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@freefinancialadvice3 жыл бұрын
Best advice ever at 12:30. “ Either avoid the clashing notes, or embrace it”
@freefinancialadvice3 жыл бұрын
Well actually it was 11:50
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
Thanks Alan! Yep, it's all about using your ears and making a musical judgment.
@griffgriffiths9982 Жыл бұрын
yes, I appreciated that too!
@markrichards87112 жыл бұрын
What a great video. I have been improvising using C major and found that hitting B or F in the melody often jars and I would be careful about when to use them. This really helps explain why in theory and helps me to identify when they could be used.
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
Glad it helped, Mark! Yes, those so-called "tendency tones" have very specific effects. They can be REALLY useful, but being aware of what they do and how they function in contrast to the notes of the pentatonic really helps!
@emumist4 жыл бұрын
I have to say that this was one of the best tutorials I've watched here on KZfaq. You don't just say that certain things sound good/bad, but you really also explain why in depth and in my opinion at a good pace. Thank you very much, I subscribed!
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Emanuel - I'm really glad you liked it and found it useful!
@JR-xi9qi3 жыл бұрын
@@BillHilton question, how do you know which chords are minor and mayor in the pentatonic scale?
@carlotapuig6 жыл бұрын
That was a great explanation. Music theory is so useful. It makes everything easier. That's exactly my current level. I'm beginning to know which things might sound good in particular harmonic contexts but often don't know why they sound good or less good
@SamuelPeckman6 жыл бұрын
I learnt a lot from this video. Thank you very much.
@aaronyash4 жыл бұрын
OMG. What a discovery. I’ve been playing piano by reading notes all my life. But in a short time I’ve learned so much from your videos Thank you
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
You're welcome, Diana!
@DojoOfCool5 жыл бұрын
Coming from the Jazz world a pentatonic scale can be any combination of five notes used as a scale so some really interesting sounds can be created. Jazz world uses pentatonic a lot, but also hexatonic (six note) scales from combining two triads and octatonic (eight note) which is the diminished scale and variations on it.
@oneeyemonster32625 жыл бұрын
As a guitar player....The E minor pentatonic or the A minor pentatonic looks exactly the same on the fretboard..it's at a different place of the neck. There's the blues variation 1, ...2, or 3.... I like the Oneeyemonster variation becuase it has 7 passing or OPTION notes.lmao... I like to keep it simple..and all that jazz Pentatonic scales are USEFUL tools ...as a stencil to modulate using various MODES...becuase it's NOT completely define I personally use the DOMINANT pentatonic ( there's 5 modes within it) R...x...2....x....3...............5..............b7..x...R so many damn dominant chords/modes mix mix #2 mix #4 Mix #2, #4 mix b2 mix b6 mix b2, b6 Mix b2, b5, b6 Mix b2, #4 phry b4 loc b4 loc b4, maj6 ion #5, b7 ion #4, #5 b7 Ion #6..... I like to kill 2-3 birds in one stone. Play maj7......walla Ion ish modes. the different between a Dorian and Mix is Maj3 or b3 the only difference between the aeo and dor is...b6 or Maj6 That would be sort of like this ( 10 -ea diatonic scales with 7 modes each) aeo with maj7 = Harmonic min dorian with maj7 = Melodic min Harmonic min b2 melodic min b2 Harmonic min b5 melodic min b5 Harmonic min #4 meloidc min #4 Natural min Ion #6 ---------------------- or like this Mix , maj7 aeo maj7 dor maj7 phry maj7 loc maj7 dor b2, maj7 aeo b5 maj7 dor b5 maj7 aeo #4 maj7 dor #4 maj7
@ytminis3 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the explanation in description. Huge thanks!
@sararobertson536 Жыл бұрын
The best explanation by far!
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
Thanks Sara - really glad it helped you!
@griffgriffiths9982 Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Bill. A very good tutorial.
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful!
@softy41575 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the great Video Bill. Helped me a lot to get a better understanding for the use of Pentatonic sacles :D
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
No problem, Simon - glad to be of help!
@fiftytwogirl2 жыл бұрын
As someone who took years of piano lessons from the lady down the street, I sight read pretty well, and play well enough to enjoy playing for pleasure. However, I never really learned any music theory, so I improvisation or playing by ear is extremely difficult. I found your video after a trip into the googlesphere searching the Fibonacci sequence, which made me curious about if and how that sequence might apply to music. Thanks for an interesting and informative video! Now to my piano to try some improvisation!
