You can download this video to your computer by clicking here

Press the icon on the bottom-right of the video to enter FULL SCREEN mode

Continuing Education Resources

GospelKeys202.com

GospelKeys Urban Pro 600

Gospel Music Training Center

Talk soon,

Jermaine Griggs

Yup, it’s been that long since I’ve written in my blog… but for good reason…

You’ll probably remember I promised I’d go on vacation after the launch of my latest 12-disc “Musician Transformation” & Gospel Music Training Center resources in December 2009 (which sold out, btw).

But that’s not the only reason I’ve been gone…

On December 15, 2009 at 3:41 a.m. (just a lil over 3 hours after my wife’s birthday ended on the 14th), God blessed us with another little angel, Layla Ann Griggs… 8lbs, 11oz, 20 inches.

Here’s a pic of her and my wife:

If you remember the birth of my first daughter, Jadyn Olivia Griggs, on June 8, 2006, you’ll know they practically look like twins!

I never thought I’d be one of those types that forget the names of my kids… “Now take this bottle Jadyn… I mean LAYLA!!!” (And I’m only 26…!!!)

I’m also so proud of my beautiful wife Sarah because just some weeks after giving birth to Layla, she was back up and glamorous! Here’s a pic I snapped of her just before our “date night” to a nearby comedy show.

And since I’m revealing pics, I guess I’m next…

NOT!

You’ll have to wait to see my transformation! I’ll reveal myself in June (maybe on my birthday????)…

Let’s just say JP (from GospelKeys Urban Pro 600) and I have been working out every morning at 6am… yup 6am! (If you got a goal or dream, GO GET IT! And go STRONG! Will Smith says it best here)

With that said, I want to reintroduce you to over 2 hours of free video content and over 50 pages of written material I created early in 2009. I realize that a lot of people have joined the hear & play family since then and have never seen these free resources.

Others have been on board a while and still missed these.

And the rest clicked the links when I originally posted them but FAILED to do anything with the information. So here’s another opportunity!

(If you did make good with this information, congrats… you’re in the top 10% of action-takers! Take this time to review…)

This is a series. They all go together.

VIDEO LESSON #1 - “Finding the key to any song”

If you ask any ear-musician, this skill will be at the center (or maybe the “center” of the “center” like in hit movie, Slumdog Millionaire).

If you can’t determine what key a song is being performed in just by listening, you’ll have many problems down the road (at least when it comes to playing by EAR in situations where you need to “think on your feet.”)

This is the most “intuitive” of all the skills and knowledge you’ll attain. It’s not like reading sheet music where you look at the grand staff and determine what key the piece is in by the number of flats or sharps that appear at the beginning of the music.

YOU DON’T HAVE MUSIC IN FRONT OF YOU.

No reference.

Just your ear.

This video will make it plain…

Note: If you really like what I talked about, I have an 80-minute course that covers finding the key to any song. You can find it here.

VIDEO LESSON #2 - “The KEY to getting to the next level in your piano”

This next lesson reveals a very important STRATEGY you MUST have as an ear-musician.

Again, if you’re reading sheet music, this probably isn’t emphasized as much… but when it comes to playing by ear, “NUMBERS” rule.

And your ability to know your numbers “inside” and “out” will determine how far you get… and how fast you get there.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the next lesson below. There is also a 28-pg report that goes along with it.

(You may also find my “core fundamentals” courses helpful)

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 29-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

VIDEO LESSON #3 - “The SECRET to playing ANY and EVERY chord you want in SECONDS”

This next lesson will take you even further…

It borrows a very familiar concept from the car industry (popularized by Henry Ford in the early 1900’s) and adapts it to music!

It’s the very next logical step in the process and you’ll get it laid out for you plainly in this video…

(there is a 14 page report included at the bottom of the video)

If this topic interests you, then you may like my “hear & play chords” series.

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 14-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

VIDEO LESSON #4 - “The MISSING PIECE OF THE PUZZLE to playing almost any song out there”

This last video could arguably be the MOST IMPORTANT part when it comes to learning real songs and understanding just how closely related songs are (yes… all songs follow the same general patterns and principles — this video will reveal all of this to you…)

There’s also a 12-pg report that goes along with it…

RESOURCE: Click here to download the free 12-pg report that goes along with this video lesson.

(If you’re into gospel music, GospelKeys 202 really breaks down the idea of “patterns.” 70 to 80% of songs have the same common movements in them. This course is revolutionary in that it breaks down all these patterns and covers the “how,” “what,” and “why.” Click here for more information)

————

Wow, so there you have it! A good way to start off the year!

I look forward to your comments about our new addition and/or the videos above. I read each and every one of them.

(My last blog post got over 750 comments when I was giving away my FREE 12-disc “Musician Transformation” course … which will be back in a couple of months, don’t worry!)

Take care,

Jermaine Griggs
Founder

Re-opening December 9, 2009 @ 6pm Pacific
Click here to grab your copy!

Instantly Download My Brand New FREE 44-pg Guide, "MUSICIAN TRANSFORMATION^" Right Now!

(UPDATE: Just added… 29-pg Follow-Up Guide, "THE MISSING CHAPTER." Download both today! FREE!)

"FINALLY EXPOSED! The Hidden, Underground System Advanced Gospel Musicians Have Been Hiding From You… That Will Instantly Propel Your Playing To The Next Level Today!"

INSIDE! Discover how you can use this chart to easily find and fix your most frustrating problems hindering you from getting to the next level in your gospel playing.

(Hint: You must have all 5 elements above to succeed. Missing just one element will lead to the problems listed on the right side of the chart.)

Get all 44 pages… Simply fill out the form above!

(Update: Get an additional 29 pg guide, "THE MISSING CHAPTER")!

I’m very interested in your comments. Please leave them below.

Enjoy the material!

Talk soon,

Jermaine Griggs

P.S. - Winners of contest (video announcement)

Big Surprise… Important Video

Get on Priority Notification “Early Bird” List

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

Wow, what can I say…

I think I’ve started something here…

The last few weeks, I’ve been trying out a new format by taking really good questions from students and not only answering them personally, but sending them to our entire mailing list.

This has resulted in a lot of love — and even MORE questions from dedicated students all around the world. I’ve received at least a good couple hundred questions that could easily keep me busy sending responses like this for years…

But here’s one that made the top of the list. I think you’ll really be helped by my reply to Tyler. It’s long but packed with details. About 5 lessons in one.

PRINT THIS OUT because it really is *that* important.

——————–

***Comment From Tyler N***

Hi Jermaine,

Dude, you are incredible. Your knowledge of theory is on another planet. Thanks for what you do man, for real.

I’m trying to learn all 12 keys and I happen to be a member of the Gospel Music Training Center where you talked about using the circle of fifths to learn every key.

I do know the circle of fifths but I don’t think I totally understand how to use it to learn every key. Do you mind shedding some light on this in the next Q&A teleclass?

Again, thanks man. Tell JP and all the staff they are doing an awesome job.

Tyler

——————–

>>> My Comments and explanations to Tyler (Lots of good info… read carefully)

Yo Tyler!

Thanks for the e-mail! Glad to hear you’re enjoying the material!

I believe you’re referring to our last Gospel Music Training Call that just past, where Jon and I talked about the circle of fifths and how it can help you to learn any song in all 12 keys…

I can definitely help you with that.

But before we delve in, let’s back up a bit and talk about the ‘circle of fifths’ concept itself.

The circle of fifths is a very powerful discovery in music because it pretty much describes HOW MUSIC WORKS in one simple chart.

If you want to see an example of the circle, here’s an example: http://www.musiccirclechart.com

You see, music moves in fifths and fourths. And if you really think about it, there’s a fine line between “fifths” and “fourths.” (that’s why you hear some people calling it the “circle of fifths” and other folks calling it the “circle of fourths.” Let me demystify this first.

