Intro & Basic Bas ic knowle k nowledge dge
Bare Essential Keys to Harmony HOW WE’LL GO ABOUT AND WHY THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE PIANO-METHOD.
Intro & Basic Bas ic knowle k nowledge dge
Bare Essential Keys to Harmony HOW WE’LL GO ABOUT AND WHY THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE PIANO-METHOD.
Hack the Piano
Bare Essential Keys to Harmony
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony Foreword. p.iv
Contents.
First and Foremost. p.6 - Intro - Piano? - (Take it) Easy. My side of the story. Part 1. Basic knowledge - Pop-Piano’s ABCs. p.10
Basic Knowledge: Theory. p.11 Logics in learning: Voca Vocabulary bulary and other lingual comparisons. p.20 Basic Knowledge: Technique, Fingering. p.23 Part 2. Theory - Pop-Piano’s WHAT to play. p.28
Theory Intro. p.29 Chords. Triads, Major and Minor Chords. p.23 Campfires, Guitars and a Contradiction. p.40 Part 3. Technique - Pop-Piano’s HOW to play. p.44
Technique Intro. p.45 Rhythmic basics & patterns with the right hand. p.47
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Foreword
Foreword
“This is a peek into my mind and that of every other Pop-Pianist. How we think about music. How we approach music and the piano. How we ‘see’ music. In a logical, easy-to-grasp and highly functional way.” - Coen Modder
This is not your average piano method.
This is a book, a course, that will make you “see” music, feel music, understand music by “hacking” the piano; “hacking” music, if you will. It will teach you “Pop-Piano” – enabling you to play along to, cover cover,, accompany or even compose any song you'd like – in the shortest amount of time possible. What is Pop-Piano and why is it di ! e !erent rent from “classical,” “conventional” piano? Many people, including teachers, still see piano as being a “classical” instrument and therefore think that it’s it’s best (read: “necessary”) to learn how to play it, teach and be taught the “classical” way. Nonsense. If your goal is learning how to play classical music, you should go study classical music. If however, however, you want to play pop-music or any one of its many subgenres, there’s there’s no need to practice any form of classical music whatsoever. whatsoever. That is the conventional way and unfortunately, still the commonly accepted way.
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This on the other hand is the unconventional way, which – as you’ll start to see very soon – just happens to be the easy and fast way too. And in fact, not just for learning Pop-Piano, but for learning to understand and play music and the piano in any style.
There are a few things to note and keep in mind before taking o $, though...
It’s the extraction of exactly that which is most e$ective, e!cient, relevant and useful. It consists of that – and ONLY that – which is actually necessary to learn how to PLAY. This is a peek into my mind and that of every other Pop-Pianist. How we think about music. How we approach music and the piano. How we “see” music. In a logical, easy-to-grasp and highly functional way. My favorite and – in my opinion – best metaphor to illustrate the di$erence in approach, without getting into technical detail just yet is this: The “Pop”-approach to playing music is to think and use “words” to build “sentences,” whereas the classical approach tends to focus on reading “letters” to spell. Were you able to speak before you could read; before you could spell? I bet you were. In my mind that’s a way more logical approach, a more logical starting point; what do you think? You can always get to reading and spelling later on if you want. But first, let’s learn how to speak. Let’s PLAY. If you’ll follow along my ride, I’ll hand you the chunks, words, sentences that’ll make you speak in no time. v
Section 1
First and Foremost CONTENTS !
Intro.
!
Piano?
!
(Take it) easy. My side of the story.
E!ectiveness is at the heart of this course. E$ectiveness is at the heart of this course. You’ve picked up this book because you want to learn to play the piano. Maybe you’re looking for some entertainment. Obviously, playing the piano is entertainment. Pure entertainment, in fact. Because of the fact that by picking up this book you’ve been brave enough to take a big step – the first step towards starting an actual new hobby – and thereby automatically taken a step in the direction of significantly increasing your own entertainment, besides us striving towards your goal ASAP, I do hope you’ll also be able to appreciate the sporadic joke, anecdote or bit of background information every now and then. Note that everything I’ve written is meant to contribute something to the whole, either to the entertainment or to the e$ectiveness. Hopefully to both. At the start of this adventure, realize that certain things in life tend to proceed more comfortably – and eventually quicker – when you choose a path that at first might actually seem to be the long way around. Are you gonna wait for your car to get fixed or decide to go walking? Depends on how far you have to travel, of course. To keep the book as e $ective as possible – my main focus when teaching, helping people solve problems and reaching goals – I could have decided just to o$er dry and practical matter, but to make the book both more enjoyable and illustrative I chose to embellish a bit here and there. All the “background” stories are aimed at supporting my personal approach, broadening your general understanding and giving you a glimpse into my mind. Into how I think about the piano, learning and playing. If you read them, your understanding of my teaching method and my approach to playing the piano will deepen in such a way that the rest of the course will become easier to follow, sink in better and you’ll make progress a lot faster in the end. If you prefer to get going right away (and choose to “start walking”), that’s possible too. In that case, you should tackle only those chapters that are marked at the beginning with the following 6
underlined headings: “Terms and Knowledge,” “Style” and “Level.” These chapters contain the e $ective theory, exercises and techniques necessary to achieving the fastest and most e!cient learning curve. The titles of these chapters are in bold type. In the background stories I have tried to explain the underlying ideas in a light, easygoing manner but when it comes to what you absolutely need to learn (the chapters with titles in bold type), I have indeed tried to present everything in the most e$ective way, keeping it short and to the point. As short as possible at least. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
As you grasp the logic of the approach – as your ability to recognize, assimilate, see and create constructions and the coherence of it all grows – the learning process will steadily get easier. I hope you decide to wait for your car… Have fun!
Coen
Overall this book is designed to maintain the highest possible level of e!ciency in learning and practicing so that you can reach your musical goals as quickly as possible. By focusing solely on what is highly relevant and – just as important – on what is broadly usable, and by ignoring whatever is superfluous, I’ll teach you how to lay a firm foundation for your piano playing in the shortest possible time. Based on this foundation, you will experience playing the piano as something completely logical and yes – believe it or not – even really easy. The fact that each new bit of theory and each new technique you’ll learn will not only enable you to play one particular song (as is the case with conventional methods), but will immediately be applicable to any and every other song, means that with every new thing you’ll learn all of your playing will benefit. This way, every bit of theory and every exercise contributes to your overall growth as a pianist. E $ective. E!cient. And pretty damn fun too.
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PIANO?
This fundamental skill is exactly what I'm going to teach you.
Playing the piano can be done in countless di$erent ways and many di$erent styles.
