Seriously, you have a gift for teaching. It's amazing how you can make everything look simple.

Backdoor Dominant, no Diddy.

I am a guitar player but I prefer a pianist like you explaining me these concepts. It's really a nice lesson.

As a bass player/composer that doesn't play keys and solely mucks around with midi, this is gold.

Just clicked and straight to the good stuff. No annoying intros or early self advertising. New sub here! Thanks for your hard work!

Pretty mindblowing. I love how you explain the contrast between the strong tension of the tritone in the dominant vs the slightly weaker one in the backdoor dominant.

Nice job. As to the Bm7-E7b9-C, and "Why don't we see it," I think it is associated with resolving to Am (which is relative). If you resolve E7b9 to C6 by adding the A, the solutuion is much stronger. My two cents anyway. You are a good teacher. I feel as if we are having a conversation...

I had 6 semesters of Music Theory. This is how it should be taught. 👍

I’m a classically trained pianist and music theory nerd…also play guitar and bass, mainly in the rock genre, but I’m always looking for ways to expand my musical vocabulary. I’ve never heard this concept explained so clearly! You truly have a gift, and your playing was a pleasure to listen to. Thank you.

A little tangent on the diminished talk: the vii dim7 chord is interchangeable with the V7b9 chord. Exactly the same chord, with a V note in the bass. Conversely, if you play a V7b9 chord and delete the root, you’re left with vii diminished 7. E.g., G7b9 without a root is Bdim7. That B diminished chord sounds cool over G7b9 and is easily repeatable.And the half whole diminished scale starting from the V note sounds really good, and it’s also fairly easy to play over this sound. Literally half note, whole note until you hit the octave and it starts over. For a G7 leading to C, it’s G,Ab,Bb,B, C#, D and so on. Yes it has 8 notes if you’re finding that confusing lol, I certainly did at first. You only need to learn 3 of them because the pattern starts over once you’ve gotten to the minor 3rd. Here’s a very practical way to think of half whole diminished: take the vi dim 7 chord, which is 4 notes, and give every note a half step leading tone below it. That’s the 8 note scale. If you use these chromatic leading tones to the chord tones of vii dim7 and mix it up a bit, you sound like Stan Getz, ta da! Dominant b9 is a bebop staple especially in any V dominant chord leading to minor 1. Half whole diminished is kind of a dark bebop dominant scale to me, with very little to remember ;) . Btw, vii dim 7 naturally leads up a half step to minor 1, not major, it’s just a darker version of V7 to 1 minor, used often in classical harmonic minor music. You can absolutely use V7b9 (or vii dim 7, again, same basic chord) to major 1, but that’s the kind of thing the band’s going to want to agree on, not exactly interchangeable sounds. In other words, you don’t always want dark V7b9 chords leading to major 1’s, as it’s nice to have simple major sounds to contrast with dark, more complex minor sounds. Learning to use diminished chords is weird but useful, and all the greats use it. It’s generally easy to do physically, or at least, it’s only 3 patterns to learn on any instrument. Diminished is its own thing, man, but it’s in the dominant family. That’s why a lot of people don’t like calling minor7b5 chords “half diminished.”They’re minor family chords, they don’t normally act as dominant. They’re not “diminished” at all, they’re just dark minor chords. Their function is subdominant, not dominant. That’s a lot of nerding there but I’m stuck on a plane, whattyagonnado.

Wow.. didnt realize diminished chords really put in the work!

Hi Michael, I cannot thank you enough for breaking things down sooooo well and - even for me - understandable and "usable" ... I really wish I found you years earlier ... because I often (still) struggle with "WHAT? ... HOW?" ... but with your explanationa analyses and "try it this or that way" some of the odd puzzle pieces fall into place ... 🥰