Both names are correct. Here’s why:

If I ask you to go up a fourth interval, that essentially means to move up 5 half steps from whatever note you’re on. (There are many ways to think about it but this is the most straightforward…)

And for folks that don’t know what half steps are, remember this poem:

“Half steps are from key to key with no keys in between, Whole steps always skip a key with one key in between.”

So basically, if you’re going from one key directly up or down to the key directly next door, that’s a half step. Doesn’t matter if it’s a white key, a black key, a purple key, a broken key (some of you haven’t fixed your piano in years)… if it goes from one key right next door, it’s a half step. [C to C#], [E to F], [G to Ab], [Bb to B]… all of these pairs are half steps. [C to D], [E to F#], [Ab to Bb]… these are whole steps because they are skipping one key. Easy.

Back to fourths. So if I start on C and want to go up a fourth, I simply count 5 half steps up…

C to Db is 1 half step… Db to D is another… D to Eb is the 3rd half step, Eb to E is 4, and finally E to F. So “C” to “F” is a fourth.

Now, on the other hand, a fifth uses 7 half steps. So if you do the same thing starting at C — except, this time using 7 half steps — you’ll arrive at G.

So “C” to “G” is a fifth.

“C” UP to “F” is a fourth. “C” UP to “G” is a fifth.

Here’s the tricky part. Notice I used the word “UP” because if you count the same number of half steps down, you’ll get different answers.

If you count 5 half steps DOWN from C, you’ll get G. And if you count 7 half steps DOWN from the same C, you’ll get F.

In other words, C up to F is a fourth. C down to F is a fifth.

And in the same way, C up to G is a fifth but C down to G is a fourth.

Basically, they are ‘inverses’ of each other. Opposites. One does one thing going up and another going down. The other does the exact opposite.

Any time you take a fourth interval and “flip” it, you’ll get a fifth. If you do the same to a fifth, you’ll get a fourth.

Try it. Hold down C and the higher G together. That’s a fifth. C is the lowest note and there are 7 half steps between C and G. But if you take the C off the bottom and put it on the top (and now “G” on the bottom), now you’ve got yourself a fourth interval. Just that easy.

Oh and I should add… these are called “PERFECT 4ths” and “PERFECT 5ths.” Sometimes, for short, folks leave off the “perfect” part but if you want to be very specific, add that.

Why did I choose to tell you all this?

Because, there are two ways to look at the circle of fifths chart. Go to http://www.circlemusicchart.com and print it out…

If you thought of this circle as a clock, “C” would be at 12 o’ clock.

G is at 1 o’ clock. D is at 2 o’ clock.

Get it?

That means on the other side, F is at 11 o’ clock, Bb is at 10 o’ clock, Eb is at 9 o’ clock and so forth…

And like I said, there are 2 ways to look at this circle. You can look at it going clockwise from C to G to D to A… and so forth.

Or you can look at this chart going counter-clockwise, from C to F to Bb to Eb… and so forth.

Some people say when you go counter-clockwise from C to F to Bb to Eb… that you’re going in “fourths.” But, of course, now you know better. You’re going in fourths only if you’re looking at this as going UP from C to F. And UP from F to Bb… and UP from Bb to Eb.

But as you just learned, going from C down to F is a fifth too! That’s why some people still choose to look at this WHOLE circle as a relationship of fifths because if you go clockwise, C up to G is a fifth. And if you go counter-clockwise, C down to F is also a fifth.

Put another way, “G” is the fifth of C. And “C” is the fifth of “F” — and so on.

But either way, here’s the golden nugget.

Go counter-clockwise! This is the flow of music. This is how 80% of songs move.

What do I mean?

THAT’S WHAT I MEAN!

If you analyze the chord patterns of songs, you’ll find them moving like this:

Some kinda “C” chord to some kinda “F” chord to some kinda “Bb” chord to some kinda “Eb” chord, depending on the key you’re in.

If you’re in a key like “G” major, you’ll find the same counter-clockwise movement at work — just at the other end of the circle with chords moving from some kind of “A” chord to some kind of “D” chord to some kind of “G” chord to some kind of “C” chord (just to give an example).

I say “some kind of chord” because depending on your key, some chords will be major, some minor, some dominant, some diminished, etc… and we really don’t have time to talk about that right here. Easily another 5 pages if I go there.

So the circle really explains the flow of music.

Ever heard of a “2-5-1″ progression? Guess what? Highlight any 3 notes on the circle that are neighbors and there are the keynotes of your “2-5-1″ progression! BAM!

Don’t believe me? What’s a 2-5-1 progression in the key of C? Well, the 2 is “D”… the 5 is “G” and the 1 is “C.” Where do those notes just “happen” to appear on the circle of fifths chart?

D is at 2 o clock. G is at 1 o clock. C is at 12 o clock. Counter-clockwise! Neighbors too!

Like pulling back time (ever wish you could pull back time, counter-clockwise???) Lol, get out of the past!!!!!!!!!!!! Except in music, that is! Cuz moving against the clock, when it comes to the circle, is how you will find most of your songs arranged. Counter-clockwise…

EXERCISE: Take songs you already know and compare them to the circle of fifths. For example, if the song you know goes from C major to A minor to D minor to G major to C major, then compare where those notes C, A, D, G, C appear on the circle and the type of movement you notice.

So, here’s the entire circle but in a counter-clockwise arrangement:

C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G (repeat)

WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO LEARN THIS, DO IT!

Memorize it, chunk it, tape it to your dashboard. If you can say this in one breath really fast, you won’t believe how helpful it can be to you.

Why? Because all songs move in this direction. You can literally highlight any 3 or 4 notes straight off this circle and find many chord progressions that use those same exact notes in the same exact order. You can find entire songs using this order of notes… and just repeating over and over. Wash, rinse, repeat.

And since chords and patterns move like this, it makes sense to learn and practice chords in this same order. When you learn chords in this order, you further reinforce the circle.

Plus, when it comes time to play real songs that move in fourths anyway, you’ve already done it so much in your own practicing so it’s not that hard to apply it when needed.

(Oh, by the way, I’ve been saying ‘circle of fifths’ AND ‘circle of fourths’ up until this point. But now, I’m going to choose to call this “fourths” since most people consider C to F a fourth, unless you tell them C “DOWN” to F. But from now on, to keep things consistent, I will mainly say FOURTHS to represent the counter-clockwise direction of the circle.)

I realize this could still be over some folks’ head so let me break it down. (My fingers are getting tired but I’ll keep going, as long as you’ll keep reading)…

You can either learn chords by fourths like I’m advocating, or you can learn them chromatically in half steps.

Let’s talk about the latter method first.

To learn chords chromatically means to master chords one half-step at a time. In other words, you learn a “C” major chord first, then you take every note up a half step to learn the “C#” or “Db” major chord. Then once you learn that chord, you take every note of your chord up another half step to learn the “D” major chord. And so on…

In real life, this looks like this:

CHORD = G + B + C + E (which is a C major 7 chord in 2nd inversion by the way).

Say I wanted to learn this chord chromatically. All I gotta do is take every finger up a half step and that will give me the SAME chord in the next key up.

A half step up from C is Db so by taking EVERY tone of the chord up a half step, I’m essentially learning that SAME chord in the key a half step up. Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck… it’s a duck.

So let’s do it…

G + B + C + E.

Move G up a half step to Ab.

Move B up a half step to C.

Move C up a half step up to Db.

Move E a half step up to F.

The new chord is Ab + C + Db + F. And since the old chord was a “major 7″ chord in 2nd inversion, that means THIS IS ALSO A MAJOR 7 CHORD IN 2ND INVERSION.

Nothing changes about the quality or quantity of the chord. If it’s major, the quality will be the same. If it’s a seventh, the quantity will also be the same. So, if the first chord was a C major 7, this new chord up a half step is simply a Db major 7. Got it?

