Bonjour from Ottawa, Canada! I enjoyed the 2 video clips very much. What I find interesting, apart from the mathematics of chord construction, is why for example a Am “sounds” so cool following a C major, why a Bm sounds nice or close to a D, why a Em sounds cool with a G, etc… and why in some cases, relative minors adequately can replace their “major” partners in songs. You mentioned that the A vibrates at 440 cycles, does an A “chord” vibrate also at 440 and would the Am vibrate slower since it is more melancholic or soothing? Other than the solfège part of music, there is something in the chord vibrations that can move you or get an emotion out of you, be it a diminished seventh chord vs a minor seventh vs the 9th chords we use in Jazz. Why does Jazz sound like Jazz, Blues sound like blues, “happy” songs Folk songs sound better in Major chords? Not sure I am clear, but thanks again. Enjoy the day.
Brad BordessaOct 19, 2022
Aloha Denis,
Wow! Lots to unpack. Let me see what I can do.
A major chord and its relative minor share two notes. If you add the third note to either chord, you get a major 6th or minor 7th chord type. (C major = C E G) + (A minor = A E C) = C E G A, which is a C6 or Am7 chord. That’s why you can substitute with the relative major or minor. It essentially creates more complex jazz harmony with a simple chord shape.
A chord has a combination of different note vibrations happening at the same time. One note doesn’t take over just because of the name. An A major chord will probably have some combination of 277.18hz (C#), 329.63 (E), and 440 (A) working together. These blend to create the sound of the chord. The only part of an Am chord that would vibrate slower is the C note, down from 277.18hz to 261.63hz. https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
As for the why do genres sound the way they do question… That’s a lifetime of study! It has little to do with theory and everything to do with musical expression.
MarktrevisOct 27, 2022
Hi Brad. What is the reasoning behind the music theory that there is no enharmonic between B-C and E-F? Why those two notes? It’s just something I’ve always pondered and never found an adequate answer.
I understand that it comes from the 12th root of 2, allowing for every octave to be exactly twice the frequency of the previous octave andvall that theory (I’m a bit of a nerd myself)
but what that doesn’t answer is why 12 semitones? If there were 14, then you could have a sharp for each one and instead of multiplying by the 12th root, you multiply by the 14th root. Then, every 14 semitones you get a new octave and every note has a sharp and flat. Is it because it sounds right with 12, or is there a deeper mathematical reasoning? Or both, perhaps?
Thanks for any clarity you can bring.
Brad BordessaOct 27, 2022
I’m not sure why we ended up with B-C and E-F. Seems like it could have just as easily been G-A and D-E or similar no-enharmonic neighbor notes. Or, they could have ditched “enharmonics” completely and extended the alphabet so each note gets a letter: ABCDEFGHIJKL. Perhaps this would make it more difficult to think about keys? I don’t know.
Thanks Brad. That settles the issue for me and kind of what I suspected.
Many BlesSings from the Sunshine Coast of BC Canada
Thomas FrauenhoferOct 28, 2022
Aloha from Pittsburgh, Brad! I subscribed to this workshop as soon as it was available, and I am enjoying it immensely. I’m a hobbyist ukulele player, and I’ve been trying to learn enough music theory to get me to a jamming level for a while (lots of youtube videos and circle of fifths and the like). It’s deceptively complicated, and nobody seemed to have something that brought it to a more practical level. This course is filling that bill.
A day or two after I bought the course (but before I could start it) I was trying to jam with some friends with guitars and a mandolin. I was struggling a little in the jam. Once I started the course, I realized things I could do with them next time so I wouldn’t be so lost. (They were very patient with me and helped me out a lot, they’re good friends.)
My only question is – why couldn’t you have release this a few weeks earlier? LOL! Seriously, I’m taking my time to digest this, and I’m getting a lot out of it.
Thank you so much for this!
Brad BordessaOct 28, 2022
So happy to hear it, Thomas! That’s exactly why I wanted to get this into the world. Thanks for sharing!
bob seeleyOct 31, 2022
Aloha Brad,
Although much of this “Street Theory” workshop is review from previous material that has been covered in other podcasts, live streams and ebooks, I find it to be incredibly helpful to hear it again and again. As it has been pointed out by many different Kumus as well as yourself, “You don’t get it all the first time around”. We as students have to be patient with ourselves. We all learn at different speeds and that “Aha Moment” when it suddenly “clicks” is when the magic happens. Hearing your intro to the “Nashville Number System” and transposing in this workshop was one of those “Aha Moments” for me. Thanks for always being patient, clear, and not rushing over topics, but taking the time to explain and repeat the process on other strings, in other keys, etc. Mahalo nui. Bob in Venice Beach CA
Brad BordessaNov 2, 2022
Glad you got at least one “a-ha!” moment, Bob!