With just 10 minutes of supere$ective rehearsal time per day, you’ll be able to (select any one or more):
If, for example, you’d compare Alicia Keys, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Wibi Soerjadi, Paul McCartney (The Beatles), Dr. John, Art Tatum, Tori Amos, Jamie Cullum, Elton John, Ray Charles, Sergio Mendez, Jordan Rudess and Herbie Hancock, you’d hear how all these world-famous musicians play the same instrument (yes, piano), yet all seem to make it s ound beautiful in their very own, unique way. All gifted pianists do have one major thing in common, though: They understand both their instrument and music in general. This gives them the freedom to play whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it, and truly express their emotions through their music, playing by ear and by heart.
& Learn to play any one of your
favorite songs, using chord knowledge, your own musicality and ears and without having to ever “read” a single note (more on this later). & Learn how to play by ear. & Create your own (cover) piano
version of any song in the world, whether the original version has or HASN'T got a piano in it. & Learn to be creative with the
piano, by truly understanding both the instrument and music itself. & Learn how to accompany any
singer, including yourself. & Learn how to be the keyboardist in
a rock/soul/funk/singer-songwriter or any other pop band.
10 Minutes
Of daily practice to learn:
UNIVERSAL SKILLS In stead of learning just one song, we’re going to learn music by tackling its actual building blocks that you can (re-)use in
Re-use each new skill on every following song
EVERY song.
BY EAR AND HEART Forget about reading single notes from classical music sheets. These foundational blocks are like words: easy to
Learn to recognize music and understand what you’re doing
remember and say what you feel.
IN OVERDRIVE MODE Broadening musical vocabulary with every new block you learn will be like becoming more fluent in a language, grasping new music exponentially faster.
In stead of focussing on just the one song, grow as an overall pianist
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& Improvise. & Use the piano to write your own songs, in the same way all
famous (and not as famous) pop musicians do. Whatever your musical goal is, I'll show you how to get there ASAP.
(TAKE IT) EASY. MY SIDE OF THE STO RY. When thinking about learning how to play the piano, it's important to realize that it’s actually quite an easy instrument. Ask any random person to press one of those black or white oblong objects (named “keys”) and the sound will be the same with anybody you’d ask. This in great contrast to, for example a trumpet, where virtually no one will be able to produce a solid tone at their first try, or a singer who should first learn how to control the voice to be able to produce the right intonation (sing “in tune”). To play a “non solid” or “out of tune” note on a piano is impossible. You can – at worst – hit a key you didn't intend to hit which, as we'll see later on, isn't nearly as bad as it may seem to you now. Then why does learning to play the piano seem so damn hard? Don't you have to learn di!cult theories, fingerings and music notation first?
Well... it is exactly these conventional forms of approach and methods that make learning how to play the piano – and even after you've mastered those “basics,” playing piano itself – unnecessarily di!cult. Sight-reading and conventional musical notation make a song look way harder than it actually is. Translating this musical notation from a sheet to the exact keys on the piano is something that takes years to master and even after that, will limit your abilities to play freely enormously. At age 17, I taught myself how to play the piano. Four years and exactly zero piano lessons after I first (re)touched the instrument (get to that in a sec), I was accepted into the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music (Pop-Piano), which I finished in four and a half years (some personal problems caused a half-year delay) without EVER needing the skill of sight-reading. Not once. Am I that talented? No. Sure, I suppose I am what you might call a “musical” person, and yes, I might even have a tiny bit of talent (it'll probably get a little tricky getting accepted into a Music BA program if you don't have the slightest feel for music), but mostly I blame it on the fact that I figured how to “hack” the piano. And music in general, for that matter. I saw the logic. Understood its construction. Really understood it. And found that it was actually quite easy. To play pop-music, whether on the piano, or any other instrument, you don't need sheet music or sight-reading skills. If you’ll let me, and are really motivated to do this, to learn how to play real music yourself, I'll show you exactly how it's done. 9
Part 1
Basic Knowledge Pop-Pianos’ ABCs THE BASICS ARE THE FOUNDATIONS OF ALL THAT IS ADVANCED, SO LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING.
1.1. Basic Knowledge.
Theory
“
The basics are the foundation of all that is advanced, so let’s start at the beginning.
TERMS & CONCEPTS
Keys and the keyboard.
The keyboard, keys, notes, tones, names of the di"erent keys and their corresponding tones, octave, harmony, melody.
When you look at the piano, you’ll see quite a lot of black and white, oblong objects. The blacks are shorter and higher, the whites are longer and lower.
STYLE These black and white pieces are called the “keys” of the piano. All.
LEVEL Elementary.
In pop-music, when somebody plays the piano, he or she is therefore also referred to as the “keyboardist” or “he/she who plays the keys.”
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The structure of the keyboard is the same on every keyboard instrument*. All those keys together form what is called the “keyboard.” This name “keyboard” can thus stand for both the specific instrument called a “keyboard” and for the before-mentioned row of keys on a keyboard instrument (for example a piano, a synthesizer, organ etc.).
2 - 3 Black keys.
A Group of 2 Blacks
A “regular” piano (“grand piano” or “acoustic/wall piano”) has a keyboard with 88 keys, counting both white and black keys. In other keyboards (synthesizers, organs or other types of keyboards) this number can vary; 73, 61, 41 or 25 keys are common. When you take a close look at the keyboard, you might notice that there is a repeating pattern of “groups” of 3 black keys and then 2 blacks, alternating. A Group of 3 Blacks
This pattern is your visual reference on the keyboard – a thing that will be will be very important throughout this book/course – so it’s important to take close note of this fact. 1
2
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Exercise 1
KEYBOARD STRUCTURE Take a close look at the keyboard and make sure that the structure of the keyboard: 3 blacks, 2 blacks, really sinks in. Take close note and store this recurring (visual) pattern in your mind.
Keyboard structure: 3 blacks, 2 blacks, 3 blacks etc.
Tones, names and sounds. All the keys on the keyboard represent a specific tone* or note*. I'll use these two words interchangeably. The further to the right side of the keyboard a key is pressed (e.g. a tone/note is played) the higher the tone that’ll be produced will sound. The more to the left, the lower the note. So when, in music, we’re talking about “playing higher,” or “going up” that’s to the right side of the keyboard. To “go lower” or “down” you’ll go left. As said, by pressing a key you’re “playing a note.” Every di$erent note has its own specific sound.
