HearandPlay.com Monthly Newsletter --- April 2005!
http://www.Hearandplay.com
Serving 159,655 Musicians
Worldwide!
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Contents:
I. Welcome
II. Announcements:
"8
Video Lessons (Urban and Contemporary Chords)"
Click here to view the
video clip lessons...
III. Online Classroom:
"Exploring Urban and Contemporary Worship Music"
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Dear Subscriber,
I'm so excited about this
newsletter because I'm literally sharing with you over 10+ minutes of
contemporary worship
video clips. Actually, it's over 25 minutes of footage when you count all
the older video clips I
shared back in October of 2004. I've realized that over 35,000 new musicians
have joined our community since then so I've included those clips too!
...So needless to say,
you're in for a treat!
And like I said back in
October: Just because I say "contemporary
worship" doesn't mean these examples can't be explored in other ways.
Chords are indeed recyclable and used over and over again in different
genres.
In fact,
urban and contemporary
worship is actually a blend of jazz, rhythm & blues, and gospel all
combined into one style. Utilizing tritones, chordal stacking (or
superimposition), and substitutions, one can literally turn traditional sounds
into modern, contemporary, and unique voicings!
... Let's dive in, but
first:
Keep in mind that the
techniques below are just a small sample of what you're going to learn in
GospelKeys X "Urban and
Contemporary Worship," which was released back in February. Combining gospel with a pinch of jazz and r&b, the "urban
and contemporary" feel is sure to spice up anyone's playing (no matter
what style of music you prefer).
If you haven't seen the
interactive demo and some of the sound examples yet, you
visit
https://www.hearandplay.com/gkworship.html to be literally blown away
(seriously).
... I'm
talking about learning:
How to play urban and contemporary worship patterns in Ab that'll have people turning their heads the minute you sit down to the piano. More infoHow to manipulate the major 7th chord to make your playing sound urban and contemporary like today's gospel songs (just like what we're talking about in this month's classroom lesson below)... The secret behind using the Circle of Fifths to your advantage when applied to contemporary worship piano playing. This one is a must. More info Worship movements in Ab that other musicians don't want you to know! Learn famous chordal movements that form the basis of urban and contemporary worship music --- once you understand this, you're piano playing will never be the same. Learn "licks" and "tricks" in F#. These are tricks that you can begin adding to your musical toolbox the minute you pop in these DVDS! After hearing some of these contemporary runs, your family and friends will know you've been up to something... I PROMISE! More info Discover the KEY PRINCIPLES behind Ab runs (upward and downward movements). If you're not playing these runs, then you're definitely in for a treat. Learn how to drive the worship service. This is known as Warfare and High Praise moments of the service (especially during the prophetic). More info Dive into various worship vamps like "Lord I Worship You, I Worship You." These examples are geared towards teaching you how to play the vamps of tons of other contemporary worship songs. Discover the hidden secrets behind "pretty-ending chords." The ending of a song is just as important as the beginning. Learn how to end your songs the right way! More info How to implement "Disney" sounding chords into your gospel piano playing! Yes, I said "Disney." These techniques will blow you away! Delve into classical movements in Eb! Just when you thought the DVD only focused on modern playing --- Learn classical progressions that can be applied to your gospel playing ASAP. More info Learn real-life songs along with real-life vocalists! ... and much much more! Read about other techniques...
Enjoy this month's online classroom.
