chords of each song and then explore chord voicings and scales. There is no "chord or 'scale" method. Just the way your prefer to do it. I think honing your melodic development utilises chords and scales. Substitutions are endless and you end up with your own style of favoured voicings. There is more than one scale to play on each chord too. So I ended up with my own common decisions about what to use in each situation; and then change that in improvisation too.

[@travelerovlog1070]

Gold

[@xaisthoj]

Excellent visual info. There is room on the screen for a Mel spectogram.

[@PopovSB]

Important dominant scale in minor key G7+5-9 to Cm [ 1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7 ]

[@alanburroughs7631]

That’s the G super locrian scale. It’s Ab melodic minor starting at the 7th note.

[@jonyates8821]

Nice lesson! Might I suggest instead of using the Aeolian scale and avoiding the minor 6th, use the Dorian scale instead. The major 6th in that scale will give you some beautiful chords like the m6, m6(add9), and m13.

[@raychen5973]

i have no idea whats going on but the notes sound beautiful lol

[@MangoldProject]

Sometimes thats all you need to get inspired.

[@petejandrell4512]

Let it all sink in slowly, the sounds first, then keep watching the videos. It's surprising how one's brain 'connects the dots' between what you're hearing and all the symbols and gobbledygook. Don't try to rush it, it'll make sense in time and the journey is part of the experience.

[@lethanh6319]

holy molly, this is like a secret key to open my mind about applying music theory. Feeling like a dumb the wholetime 🤣

[@pedrocatoira2695]

💛

[@tia904]

I agree that at least thinking this way make it less a word salad, and as a result less confusing. The nomenclature was probably put together to allow musicians to play together and know where they are going more than helping the solo musician/composer.

[@marlou169]

Well,I never had a lesson, but we have a piano... I play the base tones with the left hand and the melody with the right hand... I recognize what you’re doing... but when I start thinking about it... I’m lost😅 I’ll just listen and let my hands do their thing🤪

[@LeeCassidy]

Very cool. If I understand you right, though, it sounds like a potentially needlessly complex way of thinking about chords when playing simple progressions and voicings. Like, a I IV V, it's quite easy to think of the chords diatonically. It seems more complex to think of the IV as being based on the Lydian mode, and the V as being based on Mixolydian. I guess you cover that a bit at the start, when you say it definitely helps you as a player to just memorise certain voicings. Excellent approach, though. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I even think I might have been doing this sometimes without knowing it.

[@ordinarymehrad7570]

thanks for your awesome video . I came across an question , for the Bb13#11 why did you use Bb dominant lydian scale before the 6th degree is there any particular reason or just you felt like it would fit ?

[@toplaybass]

Brilliant Lesson, Absolutely!!! but i got a question though, when you did the Altered and you used a { Eb G B} That is a G+ Triad. why did you choose that instead of a normal G Triad? Thanks in advance.