What Are ... Polychords? A Complete Guide (AKA Slash Chords)
Музыка
0:00 What is a polychord?
1:08 Demonstration
2:02 The double lives of polychords
5:57 A new way of thinking of chords
6:08 Polychords and memorizing chords
6:45 Polychords and transposing chords
7:48 Polychords and smooth voice leading
9:40 Finding good polychord combinations
10:30 Major chords a perfect 5th apart
11:35 Minor chords a perfect 5th apart
12:00 Major 7th chords a perfect 5th apart
12:42 Dominant chords a tritone apart
13:54 Dominant chords a minor 6th apart
14:32 Minor and major chords a minor 3rd apart
15:25 Polychords and arpeggiation
16:19 Polychords and soloing
In this video I am going to demonstrate and go over the concept of polychords. These are chords that are made out of "simpler" chords, such as playing a C major and a G major simultaneously. Polychords give us a completely new way of thinking of music and harmony, and can be used to transpose, voice lead and memorize stuff. I will also give you some recipes for constructing "good sounding" (consonant) polychords. Finally, I'll conclude by showing how polychords can lead to some interesting arpeggiation and soloing choices.
PS
Polychords are sometimes called slash chords. Sometimes people will use the term "Slash Chords" to refer to a chord over a specific bass, which is a "trivial" polychord. You should double-check with the musician you're working with what he or she mean exactly by using slash notation.
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Videos like this make the music learning journey worthwhile. I feel like I was given a new box of presents that I get to unwrap and explore.Thank you for the work that you do
This is the only way to master complex chords and remember them im sure alot of musicians think this way.Great video
What an eye opener. I played slash chords for years now, but only with simple roots or roots and fifth in the left hand. Never thought about putting two full chords together (though it seems emberassingly obvious now 😆). Especially the soloing options and the millions of possible harmonic variations make it intriguing. Plus the feasibility to explain harmonies that would be hard to grasp on otherwise! Simple and effective 👌
thank you! ive been wanting to learn this for a long time. time to watch the video over and over again
Gives you a lot of things, clearly, thoroughly and briefly, things you may discover in years...Keep it up, your tutorials are the best here...
Hi Mangold, I really like your videos. Thank you for the hard work, you deserve a lot more recognition. Hope to see more videos in the future.
As usual excellent polychord theory. Sounds very beautiful and jazzy. Thanks mangold. You rock man 👍😊
I am so glad that a person like you exist. You help us alot in so many ways. Because of yoru videoes, music is so much fun
I'm not even a piano player, but learning theory and applying some of it's principles are so much easier with instructional videos like this, bass players beware, broken chords sound great over these progressions and will give you the tools to hit the ground running, I'm improvising with great voicings quicker than I ever have before thanks to you! Taking your left hand and right hand and transcribing these polychords for muscle memory to improvise works like a charm.
Thanks for your guidance in 2021 and providing another lightbulb moment. Best wishes for 2022 and I look forward to receiving more excellent tips and instruction.
Your lessons are PURE GOLD. Harmony always was very hard to me to get into, but your lessons present it in a very practical way which is easy to understand by illiterate rockers like myself. Kudos to you sir, avid watcher of your material !
Another quality video. Always interesting concepts clearly explained. Thanks Mr Mangold :)
Your lessons are so clear and hopeful!
Amazing lesson, a must have for any keyboard/piano player. Thanks a lot for putting this on KZread
I have been playing these chords for decades, (especially the left-hand minor chord with a right-hand major chord)--I never knew they had a name. Fantastic video!
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Well, welcome to the club then :)
Wow this is fantastic! And no surprise that everyone really locks in on the particularly wonderful combination at the 14 minute mark!
Thank you for taking time to explain polychords. Will look up the video again.
Learning major, harmonic minor, melodic minor kinda scale helps find these chords and opens up a whole new perspective. Things get very intersting.
I'm just an infant in piano but I hope to keep playing and enjoying every step of the way until I reach this lesson.Thank you so much, Teacher!!! With love and deep respect.🙂💕♥️
Thank you for this. The theory really helps especially around matching the chords🙌🏾.
