Let me start by saying that you’ll be shocked to learn that playing more contemporary does not involve making up “new” chords. In fact, in GospelKeys X “Urban and Contemporary Worship,” one of the most commonly mentioned chords is the “major seventh” chord.

Now, don’t get me wrong…

You’ve probably played a major seventh chord time and time again. And you’ll probably agree that after a while, it just becomes a normal chord — if you’re using it redundantly (the same way over and over).

Most musicians, however, fail to realize the power of the “major seventh” chord when used with other chords. In other words, learning how to play two chords at the same time. It may take some getting used to but after a week, any musician should be able to add this to their playing. It is very powerful. Let me explain…

First, let’s cover the major seventh chord.

1) Take any major scale

2) Play the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th tone to create a major seventh chord

3) Invert the chord to create what I call the “next door” effect.

… so taking each step above, here’s how to form an Ab major seventh chord (Abmaj7):

1) The Ab major scale is:

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab (played separately of course).

2) The 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th tones from the scale above are:

Ab C Eb G (played together as a chord).

3) Since all major seventh chords include the 1st and 7th tones, these notes, if played right next to each other will create what I call the “next door” effect. In order to do this, take the chord above (Ab C Eb G) and invert it so that that Ab and C are at the top of the chord rather than the bottom:

Eb G Ab C (… notice that the Ab and C are now on the other side of the chord).

The “G” and “Ab” in the middle appear right next to each other on the piano. That is what we call the “next door” effect and produces a far more contemporary and modern sound than playing the Abmaj7 chord opened like in the previous example. GospelKeys X “Urban and Contemporary Worship” goes into more detail about this technique, but for now, we have enough information to understand this concept.

Now… let’s do the same thing for the Db major seventh chord (Dbmaj7):

1) The Db major scale is:

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db (played separately).

2) The 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th tones from the scale above are:

Db F Ab C (played together).

3) To create the “next door” contemporary feel that GospelKeys X talks about, we want to move the “Db” and “F” from the bottom and put them on the top. The Dbmaj7 chord inverted now looks like this:

Ab C Db F

So now we have two maj7 chords:

Abmaj7 and Dbmaj7

Now, we will turn these two chords into a nice urban movement.

Let’s start with the Dbmaj7 chord (Ab C Db F). We will use that over a Bb bass on the left hand. Theoretically, this makes the chord a Bbmin9. If you don’t know your minor 9th chords, refer to chapter 14 of the 300-pg course.

For the Abmaj7 chord (Eb G Ab C), we will play that over an F bass on the left hand. This is also called an Fmin9 (because of the addition of the left hand “F” on the bass). So another “lesson” inside of this lesson is:

“Major chords combined with certain left hand bass notes also create minor chords.”

So play each of the chords below giving four counts to each:

Bb bass on the left /// Ab + C + Db + F on the right hand.

F bass /// Eb + G + Ab + C on the right hand.

Simply go back and forth between these two chords. This by itself characterizes the urban feel.

But it hardly ends here. This is just the foundation. We’re going to totally change the chords above to create an even more “urban and contemporary” sound.

As your piano playing becomes more sophisticated, you’re going to start playing chords on your left hand. So what we’re going to do now is switch what we were formally playing on the right hand to our other hand.

You’ll see this technique talked about in depth in GospelKeys X “Urban and Contemporary Worship.” Here’s a taste of it below:

Let’s deal with the Dbmaj7 chord first.

Play this on your left hand:

Ab C Db F

Now, to complement this chord, on the right hand, let’s play a regular “Ab” major chord in the second inversion. If you don’t know what “inversions” are, click here.

Ab maj (second inversion): Eb Ab C

Now, here’s something to keep in mind…

You don’t want to be playing your left hand chord too low on the piano or else it will sound distorted. Play your left hand just high enough to create a nice sounding chord. The “Eb Ab C” chord on your right might overlap with your left hand. This is alright. With “Urban and Contemporary Worship,” you’ll do crazy things like this but you’ll produce crazily “modern” sounds… trust me.

