The 5 Levels Of Stevie Wonder's Harmonic Genius

How does Stevie Wonder achieve his incredible harmonic innovation?
♫ Effortless Modulation ♫

Peter Martin takes you through all five levels of Stevie Wonder's harmonic genius.

0:00 Intro
0:47 Level 1: My Cherie Amour
3:41 Level 2: Overjoyed
6:25 Level 3: I Can't Help It
10:09 Level 4 : Send One Your Love
14:15 Level 5: Too High

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[spotteddogmemphis]

The craziest thing to me is that Stevie has been famous for so long that he’s only 71. Dude has been famous since 1961. An American treasure is an understatement when describing Stevie.

[smashingairguitars]

"We don't even know what the tonic is. We don't care. Stevie got us." Bruh. Now that is poetry. Great video.

[EvanNagao]

Man, i wish i could understand this at the depth he's explaining it at.

[jayswitzer]

i got to be with him for 10 hours in a studio in 1986, In Square Circle tour, time stood still when he played.

[BillCaddell]

If you’re ever asked who’s the GOAT of popular American music and you don’t say Stevie Wonder, you need to get your life in order.

[StringsTheory]

It’s unbelievable that at 16 years old without having gone to music conservatory Stevie Wonder could compose such a complex harmonic construction.

[alanpecherer]

"Effortless modulation" is a great description. For fifty years I've heard SW tunes go through bizarre chord changes that resulted in great, unique tunes, always with a captivating melody, and I wondered "how did he pull off those chord changes?" Nobody else in pop even tried to pull off that kind of sorcery, and if they did, they could not achieve it without moving to a complex jazz realm.

[CliffHuxtableSweater]

I remember telling an old gf while sitting in an ice cream shop that Quincy Jones and Stevie wonder were in my top 5 all time producers/arrangers because they would change keys 3 or four times before gettin to the hook but the average listener wouldnt realize it because the melody and chord theory was so seamless. Earth Wind and Fire was also masters at amazing melodic beautiful key changes. But Stevies melodies over quick key changes is prob the best IMO.

[RobG]

Musician friend cited Stevie Wonder as one of the few whose success and renown in popular music were matched by his gifts as writer and player.

[luukwoudstra]

Let’s take moment to appreciate the beautiful playing of this guy. Knowing is one thing but to play it like that..

[jamesbrownjr.]

If the classic era composers heard these songs, I would imagine that their minds would be blown.

[jazzpianousa]

Thanks for talking about Stevie Wonder. He gets so overlooked as a composer because of his seamless execution coupled with great melodies. His sense of melody is so strong, the listener doesn't realize how complex a song is. What comes through is the beauty of the sounds, coupled with the lyric. It's like the modern version of what Cole Porter did to use the harmony to drive his lyrics and the message/meaning. To me, Stevie Wonder and Sting are so underrated in terms of how they make advanced harmonic concepts and modulations so 'ear friendly' even to non-musicians.

I love the work you, Adam, and the other presenters do on this channel. I'm not sure a lot of folks realize and nor appreciate how you're giving away the 'keys to the kingdom' with all this content. So many of us have had to do it the old school way over the years and just transcribe it off the records, then figure out what it was by analyzing it after the fact. You just say to the viewers, "Here it is!!!".

Keep up the great work!!

[quentinmorales]

Man, if you 'd do a full course on this kind of soul harmony and improvisation I would buy it instantly. You don't have that out already, right?

[chrisblock]

"Stevie got us" is such a fantastic statement. We are very fortunate to be blessed with such a incredible talent giving us the hymns of a lifetime

[danielondrums]

Watching this as a drummer feels like watching some guy frantically pull levers and push the buttons of a spaceship while shouting unintelligable commands. In the best immaginable way that is.

[milesyalzin]

Please do more videos on Stevie's work, I think not enough people discuss his absolute genius on this platform

[piijay]

Along with Prince, Stevie is my favorite artist/composer. His chord vocabulary is so huge and his chord progressions are so exotic.

[chasjazzz]

This is ear candy education. Love digging into the theory and the insight of the Master Blaster himself. Stevie is my inspiration in music

[JimAlfredson]

Stevie Wonder is one of the greatest musical geniuses of the 20th century. Awesome video. Thank you.

[gfg]

Would loveeee to hear you breakdown “Summer Soft” and “Don’t you worry bout a thing”