A couple things on the III7 - I resolution: Something very close to this resolution is found in the Kabalevsky Violin Concerto in C Major. In the third movement, there is a chain of these resolutions that marks a large cadence. The actual chords are F/D# C#m/E Am (and it’s later repeated up a minor third). While it is technically just a chromatic mediant resolution, it feels like a dominant and is treated like a dominant, clearly making it a substitution (the E in the bass helps a lot with this). The F/D# chord before it is a Ger6 in Am (and Ger6s are just tritone substitutions of II7 or V/V), but it also acts as the III7 of C#m. Since we have only have three diminished chords, C (Class 1), C# (Class 2), and D (Class 3), we can then analyze everything in relation to them. A dominant built on a note in Class 1 will include or imply the Class 2 diminished chord and resolve to a chord built on a note in Class 3. To connect this to the 2-5 and backdoor 2-5 (and other 2-5 variations), any chord built on a Class 2 will have subdominant function leading to a dominant function chord built on a Class 1 note, which will resolve to a chord built on a Class 3 note. In other words, in any given key, there are actually 8 tonic chords, 8 dominant chords, and 8 subdominant chords, although most music tends to limit focus to only a few of those tonic chords at a time (ex: modal interchange focuses on the relation of C to Cm, using the relative minor focuses on the relation of C to Am, and classical pieces in Cm often end their expositions in Eb).

Honestly, I've been watching many KZfaq channels and this is one of the best channels. Amazing video. Thanks for sharing it.

Just woke up and having my coffee when your video came out. Ngl, I got “wait, what?!?” moments. A lot. 🤣🤣 Thank you for sharing the knowledge man. Cheers

Subscribed. There are a lot of great channels on KZfaq that explain these topics, but this video makes me feel like I am fully understanding the topic, going to remember the concepts, and be able to generalize this knowledge to grow as a musician in general. So great, thank you.

You are extremely underrated 😭😭😭❤️❤️I absolutely love your work,thankyou for everything

Part of the fun of watching and listening to your excellent videos is watching the 'like' count keep building as it plays.

I feel like the best way to explain why the flat seven dominant works is because it’s really a minor plagal cadence. Borrowing from a parallel minor gives you plenty of harmonic nuance.

Is it worth going to music school when this info exists? This pedagogic talent is beyond what most higher education professors can provide.

This reminds me the good times at the music college, it would be great to have you as a harmony teacher!

I watch lots of theory vids on youtube and I find the ones you make are especially useful and easy to understand, and for free makes it a steal thanks mate

Gonna have to watch this a couple more times to grok everything you’re sharing, but I wanted to show my gratitude for the work you put into the presentation. The visuals of the keyboard, the chord names, and the color highlight when the chord is played, really helped me to understand how one chord flows to another. I’ve been trying to step up my songwriting, and this is exactly what I needed to learn, ‘cause I’ve been playing with 2-5 variations, dim7’s, and aug5’s and how they feel as they resolve. My theory is a little weak, so, here’s this video to help me. !!! The tension and release, the sound of one path and resolution, compared with another, gives me cues of how to play with these changes to tell the emotional story inside a song. This lesson is filled with pearls. Thank you., Mr. Keithson.

Hey Buddy! Your Teaching Is Exceptional. You Deserve Five Stars....God Bless You

I look forward to all your videos.

Another banger. Awesome video. Thanks so much for what you do.

9:54 - This Part! Love the way you teach!

It's so beautiful to hear the resolutions!

Another top notch video! Had to watch this one a few times, which I take as a sign of learning a lot of new things. Awesome, awesome content - please keep it coming!

Your content is a godsend - clear, concise and to the point. Keep it up Michael

great video on this topic, slowly connecting a few more dots because of it. well done and thank you!

Thank you Michael, your lessons are very educational and entertaining at the same time.👌Great fun to watch and learn.

Thank you so much.

My guess regarding why the E7 to C isn't as strong of a cadence as the others is because the third of C (which is E) is what gives the chord its color, so its presence in the previous chord makes it more similar to it than the others (less tension prior to the resolution). That's perhaps also why the dominant third (in this case, E7), especially with a #9, can even be used as a substitution for the I chord in, for example, a I vi ii V progression. So, instead of C Am7 Dm7 G7, you get E7#9 Am7 Dm7 G7, which sounds quite cool.

