I have scoured the whole internet and Jens is THE best teacher of useable theory. That makes him the best teacher on earth and possibly the universe.

My man, you just connected so many pieces of music theory in my mind with this video. Once upon a time back in high school, I used to be first chair cello, but I never did understand music theory. I was really good at sight reading, learning new music, and being able to play it very well, but I didn’t understand any of it and the music theory portion of my education went way over my head. I’ve decided to pick music back up and learn to play a few other instruments and this time I have decided to dedicate myself to learning and understanding music theory because I also want to write music. I’ve been learning all the theory stuff now, but it’s all been this kind of disjointed and disconnected bits and pieces of information that I know theoretically, but still didn’t really understand. For whatever reason, this video just connected so many different pieces of all of that for me. This video explains what a 251 is to me, in a way that’s more meaningful than just saying that’s how you change keys. This video gives me an understandable explanation of how chords direct you to go somewhere and how you can choose what chords to use based on where you want to go. I don’t even play guitar, I’m learning bass and piano, but I love watching your videos for the way that you explain music theory. Thank you so much.

Jens Larson! I have been playing guitar for over 30 years and during that time I never thought that I would be able to graduate past basic theory to play and improvise like a seasoned jazz musician. This video alone has renewed my hope to attain the level that has always evaded me till now. Thank you for providing this wonderful information for free.

This was very new information for me, but after watching and rewatching the first progression breakdown, I get it. It’s way above my pay grade today but gives me something to reach for, and incorporate into my intermediate skill set. So much to learn……

Another great lesson. I’m just getting to it now. Excellent explanation of why we should use these. Thanks

I've played for 35 years, from high school jazz band to music theater pits but always struggled with improv. These lessons are THE BEST at leveling up. Kudos for another key to the kingdom! This lesson in particular really brought together what years of study have struggled to do. Thanks dude!

Dear Mr. Larsen, I wanna say thank you for teaching me all the theoretical background, I wouldn't get to figure out on my own and highly appreciate your work 👍👏. It helps me out so much to relax and calm down after working on icu with patients in the nowadays respiratory illness situation. Keep on doing, your work is very important. Thx again

I knew it, I knew it was gonna click for me today. Thanks Jens!

Jens you have a convert in me...I have moved from Classic Rock to Pop & Sinatra and now I am finding a new home for expression - Thank You!!!

i literally was just thinking to myself “you should really lock down your concept of subdominants”. great work, Jens... you’re the greatest

Far and away the easiest to digest and most helpful explanation of the secondary dominant I have come across! Great Lesson, thank You! B-)

Great job on this one,good stuff,you put it down very clear, this is all essential info one should learn going forward in practicing jazz etc

Really useful as always Jens, thank you. You are helping so many aspiring musicians. 👍Keep up your fine work.

Wow! I’ve been playing guitar for a long time and never thought of this!

Knowing the chords and their functions definitely aid in serving the songs indeed! Great work!

Thanks for your generosity in taking the time to put these together. I find that watching your videos generally propels me towards periods of increased productivity in becoming a better musician. I especially love it when you take a concept and apply it to a jazz standard in real-time. Some of the best content I have seen.

Another nice one Jens! Clear no nonsense explanation. And now I can go to parties and wait until people start talking about Taylor Swift then interject "what I really like about her is how skillfully she employs secondary dominants". Then depart. ;-)

*The theory you need:* Why You Want To Use Functional Harmony in Jazz kzfaq.info/get/bejne/brKobJVnzK-VgYE.html

This was two years ago vid y I just started realizing that I could make the sense of these ideas against my usual chord building in group…well we looked for songs through vinyl playing etc 😂 in the early seventies…y learned the songs, memorize them etc y match the chords…y this medium y this guru is so valuable for us baby-boomers …well I could sing better than playing guitar y sing at the same time or e en playing the keyboard y piano y sing a simple tune at the same time…or buying musical instruments …ideal or fancy ones…😅I just got my OM28 etc before this😅…❤TY

It always seems like you are speaking directly to me when you give the "not just theory" speech. I do try to cram as much theory in my head whether I use it or not. Just in case. I relate to the sudoku and crossword analogy. Your reminders do help me focus and apply new concepts to my playing rather than store them away. Thanks for that. I hear this one quite a bit... "Don't try to boil the ocean."