So you could essentially learn every chord this way. It’s the easiest because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to move every finger up one note. But it’s limiting because music doesn’t move chromatically like that. I mean it CAN, but it isn’t commonplace like fourths and fifths.

FOURTHS and FIFTHS are everywhere. They are the most common movement.

So remember the circle of fifths order I told you to memorize?

C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G (repeat)

If you want to really get the “flow of music,” learn chords in fourths and also practice them in fourths.

Let’s take this same example:

G + B + C + E.

This is a C major 7 chord in 2nd inversion. If I were taking my own advice and learning this same chord in fourths, I would seek to learn an “F major 7″ chord next…

Why? Because it’s a fourth up from C when using the circle order above.

So it’s simple… let’s take each of these notes and determine what’s a fourth up from each one.

G + B + C + E.

This is easy because a fourth up is whatever note is “NEXT” in the circle. Just do this with EACH note.

A fourth up from “G” is “C” A fourth up from “B” is “E” A fourth up from “C” is “F” A fourth up from “E” is “A”

We’ve just learned the F major 7 chord by taking each note up a fourth.

So essentially, the same circle we use to play chord patterns is the same circle we use to learn CHORDS. That’s why I said to do whatever it takes to memorize the circle. These shortcuts are everywhere.

C + E + F + A is an F major 7 chord in 2nd inversion.

(for my beginners, yes, I know C is on the bottom but when you invert a chord, you basically change the order of notes.)

This same chord is F + A + C + E in the normal “root” inversion. If you take the “F” off the bottom and put it on the top, you get “A + C + E + F,” which is 1st inversion. If you then take the “A” off the bottom and put it on the top, you get “C + E + F + A,” which is 2nd inversion — the one we just learned.

So here’s your homework.

Take these chords below and learn them in fourths using the same steps I took above. You can also start all over and learn them chromatically too but the real “connection” comes in learning them in fourths.

C major = C + E + G

C major 7 = C + E + G + B

C minor = C + Eb + G

C minor 7 = C + Eb + G + Bb

EXTRA CREDIT: Invert the chords by taking the current note off the bottom and putting it on the top. Do this again to get the next inversion. If the chord has 4 notes, do this AGAIN to get the final inversion.

Post your answers below as a comment.

Again, you’re taking all 4 chords above and learning each one in all 12 keys USING the circle I talked about above. If you can’t do this, you need to print out this lesson and re-read it. This will result in you knowing 48 chords by the end of this exercise. If you’re serious, you’ll do it. If you get this one concept, you’ll skip at least 6-8 months worth of lessons… and that’s only if your teacher knows how important the circle is to playing BY EAR. Sight readers use this to figure out key signatures and ’sharps & flats’ but all that stuff is NOTHING compared to the real value of the circle. The real value of the circle involves patterns, song movement, and stuff like that, if you’re an “ear” player.

If you want to get a real good introduction to all this, my $17 course is a steal. If you’re a reader, you have everything here. I sure didn’t hold back. If I wanted to hold back, I would have stopped 4 pages ago. The $17 starter course just takes it further by giving you 2 hours of instruction in my own voice with live demonstrations and examples.

So if my written words are cool for you, then I can promise you my voice is easily 3 times better. And at $17, you have nothing to lose. Check it out at:

http://www.hearandplay.com/17dollarcourse

If you were a bit helped by the words I’ve written here, then this audio course will REALLY be helpful because you’ll hear me talking about all this stuff for 2 whole hours, reinforcing every little concept over and over. You’ll like it.

Go to:

http://www.hearandplay.com/17dollarcourse

(You can even get the downloadable digital version and start learning right away).

Talk soon,

Jermaine

P.S. - Got questions? Comment below and I’ll answer right away:

P.P.S - If your budget allows, my 300pg course is your next best bet. It has 20 chapters, tons of exercises, and covers everything, step by step:

http://www.hearandplay.com/core

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

After last week’s e-mail, I received the most replies ever.
Here’s another one I think will really help you (VERY IMPORTANT
STRATEGIES BELOW).It’s from a gentleman named Mark.

***Comment From Mark H.***

Hi Jermaine,

Last week’s e-mail was totally awesome! This number system
stuff is quite new to me but you’ve totally made it plain. You
certainly have a knack for breaking stuff down and I want to
thank you for taking the time to do this.

On one of your blog posts, you talked about primary and
secondary chords. You also talked about how each tone of the
scale has its own chord that is usually played.

I’m having a hard time remember all these chords and where they
go. Let’s not even talk about all 12 keys because I can’t
remember even one key. Please help!

Mark H Dallas, TX

>>> My Comments and explanations back to Mark (read closely as
you can get a lot out of what I had to say to him):

Hey Mark,

Appreciate your positive feedback!

I have a really easy way for you to remember all the primary
and secondary chords and it won’t take that long to master it.

All it takes is for you to know your major chords. Like I
teach musicians all the time, you can play both minor scales and
minor chords by understanding major chords and their
relationships to minor chords.

Don’t worry, I’ll explain…

Since you mentioned primary and secondary chords, let me
touch on those for a minute.

Every major key has what we call primary and secondary
chords. The primary chords of any given key are the 1st, 4th,
and 5th chords. These numbers come from the scale. In the key of
C, C is the 1st tone of the scale, D is the 2nd tone of the
scale, E is the 3rd tone, and so forth.

So the 1st, 4th, and 5th chords of the key of C major are C,
F, and G (in that order). They are always major chords. These
chords will occur in music the most. The 1st chord of the scale
is the key that you’re in so it’s always going to feel like
“home.” This chord will begin and end your songs. When a
non-musical audience hears the 1-chord, they know to clap
because the song feels at rest… at home… at peace. It’s the
end and they don’t have to be musically-inclined to know that.

The 4th chord of the scale, the next primary chord, is like
being away from home but at a close relative’s house. It’s ‘home
away from home.’ There is a very strong connection between the
1st tone (real home) and the 4th tone (home away from home).
That’s why countless songs go from “the 1 to the 4.” It’s one of
the MOST POPULAR movements in music, hands down.

So, if the 1 is ‘being at home’ and the 4 is being ‘away from
home,’ then the 5 is ‘coming back home.’ The 5 has a strong
connection and tendency to lead back home to the 1st chord. When
you tell your kids to get in the car because we have to go home,
that’s the 5 coming home to the 1 in music.

So now that you have a good understanding of the primary
chords (1, 4, 5), the secondary chords are EVERYTHING ELSE…

That literally leaves the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th tones of
the scale. And the good news is three of those are simple minor
chords that can be played by understanding the three primary
major chords we just covered.

Let’s go to the key of C major:

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You already know that C major, F major, and G major are
primary chords.

But what you probably don’t know is that the three minor
secondary chords are relatives to the primary chords. They are
like sisters and brothers, if you will.

(Now this is like 5 chapters of a music theory book covered
in one e-mail but let’s go for it.)

Every major key has what you call a relative minor. In other
words, every major key has a minor key that “pairs” with it.
This minor key has the same notes in its scale as the major
key… it has the same sharps and flats as well.

You can pretty much call them brother-sister scales. One
being major and one being minor. They share EVERYTHING.

For C major, that relative minor is ‘A minor.’

Now before we delve a little deeper into this, let’s look at
the C major and A minor scales:

C major

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

A minor

A B C D E F G A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Do they use different notes or the same notes?

Answer: same notes

Do they both have the same number of flats and sharps?

Answer: Yes, because C has no flats/sharps and A minor has
no flats/sharps.

They are relatives, that’s why! They are closely related. They
share the same house, sort of!

Every major scale has one of these. In fact, you can create the
“A minor” scale just by understanding the C major scale.

