The Biggest Misunderstanding About Music Theory and Modulations

Modulations are messing up how you understand harmony, and the problem is that you probably don't know what a key is, and it is a LOT more than you think!

Secondary Dominants - What You Need To Know:

Unlock The Mysterious Sound Of The Minor Subdominant Chords

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Content:
00:00 Scale ≠ key
00:24 Diatonic Chords
01:08 The Progression
01:30 Modulations - It’s not just changing scales…
03:55 Secondary Dominants and...
05:56 Minor in Major
07:13 #IV - It IS a thing!
07:57 The Thing It Isn’t
09:49 Think Like The Pros
10:15 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!

My name is Jens Larsen, Danish Jazz Guitarist, and Educator. The videos on this channel will help you explore and enjoy Jazz. Some of it is how to play jazz guitar, but other videos are more on Music Theory like Jazz Chords or advice on how to practice and learn Jazz, on guitar or any other instrument.

The videos are mostly jazz guitar lessons, but also music theory, analysis of songs and videos on jazz guitars.

My Gear:

[JensLarsen]

Name you favorite chord that is in the key but not in the scale! 🙂

3 Basic Jazz Chord Exercises That Will Change Your Playing in 2024
Nobody tells you to work on these exercises, and that is a pity if you want to make music with Jazz chords

[Boneless_Chuck]

Thanks for explaining theory in terms of how listeners actually PERCEIVE tonality (instead of in terms of some abstraction that looks good on paper). Bravo!

[dougmckenzie]

When you played Abmaj7(9) - Cmaj7(9) it dropped me right into Vince Guaraldi's Great Pumpkin Waltz. I think that progression is the last two chords of the A sections (but truly in a different key). Great video, so much information very clearly laid out. I am going to send this to everyone in my combo.

[petermuller]

Your lessons have always been great but the effort towards production really shows! You’re a real pro.

[artompkins]

In All The Things You Are, that modulation from the temporary key center of E in the bridge back to Fminor pivoting on the Caug with the G#/Ab in the melody is one of my most favorite movements in all of the great american songbook. Thanks for your keen analysis of a brilliant tune.

[basilisk]

love these theory lessons Jens, you should keep em' coming for us!

[tomm]

Absolutely adore your videos. 10 minutes worth years of internalising. What a rabbit hole jazz is….still working on ‘simple’ secondary dominants but seems just the beginning of the wonderful world of harmony

[victotronics]

The holistic approach! As a total theory nerd I love this. Great video.

[jedmarsillo]

Wow Jens what a deep and excellent explanation. I see what it means to be in the key much better now. Thank you for sharing your knowledge in a simple and understandable way. Your clear and precise playing along with the visuals on screen really help me understand the concepts you teach here.

[davidpatrick]

Perfect ... what I am trying to do is force my upstairs (mind) to exercise knowing the note names and intervals of each ... just for the exercise ... I am thinking if I do this daily IN the C "key" ONLY (for now) with a new daily routine ... do it for 5/10 minutes and verbalize the notes as I watch... then use transference (Ted Greene) ... then I might understand where I am and what I might want to understand what I do. I already play all sorts of types of things, ... NOT understanding. ... and try by ear but then hit that sour note not in the "key" that ruins what I think I am trying to musically play ... this is a very fine, one of your best shares .. thank you again. pat

[martin_schwarz]

Nice!
I learned all this from The Beatles about 45 years ago. I looked at my fretboard and saw where the notes of some chords went and at the same time learned how these changes sounded. Progressions like Something. Then I tried to move other notes... I didn't know any music theory back then. My playing ended up sounding like modernish gospel baroque. 😉
As an example I found it boring to play 4 times G Bm C G and changed it to
G-Am7 B7-G7 C-C#dim G/D-D#dim
Em7-Em7b5 Fj7-F#dim C/G-Am7b5 G
I had found this just by shifting notes and nobody was able to solo over it 😂

[danardalin]

Recently listened to your Traeben album "Push". Most excellent. Really loved "We'll Let You Know". Could you perhaps do a video on your guitar work for this song or perhaps highlight some of your playing on this album at some point? And/or a video on your guitar tone on that album? Its got that almost clean, almost dirty sound that I've really been digging lately.
Overall a great album that I will definitely be adding to the rotation.

[jameslockhart]

Another way to think of the #IV dim that people might find helpful is as a common tone diminished in 2nd inversion. Then it is obvious that it moves to IM7 as an embellishment, not a functional chord. I just learned this from a Music Matters video, and I think it's a useful concept.

[alainpicard]

In the context presented in your video, the #4Dim chord works like a Dom7b9 chord. In the example, F#dim, whose notes are F#, A, C, E flat, represent respectively the degrees 5, 7, flat 9 and 3 (E flat also being D sharp) of a B7(b9) chord. B7(b9), is the V7 of, and resolves to, E min7. And the notes of the E min7 chord represent the C Maj9 chord without the tonic. Both chords overlap.
Thanks for this video and all the others. They inspires me to continue to work on the guitar even when I do not feel like it.

[davidpatrick]

I like the saying, "The grass is greener on the other side." I modify sayings like this.. "... but you still have to cut it".. Another simple one is, "haste makes waste... and more haste makes more waste".. unpausing now.

[paulpmanhowland]

A lot of great information in this video. Some of it went by a little fast for me, but that's ok. This will be good to refer back to later when analyzing tunes.

[asaskald]

Some of those demonstrative voicings were painful to watch!

Great lesson Jens!

[JustinTrudeau]

Whew. I was afraid there was going to be no Barry Harris reference but you snuck him in with fifteen seconds to spare. :)

[themccowboy]

Thanck Jens ! Pedagogic, Simple, Beautifull.

[matthiasscheffler]

This is a fantastic lesson, packed with red meat! Bravo!