@vaniasetti77532 жыл бұрын
The best vocabulary to explain all of that! Thank you so much 😊 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
Thank *you*, Vania - I'm glad you liked it!
@wichinv5 жыл бұрын
Bill, over the past few months I've been watching a lot of your videos and just wanted to thank you for taking your time to teach us all these very helpful techniques, lessons and knowledge. Thank you! :)
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
No problem, Luis - glad to be of help! Give me a shout if you ever have any questions :)
@oguitarmagic3 жыл бұрын
This is one of the best explanations I have seen, thank you
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're welcome Orlando!
@twiglet22142 жыл бұрын
New to music theory and practice and found this very helpful and easy to follow so thanks Bill.
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
You're really welcome! Give me a shout if you want pointing in direction of any other tutorials - I've got quite a few on music theory, chords and so on. And good luck with the learning!
@jkldsldif4 жыл бұрын
Your videos are so great! I've learned a lot :)
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Jack - glad to hear it!
@ChinqMiau12 жыл бұрын
Well explained, for a guitar player this is so much clearer on a piano! Thank you!
@rachelsmename6 жыл бұрын
Very good video with a good question asked that I had not thought about! Please keep making these.
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
Thanks Rachel - I will!
@allgood67603 жыл бұрын
I am a beginner and this helps thank you👍🇳🇿
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
Happy to help!
@violetatio32242 жыл бұрын
Made me understand fully pentatonic in this one lesson Thank you very much.
@pianolegend70594 жыл бұрын
this is far the best tutorial I have watched. thank you Bill
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks very much - you're welcome!
@jadehope41785 жыл бұрын
Love the material that you bring!!!
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
Thanks Jade!
@violetatio32242 жыл бұрын
Theory is made easier to understand with your tutorial. Thank you
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
You’re welcome, Violeta! The problem with music theory is that it often sounds really confusing when you read about it, but when it’s demonstrated on a piano - so you can hear the effects of different scales and chords and so on - it suddenly gets a lot easier!
@NoyumiAo5 жыл бұрын
Thank you! This video was really helpful for understanding pentatonics!
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
No problem - glad it helped!
@richard135b72 жыл бұрын
Awesome explanation of the pentatonic scale. Very complete. Thank you
@TimSuliman4 жыл бұрын
The bit about stability is one of the best explanations I've heard. Thank you so much!
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Tim!
@frankbillingsley26782 жыл бұрын
Thanks, very well done, Bill.
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
Many thanks Frank!
@ThGtKpr3 жыл бұрын
This is useful for mallet players as well as we use the same system. Thank you for your lesson😁
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're very welcome Triston!
@alieustiansamateh64015 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much Bill! 😁 I feel alot brighter now. Looking forward to search thru more of your videos, great teacher 👍☺ Kind regards, Alieu Stian Samateh
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
No problem Alieu - glad you liked it. Shout if you have any questions!
@EDMTips4 жыл бұрын
Thanks for this! Great explanation :)
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
You're very welcome!
@anotherdude24534 жыл бұрын
Excelente! Viejo, de todos los tutoriales de hablahispana y en inglés... ESTE ES EL MEJOR. No es broma, lo resumes muy bien y tienes las ideas bastante claras, por lo que las explicas muy bien. *RESPETOS*
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
¡muchas gracias!
@juozasg4 жыл бұрын
thank you. super helpful combination of conceptual theory and sound examples!
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks - glad it was helpful!
@theodoraeloh613 жыл бұрын
Really clear explanations 👏🏿👏🏿 Thank you🥰❤️
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You’re welcome 😊
@Amatteus3 жыл бұрын
Very well explained. Thank you. Subscribed.
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
Thanks very much Amatteus, and welcome to the channel!
@allamjoji555 жыл бұрын
we can improve a lot with this vedeos thanks
@lennix_music Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
You're most welcome!
@markbaarsbergen36 Жыл бұрын
Great explanation. Thanks, really helpful 👍🏻
@Bryan-xz9mt3 жыл бұрын
Made so much sense thanks 🤠
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
Glad it helped, Bryan!
@chuksluke6769 Жыл бұрын
Nice thank you very much.
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
You’re welcome!
@emreteselli6020 Жыл бұрын
Thank you sir!
@vansullivan2363 жыл бұрын
This is great! Thanks
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're welcome, Van!