Here’s what you do:

(I started to make bullet points but this is too simple so I’ll
just say it)…

Just go to the 6th tone of your major scale. That’s it. Just
play your major scale starting on the 6th tone until you get
back to that same 6th tone.

C major

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Ok, this is the C major scale. I’m just going up an extra
octave with this example (that’s why you see double the notes).

What tone is the 6th tone?

Answer: A

So what do you do?

Answer: Play this same scale without changing ANY notes from A
to A. Like this: A B C D E F G A

What does that give you?

Answer: The “A minor scale”

Bam! You’re done! Now you know how to play the “A minor” scale.
And the best part is that you don’t have to remember any new
scales. You can “piggy back” off what you already know.

That’s why it’s important to know the number system because
shorctus like this are EVERYWHERE. This is what I cover in my
Starter 702 course. If I were you, I’d pick it up. It’s only $17
bucks.

http://www.hearandplay.com/playbyear.html

So now let’s go back to this whole ‘primary and secondary chord’
stuff.

Basically, just how you learned the “A minor” scale from
knowing your C major scale, you can do the same with CHORDS.

You just take a C major chord (C+E+G) and put “A” on your bass
and you’ve got yourself an “A minor 7″ chord. How cool is that?

Just how you piggy-backed on the C scale to play the “A” minor
scale, you do the same to play the A minor 7 chord. Crazy huh?

You can do this with any major chord.

F major chord = F+A+C
6th tone of F major = D

Playing D on your left hand as the bass and F+A+C on your right
hand creates a D minor 7 chord.

G major chord = G+B+D
6th tone of G major = E (if you were in the key of G, this
would be the 6th tone — gotta know your scales and numbers
like we talked about in my last e-mail).

Playing E on your left hand as the bass and G+B+D on your right
hand creates an E minor 7 chord.

It’s simple. So if you know all 12 major chords, now you should
easily know all 12 minor chords by doing this easy exercise.

The magic number in this case is “6.”

Note: There are magic numbers for other stuff too. But for minor
relationships, it’s 6. See my course below for details.

So if C major, F major, and G major are the primary chords of
the key of C, then you can apply this same idea to learn your
minor secondary chords.

1st, 4th, and 5th = primary chords

2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th = secondary chords

And as you now know, the primary chords help you to play the
secondary chords.

2nd tone = D… but all you gotta do is play an F major chord
over D to play a D minor 7 chord. Easy!

3rd tone = E… but all you gotta do is play a G major chord
over E to play an E minor 7 chord. Even easier!

6th tone = A… but all you gotta do is play a C major chord
over A to play an A minor 7 chord. Bam!

So in other words…

The 1st and 6th tones pair up.
The 2nd and 4th tones pair up.
The 3rd and 5th tones pair up.

That takes care of EVERY tone of the scale pretty much. The
only one left is the 7th tone of the scale. That won’t be a
major or minor chord… it’s a diminished or half-diminished
chord depending on whether you’re going to use 3 or 4 notes to
play it. But unfortunately, I’ve spent way too much time on this
and won’t have enough time to cover it.

However, check out this very affordable course to get the low
down on all this…

To learn other unique techniques and strategies you can use
to master chords and take your playing to the next level, go to
the link below. I recommend either my 300-pg course or my
Starter 702 audio course (or BOTH). The Starter 702 course is
cheap… a steal… $17 bucks and covers much of what I’ve
talked about here… but with my VOICE and piano explaining
everything. If you’re serious, check it out:

http://www.hearandplay.com/playbyear.html

If you were a bit helped by the words I’ve written here,
then this audio course will REALLY be helpful because you’ll
hear me talking about all this stuff for 2 whole hours,
reinforcing every little concept over and over. You’ll like it.

Talk soon,

Jermaine

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

After last week’s e-mail, I received a host of replies. Here’s one that I think will really help you (VERY IMPORTANT STRATEGIES).

***Comment From Kelly W.***

Hi Jermaine,

Thanks for sending such an informative e-mail. I feel like you give so much through your website, blog, and e-mails (maybe too much). Do you ever sleep?

Well, here’s another e-mail to add to your insomnia. :-)

You mentioned the number system and how it is key when it comes to playing music by ear. I totally get that now. But towards the end, you started talking about numbers and patterns but you quickly ended. Kinda left me hanging as I was hanging on your every word up until that point and didn’t want the e-mail to end.

Do you mind expounding on how the number system works with patterns?

A passionate fan, Kelly W.

>>> My Comments (and explanations):

Kelly, first off, thanks so much for your kind words. Yes, I DO sleep (but not nearly as much as I should). My wife says I should be getting in as much sleep as possible RIGHT NOW before our 2nd daughter is born in December. But I’m hard-headed. So enjoy these personal replies while they last :-)!

To recap, YES, the number system is absolutely pivitol in playing music by ear without sheet music. There’s just so much you can do with it. (And it’s so easy to grasp — you just take every major scale you know and NUMBER each of them from 1 to 7… BAMMM! There’s the number system).

But let’s talk about chord patterns for a second…

In playing by ear, you’ll notice that a lot of songs use the same chord patterns over and over again. One popular chord pattern is the 1-4-5 chord progression. (Let me stop — for my beginners, “chord patterns,” “chord progressions,” “chord changes,” “chord ___whatever___” pretty much all mean the same thing).

When I say “1-4-5″ in this sense, I’m literally talking about a chord built off the first tone of the scale “moving” (or progressing) to a chord off the fourth tone of the scale… and finally to a chord off the fifth tone of the scale. There are countless possibilities.

In the key of C (ahhhh, amazing how the number system stands on its own two feet… but now let’s move into a specific key)…

In the key of C, a 1-4-5 chord pattern would be some kind of chord on C moving to some kind of chord on F, and finally ending on some type of chord on G. Those notes - C, F, & G - are the 1st, 4th, and 5th degrees of the scale, respectively. In other words, the “root” or “bass” of the chord will determine the number that gets attached to it.

C major. Root (or bass) is C. And C is the first tone of the scale. Therefore, C major is on “the 1.”

Now the reason NUMBERS are important is that I can express tons of patterns like this without being in any particular key. That is why I made the statement above about “coming” into a specific key. See, numbers are like a universal language. I can sit here and chat with a fellow musician all day long and if he or she knows about numbers, our conversation could actually make sense just saying stuff like “1-4-5″ or “6-2-5-1″ or “2-5-1″ or “b5-7-3″ (b5 = “flatted 5″ and you get it by literally taking the 5th tone of the scale and flatting it a half step).

So that’s why I mentioned how important numbers are when it comes to chord patterns.

Here’s my advice to any musician who wants to get the most out of NUMBERS…

First, master your scales as numbers and be able to call out any number fast. Like if I asked you, “what is the 2nd tone of F,” you should answer within seconds, “G.” If I say “the 7th tone of B,” you should answer “A#” within seconds. I’ve created a free 28-pg report about this very strategy and you can download at: http://www.hearandplay.com/numbers (Enjoy!)

Second, once you’ve mastered numbers and they are second nature to you, start “THINKING” about them as you play songs. For example, if someone taught you these chords in the key of C:

C major > F major > G7 > G/F > E minor > A7 > D minor > G7 > C major

(Believe it or not, this is a very common string of chords). Oh yeah, since I hate for people to be lost, the “G7″ is the quick way to write “G dominant 7.” The “G/F” is what we call a slash chord. It means play a G major chord over F bass. Whenever you see a letter without “major” or “minor” or something like that, assume “major.” And if you see a slash, the note on the right of the slash is to be played on your left hand as the bass.