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Exercise 2
TONAL HEIGHTS Play a few random notes (press a few random keys) and listen carefully how
The white key that is positioned right below (to the left) of a group of 2 black keys, highlighted in red in the above image, is called “c.”
every key produces its very own, unique sound. Can you hear that, the more to the right you play, the higher the tones get? If this isn’t obvious to you, try and sing the notes you are playing, while gradually going higher: moving to the
Moving to the next group of 2 black keys by either going up or down 7 white keys you’ll find a white key looking exactly the same, because it is again positioned right below a group of 2 blacks. That white key is again called a “c.” In fact, all white keys positioned immediately below a group of two blacks are called “c.”
right side of the keyboard. This way you’ll soon notice that
The distance between two of the “same” notes – in this example, between two c’s – is called an “octave,” coming from the latin word “octo,” meaning “eight.” -> there are 8 notes in an octave.
singing along becomes quite difficult.
So, “going up one octave” means going up 7 steps from a specific key -> “walking up” until you reach that “same” key again.
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All c’s also sound very similar all over the keyboard, only higher (more to the right) or lower (to the left). It’s not just c’s that repeat all over the keyboard.
In my methods, either one is fine and will be used interchangeably. First, the black keys can be named by adding a # (“sharp”) to the white key to their left (or, in other words, by going up/to the right from their white, left neighbor).
As the visual pattern on the keyboard repeats, the names of the notes repeat as well. This way, instead of 88 di $erent notes (the amount of keys on a “regular” or “grand” piano) there are just 7 di$erent names for white keys, which correspond with the first 7 letters from the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f and g.
This results in c#, pronounced “c-sharp” being the black key right above the c. d# is d-sharp, positioned right above the d. f# is f-sharp, positioned above the f. g-sharp (g#) is the black key above the g and a-sharp (a#) is found above the a. Ah. Logic and ease. Nice. As you see in the above picture, the key that corresponds with first letter of the alphabet, the “a,” is a little harder to find, since it seems to really be “somewhere in between” that group of three blacks. Since “c” is easily found, it'll be our first reference point. Right next to c is d, then e, f and g. After g is where we start back at a. Then b, c etc. just like the (first 7 letters of the) alphabet a-g.
Secondly, the black keys can be named by adding a '(or “b,” pronounced as “flat”) to the note they are below, the note their name is derived from (naming them after the white note that is to their right/above them + the addition “flat”).
The names of the black keys are derived from the names of the white key they are next to. As black keys are in between two white keys, and thus next to two di$erent white keys, they can also be named two di$erent ways and in fact indeed all have two names.
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This way the black key right below the d is called db (d-flat), the black key below (to the left of) the g is the gb (g-flat), etc.
So, gb (g-flat) is in fact THE SAME key as f# (f-sharp), db=c#, eb = d# etc. They’re just names. If they confuse you, don’t pay too much attention to them for now and just make sure you try at least to learn and remember the names of the white keys. As blacks are simply “derived” (same names with an addition) from whites, they’ll follow accordingly.
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Exercise 3
SOAK UP THE NAMES • Play the c and say its name out loud. • Next, play the white key above it (to the right) and say its name too (d), after that the e, then the f and the g (just like the alphabet). To the right of the g is the a, b and c etc. again.
The most important thing is to play SLOWLY and look very thoroughly. Really try to soak it up.
Harmony, melody and the might of the chords. In music we distinguish “harmony”* and “melody”*. The harmony can be defined as being the “carpet” or “background” that originates from multiple (two or more) notes sounding together. The melody is the succession of notes that form the “foreground” in a song.
Simply put: in pop-music, the melody often is “that which is sung” (the vocal – melody – line) and the harmony “that which is played by the instruments”*. On the piano, we can of course play a succession of single notes to create a melody, but because it’s also possible to play multiple notes at the same time (strike multiple keys simultaneously) we as pianists are also able to play harmonies all by ourselves. This in contrast to, for example a trumpet, on which only one note at a time can be played. So on its own, this instrument could never play a harmony. On the piano, we can even play both harmony and melody simultaneously. Melodies “originate” from harmonies. How exactly this works and also, that this statement might be a little shortsighted (yet illustrative enough for this moment), will become clearer along the way. Nevertheless, you could say that the harmony is the foundation supporting the construction of melodies. In “Hack the Piano” I therefore decided not to start with singlenote melodies, like is the approach in conventional methods, for this often results in very limited to no understanding at all of cohesion and context of musical constructions. This results in your melodies – however dainty they may be – being completely “unfounded.” Here we’ll learn piano (and music) with a solid foundation as our base, starting with harmonies. On this solid foundation we can then safely start building beautiful melodic constructions. You’ll soon see that by starting with this harmony approach, logic and contexts will start to become clear that will simplify playing the piano enormously. 17
A chord is multiple notes, played and sounding together. In other words, a chord is a harmony. Because we’re tackling piano and music through a harmony approach, these chords are going to be the first building blocks we’ll be learning to lay our strong foundation for playing and understanding music. Chords are a really useful tool for learning (pop-)music theory, to gain insight in music and the piano, easily remember songs and a lot more. Starting to build at the foundation also seems kinda... logical, right?
Exercise 4
FIRST HARMONY & MELODY & Simultaneously play the notes c, e and g* with
your right hand, by using your thumb to play “middle c” (the c in the middle of the keyboard), your middle finger to play the e (two white keys above the c) and your pinky to play the g above that. This chord is called the C chord, or simply C. & Now play the same notes, only one octave down, with your left hand. Notice that you are playing the same form only one octave lower on the keyboard. To play this same form with your left hand, use your pinky to play the c, your middle finger to play the e and your thumb to play the g. & Play this C chord with your left hand and hold it (keep the keys pressed down). Then, while holding this chord with your left
hand, use your right hand to play the notes c, d, e, c, after one another. & Congratulations! You’ve just played your very first harmony + melody! (“Frere Jaques”/“Brother John”/“Are you sleeping?”).
T HESE ICONS M AK E SU RE ( YOU ’ LL BE
MEAN THERE IS A VIDEO EXAMPLE TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT WAS JUST TOLD
.
YO U FI RS T RE AD TH E I NS TR UC TI ON S OF TH E EX ER CI SE AND TH EN SI MPL Y TA P / C LICK ‘ EM TO PL AY !
TAKEN ONLINE TO
THE CORRECT VIDEO ON A PAGE WHERE YOU NEED TO LOGIN WITH YOUR
P IANO C O UTURE CREDENTIALS , MAK E S URE
YOU ’ RE CON NEC TED )
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F ULL V I DEO L ESSON :
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1.1.1.
Logics in learning: Vocabulary and other lingual comparisons. Note that, as mentioned in the intro, these in-between “wait for your car” stories with titles with three digits (1.1.1) are meant to illustrate, deepen your sense of the method, widen your insight and entertain. They are not necessarily required to achieve maximum learning speed per se. If you are impatient or eager to just learn on, you’re free to skip to chapters with titles starting with two digits.
Learning the logical way. For this story, I’m gonna go back in time a little. Back to when you were still in your diapers, drooling on everything that entered your little baby crib at age………. – 6 months. Give or take. So just a little while back.
