+fundorinlive Agreed. No worries :)

Thanks, Charmain. Feel free to ask any questions if you get stuck anywhere.

Did u ever come back and learn

+patricio dieck Thanks, Patricio. You're most welcome. Glad you found it useful.

My pleasure, Jim.

You mean just a video on Swing Rhythm, as opposed to Straight Rhythm? If so, I've got one here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i8CihLRiycC2ZZ8.html

No worries, Thomas. Glad you like them.

+hangroover Glad to hear. Cheers.

That's fantastic. I think many parents make their children play classical music because it is more 'academic' and 'respectable', often despite the kid's preferences. So it's great that you're facilitating her interest. It'll maintain her interest in piano if she's enjoying what she's playing. And you don't find many 9 year olds who are interested in Jazz. Brilliant! Thanks for the comment, Gattapadre. And apologies for the long and dense video :)

Cheers, Richie :)

Thanks, mate. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

No problem :)

+Samuel D'souza My pleasure, Samuel.

Thanks :) Will do.

No worries :)

+udderhippo Thanks udderhippo.

Thanks, mate.

No worries, AgroBeats. (btw, sorry for the late reply. I was away on holiday for the last month.)

Walk That Bass yes, I knew it, I read your note... no problem at all and, again, thank you for all your effort

Cheers, Giel. No worries :)

Thank you, Peter.

Thanks, mate. Hope you enjoy it :)

Hi. I've got this video which may be what you're after. Let me know: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jeB8daRm0Km0Yas.html

Thanks! I watched this one already and it's a good overview. But... just wondering if you may have a step-by-step guide on how one can learn Jazz from the very basics.. what should we do, such as transcriptions? learning the chords and scales first? how to practice step by step..? Thank you so much, WTB, you have the best channel!

Actually, interestingly enough, I'm currently working on a website which I hope will do exactly that. My goal is to create a step-by-step guide on how to learn Jazz. Unfortunately, it won't be ready for a few months, but I'll make some kind of announcement when it's ready. I tried to structure my video playlists in such a step by step kind of way. Jazz is homophonic, so you really only need to do two things to play it: 1. Play Jazz Chords (including chord substitution, jazzy chord voicings, understanding the harmonic function of chords, etc.) 2. Improvise (including Jazz Scales and Improvisation techniques) I would try to learn Jazz in the following way: 1. Learn about and understand Jazz Chords (7th chords, available tensions, sus chords, slash chords, substitution, etc). Understanding the harmonic foundation probably the most important thing you can do. 2. Practice playing Jazz chords using Jazz Chords Voicings. A Jazz Pianist's most important job is playing chords ('comping) with nice sounding voicings. 3. Practice improvising over a chord progression - this includes playing scales and using improvisation techniques These are the basics. Once you have your head around these things, you can start learning about common Jazz chord progressions (Rhythm changes, coltrane changes, etc) and learning about more Modern Jazz and Jazz Genres. If you’re starting from scratch, I’d watch my playlists in the following order: 1. Jazz Chords 2. Jazz Scales 3. Jazz Improvisation 4. Jazz Piano Chord Voicings 5. Jazz Reharmonisation These cover Standard Jazz Theory. Then, 6. Modern Jazz Theory (this covers your more avant-garde/out-there jazz and is currently a work in progress) My other playlists (Jazz Chord Progressions, Jazz Genres) are more stand alone playlists and are also a work in progress. It's also very important to constantly be listening to, transcribing, playing and reading about Jazz. Listening to great musicians like Bill Evans or Thelonious Monk will help a lot because you can actually hear and feel what they are trying to do, and then try recreate it on the piano yourself. So always listen to lots of Jazz. And if you haven't already, read both of Mark Levine's book - The Jazz Piano Book and The Jazz Theory Book. These are both considered classics in the Jazz teaching world. And, as I mentioned at the beginning of this very long reply, I'll hopefully have a completed website up and running in a few months time, which might help you a bit also. Apologies for the long winded reply!

Walk That Bass you have no idea how helpful you have been, thank you!!

