Why “Chromatic Mediants” sound so good!
171,255
Published 2024-03-05
It works with any scale, btw.
Also, this explains the sonically interesting things that “Negative Harmony,” and “Modal Interchange” try to explain, just in a different way. I think this “pitch-class-inversion” stuff does a better job explaining it, imo. Chromatic Mediants, Coltrane changes, Tadd Dameron turnaround, and other cool and stuff make a lot of sense with the “flippening!”
Follow-up video idea:
Dorian (symmetrical)
Ionian & Phrygian (inverted)
Locrian & Lydian (inverted)
Aeolian & Mixolydian (inverted)
Mixolydian b6 (aka Aeolian-Major) is the symmetrical set related to Melodic minor.
Double-Harmonic Major (symmetrical)
Harmonic minor (not symmetrical, flips to V of Harmonic major, Mixolydian b2)
If you’d like to check out my books and dig into this stuff further, I briefly mention this concept in my book, “Voicing Modes” but it’s a bigger part of my book “The 4-Note Universe”
www.noeljohnston.com/merch.html
Thanks!
All Comments (21)
-
Pitches be flippin
-
This is that dream where you show up for class and there's a test and you haven't studied or even attended all semester.
-
Causally drops the craziest palindrome and then just moves on
-
This is pretty cool, you did all the hard big brain work and then showed how it worked in simple terms
-
I was into the theory part, but never expected you to play such great guitar music to demonstrate the ideas! (I'm sure there a lot of people who can theory their way to the stars, yet not play their way out of a cardboard box, and vice versa)
-
Usually I’m unimpressed by music theory videos on YouTube (they give me the same energy as fitness YouTubers explaining science) but it’s clear you’ve done your reading and know the work. Great video.
-
I don’t think I have ever encountered this level of analysis and i love your sharing and your sound
-
I hadn't yet been exposed to this type of analysis, thank you, this is awesome. I like how the chart shows how Dorian is symmetric about inversion, it follows that aeolian is mirrored mixolydian, and locrian is mirrored lydian. worth noting that this type of thinking (graphically on a scale representation) can be applied to the circle of fifths, where similar symmetries show up. Any major scale is a simple consecutive sequence of notes on the circle. In that system chromatic motion jumps across the circle, suspended chords are small groups & major/minor tonality can be seen graphically. The old trick of moving a major 7 chord up or down a major 3rd is a good example. What would be really cool is a way to look at this that incorporates multiple octave spread, like the fabled 7#9 Hendrix chord (which you most certainly can't play in any old inversion, say with the #9 in the bass). sorry for the long comment. too much coffee. shout out to logitech ergo trackballs.
-
Stunning… feels like entering a parallel universe, accompanied by beautiful sounds and melodies🙏
-
Holy christ, I can't believe I found this video today. I was literally just trying to explain the relationship between C major and Ab major to my father this morning. This was the best explanation of this I've seen so far. Thanks so much!
-
Hey! I took jazz guitar lwssons from you back in 2022, and you changed the way i look at guitar. Got this video reccomended, and by 30 seconds i realized it was you lol. You continue to give MOUNTAINS of knowledge to people all over the world and thats awesome B) keep it up king
-
Damn.. this really brings some of those nice smooth Holdsworth type runs into focus. Thank you for making it so easy to see these relationships. Amazing!
-
oh my god I love this. I've been intuitively aware of this sound for a long time but to hear it explained so thoroughly makes me so happy!
-
You've just explained something I've done instinctively for years but (beyond modes) never understood exactly what or why of what was happening until today - the mirror image concept floored me: thank you, Noel!
-
Brilliant playing and utilization of visual tools. Long time admirer of yours, Noel. Cheers! ✌🏽
-
Absolutely never came across this symmetry, and I was struggling to follow you, but once you played through those chords, the mirror was revealed. Fascinating, thanks for breaking it down!
-
Mind: Blown! Also, the best mic drop ever at 17:23: "Any interval relationship that exist in a major key, if you flip it, it exists in phrygian", and proceeds to not give any further explanation. Very cool visual explanation of these concepts. Thank you!
-
Not quite got it theoretically from one viewing, but tonally from the playing demo, my ear gets it. You’ve definitely inspired me to read more about the concept.
-
Great explanation! This is all stuff I've picked up in various ways over the years, but I haven't seen it all distilled like this.
-
Had heard of this stuff but never seen it put in such a way where I immediatly grasped Flippertronical Concepts 👍
