Original subtitles

so when I write a song

I don't really use typical chord changes like 1 4 5 1

I mean they're great

and I'll use them sometimes

but I always dress them up a little bit

uh with extra notes

because it makes it

it just brings my voice out

I think it brings anybody's voice out

those extra little dissonant notes

and those rubby tones

and then resolving it's

it's very um

it reminds me

like a David Foster

how he would produce his music

very very rich

telling how Quincy Jones produces music

and it comes from having a jazz background

playing classical music

where there's a lot of these chords

there's like it's all feeling

it evokes a different feeling like F minor

C minor d flat

to be flat it sounds good but if you add like 1/9 to it

here's it before

and then here's it after it sounds

I don't know

it sounds smoother

and it's also part of my sound too it some

if I were making a rock and roll record

I probably wouldn't use that

but there's just some beautiful edginess

that you can add to your tracks

by doing chords like this

so I would probably keep the E flat major chord

nice and simple

but when I went to the B flat

instead of doing this I do

you can do like 2 5 1

the truth is

I don't really even know the names

like the exact names

of these chords

I have a very

very basic um

interpretation of them all

but I know how they make me feel

and I know that if I listen to a Luther Vandross song

that had to

whatever this is

it just makes me happy

I don't know

there's like

no other way to explain it

um so just adding a little bit more dissonance

in the insides of your cords

will bring out the top vocal melody

because your top vocal melody should be simple

and then when you have more complicated stuff under it

it it's the perfect balance of

not overwhelming for your listener

and something that's making you happy

aka me happy

so my friends at monthly have put together a thesaurus

of all things music theory for you

I'm not really the person who's gonna be talking about

oh the the flat five of the tritone substitution

like those are the classes I never did well in school

when I write a song

it's all coming from just feeling into the

into the keyboard

and most of the time

I forget what I'm doing

I don't even know the names of the

half these chords I'm playing

so if you're like me

this class is definitely for you

if you're more of a beginner

check out this video that monthly put together

it's everything you need to know about music theory

in this lesson

we're gonna cover

all the fundamentals that you need to know

about music theory

to be successful in this class

now you might be wondering

why do I need to know music theory

that sounds technical or theoretical

I just wanna write some songs

and in some cases

you're right

there are some technical

theoretical stuff in the music theory category

but we're not gonna be touching those today

instead we're just gonna be talking about the few

practical things that you need to know

to start writing great songs

right off the bat

and if you've been making music for a while

or playing instrument

you can probably skip this video

and start in on day 1 of the class with your instructor

but if you're new to making music

and you wanna get up to speed

starting to write songs as fast as possible

then this lesson is gonna give you all the basic things

that you need to know to start writing hit songs

and then of course

on day one of the class

your instructor is gonna

show you how to take these building blocks

and actually convert them into great songs

so we're not gonna be talking about

making amazing songs here

we're gonna be covering the building blocks

and then on day one of the class

your instructor is gonna take those building blocks

and help you transform them

into something really special

okay so what are we gonna cover

well we're gonna start all the way at the beginning

with just the names of the notes

and then we're gonna take that to chord progressions

and writing melodies

and basslines

and inversions

and a couple of other things right

so by the end of this

you'll be able to sit down at a piano and say

I wanna write a song

and then you'll just you know

right you'll be able to start playing chords

you'll start being able to sing

I can't promise you to be a great singer

after this lesson

but I can promise you

that you'll be able to sit at the piano

and write interesting progressions of chords

that you can sing over

that you can make songs to

and it's really not that hard so

let's jump in from the beginning and talk about notes

so in western music

in pop music

there are only 12 notes

and they repeat up and down the keyboard

we have one

two three four

five six seven

eight nine 10

11 12 and then we repeat

obviously this note is higher and this note is lower

but these are the same note

and they're called an octave

and we'll talk about what they're actually called

like you'll see their names are the same