Hi, ViChenec. I've been teaching on and off for about 4 years, I think. Though certainly not very consistently. I probably do much more reading and learning than teaching. I'm afraid I don't do online lessons at the moment. But feel free to ask if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer :)

Thanks, Betty :)

@@WalkThatBass The pleasure's totally mine.

Hi Samuel, Great questions! I'll deal with the easy one first: 1. One of the things I regret about this video is that I did not make one point clear enough. There is a card at about 12:40 which says the following: "Please note that if a scale has both a Major and a minor 3rd: - the minor 3rd is always a #9 - the Major 3rd is always the real 3rd" This is because the Major 3rd is a stronger sounding interval (the technical reason is that it is lower on the overtone series than the minor 3rd) So even though a b4 acts as a M3, a M3 cannot act like a b4. It doesn't work the other way around. A m3 can be a #9, but a M3 cannot be anything other than a M3. I should have made this clearer in the video. Sorry. So this answers question 2 & 3, about the wholetone scale and the major pentatonic. The M3 in those scales means they can only be played over a chord with a M3. The M3 is constant and immovable. You cannot make it disappear. 2. The Dorian b2 scale is an interesting one. Firstly, just because a scale has seven notes, doesn't mean it cannot be 'missing' a note. There are also scale that have 8 notes (like the diminished scale). I touch on the dorian b2 mode in my video on Melodic Minor Modes and more so in my video on the Phrygian Chord. The short(ish) answer is this: - You can technically use the Dorian b2 mode on a minor7 chord, but the b2 will be a very dissonant avoid note (because it clashes with the root). It acts like a b9, which is not an available tension over a minor7 chord. - In practice, very few (if any) people use the dorian b2 mode over a minor7 chord. Instead they use it over a Phrygian Chord (susb9 chord). The b9 IS an available tension over a dominant chord so is no longer an avoid note. So you can think about this in two ways: a) The b3 of the Dorian b2 mode is really a #9 and we are missing the M3 (which is fine, because scales are allowed to have as many notes as necessary - for example, the chromatic scale); or b) The Dorian b2 mode is generally used over a Phrygian Chord, which is a suspended chord so there is no M3, it's been replaced by a 4. So D Dorian b2 mode = D Eb F G A B C D Phrygian Chord (D7susb9) = D G A C Eb Notice all the notes in that chord are also in the Dorian b2 mode. So this scale fits perfectly over this chord. The Eb is a b9 and the F is a #9 - which creates a very interesting sound over a sus or dominant chord. As I mentioned already, I cover this in my video on the Phrygian Chord so check that out if you like. Does that answer your questions satisfactorily? Let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Hello and thank you. Yes, you answered my questions very methodically and comprehensively, providing rich and useful details, for example on the overtone series, which I am going to study more in detail, or on the phrygian chord. It is maybe worth noting here that the Dorian b2 scale is sometimes called Phrygian natural 6, which confirms what you were explaining. I am going to watch your other videos with a lot of interest. Thank you again.

Meditating on what you explained in your previous answer, I take the liberty to ask you the two following questions: 1. In your answer 2 a) you give more details on the conditions under which we can see a b3 as a #9. If I well understood, we could say that any scale compatible with a minor chord should also be compatible with a dominant chord because for any of them, we can always replace the b3 with a #9 and assume that there is a M3 in the scale, unless the avoid notes be not the same between minor and dominant. Similarly, we could also say that any scale compatible with a minor-major chord should also be compatible with a major chord. Can you confirm that? 2. Does it work in a similar way for the 7th note? For example, in the Altered Scale, which contains a b7, could we see this b7 as a #6 and imagine that there is a natural 7 which would make the scale compatible with a major chord? Thank you again for your time and for sharing your knowledge. Regards, Samuel

