Bare essential keys to harmony
- An unconventional approach to learning piano By Coen Modder - Piano Couture
Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 2
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 3
Bare essential keys to harmony - Intro and Basic knowledge
Contents
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Intro. p.4
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- First and Foremost. p.8
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- The ‘Effective Dose’ and superfluousnesses. p.10
Part 1. Basic knowledge - Piano’s bare essential abc’s
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1.1!
Basic knowledge: Theory. p.17
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1.2.1! Basic knowledge: Technique, fingering. p.24
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1.2.2! Basic knowledge: Technique, posture and the instrument. p.27
Part 2. Chords - An introduction to Pop-Piano’s ‘what’
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2.1!
Chords: Triads, major and minor chords. p.33
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2.2 !
Chords: 7 common major and minor triads. p.38
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 4
Intro.
This is not your average piano-method.
This is a book, 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 with-, accompany- and
even compose any song you like in the shortest amount of time possible.
What is Pop-Piano and why is it different from ‘classical’, ‘conventional’ piano?
Many people (including teachers) still see piano as a ‘classical’ instrument and therefore think that it’s best
(read: ‘necessary’) to learn how to play it, teach and be taught the ‘classical’ way.
Nonsense.
If you want to play classical music, you should go practice classical music.
If however, you want to play pop-music (or any of it’s many sub-genres), there’s no need to practice any
form of classical music whatsoever.
That is the ‘conventional’ way and unfortunately, still the ‘commonly accepted’ way.
This 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.
It’s the extraction of exactly that what is most effective, efficient; relevant and useful. It consists of that - and
ONLY that- what 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 way.
The best metaphor I can think of to illustrate the difference in approach even better: The Pop-approach to
playing piano, music is to think, build and speak ‘sentences’, where the classical approach tends to focus on
reading and spelling ‘letters’.
Were you able to speak before you could read; before you could spell? I bet you were.
In my mind that’s a sorta more logical way of approach, a more logical place to start; what do you think?
You can always get to writing, 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.
There are a few things to note and keep in mind before taking off, though...
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 5
Piano Couture
Effectiveness 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 to be entertained. Well, playing the piano certainly is entertaining! In fact it’s
great fun and it’s very entertaining. The fact that you’ve picked up this book means that you’ve dared to take
the first big step towards starting a new hobby and thereby, you’ve taken a step in the direction of
significantly increasing your own entertainment too, so I hope you’ll appreciate the odd joke, the anecdotes,
the background-stories and -information.
Everything that I’ve written is meant to contribute something to the whole; either to your entertainment or
to the effectiveness. Hopefully to both.
At the start of this adventure, you need to realise that in the end, life often proceeds more comfortably and even quicker- when you choose a path which might at first seems to be the long way around. Are you
going to wait for your car to be fixed or are you going to walk? Might depend on how far you have to
travel, of course.
All the ‘background’ stories in this book 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 be easier to follow, sink in better and progress a
lot faster in the end. If you prefer to get going right away (and choose to ‘start walking’), that’s also possible.
In that case, you should tackle only those chapters which are marked at the beginning with the following
underlined headings: ‘Terms and Knowledge’, ‘Style’ and ‘Level’. These chapters contain the theory, exercises
and techniques necessary to achieving the fastest and most effective 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 tried to present
everything in the most effective way and in brief. At least as briefly as possible. After all, Rome wasn’t built in
a day.
This course is designed to maintain the highest possible level of efficiency in learning and practising so that
you can reach your musical goal as quickly as possible. By focusing solely on what is really 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 all of your playing will benefit. This way, every bit of theory and every exercise
contributes to your growth as a complete pianist. Effective. Efficient.
As you grasp the logic of the approach, your ability to recognise, assimilate, see, recognise and create
constructions and coherence will increase and the learning process will get steadily easier.
I hope you decide to wait for your car…
Have fun!
Coen
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 6
Piano?
Playing the piano can be done in countless different ways and many different styles.
If, for example, you’d compare Alicia Keys, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Stevie Wonder, Wibi Soerjadi, Paul
McCartney (The Beatles), Dr. John, Art Tatum, Tori Amos, Jamie Cullum, Elton John, Sergio Mendez, Jordan
Rudess and Herbie Hancock, you’d hear how all these world-famous musicians play the same instrument
(yes, piano), yet seem to make it sound 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.
This 'fundamental skill' is exactly what I'm going to teach you.
With just 10 minutes of super-effective rehearsal time per day, this will enable you to (select any one or
more):
- 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.
- Improvise.
- Use the piano to write your own songs, in the same way all famous (and lesser famous) pop-musicians do.
- It's incredibly easy and suitable for anybody, regardless of any previous experience with piano or music in
general.
Whatever your musical goal is, I'll show you how to get there asap.
(Take it) easy. My side of the story.
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 a key 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 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 difficult theories, fingerings and music notation first?
Well.. it is exactly these 'conventional' approaches and methods, that makes learning how to play the piano and even playing the piano after you've mastered the basics- unnecessarily difficult.
Sight-reading and musical notation make a song look way harder than it actually is. 'Translating' these musical
notes 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.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 7
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 some amount of
talent (it might get a little tricky getting accepted into a Music BA if you don't have the slightest bit of
talent), 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 it's 'construction'. Really understood it. And saw 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 sightreading 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.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 8
First and foremost.
I’ve written and produced this book, course, to teach anybody, despite age, musical knowledge of experience
with any instrument whatsoever, how to understand and play the piano.
All information, exercises, tips, tricks and examples are carefully crafted in a way so that you, the reader, can
reach this goal in the fastest, most efficient way possible.
In spite of the fact that -if the whole course and all its instructions are accurately followed and completedyou will also be able to play 'classical' pieces, the emphasis here lies on learning how to play POP-music:
your favorite song, the tune everybody knows, that song she sings so beautifully.
Learning how to play in the 'conventional' way, would mean first learning how to sight-read (read ‘classical’
musical notation) by working your way through ‘Piano for beginners’-books 1 to 10, filled with obligatory,
often boring and unknown pieces, before you’d -finally- learn to play anything you actually want to play. Most
people following this path give up before even reaching 'book 2'. Ai... What a shame.
And very recognizable. The exact same thing happened to me.
Fortunately, 14 years after my 'crash and burn' piano-adventure as a kid, there came a day when I couldn't
resist the temptation to go and sit at the piano that was still standing in the living room of my parents’
home, to figure out the instrument all over again. The significant difference, besides my age, increased love
for music and level of persistence, was the fact that this time, I taught myself how to truly tame both the
piano and music in general. Unfortunately, the lessons from my early childhood had been totally erased from
my memory. Well... unfortunately?
Maybe exactly because they had, because I had to start all over again, stubborn as I am, I forced myself into
finding a way outside of the ordinary paths, leading me into this musical journey that became such a totally
different, mighty experience.
All the relevant findings of my 11 years of playing- and piano experiences, a journey that has taken me from
absolute beginner to my Bachelor of Music from the Amsterdam Conservatory, professional music-teacher,
(session-)musician, keyboardist, producer, composer, piano player and singer-songwriter are captured in this
book.
All the mistakes, the irrelevancies and superfluousnesses to learn how to actually play, that I myself have
made, found, done and waisted my time on, are left out, to prevent you from doing the same; from doing shit
you don’t want to.You don’t have to.
This way, out the chaos of music theories, piano-methods, opinions of many different of my fellow-musiciancolleagues and -teachers and of course my own experience, I filtered only the essence. The most relevant
and 'Effective Dose' of piano to create this course. A course for learning how to play real music. A course
for learning Pop-Piano. I am a Pop-Pianist. I never practiced songs I didn’t like and did not want to play.
I never needed any sheet music.
To learn how to to play like a pop-musician, you need to learn to approach music and your instrument like a
pop-musician. Have you ever seen your favorite artist or idol look at sheet music while playing? Exactly.
It is possible to play brilliantly without ever having to read a single note. Without ever having to play pieces
you don't actually want to play and without learning 'dusty', boring theory.
Let's play what you want to play.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 9
'Practice', the first of a few final notes.