John RomeroNov 4, 2022
Brad,
The importance of knowing the fretboard becomes a major goal now. Playing these notes in a musical context like improvising using the pentatonic scale over a blues chord progression makes it clear to my ear and sight how sounds work. I was thinking osmosis would work but you need to make a specific effort to absorb this technical part where it becomes a natural part of your playing.
No questions here about the theory but now it’s about putting this theory into the playing.
Another great workshop with clear video and beautiful sound from your new Uke.
John
Stephen SmithNov 7, 2022
Aloha Brad! Thanks for putting this together. I’ve been playing for years but have kind of always avoided music theory because the way people explained it would make my head hurt. You’ve done a marvellous job here explaining it in an accessible, useful, and immediately applicable way…and you made it actually interesting! Bravo! Everything taught in this workshop is something I can use right away, and I’m super stoked about that.
My question is actually unrelated to music theory, per se, but I hope going through the workshop gives me the opportunity to ask it here; if it’s not the right place, let me know.
So, you using linear tuning in this video inspired me to bust out the low G string and mess around with it. After a few years of almost exclusively using re-entrant tuning, I’m having a lot of fun and am LOVING the few notes of extra range. However I’m also finding that a lot of the ways of playing that sound really good with a high G (namely, Campanella and leaving the high G string open to drone a lot) simply don’t work or sound good on the low G. I’m also finding that a VERY high percentage of instructional materials are for high G tuning. One thing I’m learning intuitively is to be more aware of the open low G droning endlessly and try to think about fretting that string during chord shapes to get things like walking bass lines and more variety on the low end rather than that loud open G just drowning everything else out.
So do you have any tips, resources, or suggestions for transitioning to playing low G?
Once again, thanks for the stuff you put out! I love your down to earth vibes and your genuineness and honesty. Keep it up, brother.
Brad BordessaNov 8, 2022
Aloha Stephen,
Thank you for the kind words. Glad you’re liking the workshop.
Interesting question.
Growing up I was always surrounded by low-G players. So I always felt like there was a lot more information on linear tuning and that re-entrant was “dying” and harder to learn. The opposite of your experience it seems!
I think first of all you just have to find folks who play low-G and learn from them. Herb Ohta, Jr., Brittni Paiva, James Hill, Ohta-San, Daniel Ho, IZ, Neal Chin, etc. Just hearing them play and having the sound in your head will help a lot.
As far as resources, all my stuff comes from a low-G place of thinking (though I often try to stay G-string neutral to accommodate both tunings). The Ukulele Way has a linear track. Herb does workshops. Daniel has some TAB books and a musicians.online course. Neal Chin does private online lessons.
It’s kind of a hard question since low-G is really where my entire understanding of the instrument comes from. That’s just what ukulele “is” to me. I’ll think about it. Might make for another good workshop subject!
Susan Jones-KubeskaNov 10, 2022
Thanks! Your course was clear and concise. It crystallized some things I already knew and gave me food for thought. Well worth the few bucks!
Steve DippellNov 22, 2022
Bought the course when it was released, but didn’t have time to focus on it until now. It was a good condensed review of the basics, and will provide an excellent overview for someone starting out. I’m a baritone enthusiast, and want those who share that passion to know the course contents easily transition to that instrument.
Thanks, Brad.
Brad BordessaNov 22, 2022
Glad to hear you found it easy to use for baritone as well, Steve. I’ve had a couple people ask about that, but I never quite know what to tell them since everyone processes things differently.
Leon PetrusDec 1, 2022
Hi Brad,
Up to to the minor scales everything made sense after that it is one big blur. For me the lack of in video graphics to illustrate what you say make it all very confusing. Have listened to it a couple of times now but can’t get a handle on it. Even when I try to write it done I have a hard time figuring out what it is that I should write down. I am 60 now and picked up the ukulele about 8 months ago, so this might be a bit above my level at this point.
Still I liked the way you explained the fret board and the way to play the scales. That was interesting and I will practice that. At a later date I may come back and review that last 10 minutes again and then I may understand what you mean.
Brad BordessaMar 15, 2023
A lot of this theory stuff works in harmony with other parts of your musical understanding. As you play more, revisit the video and it will make more and more sense.
When I revisit these subjects to teach them I notice new things myself!