Auditive and communicative development. How we learn to “play” with words and can imitate the same process for learning how to play music First you listen.
Slowly you start to recognize, “learning” sounds. Then you imitate. You learn to use the outline, the structures, of words. Being able to produce, to speak, to “play,” way before fully understanding. For fully understanding, you’d have to know what these “words” are made of – “letters” – and maybe even how to use those to write. For fully understanding one might even say you’d also have to know a few synonyms and how (or even why) sentences are built the way they are, right? You’re not exactly an expert yet. Understanding fully here appears to be far from necessary to be able to use, to play, to babble.
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At first, playing with words might be a bit shaky of course, saying “daahaaa” instead of “daddy” let alone “father,” but you manage. You play. As you imitate, you learn, you listen, learn some more and improve as you do more. More and more. Better and better, and as practice again proves to make perfect, you even start to actually talk. It’s only after a while, after you know how to speak pretty decent, somewhere around age 4, that you first get to know about letters, the subpartials of those words. A seemingly more basic variable than the actual words they can together form, one might think. Isn’t it strange that we do not start the learning process of talking at this more basic variable of letters? Isn’t learning by imitating sounds, using words before letters and thus first learning to play with outlines, “chunks” before going deeper into the level of their basic particles, the letters, an irrational, illogical way of learning? Well, it seems to work pretty damn fine for … every single one of us. So if this method works so well for learning something as auditive as speaking, could we maybe simulate this process to achieve the same for another very auditive concept like, say… music? Well yes ma’am. This is done by starting with learning – and later still approaching – music through chords and harmonies -> more notes (“letters”) together forming the musical “words,” metaphorically speaking.
The steps would go something like this. Something like what I have in mind for you in this book: & First learn chords, the outlines, “words,” “chunks” for playing
music. "Daaddaaa." (Theory/Chords section) & Add (basic) patterns, imitate, listen and learn how to actually
play, to “babble,” to “talk.” (Technique/Pattern section) & Then learn to use chords in as many di $erent ways you can
(inversions, di$erent ways of voicing etc. learned first in Chapter 2.4), combine di $erent patterns and start building real sentences. & Make them a little more di !cult: learn and add some chord
extensions, sus4, 7(s etc. (Chapter 2.9) and learn to replace words like “dad(a)” with “father.” & Break ‘em up (Chapter 3.5), learn how to use di $erent
combinations of the above variables, DO, practice and start to actually “play.” “Speak,” sound good and be fully understood. Breaking up chords using patterns (Technique section) is your first step in going into deeper levels, as you’ll see that, like letters that sound consecutively (not at the same time) yet still form a word, also consecutive notes still actually form a chord. Looking at consecutive (played after each other instead of at the same time) notes this way – which CHORD they actually form together (and are derived from) – will simplify memorizing songs and all of your piano parts enormously. This also works vice versa: creating your own, single-note melody-line-piano parts with notes derived from the harmony;
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from chords by combining them with (broken) patterns (Chapter 3.4). Practice makes perfect. Talk. Play.
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1.2. Basic Knowledge.
“ Technique: Fingering. TERMS & CONCEPTS Fingering
STYLE All.
LEVEL
Although technique is in fact sort of an important aspect of playing the piano, it is also often overrated.
Although technique is in fact sort of an important aspect of playing the piano, it is also often overrated. A good technique will follow accordingly, by practicing the theoretical things you’ve learned. As long as you know the basics and stick to those, all will be fine. Never go too fast, too soon. Always play right at the tempo limit of your capabilities of playing flawlessly. (see chapter “The E$ective Dose” for further clarification) The basics are vital. The rest will follow accordingly.
Elementary.
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Numbers and e#ciency. 5 fingers x 2 hands. How to use ’em? To simplify which finger we’re talking about at a specific moment, they’re numbered as shown in the image below. We start counting at the thumb (1) up to the pinky (5). Thumb = 1 Index finger = 2 Middle finger = 3 Ring finger = 4 Pinky = 5 This applies in the same way for both the left and the right hand!
In the beginning, playing the piano can often be quite a struggle with the fingers. Which finger are you supposed to use for which key? Actually, there are no strict rules here. They're more like guidelines. That said, when you try to stick to these guidelines as much as possible, you’ll soon start to notice that your playing will start to go easier, more fluently, faster and due to of all of that – and most importantly – sound better. The main guideline we’ll be trying to stick to – both for playing chords and single notes – is to try and place our fingers as e!ciently as possible. This means moving your hands around as little as possible, by placing your fingers on keys that they (are going to) play, as soon as possible. Always try to position your hand in a way that allows you to play as many notes from the song as possible, without having to move your hand from that position. Also, it’s important to USE the finger that is already on a key to indeed PLAY that key (instead of the often made mistake to exchange it for an “easier” finger; get to that in a sec). To accomplish this, you should always try to think ahead: “What key(s) am I going to play next and is it possible to already place a finger on that/those key(s)?”
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As an example, let’s take another look at EXERCISE 4 from the previous chapter. In that exercise we were playing the tune “Frere Jacques” (also called “Brother John” or “Are you sleeping?” in English), a French nursery song that, because of its simplicity, lends itself perfectly for clarification at this moment.
Exercise 2
USING THE FINGERS First, let’s take a look at the left hand. This was simultaneously playing the notes c, e and g (the C chord*).
When, as indicated here, the fingering for this chord is 5, 3, 1, this means: Play the c with your 5 (pinky) Play the e with your 3 (middle finger) Play the g with your 1 (thumb)
So the total melody is now: c, d, e, c; c, d, e, c; e, f, g; e, f, g. When we’d start with our thumb (1) on the c and put a finger on every key we’ll be playing above it – the index (2) on the d, the middle (3) on the e, the ring (4) on the f and the pinky (5) on the g – you’ll see that it’s actually really easy to stick to the following fingering, for there is already a finger on every correct key: 1, 2, 3, 1; 1, 2, 3, 1; 3, 4, 5; 3, 4, 5. This way you can play the entire tune, without moving your hand one bit!
Now, let’s take a look at the right hand.
V I DEO EXAMPLE
This was playing the notes c, d, e, c (are-you-slee-ping), after one another. Let’s repeat this sequence, playing it twice and then add e, f, g (bro-ther-John).
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F ULL V I DEO L ESSON:
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Part 2
Theory Pop-Pianos’ -WHAT- to play WHAT THE TITLE OF THIS SECTION INDICATES MAY JUST SOUND A LOT SCARIER THAN IT REALLY IS. ACTUALLY, WHEN ‘CONSUMED’ AS RECOMMENDED AND WHEN ALL THE RULES, TIPS, AND TRICKS ARE APPLIED AS INSTRUCTED, IT’LL TURN OUT TO BE THE MOST INTERESTING, EDUCATIONAL AND AMAZING SECTION OF THIS ENTIRE COURSE.
