I get tons of e-mails everyday and from experience, I find that one of the hardest things for musicians to do is play chords on both hands.

It takes a lot of getting used to, especially when you’re used to playing chords on the right and single bass notes (or power chords like the “1″ and “5″ notes) on the left.

Don’t get me wrong… this is fine if you’re a solo musician and have to hold down the chords and bass.

But as you get more experienced and start getting invited to play in bands, you’ll have to say goodbye to the left hand bass technique, or the bass player WILL HATE YOU. And your chords won’t sound as full as the musician using two hands to play them.

So as I was going through our youtube videos (we have almost 200 of them there, check it out), I came across a pretty good demonstration of a two-hand groove by our very own Jonathan Powell from the GospelKeys Urban Pro 600 course.

He goes over this chord progression in depth in the dvd but what I wanted to do was include the notes of the groove and explain a little more of what’s going on for those who don’t have the course.

Stick with me… you’ll get a lot out of this…

If you want to check out the video first, be my guest. If not, click on this video after reading what I have to say:

So here’s what’s going on…

Jon is in the key of Ab major and he’s playing a 2-6 groove. This is very common in urban and contemporary music. This happens to be a part of a contemporary gospel theme but the truth is that you’ll find this is in R&B, soul, and other genres.

(For my beginners, it’s called a “2-6″ groove because the bass is moving from Bb to F… which are the “2nd” and “6th” tones of the Ab scale, respectively. You won’t find Jon doing this because he’s not playing the bass. He has a bass player on the side so don’t get confused).

Ok, so the groove is starting on Bb and then moving to F. But it doesn’t stay that simple for long as you’ll find Jon introducing other changes to get you from Bb to F that I’ll cover in a minute (like using the 3 to get to 6… thus a “2-3-6″ progression or using the 7 to get to the 3 and the 3 to get to the 6… thus a “2-7-3-6″ progression). Don’t worry, I gotch you!

But let me cover what you don’t get to see in the video (because it’s actually already occurred and this clip starts in the middle).

Here’s what Jon is playing on Bb:

Left hand: Ab C Db F
Right hand: Ab C Eb (but he’s using his pointer finger to play Bb slightly early to create a “grace note sliding” effect).
Chord name: Bb minor 11

Here’s what he’s doing on F:

Left hand: Eb G Ab C
Right hand: Eb G Bb (using “F” to create the “grace note sliding” effect).
Chord name: F minor 11

So these are the two chords you hear in the beginning of their groove. This is the foundation.

What can you gather from this?

Any time you want to play a two hand voicing for a minor chord and make it sound real good, you can use this voicing. Notice that the Bb and F chords use the same exact type of voicing. So if you learn all of these, you’ll have your minor chords taken care of.

To learn em’ all, just move up your notes a half step and write that chord down. Move your bass up as well even though you’re not playing the bass. Whatever bass note you’re at will be the title (or keynote) of the chord. Do this to all keys until you get back to your starting point. Then practice playing them.

Now, let’s move further.

He introduces a chord on the “3″… or in this case “C.”

(Bass player would be playing C)

Left hand: E Ab Bb Eb
Right hand: Ab C Eb (using the same “grace note slide” effect with “Bb”)

You’d put this chord in between the Bb and F chord.

So altogether, it looks like this:

Left hand: Ab C Db F
Right hand: Ab C Eb (but he’s using his pointer finger to play Bb slightly early to create a “grace note sliding” effect).
Invisible Bass: Bb

Left hand: E Ab Bb Eb
Right hand: Ab C Eb (using the same “grace note slide” effect with “Bb)
Invisible Bass: C

Left hand: Eb G Ab C
Right hand: Eb G Bb (using “F” to create the “grace note sliding” effect).
Invisible Bass: F

This is called a “2-3-6″ progression because the root bass is going from Bb (which is the 2nd tone in the Ab scale) to C (the 3rd tone) to F (the 6th tone).

But it gets even better than that…

He wants to lead to the “3″ with a chord so he uses the “7″ chord in the scale. In this case, that’s a “G” bass.

Left hand: F B
Right hand: F Bb Db

But he does change the “3″ chord from before to this:

Left hand: E Bb
Right hand: Eb Ab C (using the same “grace note slide” effect with “Bb)

If you think about it, it’s pretty much the same chord that you used above on “C” but it’s just smaller. Instead of the big ‘E Ab Bb Eb’ chord on the left, it’s just ‘E Bb’ (which is a tritone… another lesson). And the right hand is still an Ab major chord, just in second inversion (Eb Ab C instead of Ab C Eb).