when we start giving the notes names

okay so we only have these 12 notes

and all music

is just combinations of these notes put together

chords are just

multiple notes played at the same time melodies

are just you know

notes that go together played in succession basslines

again so all we need to know are just

what are these 12 notes

and how do we piece them together

using some basic algorithms and basic formulas

and then you can start writing some songs

so let's give these notes names

and then we'll get on to the sort of fun stuff

all right so these 12 notes are named a through G

so let's look at these white keys

we have a B C d E F G

and then back to A

now typically when people are learning music

they think about notes relative to that note there see

so we're gonna also think relative to C

and the way to remember where C is on the keyboard

is just think okay

we have these two black notes

and C is to the left of those two black notes

so up here that's a C

that's a C that's a C

and movie I don't know if you can see

but that is also a C

right so we have

those are all C to the left of those black notes

and so once you know C

you can count up the rest right

so we have D

E F G a B C

and repeat d

E F G a B C

and those two C's again are called an octave

wait so those are the white notes

now we have the black notes

and the black notes we call either by sharp or flat

sharp means one higher than

and flat means one lower than

so for example

take that note that is a G

one higher than G so G sharp

that's a G sharp right there

so G G sharp is 1 higher than G

the G sharp back to G

okay so flat is 1 lower so

so that's a G flat

now you'll notice that some notes

based on this naming scheme have two names

and you can use these names interchangeably

again we just give the notes name

so it's easier to talk about them

so you'll notice

like this note here

it's one lower than G

but it's also one higher than F

so one higher than F makes an F sharp

one lower than G makes it a G flat

it's the same note

it's different names

if you look up songs that you love

maybe they'll say

play an F sharp chord

or play a G flat chord

it's the same chord

and again these notes are just to

help us refer to the different notes

in any case

sharp one higher

flat one lower

so let's practice naming some of these notes

what's that note there

so we'll start at C

d E F G a B

so it is 1 lower than B so it's flat is 1 lower

so that's a B flat or how this note

okay so we have C d E

so that's a E flat

or we can go C d

one higher than d is a d sharp

let's do one more

how about that note there well

at the C one higher than C

C sharp or one lower than d d flat

so that's all there is to it

start on C Count up

sharp 1 higher

flat 1 lower

if you're new to giving the notes names

I would encourage you right now to pause the video

pick out some random notes on the keyboard

and try to figure out what the name of that note is

once you can name all the notes

we're ready to start combining those notes together

into chords

and again chords are what make up

sort of that backbone of writing song

so if you can play chords

you can start singing on top of that

and you can start making a whole song

and again chords are just combinations of notes

now for this class

or at least for right now

and to be honest

in 95% of pop music

there are only

two kinds of chords that you need to know

and you've probably heard these before

you have major chords and minor chords

major chord sound happy

and minor chord sound sad

so right now

we're gonna talk about how do we find major chords

and minor chord for minor chords for every note

so every note that you've given a name

has a corresponding major chord

and has a corresponding minor chord

and you'll notice if you look up let's say

the chord progression to your favorite song

to any song

let's say I'm yours by Jason Mraz

you'll see the chord

then I'll say

you know C major

so that's a major chord corresponding to C

G major so that's a major corresponding to G

a minor so that's a minor chord corresponding to a

and then F major

that's a F you know

major corresponding to F

now that might sound complicated

but it's really not

basically every note

you can make a major chord and a minor chord

and then you just put it all together

and you have a chord progression

and then you have songs

so how do we find

first let's do major chords

so there's a very simple formula to make a major chord

and that is four and then three

so major chord is 4 and then 3

what does that mean

well let's say we wanna play a C major chord

so we first find the note C

then we count up four notes

and then we count up three notes

so four and three

so not start

so we don't count this one

we start here

so we go 1 2 3

4 and 3 1 2 3

so four then three

and we have a C major chord

let's try this note here

so that's a E flat

make an E flat major chord

so again 4 and then 3 is major

so 1 2 3 4 1 2 3

that's an E flat major chord

