I find it surprising the number of musicians who don’t understand or haven’t mastered the number system.
It is one of the single, most important elements of playing by ear.
On a grander level, it allows musicians to speak on a “universal level.” We can describe what we’re doing in a song without relying solely on letters. It’s not, “D minor to G dominant 7 to C major 7″ anymore. Now it’s, “2-5-1″ in C!
Here’s a quick 2-minute video lesson from our Jazz Piano 201 program taught by James Wrubel.
It’ll show you a quick and easy way to play altered dominant chords — the #11 (aka – “sharped 11th”) to be exact!
Half-diminished 7th chords are very important.
Not only do they naturally occur on the 7th tone of any major scale, they are used as great preparers for dominant chords on the 5th tone.
If you play gospel, you’ve undoubtedly used a half-diminished 7th chord on the 2nd tone of the scale to lead to the 5th…
After reviewing older posts on the blog, I’ve decided to bring back the “What Key Am I In” lessons.
If you understand major scales, the number system, and which chords fall on each tone of the scale (aka – “diatonic chords”), you have what it takes to crack the code.
But just in case, let’s review…
This week’s question comes from Michelle S in Oregon: “Jermaine, I’m enjoying your material immensely. I have a fun question for you that I’m just curious of. If you had to start all over, looking back, what one thing would you learn first to make you excel the fastest?” My Answer…
I’m often asked the best way to learn all 12 keys and while I’ve advocated many methods in the past, the most practical way is to adapt my “3 x 12″ rule.
Simply put: Take 3 songs you know and learn them in all 12 keys.
It helps if they are songs that utilize a variety of different chords. That’s why picking 3 is important because between them, you should get a good mix of chords off every tone of the scale…
In music, when you get this one single concept, it unlocks the door to many things!
The 6th tone of any major scale is your gateway to “minor!”
Just remember the 6th tone. That’s it.
For example, if you take a regular C major scale (C D E F G A B C) and start and end on the 6th tone without changing any of the notes, you’ll get an “A minor” scale (A B C D E F G A).
The same applies for chords…
Polychords are huge extended chords that consist of two or more smaller chords.
As your chords get bigger and bigger, you’ll spot smaller chords within.
These smaller chords present opportunities to explore other voicings.
For example, if you spot a C minor triad and an Eb major 7 in the same chord, this gives you countless ways to voice the chord… including two-hand versions…
In my last post, I introduced the 5-part “Musician Transformation” system:
Fundamentals Fluency, Chordal Command, Pattern Proficiency, Song Solidity, Ear Efficiency.
We started with the first step, Fundamentals Fluency, which consists of scales, number system, finger exercises, intervals, and rhythm.
Now, we’ll turn to chords!
In Chordal Command, we focus on 5 key areas: Triads, Extended Chords, Inversions, Primary vs Secondary, Voicings…
Last year, I released a breakthrough system that took what I believe to be the entire “playing by ear” process and broke it into a step-by-step system.
It included 5 parts: Fundamental Fluency, Chordal Command, Pattern Paradise, Song Solidity, and Ear Efficiency.
We now make every new member of the Gospel Music Training Center complete the online Musician Transformation training (9+ hours of video training, over 300+ exam questions, etc).
In this post, I want to cover the first part of the system: Fundamentals Fluency.
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