@andrecharron79864 жыл бұрын
Again another useful and well presented video. I would be interested in finding out your technique in remembering the chords and notes of a song. Thank you
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Andre! Hmmm: I don't really have a technique... it just kind of sinks in. Very difficult to describe: I guess it's like learning lines or memorising a poem: it's a case of repetition.
@andrecharron79864 жыл бұрын
Hi Bill, I was hoping for a magic formula HAHA!.My method is similar to yours, need more repetitions though.
@mwinyimwenyi Жыл бұрын
You are good, sir.
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@5966ramesh4 жыл бұрын
Thank you. Explained well.
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful, Ramesh!
@shivaji856 Жыл бұрын
This Pentatonic is called Bhoop in Hindustani and Mohanam in Carnatic music.
@MV-vp2wu3 жыл бұрын
You’re an amazing teacher, thank you for this vid.
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're very welcome!
@yisiangelina16434 жыл бұрын
Good explanation! Thank you!
@juliandelacalzada30316 жыл бұрын
When I play in C major I realized I've been soloing in pentatonic quite a bit lol just never knew what it was called
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
Ha! Quite a lot of stuff is like that with piano improvisation: you do a thing because it sounds cool and then discover it has a name and a bunch of theory behind it. The important lesson to draw from that is that an hour just experimenting with stuff on the piano keyboard is worth about six hours of sitting around memorising bits of theory and then trying to extrapolate from it. Theory is fascinating and massively useful, but practice has to come first! :)
@juliandelacalzada30316 жыл бұрын
Keep up the great videos! Trying to add to my music theory knowledge this summer. My playing has hit a plateau for awhile
@billmarycarson30744 жыл бұрын
Excellent lesson, Thank you very much.
@alexeykurilo43813 жыл бұрын
great video, thanks
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're welcome, Alexey!
@lawrencetaylor41012 жыл бұрын
Merci for this.
@fjfjrfjfjr4 жыл бұрын
Nicely done!
@rhoytagonsuasesuase30914 жыл бұрын
Nice musician tutorial
@AndersonLima-wf2vb6 жыл бұрын
I was looking for something to improve my piano techniques and I discovered this channel. Wow it's fantastic! You have an excellent didactic. One more subscription. Thanks from Brazil!
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
Thanks! I'm really grateful for the subscription, and I'm glad you like my stuff!
@colorsedge15685 жыл бұрын
Colorful!
@TrueSkoolMusic2 жыл бұрын
super= nice tutorial
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
Glad you think so!
@waterbron34804 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
You're welcome!
@lucyeveryhope87753 жыл бұрын
Fabulous!
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
Thanks Lucy!
@barryhunt85275 жыл бұрын
Great lesson 😀👍
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
Thanks Barry!
@garywalsh979811 ай бұрын
Hi Bill , I didn’t see you using normal chords with left hand While playing the right hand riff .
@BillHilton11 ай бұрын
Hi Gary! I'm a bit unsure which bit you're referring to here - could you tell me the time in the video (e.g., 4 mins 32 secs or whatever) that you're looking at? Will do my best to help you if I can get that clarification!
@lindareese45794 жыл бұрын
Thank you ....
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
You're welcome, Linda!
@jerseymarkdempsey3 жыл бұрын
Hi Bill. Great video, thanks, but when you stated Rob's question at the beginning I took it to mean harmonising in the right hand. This wasn't covered in your video. Imagine playing a line in the right hand using pentatonic, could you harmonise it in the right hand using non-pentatonic notes. I guess you can if they match the chord being played in the left hand..?
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're absolutely right, Mark - the best way to think of it is really just as extending the left hand harmonisation into (part of) the right hand. I've got a dedicated tutorial on it that you might like here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/irucl5V_1am7n4k.html
@mingmeiyip11793 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the great video! My question: will pentatonic with half tones still sound stable
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
You're welcome! Yes, it will, depending on the half tones you add - but strictly speaking it will stop being a pentatonic scale and become a hexatonic or heptatonic. In general, when it comes to deciding how anything sounds, trust your own ears: if it sounds stable to you, then run with that. Does that help?
@bellobanana97116 жыл бұрын
Very helpfull. Thanks
@qc44025 жыл бұрын
What type of piano are you using in this video???
6 жыл бұрын
Excellent
@Boozetowne6 жыл бұрын
Greetings Bill! I know music, as I've played guitar (jazz) for years. I have absolutely no intention of learning to read music. Is Your course for Me? Thank You!!!
@onmybehalf6 жыл бұрын
Nice one!