I get carried away, excuse me! :-)

So back to this chord pattern. Once you’ve mastered numbers, you need to be thinking “NUMBERS.” See, if you’re just playing this progression and thinking these are random chords, you’re cheating yourself. But if you think of this string of chords as numbers progressing from one to the other, then you’ll be opened up to a whole new world. Let me explain…

Because there are 12 distinct keys that you can possibly be playing a song in, most people don’t know they are playing the SAME exact thing in other keys. I mean, how can you? Everything feels different. The notes are different, the letters are different, the titles are different. The chords feel different to your hands. etc…

Numbers standardize everything. There can only be a single number per chord. So it doesn’t matter what key you’re in, if you’re thinking in terms of numbers, you have just brought that key into a neutral world.

Example:

F major: ———–

F major > Bb major > C7 > C/Bb > A minor > D7 > G minor > C7 > F major

Did you realize right off the bat that this was the same exact pattern I displayed above in C? Most WOULDN’T because the notes are different. It throws most people off so they continue playing these two separate chord progressions in different keys NOT KNOWING they are playing the same thing!

Let’s analyze:

C major ———–

C major > F major > G7 > G/F > E minor > A7 > D minor > G7 > C major

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

(I just took the keynotes of each chord and figured out their “numbers.”)

For example, in the C major chord, C is the keynote (the title). It is the first tone of C major (duhh!). F major is the next chord. It’s the 4th tone of C major. G7 is the next chord. It’s the 5th tone of C major. (You just keep doing this until you’ve analyzed each chord). At the end, you have this chord pattern in numbers:

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

Now, if you do the same thing to the “F major” chord progression I posted above, you’ll get these numbers:

F major: ———–

F major > Bb major > C7 > C/Bb > A minor > D7 > G minor > C7 > F major

1 > 4 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 2 > 5 > 1

Lightbulb yet?

It’s the SAME pattern but you probably didn’t know that if you don’t already think in terms of numbers. Most musicians would have treated these progressions as two separate “things” because they look different.

But at the core, when you strip all the letters away, they are the same. Hmmm, “MESSAGE!” Everyone comes in different shapes, colors, and sizes. But when you strip all that away, we are all the same! :-)

The third thing to do is to just get fast at being able to figure this out WHILE you’re playing. That’s all. After you do it so much, you’ll just ‘think’ that way. It’s a paradigm shift from the standard way of playing. You’ll be there soon.

So, we’re full circle. Back to numbers and their importance.

You may be thinking, “Jermaine! How do I ‘think’ in terms of numbers?”

Well, it’s not something you overdo. It’s just something you’re “aware” of. As you’re playing, you force yourself to think: “Ok, I’m on the ____ tone of the scale.” That’s it! It’s simple! Over time, it will become second nature.

Then, you’ll see just how EVERYTHING YOU PLAY (or 80% of it) boils down to the same exact patterns. You can’t see it now because you’re thinking in terms of letters. “Letters” are sort of the enemy of playing in all 12 keys. Just two hard to memorize all the letters. But if you get good at memorizing the universal numbers for all the patterns and chords you play, you won’t go wrong.

To learn other unique techniques and strategies you can use to master the number system and take your playing to the next level, go to the link below. I recommend either my 300-pg course or my Starter 702 audio course (or BOTH). The Starter 702 course is cheap… a steal… $17 bucks and covers much of what I’ve talked about here… but with my VOICE and piano explaining everything. If you’re serious, check it out:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

(It’s in the CORE ESSENTIALS section).

Talk soon,

Jermaine

P.S. - This old video I did several months ago will really help you with numbers as well…

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

In reading through some of my recent e-mails, I found a message from someone who REALLY gets it.

***Comment From A Reader Who GETS IT***

Jermaine, doc, where have you been all my life? Since I purchased your GospelKeys 202 and have been reading through your online blog lessons and resources, they have really opened my mind up to the whole world of “numbers.”

I was one of those folks who thought music was about letters. I thought chords used letters. UNTIL God led me to your website. And now everything I thought I knew about music has been challenged and I’ve gotten to the next level because now I know how to think in terms of numbers.

I don’t think about a C major 7 chord going to an F major 7 chord anymore (well I still do but it’s not the dominant thought like it used to be). Now I think about the 1st tone of the scale going to the 4th tone of the scale if I’m in the key of C or the 5th tone of the scale going to the 1st tone of the scale if I’m in the key of F major.

And when I do this, I find that I can take the same patterns to basically any major key because I’m not stuck thinking about C going to F liked I used to be. Now I’m thinking a totally different way and with the numbers I can just fill in the blank as the cliche goes and be free to play anywhere I want. It’s really changed the way I do “thangs” and I gotta give you the credit for it.

Keep it up man. I’ll see you at the top.

Terrell S.

>>> My Comments (and explanations):

Well Terrell, it looks like you TRULY get it.

You’ve stumbled on to one of the greatest secrets of “playing by ear.” It’s numbers.

When most people think about music, they think about “creative” stuff like notes and letters and sharp “(#)” signs and flat “(b)” signs. But music is highly mathematical too.

NUMBERS rule in music and when a musician truly “GETS” this, their playing explodes.

I remember one of my earlier students - Royzell - and how fast it took him to start learning real songs on his own. I mean this guy was up and playing in like 6 weeks. He was hungry for it, YES, but one thing I made sure he understood out the gate was the number system (i.e. - taking every major scale and learning each tone as numbers… “C” is 1, “D” is 2, “E” is 3… and so on).

Then I taught him how to play chords using the same numbers (i.e. - “combine tones ‘7′ + ‘3′ + ‘5′ to play a nice-sounding major 7 chord in ANY key”). No, that isn’t the “regular” default way to play a major 7 chord. We were killing two birds with one stone by learning nicer voicings of the chords using the numbers so that we could literally take the same voicing to all 12 keys in minutes.

Then we naturally did patterns and chord progressions next (i.e. - “6-2-5-1 chord pattern” … very common pattern). It’s the same numbers at work but this time entire chords are moving from one to the other using the numbers. Songs came easy after that.

Fast forward several years and let’s just say he’s passed me up! And I don’t mind. He realized just how IMPORTANT numbers were in the beginning and now there’s virtually nothing he can’t pick up in minutes (and take to a new key without practicing). He’s even played for celebrities and filled in at West Angeles, the mega church where the hit producers and musicians, Jason White and Michael Bereal, play. And to think, it all started with NUMBERS (I don’t want to discount him either because he had a lot of drive and passion and was serious about his craft).

>REMEMBER - You can do almost anything by understanding the number system. And most importantly, it’ll allow you to play in any key because you’re essentially not memorizing any of the specific chords of a song… you’re not really memorizing ANYTHING. You simply understand that a pattern, for example, is a chord off the 1st tone of the scale moving to a chord off the 3rd tone of the scale… then to the 6th tone, then 2nd tone, then 5th tone, then back home to the 1st tone again.

AND GET THIS — once you realize that about 1 in 3 songs have that same pattern occuring in some way, shape, or form, then it really gets easy to learn and play songs off the top of your head because they all use the same patterns. Numbers allow you to do all this… and “then some” as mom would say.

To learn other unique techniques and strategies you can use to take your playing to the next level, go here:

http://www.hearandplay.com/products

Talk soon,

Jermaine

Flat 9, flat 5, flat 7th… this stuff is confusing — and for that matter the ADD 9, ADD 5, ADD 6, and the #9, #5 as well.  I guess I should also throw in the half-diminished chords, whatever those are.  I’m still trying to figure it out.  It all sounds beautiful but it seems that a #9 would be a minor note and a flat 7th is still just a regular 7th.  It’s hard to understand why the notation has to be so complicated.  Maybe things will become more apparent as I go along and learn more.

Anyway, I hope to understand more of this as I go along and I appreciate what you have done.  God bless,

—————–

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your question.

It is understandable why you would be confused as some of the upper level courses just tell you what they are rather than covering their construction from the beginning (that’s for the 300pg course and the starter stuff to cover, which do a fine job btw).

But just to answer some of your questions.