If you follow the instructions and tips in this course strictly and precise, I’ll guarantee you'll reach both your
musical goal and desired level in the least time possible.
There are a few upfront ‘warnings’ though, that need to be taken into account before taking off and kept in
mind during your journey.
The first of those (or actually, second, if you count the above jibber-jabber about not needing sheet music
and sight-reading skills) is that this course is meant for the 99.99999% of the population that can call
themselves 'musical mortal': ranging from the absolute beginner to the more advanced musician and
everybody in between.
If however, at age 4 you were already capable of making Beethoven jealous of your piano-skills: cherish your
talent, crush all those major concert halls, leave every spectator in shear amazement and never forget: enjoy
the shit out of it. This course is not for you.
Apart from this 0.00001% of the population that sees piano as a second nature though, everybody,
without exception, will have to practice to reach his or her desired level. To be fair actually, even those
prodigy’s needed their fair share of practice to get that good...
On a lighter note, take the small part that I'll be describing as ‘exercises’, ‘study’ and 'practicing' seriously, but
at the same time try to take it easy and don’t create a mountain out of what really is just a little molehill.
'Practicing' in this course, actually comes down to 'playing' in a way that is both fun and educational. Fun and
effectiveness are the 'core values' of this course, so to speak.
Always remember that nobody can play the piano 'all of a sudden'. Even the 'Mozarts' and all other before
mentioned famous pianist, needed their fair share of effective practice to actually start playing 'good'. When
any of them sat down at the piano for the very first time, he/she too couldn't play.
It’s very simple: The better you’ll practice, the better you’ll get.
Never let anything get-, or anyone talk you down.You too, can learn how to play the piano.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 10
The 'Effective Dose' and superfluousnesses.
My method(s) (including this very book; course, it’s exercises and suggested way of practicing) are built
around and upon the ‘Effective Dose’ -> learn as much as possible in as little time possible. This is done by yes, you guessed it- being EFFECTIVE (and efficient).
This implies:
1. Less is more, to start with a nice cliché. In other words: don’t overdo it.
Do EXACTLY that which triggers what I like to call ‘the spark’: The exact moment of maximum growth;
and then quit. I’ll show you when and where to find it later on.
2. Faster is NOT better.
Sure, you’d like to go fast. Lightning fast. I’d also like to be able to lift 200 kilograms (440lbs) but if I’d do
that tomorrow, I’ll brake my back.
Picture someone skimming though a highly educational, 200-page book -for which he or she has an exam
the next day- in one hour and call that ‘study’. I’d bet my money on him/her failing the test.
In practicing music, we want to go exactly at the pace and the tempo, that separates ‘doable’ from
‘undoable’.
99% of the exercises I’ll hand you, work best when performed SLOWLY. Because we are going to
VISUALIZE a lot, remembering forms, patterns, constructions and ‘distances’ (called ‘intervals’ in music).
They’ll just sink in better that way; slowly.
This will probably be the hardest point to stick to. Everybody wants to go to fast. Control yourself on
this one and you’ll have an almost unfair advantage over 99% of your fellow students.
3. PRACTICE implies you are trying to LEARN something (whether a completely new
skill, or the improvement of an already owned skill) and you can only learn
something that you CANNOT yet do / do not yet know.
Playing a song that you can already play perfectly fine for a full two hours, means you’ve practiced
exactly ... 0 minutes.
FIRST do that what is referred to as the ‘Effective Dose’ of study-material in the ‘Effective Dose’ of set
study time (starting with as little as 10 minutes a day) and only then, AFTERWARDS, play your favorite
songs and fiddle around the keys.
4. Every repetition counts.
This means that MISTAKES are BAD.Ya, duh! No, I’m kidding.
The thing is, you’ll indeed learn from your mistakes. Make the mistake. Learn from it. BUT... NEVER
repeat it.
Repeating mistakes will make them sink in, make them ‘your own’, a habit, e.g. will ‘teach’ you the mistake,
just as repeating a good thing will make you master the good thing (which of course, in the case of a
good thing, is exactly what you want). Unlearning mistakes costs time and is no fun. Trust me.
Fix the mistake right after you’ve made it.
5. We’re learning ‘building blocks’. Chunks.
In stead of learning just one specific tune (which is the case with classical and conventional pianotraining), we’re always focussing on learning things that can be (re-)used in ANY and EVERY song. We’re
trying to build a strong foundation. A ‘grab bag’ of skills that you can use in any song, to play any song,
however you want to. To be free on the piano.
The maximum amount of results is acquired by doing exercises that build a strong 'foundation'; learning in
‘chunks’ and thereby creating a wide 'vocabulary'. Think of learning a language, where every new word
can be (re-)used in many different sentences. The more words you know, the faster you can build
different sentences, which then become the ‘chunks’ you’ll be focussing on.
The more sentences you know the faster they will help you build conversations.
It’s about logic, context, coherence, relationships and connections.
You’ll learn a broad musical ‘vocabulary’. And you’ll speak. Oh will you speak.
6. I won’t teach you ‘everything’ and I’ll simplify things to make them easier to grasp.
As said, this method is meant to make you truly understand how music works and how to be able to
‘throw out’ your emotions using the piano, playing anything you want. This doesn’t mean you need to
know how to decompose a ‘Fuga’ and it also means that you’ll be fine with just knowing one of the 10
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 11
different names for a specific musical term or just the one way to figure something out whilst there may
be 20 different roads that lead to the same goal.
To make a decent dish, you don’t need to know the Latin name of every herb, how to grow every green
or the best way to catch the fish you’re about to prepare.
I’m going to show you how to cook the dish and enjoy it.
You’ll know everything you need.
If the above points sound like jibber-jabber to you now, don’t worry, it will all follow itself.
Practicing in the most efficient way means practicing exactly that, which is most relevant for you at a specific
time. This implies doing (an) exercise(s) that will raise your overall level as a pianist and will make you play
everything a little better. Nothing less, but also certainly nothing more.
Playing the piano should be seen as exercising, just like in sports. Practicing the piano should therefore be
seen as nothing less than serious training, both physically and mentally. Like with training in sports, it's not
very wise to immediately start with that which is your end goal (for instance running 26 miles, lifting 400
pounds or whatever your goal might be).
To get the best and fastest results and prevent injury it's best to steadily head towards your goal with easyto-manage, small steps. Often this is contrary to what one might feel or believe, so try and remind yourself
of this fact every now and then. Do what is suggested and then stop. Don't ever skip it, always finish it, but
equally important: don't exceed it, don't over-do it.
Both the physical 'over-training' of your hands and fingers, which can (and probably will) cause injuries, as
well as the 'information overload' in your brain, that will interfere with optimal remembrance, will stagnate
your growth, in stead of speed it up. Injuries, whether physical or in your brain, will force you to pause your
'training' to rehabilitate, and will slow down the learning curve. On top of that, of course, nobody is keen on
getting injured in any way, right?
The information in this course, that will be saved into your (muscle-)memory, will stick way better when it
is 'consumed' and practiced in small, accessible 'bites' and at a slow pace.
‘Slow pace' here stands for a tempo (of a song) that is barely low enough for you to manage when really
putting in some effort. We're looking for the dividing line in tempo, between 'difficult but doable' and 'to
fast', where the latter would be the tempo causing you to constantly 'crash' (make mistakes).
A very important extra note to this tempo advice is this: everything you rehearse, will be remembered and
become a 'habit'. In other words: if you try and learn a new skill, and practice (repeat) it correctly, you'll
learn how to do it that way: correct. This 'correct' way will be saved as being your 'habit'. Mistakes, however,
when being made over and over again (even a few times), will also be 'saved' and become bad 'habits'. I
probably don't have to tell you that changing a bad habit is a tedious process, that is rather to be avoided by
not creating it in the first place.
So, always try to repeat the correct thing and avoid repeating mistakes too often.
Try to find this fine line between 'difficult' (where you manage to play it correctly when truly putting in your
effort) or 'too difficult', but never cross it! Sticking to this advice may prove to be the most difficult, yet
most valuable part of this course.
Effective Dose of Time.
I advise to always start with practicing exactly that what's both highly relevant and effective: 'efficient
practice' for 10 minutes a day.