Amazing! The part about adding.... secondary cadences?.... to solos was particularly brilliant. Thanks for these lessons!

Fantastic lesson Jens 👏Thank you!

Jens as always Sage advice. I am as guilty as anyone about getting caught up in the theory. Always think about how it actually works with the music, made my day.

Extremely helpful! Thanks!

Damn that was super informative. The secondary dominant of the secondary dominant idea blew my mind. Secondarydominantception! Also the simple heuristic of what scale to play over what type of secondary dominant was really helpful too. It wold have taken me a couple hours of tinkering to have deduced that I think.

I echoe the sentiment on this thread that, of the literally thousands of guitar instructors online, Jens is hands down the top ranked when it comes to communicating basic JaZZ /theory concepts.

Crystal clear explanation!! You saved me from the dominant limbo, thanks!!

Amazing !! thank you a lot Jens Larsen it help me so much !! I did not understand where all these 7 chords came from in the standards and in classical music pieces like those of Chopin I really like your videos thank you for all the knowledge you share

Amazing video , just what I needed Thanks for posting

Jens, thanks for putting into words something I have only come to understand after too many years. The theory is only useful if it creates a sound you can file away for future use. Without even thinking about it.

Still learning basic theory, but when you are building a dominant chord from the Ami scale, the vi chord of C major, it spells EGBD, which is a minor chord. I went through several books and videos and no one says that raising the third to major is an accepted practice. Finally found an online piano theory website which discusses and clarifies this. Am I the only one who was confounded by this? But I do love your very clear and energetic lessons Jens.

Ain't that somethin'? Especially like the bit about inserting one or two SDs on a static vamp Cool that these SDs magically transform into Dim7ths (Dom7b9) Makes life that much simpler - now we're talking! Thanks Maestro!

This is a very interesting video from a mathematical point of view. It gives us an incredible amount of food for thought and practice.

Thanks Jens, perfectly clear and very helpful. Your videos are looking more and more professional all the time too with the filters and angles

Loving all the videos you are doing on the various ways to employ functional harmony in playing jazz. Thanks. A video just on minor sub dominants would be very cool.

Great lesson like always..this made me realise something. God bless you and your family Jens..thank you for sharing this lesson.

Another informative lesson. ..... Thanks Jens !

Very good video...Thank you

That was an exceptionally good presentation. I really enjoyed your greatest jazz exercise video too. Actually, they are all very good.

Absolutely Useful! Thank You Master.

I love your channel. Thank you.

Hey Jens, really loved your Autumn Leaves easy arrangement video. Was wondering if you could recommend more chord melody/ "call and response" songs since they seem to be a great starting point?

Thank you shearing teacher 🙏🥰

Great explanation Jens!

That's a tough but still a very useful topic! And it's all comes with practice. Thanks for creating videos like this!

incredible

Amazing teacher! Greetings from Venezuela

very useful thanks

You are awesome!

I can tell this is probably a great lesson but I haven't leveled up this far yet.

Thanks for this. This is a concept I can use some help with.

Always great lessons, thank you Lars

Thank you Jens

Excellent content! 👍🏼

You can alter some of the scale notes used over the secondary dominants as well. Of course you will want to resolve appropriately

nice tie in to Take the A Train Jens for all us road map course students

Thanks again!

Jens 🐐🐐🐐🐐

THIS LESSON SHOW glorious WAY TO USE SECONARY DOMINANT

Sounds like listening to maths teacher.. but great concept though. I would have understand more if explained taking C major as a reference point.. Great lesson anyway

So I can add secondary dominant of secondary dominant, example in the key of Cmaj7, I can play C#7, F#7, B7, E7, A7, D7, G7, Cmaj7 ?