Flat 7th just let’s you know to take the natural 7th (which is B in the key of C) and flat it one half step. If I just said “7,” you should automatically think B, not B flat. But the minute we say “flat 7th” then that means take the 7 and flat it (lower it) a half step… aka, “dominant 7th” or “minor 7th.”

Knowing numbers is crucial. It’s probably the best thing you can learn. Knowing your scales as numbers.

9 is basically the 2nd tone of the scale
11 is basically the 4th tone of the scale
13 is basically the 6th tone of the scale

How are they determined?

Just number your scale up two octaves

C = 1
D = 2
E = 3
F = 4
G = 5
A = 6
B = 7
C = 8
D = 9
E = 10
F = 11
G = 12
A = 13
B = 14

But if you think about it, D is 9 (sure enough when playing extended chords) but the shortcut is to just immediately think “2″ (but up an octave usually). Same with the 11th, which is the 4th, and the 13th which is essentially the 6th.

When you’re instructed to “add 9,” that’s basically what you’re doing. You’re taking the original chord and adding whatever the 9th tone of the scale is. That’s it. Same with 13 or 6 or 2.

As for the “alterations,” (b9, #5, etc)… just like you flat the 7th tone (per the instructions above), you do the same with the 9th and other extended tones. Very simple. So if I’m in the key of C and instructed to play a b9 (aka - “flat 9″), I would first determine my 9th tone (D), and then lower it one-half step to Db. NEVER CHANGE THE ALPHABET LETTER when you’re doing this. For example, if I used C#, I would no longer be flatting the “9th tone” — instead I’d be raising the 8th tone (C) to C#, and that’s not what the instructions call for. So keep that in mind.

Also, yes, sharping the 9th tone is like playing a minor chord. But the big difference is that you cannot call it a minor chord because it still may be a major or dominant chord. In other words, a C7 #9#5 may still have an “E” in there (which makes this chord either major or dominant). What we are doing is essentially adding the 9 and then sharping it. So it’s giving you a chord with both a major third “E” and a “D#” (which isn’t quite a minor third because if you understand theory, that would be called an augmented second if it were played in the lower octave). So that’s why you need the alterations. Sometimes, though, you can just say “augmented” instead of #5… this is a case where sometimes they are pretty much synonyms. But be careful.

Let’s move on to your question about the “half diminished seventh” chord. But first, let’s back up and cover a more common chord first. This will help us to lead to the construction of the half-diminished seventh chord.

A diminished seventh chord is basically constructed of 3 minor third intervals.

It is important to note that:

Major third intervals have 4 half steps (like from C to E)
Minor third intervals, on the other hand, have 3 half steps (like from C to Eb)

You basically construct a diminished 7th chord by taking 3 minor thirds and piling them on top of each other…

C# to E is a minor third.
E to G is another minor third.
G to Bb is another minor third.

C# E G Bb would be a C# diminished 7 chord, for example.

For a lesson on why I used the notes above to name this chord, visit this link (you will use a mixture of sharps and flats for chord like this… see details at the link above).

Now, this leads me to the half diminished 7th chord.

The only difference is that you are taking the last “minor third” in the equation and making it a major third (which means you need to make it bigger by one half step since major thirds have 4 half steps in them). So instead of playing Bb, you’ll be playing “B.” Thus - C# E G B.

A half-diminished 7 chord is basically the same as a minor 7th chords with a flat 5 (aka - “min7 b5″). This is another way to look at half diminished 7th chords — just take a regular minor 7th chord, locate the 5th tone of the scale and lower that tone a half step.

Whewww! My fingers are tired.

I hope this answers all your questions!

***********
QUESTION
***********

Thank you Jermaine. Of course if you can answer the question, and I’m sure you can, please feel free. The question is “how do I identify the chord progression in any song?” I learned how to play “the organ” very differently, but hearandplay has helped me tremendously. The number system has just opened a whole new world of playing for me. However, I still struggle sometimes in identifying the chord progressions especially with all the other instruments layered on top of the progression. Once I view the sessions in GMTC or watch one of the DVDs it becomes so simple, but trying to do it on my own sometimes is challenging. Any assistance you can provide is appreciated.

By the way, I had no clue there was so much footage in the GMTC. There’s sooooo much material there. I’m proud to be a gold member and these will not only me, but everyone for a lifetime. Thank you.

dteel

***************
My Response
***************

Hi Deboarah,

That is a very good question.

And off the top of my head, here are a number of things you can do to get good at finding the chord progressions at work in any song.

1) Change your approach from following the piano to following the bass.

You would think the piano player is what you’re listening for (and once you get good at doing this, you can), but it’s far more easier to figure out what the bass player is doing.

2) Find the Key

I know I put “follow the bass” as #1 but I did that because it’s probably the most important thing you can know about determining chord progressions (many people follow the piano when most of the time, you can hardly hear the piano).

I would start by determining the key to the song. If you’re not good at this yet, I recommend watchin this 30-minute video I did on the topic: http://www.hearandplay.com/main/video-how-to-find-the-key-of-any-song

You see, once you find the key, it narrows down your options and makes following the bass much easier.

So instead of trying to “randmomly” pick out bass notes with no systematic process, now you’re focusing on a particular key.

3) Know what tones are more important.

Let’s face it…

Not all tones are created equal in a particular key.

(Unlike society, every tone gets their time to shine, though, depending on what key you’re in.)

For example, here’s the C major scale:

C D E F G A B C

Of course, I like to number it right away. Thinking of scales as “numbers” is probably one of the most important skills you can learn when it comes to picking out chord progressions.

C=1
D=2
E=3
F=4
G=5
A=6
B=7

Now, in this key, 3 of these tones are going to be super special. Everything will move “towards” them usually.

They are the 1st tone, the 4th tone, and the 5th tone.

If you’ve heard the words “primary chords,” well, they are built off these tones.

Which makes everything else “secondary chords” or tones.

So if you’re:

1) Following the bass note (lowest note)
2) Know the key you’re in
3) Know what tones of that key are “primary” and what tones are “secondary” (…meaning they serve as a way to get you to primary chords)

…you’re almost there.

4) Start remembering and recognizing patterns.

Just like “success” leaves traces, songs do too.

As you learn more and more songs, pay attention to the patterns that are reoccurring. THEY WILL OCCUR AGAIN IN ANOTHER SONG.

All songs follow recognizable patterns.

And since you’re a gold member of the Gospel Music Training Center, you have front row access to the patterns. All you have to do is “zoom out” and stop seeing these songs as separate entities, but rather all connected to the same patterns.

Like the California goldrush (which I know little about because I didn’t pay that much attention in history class… sadly), everyone rushed here to get them a piece of it and returned to their separate homes. Songs pull from the same “goldrush” and fool you by making you think they are special. All the patterns are the same (GospelKeys 202 reveals many of the common gospel patterns. Check out the free digital version of it in the bonus area).

I hope this talk helps!

Take care.

(By the way, thanks for all your support. You have been tremendously supportive on our radio show, the new gospel music training center, our various product launches, etc. I appreciate you).

Well, since I’ve been helping out with e-mails lately (to make sure we keep response times under 1 day), I’ve had an epiphany. Why not take a question a day from the REAL e-mails that come in and elaborate on them? It makes it easier on me because I’m answering that e-mail anyway — now I can simply format it, expand it a little further, and post it on the blog for all to see. Works for you?

(Granny calls that “killing two birds with one stone.)

And I won’t always limit it to one question per day either. If another good question comes in, I’ll post it too. You might end up with a bunch of smaller posts rather than one big long post, like in the past. I’ll see how this works.

Submit your questions at: blogquestion@hearandplay.com (you may not get a personalized reply but they will queue up for future posts).

So here’s today’s question submitted by Judy:

***********
Question
***********
“Hey, I don’t know what you mean by things with a “b” in FRONT of a scale number, such as “b3″ Whattup?”

***********
Answer
***********

Great question!

