Clearing Up Chord Symbol Confusion, Part 1 || Piano Questions Answered

The chord symbols used in jazz and pop piano playing can be pretty confusing, so in this tutorial and the one following it I'm going to take a look at how chord symbols work and some of the most common sources of confusion arising from them. In this video we'll look at the basics of how symbols work, then at the symbols basic major and minor chords, their extensions (like major and minor sevenths), then at diminished and augmented chords.

This isn't a tutorial for absolute beginners: I'm assuming you know what the chords actually *are* - rather, it's about clearing up the confusion that can surround the symbols we use to represent them. If you need to refresh your chord knowledge, try this tutorial:

[thelolipopwizard]

I recently watched the "Jazz Improv Vid" and felt the instant need to subscribe. Your teaching style seems to fit both advanced pianists and beginners (me being the latter). Keep doing what you're doing cause I can tell one day you're going to blow up.

[paultumelty]

At around 16:35 you said the + symbol was universally recognised as a diminished chord. You mean augmented right? 😀

[JohnWhite-xcey]

Excellent that shows light on the subject
Thanks Bill
John White

[ChrisLodyMusic]

Thanks for covering this. Sorry for setting you such an epic task 😄

[insulince]

So let me preface by saying this video is super useful and very well made, thank you!
But, I have a question. You mentioned early on that you DO like the notation Cmaj and do NOT like the notation CM for Major chords. Then later you mentioned that you do NOT like the notation Cmin, but you DO like the notation Cm for Minor chords. Why is this? I would think the ultimate system would either use both Cmaj and Cmin, or use both CM and Cm, but not a mixture of both. Mixing them seems like the way to maximize confusion. In fact, the CM and Cm notation seems like the best to me since there is already precedent for upper and lower case systems representing Major and Minor sounds via the roman numerals (as you mentioned), so it's not unusual to be on the lookout for different letter casings.
Can you explain the logic behind your preference here?

[nathanward]

When dealing with c chords for example, you sometimes play B for a 7, and sometimes B flat. It’s clear to me while you play B for C7, but how do you know it’s Bflat for a C augmented with a “7th”

[animatedjess]

So when we play these chord symbols, are we supposed to play them at the same time as the treble notes or are they meant to be played by someone else?

[anzatzi]

Ok, but which notes to represent C? inversions? position on scale?

[MusicianParadise]

that 11 on top of the maj7 chord sounds horrible

[gregnarez]

Try using a dry erase board and save a tree.