Omg I've always wanted to know this! Thank you so much for explaining it!!
An incredible video, thank you so much! Helped me a lot in making better sense of things!
What a beautiful sequence. Learning this at 3:30am cause I couldn't sleep.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
The best time to learn!
Thanks for another great lesson. Straight to the point.
I took notes on your ideas, and will work on them on the piano. But I'll watch this again to see how you resolve them. And I think there is a way to work the circle of fourths into this to really make something special.
I’ve been looking for this door to beautiful chord sequences for a long time.
A very-very useful lesson, thank you so much.
Yet another excellent, professionally delivered, presentation! Superb work showing how the wonderful sounding yet theoretically, and notationally, complex polychords can be conceived and played with great effect. To any new visitors to the Mangold Project channel, I strongly urge you to have a look at the collection of videos in the ‘Piano Lessons for Beginners’ and ‘Inspiring Piano Harmony, Chord and Voicing Tips and Tricks!’ playlists - there are a few ‘secrets’ in there that will greatly help your appreciation of music theory and practice - wish these lessons had been around 20 years ago when I was first getting started with piano and theory! Just to make it clear, these videos are focused on playing and are not theory-heavy but if you know a bit of theory you’ll immediately appreciate what is being presented.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Doc :)
Thank you for sharing this ! You teach things very understandable and clear! Great l!
This is great. I want to explore more of the altered dominants such as Eb/A7 = A7b9#11. This has changed my way of thinking about how to build and deploy more complex chords.
This is gold. Thank you 🙏
Thank you so much for this lesson!
Now I know how pianists play huge extensions so effortlessly
I note that the Hendrix chord, on a guitar E G# B D Fx, (E7#9), becomes a polychord if you rewrite the Fx as a G. You then get E G# B D G, a G chord on top of an E chord.
That was helpfull for me as a classical composer who wanted to learn from jazz!🎉
Man this is pure gold thanks for taking on this project. 🙏
@MangoldProject
10 ай бұрын
Happy to help other musicians in their journey.
Thank you so much for this lesson
Hi. I am so much learning from your video. I never met teaching those theory that easily understand. Thank you
You left out one of my favorites. Play a dominant 7th chord in the left hand (F7), and a major triad which is a major 6th above that (D triad) in the right hand. So, D/F7. In effect it is an F13th with a flat 9. This polychord also works even better if you just play the root and the 7th in the left hand (F and E flat) with the D triad in the right hand. Excellent video, BTW.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Ernie. There are probably too many (good) variations to reasonably cover in any one video, but the idea is to get people to experiment, which I hope this video did!
@turtleCalledCalmie
2 жыл бұрын
@@MangoldProject YUP, this video and video about triton sub are like combination of sounds to experiment for whole life
@Cyzure
Жыл бұрын
Interesting, so as you said F13th with a flat 9. In this voicing the 3rd is doubled and the 11th omitted. I like it. Scooping out that doubled 3rd and the 5th in the left hand doesn't matter functionally, brilliant.
Love your explanation. Keep on please ❤️
Fantastic! Thanks!
Love your lessons. Thank you!
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome! Hope you learn interesting things.
Great Jazz tutorial ❤ Thank you
Thank you very much for sharing.
Easy to remember this way. Got to know the formula and inversions.
Thanks, this is really helpful... and a lovely example teaching progression.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Glad you found it useful.
Thanks for this video!!!
Groundbreaking for me!! No more guesswork
Thank you so much for this lesson.
So useful and professional. Thank you very much!
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful!
Beautiful ❤
You are simply awesome on music teaching🎉
This lesson is awesome 💯
Sounds beautiful
Awesome video. You have a new subscriber now. Can't wait to dig in to your channel while Im in front of my piano.
Awesome tutorial!🚀🚀🔥
Lots of great concepts in this video. Thanks for posting this! Noticed a few comments with viewers confusing this with slash notation. I find it easier to read polychords when they are notated with a parallel line rather than a slash. (I find it less confusing because the upper chord is played with the right hand and the bottom chord is played in the left -- similar to treble clef and base clef.)
Thanks this perspective helped me
Just amazing
Great video!
