Tutorial: Tri tone substitutions and how to use them

These chord substitutions are widely used in jazz/soul music.
Here I show you what they are and how they can expand your musical vocabulary.
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instagram: / mattjohnsonjamiroquai
music: matt-johnson.bandcamp.com
matt-johnson.bandcamp.com/album/with-the-music-album

[@gramiroquai]

Matt!! You’re gonna have to make that intro song a whole single. That was just too good to be “noodling” around. Please please flesh that sucker out!! Great video, worth every second.

[@raulhidalgo4397]

I love when you play your red keyboard, I also think you could make a single from that intro

[@79Glitch]

He’s basically soloing and re-iterating on “little l” by a group called Jamiroquai. Cool group-check them out sometime!

[@synthclub]

@@79Glitch hahahahahahaha

[@raulhidalgo4397]

@@79Glitch I know what you meant! hahaha, I just second our fellow above, since Matt's solo is so good, it sounds even better than what his band played on little l. @MattJohnsonJamiroquai it could be a nice instrumental added to your other singles, BTW adding that intro to your video made it catchy, thank you for the tutorial😀

[@kwasar5654]

Where can we find this killer funky music intro! I want it! 🕺

[@batgranny]

You really should do a course! There isn't anyone (at least that I know of) that is teaching in this style and that's one of the reasons I love this channel so much. I'm self taught and would love a proper grounding in music with a focus on a Jazz funk style.

[@raulhidalgo4397]

I second batgranny about you doing a course

[@ronshatzmillermd9881]

@@raulhidalgo4397 I third it. I would gladly pay for such a course, you're the best Matt!

[@coloaten6682]

@@ronshatzmillermd9881 And me too!! I'd love a course on Jazz Funk. I love Matt's playing and it would be great to learn this stuff!

[@MrTone075]

I'd buy it. Gotta learn somewhere.

[@wackenthaljef]

I think i will do more if he was less busy...

[@shanjayaweera3036]

I love LOVE how rhythmic your playing is - never just cords and bass notes, there's always a groove, vibe, feeling, beat and rhythm when you play - I guess that's what makes your playing so original and awesome

[@glennanderson9947]

This morning I was sitting in front of my keyboard noodling around and trying come up with something interesting and once again Matt swoops in and provides instant inspiration. Thanks again from all us who love jazz but only aspire to play jazzy. My musical vocabulary is once again expanding thanks to this tutorials.

[@sdfletcher]

Another gem of a lesson, Matt! Your teaching method is incredibly straightforward and concise. And most importantly, the concepts presented are (relatively) easy to put into use!! Thank you!

[@harmless3449]

One thing I love about your videos is that you're really good at pacing the flow of the lesson when you're talking us through concepts like this. You cover a lot of ground in 13 minutes here but I didn't feel overloaded with information at all, nor did you let it drag on, and you covered enough for anyone to get an understanding. It also helps that you're constantly playing little examples, they're really fun to listen to.

[@JonathanRouach]

Love this. Shoutout to Adam & Peter ❤ I'm so lucky getting all this good stuff paying a like and a comment

[@neodym1337]

Would love a whole album in the style of that amazing intro!

[@deanbassan]

I just know I'm going to watch this again and again over the years learning new stuff. Matt you are the best!!

[@goviktor]

Thank you very much for the video !!!! Useful and interesting......

[@zamilhossain7793]

Matt u r a great Human being The way you share your musical philosophy and knowledge, it always help my musical ideas. Thanks a lot.🤘🤘❤️

[@Tanguero1]

Good shout out to Open Studio. I agree, that is a great channel/resource.

[@adammann9371]

Thanks for taking the time to share this information Matt!

[@federicomelo1853]

Open studio is a great resource. Adam Maness is a great teacher. Matt, your approach is different and great as well.

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

Yes I think their channel is great

[@CreativeSpiral]

Thanks for another great tutorial, Matt!

[@Tmidiman]

Thanks Matt. This is great information.

[@fingers1971]

Awesome tutorial Matt! Thanks for this

[@Lacrete74]

Such a great player and feel! Thanks for the tips, always enjoy the videos!