10 minutes a day here is the 'Effective Dose' of study time. This short period of daily study time will both
have the highest impact on your progress, limit the chance of failure (giving up) to the very least, as that it
will eliminate the chance of getting injured.
Even when -physically- you might be capable of practicing more than 10 minutes a day (maybe you have
some previous experience playing the piano), I strongly advice to first getting (back) into a 'rhythm' of 10
minutes daily, in stead of -for instance- practicing once a week for two hours straight.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 12
This 'Effective Dose' of 10 daily minutes proves to be the most effective scheme to maximize the saving
capacity of your (muscle-)memory, putting the speed of your progress in overdrive mode.
I also like to treat this part of our Effective Dose as a 'psychological motivator':
- 10 minutes a day is a very short period of time. Anybody that is truly looking to succeed in this task of
learning Pop-Piano, should be able to free these few minutes, every day. If not, I don't think you're
motivated enough.
Tips for freeing 10 minutes a day.
Get up 10 minutes earlier; go to bed 10 minutes later; skip one 'friendly' phone-call a day; don't watch that
boring television show (this could possibly even save you about 3 hours+); 'practice' while traveling (more
on this later); drink 1 less cup of coffee (or drink it behind the piano); take 10 minutes of your 'browsing the
internet for fun or out of boredom' (for instance watch 1-3 fewer youtube video's, or stop checking
Facebook every other minute); look at your daily scheme and find some other unfulfilling thing you tend to
do too often and either stop doing it (yes!) or do it for 10 minutes less.
- Because of the fact that it's a daily routine, ‘to go and sit behind the piano’ will very soon start to feel like a
smaller and smaller step to take. It will simply become one of those fulfilling AND fun things to do in your
day.
- When followed correctly and with the little amount of discipline required, the effect on your progress will
be HUGE. This will cause the most important thing: the fun, pleasure and enjoyment of playing the piano,
to grow as well. Fun and efficiency. That's what it’s all about, remember?
As you'll progress through the course, you'll notice that along with your increasing knowledge, technical
skills and experience, you'll also be starting to get more enthusiasm, endurance and fun out of it and you'll
be able to steadily increase your piano-study-time (without all the negative side-effects mentioned).
When your motivation to learn more and get better is high and practicing for just 10 minutes a day seems
short and easily sustainable after the first week, this is my advised schedule to follow for increasing pianotime:
1 minute extra a week.
After 1 week: 11 minutes a day.
After 2 weeks: 12 minutes a day.
After 3 weeks: 13 minutes a day.
etc.
FIRST MAKE IT TO 10 MINUTES A DAY, EVERY DAY, FOR A WHOLE WEEK STRAIGHT!
If you haven't made that happen, you're not ready to increase yet.
Structure: Practice traps and fixes.
Maybe the most important part of the Effective Dose, is that 'Effective' here, stands for: FIRST do (practice)
that what you cannot yet do.
What you can NOT do is the thing you want to focus on learning, and that should always have your utmost
priority when you want to get better at something.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 13
Now this may sound quite logical to most of you, but in fact it appears to be one of the most difficult points
to stick to, for almost every one of the many students I've taught over the years.
Below, I indicate the most common mistakes, and how to prevent them step by step.
Minor upfront ‘don’t-worry-take-it-easy’-caution regarding the following one-page ‘lecture’ below:
Keep in mind that, below this warning, I'm talking about filling the ‘Effective Dose’-time of PRACTICE.
'Practice' in this matter, translates best into: Doing exactly that which will make your skills grow
(make you better) as fast as possible.
So when I tell you “not to play anything else until you finished practicing the earlier step ('finished practicing'
meaning 'learned -> being able to do the thing you could not do before')”, take into account that I'm not
saying you’re never allowed to play anything else, I’m saying to start with what’s actually relevant to get
better and use that in your 'Effective Dose' time of practice.
If you want to hammer out some weird Jingle-Bell-improvisation afterwards, of course that's fine. Hammer
away and play whatever you want, but do it AFTERWARDS!
Common mistakes and fixes:
1. Starting with the thing you can already do.
Doing the thing you can already do, whether you feel like you still want to improve it, or just play it for fun,
will NOT make you a better pianist in the most efficient way (of course every minute that you spend behind
the piano will improve your playing, but not by the large steps we're aiming for here).
Starting with the thing you can already play, is the number one mistake made in practice. First do what you
need to do: that what you cannot yet do.
If you choose to strictly stick to this advice alone, this will give you an advantage over 95% of people who
are trying to learn piano (or any other instrument).
2. Thinking you can do something, that actually, you cannot (yet) do. Going (on) to fast.
You can play something, when you can play it in the tempo you’re aiming for (either the actual tempo, or a
slowed down version to fit your current level), without hiccups, stops, hesitations (!!) and without mistakes.
In other words: smooth and flawless.
I'll get back to you on this point, because it is very, very important, yet another way-too-often overlooked
point in piano-practice. Don’t go (too) fast(er), too soon.
If you can’t keep up and do make mistakes: go a little slower.
3. Ignoring the fact that you cannot (yet) do one thing, and continue with the next. Going on to fast by lack
of discipline.
Whether you tend to go on doing something more difficult, playing faster or just something completely
different, before actually being able to flawlessly do the step before: try first to focus on the thing you
cannot do and have some patience to really learning that, before continuing. Don’t give up too easily.
Important side note to point 2 and 3: Keep it fun.
If you start to hate the exercise that you just can’t seem to ace (there won’t be many, but): don’t spend the
next 4 weeks biting dust. Switch to another exercise, but do realize that ‘hate’ is a big word. Try and put in
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 14
some effort before giving up to easily.
Side note 2:
There are things that are just too difficult to learn in a single session.
Set aside time blocks (for instance 1 minute, 5 minutes, etc.) for these things that you’re really struggling
with and do them every day for that set block of time. Stop after the time block, even though you might not
be able to play whatever you’re practicing flawlessly yet.
Note that, on the other hand, there almost always IS a tempo in which you CAN play it. Stick to that
tempo. Slowly. Don’t make to many mistakes. Don’t go too fast to soon.
4. The flip-side: Over-rehearsing and not realizing, that by learning a thing you cannot yet do, the things you
can already do, get better as well.
There comes a point, when you can play something. It is very important that you learn to recognize this
point. 'Can play' = being able to play without mistakes, in the original or desired tempo. If you can play it
flawless three times in a row but hiccup at the fourth try, this does not mean you cannot yet play it. People
make mistakes. Don't sweat it. If you play it flawless, but when you listen to a recoding of yourself you think
that the 'feel' might be a bit off, the timing on that one note isn't perfect yet or you should have put more
expression in that one accent: great, work on it some other time.
All of these things and all of the things that you can already do, will improve too when you learn something
new, something more difficult.
In other words: this mistake no 4. actually comes down to making mistake 1. again: when you think you
should practice something, that in fact you can already do, you'll actually be starting with the thing you can
already do. It's a circle.
Start with what needs to be done. Focus on it. Ace it. Make it flawless.
Don't over-do it.
Keep it fun.
Superfluousnesses - An upfront caution.
As I already told you, this is no regular piano-course. This is an unconventional piano-course. A Pop-Piano
course. As 'fun / entertainment' and 'efficiency' have top priority here, we are going to focus on:
Gaining as much fun as possible to you, the reader. ‘Fun’ here is -for one- achieved by ensuring the
greatest possible steps are made in your learning-curve, while ensuring the highest level of entertainment.
This works both ways, as the high level of entertainment will enlarge your commitment, that will in turn
help in enlarging the big learning-steps taken. The fast progress in learning on its part, fuels the
entertainment.
Eliminating (or at least: reducing, to the very least possible time spent on**) the 'aches' and negative
sides of learning: doing things that you don't actually want to do. This includes, but is not limited to: 'studying'
in the conventional sense of the word, 'learning' in the conventional sense of the word, doing boring
exercises and -most IMPORTANT- waisting time on learning stuff that you're never going to use anyway.
A very great deal in constructing this book; course, in a way that it would fit those two points described
above like the glove that I liked it to, came by first collecting. Collecting and then collecting some more.