Nicole CarlonOct 6, 2023
Awesome course! A complicated subject clearly and simply broken down into steps I can take my time digesting. The hand out is also super awesome as I am a visual learner and seeing all the notes laid out on the fretboard gives me a much better understanding of notes. Stoked to really get this stuff down so I can get more comfortable messing around on my uke instead of just following other peoples chord sheets to play songs.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Discuss this lesson and ask questions at Forum @ community.liveukulele.com
Bonjour from Ottawa, Canada! I enjoyed the 2 video clips very much. What I find interesting, apart from the mathematics of chord construction, is why for example a Am “sounds” so cool following a C major, why a Bm sounds nice or close to a D, why a Em sounds cool with a G, etc… and why in some cases, relative minors adequately can replace their “major” partners in songs. You mentioned that the A vibrates at 440 cycles, does an A “chord” vibrate also at 440 and would the Am vibrate slower since it is more melancholic or soothing? Other than the solfège part of music, there is something in the chord vibrations that can move you or get an emotion out of you, be it a diminished seventh chord vs a minor seventh vs the 9th chords we use in Jazz. Why does Jazz sound like Jazz, Blues sound like blues, “happy” songs Folk songs sound better in Major chords? Not sure I am clear, but thanks again. Enjoy the day.
Aloha Denis,
Wow! Lots to unpack. Let me see what I can do.
A major chord and its relative minor share two notes. If you add the third note to either chord, you get a major 6th or minor 7th chord type. (C major = C E G) + (A minor = A E C) = C E G A, which is a C6 or Am7 chord. That’s why you can substitute with the relative major or minor. It essentially creates more complex jazz harmony with a simple chord shape.
A chord has a combination of different note vibrations happening at the same time. One note doesn’t take over just because of the name. An A major chord will probably have some combination of 277.18hz (C#), 329.63 (E), and 440 (A) working together. These blend to create the sound of the chord. The only part of an Am chord that would vibrate slower is the C note, down from 277.18hz to 261.63hz. https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
As for the why do genres sound the way they do question… That’s a lifetime of study! It has little to do with theory and everything to do with musical expression.
Hi Brad. What is the reasoning behind the music theory that there is no enharmonic between B-C and E-F? Why those two notes? It’s just something I’ve always pondered and never found an adequate answer.
I understand that it comes from the 12th root of 2, allowing for every octave to be exactly twice the frequency of the previous octave andvall that theory (I’m a bit of a nerd myself)
but what that doesn’t answer is why 12 semitones? If there were 14, then you could have a sharp for each one and instead of multiplying by the 12th root, you multiply by the 14th root. Then, every 14 semitones you get a new octave and every note has a sharp and flat. Is it because it sounds right with 12, or is there a deeper mathematical reasoning? Or both, perhaps?
Thanks for any clarity you can bring.
I’m not sure why we ended up with B-C and E-F. Seems like it could have just as easily been G-A and D-E or similar no-enharmonic neighbor notes. Or, they could have ditched “enharmonics” completely and extended the alphabet so each note gets a letter: ABCDEFGHIJKL. Perhaps this would make it more difficult to think about keys? I don’t know.
However, “THE SOUND” of Western music comes from dividing the octave into 12 notes, regardless of what they are called. It just sounds good. Some of these answers are as good as anything I could pontificate on: https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/24/why-are-there-twelve-notes-in-an-octave.
Great question!
Thanks Brad. That settles the issue for me and kind of what I suspected.
Many BlesSings from the Sunshine Coast of BC Canada
Aloha from Pittsburgh, Brad! I subscribed to this workshop as soon as it was available, and I am enjoying it immensely. I’m a hobbyist ukulele player, and I’ve been trying to learn enough music theory to get me to a jamming level for a while (lots of youtube videos and circle of fifths and the like). It’s deceptively complicated, and nobody seemed to have something that brought it to a more practical level. This course is filling that bill.
A day or two after I bought the course (but before I could start it) I was trying to jam with some friends with guitars and a mandolin. I was struggling a little in the jam. Once I started the course, I realized things I could do with them next time so I wouldn’t be so lost. (They were very patient with me and helped me out a lot, they’re good friends.)
My only question is – why couldn’t you have release this a few weeks earlier? LOL! Seriously, I’m taking my time to digest this, and I’m getting a lot out of it.
Thank you so much for this!
So happy to hear it, Thomas! That’s exactly why I wanted to get this into the world. Thanks for sharing!
Aloha Brad,
Although much of this “Street Theory” workshop is review from previous material that has been covered in other podcasts, live streams and ebooks, I find it to be incredibly helpful to hear it again and again. As it has been pointed out by many different Kumus as well as yourself, “You don’t get it all the first time around”. We as students have to be patient with ourselves. We all learn at different speeds and that “Aha Moment” when it suddenly “clicks” is when the magic happens. Hearing your intro to the “Nashville Number System” and transposing in this workshop was one of those “Aha Moments” for me. Thanks for always being patient, clear, and not rushing over topics, but taking the time to explain and repeat the process on other strings, in other keys, etc. Mahalo nui. Bob in Venice Beach CA
Glad you got at least one “a-ha!” moment, Bob!