Thank you so much sir ❤️🙏
So great 👍 and so constructive thank you so much
Thank you!
Oh I gonna learn that demo so hard
@cyexe
2 жыл бұрын
Lol same! I want to learn the demo so I can show off polychords like a boss
@turtleCalledCalmie
2 жыл бұрын
Progress update - can play first three chords :) yea im not a quick learner
@turtleCalledCalmie
2 жыл бұрын
Progress update, yep whole first line done. I get carried away and start to loop that and improv on guitar over it. Its such a fun stuff to improv over. Its gonna be a PITA to learn all of that in defferent keys tho, thats what im worried about
Thank you so much !
Fantastic explanation! Thank you!
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful!
@oldmannewman
2 жыл бұрын
Your videos always are!
very cool! I really enjoyed this video.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks, MI!
A very good explanations! They sound good on the piano but thinking about the colours of an ensemble or a windband, polychords work very well using one chord for a section and the other for another: trumpets mute-on and clarinets under the brake.. nice mix!
👌🏆😉Very helpful, thanks
Excellent
I always thought a notated slash chord meant you simply play first chord / bass note. So for Cmin7/F you'd play F G Bb C Eb But I usually play a melody in the right and it seems a big stretch if you have to do two triads with the left hand.
@PieterSchlosser
2 жыл бұрын
Came here to say this. A slash chord indicates a chord with a specific note in the bass. If you want to notate a polychord, you would notate it as you do fractions in Math. Meaning a chord OVER another chord with a straight line in between.
@Keeferz4Keeperz
2 жыл бұрын
@@PieterSchlosser thank you i was going to reply same thing...he has poly chords notated incorrectly above in video
@Keeferz4Keeperz
2 жыл бұрын
you are correct...he's explaining it slightly wrong above
@soundsgoodtome
Жыл бұрын
Exactly. For simplicity when typing, in addition to the traditional use of a horizontal line to indicate a polychord, it has become acceptable to use the vertical divider character to indicate a polychord (e.g., A|C). But as commenters above have stated, the slash character ALWAYS indicates a chord played over over a *bass note*, NOT a polychord. I wish this presenter would correct and re-upload this video, which otherwise contains helpful information.
Nice lesson
Two I like are a Maj triad a fifth above a Maj 6 chord., e.g. G/C6, which gives a C Maj chord with 6,7 and 9, with no notes repeating. It sounds good in pretty much any inversion. The second is similar, G/Cm6, which gives nice voicings for melodic minor chords. Thanks for this video. I particularly found interesting how frequently you use inversions.
Daym, this is over my head.
Amazing 🤯🤯🤯
Two things stand out to me after watching this video. The first is that I always thought of slash chords as one chord with an altered bass note. Stacking two chords on top of each other never occurred to me. I speak here as a songwriter and music programmer and not as a keyboard player. The second thing that stood out for me was the potential of using this for sophisticated arpeggios. That is where I saw the application of this in my own compositions if I was able to incorporate this kind of theory into my music.
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
The slash notation usually represents an altered bass note, but it's also used for polychords. However, there is no standard notation for polychords really, and you should be very careful to ask whoever notated your sheet music what they meant.
@Stevethesearcher
2 жыл бұрын
@@MangoldProject Thank you for your reply and explanation.
@aiconic10
2 жыл бұрын
You can also refer to it as 5 over 1. I prefer to approach playing in this manner. It's just easier for me. I learned piano as a kid by ear. Took lessons later in life. Already knew the theory. It's like being unlocked. Nothing is out of my reach now. I was a good player before. I've experienced exponential growth in the last year because I knew the theory and now I understand how to apply it as a keyboard player. A totally different experience than being trained as a woodwind player or guitar player. My former main instruments. Thinking like a piano player is very different. The theory is far more important.