When I thought I couldn't collect more, I collected some extra's. Then came the moment of crafting all this
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 15
information into that what needed to become this high-fun, highly effective end-product: the moment of
eliminating superfluousnesses.
The thing I'm going to warn you about now, is that I myself am the one who decided on what is, and what
isn't superfluous for learning how to play. On the other hand, I think my experience sorta gives me the right
to say that I'm quite capable of deciding this.
However, I feel obliged to give you this warning upfront, to prevent you from continuing and afterwards
realizing this wasn't for you after all.
I don’t want to waist your time.
When I started this project I was looking to fabricate a book / method, that would:
- Teach any- and everybody that is interested enough (ranging from the complete piano nitwit, to those who
can already actually play, but are interested in learning in WHAT exactly they are doing* to gain more
freedom on the instrument) how the piano works. How music works.
- Teach everything, no more and no less, that is necessary to truly understand and play pop-piano.
- Do this in the fastest way possible.
This meant that -and yes, here comes the actual ‘warning’- I had to leave out some stuff.
The thing is, there's an awful lot of 'stuff' in the 'learning-music-journey’, that is in fact superfluous for
actually PLAYING.
When I first started to play, I wasn't a music-theory expert. Not by a stretch. Nor did I particularly cared to
be. Wanted to be. Because I could play. I knew what I had to know to play.
In music, you can always learn more, but I decided to pick out what is best to learn first. What is essential.
What is necessary.
In regard to this point, there might be musicians, teachers, music-theorists etc. that might respond to certain
parts of this book, in some way similar to: "Well, that's an awfully easy way of putting it.", "That's not the
whole story.", "That's theoretically not the 100% correct way of putting it.", "..but what about.", "..that's not
how to officially call it!", "…have you thought about this and that alternative?" and so on.
Yes. I have thought about EVERY alternative. No. This is not a 'Complete Music-Theory'. There are plenty of
those out there already.Yes, sometimes I simplified, because the simple version perfectly suffices and yes,
there is more. In music, there's always more. That's one of the many beauties of it.
However, this is ALL you actually need to start playing. Like a pro.Yes. A pro.
Pro's see beyond theory. They use tricks. They use logic. They see.
I extracted the best of my tricks, my logic, my mindset and vision out of my knowledge of music and the
keys. It works. Like a charm.
I know there's more than what I decided to put in this course (although, to be fair, we’re going to get pretty
advanced in later chapters). I also know that to learn how to play like a pro, you won't ever actually NEED
more than what is to be found right here at your fingertips, here in this very book. Once you're there, at a
level of playing like a pro, you can contact me for a follow-up course.
There's always more. Do you want to become a music-theory-analyst, or do you want to learn how to play
the piano?
These are the essentials. See ya in a year or 15.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 16
Experience: Summary and final instructions before take-off.
Somebody who has never touched a piano before, might of course require a little different information and
exercises than those that already have some experience with playing.
When you are not an absolute beginner, you don’t necessarily need to start at chapter 1 and / or exactly
follow along the order of the chapters.
You can use this course as sort of a ‘cookbook’, extracting, reading, practicing and ‘cooking’ the recipes you
think are relevant to you: doing the exercises and reading the info that you feel you’d benefit from.
Throughout the whole course, at the start of every chapter, is clearly indicated: the level of playing it is
suited for, the subject of the chapter, what will be learnt and what knowledge / skills you should already have
to tackle it.
When you decide to skip a certain chapter, however easy it may seem to you, please do bear in mind that
repeating valuable info has never hurt a soul. There might just be a something hidden in there that you didn’t
know yet, or had forgotten.
The better you know the basics, the faster you’ll be able to become ‘advanced’.
So, to summarize all the above:
- Always remember the ‘rules’ of the Effective Dose:
more isn’t better, learning is about acquiring something that you CANNOT yet do / know, forge a strong
foundation by learning in chunks and building a wide, re-usable vocabulary.
Oh, yeah, a tiny little bit of discipline might come in handy too ;).
- Play slowly: never go to fast, to soon.
- Always do it, never over-do it -> stick to 10 minutes of practice a day, which can be elevated by 1 minute a
week.
- FIRST do what’s relevant. Save the ‘keyboard-fooling-around’ for afterwards.
Stick to the ‘rules’ and this course will deliver it’s maximum results, as promised.
Recovering from injuries, whether physical or mentally sucks, will waist days or even weeks to recovery and
is the last thing we want to accomplish.
10 minutes a day.
First that what’s necessary, then the fooling around.
Play slowly.
The fun level will be way higher.
In this book, course, the word ‘Piano’ is being used to indicate the instrument we’re learning.When no additional
remarks are made ‘Piano’ here stands for: ‘any keyboard instrument whatsoever’ (grand piano, wall piano, acoustic
piano, electric piano, any kind of keyboard, organ, synthesizer, clavinet, harpsichord etc.), meaning you could use any
keyboard instrument you please for following along this course.
I chose the word ‘piano’ for the sake of clarity and convenience, to avoid having to continuously name different kinds
of keyboard instruments.
When something is only relevant for a specific keyboard, it will be indicated.
*most people that learned how to play in the conventional 'classical' way, are only able to 'regurgitate'
written notes from sheet music (which often also means they can only play when they actually have these
sheets), without understanding anything about the musical depth of the notes they are playing, their
meaning, harmonic relationships etc.. They 'play' without having a clue what they are actually doing and can
therefore never 'take an alternative route', improvise or play something a little different.
**it remains important to realize that by starting this adventure, you in fact ARE trying to learn a new skill.
Obviously, no new skill can be learned with no effort at all.You will need to practice.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 17
Part 1. Basic Knowledge
1.1. Basic knowledge: Theory.
The basics are the foundation of all that is advanced, so let’s start at the beginning.
Terms and knowledge: The keyboard, keys, notes, tones, names of the different keys and their corresponding
tones, octave, harmony, melody.
Style: All
Level: Elementary
Keys and the keyboard.
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.
These black and white pieces are called the ‘keys’ of the piano.
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’.
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 both stand for the
specific instrument called a ‘keyboard’ as for the before mentioned row of keys on a keyboard instrument
(for example a piano, a synthesizer, organ etc.).
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.
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 very important to take very close note of this fact.
EXERCISE 1!
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 pattern in your mind.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 18
Tones, names and sounds.
All the keys on the keyboard represent a specific tone* or note*. These two words will be used
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 note has it’s own specific sound.
EXERCISE 2
Play a few random notes (press a few random keys) and listen carefully how every key produces it’s 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
right side of the keyboard. This way you’ll soon notice that singing along becomes quite difficult.
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’.
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 right below a group of two blacks, are
called ‘c’.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 19
The distance between ‘two of the same notes’ -in this example, between two ‘c’’s is called an ‘octave’ (or
‘scale’), coming from the latin word ‘octo’, meaning ‘eight’. -> there are 8 notes in an octave.
So, ‘going up one octave’ means going up 7 steps from a specific key -> ‘walking up’ until you reach that
‘same’ key again.
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.
As the visual pattern on the keyboard repeats, the names of the notes repeat as well. This way, in stead of 88
different notes (the amount of keys on a ‘regular’- or ‘grand’ piano) there are just 7 different names for
white keys, which correspond with the first seven letters from the alphabet: ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’.
Ah. Logics and ease. Nice.
The names of the black keys are derived from the name of the white key they are ‘next to’.
As black keys are in between two white keys, and thus ‘next to’ two different white keys, they can also be
named two different ways and in fact indeed have two names.
In my method, 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).
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’.
Secondly, the black keys can be named by adding a ♭(or b; pronounced as ‘flat’) to the note they are
under (naming them after the note that is to their right / above them).
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 20
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 right now, don’t pay to much attention to them for now and just
make sure you try and at least learn to remember the names of the white keys.
As blacks are simply ‘derived’ (same names with an addition) they’ll follow accordingly.
Names of the keys, summarized.
- The names of the white keys are: ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’.
- All black keys have 2 names:
- Seen from the white key to their left (the white key that is situated below the black key) they’re called # =
‘sharp’. For example, the black key that’s situated to the right of (above) the ‘f’ is called ‘f#’ (‘f-sharp’).