Hi Jens, my question is: how do I figure out scales to play over secondary dominants? Thank you for this video, very helpful.

Very well explained. Is it OK to improvise with secondary dominants in a modal tune, or will you get busted by the jazz police?

Great Lesson Jens, Thanks! :) Question: in the last example on the A7b9 resolving to the V/Gm, what scale did you use to solo over this chord? Was it still the Lydian Dominant like you did in the Key of C, D7 resolving to G7?

after I watched this video I think I can understand how to play jazz

Thanks for all your great lessons!! What about thinking of that db7 as a tritone substitution for g7? What kind of sound would you use for that?

Very nice Jens! Couple of questions. So, a subdominant is a relative five of any diatonic chord (apart from the tonic) in a particular key? Also, in a major/minor cadence, the five of a five is the two, so you could use that subdom chord in place of or together with the two chord (m7, m7b5)? Lastly, the examples you give of using a subdom to pull toward its resolving chord - would the use of a G7 to return to the CM7 in Autumn Leaves in Gm be an example of this?

4:40 Is the E7 chord the dominant of the 6th (Am harmonic) in the key of C major? Because E7 (correct me if I'm wrong) is not in the key, Em7 is.

next video i need u do to..some rhythm style of comping..in jazz ...if u will

At 7:20 you mention the "lydian dominant sound" could you explain what this actually is? You mention a sharp eleven and play something over take the A train, but I still don't really understand what it is.

Why Lydian Dominant over the V of V? It sounds good but I can't figure out why.

Thank jens , good content Will you teach diminish substitution chord

Jens I was wondering what to play on b section of rythm changes? Lydian dominant ?

Please could you explain the function of the bVII7 in another video?

Jens, can you please point me to one of your videos where you explain the Lydian Dominant? You refer to that from time to time, but I haven't been able to find the video where you really introduce it. Thanks!

"Db 7 doesn't resolve to Gb major it resolves to e-flat", but my ears don't tell me that though Gb is not part of the harmony here.' My ears are telling me that it does indeed resolve to Gb major. Am I missing something?

I never understood 2nd dominant before, its just the Chord Above the one you will play, but one 8 higher?

Hello. Jens Larsen, please, there are so many videos! I cant navigate in that. What about to make Categories by Year and month. And there easily, everybody can find, navigate... thank you

Would these solo examples at the end work if the chord was a Gm7 (not minmaj7) or would the f and f# clash too much?

Hey Jens. I’m struggling on improvisation from abmaj7 to db7 to ebmaj7. How do you think about it

I have a question here Jen’s! Learning all of this harmony stuff from your channel and trying to really grasp it. When I apply this to the tune ‘Isn’t she Lovely’ that would make the F#7 chord the 5 of 5… correct? It doesn’t sound right with Lydian dominant sounds.. unless it’s a 2-5 in B major? Before switching to E major? HELP😭😭😭

The Db7 is IV of Abj not a bVII7 of Ebj. It sounds like a IV minor to Ebj.

If you're sitting around a poker table, and can't tell who the secondary dominant is, it's you.

Joe Charles

I feel I just took the red pill for jazz harmony

🎶😎🎶

1:23 je maakt het een beetje verwarrend Jens. dominant of A minor, A ik weet het wel, maar toch, verspreek jeje ook bij de ingewikkeldere onderwerpen. Je snapt t.

New York State of Mind uses secondary dominants.

Oh ok wait..so are you telling me we can just secondary dominant ourselves so far backwards in time that we land in unequal temperament? Cuz this is the first time a lesson makes sense fully and I need it to make less sense, it’s uncomfortable.

Applausi

0 to 60 in 12 min!

My mind was lost in translation.

''Gsus4maj7#11'' uh nee Bmin69, uh nee. :p

Hi guys evh coming to ya from the grave...wtf is he talking bout?

Baffling.

sorry, wtf

Not for everybody. Sounds like too advanced and too fast. One must have a degree in music to understand the lesson. Thanx anyway.