This One Chord Will Make You a Better Musician

Summary

In this informative video, Jeff Schneider delves into the depths of secondary dominance, a musical concept that explores chords beyond the traditional scale. He shares his journey of discovering these non-diatonic chords and breaks down the basic concepts, including the 'five of X' and 'seven of X' variations. Schneider then introduces five additional spin-offs: The Lucky Seven, The Sub Sandwich, That Guy's Acting Sus, The One-Two Punch, and The Reverse Engineer. Through practical examples and chord progressions, he demonstrates how these techniques can smoothen transitions, modulate keys, and add depth and complexity to music composition. Designed for both the uninitiated and the initiated, this video promises to be a revelatory exploration of secondary dominance and its deeper truths.

Takeaways

• 😀 There are two types of people: those who know about secondary dominance and those who don't.
• 🎵 Secondary dominance involves using chords that are not in the key to smoothly transition between chords.
• 🎹 The basic secondary dominant is the '5 of X' chord, where X is the target chord.
• 🎼 The 'Lucky 7' variation uses the '7 of X' chord to transition to the target chord.
• 🎶 The 'Sub Sandwich' variation uses a tritone substitution for the '5 of X' chord.
• 🎻 The 'That Guy is Acting Sus' variation uses a 13sus chord ('5 of X' with a major 7th chord stacked above) to smoothly modulate to any chord.
• 🎤 The 'One-Two Punch' variation sets up the '5 of X' chord with a '2 of X' chord.
• 🎷 The 'Reverse Engineer' variation works backwards by using a series of 'One-Two Punches' to create a dense harmonic progression.
• 🎧 These variations can be combined to create rich and smooth chord progressions.
• 🎼 Understanding and applying secondary dominance can add depth and color to your music.

Q & A

What is secondary dominance?

Secondary dominance refers to the use of chords that are not part of the main key, but still lead smoothly to chords within the key. It involves the use of 'dominant' seventh chords that temporarily establish a new key area before resolving to a chord in the original key.

What are the five variations/spin-offs of secondary dominance discussed in the video?

The five variations discussed are: 1) The Basic 'V of X' (e.g., E7 leading to A minor), 2) The Lucky Seven (using the 'vii' chord instead of 'V'), 3) The Sub Sandwich (using a tritone substitute for the 'V' chord), 4) 'That Guy is Acting Sus' (using a 13th suspension chord as a 'V' substitute), and 5) The One-Two Punch (using the 'ii' chord as a setup to the 'V' chord).

What is the significance of the progression the speaker heard on Saturday Night Live as a teenager?

The progression he heard on SNL, which used non-diatonic chords not belonging to the key, sparked his interest in understanding and using secondary dominance in his own music. It opened his ears to the possibilities of using 'outside' chords to add color and depth.

How does the 'Lucky Seven' chord help in modulating to a new key?

The 'Lucky Seven' chord, which is the viidim7 of the new key, can help smooth out the transition when modulating to a new key. It acts as a substitute for the standard 'V' chord, making the key change sound less abrupt.

What is the purpose of the 'Reverse Engineer' variation?

The 'Reverse Engineer' variation involves working backwards from a target chord, using a series of 'one-two punches' (ii-V progressions) to create a dense, harmonically active sequence of chords that eventually lead to the desired resolution.

How can the 'That Guy is Acting Sus' (13th suspension) chord be used?

The 13th suspension chord is described as a 'magic chord' that can help smooth out any modulation or key change. It can be used as a substitute for a standard 'V' chord to facilitate smooth transitions to any key or chord.

What are the benefits of using secondary dominance in music?

Secondary dominance allows musicians to add more color, depth, and harmonic interest to their music by introducing 'outside' chords that don't belong to the main key. It helps create smoother modulations, richer chord progressions, and a more sophisticated overall sound.

What is the purpose of the 'Sub Sandwich' variation?

The 'Sub Sandwich' variation involves using a tritone substitute for the standard 'V' chord. This creates a different harmonic flavor and can help smooth out the resolution to the target chord.

What is the significance of the chord scale charts mentioned in the video?

The chord scale charts are used as a reference to help identify the appropriate chords to use for the various secondary dominance variations. They show the notes and chords that belong to each key, making it easier to determine the correct 'V,' 'vii,' or 'ii' chords to use.

What is the role of the 'One-Two Punch' variation?

The 'One-Two Punch' variation involves setting up the 'V' chord with the 'ii' chord beforehand. This creates a more harmonically rich progression (ii-V-I) that leads smoothly to the target chord.