- Seen from the white key situated to their right (the white key above the black key) they’re called ♭=
‘flat’. For example, the black key situated to the left (below) the ‘g’ is called ‘g♭’ (‘g-flat’) (this will also be
notated as ‘gb’).
- So, for instance, the ‘f-sharp’ and ‘g-flat’ are in fact the SAME note.
- The most important key to remember for this moment is the ‘c’: the key that’s highlighted in red (the
white key right below, to the left, of a group of two black keys). This will be our reference point to start
remembering the rest of the keys.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 21
EXERCISE 3
Play the ‘c’ and say it’s name out loud. Next, play the white key above it (to the right) and say it’s 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 originate 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 what is sung’ (the vocal line) and the harmony ‘that what
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 it’s 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
short sighted (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.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 22
In ‘Hack the Piano’ I therefore decided not to start with single-note melodies, like is the approach in
conventional methods. This often results in very limited- to no understanding at all, of cohesion and context
of musical constructions, which in it’s part, results in your melodies, however dainty, 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 constructions.
You’ll soon see that by starting with this harmony-approach, logics and contexts will start to become clear
that will simplify playing the piano enormously.
A ‘chord’ are 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 using to lay our strong foundation for learning music.
Chords are a really useful tool for learning pop-music theory, to gain insight in music and the piano, easily
remember songs and for a lot more.
Starting to build at the foundation also seems kinda... logic, right?
EXERCISE 4
- 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.
- You’ve just played your very first harmony + melody! (‘Frere Jaques’ / ‘Brother John’ / ‘Are you sleeping’).
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 23
Summary
- The keyboard is the part of the piano that is used for playing. It consist of white and black keys.
- The more to the right side of the keyboard you’re playing, the higher the tones will sound. The more to
the left, the lower they’ll be. ‘To the right’ is therefore called ‘up’, ‘to the left’ is ‘down’.
- There is a repeating visual pattern in the keyboard consisting of groups of black keys: 2 black keys
alternated with 3 black keys. 2 blacks, 3 blacks, etc.
- The names of the white keys are ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘g’, just like the alphabet. When you’d start on the ‘c’
and go ‘up’ (to the right) you’ll get to the ‘d’, then the ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘a’, ‘b’ and then you’d get back to ‘c’ again.
- The black keys have 2 different names, for they can be named either after the white key the are situated
above (adding a # or ‘sharp’) or from the white key they are below (adding a ♭ or ‘flat’). This way the
note ‘d#’ (‘d-sharp’) is the same note as the ‘eb’ (e-flat).
- The distance between 2 of the same keys that are nearest apart is called an octave. After each octave, both
the visual pattern of the keyboard and the names of the keys repeat over again.
- The ‘harmony’ is the ‘base’, the ‘carpet’ or ‘foundation’ of a song, which is created by two or more tones
sounding simultaneously. In pop music, often this is ‘that what is being played by the instruments’* (bass,
keys, guitar).
- The ‘melody’ is a succession of single notes that form the ‘foreground‘, ‘lead‘ or ‘main-line‘. In pop music
this often is the singing line or the ‘hook’, the catchy tune that sticks in your mind.*
- A chord is formed by multiple notes sounding together. In other words, a chord is a harmony. In the
Theory part of ‘Hack the Piano‘ you’ll learn all about chords and how to use them to really get insight and
understand how music works, to learn how to play Pop-Piano like a pro in an easy, fast and highly effective.
Terms and Concepts
*Acoustic = non-electric/non-amplified. Examples of acoustic instruments are: the ‘regular’-/‘wall’-piano,
acoustic guitar, double bass, trumpet, violin etc.
*Grand Piano = that big ‘flat’ piano that has the shape of a harp. In classical- and jazz concerts there the
standard. A few pop-musicians that usually use them on-stage, among many others: Alicia Keys, Elton John,
Jamie Cullum, Billy Joël, Bruce Hornsby, Tori Amos, Freddy Mercury, Stevie Wonder, John Legend.
*Tone/ note = the sound that is produced by pressing down a key.
*Chord = multiple notes sounding simultaneously. Throughout Hack the Piano, chords will be indicated
using a CAPITAL LETTER.
*Harmony = more than one note sounding at the same time. The harmony is the ‘carpet’ or ‘background’
of a song.
*Melody = a succession of single notes. The melody often forms the ‘foreground’ or ‘main line’ of a song.
Throughout Hack the Piano, melodies (single notes) will be indicated using lower case letters.
* It’s certainly not always the case in pop-music that all the harmonies are being played by instruments and
melodies are always sung. There are many exceptions to this statement.
Harmonies, too, can be sung (imagine choirs) and of course, instruments can play melodies (think of a ‘leadguitar’ a guitar- or piano-solo).
For clarity’s sake at this moment, and to have an easy-to-grasp example, I decided to indicate what is
‘common’ -> the melody sung, the harmony played by the instruments.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 24
1.2.1. Basic knowledge: Technique, fingering.
Terms and concepts: Fingering
Style: All
Level: Elementary
Although ‘Technique’ is in fact sort of an important aspect of playing the piano, it is also often over-rated. A
good technique will follow accordingly, by practicing the theoretical things you’ve learnt. As long as you
know the basics and stick to those, all will be fine.
Never go to fast, to soon. Always play right at the tempo-limit of your capabilities of playing flawlessly.
The basics are vital. The rest will follow accordingly.
Numbers and efficiency.
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
above.
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
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 25
This applies in the same way for both the left and the right hand!
At the start, 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. 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.
De main guideline we’ll be trying to stick to -both for playing chords and single notes- is to try and place
our fingers as efficiently as possible.
This implies 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 and 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.
To accomplish this, you should always try and think ahead -> “What key am I going to play next and is it
possible to already place a finger on that key?”.
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 it’s simplicity, lends itself perfectly for clarification.
EXERCISE 1
Let’s fist 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)
Now, let’s take a look at the right hand.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 26
This was playing the notes ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘c’ (are-you-slee-ping), after one another. Let’s repeat this sequence 2x
and then add ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘g’ (bro-ther-John).
So the complete the melody now is: ‘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 (1) 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!
NOTE:
For the stubborn among us.
If at this moment, this seems harder than when you do move your hand: trust me, this is a matter of a short
period of getting used to using all of your fingers correctly.
Very soon this way of fingering will make playing a lot easier and in it’s turn, make you a better player.
Try and stick to these instructions strictly from the very start to start harvesting it’s fruits in the shortest
amount of time possible.
The ring finger (4) and pinky (5) are the weakest fingers. This goes for everybody.
Because of their natural weakness, you might be inclined to avoid using them, while -in fact- using them as
much as possible, will give them the strengthening they need to develop correctly.
In short: try not to avoid them, try to use them as much as possible.
Summary.
- The fingers are numbered: 1 = thumb, 2 = index finger, 3 = middle finger, 4 = ring finger, 5 = pinky. This
applies in the same way for both the left- and the right hand.
- Always try and place your hand (fingers) in the most efficient way possible. This means choosing a hand
position that allows you to play as many notes from the song, without having to move your hand. Key to
achieving this is to think ahead: “Which note(s) am I going to play next and could I already place a
finger on one or more of those?”.
- In regard to the two points above: always try to use all of your fingers. This means, although they are
weaker and might therefore feel a bit uncomfortable at first, using your ring finger and pinky too.
Because of their weakness they actually need more training than your other fingers, so therefore you
should in fact use them as much as possible, in stead of avoiding them. On top of that: once they loose
their backlog in strength and you’ll be able to use them just as easily as your other fingers, this will simplify
and improve your playing significantly.
*for further explanation about chords, refer to the ‘chord’chapters from the Theory-part of Hack the Piano.
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1.2.2. Basic knowledge: Technique, posture and the instrument.
Terms and concepts: Touché (/touch), dynamics, sustain pedal, posture
Style: All
Level: Elementary
Now that we know how the keyboard is structured, a few more technical know-hows about how the
instrument functions and how to use them to your advantage.
Touché / Touch.
