5 D'Angelo Chord Changes Every Songwriter Should Know

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0:00 Intro
0:24 Left and Right
1:51 Send it On
3:59 One Mo'Gin
5:19 Feel Like Makin' Love
6:49 Untitled (How Does It Feel)

[ItsNotAXylophone]

‘Gin has a Hard G. It’s short for “again” not “gin” like the liquor.

Loved the video!!

[davidpalan]

I love your nicknames. VX, 3 foot sub, waterfall bassline, sticky top. These are things I see while analyzing songs everyday but having a cute nickname really makes it easy to keep them in mind while writing. Thanks! Great video.

[MattMurilloMusic]

The secondary subdominant Am7(ii7 of IV7) to the GMaj7 (IV7) can also be thought of a plagal cadence which is commonly a IV to a I, but I guess D Angelo and perhaps other soul/gospel musicans apply the same concept to tonicizing scale degrees outside the tonic through secondary dominants, and substituting subdominant functioning chords (ii and IV).

The avoidance of the V and its harsh tritone dissonance might possibly be a reason why composers choose plagal cadences over perfect authentic cadences.

Additionally, plagal cadences are also called Amen cadences, commonly used in gospel as well, something I'm sure D'Angelo was exposed to growing up with Church music. At least, that is my logic. Great video as always Jeff.

[edbuendia]

This is a a wonderful video, Jeff. Your instruction is solid!

[phatboychef]

Dope video! So much knowledge.

The song “one mo ‘gin” you pronounce the gin the same way you pronounce the second syllable of the word again if you say that word omitting the a sound. Gin like Gen like gensu knives.

[thejamnasium]

I'd love to hear some analysis off the tracks from Black Messiah. Back to the Future. Till It's Done. Ain't That Easy. just another masterpiece by the genius known as D'Angelo

[gpwaltz]

Love to see the D'Angelo stuff! Great picks too, I'll be studying these tonight. (also I think that "One Mo 'Gin" is like "Again" - One More Again, one more time)

[seanmarshallmusic]

Excellent work as always Jeff! Very thorough and accurate work with great visuals and some corny and fun nick names to help distinguish technique

[MovieAddictMitch]

Dope video man! Voodoo is one of my favorite albums and D'Angelo is one of the all time R&B G.O.A.T's. It's great to see him getting more recognition

[jaykoblz]

Voodoo is also one of my all time favorite albums! I love your content, too, Jeff. This video is super informative, I just have one little nitpick. One Mo 'Gin isn't pronounced like the liquor. It's a hard G, because it's short for one more again.

[evandeiparine]

At 1:48 you mention that the key to Left and Right is in Fmaj. Can you help me understand how you arrived at major? D'angelo's melody takes from the notes in Fmin pentatonic, and I'm having a hard time feeling it's in F major when the Ab and Eb notes are used pretty liberally.

[future]

Great vid as always. Best way to learn theory.... listen, play, compose!

[largebottomproductions]

Dude! You are solid. Dig your content and style.

[fromaugustisland]

Would love a chordal analysis of Africa and the Root next!

[claytronico]

I love how a half step movement can have so much story associated with it if you want to break it down vis a vis tritone sub. I like the skip the 5 thing. Its funny how a lot of this stuff is just getting things in line up with a stronger rhythmic grounding, in service to the groove, but the rhythmic language of non-drummers leaves us out in the cold. Its like the three guys and an elephant thing.

[GuilhermeRQuintao]

Isn’t C7 the substitute of F#7, which is the V of B7? It does not seem like a chromatic passage but rather a Sub-V Of V / V passage…

[aurora]

Isn’t the key to left and right c major?

[Rando_Djinnsen]

Nicely done, thanks, I will subscribe!

[abbos_axiy]

Jeff, what vst were you using for EP sound ?

[joshjamesuk]

Every british person including me would pronounce that as Gin as in the liquor. It’s not just Jeff! It’s a British grammar issue! I’ve been calling it that all my life as well as all of my English friends hahaha. Now we know!