HearandPlay.com August 2006  Newsletter
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Contents:
I. Welcome
II. Announcements
III. Online Classroom:
       "How to play smoothly using the power of inversions" Part 2
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Dear Musician,
 
Welcome to my August newsletter. In this issue, we'll start from where we left off last month, exploring how to make your chord progressions and movements more smooth by understanding inversions!
 
 
 
Enjoy this month's newsletter!
 
 

 
 
"The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" 300pg Course - Learn the secrets to playing literally any song on the piano with a few simple, "easy-to-understand" techniques and principles! Join Jermaine Griggs in learning tons of music theory, concepts, and tricks that will help you to learn piano by ear! Thousands of musicians have already taken advantage of this excellent program ... why not you?

"The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" is full of easy-to-understand tricks, tips, techniques and secrets to playing piano by ear! For this month only, I've also been able to throw in a few bonus items (3 additional piano software programs). Click here to learn the secrets to playing absolutely any song on the piano in virtually minutes! You won't regret it!

 
 
GospelKeys 101 Learning System

GospelKeys 101 will teach you everything you need to know to get started playing basic hymns and congregational songs by ear.  If you're a beginner and would like your very own gospel piano teacher on dvd, this course is definitely for you! This dvd course moves at a very comfortable pace and leaves no questions unanswered.

You will be shown, step-by-step, how to harmonize every single tone of the major scale --- AND since songs are based on melodies (and melodies are based on major scales), you'll be able to harmonize MOST songs immediately after learning these concepts. In 90 minutes, you'll learn a variety of chords, inversions, melodies, and will be playing over a half-dozen songs by the end!

Note: This course may not be suitable for "ultra" advanced players. This is a basic "101" course on harmonization and creation of simple hymns and congregational songs (and even nursery rhymes and lullabies).

 Click here to learn more or call 1-877-856-4187

 

GospelKeys 202 Learning System

GospelKeys 202 Special Edition will teach you everything you need to know to play all of your favorite slow worship songs by ear! It will show you, step-by-step, how to play tons of worship chords and progressions that you can start using in your songs right away! Not only will you learn all the chords, progressions, "licks" and "tricks" you need to contemporize any tune, but you'll also learn several worship classics like "Thank You Lord," "Hallelujah," "As the Deer," "Anointing" and more!

In 5 hours (...yes, five hours/4 discs), you'll master over 60 chords and inversions, "couples," and progressions. By disc 2, you'll be combing chords to create worship movements found in many gospel songs. By the end of the course, you'll be playing full-sounding songs that you can use in your worship service right away!

Note: You can start learning all the worship songs you've ever wanted to play with the power of "patterns" and "couples." Take advantage of this course today!

Click here to learn more or call 1-877-856-4187

Other sites to check out this month:

http://www.JermaineGriggs.com * https://www.hearandplay.com/itunes http://www.ChurchLadyDresses.com * http://www.hearandplayzone.com

 


Newsletter Archive - Click here or visit https://www.hearandplay.com/newsletters.html
 
Online videos - http://www.GospelKeys.com

 
 
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Online Classroom:
 
 "How to play smoothly using the power of inversions" Part 2
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Note: You might want to print this lesson out for easier reading...
 
 
Let's get started!
 
As you know from last month's newsletter (July):
 
"The number of notes in a chord determines how many inversions exists for that chord"
 
Example 1: If there are three notes in a chord (as in a "TRIAD"), then there are three inversions for that same chord.
 
Example 2: If there are seven notes in a chord (like in a "THIRTEENTH" chord), then there are seven ways to play it.
 
 
With this being known, the amount of voicings, inversions, and ways to play chords are virtually endless.
 
# of notes Type of chord
Three Triad
Four Seventh
Five Ninth
Six Elevenths
Seven Thirteenths
 
If you have the 300pg course, you'll find more information about this on page 50.
 
 
 
Review:
 
Here's a break down of the inversions that exist in larger chords:
 
Seventh chords (4-notes):
 
Root position, first inversion, second inversion, third inversion [More info]
 
 
Ninth chords (5-notes):
 
Root position, first inversion, second inversion, third inversion, fourth inversion [More info]
 
 
Eleventh chords (6-notes):
 
Root position, first inversion, second inversion, third inversion, fourth inversion, fifth inversion [More info]
 
 
Thirteenth chords (7-notes):
 
Root position, first inversion, second inversion, third inversion, fourth inversion, fifth inversion, sixth inversion [More info]
 
 
 
Moving on...
 
 
Now that you understand that the bigger the chord, the more ways to play it, we can look at this concept as it relates to more extended chord progressions.
 
 
We will cover "2-5-1" progressions in this lesson. If you don't know what "2-5-1" progressions are, feel free to refer to past newsletters or my 300pg home study course for more information.
 
 
C major:
 
Scale: C D E F G A B C
 
The "2" of C major is D.
The "5" of C major is G.
The "1" of C major is C.
 
These keynotes ("D," "G," and "C") make up a 2-5-1 progression in C major.
 
 
 
Here are some variations.
 
Dmin7
G7 (aka Gdom7)
Cmaj7
 
 
Dmin7   (D F A C)
G7   (G B D F)
Cmaj7   (C E G B)
 
 
Now... notice that these chords are spread out and hardly close to each other. Using the power of inversions and my "common note" trick from the last newsletter, you can invert some of these chords to make them smoother.
 
Since the Dmin7 is our first chord, let's keep that one the same.
 
Dmin7   (D F A C)
 
We can, however, invert the G7 to be closer to the Dmin7 chord.
 
First start by finding common notes between the Dmin7 and the G7 chord.
 