again we're not counting when we start here

and then we count from here

one two three four

one two three

let's try another one

how about that note there

so that's an F sharp

so let's make an F sharp major chord

so 1 2 3 4 1

2 3 4 then 3 is a major chord

okay so that's how you make major chords

and you can do this again with every note

so if you wanna make an a major chord

go to a then do 4 then 3

if you wanna make a d major chord

start on D 1

2 3 4 1 2 3

right 1 2 3 4

1 2 3 there we go

so you can do this with any note

and find any major chord across the entire piano

and then minor chords are just the reverse

so instead of going 4 and then 3

we go 3 and then 4

so let's do a C minor chord

1 2 3 1 2 3 4 let's just count that one more time

1 2 3 1 2 3 4

C minor let's do this

so that's a B flat

so let's do a B flat minor

1 2 3 1 2 3 4

so again minor is 3 and then 4

let's do one more

how about that note there

so what's that

that is an E

so let's do a E minor chords

we have three and then 4 1 2 3 1 2 3 4

okay so that's how you find major and minor

horts 4 and then 3 and then 3 and then four

that's pretty much it

you're basically ready to start writing songs

and we're gonna get into that in just a minute

before we do

if you've never made chords before I will

I challenge you to pause the video

pick out some random chords in your mind

so pick a note

you know F sharp

and then F sharp minor

or F sharp major or d flat major

d flat minor

and go around different notes

and try to come up with a major

in minor chords again

it's just four and then three

starting on whatever note you call the chord by

so if it's a F chord

you start on F

4 and three all right

if you can now make any major or any minor chord

on any note

you can play 95

98 99% of all of your favorite songs

so let's go back to that example of I'm yours

by Jason Mraz

which you know

we go to Google

we can type in yours chords

and let's say that the chords we find are C major

G major a minor and F

so how do we find that progression

what we go C major

so we start on C

we count up four

and then 3 1

2 3 4 1 2 3

C major and then G major

so start on G count 4 then 3 cause it's major 1 2 3 4

G major a minor is 3 then 4 starting on a

1 2 3 1 2 3 4

and then F major starting F 4 then 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3

so now we have

cool so you can basically play

any of your favorite songs now

knowing the names of the notes

and then 4 then 3

or 3 then 4 for major and minor

because almost all your songs

are just gonna use major chords and minor chords now

you might be asking okay cool

I can play my favorite songs

but I wanna write songs

I wanna write brand new songs

and here's a little bit of a secret

and we'll talk a little bit more about how to

come up with new progressions and all of that

in just a couple minutes

but the real secret is that most songs

especially pop songs

reuse the same few chords over and over again

the same chord progressions over and over again

because there's not that many options

and so almost every musician

I would dare to say every musician

that starts writing their own songs

does it first based on songs that they like

so they'll take a song like I'm yours

and they'll take those same chords

but they'll write their own melody on top

so instead of doing we don't need to do that

we can do something totally different we go

no no no no

no or whatever we want right

so you can steal the chords

from any song that exists that you like

and you can start writing your own songs on top

but you might say okay

I don't wanna seal the chords

even though your instructor does this

every musician does this

songwriters do this

it is a very normal thing

but maybe you say

I wanna still come up with something original and cool

that's fine

you can also learn from songs that you like

what chords go well together

so maybe you say okay

we have C major

G Major a minor F

I don't wanna play them in that order

but I know those chords sound good together

so maybe I'll just take those chords

and remix them a little bit

play them in a different order

so maybe we'll do F major

G major a minor C

so let's do

numb your so again um

you can just take those chords and then start singing

and then all of a sudden

you have an actual song right there

I mean that's all songwriting is

it's just taking some chord progressions

and singing on top

so that's how you can use just the names of the notes

and the progressions of your favorite songs

to start writing songs of your own

let's just do one more example

let's say we look up another one

of our favorite songs

and we find that the chords are a flat major

B flat minor

and d flat major

so let's find those chords

that's an a flat

so let's go major

so for the 3

1 2 3 4 3 1 2 3

then we have d flat minor

so B flat 3 then fourth is minor 1 2 3 1 2 3 4

and then d flat

so major so 4 then 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 so we have

