Functional Harmony - Music Theory Lesson

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Functional harmony is a set of rules you can use to create logical chord progression that sounds a feel right. Here’s how it works, first let’s take a look at this diagram. I ii iii IV V vi viio I C Dm Em F G Am C. Here we show all the chords in the key of C and we number them with women numerals. User and lower for Major and minor. And then the diminished symbol for diminished chord ( And by the way, I’ll have a larger graphic that shows all the chords in each key at the end of this video)

So we have all the chords in the key of C, but the question is how do we know what order to play them in? So to start we have a few names for different types chords. The I and iii chord are called Tonic chords. They are like home base, or the nuclease that everything revolves around. Then we have what we call the Dominant chords which is the V and viio. Finally we have Sub-dominates chords, which are the ii, IV and vi.

Here’e show things flow. Tonic is our home, or root. From the tonic chords we can go to any chord type that we want. It can be a Sub-dominant or a dominant. The two dominant chords wants to go to the tonic chords and all the Sub-dominant chords want to go to the Dominant chords. Now let’s take a look at the first diagram again with marking under each chords so we know what is Tonic, Sub-Dominant and Dominant.

We start with our tonic I chord. From here we can jump to what ever chord we’d like. If we go to the IV, a Sub-dominate, then the next chord we need to go to is a Dominant. We’ll go to the V seeing how the V chord usually will sound better than the viio. From the V we’ll go back to I chord. Check it out!

Now let's try this, we’ll go from the one to the IV again, but this time we’ll go to an other Sub-Dominate chords like the ii for example. Then from there we’ll go to the V and I. See how it sound now with a few more chords added in.

And check out this example too. I iii vi IV ii V I. We play two Tonic chords, then three sub domains and the V I. or dominate to tonic.

You make hav notice that all of our chord progressions end with a V I. Well that actually pretty normal in wester music, We call those last two chords a Cadence. However, there are a few exception.

You can also go to the vi chord from the V chord. Normally this isn’t allowed in functional harmony, seeing as how a Dominant shouldn’t go to a Sub-Dominate, but this is one of the exception. It also make a really cool sound, because even people how don’t know about functional harmony will expect the V to go to the I, seeing as how music for hundreds of years has followed these rules in Wester culture. First listen to this Standard I IV V I progression, then listen to a I IV V vi.

This is called a “Deceptive Cadence” by the way.

There’s one other cadence we should also look at called the “Playgal Cadence” or the Amen Cadence” (You hear this one at the end of a lot of hymn. With this cadence you go from the IV to the I. Check out this example. I ii IV I.

Okay, now let’s take a look at minor keys. i bio bIII iv V bVI bVII i. All the same rules apply here. It just sound, ya know, minor. Check this out. i bIII iv V i. We just went Tonic, Tonic, Sub Dom, Dom, Tonic. Same as in major!

Okay, there’s that larger graphic I was talking about earlier. Here you can see a bunch of different keys and which chords are Tonic, Sub dom and Dom. So now just try mixing and matching some of this chords following these rules. Let me know if you have any question!!

And one more thing before we go. You don’t actually have to follow all of these patterns when right chord progressions. Feel free to play whatever you think sounds good, but it’s good to know these rules and use them as a general guild line.

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Finally someone who has explained it clearly and simply. Thank you very much.

Frank-yxpz
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I-Tonic, ii-supertonic, iii-mediant, IV-subdominant, V-dominant, vi-submediant, vii-leading tone.

Matthew_Robert_Hunt
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It’s 12:30 at night and I feel enlightened. I wish more tutorials were as concise, informative, demonstrative, and frank as this.

You’re just awesome man, thank you.

dharmeshmistry
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Surely chord vi is ambiguous. It can function as a tonic chord since in contains the two most stable tones. (Hence the deceptive cadence). I would say that vi has stronger tonic function than chord iii....you seldom hear V - iii as any form of cadence. But, in some contexts vi can function as a pre dominant since it also shares 2 tones with chord IV.

stuartwilson
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Music Student here, This is by far the most helpful lesson I've gotten on Functional Harmony, and my Professor is really talented. But after hearing this everything clicked and it became so simple.

BsWraith
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this needs be shared to every musicians. very clear and useful information and i appreciate the comment at end that says these rules are only guidelines because this is the progressive music philosophy.

weederian
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i really appreciate the little details in the editing, namely the music in the background always being on and changing depending on the topic. It helps me concentrate and puts me in the mood of the chords that you are actively talking about.

rattttooooo
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Thank you so much. I've owned a guitar for the last 13 years and learned how to play good enough to where my friends who aren't guitar players think i'm decent. Though i'm not and my playing hasn't really gotten anywhere. Well, I finally decided to try to understand theory and even though this is a small part of it, the way you explained everything was so clear and concise! I'm here experimenting with different chord progressions already since I know the chord shapes and i'm actually having fun with my guitar again....thank you!

HaniJIsmail
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Great video showing whats useful. I dont get why so many people just explain how they named "Supertonic" when that literally explains nothing useful. Its a subdominant and has a subdominant function, thats what is important to know because that tells us it sounds tense and can be used for contrast between a tonic and a dominant.

MemphisFitz
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I've watched many theory with Roman numbers and tonic sub dominants etc., but this is simply the best. Now can actually start writing my own progressions with confidence !
Thank you very much!
J.R.

jrparsons
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I've been struggling with understanding chord borrowing and modes, but the final table made something click in my mind even if this wasn;t necessarily related. thank you so so much.

LukassYT
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This is THE most helpful video I've watched for writing chord progressions, and I've watched dozens of them. Understanding the function of each chord and the philosophy of building a flow in a chord progression really clicks. And you presented it in such a concise and nice way, thank you!

hy
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Finally someone who explains this stuff in way i can understand

zvrxpmm
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Hope you did a complete music theory course from the very basics, you are soooo good at teaching

pro-lapser
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I've never heard of a 6 chord referred to as a subdominant, it is usually in the tonic family because the 6 chord contains the 3rd note of the scale.

DanJostMusic
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You nail it man!!! If it sounds good to the ear, play it. That's Music!

suswamashimom
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I don't know how to thank you enough for this informative tutorial. The examples you provided clearly teach you what is everything about.

sound-engineer
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Very very very well explained, clear, efficient, simple, easy to understand. Thank you! Please making more videos and like your style: straight to the point, no time to waste in long winded talk.

lavoxii
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AT LAST, such clarity and freedom.My musical jazz horn- charts head- scratching is OVER. THANKS no REALLY !!

Waldvogel
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And also thank you for encouraging us to know the rules so we can use them but we can break them!

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