Great stuff, as always, Michael! 👍

We see this E7 going to C at the Jazz standard "ALONE TOGETHER". In the key of Dm, at measure 9, 10 and 11 we have: |B-7 E7| G-7 C7|Fmaj7| I didn't know how to explain and understand this part of the tune. Now I know, thanks to you!!❤

One of the significant problems connected to this chord, is that most people do not play the E natural, over the B flat 7th- the correct note is e natural, of the chord d minor 7th flat five, with an e natural, with B flat in the bass. its's a 4 minor chord- with the e flat used as the melodic tone, and entirely different harmonic scenario results. Example- C maj7, C 7th, F major 7, B flat 7 with #11 is the correct melodic scenario, as in Misty. the B flat note is a melodic tone, not a root-

Fabulous content great delivery, you and Adam, the other talent, inspire music. Many thanks for your generosity.

Good bless you Michael

Fantastic - best music theory on YT. So much insight and practical application. You are bossing it! 🙂

the best teacher! Thanks Michael🥇

Excellent video - thank you!

Thank you for the clear to the point good stuff

Hey Michael, your lessons are always top notch! I've already shared your videos with many of my musician friends, you communicate concept and the ideas around it so clearly 😄

Just another great lesson/video plenty of gems in this video. Thanks doesn’t seems like enough, I sincerely appreciate the knowledge

Another excellent lesson Michel! Thank you!

man THANK YOU. you explained all of this so well

Clear and concise, well done!

It really fascinates me how different you can look at those chords and why they work, i arrived there and understood them just as the 2-5 of the parallel minor key.😌

Michael, this video was recommended to me by KZfaq, I really enjoyed this content and it has given me some inspiration and new ideas. Thank you.

You're bringing us along nicely. Many thanks 👁️

Just the right amount of confused and intrigued after that. Excellent content

Brilliantly explained again. Thankyou

Excellent content and presentation. I'll be referring my students to your channel. Keep up the great work.

As a guitarist this was one of this was an amazing lesson!

Ace stuff again. Thank you.

Man, you're good. Tons of stuff to learn - and your explanation is brilliant - as usual. Thanks!

Very thought provoking in it's mechanics of 2 elements moving up, moving down and how it draws the ear to the resolution. I have to rewind and listen a lot but, with the slow repetition the fog starts to clear. Also I really appreciate the way you segue into "tangents" like Modal Interchange here referring back to your previous videoes on those subjects to help build a concrete understanding of how these things are ...homogeneous(?)

Newer subscriber here. Love and appreciate your channel. The diminished chord placed before the backdoor ii-V is a nice touch.

Brilliant thanks 🙏

Love it. Never thought if using the iiidim instead of a I chord ❤

Great content! Thank you so much!

Wow! Thank you sir... You're the youtubers I've been searching for all my life 😅🎉

Great video Michael. I love the graphics display as well. Ie: Modal interchange C Major and C Natural Minor.

Brilliantly explained.

It's uncanny how I want to learn about some concept I don't know, and the day after that you upload a video of it, it's amazing

Another clearly explained concept. You make it look and sound easier than it is!😂😂Well done and thanks.

Big fan of all your work, can't recommend you enough. Every video is an "Ahhh!" moment for me. Thanks, Michael!

Great info packed video as always. Thanks.

When I learned about the minor 4 chord I just started using it all the time as a cheat code. Thanks for giving me part 2 to that so I can abuse it even more! I found while playing around that the Imaj7 chord sounds really nice too instead of the ii chord. ie: Ebmaj7 (instead of Fm7) Bb7 C if playing in C. It's fun picking up new lego pieces to build with even if I'm still playing about with duplo at my level

Thanks!

Music is math, math is music. Thank you. Great teacher - great teaching!

Great explanation

Thanks! I saw some nice examples of Stevie Wonder's backdoor progressions before but this helped a lot to understand better what's going on and why it works.

Great. The graphics too are special.