So we all know that I’m a big advocate for numbering your scale.

In other words, just don’t think of the C major scale as:

C D E F G A B C

Think of it as:

C is 1.
D is 2.
E is 3.
F is 4.
G is 5.
A is 6.
B is 7.

So if I ask you, “what is the 7th tone of C?” you should know it right away. These “numbered” degrees are what we call scale tones (or you can call them “scale degrees,” whatever you want frankly).

Now, let’s cover our little friends called “sharps” and “flats.”

A sharp is not a black key.
A flat is not a black key.

Rather, to “sharp” something means to raise it.
To “flat” something means to lower it.

(I guess I should define another term… a “half step” is from key to key with absolutely NO keys in between. A “whole step” ALWAYS skips a key with one key always in between).

Plain and simple.

When you see a “flat” sign (b) in front of a scale tone, that means to lower that tone one half step.

So if I say “the 3rd tone of C,” I’m referring to E because E is, indeed, the third tone of C.

C D (E) F G A B C = C major scale

If I say the b3 (”flat third” or “flatted third”) of C, then it would be E flat (Eb).

I simply take the same third tone and lower it a half step.

C D (Eb) F G A B C (believe it or not, this is actually the C melodic minor scale.)

I hope this helps!

***********************
Judy’s Follow Up Question
***********************

“Thank you for your help. Curious why it wouldn’t be written 3b for i.e. ‘Eb’
instead of b3?”

***********************
My Follow Up Answer
***********************

Well, because we say “flat 3″ or the “sharp 5,” instead of “3 flat” or “5 sharp,” it transposes the sign in FRONT of the note rather than after. That’s just how the terminology works.

Like the chord “C7 #9#5″

Pronounced: “C Seventh Sharp 9, Sharp 5″ or “C Seventh Sharped 9, Sharped 5″

I wish I knew more of the history but it’s like they say: “That’s just how it is…” :-)

I hope this helps.

——————

Until next time.

(Actually, I’ve had this tool for a while but today marks the release of the actual generator tool… that makes it easy for you to create chord graphics on the fly).

You’ll have to see it for yourself. It’s still in beta testing but check it out…

Click here to try it

Enjoy —

If you’ve listened to the radio show before, you’ve probably heard us talk about these “Ps” already.

Use these “P’s” as a sort of litmus test to make sure you’re taking full advantage of your practicing.

Here they are…

Your practice must be:

1) Purposed

It’s impossible to reach for something without a clear vision of where you want to go. You can “lollygag” but this isn’t a good use of time and energy. And sadly, that’s what most of us do. We pull out our instrument and lollygag aimlessly, hoping to get better.

Instead, know clearly what you want from each practicing session. Write long term goals, break them into smaller ones, and then into digestible chunks you can work on during each 30-90 minute practice period.

2) Planned

Having purpose and vision is nothing if you don’t take action by planning your practice. Studies show that when you carefully plan a routine activity (like exercising, “laundry days”) and do it as close to the same time, EVERY TIME, something magical happens. You “habitualize” the activity and it becomes a part of your life rather than a “chore” you have to do.

3) Pushed

Practice must also be pushed. This means you have to get outside your comfort zone and challenge yourself. Most musicians want to merely “rehearse” what they already know rather than push themselves to learn new stuff (like playing in unfamiliar keys, learning bigger chords that are hard to reach or weird for the fingers to play). It’s something about harder stuff that’s boring for musicians who fall into the rehearsal trance. They feel good knowing that they can play what they know. But when it comes to playing something that’s challenging, if they can’t do it in 5 minutes, that part of the practice is over. Does this sound familiar? If so, make it one of your priorities to consciously keep practice PUSHED and watch how far you get.

4) Pumped

Keep high energy. Have a spirit of expectation, knowing that you’re going to tackle something you’ve never tackled before (because your practice will be “pushed”). Be excited about practicing. Don’t look at the 30-90 minutes per day as a perfunctory task. Get pumped up. Change the association your mind has to practicing. In fact, it’s the same thing as exercising. If the mind links that part of your exercise where you feel like you can’t go on to pain, then the experience will be gruesome. But if your mind links that part of the exercise to “triumph” and “overcoming this last part of the battle,” then what would have been seen as pain is now a meaningful goal to reach. If you want to shatter the glass ceiling that’s holding you back from getting to the next level, you must first get pumped or you won’t build enough passionate momentum to ram through the glass. “You’ll end up with a big knot upside your head,” as grandma would say.

5) Patient

Results don’t come overnight. But one thing that doesn’t fail, is that they COME… if you’re patient. The master musicians didn’t get there overnight. We see their “glory” (as I always say), but don’t understand their “story.” And that story is usually a story of patience. And patience takes faith. You have to be able to keep practicing - and even though you may not see immediate results - you have to be able to know that they will come. Faith is believing something that isn’t there. Patience is key.

6) Persistence

Lastly, with your patience must come persistence. You gotta stay on the course. This also goes hand in hand with “planned” practice. If you schedule everyday at 7pm, then stick with everyday at 7pm because when you break the pattern, then your mind will tell you to break it again… and again. But something supernatural happens when you become more and more persistent. The mind almost does the opposite. For example, let’s say you’ve exercised nonstop for 100 days in a row without breaking one single day. I mean the same time (6:30 am) everyday… rain, sleet, or snow — what does the mind tell you when you have the slightest thought of not exercising the next day? It says, “You mean to tell me you’ve done this nonstop for 100 days and you want to ruin everything and start all over?” (maybe your brain doesn’t sound like that but mine does). So compounding persistence works for you where inconsistency works against you (the more you break commitments, the more your mind tells you that you’re not reliable and that you’ve broken tons in the past so why not this new one).

Those are the P’s with my own few cents added. I hope you enjoyed them.

Until next time

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

I want to talk about an entirely different way to look at scales. A way that will help you to learn and understand chord progressions a lot faster! (Isn’t that what we all want? Chord progressions create SONGS!)

Don’t get me wrong… scales are great. I’m a great advocate of learning scales in the beginning.

I just don’t like when people get wrapped up into playing them just to “warm up” (and stuff like that). I think they are much more important than that.

They define the major keys you’ll play in. Understanding them is the key to playing smoothly in all 12 keys.

So I want to give you the “CIRCULAR” way to understand major scales. Yes, “circular!”

By now, you know that I’m infatuated by the circle of fifths. I think it’s a wonderful way to teach music. I think it cuts through all the baloney and if you really understand it, you can get really far… really quickly.

Take the C major scale for example:

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Here’s how you would look at it circularly:

C major (circularly)

B E A D G C F
7 3 6 2 5 1 4

I bet you’ve never seen the C major scale like that before.

And the thing is…

All the notes that would normally be in the scale are represented. Nothing has changed in that regard. Just the order of notes. We’ve rearranged them into a different pattern.

A pattern you’ll run across time and time again in song after song (if you haven’t already).

And this, my friend, is the secret.

Think about songs you’ve played in the key of C major.

Did they move from keynote to keynote like this: C D E F G A B C?

Or did you see a lot of chords flowing like this: “D - G - C” or “C - F” or “G - C - F” or “A - D - G” or “E - A - D - G.”

And notice, I got those all from the circular scale above.

This is how music flows.

So to understand the pattern, “7 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1 - 4″ is extremely important. In fact, there are entire songs that use this whole stretch of tones, all in a row.

For now, just ponder this. Try to learn this order of things in all 12 keys.

Hint: Soon you’ll find much overlap. In other words, the order you see here will NEVER change in another key. If the new key you’re learning has a “B” in it, for example, it will always be followed by an “E.”

That is the cool thing… you don’t have to learn all 12 keys from scratch… as long as you start getting the pattern.

This will be key to playing REAL chord progressions in ALL 12 keys… in REAL songs!

Until next time —

You can find it by clicking here.