So now, you’re playing this:

Left: Ab C Db F Right: Eb Ab C

(If the left hand is bothering you, feel free to leave out the “F”). Keep in mind that taking it out will lessen the “phat-ness” of the sound, but if you are having trouble playing four fingers in your left hand to start, this would be the note to leave out.

We will do the same thing for the second chord. In our left hand, let’s play the Abmaj7 we’d normally play in our right hand.

Left: Eb G Ab C

On our right hand, let’s layer an Eb chord on top of it:

Right: Bb Eb G (don’t be fooled by the Bb on the bottom because this is an Eb maj chord in second inversion).

So, the whole chord is:

Left: Eb G Ab C Right: Bb Eb G

Now play both chords together, repeating back and forth (four counts each).

#1: Left: Ab C Db F Right: Eb Ab C

#2: Left: Eb G Ab C Right: Bb Eb G

Now this sounds a lot better than the former progression. But we’re still not done! In GospelKeys X “Urban and Contemporary Worship,” our aim is to make you sound as modern and contemporary as possible.

Let’s keep going…

Now, going back and forth between the two chords above sounds good. But it gets boring after a while so you’ll want to include passing chords in the progression above.

We will include two passing chords between chord #1 and chord #2 above. These passing chords will further “urbanize” and “contemporize” our chord movement.

Tritones are two-note chords used commonly in contemporary music. I don’t have room in this online classroom to explain them in depth but have discussed them in past newsletters. Feel free to visit the newsletter archives to read about them.

Ok… Ok… I’ll talk about them here just for a little while:

Tritones consist of diminished fifth intervals.

You can also determine the distance of a tritone by simply counting three whole steps up from any note. Thus, the name “tritone.” Counting “C to D” (1), “D to E” (2), and “E to Gb” (3) would be an example. So the beginning and end (C and Gb) is a “tritone.” Now back to the diminished fifth interval concept…

A diminished fifth interval is just what it sounds like. A fifth interval decreased by one-half step. For example a fifth interval is: C to G. To make this same interval a diminished fifth, simply lower the G to Gb.

Now you have: C + Gb. That’s an example of a tritone. So whether you want to use the “diminished fifth” technique or the “3 whole steps” technique, both ways will help you to form tritones.

There are six main tritones:

C + Gb (or Gb + C)

Db + G (or G + Db)

D + Ab (or Ab + D)

Eb + A (or A + Eb)

E + Bb (or Bb + E)

F + B (or B + F)

* Don’t forget these little chords. They are extremely important when it comes to playing contemporary-styled music.

It is common to move from one tritone to another tritone a half step down. This may be hard to understand so let me demonstrate what I mean:

Above, notice the “F+B” tritone. It is common to play the “E+Bb” tritone right after it.

Notice that in order to move from an “F+B” tritone to an “E+Bb,” you simply move both fingers down ONE key — that’s all. These two tritones are a half step apart (one note apart).

…And that is exactly how we’re going to use them. In fact, those are the same tritones we’re going to use. They will become the left hand chording for two passing chords we’ll use to get us from chord #1 to chord #2 above. Is this stuff interesting or what?

Tritone #1: F+B

Tritone #2: E+Bb

(Just a half step apart).

For both tritones, we’re going to play simple major chords in our right hand. If you haven’t realized by now, we aren’t making up new chords. We’re simply manipulating basic major chords to create contemporary-sounding movements.

For the first tritone, we will play an “A major” chord in our right hand.

Left: F + B /// Right: E + A + C# (an “A major” chord in second inversion)

For the second tritone, we will play an “Ab major” chord in our right hand. So basically, this is like the chord right above but a half step lower. You should only have to move everything down one note — that’s it.