Outlines

00:00

🎵 Understanding Secondary Dominance

The video starts by explaining the concept of secondary dominance, which involves using chords that are not part of the key to smoothly transition between different chords or keys. The presenter recalls how hearing certain chord progressions in his youth sparked his interest in exploring these non-diatonic chords. He then introduces the terminology 'five of X,' where X represents the target chord, and the five refers to the dominant chord that leads to that target chord.

05:02

🎼 Variations on Secondary Dominance

This paragraph delves into various variations and techniques related to secondary dominance. The first is the 'Lucky Seven,' which uses the seventh chord of the target key to facilitate the transition. The 'Sub Sandwich' involves using a tritone substitution for the basic 'five of X' chord. The 'That Guy is Acting Sus' variation employs a 13th suspended chord, which acts as a 'magic chord' for smooth modulations. The 'One-Two Punch' sets up the 'five of X' with the '2 of X' chord, creating a minor 2-5-1 progression. Finally, the 'Reverse Engineer' technique involves working backward from the target chord to create a longer chain of secondary dominant chords.

10:04

🎹 Final Thoughts and Additional Resources

In the final paragraph, the presenter encourages viewers to explore more secondary dominance concepts at a slower pace through his course 'Chord Theory for R&B Piano.' He emphasizes the importance of understanding target chords and various methods to reach them smoothly. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to check out the course for further in-depth analysis and step-by-step instruction on these harmonic techniques.

Keywords

💡Secondary Dominance

Secondary dominance refers to chords that are not part of the primary key but are used to lead to other chords. These chords are called 'secondary dominants' because they act as a temporary dominant chord for a chord that is not the tonic. For example, in the video, the E7 chord is described as the 'five of A minor', meaning that it is the dominant chord that leads to the A minor chord, even though E7 is not part of the key of C major.

💡Borrowed Chord

A borrowed chord is a chord that is 'borrowed' from a different key or mode to be used in the current key. In the video, the narrator states that secondary dominant chords are sometimes called 'borrowed chords' because they are not part of the original key but are 'borrowed' to create transitions to other chords. For example, the E7 chord is borrowed from the key of A minor to help facilitate the transition from C major to A minor.

💡Modal Mixture

Modal mixture refers to the practice of borrowing chords from parallel modes (e.g., major and minor) to create unique harmonic colors and transitions. In the video, the narrator mentions that secondary dominant chords are sometimes called 'modal mixture' because they are borrowed from different modes to create harmonies that are not part of the original key. For instance, the E7 chord is borrowed from the parallel minor mode of A minor to create a transition from C major to A minor.

💡Five of X

Five of X refers to the use of a dominant seventh chord built on the fifth scale degree of any target chord. This dominant chord serves as a temporary leading tone to help transition to the target chord. In the video, the narrator uses the term 'five of X' to describe how the E7 chord (the fifth scale degree of the A minor chord) is used to transition from C major to A minor. The 'X' represents the target chord, and the 'five' signifies the dominant seventh chord built on the fifth scale degree of that target chord.

💡Chord Scale Chart

A chord scale chart is a visual representation that shows the relationship between chords and their corresponding scales. In the video, the narrator references using chord scale charts to determine the correct dominant seventh chord to use for a given target chord. These charts are helpful tools for understanding and applying secondary dominance and other chord relationships.

💡Lucky Seven

The 'Lucky Seven' is a variation of secondary dominance where the seventh scale degree of the target chord is used instead of the fifth scale degree. In the video, the narrator demonstrates using a G# diminished seventh chord (the seventh scale degree of A minor) to transition from C major to A minor. This chord is called the 'Lucky Seven' because it utilizes the seventh degree instead of the more common 'five of X' approach.

💡Sub Sandwich

The 'Sub Sandwich' is a technique that involves using a tritone substitution for the dominant seventh chord in a secondary dominant progression. In the video, the narrator demonstrates substituting the E7 chord (the 'five of A minor') with a Bb7 chord, which is a tritone away from E7. This substitution creates a 'sub sandwich' by replacing the original dominant seventh chord with its tritone substitute.

💡Sus Chord

A 'sus' chord, or a suspended chord, is a chord that replaces the third with either a fourth or a second. In the video, the narrator introduces the concept of a '13 sus' chord, which is a dominant seventh chord with a suspended fourth instead of a third. This chord is described as a 'magic chord' that can help smooth out transitions between keys by creating a unique harmonic color.

💡One Two Punch

The 'One Two Punch' is a technique that involves setting up a secondary dominant chord with a 'two' chord. In the video, the narrator demonstrates using a B minor 7 flat 5 chord (the 'two of A minor') to precede the E7 chord (the 'five of A minor') before resolving to A minor. This creates a 'one two punch' effect, where the 'two' chord acts as the initial setup, and the 'five' chord delivers the final resolution.