Part 2
Theor P OP -P IANO ’ S “ WH AT ” TO PLAY .
“Theory” might sound a little boring. “Scales,” yuck… that’s the exact reason for not choosing classical piano lessons in the first place. Images of hour upon hour of endless repetition, streams of notes performed by overtalented kids who seem to be expected to play faster and faster, making playing piano look like some form of slave labor. Piano students who are forced to become master concert pianists performing impossibly complicated pieces in huge concert halls filled with people dressed in suits who just seem to look critical and uninterested rather than listening to the music and enjoying it... No.
What this section promises to deliver may just sound a lot scarier than it really is. Actually, when consumed as recommended and when all the rules, tips and tricks are applied as instructed, it’ll turn out to be the most interesting, educational and amazing section of this entire course. Admittedly, you will have to read some, you will need to memorize and yes, there will be terminology that, to begin with, may momentarily conjure up the frightening images mentioned above. But don’t worry. We’re going to take a totally di$erent approach here. Look, read, listen, practice and play. Allow yourself to take your time. Don’t rush. Do your best to take it all in and you WILL be able to play the piano the way you’ve always wanted to.
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Remember to keep the notion of the “E $ective Dose” as described above in mind at all times. The slower the pace, the more e $ective the learning.
Chords. Why? When you watch pop musicians play the piano, you’ll notice that they seem to be playing freely. There’s no looking at sheet music, the sound is rich and the playing beautiful, expressive and sometimes complex. It seems as though not everything is entirely fixed beforehand; a few “extra notes,” not heard on the original record, may be added unexpectedly here and there to heighten and strengthen the expressiveness even more. How does such a performer manage to memorize all those separate notes and play everything by heart? How is he or she able to play so freely and improvise music on the spot, sounding so good simply in response to what he’s hearing and feeling at that moment? In this section you’ll learn the foundation that will make all of this clear to you and enable you to do the same. Say goodbye to complicated series of notes on paper and embrace the theory of chords.
Playing the piano “like a guitarist.” Obviously we don’t really want to play (or sound) like a guitarist; otherwise we would have chosen a di $erent instrument. But guitarists do have a number of advantages over pianists since
their instrument has certain characteristics that make it perfectly suitable – even easy – for playing our “Western” music (pop, rock, soul, funk, etc.). That’s why it’s very instructive to take a look now and then at how guitarists approach their instrument. We can borrow some of their techniques and translate them in a useful way to our own instrument, the piano. Therefore I’ll refer to guitarists and their techniques a few more times throughout this book. For now we’ll start at the beginning, which also just happens to be the beginning for many guitarists. Guitarists who have just started learning to play the guitar are often able to play a number of songs really nicely after just a few lessons. Picture a campfire singalong with everyone joining in. You know what I mean, right? Why do so many beginner pianists often sound so boring, dull, unappealing and so much like, well, beginners? Why can’t they also quickly learn to play a lot of songs? The simple answer: they aren’t taught how. Even though it appears that 90 percent of those who want to learn piano would much rather be able to play their favorite song, accompany a singer or just play that well-known hit everyone loves (round the campfire for instance) than become the aforementioned classical concert pianist, as many as 95 percent (!) have nevertheless chosen the classical route (or been told to take it by their teacher). What most people don’t know is that – just like on the guitar – piano can also be learned with a harmony approach, through 30
chords (see 2.1.1. Campfires, guitars, and a contradiction for an illustrative story), enabling the student to quickly and easily grasp the concepts of pop music and almost instantly play a lot of recognizable songs. As I briefly mentioned before, the teaching method based on classical theory, classical exercises and musical notation is aimed at training you to become a classical pianist. If your aim is to become a POP pianist, however, it’s logical to assume that this method, with classical music as the final goal, will not lead you e!ciently to your intended goal.
This way, the Theory and Technique sections are meant to be used side by side. In the first section you’ll accumulate the knowledge, which you will then learn to apply in practice in the Technique section as you go along. There’s a reminder at the end of each Theory chapter to help you remember to refer to the Technique section. But for now, let’s start at the beginning. Chords? Anyone?
To learn how to play pop music, it’s also necessary to choose the route that leads to understanding pop music. Welcome to the way of the chords.
From the what to the how. Hack the Piano is divided into 2 parts. You can regard this “Theory”/“Chords” (chapters numbered “2…”) section as the main section or “guide” of the course where you learn WHAT to play. In order to apply the knowledge you gain here in a more practical way and use it to create interesting and beautiful piano arrangements, you’re advised to refer to the “Technique”/“Patterns” (chapters numbered “3…”) section on a regular basis. In that section you will learn HOW you can use the material from the Theory section in songs that you’d like to play by using patterns*.
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2.1 Chords.
Triads, major chords “ and minor chords REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE Intro and Basic Knowledge. Piano keys, the keyboard, names of the keys, tones, notes, octave, harmony, melody, fingering
TERMS & CONCEPTS Touché (/touch), dynamics, sustain pedal, posture
STYLE All.
LEVEL Elementary.
Major = Happy. Minor = Sad.
Triads, happy and sad. The word “triad*” means a “group of three” and in music it refers to 3 notes that are sounded together. In other words, a triad is a chord made up of 3 notes. You could say triads are the basic structure of all chords. Apart from a few exceptions, all of the “complicated” chords are simply extensions of the triad. First we’ll take a look at major* and minor* triads, their di $erent sound and emotional value. “Major” and “minor” are names that stand for a particular kind of scale* and its corresponding chord. You could say that major scales and chords sound happy while the minor ones sound sad.
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Remember:
Exercise 1
Major = Happy. Minor = Sad.
MAJOR & MINOR TRIAD Major & With your right hand, play the notes c, e, g; in other words, the
C major chord. The fingering is 1, 3, 5 (thumb, middle finger, pinky). Start on middle c. That’s the c in the middle of the piano keyboard. & Next play the C chord with your left hand using the
following fingering: 5, 3, 1 (pinky, middle finger, thumb). & Congratulations! You just learned how to play the first major
chord with both hands. Minor & Now with your right hand, play the C major chord, c, e, g again. & Next, change the note e in the chord for the black key
directly below, the eb (e-flat), and play: c, eb, g. & The chord you are now playing – c, eb, g – is the C minor chord. & Listen carefully to the way the sound of the chord changes from
V I DEO EXAMPLE
“happy” (c, e, g -> C major) to “sad” (c, eb, g -> C minor). This way you’ll clearly hear the di $erence between major and minor.