I'm actually gonna take all this up an octave

so it's a little bit easier to hear

so again I'm just moving up up an octave

all right and then again

if that let's say that's one of our favorite songs

the progression

so we can take that progression

and start writing our own melodies on top

or again we can switch up the words

maybe wanna do E flat minor

d flat major

a flat major so we have

so now it's kind of a different song you

and and so there you go right

so you can just take chords from your favorite songs

use the names of the notes

4 then 3 three

then 4 for major minor

remix the chords if you want

and your songwriter

so if you're brand new to music

and all you know is how to do this

which is find the chords to your favorite songs

remix them play around

you can start writing songs

this is how almost everybody starts writing songs

and if this is all

you know going into day 1 of the class

you're good

you'll be able to follow along

you'll be able to write songs

this is enough

now you might be wondering

I'm kind of curious to know

why these chords sound good together

or how do I play melodies on top of these chords

or maybe basslines

what's that about well

let's talk a little bit about one more ingredient

that if you add it to your quiver of tools

that you'll be able to take what we just did

and just move it up one

one more notch so

and I'm gonna say it

and it's gonna sound sort of boring

and it's gonna bring you back to your piano lessons

when you're eight year old

8 8 years old

but it's the major scale right

if you can learn how to play the major scale

and I'm gonna tell you in a second

just another pattern

like 4 and 3

really easy

no big deal

you don't have to memorize anything

except for what I'm about to tell you

which is whole

whole half whole

whole whole half

we'll get to that in a second

but if you can learn that

not only will you be able to play your favorite songs

but you'll understand

how to figure out what key they're in

we'll talk about that

you'll understand how to write your own core

progressions from scratch

you'll understand how to take chords and

write some melodies on top

some bass lines

if you can do major chords plus what we just did

that's way more than enough to be a hit songwriter

that's the genuine truth

so let's talk about major scales and again

this is not about playing the scales perfectly

like we're in piano class

it's not what we care about

what we care about

it's just understanding what notes go well together

and the major scale is sort of a cheat code that says

hey look at me

these notes are the notes that sound nice together

and some of these other notes like

or some of these other notes

don't sound as good with this grouping of notes

so don't play those

so a major scale basically just tells us

play these notes together and don't play these ones

and obviously

there's always times you can break the rules

but again 95% of songs stick to these rules

they sound great

you can use these rules

and you'll also sound great

so just trust me when I say

this major scale stuff is really easy

it's not boring

and it's gonna help you unlock some brand new

skills as a songwriter

so let's figure out how to play a major scale

I teased it before

and what I teased was this new formula

that we need to know

which is whole

whole half whole

whole whole

half so whole

whole half whole

whole whole half

what does that mean

what's whole and what's half

well in music

as you saw with a major

minor chords

it's all about the relationships between notes

and the smallest units of relationships between notes

are called half steps or whole steps

half step is just the separation of two keys

so this one to this one

so a C to a C shirt

that's a half step

C to d C sharp to D

that's a half step

half step half step half

so that's just one key away

one key away is a half step

then we have a whole step

which is just two half steps put together

so two keys away

so one two whole step

that's a whole step

that's a whole step

so half steps are just one key away

whole steps are two keys away

so if the formula for a major scale is whole step

whole step half step or whole

whole half whole

whole whole half

it's really just 2 2 1

2 2 2 1 okay

so let's try that

so let's take the C major scale

let's start on C

and let's do hole

hole half hole

hole hole half

so we have hole

so that's two one hole

another hole

half is one hole

hole 1 2 another hole and a half

so hole hole

half hole hole

hole half right

so 2 2 1 2 2 2 1