[@skioakenfull]

Love this Matt! Massive respect

[@scoatbeats2379]

Great video mate very useful, love to hear it from someone so respected in music keep it coming‼️

[@monty6545]

Always entertaining , thanks Matt !

[@benkohut3121]

An inspiration as always, Matt!

[@spadogs]

Thanks Matt. Great sound!

[@edmc2]

Lov listening to your playing ❤

[@UmarSharif]

Incredible Groovy first Minute!!!!!! Beautiful Information!!!

[@suga4all]

Great lesson, Matt! Simple approach to start into the world of outside improv. Thank you so much 👌👍🔥

[@robertdepiano]

Thank you very much Matt. Great lesson :)

[@ruudvincent6078]

Thank you so much. These chords… as a autodidact searching years for these interesting combinations.

[@MrKoex]

Un grand merci pour tous vos conseils

[@Mangoplak]

Thank you for the cool tutorial. Well done yet again! After watching your lessons I always feel like playing something; they somehow are particularly stimulative. Must be you being very capable as a teacher. Cheers!

[@junostrecords4036]

Finally!! This one I'll preserve for the Saturday morning. Right after having my coffee. This is going to be an amazing morning. If I can wait so long..

[@ozzy3ml]

That left hand always amazes me. Fantastic

[@dlgm161]

Superb video Matt - loads to digest and to work on!

[@araguet]

magic from your hands, once again. saludos desde Buenos Aires.

[@JimmyCaswell]

Great video. Cheers Matt. Will give this a try now 🎹

[@anxiousproductions9183]

I really appreciate the way you explain and put things across. Other sites can be a little pompous, but your way is much more user friendly. Keep up the good work sir.

[@Dolores5000]

Always a pleasure AND informative 😊❤have a nice day

[@anthonydefabritus6966]

Awesome! Love this! 🤘

[@KingCosmic303]

You are an inspiration sir

[@menacerisamir198]

thanks to show us how to have a different chords voicing , i did like a lot the intro

[@vitaminfian]

Thanks man so much

[@Funkybassuk]

That Db over G sounds superb! 👍🏽

[@pensado3000]

based on your sequential take 5 vid, i bought the synth. also bought your patches...i love them. there's a lot of over lap between the take 5, ob-6, and prophet 6..... also this 1-5 work out is awesome!!!!!

[@jamesdefrancesco7765]

Thanks, Matt.

[@MarkoTiano]

Okk Matty!! That intro when the video starts that has to be on the next Jamiroquai album! Such a funky strain brother, left me speechless. You are an absolute killer of a musician. When i was a very young teenager and started to play the keys, i always imagined to play just like you...love your chords. I m sure when you sometimes play Stevie Wonder you must do it too justifiably. Superb musician, looking forward to hear you on the next Jamiroquai album and on listening more to your channel.

[@peterfeldmeyer1940]

great as always ...

[@donwrangler]

That moog bass line is so amazing!

[@bigglesfm]

Thanks 4 sharing, the Montage looks nice in white

[@paulmolive1821]

Thank you! This explains that cool chord progression in “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin. Key is C minor, and there’s that passage where you get D7 (V7 of V) but then descends to Dbmaj7 instead of resolving to a G7 to take you back to Cm.

[@kelvinwong3779]

This is a great video, doesn't overcomplicate things

[@kelvinwong3779]

But how come the piano is tuned sharp?

[@mqtxmusic]

You are the groove Matt! That trick of moving the dominant chords one minor third up and down works because they all fit in the diminished scale (1/2 tone - tone) 😎 Peace

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

ah yes!

[@Kaffimusic]

I do not care for the tritones so much but the introgroove was beyond awesome.

[@looppool]

I've heard this explained several times but you make it so easy to understand. I wonder if I could be cheeky and suggest that when you give examples if you might flash a graphic on the screen about how you are arranging the chords you are talking about.............it goes by rather quickly. That's a tiny nitpick, Thanks again for another inspiring and a great tutorial!.

[@lovehalfblack9420]

You’re the 🐐

[@wasabash]

The pure perfection

[@Mickey_McD]

It took me forever to get through this video because I kept playing the opening one minute over and over again.😃

[@md-ps2hx]

Lllllllllllove this!