Amazing ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ teacher
Very useful. As a bass player, I'm less accustomed with polychords. With your exemple, I see a relation with tonal theory. You take triads and cadenza and V I or I IV give C over G for exemple. Or the relative chords, C with Am etc.. I've never thought so clearly like that, thanks. Sorry for my English, I'm french 😉
Hey mangold project or Assaf hey man I just wanted to say that I’ve been playing the piano for 15 years & to be honest I never had no one Taught me how to play the keyboard or piano u want to know who my father in the sky god taught me how to play the piano & he actually taught me the easiest way & it’s a secret that I’ve learned a long time ago so I can’t tell u what secret it is but I can only tell how I actually started learning how to get better at chord & hopefully another perspective which helped me out when I first started playing the piano when I was little so yeah but anyways assaf thanks for the video keep it up!👍
@anj10730
2 жыл бұрын
If God taught u an it’s such a secret why say anything if ur not gone share
@jayedevan567
2 жыл бұрын
@@anj10730 exactly...a whole Lotta commenting for nothing 🤷🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️😐
@AlbertoRamirezNerdMusic101
2 жыл бұрын
@@anj10730 because I can’t give u guys the main secret on how I started I mean sure I don’t really know too much about how to play the keyboard as an expert but all I’m saying is that I started playing the piano because I love it & it’s a passion for me & basically when I first started a long time ago I was never interested in playing the piano but now I’m interested already cuz I’m already getting there at the next level to start my own career so I don’t know about u but me personally I started playing the piano or keyboard when I was 5 years old so that’s make sense because I personally enjoy learning on my own but thanks for asking.
I like taking this idea and applying it to melodies and accompaniments. So write a chord progression in C and write a melody in G. Kinda fun.
It's been 3 months since this last video. Does anyone know why. Is he on vacation? Hope you are well as we miss your beautiful interesting lessons.
15:14 -> 'there are many others' Well.... if you ever feel like doing a follow-up video....:-) Cos this was a blast. Learned a ton ! Thanx for these lessons. . Thumbs up + subscribed.
Dont know if you rushed though the chords but example 1:38 That could be a FMajor7/ Dm7 or F/Dm9..Depends how you look at it as a poly chord Always good to give the full example of the chord. With ear training i would be able to pick up on it but for new comers and those that look at chords like this they would wonder you have more notes then just F/Dm7 so that would be throw off to some. Other then that solid stuff
I love the advantages of polychords
Very good video. What software do you use for the virtual piano and grand staff display?
I play guitar but watch your channel because you clearly explain complex topics. In your example @ 7:00 you suggest it is easier to think of Eb/A7 as two seperate chords when you invert it rather than trying to find the inversions of A7b9#11. I wonder if this is also true with the guitar given the layout of the fretboard. Any thoughts?
Hi, please teach “Big Sky” by Cooliger. Thanks so much for all of your video tutorials and thanks in advance for considering this sincere request. Greatly appreciated 🎶💞🎶
Oh thankyou great
what is the program thing website at the top of the piano?
Brazil thanks
Thanks for the video. I'm trying to get chord extensions ( major9 min11th etc) under my fingers.....would you recommend using poly chords from the start, to learn these voicing?
@MangoldProject
2 жыл бұрын
It doesn't matter. Both are equally valid approaches (extensions vs polychords). You'll eventually want to familiarize yourself with both, and either sounds equally good. So just pick the one that inspires you the most and pursue it - there's no "correct" path.
Why is the fmaj7 over the am ? Because it’s a perfect 4th? But why is it minor tho I thought only two major7 went well together
♥️ Grate
How do you make that piano sound so nice? When I create a midi file, it sounds super electric
What software you use to get the notes on screen?
If I was the Mandalorian I would have probably said "this is the way". LOL Awesome man !
Please, what is the software you are using to detect your keypresses and display them in a graphic?
@MangoldProject
Жыл бұрын
ChordieApp.
Are enharmonic names used in composition just to notate it for a key signature?
I am a beginner piano player. But ı do not have any keyboard. Can you recommend a keyboard please? I search for it in internet but everybody says something. I am confused. Help meee
Very nice video. I've learned a lot but I have a question. At minute 17:00 you said that G is the Lydian mode of C and it is in fact Mixolydian. Maybe you can think the C as the Lydian mode of G but not the other way. Anyways, thank you again for the insight and keep doing this wonderful videos!
@MangoldProject
Жыл бұрын
To be precise, I say the G major scale contains the same notes as the C lydian mode.