Left: E + Bb /// Right: Eb Ab + C (an “Ab major” chord in second inversion)

So the entire “passing chord” movement is:

Left: F + B /// Right: E + A + C#

Left: E + Bb /// Right: Eb + Ab + C

… Now, let’s stuff this “passing chord” movement into the chord progression from the beginning part of this lesson:

Chord #1:

Left: Ab C Db F Right: Eb Ab C

Passing Chords:

Left: F + B /// Right: E + A + C#

Left: E + Bb /// Right: Eb + Ab + C

Chord #2:

Left: Eb G Ab C Right: Bb Eb G

Note: The “passing chords” above are to be played faster than “chord #1″ and “chord #2.” You can find an example of this very progression in the GospelKeys X “Urban and Contemporary Worship” 2 minute trailer video on the website. Just go to the website and click on the “view video trailer” button and you’ll hear this movement throughout the video sample.

To end, you’ll want to “loop” this movement over and over so here’s a perfect transition to get you from chord #2 back to the beginning:

Again, you’ll be utilizing a tritone on your left hand and a regular major chord on your right hand.

Here it is:

Left: A + Eb /// Right: Ab + Db + F (a “Db maj” chord in second inversion).

This chord will take you back to the beginning. So to end, here’s an example of the entire urban movement:

Chord #1:

Left: Ab C Db F Right: Eb Ab C

Passing Chords:

Left: F + B /// Right: E + A + C#

Left: E + Bb /// Right: Eb + Ab + C

Chord #2:

Left: Eb G Ab C Right: Bb Eb G

Final Passing Chord back to beginning:

Left: A + Eb /// Right: Ab + Db + F

Chords to study for this online classroom:

• Major triads; see pg chapter 5 of 300pg course
• Minor triads; see pg chapter 8 of 300pg course
• Major sixth chords; see pg chapter 13 of 300pg course
• Minor sixth chords; see pg chapter 13 of 300pg course
• Seventh (dominant) chords; see pg chapter 10 of 300pg course
• Minor seventh chords; see pg chapter 10 of 300pg course
• Major ninth chords; see pg chapter 14 of 300pg course

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In this month’s online classroom, I’m going to share with you a few video clip lessons from the GospelKeys^TM 202 video course. I’ve selectively pulled out clips that I think you’ll benefit from, whether you consider the entire course or not.

Before I introduce the video clips, it is important that you understand the whole concept of learning worships songs (or any song for that matter) by ear:

It all starts with major scales.

You should already know that there are 12 different major scales. When someone is singing, they’ve either knowingly picked ONE of the twelve keys to sing in (which might be their favorite key or a predetermined key for the song they’re singing) OR they have just started singing in whatever range that is comfortable for them. In this instance, they don’t really know their major key and it is your job to figure out what key they’re singing in.

A singer can’t be in two keys at once. At any given time, you will only be in one major key. Songs may modulate or go to another major key, but will only be in one major key at a time.

We focus on Db major in the GospelKeys^TM 202 video course.

I start the course by teaching you several different chords that you can play on each tone of the major scale. Just to break down the concept for you, here is a Db major scale:

Db major scale

Db __ Eb __ F __ Gb __ Ab __ Bb __ C __ Db __

In other words, I teach you several chords to play on each one of these tones. Since every major key on the piano has its own major scale, these same chords can be applied to all 12 major keys! Always transfer what you learn from ONE key to all TWELVE keys. This is a very very smart and effective habit to develop, especially if you’re just starting out!

Also, it is important to understand each note of a major scale by its corresponding number. In other words:

Db = 1

Eb = 2

F = 3

Gb = 4

Ab = 5

Bb = 6

C = 7

Db = 8 (or the same as 1 basically)

Majority of the time, a song is progressing from one of these tones to another. I’d say more than 80% of the time, you’re playing chords that correspond with notes of the major scale.

Yes, there are times when, in the key of Db, you’ll hit a B major chord. Notice that “B” is not a part of the Db major scale. In this instance, “B” is actually the flat 7 note of the scale. “How do you create a flat 7,” you may ask?

Simply go to the 7th note of the scale (which is “C” in this example) and lower it one-half step (or one note). Remember, only lower it one note. Don’t skip any notes, whatsoever. I say that because some people don’t realize that black keys are a part of the piano just as well as white keys. In other words, when you lower a note, don’t skip any black notes.