and that's a major

scale the C major scale

let's try one on E flat

so whole whole

half so it's 2

2 1 hole to

half hole hole

hole half hole hole half hole hole hole half do it

that's the E flat major scale let's do one more

we have an F sharp so we have hole hole half

hole hole hole half

and that's it

that's how to find major scales

now once you know a major scale

there's a lot of good stuff that you can do

before we get to that though

if you've never played a major scale before

pause the video

I challenge you to pick some random notes

and again just use the formula whole

whole half so two

two one whole

whole whole half

whole whole half

whole whole whole half

apply that formula again

a whole step is two

a half step is one

and see if you can find major scales right so

or

pause the video

find some major scales and

once you feel confident about finding your major scales

let's talk about

what we can actually do with major scales

cause it's really powerful

okay so we know how to find our major scales now

and so now the question is

what can we do with these major scales

well the first thing we can do

is we can actually find original chord progressions

just based on these major scales

so before we Learned how to find chord progressions

by borrowing or stealing chords from our favorite songs

and now we can actually find our own chord progressions

using the major scale

and the way to do that

is to recognize that every note in the major scale

has a corresponding chord in that scale

so that might sound like a sort of complicated sentence

but all it really means is

take the C major scale

each of these notes C d E F G a B C

they all have a corresponding three note chord

and the way to find the chords

for each of the notes in the scale

is to combine those notes of the scale

using this one final formula

which is play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

so play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

so that's a C major chords as a C chord in the key of C

using the C major scale

we started on C

let's go to d

so d is in the C major scale

so using the note again just from the major chord

let's find the d chord in the C major scale

so we have play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

e play note skip note

play note skip note

play note F

G a B and C

and when we work in the major scale

we find chords in this way

we usually use their number names

not their letter names

so for example

in C C we called the one note

cause the first note of the scale

not surprisingly

d is 2 and then E is 3

4 5 6 7 and back to 1

so the C major chord is just the one chord

the d chord is the 2 chord

3 chord 4 chord

5 chord 6 chord

7 chord and back to one

and you've probably heard this terminology used before

even if you don't realize it

if you know the song Hallelujah

there's a part that goes

and it goes like this

the fourth the fifth

the minor fall and the major lift

and the cool thing about that

those lyrics

this is literally describing the chords

that aren't being played

so in the case of C major

the fourth chord

one two three

four is an F major

the fifth is a G

so under when it says the fourth the fifth

we're actually playing the fourth and fifth chords

which is which is pretty cool

so anyway we can refer to these as 1

2 3 4 5 6 7

and back to one

and there's something you have to know

which is in any major scale

so if we did E flat

and we found those chords by going play a note

skip a note play a note skip a note play a note

right same same process

using just the notes from that scale

playing skipping playing

skipping playing

what you need to know is that in every major scale

which is also in every key

the 1 chord

the 4 chord

the 5 chord or the case of C

the 1 chord

the 4 chord

the 5 chord

they're always major

and the 2 chord

the 3 chord and a 6 chord are always minor

so in the case of C

the one chord is major

and we can check that using our formula

we have C 1 2 3 4 1 2 3

so for the three is major

we said the two chord is minor

let's check it

1 2 3 1 2 3 4

so that's a d minor chord

E minor chord

1 2 3 1 2 3 4

F major G major

a minor so the one

the 4 and the 5 are always major and the 2

the 3 and the 6 are always minor

the 7 is diminished

if you look

it's 1 2 3 1 2 3

but we almost never use that chord

so let's not worry about that

we just have 1 4 5 major

2 3 6 minor

so now here's a whole

new way to come up with chord progressions

instead of taking chords from your favorite song