💡Reverse Engineer

The 'Reverse Engineer' is a technique that involves working backward from a target chord to create a series of secondary dominant and preparatory chords. In the video, the narrator demonstrates starting from the B half-diminished chord (the 'five of E') and working backward to create a chain of chords that eventually lead to the target chord of A minor. This approach allows for the creation of dense harmonic progressions by 'reverse engineering' the chords needed to reach the desired destination.

Highlights

There are two kinds of people in this world: those that know about secondary dominance and those that do not. This video will be a revelation for the uninformed and for those already aware, an exploration of deeper truths.

Hearing certain chords from the SNL Band at age 14 forever changed the speaker's ears and life.

The chords heard were not in the key, also known as non-diatonic chords, borrowed chords, modal mixture, or secondary dominance.

Explained the concept of 'five of X' - a chord that leads to any desired chord 'X', even if it doesn't belong to the key.

Introduced the concept of 'Lucky Seven' - using the seventh chord instead of the fifth chord to lead to the target chord.

Demonstrated how the 'Lucky Seven' can help smoothen transitions and modulations between different keys.

Introduced the concept of 'Sub Sandwich' - using a tritone substitution for the dominant chord.

Introduced the concept of 'That Guy is Acting Sus' - using a suspended 13th chord to smoothen modulations.

Demonstrated the 'One Two Punch' concept - setting up the 'five of X' chord with the 'two of X' chord.

Introduced the 'Reverse Engineer' concept - working backwards from the target chord to create a chain of secondary dominants.

Demonstrated a 'combo platter' - combining various secondary dominant techniques into a single progression.

Emphasized the importance of focusing on the target chords and finding different ways to get there using secondary dominants.

Recommended a course on 'Chord Theory for R&B Piano' for a step-by-step approach to learning chord voicings, progressions, and reharmonization techniques.

Mentioned that the concepts and techniques covered are also applicable to jazz music.

Encouraged viewers to explore and dig deeper into the world of secondary dominance and reharmonization.

Transcripts

there are two kinds of people in this

world those that know about secondary

dominance and those that do not this

video will be a revelation for the

uninformed and for those already aware

an exploration of deeper

truths hey everybody Jeff Schneider here

and whether or not you've heard of

secondary dominance before today I'm

going to be explaining them in a way

that makes so much more sense and if you

already kind of understand what's going

on I'm also going to show five

variations and spin-offs of secondary

Domin that will add so much color and

depth to your music you know when I was

about 14 years old I remember sitting in

my living room watching Saturday Night

Live and at the very end of the show the

SNL Band came in for that closing theme

and I heard six chords that forever

changed my ears and my life and I'll

play a shorten version of what that

sounded like 1 2 3 4 5

[Music]

6

[Music]