As I already mentioned, it’s virtually impossible to strike a key in the wrong way. At most, you can hit the
‘wrong’ key, meaning a key you did not intend to hit.
On the other hand, there are in fact a couple of different ways of pressing down the keys, that can make
major differences in the way they’ll sound. Use them correctly and your playing will start to really ‘come
alive’.
Dynamics:
A key can be pressed, struck, hit, slammed or touched with many different velocities, from very hard to
really soft and everything in between. The harder you’ll strike, the louder the tone will sound, but also,
depending on the velocity that you strike the key with, the ‘color’ or ‘character’ of the tone changes.
The harder you strike, the more ‘open’, ‘clear’ and ‘bright’ the tone will sound. Contrarily, the closer you’ll
get to the soft end of the ‘striking spectrum’, the more ‘muffled’, ‘round’ and ‘warm’ the tone will be.
‘Dynamics’ is the difference in velocity (affecting volume and color) of the different notes you play in a song.
Next to ‘which’ keys you’re playing, this is the most important expression tool in playing the piano.
Playing louder (striking harder) can easily cause an ‘overwhelming’, ‘upset’, ‘harsh’, ‘intense’, ‘mad’, ‘climactic’,
‘fresh’, ‘open’, ‘bright’, ‘excited/ing’ etc. kind of feel.
On the other hand, playing softer will cause your expression coming from the instrument to be more
‘intimate’, ‘warm’, ‘mysterious’, ‘sweet‘, ‘dreamy’ or comparable sort of emotions.
Some keyboards don’t have ‘touch sensitivity’ and won’t respond in the same way as a ‘real’ piano does. With
these keyboards, the tones will sound similarly loud and also, won’t change character.
If you’re looking to play ‘piano’ (as opposed to, for example ‘organ’ or ‘synthesizer’) but due to space or
budget limitation, cannot afford a ‘real’ piano (acoustic-, wall-, or grand-piano), keep an eye out for
keyboards that offer the feature of ‘touch sensitivity’.
Length of notes:
A key can be played, pressed down, anywhere from really short (named ‘staccato’) to very long (‘legato’) and
all that’s in between. At the moment you release a key the note immediately stops. With all forms of
acoustic piano’s, this is caused by ‘dampers‘ that fall right back onto the string that was sounded by pressing
the key.
When keys are not pressed down, every string that resembles it’s own tone (every key makes a little
hammer ‘slam’ the designated string to produce the correct note) inside the piano has it’s own damper,
muting the notes that are not played.
Pressing a key causes two things to happen: the tiny hammer slams the string and at the same time the
damper is lifted enabling the string to actually vibrate and produce the note. When the key is released, the
damper falls back on it’s string and mutes the note.
This way, you’re able to control the length of the tones by keeping the key pressed down. As long as it’s
down, the damper is lifted of the string which will keep vibrating and thus: sounding.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 28
In short: as long as you keep the key pressed down, the tone will keep sounding, slowly dying out, releasing
the key will cause the key to stop more suddenly.
This is the same for (virtually) every keyboard instrument.
The length of tones plays a great part in the character of the tones.
Apart from the fact that longer tones can produce more ‘drag’, ‘sloth’, ‘slow’, ‘tension’, ‘flow’ vs. short notes
that are more ‘stingy’, ‘intense’, ‘bouncy’, ‘funky’, ‘bite’, ‘jumpy’ etc.; another very important point is that both
the point ‘in’ (the start of the tone, the moment you press the key) AND -less obvious to most people- the
point ‘out’ (the moment of releasing the key, stopping the tone) are EQUALLY and VERY IMPORTANT for
your ‘timing’. Timing is very,VERY important. I’ll get back on this extensively at a later stage.
Experiment with short and long notes to get a grasp of their difference in character.
The sustain pedal:
The sustain pedal, also called ‘damper’ or just ‘pedal’, is the utmost right foot-pedal on acoustic pianos. On
other types of keyboards or electric pianos, there usually is only one pedal, being this sustain pedal.
The sustain pedal is used to -indeed- sustain tones: keep them sounding, without you having to keep the
designated key pressed down. The tone will keep sounding in the exact same way had you in fact kept the
key pressed down. Using the sustain pedal, you can move your hand to the next note or chord (keeping the
efficiency in fingering in mind) while the instrument sounds as if you’re still holding down the previous
tones(s). This is caused by the sustain pedal keeping the before mentioned dampers lifted of their
corresponding string, enabling it to keep vibrating (sounding).
When releasing the pedal the dampers are placed back on the strings, immediately muting them again.
On different keyboard instruments, the pedal simulates this and works in the exact same way: pressing it
down causes the notes played to keep sounding until the pedal is released again.
As a general rule of thumb you can for now stick to this advice: when using the pedal, always try to ‘let it
breathe’ (release it) when playing a new chord / harmony to avoid ‘muddiness’ caused by to many notes
sounding at the same time.
Using the pedal is like driving stick in a car: a ‘coordination-skill’ that will take some practice to get used to.
Once you have the feeling, though, it will go virtually automatically.
Posture
Correct posture behind the piano is important. Both for avoiding physical injuries as for improving ease of
play and expressional ability.
- Sit at the front end of your stool.
- Make sure your stool is at a hight that allows your hands to rest comfortably on the keyboard when your
elbows are next to- or just a little in front of your sides and bent in a 90-120 degree angle.Your wrists
should be straight-slightly bent up while you’re -of course- sitting up straight.
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- The distance between your stool and the piano is ok when the posture described above can be
accomplished in a relaxed way. When your elbows stick out behind your back, your stool is to close to the
piano. If you have to reach out and your elbows are way in front of your body or you have to bend
forward, you’re to far away.
- Then, to the posture of your hand: slightly bent fingers, like you’re holding a baseball. Put your hand around
one of your knees while sitting on your piano stool. Then remove your hand, but keeping that form, as if
your hand is still around your knee and put your hand on the keys. When striking a key, imagine your
different fingers acting like little ‘hammers’ striking.
IMPORTANT. Relax, the correct technical mindset.
- “To say that playing the piano is something you do with your fingers would be the same as to say that
running is something you do with your feet” - Thomas Mark, author of ‘What every pianist needs to know
about the body’.
Many beginners (and more advanced players too) think of pressing down the keys as something you’d do
with the downward muscle power of the fingers, where in fact, a much better way to approach this, is to
make use of the gravity, pulling at the weight of your underarm.
As gravity pulls your underarm, the sheer weight of it, would already be enough to press down (a) key(s).
You’d have to do nothing but to let your arm ‘rest’ while your fingers are on the correct key, ‘supporting’ it
back up (and thereby pressing down the key they’re on).
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The major difference here is an effort when having to actually press down the keys vs. the relaxation of
letting your arm ‘rest’ on the correct finger (key).
The more relaxation, the better. Being as relaxed as possible will reduce the chance of injuries and will
increase your quality of accuracy, expression and playing in general.
Try and start using this approach from the very beginning.
Use the weight of your forearm by fully relaxing your arm (let it rest) while using the correct finger(s),
placed on the correct keys, not so much to ‘press’ these keys, but more to ‘support’ the weight of your
underarm. Fingers that shouldn’t press any keys should also be fully relaxed, thereby automatically NOT
pressing down any keys.
Even when you’ve already played (a lot) of piano without this ‘mindset’ of relaxation vs. effort and might
therefore be used to using a ‘wrong’ technique, it’s wise to start thinking about playing this way. It will help
your playing. Trust me.
EXERCISE
Using gravity.
- Sit on the stool of your piano and move it back a few yards.
- Extend your right arm straight in front of you (like pointing at something in front of you with all your
fingers at the same time).
- Next, relax all the muscles in your arm, causing your arm to fall on your right knee. If you’re doing this
correctly you’ll ‘slap’ your right hand onto your right upper-leg causing a loud ‘smack’. Try to actually fully
relax your arm, indeed causing it to smack, in stead of ‘leading it down’.
- Repeat this three times, then do the same thing with your left arm.
- Then, move your stool forward, sit back at the piano and play the melody of ‘Brother John’ (‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘c’,
‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘c’). Focus on relaxing your arm, using gravity and constantly switching to the finger to play the
correct note, to support the weight of your arm, causing the correct keys to be pressed.
