[video] - Decoding standards - course on common chord modules in standards

[Christian Miller]

I’ve finished this four video series which I think may be an honest-to-god learning resource!

[AllanAllen]

Great, I was just looking for something to watch.

[pamosmusic]

Thank you, Christian. I’m learning so much about how the British celebrate Christmas.

[pamosmusic]

On the real, this is great.

Ive done my ii-Vs and whatnot in the past, but usually just put stuff over tunes. Anyway … I’m starting to work a bit more on kind of snap together, modular ideas to get some more of the stuff I’ve worked on to come out a little more often. And these are great for that. The ii-Vs being important, but also all the context. Variations and other common progressions. Maybe a good thing to be getting into more deliberately.

note: I’ve only finished the first two. If the third and fourth videos are terrible and useless, I will revise this post accordingly.

[JazzPadd]

Thank you very much for these! I like how they're historically infused, showing continuities between jazz and what came before and after. My favorite bits are the turnarounds and the "four and back."

Mostly I play at jam sessions these days, so for me these lessons are useful to develop spontaneous navigation of unexpected events, with structure and repertoire as the guide to approaching tunes.

[alez]

Awesome stuff, Christian, thanks a lot for sharing.

The contents are truly great, not groundbreaking of course, but *SO* clear and well laid out.

As a non-native English speaker, the superimposed info (charts with colours, etc.) are super helpful (on top of the automatic subtitles that Youtube provides, which are not bad at all).

I'm watching each for the second time and intend to provide comments later.

[Christian Miller]

Awesome stuff, Christian, thanks a lot for sharing.

The contents are truly great, not groundbreaking of course, but *SO* clear and well laid out.

As a non-native English speaker, the superimposed info (charts with colours, etc.) are super helpful (on top of the automatic subtitles that Youtube provides, which are not bad at all).

I'm watching each for the second time and intend to provide comments later.

thank you! I’ve been trying to make things clearer and more concise

[alez]

thank you! I’ve been trying to make things clearer and more concise

It really is a pleasure to listen to those videos. They are extremely clear and a joy to watch because of it.

[alez]

Notes for vid #2:

7:32 -- "Don't play the minor seventh". This caught my attention and I've taken it to a different thread:
Is minor "home" (Im) dorian, melodic, neither?

9:37 -- I would've pointed out that a II with a perfect fifth is the most common as Em7 A7 Dm (key of C or key of Am) in particular, where that II chord is diatonic. But I may be wrong because I know few songs overall. Also I suspect you've deliberately avoided going into these "key signature context" considerations.

I totally loved learning different minor II-Vs unknown to me like the chrom. descending line on IIm7 V7b9 Im and the pedal bass on V7sus4b9 V7b9 Im. I missed bVII7 VIIdim7 Im (chrom. ascending bass), which left me wondering given that I seem to remember having learnt it from you a while ago.

[alez]

Vid #3, 10:00 -- On the Structure of Turnarounds chart, the second chord reads "VIm7", should be "VI7" which of course goes with the A7 right below.

Vid #4, 2:00 -- The third chord in the chart is not consistent across rows, I think you wanted a minor IV there and the top row needs amending.

I've learnt so much with these videos. They're truly awesome, thanks so much.

[Christian Miller]

Vid #3, 10:00 -- On the Structure of Turnarounds chart, the second chord reads "VIm7", should be "VI7" which of course goes with the A7 right below.

Vid #4, 2:00 -- The third chord in the chart is not consistent across rows, I think you wanted a minor IV there and the top row needs amending.

I can't amend stuff easily on YouTube sadly without completely reuploading. I might do a pinned comment. More likely I'll wait to see if anyone notices mistakes and then pin their comments ;-)

I've learnt so much with these videos. They're truly awesome, thanks so much.

Thanks!

[Christian Miller]

Notes for vid #2:

7:32 -- "Don't play the minor seventh". This caught my attention and I've taken it to a different thread:
Is minor "home" (Im) dorian, melodic, neither?

9:37 -- I would've pointed out that a II with a perfect fifth is the most common as Em7 A7 Dm (key of C or key of Am) in particular, where that II chord is diatonic. But I may be wrong because I know few songs overall.

The II chord is most normally taught with a b5 in my experience? In terms of tunes, you can find examples of both, but I would say the ii7b5 is a bit more common.

In general I think in trad music theory, minor key harmonies choices are most often based on the harmonic minor (hence the name).

EDIT: no sorry that's not what you are saying actually is it? I'd need to rewatch that bit for context.

Also I suspect you've deliberately avoided going into these "key signature context" considerations.

I totally loved learning different minor II-Vs unknown to me like the chrom. descending line on IIm7 V7b9 Im and the pedal bass on V7sus4b9 V7b9 Im. I missed bVII7 VIIdim7 Im (chrom. ascending bass), which left me wondering given that I seem to remember having learnt it from you a while ago.

[pamosmusic]

Nice the last two videos were great too!

The first three were really useful for grouping together stuff and seeing it all laid out in a systematic way. But I wouldn’t have thought to group the four and back stuff together at all, I don’t think. So that was very cool and handy.

[alez]

EDIT: no sorry that's not what you are saying actually is it? I'd need to rewatch that bit for context.

I'm not explaining myself well.

I mean that, in the key of C, Dm and Em are both diatonic to the key, and that makes the sequence Em7 A7 Dm a particularly common occurrence of the cadence you were covering, that's IIm7 V7 Im.

Like in the Em7 A7 Dm7 G7 C turnaround, etc.

I haven't seen any other uses but I know few tunes.

[Christian Miller]

I'm not explaining myself well.

I mean that, in the key of C, Dm and Em are both diatonic to the key, and that makes the sequence Em7 A7 Dm a particularly common occurrence of the cadence you were covering, that's IIm7 V7 Im.

Like in the Em7 A7 Dm7 G7 C turnaround, etc.

I haven't seen any other uses but I know few tunes.

Sure. Yes that is something that comes up (for example East of the Sun, Out of Nowhere and loads of tunes) but in this specific context I'm talking about the II V I into a minor key. The IIm7 chord is in fact found in the melodic minor scale, but most harmonic theory tends to take chords from harmonic minor.

It is also common for the IIm7 chord to be treated like its own minor key and be preceded by a IIm7b5 V7(b9). A good example would be It Could Happen To You.

Ebmaj7 Gm7b5 C7(b9) Fm7 etc

[alez]

Sure. Yes that is something that comes up (for example East of the Sun, Out of Nowhere and loads of tunes) but in this specific context I'm talking about the II V I into a minor key. The IIm7 chord is in fact found in the melodic minor scale, but most harmonic theory tends to take chords from harmonic minor.

Oh, I see. IIm7 V7 Im relative to (minor) key, not just to destination. Not come across it so far. I don't know much theory at all but I think theory generally looks at this IIm7 as borrowed from major rather than considering the melodic minor scale (or dorian, say).

It is also common for the IIm7 chord to be treated like its own minor key and be preceded by a IIm7b5 V7(b9). A good example would be It Could Happen To You.

Ebmaj7 Gm7b5 C7(b9) Fm7 etc

That one I've come across, yes, not sure what tune(s). It Could Happen to You is one I want to learn this year. I like it a lot and of course I love the way Chet Baker played it, it's just very pleasant to listen to.