In this case, since C doesn’t have a black key behind it, you’d lower it directly to B.

B is the flat seventh of Db major. This is just one example where you’d play a note or chord that may not necessarily align with the notes of your major scale. This will happen but not nearly as much as regular progressions within the notes of the major scale.

Most of the time, you’ll be playing from a 1 chord to a 3 chord, or a 1 chord to a 5 chord, or a 3 chord to a 6 chord, or a 6 chord to a 2 chord, just to give a few examples. Most songs stay with the number patterns.

Now that you understand the number system, I can talk in GospelKeys^TM language.

Patterns like “1-3″, “3-6″, “6-2″, “2-5-1″, and others all come from major scales.

Db = 1

Eb = 2

F = 3

Gb = 4

Ab = 5

Bb = 6

C = 7

Db = 8

Just to make sure you understand, let’s take a short quiz:

1) In the key of Db major, a 1-3 progression consists of what two keynotes?

____ (1) **** ____ (3)

2) In the key of Db major, a 2-5 progression consists of what two keynotes?

____ (2) **** ____ (5)

3) In the key of Db major, a 7-3-6 progression consists of what three keynotes?

____ (7) **** ____ (3) **** ____ (6)

4) In the key of Db major, a 1-4 progression consists of what two keynotes?

____ (1) **** ____ (4)

Ok, now grade yourself:

Answers:

1) Db to F

2) Eb to Ab

3) C to F to Bb

4) Db to Gb

Note: Of course, all of these notes will be connected with chords. But for this example, I just wanted you to know the keynotes involved (the title of the chords).

Ok, so now that you have a crash course on what I call “couples” (just another way of saying very small chord progression), we can move on to the video clips.

Click to watch this video clip	Video Lesson #1 This clip teaches a type of voicing that few musicians have ever heard of. It’s called the “Quartal” chord. It creates a very contemporary sound. Do yourself a favor and learn this chord in all twelve keys! Duration: 1:17
Click to watch this video clip	Video Lesson #2 This clip teaches you multiple “2″ chords to play. Remember, a “2″ chord commonly begins what we call a “2-5-1″ chord progression. If you understand anything about these progressions, you know that they commonly end songs. In other words, even an audience knows when to start applauding when a 2-5-1 approaches. Duration: 1:34
Click to watch this video clip	Video Lesson #3 A continuation of clip #2, you’ll learn some more fancy “2″ chords that are sure to spice up your playing. There is one chord I teach in this clip that you don’t want to pass up! It utilizes all five fingers and I warn you — you have to stretch for this one! Duration: 1:15
Click to watch this video clip	Video Lesson #4 This altered chord is probably one of the most commonly played chords in gospel music. From personal experience, I use it in probably 70% of songs I play. Now, keep in mind that I’m referencing the type of chord (7 #9#5) — remember that this chord can be played in 12 different keys! No matter what song you’re playing, it will show up sooner or later! Duration: 1:13

Click here for all 10 video lessons (over 20 minutes in content)!

Well… obviously I couldn’t fit all 20 minutes worth of video clips in this e-mail. But please do yourself a favor and visit http://www.hearandplay.com/gk202clips.html to see all 10 of them and more!

You’ll find clips ranging from chords to chord progressions, from left-hand bass techniques to right hand “licks”, from simple “grooves” to full songs with vocalists, drums, and live accompaniment. It’s worth taking a look at: http://www.hearandplay.com/gk202clips.html

Explore these chord types along with the GospelKeys 202 video course:

• Major triads; see pg chapter 5 of 300pg course
• Minor triads; see pg chapter 8 of 300pg course
• Major sixth chords; see pg chapter 13 of 300pg course
• Minor sixth chords; see pg chapter 13 of 300pg course
• Seventh (dominant) chords; see pg chapter 10 of 300pg course
• Minor seventh chords; see pg chapter 10 of 300pg course
• Major ninth chords; see pg chapter 14 of 300pg course

Well, I hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter and I’ll be back! Take care!

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