[@Luigi64]

JEEEEEEZ THAT INTRO GOES SO HARD

[@philippezsiga1125]

Matt ; long time i didn’t wrote to you , had to stop playing after 11 broken ribs . I am back surfing and playing keyboards and your beautiful licks . Other jazz / blues video tutorial are kind of too classic in a bad way , boring and lacking this magic you bring in each of your improvisation. Really i think it . I bring a YC 88 yamaha to play your licks here in Bali ( i am a surfer too) . Just want to say a great thank u ( i bought before my accident some midifiles from your website, but still i use slow motion video to study your style!!! LOL) so yes a great thank u for being the best teacher in the world in your music style. Please if u have time would love more licks tutorial even though i use all your videos to find nice little things to play. I didn’t bought the Obx8, stayed with my Obxa ! I am saving for one long time fantasy: a Memorymoog! Anyway maybe it will feel weird for u to listen all this but after listening so many of your videos, it feels like you are a good friend! I wish u the best for your private and professional life . Thanks for being one of the only thrue skilled musician who he not here to influence people. Cheers philippe from France

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

Sorry to hear about your injury, I'm glad you are on the mend! Bali is beautiful, we went there last year!

[@csmcrckrs]

5:10 I found this out some time ago: When you play triads over the V7 chord, starting from #5 and b5 will both work ... first case will give you a #5#9, second case a b5b9 (2nd inversions sound best imo!)

[@batlin]

9:55 definite film vibes there, reminds me of Back to the Future!

[@TuPhongMusic]

The Tritone substitution is a commonly used harmonic technique in music that involves replacing a dominant seventh chord with another dominant seventh chord whose root is a tritone away (i.e., three whole steps or six half-steps) from the original chord's root. For example, if the original chord is a G7 (G dominant seventh chord), its tritone substitution would be a Db7 (Db dominant seventh chord), because Db is a tritone away from G. The tritone substitution can be used in a variety of musical contexts, such as jazz, blues, and rock. It can create a sense of tension and release, as the tritone interval is one of the most dissonant intervals in music and creates a strong sense of resolution when resolved properly. Here's an example of how the tritone substitution can be used in a jazz standard: In the key of C, the original chord progression for the first four bars of a typical jazz standard might be: Cmaj7 | Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7 Using a tritone substitution for the G7 chord would result in: Cmaj7 | Dm7 | Db7 | Cmaj7 This substitution creates a chromatic descending bass line (C - B - Bb - A) and a stronger sense of resolution when it returns to the Cmaj7 chord.

[@bcj842]

Copying and pasting into my notes app for future reference.

[@DrJ3RK8]

That Db over G sounds a bit Donald Fagan. I like it!

[@dankeplace]

Magical fingers right there at work!! Have notifications turned on but YT seems to be failing me once again.

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

yeah KZbin doesn't want to push my content!

[@dankeplace]

@@MattJohnsonJamiroquai lol YT can EAD kek

[@jameskerr9509]

I do use them but never but a name to it. Thanks

[@AndersRomin]

Nice! That minor third substitution I think can be explained by that a minor third is exactly half of a tritone, and that a C7b9 has the same notes as Edim, Gdim, Bbdim and Dbdim. So any rootless dominant chord can be moved in minor thirds and the colour tones just work out. Pretty cool! Listen to the intro of Someday my prince will come by Miles Davis for a great example of this.

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

Interesting!

[@thearno2885]

abother way to look at that is if you flatten sny note of a Dim 7 chord then you create a Dom7 of the note you flattened to.

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

That first 2-5-1 sounded like the end of Changes by Bowie. 😊

[@RonTheFlyingDutchman]

I got confused at 8:22 because a F#6.9 chord is mentioned there which is not a dominant chord because it does not contain the 7th note. When I try to play along with that chord, I get a F#13 chord (if you replace the bass with the tritone which is a C note, you will get a C7#5#9. The video is not exactly at 440Hz, but it will do to play along).

[@MrWorldclassmusician]

Minor third thing is a diminished movement which is why it works. 10:11

[@marylewis3311]

🙏🔥❤️🔥🙏

[@joseluisrevelo]

Would gladly pay for a course from you Matt!