Hey Samuel, So, as you suggest, it all has to do with 'available tensions' and 'avoid notes'. Here are the available tensions for the following chords: - Maj7 = 9, #11, 13 - m7 = 9, 11, 13 - V7 = b9, 9, #9, #11, b13, 13 And all the other tensions are 'avoid notes'. So, for example, the avoid notes over a V7 chord are the natural 11 and Maj7. So, speaking purely technically, you can use any minor scale over a dominant chord, but the Perf4 and Maj7 of the scale (if applicable) would be avoid notes. So take the chord C7 = C E G Bb Now: 1. C Dorian #4 (4th mode of G Harmonic Minor) = C D Eb F# G A Bb This scale would fit perfectly over a C7 chord, with no avoid notes, because it avoids the F and the B. When analysed as degrees of the C7 chord, this scale gives: 1, 9, #9, #11, 5, 13, b7. All of these are either chord tones or available tensions. 2. C Dorian = C D Eb F G A Bb This scale can be used over a C7 chord, but has 1 avoid notes (the F). When analysed as degrees of the C7 chord, this scale gives: 1, 9, #9, 11, 5, 13, b7. Only the 11 is not an available tension. 3. C Melodic Minor = C D Eb F G A B This scale can be used over a C7 chord, but has 2 avoid notes (the F & B). When analysed as degrees of the C7 chord, this scale gives: 1, 9, #9, 11, 5, 13, 7. The 11 and 7 are not available tensions. Now there are two complicating factors here: 1. Just because a scale has an avoid note, doesn't mean you can't use it. You can use the C Major scale over a CMaj7 chord, even though it has an avoid note (F). You just have to be careful not to over-emphasise the avoid note, as this will create a lot of dissonance and tension. And actually creating dissonance and tension can be perfectly fine if you resolve it well. This implies that you can, in fact, use any scale over any chords, as long as you be careful to mind the avoid notes. In practice, jazz musicians tend to choose scales that minimise the number of avoid notes over a particular chord, but that doesn't mean you can't choose a scale with lots of avoid notes. I cover this topic here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oa2IfLR2kqe-k2Q.html 2. The natural 11, while being an avoid note in a Jazz context, is actually perfectly fine in a blues context. A C7#9add11 chord is a very bluesy chord. So you can actually emphasise the nat11th of a C7 chord, and it will just sound a bit bluesy, especially with that #9 (which is, of course, a blue note). The B (Maj7) is a bit more problematic. Now, this doesn't work the same way for a Maj7 chord because a #9 is NOT an available tension over a Maj7 chord. A #9 would be an avoid note over a Maj7 chord, so you cannot use a scale that fits over a minMaj7 chord over a Maj7 chord. By that, I mean that you can, of course, use it, but the #9 will sound like an avoid note. But again, the #9 may sound good in a bluesy context over a Maj7 chord. For example, Charlie Parker's 'Blues for Alice' is a 12 bar blues but starts on a Maj7 chord (instead of a V7 chord). A #9 would be ok over a Maj7 chord in this context. And this idea does not apply to 7ths. This is because a #6 or #13 is not an available tension over any of the above chords. If you played a #6 (b7) over a Maj7 chord, it will sound like an avoid note. But, yet again: 1. You're allowed to play avoid notes to build tension, if you are able to then resolve it (for example by moving to the Maj7 or root) 2. It will sound fine in a bluesy context (like Blues for Alice) because the b7 is a blue note. I hope that makes some kind of sense to you. We are delving into the deep end of music theory here, where there are no more black and white answers. I realise the above answers are a little equivocal, but they are the best I can give when answering the rather complex questions you posed. At a certain level in music theory, there are no more right or wrong answers, there are only opinion. Anyway, hope this helped.

Thank you for this wonderful answer. I honestly do not know how you could have answered my questions better. I wish I had discovered your website and your videos earlier and I hope that our discussion help other visitors.

Cheers, Ian. Yeah, it's got a couple of names - Dominant Diminished or the Half-Whole Diminished Scale. I've got a separate video dedicated to that one scale, if you're interested. Thanks for the comment.

Great. I'll check that one out, cheers. :)

Ian Craig "half/whole" tone scale XD

Sounds like you're well-versed in Free Jazz! :)

I'll see what I can do.

