LearnGospelMusic.com Community
Gospel Instruments => Gospel Keyboard / Piano => Topic started by: outstretchedarm on February 22, 2007, 03:34:27 PM
-
hi there....just a quicky.
say you want to play a song beautifully. you have an idea of how it goes, but you want to get past just playing chords. after all, you're a keyboardist, not a guitarist. you want tot use them 88 badboys to your advantage. here's a few steps...
1) Identify the chords of your song. you can play these with both hands or just your left hand, since you right hand will be busy later with melody, harmonizing the melody, etc, later on. In fact, if you just play the root, or the root and the fifth (the "shell voicing") in your left, that will do, too. (**You can do these steps in FL piano roll, as well)
2) Learn to play the melody of the song in your right hand. For reasons that will be more clear later, for now, play the melody with the pinky of your right hand. This will free up your other 4 fingers to do harmony later.
3) Learn to play the left chords, (or just roots or shell voicing) and the right hand melody with pinky at the same time.
4) Okay, here is where it becomes flavorful. Now you want to harmonize that right hand pinky melody. That melody is like a soprano, and you want to play two other voices with the other fingers of your right hand (RH): the alto and the tenor (your left is your "bass"). But what notes do you play with your other fingers?
Now you must think in triads with your right hand. Let's say your songs starts with a C chord, and the first three notes of the melody are D, C, E. Lets look at it this way:
Soprano: D C E (played with pinky)
Bass: C -------->
G -------->
You want to fill in more voices with your right hand to harmonize that D, C, E. ***The basic rule is you want to use chords that are diatonic to the scale you're working in (in this case chords formed from C,D,E,F,G,A,B) and then invert them so that the pinky plays the leading voice (the soprano)****
That means we want to work with these chords for harmonizing your melody:
C-E-G
D-F-A
E-G-B
F-A-C
G-B-D
A-C-E
B-D-G
and their inversions.
So lets add some harmony to the above melody:
Soprano: D C E (played with pinky)
Alto: B G C (played with RH middle finger)
Tenor: G E G (played with RH thumb)
Bass: C -------->
G -------->
okay, in the orange, we've harmonized the melody. Let's look at what we did: The first note, the "D", we harmonized with B and G, which means we have formed a G chord in the right hand (while playing a C in the LH, which gives us the slash chord G/C or, if you want to get technical, a Cmaj9). Then we harmonized the C with a G and a C, and the E with a C and a G. Both of these "new chords" are C.
There's a lot to be say about this. My basic guideline is I want to form as many slah chords as i can that will sound "right", because I'm usually after a warm and gospely feel. Furthermore, there's nothing to limit you from using only chords in your RH from the diatonic notes. You can "borrow" chords from other scales; in fact, one's style is very much distinguished by what other scales one chooses to borrow chords from. but I digress.
5) Create interesting "transitional chords" in your left hand between those boring block chords you have set up. Some genres depend more on this than others (the african american genres rely on this heavily), but this is something you want to learn to do. I could right a chapter on this, and in fact I have been studying this for about the past nine months. For in depth info on this, see my prev post on transitional chords here :
http://www.flipside.singingcrane.com/FL/index.php?topic=2013.0 (http://www.flipside.singingcrane.com/FL/index.php?topic=2013.0)
The basic rule of thumb, for me a least, is you want to introduce some chromatism into your chords progression during transtions. For example, if you are going from C major (C-E-G) to D minor (D-F-A), why not introduce a Db diminished (Db-E-G) in between. Its only one note away from the C major.
We could talk about optional steps, like figuring out riffs to accompany in between lines of the melody, and decorating left hand transitional chords with right hand ornamentation, but I think this is a good start
-
VERY VERY VERY NICE INFORMATION!!!!!!! MAY GOD BLESS!!!!
-
God bless u man ... This is a real blessing.
Many thnx.
-
Good stuff here!!
-
I agree... Excellent! ;D
-
Hey outstretchedarm, how about the transitions grid that you posted on another forum entitled "getting from one chord to another beauitifully"? Would you consider posting it here? It seems that it would be very informative and interesting. Thanks,
berbie
-
Nice!
-
cool!
-
Here is the grid I posted elsewhere
<a href="http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3261648" target="_blank">(http://f10.putfile.com/thumb/8/23610372340.jpg)[/url]
-
Thanks for the chart, outstretched arm. I don't fully understand it, though. If you don't mind, how does it work?
Thanks again,
berbie
-
Useful stuff.. 8)
Thanx 4 the post.
-
nice again
-
Here is the grid I posted elsewhere
<a href="[url]http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=3261648[/url]" target="_blank">([url]http://f10.putfile.com/thumb/8/23610372340.jpg[/url])[/url]
This chart reminds me of the musical math equation; I don't understand either:
try this.
([url]http://images.google.com/url?q=http://www.efunda.com/math/num_integration/images/GChebyshev.gif&usg=AFQjCNG0FMZkcXCz5aTehZzjlhnkNSgXBQ[/url])
make sense now?
-
This chart reminds me of the musical math equation; I don't understand either:
Hey Virtuenow, that math equation that wolfman posted was just a joke. Please don't take it seriously, it has nothing to do with music at all. Wolfman was just joking about when I said if I come out with a DVD, it would have a lot of theory in it.
-
Hey T-Block, U mean to say Virtuenow was taking that formula seriously ?/?
I'm sorry but I have 2 crack at that 1 :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D
I thought she was just saying Yeah, wateva Wolf..
-
Great stuff. I need all the help I can get.
-
Hey T-Block, U mean to say Virtuenow was taking that formula seriously ?/?
I'm sorry but I have 2 crack at that 1 :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D
I thought she was just saying Yeah, wateva Wolf..
HAHAHAHA, yeah man. Judging from her response, I'd say she took it dead serious. :D
-
HAHAHAHA, yeah man. Judging from her response, I'd say she took it dead serious. :D
:D :D :D :D ;)
-
Good info man thanks and may god bless you.... and all
-
cool!
Good info man thanks and may god bless you.... and all
Good info man thanks and may god bless you.... and all
5 Step for Chording songs are good work.
I can chord in triads and octaves but cannot do runs. When you are chording in triads or octaves in the left hand. Are you rolling the chords?( I sometime do and sometime not)
I have songs like this and don't know what to do with them. I play the bass chord that corresponed with the chord in the right hand. For instance and D octave in bass or D :-*chord in bass and melody D chord.
Having a problem with melody. I need help with melody instead of playing chord in right hand all the time, sound boring.
D G D G Em
O for a thousand song to sing
D G D7 D
My great Redeemer's praise
G c
The glories of my God and King
G D7 G
The trumphs of His grace
I play this with chord matching the Chord above and holding the
note until the other note come into play. Is there another way to play this for fullness. I am not sue I understancd the 5 step conpletely.
Mango
-
Hey T-Block, U mean to say Virtuenow was taking that formula seriously ?/?
I'm sorry but I have 2 crack at that 1 :D :D :D ;D ;D ;D
I thought she was just saying Yeah, wateva Wolf..