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Notation A capital letter is used to indicate a chord. C = the C chord (the notes c, e and g played together). “C” in this case is called the “chord symbol*.” When you see small letters, these stand for single notes: c = just the note c. When only a capital letter is used and nothing else (as in C), this refers to a major chord. For a minor chord, “m” or “min” is added to the chord symbol. Cm = the C minor chord (c, e-flat, g) When we either write or talk about the “C chord,” by default we mean the major chord. If C minor is meant, this is always specifically mentioned.
Bass The “bass” in music refers to the lowest note played. In a band, the bass is often played by a bass guitar or a synthesizer. When you're playing the piano by yourself, it’s possible to fulfill the role of the bass yourself by playing the low (bass) notes with your left hand while playing chords with your right hand.
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Exercise 2
BASS, 3 NEW CHORDS AND THE FIRST OF MANY POP SONGS & Play the C chord with your right hand, with middle c as the lowest note. Now at the same time and with your
left hand, play the note c one octave below the c that you’re playing with your right hand. Can you hear how the chord immediately sounds richer and fuller with this added bass note?
& Now we’re going to play a new chord: the G chord. With your right hand play g, b, d with fingering 1, 3, 5. The lowest note g
is 3 white keys below middle c. & With your left hand, play the note g an octave lower.
& Take a good look at your fingers and the notes you’re playing and notice that the structure/form of G actually looks very
much like the structure of C -> you play a note, skip one, play one, skip the next, and play one again. For C this meant: play c, skip d, play e, skip f, play g. Now for the G chord, you've just moved this whole structure (play, skip, play, skip, play) down to start on the g, which in this 35
..Continued & The next chord we’re going to play is Am or in other words A minor. The notes are: a, c, e, fingering 1, 3, 5. With the
right hand, shift up all the notes from G by one. With the left hand, play the a an octave lower again as the bass note.
Isn’t that the same structure again? & On to the next chord: F.
With the right hand: f, a, c. All notes shift 2 white notes down from the Am you just played. Left hand – the f an octave lower.
There’s that structure again! The chord progression* above forms the beginning of the song “Let it Be” by The Beatles. Try practicing these chords until you can play them smoothly one after the other in a steady tempo. 36
..Continued
“Smoothly” means playing all the chords at an even pace without any hesitations or mistakes. Only increase the tempo when you can play them all perfectly at a certain tempo and not for instance when you can play three of the chords in a row flawlessly, but still need time to think about the fourth. If playing all chords smoothly is too di!cult, and you’re not managing, play a bit slower. The MOST important thing to remember when practicing is “Don’t play too fast too soon.” Only when you continue to follow this advice (there’ll be a few more reminders) will your progress be as fast as promised. The biggest mistake most people make is playing too fast, too soon. For more information, review the explanation of the “E $ective Dose” in the intro of this chapter.
V I DEO EXAMPLE
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In Exercise 2, we played the first few chords of the song “Let it Be” by The Beatles, but at the same time we also “collected baggage” that we can use for playing a whole lot of pop songs. Many songs actually use those same chords, sometimes in a di$erent sequence and sometimes in exactly the same sequence. That’s why it’s important to really memorize all the chords you play so that when you come across them in another song, you’ll have them at your fingertips. For each new chord, try to immediately remember which notes make up the chord, what it looks like, the position of your hands and how it feels underneath your fingers. A C chord always has the same notes c, e, g, whether you play it in “Let It Be,” “No Woman No Cry,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Frère Jacques,” “Für Elise” or any one of the literally millions of other pop songs it is used in. This is also true for G = g, b, d; F = f, a, c and so on for ALL chords. A specific chord always consists of the same notes, regardless of whatever song it is used in. So with each new chord you learn, you add to your musical vocabulary, which is not only relevant and usable for the song you’re currently learning but for all music.
Exercise 3
CREATIVE THINKING; MIXING AND MATCHING & Repeat the chords C, G, F and Am and also try to play them in a di $erent sequence that you think sounds
good. (How about C, F, G, Am? C, F, C, G, C, Am, G, C? Mix 'em up!).
You’ll see that by using the chords you’ve learned so far (C, G, Am and F), either in this or some other sequence, it’s already possible to play hundreds of pop songs.
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F ULL V I DEO L ESSON :
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2.1.1.
Campfires, guitars and a contradiction. K N OWLEDGE: E XTRA
INSIGHT IN HARMONY VS . MELODY APPROACH .
You’ve probably witnessed one or more times in your life, something that I like to call the “campfire phenomenon.” This phenomenon is commonly known for beginner-intermediate guitar players who are in the process of learning to play popguitar and basically refers to the situation in which somebody who plays the guitar, although for not too long – or s ometimes even just a pretty damn short amount of time – is automatically expected to know and be able to play some famous singalong pop songs. The phenomenon can occur in various di$erent social situations, but has to thank its specific name to the situation when, while camping, evening has fallen and it is dark. Somebody had something to drink, a campfire was made for a little old-school camping coziness and everybody is having a good time.
All of a sudden somebody pulls out his guitar and starts to add some feel-good to the atmosphere by playing “She Loves You.” Somebody else recognizes the tune and starts singing along. Then another one joins in, and another. Soon, everybody is singing. A few more songs follow. Laughs, tears, clapping. Happy times. Let’s say this guitarist’s name is Michael and let’s say Michael has been playing guitar for about… six weeks. SIX WEEKS!? He’s good! Too good, for just a mere six weeks of playing… right? How can he know at least a dozen songs? In six weeks?! That’s not possible. In fact it IS possible, and it’s not uncommon either. Now imagine John.
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John is at the party of his nephew Rick, who just turned 8 and recently took his first piano lesson (birthday gift). John has been following piano lessons for about 3 months now himself, which gives Rick’s mother – John’s sister – Marie, the idea to ask John to give little Ricky and the rest of the curious family a demonstration of how nice playing the piano can be and what Ricky can expect to be playing in about 11 weeks from now. John hesitates, but decides to give it a shot anyway and takes a seat at the Yamaha piano (nice). The attention of little Ricky lasts for about the first 2 minutes of John’s struggle through the first page of “Für Elise” (good thing they had the sheet music at Marie’s). The rest of the family joins in Ricky’s disinterest about one minute after that, so another minute later John decides to stop. Everybody applauds as convincingly as they can and the party continues with Lionel Richie singing from the stereo. Now, I’m not saying every starting pianist is like John. Many DO play what they want to play and what “everybody” enjoys listening to. Unfortunately, many more ARE like John. Some choose to be like this on purpose and are happy that way, but many regret the fact they cannot play like Michael. But wait, Michael was a guitar player! Totally di $erent thing, right? Nope. Not so di $erent actually.
