CRAZY Dominant Chords A La Jacob Collier [Music Theory]

The lesson of today has been inspired by the music of Jacob Collier.

Whether you like Jacob's music or not (or maybe you don't even know his music, in which case I warmly recommend you check him out), we can all agree that he has interesting harmonic ideas.

Again, maybe not for everybody - but the sheer harmonic competence and inventiveness displayed in his music is staggering.

(Yes, I am fanboying a little on Jacob. Deal with it.)

Today I want to focus on one of Jacob's most used tricks: how to create crazy dominant chords. This is one of the things that I found most attractive in his music at first: how he can write chords that by themselves sound ... horrible ... and yet in context sound smooth.

At the beginning, I thought that to understand this would have required a super-high level of music theory, extreme competence in voice leading, absolute familiarity with chord substitutions...

... but it turns out that it's much, much simpler than that! In fact, as long as you know a few basic chords on the guitar, you can do it too!

In the video, you find the 'general guideline' to create new crazy dominant chords, and several examples played for you.

This lesson is guaranteed not to sound 'conventional'. Have fun!

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[kidjecl]

Hi, there! Nice video. I'm a pianist as well as a huge Jacob fan and i just wanted to add something that could be confusing to people who aren't used to the <<Jacobian>> thesis about crazy harmonic choices. There's a part on this video where you mention that, basically, you can add any note to a dominant chord because it will ultimately be resolved down to your home key, but I must mention that, as Jacob said, the more notes you add to a chord, the more responsibilities you have; the more voices you have to guide in a certain direction to have them make sense in the context of a harmonic motion. I think this is important: you can add as many notes as you want as long as you can guide them properly. Otherwise you just have bad narrative in terms of voice leading. The reason why Jacob's music is so magnificent and mind- boggling, is because every note is like a character on a tale (or a Bach's composition), every voice has a journey and a development that creates a reason why to have that note there in the first place. Also, there has to be a reason why to choose that sonority in the first place: it's not adding notes just for the sake of it. The emotional background for choosing a certain dissonance or interval is the key for crazy harmonic development. In other words, more notes won't make the chord better, but instead, an idea that supports and gives meaning to many voices at the same time, will make everything come alive. Anyway, I really, really liked the video. I just thought it'd be important to point out that complexity can be dangerously mistaken for randomness, and surely Jacob's shouldn't be that case. Cheers!


PD: The examples are great and they all make sense when analyzed functionally. Would've love to hear your more-in-depth take on them .

[Tyrell_Corp]

Here’s an old maxim from a theory teacher I think still applies: “BASS IS BOSS”.

[Robangledorf]

This is one of the best jazz lessons I've ever seen. Easily top 3 of all time for me. It's fucking shocking to me how easy some things are that cause everyone to loose their mind in confusion when they hear it. It honestly makes me think that all of music is this easy and we just don't have the the correct information laid out to us efficiently enough

[neirogenic]

I'm a bassist (upright and bass guitar) that has long been confused on what to play over super spicy altered dominant chords especially when the root and third seemed to be the most vital notes to the resolution even if I did a Tritone sub in the bass. My professors and experienced friend who is a jazz guitar teacher basically said if you can justify it in context you can play just about anything over a dominant chord as long the bass voice leading is good which is why I can never find passing tones that I like in my walking lines over altered dominant chords. Your lesson very concisely teaches what they all said quite vaguely really, very well done. Glad I wondered on to a guitar lesson on accident!

[frankverrico]

I've been playing bass since 1973 and I learn a lot of music theory from your lessons. Keep up the good work.

[pratikmali]

Found out about Jacob Collier through this video, 4 years later now I am so hyped up by Djesse volume 4. Thanks Tommaso :)

[abdelrahmankhaled]

this is one of my favorite music channels. Thanks to you i have a better understanding of voice leading and it's exactly what I needed to know so I can exploit all the weird modal sounds that I like so much but (up until now) didn't know how to implement into a progression that makes sense

[colinreynolds]

This really expanded my understanding and I feel much freer in composition now.

[reececaldwell]

In the days of “learn this one cool trick to be good at guitar and impress your friends, ” it’s refreshing to have a channel where something like “I want to know the IDEA behind the chord” can be said.

[kelbydurnin]

One big thing I'd noticed this video is that the G7 actually is becoming GMa7 sort of because of the F#, which adds a brighter sound to the chord progression and resolution, which is precisely what Jacob talks about (in regards to brightness and darkness of chords.) Essentially, as he always says, do what sounds and feels right. It may not be a proper iimi7 V7 !Ma7 but if it sounds good, go for it!
Edit: Voice leading is, in my opinion, the most important part of music! Everyone all the way back to baroque music used this.

[saturatedneowax]

"I will take over the entire triad state area with my dominant-inator"

[ChangoFrett]

This just opened up a lot of new possibilities for me. I didn't quite understand what voice leading was but now I see and explained and practical application a voice leading in a more uncommon scenario and, for some reason, that made the other stuff in voice leading click for me.

Well, that and now I can be incredibly reckless

[aylbdrmadison]

This allows ones ears to take the lead more when composing. Always a good thing because it promotes creativity. ^-^
Great lesson as always.

[TheArtofFencing]

Somehow I had to think about about a comment the guitar player of subway to sally, a german medieval/folk metal band said. He also studied lute. Asked about some fancy chord progression he often played, he answer that the analysing the chord with functional harmony gives extremely difficult progressions, but thinking about them in renaissance voice leading cadences just makes total sense and is quite easy. But as he played them on distorted electric guitar, these voice leadings seem so strange and complex.
For me these voice leadings ideas seem so connected to the more complex voiceleading of in the renaissance, where people didn't think about chords but the resolving of voices combined with a more modern concept of acceptability of dissonance and jazz inspired basslines.

So choosing the appropriate music theory can make the understanding and recreation of Ideas much much easier and lets you discover new sounds for your own music. Great Video!

[sebastianmoggia]

I'm not a guitar player but I love your videos. You explain easily hard theory that others explain in complicate way .

[intervalkid]

That F#maddb9 #IV chord 6:17 is bomb. I like the barrowing of the iii chord from D major like a phrygian pivot to dorian Em iii to Em ii . This is kind of like some of the things that Chopin would do. It implies a sort of parallel bimodality and utilizes a double relation between the ii chord and the phrygian harmony. Putting the b9 in the bass also accenuates this. Since the Dm in the progression is the ii and the Em is then the iii and therefore phrygian, pivoting it then to the ii into the key of D major and taking the iii chord from that as a dominant substitution. The dual angle relation of the ii and iii make it nice and smooth. The one at 10:45 is the same principle in parallel. Using the E Dorian #7 treating the E as the ii and using the IV Lydian #5 harmony Gaug#11.

[mutably]

I love the fact that you also write the chords in tab. Makes everything easier for newbies like me :^)

[davidlestrange]

what you said about learning the IDEA of the chord is so true man. love it

[bohnulus]

awesome lesson you are the just went back and starting ripping into the II, V, I, s.... really changing them so they sound interesting... punchy.... different... while keeping their function.... so glad you're on the I love your approach and thoroughness on every subject.... you only ever push hard enough to teach.... Thank

[jjverona]

"this is a rare cmaj7 voicing"

yeah because no one is willing to extend their fingers farther than the golden gate bridge