Common notes:

_____________________
_____________________
 
 
Notice that the Dmin7 and G7 chords both share the notes: "D" and "F." These notes happen to be the first 2 notes of the Dmin7 chord.
 
Therefore, keeping the "D" and "F" in place, change the other notes to complete the G7 chord.
 
G7 (inverted):  D F G B
 
Ask yourself this question: "Are these the same notes of the G7  chord?"
 
Your answer should be: "Yes, these are the same notes just played in a different order!"
 
 
So now your chord progression looks like this:
 
Dmin7   (D F A C)
G7        (D F G B)  --- which is the 2nd inversion of the G7 chord
Cmaj7   (C E G B)
 
 
Note: I really didn't have to do anything with the Cmaj7 chord because it already shared the same ending as G7. Notice that the "G" and "B" from the end of the G7 chord already match the "G" and "B" from the Cmaj7 chord.
 
 
So which progression do you prefer better?
 
The old way:
 
Dmin7   (D F A C)
G7   (G B D F)
Cmaj7   (C E G B)
 
Or the new way:
 
Dmin7   (D F A C)
G7        (D F G B)
Cmaj7   (C E G B)
 
 
I think the new way is much smoother, if you ask me!
 
 
One reminder:
 
Sometimes the melody permits you to play various voicings of a chord. However, if you are not following the melody, then inverting will allow you a much more smoother accompaniment.
 
 
Let's take it a step further:
 
 
Dmin9
G9
Cmaj9
 
 
 
Dmin9   D (left hand) / F A C E (right hand)
G9         G  / B D F A
Cmaj9   C / E G B D
 
 
Step one: Determine if you want to keep the first chord the same or convert it to match up with the second or third chord. In this case, we'll just keep the Dmin9 the same (in root position) and base the 2nd and 3rd chords on it!
 
Step two: Find the common notes between G9 and Dmin9 in your right hand (keeping the left hand stable).
 
Answer: They both have the notes: F A
 
 
Step three: Keep the common notes in place. All other notes that are not common will move either up or down to their respective places.
 
The new G9 chord is:
 
G (left) / F A B D
 
(Remember, we didn't move the D F from the first part of the previous chord. We just changed the "C" and "E" to "B" and "D," thus making the new chord a G7.
 
 
So our new progression is:
 
 
Dmin9   (D /  F A C E)
G9         (G / F A B D)
Cmaj9   (C / E G B D) --- no need to move this chord
 
Notice how easier it is to transition between these chords when the middle chord is inverted.
 
 
Let's take it another step further:
 
 
Dmin11
G11
Cmaj11
 
 
Dmin11   (D / F A C E G)
G11         (G / B D F A C)
Cmaj11   (C / E G B D F)
 
 
How would you invert these chords (there are many different answers depending on which chord you choose to keep the same and which chord you choose to invert). Feel free to let me know on my message board at https://www.hearandplay.com/board
 
 
Explore these chord types to prepare for future newsletters:

 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and I'll be back soon! Take care!


This concludes your Online Classroom Lesson
 
If you were intrigued by the online classroom lesson above,
then you would definitely benefit from my 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
 
 

Further References

"The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" 300-pg Course

[5] Chords & Progressions: pgs 65-78, 105-130, 147-165, 182-227.

Do you know what a2-5-1” or "3-6-2-5-1" progression is? Or perhaps the famous 12-bar blues chord progression? In this piano course, you will not only learn how to play gospel, blues, and jazz progressions, but how to recognize them in songs. In addition, you will learn the simple techniques to playing these progressions, hymns, and songs in all 12 major keys! ... Enjoy learning:

The famous "2-5-1" Chord Progression: pgs 114-120, 153-156, 208, 235-236.

I - IV - I - V - I Chord Progressions: pgs 66-70.

I - IV - V - IV - I Chord Progressions: pgs 77-78.

Techniques behind the famous "5-->1" progression: pgs 68-72.

I --> IV,  I --> V Chord Progressions: pgs 74-75.

"Circle of Fifths" Chord Exercises: pg 78.

Major and Minor Chord Progressions: pgs 105-130.

"6 - 2 - 5 - 1" Chord Progressions: pgs 121-122, 157-159.

"3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1" Chord Progressions: pgs 122-123, 160-162.

"7 - 3 - 6 - 2 - 5 - 1" Chord Progressions: pgs 124-125, 190-191.

Gospel Chord Progressions ... ranging from "up-tempo praise" chord Progressions to "worship-oriented" chord progressions: pgs 65-78, 105-130, 147-165, 182-227.

Various Blues Progressions ... 12-bar, seventh chords, diminished chords ... and others: pgs 163-165, 192.

Jazz Chord Progressions ... using dominant ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords: pgs 193-240

Study the different types of Root Progressions --- closing, opening, circular and other types of progressions: pgs 121-122.

Study how chord tones and scale degrees relate to each other [which chord progressions are most likely to be compatible]: pgs 122-130.

Learn various "turn-around" progressions [used in gospel music]: pg 213-214.

If you don't have the 300-pg Course, click here to read more about it.

 

 
"The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" 300pg Course - Learn the secrets to playing literally any song on the piano with a few simple, "easy-to-understand" techniques and principles! Join Jermaine Griggs in learning tons of music theory, concepts, and tricks that will help you to learn piano by ear! Thousands of musicians have already taken advantage of this excellent program ... why not you?

"The Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" is full of easy-to-understand tricks, tips, techniques and secrets to playing piano by ear! For this month only, I've also been able to throw in a few bonus items (3 additional piano software programs). Click here to learn the secrets to playing absolutely any song on the piano in virtually minutes! You won't regret it!


 
 

Newsletter Archive - Click here or visit https://www.hearandplay.com/newsletters.html