Harmony vs. Melody: Comparing a di!erent approach. A song consists of a melody, supported by a harmony, a rhythm and – optionally – a lyric. Not more to it actually. Guitar and piano are both harmony – or “polyphonic” – instruments, meaning they can play more than one note at a time, contrary to say, a saxophone, that can only play one note at a time, or a … voice! These are examples of melodic or “monophonic” instruments, and are often used for playing, indeed: melodies. In pop-music, most of the songs are “vocal,” meaning they revolve around a melody that is sung, and thus most of the time in pop-music the voice (i.e. the singer) has the “melodic” function. This often leaves both the guitar and the piano with the function of indeed playing the harmony , supporting the melody. Here’s where it gets both interesting and important. When more than one instrument accompanies the singer, for instance electric guitars, synthesizers, bass guitar and an organ, they usually provide the harmony together, for example by each playing (a) di$erent note(s) that together form a complete chord, or in other words: the harmony. But the most basic or stripped-down form of pop-music is heard when all the blablah, the extra electric guitars, the synthesizers, hectic beats, bleeps, drums, production gimmicks, sound e $ects, etc., which are all production tools used to “dress up” the song, are removed and only the basic harmony and the melody are played.
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This can, and often is, done by playing the harmony part, the “carpet” or “wall” that provides the musical atmosphere to support the melody, on just the piano or the guitar, while indeed singing the melody. To get an idea of how this sounds, think of acoustic versions of songs, with just the singer and a piano/guitar, where this is exactly what happens: the basic harmony, with a certain rhythm, also called the “groove” or “pattern*” is being played by the instrument(s) and the melody is sung. (Singing, by the way, is in fact “playing” the instrument “voice.”) When you want to learn how to play pop-music on either the guitar or the piano, this basic or stripped-down form, to the contrary of what John thinks at this moment, might just be (IS!) your best place to start. It is exactly where Michael started. So where in pop-music the basic form of playing both guitar and piano is harmony and rhythm-oriented, the clincher is in the fact that John, like many (many, many) other beginner pianists, unfortunately started learning the instrument melody-oriented. Where Michael and his audience were having a good time by him easily strumming away the harmonies (chords) on his guitar, John unfortunately could produce nothing more than a bit of classical “finger-wrestling,” fidgeting with the way more di !cult melodic approach of his classical piece. Add the fact that John also had to tap from his skill of sight-reading to know which notes he had to play, instead of just remembering a set of chords he would have known by heart, and the reason for his tinkering becomes clear.
Classical music often has no singing, especially the classical music that is to be played on the piano and that is – mind this – especially written, or rearranged for piano. The piano, therefore, because of its ability to play so many notes at the same time, is often used for playing the melody as well as spread-out, di!cult versions of the harmony, played simultaneously. This way of playing is way more di!cult and not a very good starting point for a beginner-intermediate player. On top of that, it’s not a very good starting point when you actually want to be playing POP-music, where – as mentioned – melodies are sung. This also brings me to the fact that classical melodies are often very nice when played on a piano, because – as said – they were written to be played on the piano . Since pop-melodies are written to be sung they can easily sound terribly dull when played on the piano. Harmonies on the other hand, played on either the guitar or the piano, sound rich and interesting from the very start. When wanting to play pop-music on the piano, like with every new skill, it is wise to start with the end goal in mind and to start at the most basic form of the skill you’re trying to learn, while trying to keep irrelevancies aside. To start learning Pop-Piano, your best bet is to start with the basics of how the piano is used in pop-music: getting to know and learning to play the harmonies by first of all learning the chords. From there on you can get to patterns, licks, ri$s, from which beautiful piano parts and even melodies will arise. As you will soon start to see, melodies too will make perfect sense later on, because they are all derived from the harmony .
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Just like Michael chose not to follow classical guitar lessons that would be focusing on single notes and melodies, but started by learning how to strum chords in certain patterns and rhythms – the basic form of pop-guitar – you too, as a pianist, can start at the relevant beginning for learning your style of choice: popmusic. Melodies (even real “classical” playing) can follow if you want, but we’ll start with the basics, the foundation. By learning chords and the patterns and rhythms in which they can be played, you'll start learning the way guitarists do too. And trust me: this way – just like Michael and all those other beginner guitarists at campfires – you will be able to play your favorite songs, on the piano, in no time too.
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Part 3
Technique Pop-Pianos’ -HOW- to play JUST PRESSING DOWN THE CORRECT KEYS DOESN’T EXACTLY MAKE YOUR PIANO SKILLS MIND-BLOWING YET. HOW TO PRESS THOSE NOTES IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN BECOMING A BRILLIANT PIANIST
Part 3
Technique P OP -P IANO ’ S “ HO W ” TO
PLAY
In these Technique chapters, the knowledge you acquire in the Theory chapters – “what” to play – will be transformed to actual piano parts by showing you “how” to play it. Just pressing down the correct keys doesn’t exactly make your piano skills mind-blowing yet. HOW to press those notes is the key to success in becoming a brilliant pianist. The “wide-vocabulary” approach of the Theory chapters, where we’re using chords as being our vessel, our reusable building blocks to learn music and piano theory as e$ectively as possible, is carried on in Technique chapters by learning and using patterns: reusable, vocabulary-broadening chunks of technique.
For ease of both recognition and clarity, the di$erent exercises, rhythms, patterns and techniques in these Technique chapters are mostly shown with the same set of chords. This so you won’t have to figure out the chords – a “theoretical” part – first with every new exercise, but can dive right into what’s relevant here: the rhythms, techniques and patterns, using notes you’re already familiar with. However, because of this decision – and this is very important – every chord in every example can and should (after mastering the actual pattern with the chords as shown) be replaced by any and every other chord out there. Again, for letting these chapters serve your musical growth like they’re supposed to, this is really important, so take careful note here.
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The actual notes (chords) used in the examples are in fact irrelevant. They are just played because, of course, I had to exemplify using something. Therefore I decided to pick a set of easy and common chords. The pattern, rhythm, technique is what it is about here and those work the same with whatever notes, chords you have underneath your fingers. Changing the chords from the examples to chords that are relevant to you, chords that you are currently practicing (for example chords from a song you are trying to learn) or want to learn, is key to succeeding in broadening your musical vocabulary, pattern- and technique-wise. The more di$erent chords you do the same Technique exercise with, the more e$ective it will be. Also, skipping back to older Technique exercises and repeating them with new theoretical knowledge and chords you’ve learned later on in the course is highly advised.