- Fully concentrate on the feeling of relaxation and the gravity pulling down the weight of your arm while
you’re constantly using the correct finger (first the 1 (thumb) positioned on the ‘c’, then the 2 (index),
positioned on the ‘d’ etc.) to support it and keep it from actually ‘crashing’. Keep your fingers bent like
indicated on the previous page. This way constantly ‘walk’ to the next finger, key, note.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 31
Part 2. Chords - An introduction to Pop-Piano’s ‘what’
‘Theory’ might sound a little boring. ‘Scale’, yuck… that’s precisely the reason for not choosing classical
piano lessons in the first place. Images of hour upon hour of endless repetition, streams of notes performed
by over-talented kids who are apparently expected to play faster and faster and who make piano playing
look like slave labour. Kids who are forced to become ‘master concert pianists’ performing impossibly
complicated classical pieces in huge concert halls filled with people dressed in suits who just seem to look
cross, 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 it’s
‘consumed’ as recommended and when all the rules, tips and tricks are applied as instructed, it will turn out
to be the most interesting, most educational and most amazing section of this entire course.
Admittedly, you will have to read things, you will need to memorise and yes, there will be terminology which
to begin with may momentarily vaguely conjure up the frightening images mentioned above. But don’t
worry. We’re going to take a totally different 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.
Remember to keep the notion of the ‘Effective Dose’, described in the ‘Intro’, in your mind at all times.
The slower the pace, the more effective 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 is beautiful, expressive and sometimes complex. It
seems as though not everything is entirely fixed beforehand; a few ‘extra notes’ may be added unexpectedly
here and there to heighten and strengthen the expressiveness even more.
How does such a performer manage to memorise 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 which really sounds 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’
Of course we don’t really want to play (or sound) like a guitarist; otherwise we would have chosen another
instrument. But guitarists DO have a number of advantages over pianists since their instrument has certain
characteristics that make it perfectly suitable for playing our ‘Western’ music (pop, rock, soul, funk etc.) and
even make it easy.
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 guitar techniques and ‘translate’ them in a useful way to our own instrument, the
piano.
Therefore we’ll refer to guitarists and their techniques a few more times throughout Hack the Piano.
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 sing-along with everyone joining in.You know the kind of
thing.
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Why do 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 is: they aren’t taught how.
Even though it appears that 90% of those who want to learn piano would much rather be able to play their
favourite song, accompany a singer or ‘just play that well-known hit which everyone loves’ (round the
campfire for instance) than become a before mentioned ‘classical concert pianist’, as many as 95% (!) have
nevertheless chosen the ‘classical’ route (or been offered that by their teacher).
What most don’t know, is that just like on the guitar, piano can also be learnt through chords, enabling the
student (indeed, just like beginner guitarists) to quickly and easily grasp the concepts of pop-music and play
a lot of recognisable songs.
The teaching method based on classical theory, classical exercises and musical notation is primarily 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 efficiently to your intended
goal.
To learn how to play pop music, it’s also necessary to choose the route which leads to understanding pop
music: the theory of chords.
From the what to the how
Hack the Piano is divided into 3 parts.You can regard the ‘Chords’/‘Theory’ 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 ‘Patterns’/‘Technique’ 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*.
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?
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 33
2.1 Chords: Triads, Major chords and Minor chords
Required knowledge: Part 1. Intro and Basic Knowledge. Piano keys, the keyboard, names of the keys, tones,
notes, octave, harmony, melody, fingering
New terms and knowledge: Major, Minor, Triad, Bass
Style: All
Level: Elementary
Triads, happy and sad
The word ‘triad*’ means a ‘group of three’ and in music it refers to 3 notes which are sounded together; in
other words, ‘a chord’ made up of 3 notes.You could say this is 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 different sound and emotional value.
‘Major’ is the name given to a particular kind of ‘scale*’ and its corresponding chord.You could say that
‘major’ scales and chords sound ‘happy’ whilst the ‘minor’ ones sound ‘sad’.
Remember:
‘Major’ = happy
‘Minor’ = sad
EXERCISE 1
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.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 34
- Now play the C chord with your left hand using the following fingering 5, 3, 1 (pinky, middle finger,
thumb).
- You have now learnt 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.
- Change the note ‘e’ in the chord for the black key directly below, the ‘eb’ (e-flat), and play: c, eb, g.
- The chord which you are now playing, ‘c’, ‘eb’, ‘g’ is the C minor chord.
- Listen carefully to the way the sound of the chord changes from ‘happy’ (‘c’, ‘e’, ‘g’ -> C major) to
‘sad’ (‘c’, ‘eb’, ‘g’ -> C minor). This way you’ll clearly hear the difference between major and minor.
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Notation
A capital letter is used to write the name of a chord. C = the C chord (the notes ‘c’, ‘e’ and ‘g’ played
together). ‘C’ 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 above), 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’ then 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. The bass in a band is often played by a bass guitar or a
synthesiser. But if you are playing the piano by yourself, it’s possible to fulfil the role of the bass yourself by
playing the low bass notes with your left hand while you play the chords with your right hand.
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 1, 3, 5 as the
fingering. The lowest note ‘g’ is 3 white keys below middle ‘c’.
- With your left hand, play the note ‘g’ an octave lower.
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Take a good look at your fingers and the notes you’re playing and notice that the ‘structure’ of G actually
looks very much like the ‘structure’ of C -> you play 1 note, skip 1, play 1, skip the next, and play 1 again. But
for the G chord, you ‘start’ this structure on the ‘g’ which in this case is 3 white keys below middle ‘c’.
- 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?
- The next chord: F. With the right hand: ‘f’, ‘a’, ‘c’. 2 steps below the Am you just played. Left hand - the ‘f’
an octave lower.
There’s that same structure again!
The chord progression* above forms the beginning of the song ‘Let it Be’ by The Beatles. Try practising these
chords until you can play them ‘smoothly’ one after the other.
The golden tip: Make sure to look carefully and really listen to what you’re doing and most importantly,
play slowly so that you can really memorise what you’re doing.
‘Smoothly’ means playing all the chords at an even pace without any hesitations or mistakes. Don’t go any
faster until you can play them at that tempo really well and not for instance when you can play 3 in a row
quite well but still need time to think about 1 of the 4 chords.
If that’s too difficult and you’re not managing: play a bit slower.
The MOST important thing to remember when practising 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 ‘Effective Dose’ on page 7.
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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 the
same chords; sometimes in a different sequence and sometimes in precisely the same sequence.
That’s why it’s important to memorise all the chords you play really well 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 they look like, the
position of your hands and how it feels.
A C chord always has the same notes ‘c’, ‘e’, ‘g’, whether you play it in ‘Let it be’, ‘No woman no cry’, ‘Frère
Jacques’ or ‘Für Elise’. 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 in whatever song it’s used.
So with each new chord you learn, you add to your ‘baggage’ which is not only relevant and usable in the
song you’re currently learning but for all music.
EXERCISE 3
- Repeat the chords C, G, F and Am and also try to play them in another sequence that you think sounds
good.
You’ll discover that by using the chords you’ve learnt so far (C, G, Am and F), either in this or some other
sequence, it’s already possible to play hundreds of pop songs.
Summary
- A triad is a chord made up of three notes played simultaneously.
- The sound of a Major triad is often described as ‘happy’.
- The sound of a Minor triad is described as ‘sad’.
- A chord is represented by a capital letter. C is the chord symbol for the chord of C major.
- Individual notes are represented by small letters. For instance, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘c’ are the notes in the melody of
‘Frere Jacques’.
- The chord symbol used to indicate a minor chord has an ‘m’ (or ‘min’) after the capital letter. Cm means
C minor.
- The bass is the lowest note played. If you’re playing the piano by yourself, you often play the bass notes
with your left hand.
- Remember: Play SLOWLY when practising (it will often feel too slow) and LOOK and LISTEN carefully
to what you’re doing. Remember the ‘Effective Dose’.
Terms and concepts
*Pattern = A pattern is HOW you play the given chords of a song. It involves rhythm, style, technique and
a lot more that you’ll learn all about in the ‘Technique’ section of Hack the Piano.