So altogether, this progression looks like this:

Left hand: Ab C Db F
Right hand: Ab C Eb (but he’s using his pointer finger to play Bb slightly early to create a “grace note sliding” effect).
Invisible Bass: Bb

Left hand: E Bb
Right hand: Eb Ab C (using the same “grace note slide” effect with “Bb)
Invisible Bass: G

Left hand: F B
Right hand: F Bb Db
Invisible Bass: C

Left hand: Eb G Ab C
Right hand: Eb G Bb (using “F” to create the “grace note sliding” effect).
Invisible Bass: F

At the end of the day, you have 3+ ways to play this same progression. You can keep it simple with just the “2″ and “6″ chord. You can add the big “3″ chord in between them. Or you can add the “7-3″ pair between the “2″ and “6.”

Of course Jon does other fancy things on the video that I can’t get into right now because of time but this lesson will get you started jammin’ with this groove!

I would really like to hear from you all on this one. Did you enjoy this progression? Are you having problems playing it? Are you getting that little “grace note sliding” trick? Let me know!

I can even get Jon on here to do another demonstration or something if you let me know what you want to learn! :)

Until next time!

P.S. - Here are some other video clips in the urban series…

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Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about this so-called gospel musicians’ “secret.”

In fact, this “secret” is suppose to be the ONE thing that connects every “big name” gospel musician together.

They all know what it is. Heck, they’ve even learned how to manipulate it so much that it can literally evoke any kind of emotion when used properly.

And what it all boils down to is their ability to find unique ways to use this secret in musical situations at church that most gospel musicians can’t begin to fathom.

Sadly, the big-time musicians want to keep this gospel “secret” to themselves (and I’m sure you probably know why by now)…

Why? Because the secret I’m about to reveal to you (that no one else wants to share) combined with a few more techniques, produces the hottest sound to ever hit contemporary gospel music… PERIOD.

And to be quite honest, it hasn’t always been accepted by the church. Several hundred years ago, its sound would have been classified as the “devil’s music.”

Today, it is the most commonly used “secret” in contemporary worship music.

Warning: Most gospel musicians think they know how to use this secret but they’ve only employed a fraction of its true power.

But because I know you’re serious about your playing, I want to give you a sneak peak of this secret for *f*r*e*e*.

And if you’re really committed to your growth like I think you are, you will take this secret and apply it to every aspect of your playing. Your worship services depend on it.

(Just wait… when your church hears how you’ve manipulated this “secret” to transform your playing, they won’t believe it’s the same person on the keys).

I’ve shared this secret in depth with a few of my closest students and each and every one of them were blown away by these practical techniques. Not just because these techniques instantly expanded their playing but because they were so easy to incorporate, yet only the big-time musicians use them in such ways.

Listen, I don’t know how long these video clips will be up so if I were you, I’d hurry to watch all 8 of them now. You’ll also want to get on the notification list to be contacted when more information is available.

Hurry to ==> http://www.hearandplay.com/thesecret

If you want to find out what this “secret” is, rush to the link below:

http://www.hearandplay.com/thesecret

(You won’t be sorry).

P.S. - The secret is called the “_________.” If you think you know the true power of the ________, think again! True _________ mastery awaits you.

Get the secret at: http://www.hearandplay.com/thesecret

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“The Shouting Chord” (More information at: www.gospelkeys.com)

I ALWAYS (I mean always) play this chord at church when playing during a jubilant period of the worship service. It’s simply a dominant chord with an added “flat 5th” tone. Now … the trick is that you don’t play all the tones of the dominant chord. JUST certain tones sound right and I’m going to show you which ones they are below:

In Ab Major:

Bass: There isn’t a particular bass for this chord. It can be played over a “running” bass if it is being used as a “fill-in” for shouting music OR … it can be played in a blues progression. Keep in mind that this chord is just a “fill in.” Play it when it “feels” right…

Right hand: Ab + D + Eb + Gb

Note: This chord should be played on the upper part of the piano (not too high but definitely not too low). Test it out at different locations for the best possible sound, ok?

Here’s one more trick with the chord above:

If you play the “D” just a split-second before the rest of the chord, it creates a nice “blues” effect. Try it:

Ab + (D) + Eb + Gb

Note: (” “) means to play JUST that one note a split-second before the rest of the chord. It sounds great!

Good luck with this one,

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Also, keep in mind that just because the progressions says “6-2-5-1″ doesn’t mean you must only play one chord on the “6,” one chord on the “2,” and so on…

I actually like to play multiple chords on the “6.” Here are some examples below.

From the “1″ chord in Db:

(1) Ab Db Eb F / Db

(6) Ab C Eb G / Bb

(6) Ab B D F / Bb

(2) Ab C Db F / Eb

(2) G C Db F / Eb

(5) Db Gb Bb / Ab

(5) C F A / Ab

(1) Bb Eb Ab / Db

Notice how many chords I used in the above “6-2-5-1″ progression. The first chord of each scale tone was usually more subtle but the second chord of the two would always push us towards the next chord. For example, the first “6″ chord above led to a stronger “6″ chord, which ultimately led us to our “2″ chord. Keep these types of ideas in mind when playing “6-2-5-1″ or any other progressions for that matter!

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