2004/05 Newsletter Archive Available at https://www.hearandplay.com/newsletters ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online Classroom: "8 Video Lessons (Urban and Contemporary Chords)" Click here to view the video clip lessons... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: You might want to print this lesson out for easier reading... In this month's online classroom, I'm going to share with you a few video clip lessons from the GospelKeysTM X 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 some of the key chords and concepts used in urban worship: 1) Major Seventh Chords 2) Minor Seventh Chords 3) Minor Ninth Chords and... 4) How to superimpose chords Past newsletters deal in depth with many the concepts above, but I'll briefly cover each one below. While the free video clips will keep you busy for a while, knowing these concepts (if you're a beginner) will assure that you don't get lost or fall behind like many others. Major Seventh Chords Major seventh chords are very easy to form (aka - "maj7, M7). If you know all twelve major scales, then you won't have a problem knowing major seventh chords. All 12 Major Scales C majorYou've probably heard me say this before... It's very important that you understand major scales in a numerical way. What do I mean? Simply put: Don't memorize scales like toddlers memorize their ABC's. It's easy to "play" a scale, memorizing note after note, in relation to one another. Here's something to think about... If you can't start a major scale from the middle OR have to start from the beginning in order to play it correctly, you probably have the "toddler's ABCs" issue. In other words, you only know how to play the scale because your fingers have memorized what to play. While this is good for practicing and fingering, it does you know good when trying to understand how music works. So how do I learn scales correctly? By understanding that each tone represents a number in the major scale. The first note is the "first tone" or "first degree" of the scale. For example, here's the C major scale: C major: C D E F G A B C Here's how you should be thinking of this scale: C major: C(1) D(2) E(3) F(4) G(5) A(6) B(7) C (the same as "1") If I were to ask you: "What is the 2nd tone of the C major scale," you should be able to answer immediately: "D." The sixth tone of Ab? You should be able to answer F The third tone of D? You should be able to answer F# You shouldn't have to "play the scale" in your mind or even use a real piano. Each tone of the scale should be associated with a number and that number should be easily recallable, whenever needed. Does that make sense? This will really help you to understand all your chords and how chord progressions work. Forming Major Seventh Chords: To form a major seventh chord, simply take the first, third, fifth, and seventh tones of any major scale and play them all at the same time. (I told you knowing the scales as numbers would be helpful ... not only now but for a 'number' of things). For example, the C major scale is: C D E F G A B C The 1+3+5+7 of this scale is: C E G B = C major seventh chord Here are all the other major seventh chords: Minor Seventh Chords Once you know major scales as "numbers," forming ANY chord (whether major or minor) is really simple. To form any minor seventh chord, simply use this formula: 1 + b3 + 5 + b7 Note: The "b" symbol is used to indicate a note that is flatted or lowered a "half step." Let's look at our C major scale again. C major: C(1) D(2) E(3) F(4) G(5) A(6) B(7) C (the same as "1") Now, take the 1, 3, 5, and 7 tones: C + E + G + B Since there needs to be a b3 and a b7 in a minor chord, take the "E" and "B" and flat them. E becomes "Eb" B becomes "Bb" Cmin7 chord is: C + Eb + G + Bb Tip: Another way to find a minor chord is to use the minor scale. When you use the minor scale, you simply use the "1-3-5-7" formula because the notes are already flatted for you in the minor scale. I don't want to confuse you or anything, so for now, stick with the method above. For all twelve minor seventh chords, check out my free chord finder tool at: https://www.hearandplay.com/pianochords Minor Ninth Chords I love talking about minor ninth chords because they require no more work than learning the major seventh chords. In fact, we can form all twelve minor ninth chords (which sound really good and contemporary) by simply knowing maj7 chords. To use this technique, you'll need to understand what relative major and relative minor means. These things are covered in my 300pg course on pages 82-83 and 193-214. For every major key, there is a relative minor key that also shares the same key signature. To find the relative minor key of C, for example, just locate the sixth note in its major scale. There is more theory behind why "A" (the 6th tone) would be the relative minor of C major and how its called the "Aeolian mode" (but we won't cover all that right now). Since "A" is the relative minor of C, then "C" is the relative major of A. See? It works both ways. One key is the relative major and relative minor of another key. For example: While "A" is the relative minor of C ----------- C is the relative major of "A," but at the same time, C is the relative ***minor*** of Eb (because "C" is the sixth note of the Eb major scale). Don't get all caught up with this one. Here's a chart to help you out below.
Chords to study for this online classroom:
Well, I hope you enjoyed my April newsletter and I'll be back in May! Practice hard until then! This concludes your April Online Classroom Lesson If you were intrigued by the online classroom lesson above, then you would definitely benefit from my course! *** “The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear” 300-pg Course *** With 20 chapters and over 300 pages, the home piano course provides several resources, techniques, tips, principles, and theories to playing the piano by ear. Along with hundreds of chords and scales, you'll also learn how to turn them into gospel, jazz and blues chord progressions and better yet, how to use them to play ABSOLUTELY any song you want ... IN VIRTUALLY MINUTES! Again, don't miss this opportunity. I've even added an additional bonus if you purchase the course this week --- You can read more about the course at: https://www.hearandplay.com/course Enjoy this edition? Visit our message board and let us know! https://www.hearandplay.com/board Please Let a friend know about HearandPlay.com! PLEASE FORWARD THIS NEWSLETTER TO YOUR ENTIRE E-MAIL ADDRESS BOOK. Yours Truly, Jermaine Griggs www.HearandPlay.com www.GospelKeys.com
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