@johnbowles50206 жыл бұрын
Hi Bill, Probably nit-picking here but I didn't quite get why, in your explanation of stable and unstable tones in the C major scale, why the 5th (G) was more stable than the 2nd and 6th (D and A). Did I misunderstand? Thanks anyway for another great lesson.
@soumyaranjanpatnaik46956 жыл бұрын
He was talking about the notes of the scale. By 5th he probably didn't mean the dominant chord which is very unstable and wants to go back to a tonic chord.
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
Soumya is about there with his answer, John: G the chord certainly does have that dominant role, but G the note is part of the tonic chord. When played with a C chord underneath, it's quite stable. A lot of this, of course, is quite subjective, and if I remember correctly from my dim and distant education in tonal theory is the subject of disagreement even among experts (if you'll Google around you'll find *lots* of different explanations of, and terminology for, both tonal and chordal functions).
@cuan16 жыл бұрын
Hi Bill, I was just wondering about why the minor pentatonic contains the 7th of the minor scale and still fits in out of curiosity. I have been watching your videos for a while to try and help improve my improvisation skills, but I'm struggling quite a lot even though I've been playing piano for years and I'm grade 8. I tend to get everything you say, but not be able to put it into practice so easily. Any tips?
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
It's basically because of the way the minor "sound" is constructed in tonal terms: the seventh degree a whole tone below the tonic is kind of an integral part of the minor identity, and the minor and major pentatonics are, if you like, "essentials" scales that contain the most important elements of the tonality in question but fewer of the typically less stable notes (fourth and seventh in the major, second and sixth in the minor). In terms of putting stuff into practice, it's very much a case of remembering that it's a question of establishing different brain circuitry that can deal with improvisation in the context of the keyboard. In some ways you're lucky, because your high achievement in classical terms will means you've already got the circuitry for control, dynamics, fingering and all the rest - it's just a case of laying down new ones for improvisation - which is a very different skill from playing from score (I almost think of the piano as two different instruments when I'm improvising and when I'm reading: I certainly tend to "see" the keyboard differently). Best advice: stick at it - if you keep working very gradually at improvisation skills, they will gradually firm up!
@PreciousGeorgy-ep5us Жыл бұрын
How can you use the pentatonic scale in worship songs
@paigecarr32545 жыл бұрын
Why can you use the C major Pentatonic scale over the entire chord progression and not use the Pentatonic of each chord in the progression. And how can I tell if I can keep the same scale throughout the progression
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
You could use the pentatonic of each chord if you wanted, Paige: it would just have a slightly different effect. Assuming a major key, with some progressions - those that contained only chords diatonic, i.e. naturally occuring in the key you're in, built of notes from the scale of that key - that approach would be a reasonably safe bet. The difficulty you would face is that you'd be mentally orienting around a new scale with every chord change, and in effect you'd not be doing anything much different from simply improvising over the progression with the regular major scale of the key. Doing that is fine, but the aim of using the pentatonic of the key is that it achieves simplicity, which helps with fluency. On the matter of keeping the same scale throughout the progression, you need to watch out for non-diatonic chords: have a search of my channel and elsewhere on YT for a full explanation of what they are - it would need a bit of an essay here!
@TuolumneTuesdays4 жыл бұрын
Amazing job Great things take time Imagine this bit, but incorporated into the circle of 5ths. #'s and b's in separate videos. You could totally do it I've only been taking lessons @ 2 years now, played guitar for awhile beforehand and the pentatonic theory did NOT translate over well..so this helped a lot! Looking forward to more..... Happy holidays ~TB
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
Thanks Timothy - really glad this helped!
@kevinwood91286 жыл бұрын
Hi Bill, what are shell chords again ?
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
It's basically where you outline a chord playing its upper and lower notes - shells are mostly used in jazz, and mostly on sevenths (so, you'd play C and the B above it to form a Cmaj7 shell). They also often work with sixths, and thirds as long as they're not too far down the keyboard. The work less well with fourths and (especially) fifths, although they do have their place. The problem shells seek to solve is that the further down the keyboard you get the more audible overtones notes have, and, in consequence, the "muddier" full chords sound.
@larrydean17794 жыл бұрын
I'm curious why you didn't mention that an obvious pentatonic is an f sharp. I assume it's because she is the easiest one for people to understand. I learn piano beginning with a major d n e major because I didn't want to be that guy I knows the white keys.