Look, listen, play. In teaching this “how” technique, demonstrating often tends to be way clearer than explaining with words. Though this is in fact a book, consisting of words that I've obviously written down for you to grasp and learn how to play the piano, when constructing this Technique part of the equation I therefore stumbled upon quite a dilemma. Since using words to describe rhythm and technique can become a bit confusing, even – dare I say it – a little sluggish and unnecessarily hard to understand quite quickly (basically the opposite of what we're trying to achieve), I decided to enhance and add value by adding way more video examples in
this part. Therefore Technique chapters contain fewer words and more videos. This is not to say that the words are useless, obviously. Far from it. If I'd felt that way, I wouldn't have written them down in the first place. The text in the exercises is meant to illustrate and truly explain what’s going on for you to really grasp the concept. I've tried to write them as lightheartedly, while illustrative and to-thepoint as possible. The videos on their part are equally important, illustrating those words and making them more tangible. It is in fact the combination of both elements that will greatly increase your ease of learning, as well as contribute to your overall level of understanding by – yes yes, you know how we go about things here – tackling the stu $ from multiple angles. However, if at a certain point you feel the words are too tough, too much or just too hard to understand in the first place, you might want to try the video first. The exercises are perfectly playable by simply imitating what’s clearly exemplified in the videos. The words then will start making more sense, after you’ve followed along with the video example. It works both ways, so you're free to pick one that is applicable for you in each individual situation. You'll find out what works best for you along the way. Alternate and combine. That's my advice. This is where the party starts. Have fun.
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3.1 Technique.
Rhythmic basics & patterns with the right hand.
“
Rhythm might just very well be the most di "erentiating aspect in music.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE Up to and including 2.1. Triads, major chords and minor chords.
TERMS & CONCEPTS Bass, rhythm, chords, meter, time, patterns, quarter beats.
STYLE All
LEVEL
This way of playing already allows you to play a very basic version of songs, for example to play along to an original version. When you’d play all the right chords from a song at the right time, it would all sound very correct, but maybe not exactly super-exciting... yet. The very first possibility to spice things up a bit, as we’ve also seen in Chapter 2.1, is to add a bass note to those chords, by playing the root note with your left hand. This basic technique is actually the starting point/form for every Pop-Pianist.
Basic.
Like we’ve seen in Chapter 2.1 the easiest, most basic way of playing chords is to simply press all the notes from the triad simultaneously. This can be done with both the left and the right hand. For many well-known singer-songwriters, or pianists who accompany singers, there’s actually not that much more to it than using this basic technique in di $erent rhythms.
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Rhythm. Rhythm might just very well be the most di$erentiating aspect in music. As I told you in Chapter 2.1, in pop music, there is an almost infinite amount of songs that use the same chord progressions. The reason that two songs that use the exact same chord progression can still sound so very di$erent is due to di$erences in:
Melody: What is being sung or played as “lead”? In other words, what is the foreground of the song? When you’d play those 4 chords from the previous example (or any chord progression), in the exact same way after one another, without any other additions, variations or di$erences whatsoever, but change the melody, this will in fact still make it sound like a di $erent song.
& Melody. & Production/arrangement: the “dressing up” mostly done in the
studio. Which instruments play on the record, at what volume are they mixed in, what exactly do they play, are we using e$ects like compression, reverb, delay, panning, EQ and a whole catalogue of terms that are irrelevant to explain here for learning how to play. & The rhythm.
When playing solo piano these three aspects can be translated to the piano by:
Production/arrangement: There are many di $erent ways to play (the same set of) chords. I’ll be getting back on this extensively in the Technique chapters. Arrangement, being more of the “what is played” side in this form of sound crafting, holds very close relationship to – and even evolves from – patterns.
The patterns, our main vessel in these Technique chapters, are based on rhythms. Rhythm is a movement in time , formed by acce nts. Imagine a beat or groove, played by a drummer, or simpler: clapping along to a song. It’s the thing that makes your head bounce, your ass shake. When clapping a rhythm, every clap is an accent. How far these accents are apart (how much time is in between each clap) determines the tempo and the rhythm. It is very important that 48
these spaces in between the claps (accents) are consistent, for an actual (consistent -> musical) tempo to originate. Rhythms are often formed by a pattern that repeats every given amount of beats (time).
The amount of beats the pattern is repeated, depends on the “meter”*. In pop music we often count three or four beats and then start over at “one” again. This so-called meter is what indicates how many beats there are before starting over with a new “one” or, as this is o !cially called, how many beats are found in a “measure” or “bar*.” In music the “one” is the beat with the heaviest feel, the heaviest accent. It is the start of a new measure/bar. A so-called “4-4 meter” counts up to 4; a “3-4 meter” counts up to three. That second “4” (“4- 4 meter”) indicates the fact that each whole bar is split into “quarter beats” -> 4 quarters make for one whole (bar). The first “4” tells us there are indeed 4 of those beats found in one measure. With ”3-4” measures, you could say
the bar is simply cut o $ after just the 3 quarter beats, starting back at “one.” It simply “misses” that fourth quarter, giving it a very specific feel. A measure that counts up to 4 will be indicated with the topmost image below, 3 beats in one measure are indicated with the bottom image.
Patterns. Apart from clapping patterns, or playing patterns on a drum kit, we as pianists can also play them on the piano. Referring to guitarists yet again: These patterns can be compared to di $erent kinds of stroking/ strumming techniques, patterns, rhythms and plucks like guitar players use. Our patterns actually work very similarly. Patterns on the piano can be played both with single notes (forming melodic phrases, melodies, ri $s and/or licks), with chords or parts of chords and even with a mixture of those elements. Adding patterns will make playing chords sound way more interesting and make your playing truly “come alive.” 49
Exercise 1
TASTING RHYTHM AND PLAYING PATTERNS Pattern 1: Right hand plays all quarter beats. Used chords:
“Quarter beats” are the basic form of accents, the basic or main subdivision of a measure. When a song is in a 4-4 meter, this means there are 4 quarter beats in a measure. In other words: In a 4-4 meter, counting these main, “most obvious” beats, those beats you’d clap when clapping along, you’d count to 4 before starting over at “one.” Clap along with the next example video on every count (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4) to get a good feel of quarter beats. Replay the video and repeat for about 3 times.
For this exercise we’re going to play those same 4 chords that we’ve seen in Chapter 2.1, and just like we did in Exercise 1 from that chapter, we’re playing the triad with our right hand, while playing the bass note (the root of the chord) with our left hand, one octave lower. 50
..CONTINUED
Only now, instead of playing the chord just once on the beat where the chord changes, strike the chord again on every quarter beat. In this case, this means now playing each right-hand triad 2 times, at an even time apart from each other, before changing to the next chord. With your left hand, just play the root of the chord once, every time a chord changes to the next.
This is the very first basic (but highly e $ective and usable) form of a pattern for you to use to add rhythm, feel and liveliness to your playing. Here’s an example of how it could sound when changing both the chord progression and durations.
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F ULL V I DEO L ESSON:
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