you can instead come up with chord progressions

based on the major scale

so pick any note say F

find the f major scale

hole hole half

hole hole hole half

so we have hole

hole half hole

hole hole half

and let's find the chords

so it's play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

play same thing same thing

and again we could we know that the 1 chord

the 4 chord and the 5 chord are gonna be major

the two the 3 and the 6 are gonna be minor

and so now we can do something interesting

where we just take random numbers from 1 to 6 and just

but let's make something up

let's do 6 5 4 3

nothing to inspire

not a super common core progression

but you can

you just take random numbers and then find

in the key of f

let's say 1 2 3 4 5

sorry 1 2 3 4

5 6 then 5 4 3

and now we have a song

sort of sounds like maybe a Phineas song

or something like that we have

so we just pick random numbers

let's try something else let's do 1 2 5 4

so again an F 1 2 which is minor then what we say 5 4

I can tell you may you never know

I can tell you oh no

all right let's try something in a different key

let's do something kind of different

let's do d flat or C sharp

and let's try again random numbers

let's do 4 5

4 5 3 4 let's say

so let's first find the notes in the major scale

so we got a whole whole half whole whole half

so whole whole half whole whole whole half so

right so that's one through six

and then what do we say we said 4

five three

don't know I can be

I can be the way I know

so there's another progression

or maybe we don't start on one

maybe we do

uh well let's try something else

you 4 1 6 5

and we'll do it in the key of E this time

so 4 is 1 2 3 so if a

to E

6

there we go six is six is minor five

whoops let's try that again so

so again we can take our major scale in any key

any major scale

find the chords

pick random numbers

and see what sounds good to us

and there's another method for writing

chord progressions

but there's actually more we can do

with the major scale now that we have it

before we get to that though

I challenge you once again

pause the video

pick a random key

make the major scale

find the chords

pick some random numbers

and see if you can make some new

chord progressions of your very own

okay so if you can make the chord progressions

then let's talk about melodies

so if you can write the chords

you might also wanna play some melodies on top

so how do we play melodies

and you know

when you're running songs

sometimes it's gonna be with your voice

you're gonna sing the melodies

and sometimes you're gonna be playing them

with a different instrument

a lead instrument

a guitar or piano

or who knows

some sort of synth

the way to write melodies is really easy once

you know right

so let's say we come over the chord progression in

in the key of G

which is again using the G major scale

then over that chord progression

we know that all those notes in G

are gonna sound great so

so you can start writing melodies using the major scale

over the chord progressions

you write in that major scale

sometimes though

there are notes in the major scale that might not sound

quite as good as some of the other notes

let's take this chord progression again

I play that very intentionally so it sounds nice

but there are sometimes maybe like

or

so there's actually a way to simplify

the major scale even further

to make sure that every note you play sounds great

over the chord directions you're playing and

we're gonna use something called the pentatonic scale

so penta means five

which means we take our major scale

which is seven notes

one two three

four five six

seven back to G

so seven notes

and we're gonna reduce it to five

and the way we do that is we take away the fourth note

and we take away the seventh note

so in the case of

let's start with C

the case of C

we have the C major scale

take away the fourth note 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

and we're left with these

and those notes are gonna sound really good

over all the chordancy

so you can see that if you're just playing the 1

2 3 5 and 6

that's gonna make some really nice melodies

over the chords you're playing

so let's try something in a key

maybe we're less familiar with

let's go to a flat major

and then play that chord progression we're playing

handful of minutes ago

a flat major

B flat minor

d flat major

so let's find the pentatonic scale

using the major scale

so with the major scale goes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