If you’ve ever wondered why they’re called “primary chords” and what makes them so special, this article will definitely shed some light on the subject.

Until next time —

I just want to take this time to wish you a very Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! Click here for a personal greeting.

Take this time to spend with those closest to you. And remember… we give gifts, understanding that the greatest gift was given to us by our Savior. I pray that your holidays are blessed.

Thanks for your support. We really appreciate you as a student. You make this site possible.

I wish you a prosperous and successful 2009!

Jermaine Griggs
http://www.hearandplay.com
1-877-856-4187

He’s joking around in the beginning but around a minute into it, he gets serious. If he can have this much hope and joy for life, then what excuse do most of us have?

This is majority of the chords you’ll play since almost every common chord (like major, minor, dominant, diminished, augmented, and even most altered chords) are built on thirds.

In this post, I wanted to provide a quick refresher on some of the most common tertian chords.

C major

C minor

C diminished

C augmented

C major 7

C minor 7

C dominant 7

C# diminished 7 (my image program doesn’t do “double flats” so I’m going to put the C# diminished 7 below). Note: The C diminished 7 chord is C + Eb+ Gb + Bbb (aka - “A”)

C half diminished 7

C augmented major 7

C augmented 7

C major b5 (flat “5″)

C minor major 7

C dominant 7 (b5)

Print this chart out! You may need it some day!

Until next time —

And it’s powerful.

It’s the idea of “borrowing” chords.

But in order to understand it, let me teach you what the term “parallel key” means.

Parallel major and parallel minor keys basically share the same tonic… or same “home base.”

Get it? The “C” is the same but they are totally different scales… totally different worlds — but they do have the “C” in common.

Sort of like all the other people named “Jermaine” out there (including Jermaine Jackson, Jermaine O’neal, Jermaine Dupri). Just because we have the same name doesn’t mean we’re related or similar… but we do share the name.

Now, of course, parallel keys are little deeper than that but this will hold you for the purposes of this lesson.

So back to “borrowing” chords…

Let’s say you were in the key of C major. The chords most associated with the C major scale are shown below:

1st Tone: C / Chord = C major 7 (C E G B)
2nd Tone: D / Chord = D minor 7 (D F A C)
3rd Tone: E / Chord = E minor 7 (E G B D)
4th Tone: F / Chord = F major 7 (F A C E)
5th Tone: G / Chord = G dominant 7 (G B D F)
6th Tone: A / Chord = A minor 7 (A C E G)
7th Tone: B / Chord = B half diminished (B D F A)

If you don’t know where I got these chords from, you’ll probably want to read this past lesson.

Now, let’s go to the parallel minor, which is _____?????______?

C minor

(To understand where I get the following chords associated with the C minor scale, click here to view this past lesson). But here’s a hint… if you know the key of Eb major, the chords of C minor are the same).

1st Tone: C / Chord = C minor 7 (C Eb G Bb)
2nd Tone: D / Chord = D half diminished 7 (D F Ab C)
3rd Tone: Eb / Chord = Eb major 7 (Eb G Bb D)
4th Tone: F / Chord = F minor 7 (F Ab C Eb)
5th Tone: G / Chord = G minor 7 (G Bb D F)
6th Tone: Ab / Chord = Ab major 7 (Ab C Eb G)
7th Tone: Bb / Chord = Bb dominant 7 (Bb D F Ab)

So the idea of “borrowing” chords is just like it sounds.

It’s when you borrow chords from the parallel major or minor key.

Here’s one of my favorite examples (especially if you like gospel music).

You can play this at the end of “O Come All Ye Faithful.”

It’s basically a “2-5-1″ chord progression.

That is, a chord based on the 2nd tone of the scale going to a chord on the 5th — and finally ending on a chord on the 1st tone of the scale.

Normally, you’d use the chords from the first chart above. The 2nd degree in C major would usually be a “D minor 7″ chord. The 5th degree, a “G dominant 7″ chord, and the 1st degree, a “C major 7″ chord.

But what I’m going to do is borrow a chord from the 2nd tone of the parallel minor key.

So instead of playing a usual “D minor 7″ on the 2nd tone, I’m going to borrow the “D half diminished 7″ chord from C minor.

Check out the results:

Left hand: D /// Right hand: D F Ab C
Left hand: G /// Right hand: E G C
Left hand: G /// Right hand: D G B
Left hand: C /// Right hand: E G C

(This is a simple 2-5-1 chord progression with some suspended action on the “G”).

I personally like to invert the “D half diminished 7″ chord. I think it sounds better. And since I’m inverting it, I have to change the other chords (…I don’t “have” to but it sounds much better and flows more harmoniously):

Left hand: D /// Right hand: Ab C D F
Left hand: G /// Right hand: G C E
Left hand: G /// Right hand: F A D *
Left hand: G /// Right hand: E G C

*I switched the second “G” chord a little bit.

So the moral of this lesson is that you don’t have to play the chords as they’re written in the “textbook.” You can “borrow” chords. You can experiment with chords from other keys. You can alter chords.

Until next time —

You can find it by clicking here.

If you’ve ever wondered why they’re called “primary chords” and what makes them so special, this article will definitely shed some light on the subject.

Until next time —

If you haven’t seen my past ones, click here to check them out.

Ok… here we go:

What minor key am I in if I have these chords:

F major
Bb major
C major

.
..
…
….
…..
……
…….
……..
………
……….
………..
…………
………….
…………..
……………
…………….
……………..
………………
……………….
………………..
…………………
………………….
…………………..
……………………
…………………….
……………………..
………………………
……………………….
………………………..
…………………………
………………………….
………………………….. Got it???
………………………….
…………………………
………………………..
……………………….
………………………
……………………..
…………………….
……………………
…………………..
………………….
…………………
………………..
……………….
………………
……………..
…………….
……………
…………..
………….
…………
………..
……….
………
……..
…….
……
…..
….
…
..
.

Answer:

D minor

Explanation:

D is the relative minor of F major, so had you used these clues to figure out the “major” side of things (which would have been “F” had I asked for the major key), then the minor key would be a piece of cake.

Why? Because relative major and minor keys share the same key signature, scale tones, and chords.

So if you take the chords associated with the F major scale and simply “shift” them over so that “D” starts and ends the series of chords, you’re good to go! It’s that simple.

1st tone - F major (F A C)
2nd tone - G minor (G Bb D)
3rd tone - A minor (A C E)
4th tone - Bb major (Bb D F)
5th tone - C major (C E G)
6th tone - D minor (D F A)
7th tone - E diminished (E G Bb)
1st tone - F major (F A C)
2nd tone - G minor (G Bb D)
3rd tone - A minor (A C E)
4th tone - Bb major (Bb D F)
5th tone - C major (C E G)
6th tone - D minor (D F A)
7th tone - E diminished (E G Bb)

See the chords I’ve bold? Those are the same exact chords but instead of thinking of them in terms of “F major” (that is, with “F” as the starting and ending tone), I’ve emphasized them so that you can see how it works when you’re looking at the relative minor of the key. Same notes, same chords — DIFFERENT reference points… starting and ending notes. That’s it.

So when someone asks you to play in a minor key, if you know how to play in the relative major key, you should be fine!

(Oh, and just in case… you find the relative minor of any major key by going to the 6th tone. “D” is the 6th tone of “F major.” If you’re in a minor key and want to find the relative major, just go to the third tone of the minor scale. “F” is the 3rd tone of “D minor.” So that’s how all this works).

Here are all the relative major/minor relationships:

Relative Major / Relative Minor

C major / A minor
Db major / Bb minor
D major / B minor
Eb major / C minor
E major / C# minor
F major / D minor
F# major / D# minor
G major / E minor
Ab major / F minor
A major / F# minor
Bb major / G minor
B major / G# minor

I hope this helps.

Until next time —