*Triad = A chord, made up of 3 different notes. The ‘basic form’ of a chord.
*Major = Major means ‘large’. Major sounds ‘happy’.
*Minor = Minor means ‘small’. Minor sounds ‘sad’.
*Scale = A consecutive series of notes which ‘belong together’ and/or ‘sound good/natural together’.
“do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do” is how a major scale sounds.
The scale of C major consists of the notes ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘a’, ‘b’ (‘c’).
*Chord Symbol = The way a chord is notated. Cm for instance is the chord symbol for the chord of C
minor.
*Chord Progression = A consecutive series of several chords.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 38
2.2 Chords: 7 common triads in major and minor
Required knowledge: Triads, major and minor
New terms and knowledge: The root (of a chord), major and minor triads for A, B, C, D, E, F and G
Style: All
Level: Elementary-Beginners
14 triads
In the previous chapter, you’ve learnt the chords of C, G, Am and F. The image below shows you how to play
all major and minor chords that have a white key as their ‘root*’.
!
!
!
Major!
!
!
!
!
Minor
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 39
As mentioned before, there are already a lot of songs that can be played with the chords of C, G, Am and F,
either in precisely the same sequence or in another sequence.
With the 10 extra chords displayed on the previous page added to those four chords you already knew
from the previous chapter, your musical ‘vocabulary’ now stands at a grand total of 14 chords. With these 14
chords you can already learn to play literally tens of thousands of songs.
‘Learning to play’ is now just a matter of: Remembering which chords to play as well as remembering the
correct order, rhythm / pattern and duration of each chord.
So, by learning the chords in the diagram above by heart and having them ‘at your fingertips’, you already
know how to play more than 80% of tens of thousands of songs.
EXERCISE 4
14 chords in major and minor, exemplified.
The example video’s below, show how to play all the chords from the chart on the previous page, with the
root note added in the bass (left hand). Copy and learn.
!
Major!
!
!
!
! !
!
!
Minor
Playing the piano like a guitarist 2
The information above provides the explanation for the ‘campfire phenomenon’: the fact that so many
beginner guitarists are already able to play quite a few songs for everyone to ‘sing along to’.
This is precisely what nearly all guitarists are taught in their first few lessons: a number of different chords
and how to play them, e.g. what PATTERN to use. The ‘Technique’ chapter is all about learning patterns.
If you make sure that you really learn the material in this chapter (the 14 chords with a ‘white key’ as the
root) and get them ‘into your fingers’, then you too, as a beginner pianist, will quickly be able to play a lot of
songs.
EXERCISE 5
Divide the following exercise into 10 minute sessions so that you don’t exceed your Effective Dose.
In this exercise you’ll learn chords based on the music you like personally by practising a song that you’ll
choose yourself:
- Think of a song you really want to learn to play. For now, don’t worry about things like whether it’s too
difficult, too fast or too slow, or not even originally written for piano. It can be any pop song whatsoever.
(For the moment, jazz, classical and ‘dance’ styles such as house, techno etc. are not recommended. Most
dance styles are by nature ‘minimalist’ making them less suitable for this exercise whilst jazz and classical
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 40
music often contain more complicated chords and more advanced techniques which we will only be
learning later on).
- Let’s find the chord progression for your song:
- Google “chords - your favourite song -”. (For instance: “chords Let it Be”).
- There’s a very high chance that a lot of sites that come up will seem to be specifically for guitarists
(‘guitar tabs’, ‘ultimate guitar’ etc.). This doesn’t matter at all. For now, we’re taking the same route as
beginner guitarists and we’ll also use the same notation. The search result is suitable when: your song is
found and the chord symbols above the lyrics can be found in the diagram above (A – G, major/minor).
- If the chord symbol is followed by a 7, 9, sus2, sus4 or some other ‘extra’, just ignore that for the time
being. Read only the first capital letter of the chord. For instance, if you see Gsus2 just read it as ‘G’.
F7 = F etc. If you see a chord with a / such as C/E for example, just read it as ‘C’.
- Are you unable to think of a song or are you unable to find a suitable chord progression using the above
method? Choose a song from the list under ‘My Gifts - Song Tutorials’ on the site.
- Print the chord progression or write out the chords of the ‘verse*’ and the ‘chorus*’ (possibly including
the lyrics). The advantage of printing it out is that the chords are often placed above the word where
they should be played. This makes it easier to know when to play which chord. If you write it out, you
should try to do it this way too.
Example:
Title:
LET IT BE (Beatles)
!
!
!
!
!
!
C
G
Am
F
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
C
G
F C/E Dm C
Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
C
G
Am
F
And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me
C
G
F C/E Dm C
Speaking words of wisdom, Let it be
Am
Em/G
F
C
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
C
G
F C/E Dm C
Whisper words of wisdom, Let it be
Now for the exercise:
- Lookup the chords from the song that you don’t yet know by heart in the image on page 38 and look
carefully at how you should play them.
- Then slowly play each chord in the song separately, one after the other, with your right hand. Use the
fingering 1, 3, 5 for each chord. Listen carefully and look carefully at what your fingers are doing!
- With your left hand play the bass notes by playing the root of each chord an octave below the lowest
note in your right hand (just like exercise 2).
- Press down the keys of the first chord, hold it 10 seconds and take a good look at the position of your
hand. Then the second chord, hold it 10 seconds and look at the position. Keep doing this until you’ve
played all the chords in the song.
- Now try to play all the chords one after another at a very slow tempo in the same order as they appear
in the song. Sing, hum or say the lyrics out loud as you play the chords, making sure to play each chord at
the right moment (the chord is written above the word where it should be played). Slowly means: a
tempo that allows you to play the chords one after another ‘smoothly’. In other words, without any
hesitations, pauses and/or mistakes. If you’re not yet able to do this, play a bit slower. If you are able, then
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 41
play a bit faster and practise at that tempo until you can play that smoothly too. Only then should you
step up the tempo and so on until you can play the song at the correct tempo.
- When you feel that you’re able to play the chords in the actual tempo of the original song: surf to
YouTube and find a (preferably original) version of your song. Play along with the original version. Playing
along with the original version is the best and quickest way of learning a song. However, it is only possible
when you are able (or almost able) to play it smoothly at this tempo! If you have the song on CD or as
an MP3, you could of course also play along with that.
- If you’re able to do this: enjoy playing!
- Repeat this exercise with as many other songs with different chords as possible so that you get to know
all 14 chords from this chapter.
TAKE NOTE:
Unfortunately, most of the sites that provide chord progressions are not ‘official’ and present progressions
that have been made by non-professional or amateur musicians. Often they’re very good but sometimes
you’ll find that the chords don’t sound quite right when you play along with the original.
There could be 2 reasons for this:
1.The person who picked the chords didn’t hear it correctly and/or wrote down the wrong chords.
2.The song has been notated in a different ‘key*’ from the original song for the sake of ‘ease of playing’. In
chapter 2.4 this will be explained in greater detail and show you how you can turn these into the correct
chords yourself.
If this applies to your song, choose another song or else try to find the chord progression on another
website.
Terms and concepts
*The root (of a chord) = The root of a chord is the note on which the chord is built. Unless explicitly
stated otherwise, this is also always the bass note. To illustrate: the chord is always ‘named after its root’, in
other words: ‘c’ is the root of the C chord and ‘g’ is the root of the G chord.
*Verse = The verse is the part of a song that is usually repeated a number of times with different lyrics
each time. It’s often a bit more calm than the chorus and thus acts as a kind of ‘introduction’ for the chorus.
*Chorus = The chorus is usually the really recognisable part of the song which keeps recurring, usually
with the same lyrics. The chorus is often the so-called ‘hook’ of the song: the bit that stays in your memory.
*Key = The set of notes which sound ‘right’ in a particular set of chords.
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Bare Essential Keys to Harmony 42
This manifesto consists of the first few chapters
to my full book, course: “Hack the Piano”.
The full version can be found @ http://www.piano-couture.com
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Please share freely - © Coen Modder, Piano Couture - http://www.piano-couture.com