I absolutely love these videos. Even as a guitar player who cant read or write music (surprise surprise) I feel like your explanations and humor make it so easy for me to understand musical concepts I can hear but can't quite understand yet. Thanks for all your effort you put into these videos man. Spot fuckin on

Your content is brilliant! Period. Cheers. 🎹

great video. to your aside question, i can't think of an example of that "side door" cadence either, though now i'll be on the lookout. my guess about its rarity is that it strongly suggests a move to the relative minor... in C, Bm7-E7 is the ii-V to Am. that relative minor has its own host of associations and complications, and the two common tones from the triads Am and CMaj weaken the surprise element. that said, i don't recall ever thinking about this, so yay.

wonderful, as always. There are many videos on this subjet, but this is outstanding others! Steve Wonder was using a lot those backdoor dominants ;) Thanks a lot

Dreamy. So glad I watched this video.

As always thanks sir

great video. a lot of the concepts you talk about here are discussed further by Barry Harris on his study called the family of four dominants.

i’d love to see you try out a new series where you break down famous chord progressions. Easy by Mac Ayres has some really jazzy chords and i’d love to learn why the chords work and so on

Fuck yes another video! Your channel is becoming my new favorite place to go and further my understanding of super nerdy harmony stuff 😇

@6:30 your takin' it to the streets.

Amazing video!!!

Disclaimer! I wrote this comment before you started talking about it on the video! Still, my fingers hurt from typing it, so I’m not deleting all that hard work! If you build a diminished off of the 2nd, 4th, flat 6 or 7th degrees of a scale, you can lower *_any_* of the notes by a half step and all of them will resolve to the tonic. If we play an F diminished whilst in the key of C we can lower the F to E to give us a “median dominant” that ideally resolves to the relative minor root, but also does a good job of taking us to the tonic. Lowering the Ab by half a tone takes us to the diatonic dominant. Similarly, lowering the B to Bb takes us to the backdoor dominant and lowering the D to Db gives us the tritone substitution. Similarly going up from that diminished by a perfect fifth to (for example) C Diminished allows us to do the same thing with some really nice altered dominants all resolving to the tonic of C. Probably nothing new to you, but just stuff I discovered while I was mucking around... Very interesting, thanks mate.

as far as the "little aside" goes... I think the E7 to C sounds weaker than the others is because the E is the Tonic in the sub and the third in the C... without any half step movement in the 3rd of the C, it weakens it a lot

Maybe the Bm7 - E7b9 - C resolution should be called a relative 2 5 1 or relative dominant as it resolves to Am7 which is the relative of C major. Or perhaps it makes sense to call these by their modal function, this one being an Aeolian 2 5. Anyway, they all sound cool and I’m gonna put them all to work! Thanks for a brilliant video!

The way I remember the sound of the backdoor 2 5 is the victory song in final fantasy

Excellent ❤❤❤

We need a website or app where you can write chord progression and then add and tweak with all those options to test things out

I'm taking a shot at the question in the "little aside" using the idea of voice leading. Maybe it's because in the fourth alternative we don't get any semi-tone movement around the third of the tonic chord, whereas we do in the other three? Instead we get some nice chromatic movement down to the fifth of the I chord, but maybe that's just not as satisfying without the movement around the third. Plus, the III7 chord has already pre-resolved the third of I, unless you make it III7b9, which is really just bringing it back closer to the other progressions that seem to work better to begin with. Another issue: maybe we associate a root descending by thirds with the beginning and not the ending of a chord progression.

Very nice! Subscribed! Greets from Germany 👌

Thx, 🙏🏻

5:33 really got me

Ok EVERYONE SHARE THIS ON THEIR NEWS FEED. LETS GET MICHAEL TO 30K THIS WEEKEND

God you inspire me to just get started with my channel eventually. hopefully when school work starts to die down a bit :).

I love your videos! Your explanations are so crystal clear. Small correction, the cadence V-I that you referred to is called an authentic cadence. However, there are perfect authentic cadences, but that’s a qualifier. The type of cadence itself is called authentic.

Question at 10:34. E7b9 resolves so strongly to the relative minor (A) that going to C sounds weak. Using Bm7b5 to E7b9 makes the resolution in C stronger. But in my opinion, the root movement of a downward third doesn't sound very strong as a resolution. For some reason, when I hear the III chord, I expect to go away from the tonic, resolving to the tonic sounds kind of like giving up, just when the adventure starts! Great video, Michael!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