No worries, Stian. 1. For all Maj7 chords you can use the Major scale a 5th higher than the root note of the chord. This gives you a scale called the 'Lydian mode' which you can use over any Maj7 chord. So: CMaj7 -> use G Major Scale (this is called C Lydian Mode and is just a C Major scale with a #4 [F#]) DMaj7 -> use A Major Scale (this is called D Lydian Mode and is just a D Major scale with a #4 [G#]) and so on. The Lydian mode is just like a Major Scale but with a #4. The Lydian mode only works over Maj7 chords. Dominant 7 and minor 7 chords have their own scales. For example, the C Lydian Mode (G Major) will not work over a Dm7 chord. It only works over the CMaj7 chord (the I chord) 2. Modal Jazz is a little bit different. It doesn't use 'chord progressions' in the same way that traditional 'tonal' Jazz does. The goal of Modal Jazz is to capture the sound of a particular scale - so if you are playing a song in the key of D Dorian, you should generally stick to the D Dorian scale (with occasional passing notes) rather than using a completely different scale. This is a very broad generalisation - you can use different scales in a modal jazz context, but this is moving you more towards 'free jazz'. I've got a whole playlist on this topic, it's a bit difficult to summarise, unfortunately. Keep at it! All these things take time and practice and patience. You're doing great if you can get your head around this at 15 y.o. I certainly didn't understand any of this when I was 15. Does that make sense? Feel free to keep asking. That's the only way you learn.

That was all I needed to know, thanks :)

Technically yes, but it would sound horrific. You would generally only use one of each degree of tension. One 9th (b, nat or #) The #11 One 13th (b or nat)

The natural 11 sounds fine in a Blues context. Blues works a little bit differently to standard Western harmony. Also, it's perfectly fine to use an avoid note. You just don't want to over emphasise it. But again, you can when used in a Blues setting.

👍

@@davidantas9486 thank u

Thanks for the feedback. I'll take it on board. But surprisingly, my longer videos are generally the more popular ones.

SOUNDS GAY TO ME....

yeah, exactly right. Scales and chords are interrelated, so if #4 is easier for you to remember rather than #11, just do what is easiest.

Walk That Bass I thought about that after I sent that and questioned why and now I am taking the time to write it out in a short hand thing that I just came up with .using space bar periods and letters will post that later .

Walk That Bass yeah I know that basic c lydian scale has a sharp 4 in it and I think I do need to think in terms of extensions and it's a nice little trick to go up by one whole tone and put the d and f# in chord or melody were basically in 9th # 11 and 13th territory when when we put in the a..

Yep exactly right. I find thinking in terms of chords and extensions (i.e. vertically) easier, so if that works for you, go for it. There are lots of different ways to think about and express the same thing.

Thanks, mate.I do have a video on secondary dominants (explaining what they are): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l9J0hqhz2N6ueas.html But I haven't yet explained what scales are generally used over them. In short, it's just the relevant diatonic scale but with a note adjusted to account for the 'outside' note in the secondary dominant.

Yes , if you alter the major scale you will get a different sound and a scale (might not have a name though ) . Before trying to understand different scales , it is very important to understand the sound of the major scale and it's modes. Modes need to be practiced in the right way and we need to understand the important notes in them.. I too am learning and I always get stuck with the same sound while improvisation which gets boring soon.i need to work a lot now Using different scales and modes properly.So once you reach a point where you can play(improvise) at least Dorian over minor, mixolydian over dominant( in ii v I chord progression )knowing the important notes of the modes and it's connection with the major scale . Before learning the melodic ,harmonic, whole tone , altered scale . Try using all the major modes on a single major chord , then all minor modes over a single minor chord .. ,then dominant needs a lot of focus. You can play literally everything on it. . Try using different modes over ii v i . You do not have to restrict yourself to the notes in a scale. Try using notes that are not there in the scale as passing notes or even try landing on such notes.. we need to forget that we are playing scales.soon you you will be able to hear notes in your head that you didn't earlier. Sorry about my English x😂

Diminished chords are generally treated as rootless V7b9 chords in Jazz - so the 5th of the diminished chord is actually the 7th of the disguised dominant chord.

ummmm.....nope?