Brad,
The importance of knowing the fretboard becomes a major goal now. Playing these notes in a musical context like improvising using the pentatonic scale over a blues chord progression makes it clear to my ear and sight how sounds work. I was thinking osmosis would work but you need to make a specific effort to absorb this technical part where it becomes a natural part of your playing.
No questions here about the theory but now it’s about putting this theory into the playing.
Another great workshop with clear video and beautiful sound from your new Uke.
John
Aloha Brad! Thanks for putting this together. I’ve been playing for years but have kind of always avoided music theory because the way people explained it would make my head hurt. You’ve done a marvellous job here explaining it in an accessible, useful, and immediately applicable way…and you made it actually interesting! Bravo! Everything taught in this workshop is something I can use right away, and I’m super stoked about that.
My question is actually unrelated to music theory, per se, but I hope going through the workshop gives me the opportunity to ask it here; if it’s not the right place, let me know.
So, you using linear tuning in this video inspired me to bust out the low G string and mess around with it. After a few years of almost exclusively using re-entrant tuning, I’m having a lot of fun and am LOVING the few notes of extra range. However I’m also finding that a lot of the ways of playing that sound really good with a high G (namely, Campanella and leaving the high G string open to drone a lot) simply don’t work or sound good on the low G. I’m also finding that a VERY high percentage of instructional materials are for high G tuning. One thing I’m learning intuitively is to be more aware of the open low G droning endlessly and try to think about fretting that string during chord shapes to get things like walking bass lines and more variety on the low end rather than that loud open G just drowning everything else out.
So do you have any tips, resources, or suggestions for transitioning to playing low G?
Once again, thanks for the stuff you put out! I love your down to earth vibes and your genuineness and honesty. Keep it up, brother.
Aloha Stephen,
Thank you for the kind words. Glad you’re liking the workshop.
Interesting question.
Growing up I was always surrounded by low-G players. So I always felt like there was a lot more information on linear tuning and that re-entrant was “dying” and harder to learn. The opposite of your experience it seems!
I think first of all you just have to find folks who play low-G and learn from them. Herb Ohta, Jr., Brittni Paiva, James Hill, Ohta-San, Daniel Ho, IZ, Neal Chin, etc. Just hearing them play and having the sound in your head will help a lot.
As far as resources, all my stuff comes from a low-G place of thinking (though I often try to stay G-string neutral to accommodate both tunings). The Ukulele Way has a linear track. Herb does workshops. Daniel has some TAB books and a musicians.online course. Neal Chin does private online lessons.
It’s kind of a hard question since low-G is really where my entire understanding of the instrument comes from. That’s just what ukulele “is” to me. I’ll think about it. Might make for another good workshop subject!
Thanks! Your course was clear and concise. It crystallized some things I already knew and gave me food for thought. Well worth the few bucks!
Bought the course when it was released, but didn’t have time to focus on it until now. It was a good condensed review of the basics, and will provide an excellent overview for someone starting out. I’m a baritone enthusiast, and want those who share that passion to know the course contents easily transition to that instrument.
Thanks, Brad.
Glad to hear you found it easy to use for baritone as well, Steve. I’ve had a couple people ask about that, but I never quite know what to tell them since everyone processes things differently.
Hi Brad,
Up to to the minor scales everything made sense after that it is one big blur. For me the lack of in video graphics to illustrate what you say make it all very confusing. Have listened to it a couple of times now but can’t get a handle on it. Even when I try to write it done I have a hard time figuring out what it is that I should write down. I am 60 now and picked up the ukulele about 8 months ago, so this might be a bit above my level at this point.
Still I liked the way you explained the fret board and the way to play the scales. That was interesting and I will practice that. At a later date I may come back and review that last 10 minutes again and then I may understand what you mean.
A lot of this theory stuff works in harmony with other parts of your musical understanding. As you play more, revisit the video and it will make more and more sense.
When I revisit these subjects to teach them I notice new things myself!
Awesome course! A complicated subject clearly and simply broken down into steps I can take my time digesting. The hand out is also super awesome as I am a visual learner and seeing all the notes laid out on the fretboard gives me a much better understanding of notes. Stoked to really get this stuff down so I can get more comfortable messing around on my uke instead of just following other peoples chord sheets to play songs.
Glad to hear you liked it, Nicole!