[@teadat]

Your tutorials are the best! You presented it really simply and I love how practical your approach is! Only thing that bothered me was the piano not being in A=440hz. I don't have anything against alternate tunings, but especially with tutorials it makes it a bit harder to follow because of my pitch memory (not perfect pitch but almost lol) Sorry if this sounded obnoxious, thanks for the tutorial!

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

I'm sorry about that, I really don't know why. Could be to do with sample rates but I'm not sure how it happened!

[@couchcamperTM]

@@MattJohnsonJamiroquai it's probably a new yt trick, A is now 448, so the people who upload in 432 Hertz end up with 440 without realizing it lol CONSPIRACY! xD

[@teadat]

@@MattJohnsonJamiroquai Maybe your Yamaha was just set to a different tuning? The intro jam was in A440

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

@@teadat mmm its possible!

[@FredFrab]

Setting aside the piano's pitch, I loved the patch. I can never quite get my Montage acoustic piano sound dialed in for live performance. Sounds great in the headphones, not nearly the same on stage. Any input Matt would be greatly appreciated :)

[@homerdus9668]

Great thank, but you are a superstar and I think you don’t need so many commercials to sponsor you great videos

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

I don't set them, KZbin does. Without ads I wouldn't give this free lesson. It takes a lot of work to put them together believe it or not

[@humblemai2211]

😅😅 great

[@pintuvijayan2724]

👌👍.from Cashew City ,God's own country. Kerala

[@cheater00]

Dude, you play these keyboards really well. You should make a job out of it! Join a band or something.

[@KirkMonteux]

bad ass funk

[@infn8loopmusic]

That vintage vibe sounds sooo sweet! So Matt...Are you gonna scoop up a Rhodes mark 8? They look great but man... Pricey!

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

No I'm not interested in one. The vintage vibe is the best electric piano in the world in my opinion. Nothing can match the variable voice control feature

[@infn8loopmusic]

@@MattJohnsonJamiroquai That's really helpful to hear, and those words carry a lot of weight coming from you. I really appreciate the perspective. Thanks for the reply!

[@ptl87]

bluesy inflection 06:16

[@leonardolibrandi4178]

topppppppppppppppp

[@franckmougniotte3560]

Superbe intro vous devriez en faire un son, c’est excellent 👌

[@DouxClavier]

great video! just curious, is your keyboard tuned differently to A440?

[@JamesVanCleaf]

it definitely is, i thought i was having a stroke after checking my intonation

[@WalyB01]

My flavor exactly 6-9 tri tone subs.

[@GizzyDillespee]

What's a tritone sub? I think the best way to show you is to flex with a vibanet, my signature vintage vibe, and a moog. Here's the montage of it🤣 Great sounds

[@GizzyDillespee]

Thanks for slowing it down after 7:58 or so... that's sounds really deep at speed.

[@GizzyDillespee]

This was a really cool video... my writing sucks right now, so I'll keep it simple... thanks!

[@minigrok]

Matt, are you tuned to 440hz? I'm trying to play along with you, it seems you're flat.

[@MattJohnsonJamiroquai]

I'm sorry about that, I really don't know why. It was 440 when I recorded it

[@StephLo]

I hear it being slightly *sharper* than mine (like +/- 449 Hz)

[@minigrok]

@@MattJohnsonJamiroquai Quite the contrary, it's not really a problem, your videos are wonderful in any tuning :) Thank you so much!

[@humblemai2211]

😅😅bebop jazz piano please

[@SuperMax_____0.0_____]

Careful with the danger zone. Thats where pop meets jazz. Once you try these magic potions you cant go back. Its like updating a system. You just been warned.

[@anxiousproductions9183]

Hang on. Am I missing something?????? All the videos I’ve watched explaining this go through the rigmarole of going to the fifth then counting down three whole tones etc. well, isn’t it easier just to remember the Tri tone sub is just a half step up from the tonic?????!!!!!!!

[@watchaddicts1213]

Wait a minute…can you repeat all that? Ok, I admit it: I’m not at the hardware store buying seeds and a hoe. Still brain-bending over Keys.

[@MrFaceHead]

Tritones are the Devil’s chord.

[@silviosarunic3234]

hey Matt 😊 you are awesome

[@yaronbrecher7397]

Su perb amyzing .❤❤❤