when I heard those chords I got off the

couch went to the piano and tried to

figure out what I had just heard and I

couldn't do it and that's because the

chords and that progression were not in

the key now some people call them

non-diatonic chords some people call it

a borrowed chord or modal mixture or a

second very dominant but really it's

just a chord that's not in the key and

the way that I'm going to talk about

these chords today is five of x five of

X I'll explain what that means and we're

going to break down the first part of

that progression so we have a C major

going to an E7 going to an A Minor the

E7 is the five of a minor five of x x is

any chord you want to go to that's what

we have going on here doesn't matter if

the chord doesn't belong to the key E7

doesn't belong to the key of C major but

it does lead beautifully into an A Minor

let's do another example we're going to

start on C major again and we're going

to land on E minor now how do we get to

the E minor via this secondary dominant

well let's just call it five of X what

is the five of e we're going to use this

chord scale chart to help us figure that

out and these cord scale charts are free

if you want to download them in the link

below so we've got the E minor chart up

and that's because we're going to E

minor and what's the five what's the

five of X it's a b here's C major

B7 E minor o that is nice now this

iteration of of a secondary dominant

chord is is the most basic version this

is the basic B of secondary dominance

you basic if you want to add a little

variation you can do something called

The Lucky Seven let's go back to the c

major going to E7 going to a minor this

one

let's look at that E7

again if I add a flat nine if I add the

F on top of that and I take the E out

what chord are we left with that's a g

Shar diminished seventh chord and if we

look at our a minor chord scale chart

which again you can download for free in

the description below that chord right

there that g Shar diminish 7 is the

seven chord in the key of A minor and it

leads beautifully to a minor it's called

The Lucky Seven well I call it the Lucky

Seven because it's a fun way to remember

it and it's the seven chord instead of

doing the five of X now we have the

seven of X same concept we are adding a

chord in to help us get from point A to

point B instead of doing C major E7 a

minor we do C Major G Sharp diminish 7 a

minor and of course you can do this

going to any chord you want this time

we're going to go from C major to F

minor now going from C major to F minor

sounds pretty it's it's kind of hairy

there it's it's not smooth that's for

sure those are two very different sounds

and this Lucky Seven chord is going to

help smooth out that transition so the

first thing we have to do is figure out

what is the seven of the chord we're

going to the chord we're going to IS F

minor the seven is e sharp diminished 7

so it's going to sound something like

this by the way e Shar is like f

natural so that extra chord helped a lot

in terms of smoothing the transition so

if you want to modulate to another key

or do some kind of awkward key change

these chords like the basic B which is

just five of X or the Lucky Seven which

is seven of X these chords can help

smooth out the Transitions and get you

into that new key in a way that sounds

much less abrupt and awkward so let's go

on to the next variation which I call

the sub sandwich so I call this one the

sub sandwich because we're doing a trone

sub let's work with that original chord

progression where we went from C major

to a

minor okay what's the trone sub going to

a minor well here we're going to go back

to the basic B which was the five of a

minor which was E7 this

sound now we're going to take the trone

sub for E7 so what's a trone away from

E7 B flat

7 or we could voice it

differently really nice passing chord so

another variation there we've got the

basic B we've got the Lucky 7 we've got

the the sub sandwich and now the next

one is one of my favorites and I call it

that guy is acting sus it's not the

catchiest name but I wanted to work the

word sus in there because what we're

going to use here is a suspended chord

specifically a 13 sus chord let's do

another awkward modulation for this one

we'll go from C major to E major the sus

chord is sort of like a magic chord

which you can make any modulation sound

smooth check it out we're going to do uh

the five of X again but instead of a of

a seven or a dominant seventh chord

we're going to do a sus chord

specifically a 13 sus chord so we have C

major going to E major 7 what is the

five of X what's the five of E look at

the chart it's a b but we're not playing

B7 we're playing B7 sus actually we're

going to play a B13 sus and an easier

way to remember that chord is to play

the root which is B and then a major

seven chord starting a whole step below

so what's a whole step below B it's an A

so I've got the B down there and I'm

going to play a major

7 on

top really great sound one of my

favorite chords and again it's a magic

chord it's going to help smooth any

modulation out check this

[Music]

out it's amazing how well that chord

works you can use it to get to any key

to any chord the 13 sus chord the that

guy's acting sus chord works so so well

this next one I call the one two punch

instead of just doing

this that's the basic B let's set up

that five of X chord with a a setup

we're going to do the two of X remember

X in this case is where we're going a

minor what's the two B half diminished

or B minor 7 flat 5 so you get this

sound it's essentially a minor 251 going

to a minor so that's the one two punch

that first jab is the two chord the two

of X and then you come back with that uh

that five of X landing on your a minor

okay we've got one more variation and

then I'm going to kind of put them all

together to get the combo platter this

one's called the reverse engineer and

it's similar to the one two punch we're

just going to sequence a whole bunch of

one two punches together you'll see what

I mean so we're going to start on that c

major and instead of doing the the

progression we just

did we're now going to think of that B

minor 7 flat 5 or that b half diminished

chord as our our new X so we have to do

that same process what is the five of X

right now X is going to be B so what's

the five of b f sharp 7 so we can do

this

[Music]

let's take it even further remember the

reverse engineer we're working backwards

so now let's do a onew punch approaching

that b b is X remember so what is the

two of X the two of x x is B the two is

going to be C sharp minor 7 flat 5 again

use the chord scale charts so the two

chord is going to be a C sharp minor 7

flat 5 going to some kind of an F Shar

7 going to B half

diminished going to E7 going to a minor

now we have a whole string of chords and

it sounds really really cool if you want

this dense harmonic sound with a lot of

Haron harmonic activity here it is uh Al

[Music]

together so let's put them all together

now for the combo platter and we're

going to we're going to take the

progression we just played and add a few

more chords at the end to work in some

of that other stuff like the basic B and

the lucky s and the sub sandwich and uh

even some of that guy that's acting a

little sus so uh let's try

it there's a lot of Harmony in there but

it's really cool sounding think about

your target chords where are you going

and how can you get there lots of

different ways to do so and if you want

to dig into more of this stuff at a

slower sort of step-by-step Pace you can

check out my course chord theory for R&B

piano it's great for jazz too and I dig

into all of this the voicings the the

the chord progressions the

reharmonization analysis it's all in

there and I walk you through step by

step so you can check that out also in

the description below but that's it for

now so thank you guys for watching and

I'll see you in the next one bye-bye