@BillHilton4 жыл бұрын
It *is* an obvious pentatonic (as C# is an obvious pentatonic minor) but I usually avoid the comparison because I'm not sure it's information that's easily transferable to other keys, especially for beginners who might be a bit sketchy on things like understanding intervals. Good point, though, Larry!
@avishkarraut4755 Жыл бұрын
Is he playing "Bhoopali" raag ?? It sounds same...
@BillHilton Жыл бұрын
If I am it's pure accident, as it's not a piece I know!
@El3ctr0Lun42 жыл бұрын
I have to say I don't really understand why some tones are stable and why some are unstable.
@BillHilton2 жыл бұрын
Ultimately it comes down to pyschoacoustics, Saj (i.e., not my field and way above my pay grade!). They main thing to remember, though, is that it's relative: a B, for example, is a tendency tone in C major (it wants to resolve to C) but the tonal centre in B major.
@El3ctr0Lun42 жыл бұрын
@@BillHilton Thanks Bill! I'll look into pyschoacoustics. I do feel that in C Major, ending something on a B feels incomplete, so I get the idea of it tending towards C, but I was wondering if there was something more... mathematical, rather than subjective feelings. Although since music itself is a highly subjective field, explaining things in terms of thow they feel should probably suffice.
@20thingsgoing625 жыл бұрын
Any relation to paris?
@BillHilton5 жыл бұрын
Fourteenth cousin. She doesn't text me back :(
@larryjackkelly2 жыл бұрын
please add your videos to rumble
@Amatteus3 жыл бұрын
What about the Minor pentatonic Scale?...
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
The same principle, really, except it's the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th degrees of the natural minor scale. As with regular major and (natural) minor scales, the notes of the minor pentatonic are the same as its relative major (so C pentatonic has the same notes as A minor pentatonic and so on). Does that make sense?
@Amatteus3 жыл бұрын
@@BillHilton No. In music there are too many things than do not make any sense at all and too many people who repeat them like parrots without understanding. Starting by things like calling the notes CDEFGAB.. It´s stupid.. Should be ABCDEFG.. like in the abecedary... Why the hell is CDEFGAB.. And like this the rest.. 99% of music teachers have been trained to be parrots, they are parrots themselves, repeting things they do not understand, and try to teach me to be a parrot as well. I am sick and tired of people teaching me to memorize things without understanding themselves. And I do not say it for you... But why the hell The minor pentatonic is 1,3,4, 5 7h.. and no others?
@BillHilton3 жыл бұрын
@@Amatteus I would certainly agree that a lot of people, including a lot of teachers, don't understand things like the origins of note names of the theory underlying pentatonics... but things like that don't really matter, and doesn't actually help you very much, when it comes to learning how to play an instrument well. Or, at least, they can be addressed after one has done the really essential work of learning one's instrument. I know many excellent musicians, far better than me, who have a very weak grasp of theory. I guess it depends how you see the goal of musical education: does every single musician need a deep grasp of theory, right down to understanding things like temperament systems and psycho-acoustics? I would say not. In fact, I would say that such things can often function as distractions: there are plenty of musical learners who spend hours and hours trying to learn the functions of very obscure chords, when their time would be better spend improving their practical skills on their instruments.
@Amatteus3 жыл бұрын
@@BillHilton Yes.. Nadal, to play tennis and win tournaments does not need to know the physics involved...with all the data one could recover... like speed, degrees of inclination, distance covered, of each one of his strokes with the racquet, increase of ball´s temperature, etc...That´s practice...
@i.setyawan6 жыл бұрын
Am I correct in assuming that pentatonic improvisations only works for jazz/blues music?
@YaleBensonPage6 жыл бұрын
I'm pretty sure you can use them in blues-derived styles like rock as well.
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
Not at all - they work in all sorts of styles, including folk, country, pop and many others. They also crop up a lot in classical music (eg, the slow theme from Holst's "Jupiter"). Pentatonics are very much a musical universal.
@blank_white_paper_revolution4 жыл бұрын
What's the difference between the West and Chinese music? Is full scale and pentatonic scale!
@antonybraus3256 жыл бұрын
FACE REVEAL BILL, THE PEOPLE WANT IT GODDAMNIT. papa bless
@BillHilton6 жыл бұрын
You can admire me (and my kitchen, or at least the kitchen at our old house) two or three minutes into this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q7t0pNyBrpesnmg.html - there are a few others in my stunning features in them, if you search around...
@leeherdarchibald95566 жыл бұрын
There, a sound that’s making when u r playing that’s very disturbing