take away the 4 and 7 1 2 3 5 6 so let's try that

so we don't need to be the best piano players

um you know

we'll talk about your instructor

we'll talk later in the class

about using music software

to fix mistakes and all of that

what's important right now

is understanding what the notes are

and maybe you don't yet have the coordination

even to play the chords in one hand

and play the melodies in another hand

and you don't need that coordination

you can record the chords into your music software

into your doll

play the chords on top

take it piece by piece

so it's not

this is not about being able

this is not a performance class

not being a classical piano

being able to do all these fancy things

with both your hands at the same time

this is just about knowing which notes sounds nice

over which chords

and then on the flip side

we have bass notes bass lines

when you're composing

arranging songs

you might want to have bass parts

it's pretty common to have bass parts

and writing baseboards is really easy in fact

the most common way of doing it

is just taking that root note of the chord

so again the root note is just the name of the chord

the note in the name

so a C major chord

the root note is a C

and an F major chord

the root note is an F

and just playing those root notes lower

underneath the chord

so if you have C

F a minor G

just play the roots underneath as a baseline

where there's your baseline

just the root notes and I did this little one

a nice little flourish

where are those notes coming from well

they're actually coming right from the pentatonic scale

again right so in C

that's 1 2 3 5 6 so we can add a little bit of color

a little bit of flavor

by using some of those notes between those root notes

right so you can see that we can start spicing it up

but for the most part

we don't even need to get that spicy

we can just play those root notes

and we have a baseline

so again using the major scale

take away the fourth

take away the seventh

you have the pentatonic scale

play some nice melodies

take the root notes from the chords

and maybe some pentatonic notes as well

and you play some basslines

and again from the major scale

we can find chords

we can come up with our own progressions

and that's a real full tool kit in terms of playing

making music

so I think it's a good place to stop

especially if you're brand new

I would say this is plenty

more than plenty

we've already gone way past what you need

for those that are more advanced

I just wanna show one more thing

and it's called inversions

and again if you're a beginner

this might be one extra piece of information

that you probably don't need

but if you're more advanced

and you want your chord progressions to sound

a tiny bit smoother

knowing how to play inversions

might be that one thing to take you to the next level

so let's talk about inversions

an inversion is just a fancy name for saying

play that chord a little bit differently

so here's the secret

that's a C major chord

it uses the note C

uses the note E and uses the note G C E G C major

the secret is that you don't have to play C

E and G in this order for to be a C major chord

so if you played EGC

that's a C major chord

you played G C E

that's a C major

those are all C major chords

so you can think about it as like

here's our C major

take this C

pop it up and octave

now we have that to C major

take this E

pop it up and octave here

so we have another C major

so you can play major chords or even minor chords too

as long as the same three notes are being played

you can play them in any way

this is a C major chord

who played G

E and C so we really spread them out

has a different feel to it

but it's also a C major chord so

why should you care

why why do inversions matter why

why would I wanna flip around the notes

and I think a big part of it is

making your core progression sound a bit smoother

so let's take a corporation

we looked at a little while ago

C major a minor

F and G is like the duo chord progression

or hard and soul

if you've heard that right

common chord progression and

you'll notice that when we're playing this progression

so C and we wanna go to a minor

we move our entire hand all the way down

and we wanna play F major

we move our hand all the way down and then G

but there are different ways to play this

smoother ways to play this

and so let's see what that might look like

so let's start back at C

and let's do what inversion

so let's take this C and bring it up here

so maybe we have this C to start

and now we wanna move to an a minor

which again is a C and E

so we need to note a C and E from our C chord

what we notice in C

we already have our E and we already have our C

here's the a

and we're just one away

so to get from C to a minor using inversions

we just have to move this G up to an A

so now we go

so we went from here

C E G a C E

they share C and E

so we can just keep those notes the same

and just move that middle note

okay now in our chord progression

we had an F

right so we went

an F uses F a and C

so we need F a and C

we see we have an A already

we already have a C

so we just gonna go from E to F

so look at this smooth transition

so now our core progression goes

and then to get the G

we either have to move everything up or some down

like that so we went from this

to something a little bit smoother

and you'll hear it better without the bass ready

so we went from this

to this

so if that was confusing

then completely forget about inversions

practice everything else

if you are a little bit further along

and you wanna practice

making your core progressions a little bit smoother

remember that as long as the notes are the same

you can play them in any order

and that can give you some different sounds

and different feels for your chord progressions

because like we said

there are only so many chords

1 through 6 really

and there's only so many

chord progressions that people use

and so one way of making your chord progression

sound different in other people's chord progressions

is by trying to use inversions

to make your chords and your changes

sound a little bit different

so if you are more experienced

play around with that

see if you can make your chord progressions

that might be common

sound a little bit special for your particular song

and that's it

that is legitimately everything you need to know

and probably way more than you need to know

to start writing great songs

and you're gonna start doing that on Day 1 of the class

so again to recap

we know the names of the notes

that C d E F G

a shark 1 higher

flat 1 lower

we know how to use four then 3

3 and 4 to make major chords and minor chords

had a borrow or steel chords from our favorite songs

to remix those chords we already have

we have our songs

you know songs of our own

we could write our own melodies

on top of that

we can use the major scale formula

whole whole half

whole whole whole half

find major scales from the major scales

we can find the chords in the scale by going

play a note

skip a note

play a note

skip a note

play a note

find all those

we have 1 2

we have 1 4

and 5 that are major

2 3 and 6 that are minor

pick random numbers

make the chords pentatonic scale

remove the 4 in the seven

beautiful melodies

bass notes playing the root note

or some pentatonic notes maybe

and inversions to make sort of smoother

different sounding chords

using those same notes

so that's it

I hope you learn something

I hope you practice before class starts and try

try your hand

maybe you write a few

little songs

or at least some core progressions

that you can hum or mumble over

as I have been doing

maybe not so well during this particular lesson

so practice

play around

make sure you have

some method of writing some kind of song

that you can take with you onto day 1 of the class

good luck and I'm excited to hear your songs