Let’s not kid ourselves.
The whole point of learning all these theories, principles, and shortcuts isn’t because we’re in love with this stuff (well, some of us are). But for most, learning this stuff is a means to an end.
And without a doubt, the ultimate “end” (at our website at least) is to hear a song and in a matter of minutes, be able to play it.
There’s a lot that goes into it, don’t get me wrong. But here, I want to give you a really concise blueprint… a series of steps that, if followed, can produce you results very quickly.
I call it the “GO-TO CHORDS” principle.
These are chords you can always rely on when you’re on certain tones of the scale. Many of you know them as diatonic chords.
In this post, I’m going to show you how they fit into my quick system.
But first, let me give you all the steps to playing a song or pattern quickly.
GOAL #1 – Be able to find the key quickly
When you’re an ear-player, everything starts here.
You don’t have sheet music in front of you.
You have no grand staff with a key signature telling you the key.
You must rely on your ear.
Luckily, I’ve done a 30-minute free video lesson on this topic that has helped tens of thousands. And if you’re really serious, you’ll invest a few bucks in the 80-minute audio course I put together on this same subject.
GOAL #2 – Know your scales & numbers
Finding your key puts you on the right planet.
Now you must speak the language of the planet you’re on.
The major scale (and minor for that matter) is the language. Not only must you know your scales but you must know them as numbers.
C major: C D E F G A B C.
C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, B is 7.
Luckily, I made a free guide that helps you with this as well. Click here to check it out.
GOAL #3 – Master the “go-to chords”
Once you know your scales as numbers, there are certain chords that happen naturally on certain numbers. If you’re on the 1st tone of the scale, there’s a “GO-TO chord” you can almost always rely on. Same with every other tone of the scale.
Here’s a quick list of them but check out this free guide I created on chords. It will break all of this down in all 12 keys.
1st tone = Major Chord
2nd tone = Minor Chord
3rd tone = Minor Chord
4th tone = Major Chord
5th tone = Major Chord
6th tone = Minor Chord
7th tone = Diminished Chord
Goal #4 – Learn to pick out bass notes
Once you come into a world (by determining the key in step #1), you automatically have 7 notes before you that will occur most often.
When you’re trying to pick out bass notes, you’re not being random. You’re relying on what you know about the major scale to guide you. Those 7 notes are key.
And to take it just a step further — even within those 7 notes are keys that occur most often. The first, fourth, and fifth tones are what we call “primary.” Out of the 7 notes that make up the scale, look for these 3 to occur most often. The others (aka “secondary”) support the primary ones.
Newbies: When I say bass notes, I mean the root of the chords. Most likely, you’ll be listening to a band playing. The bass player is holding down the root note while everyone else is playing chords, melodies, licks, and patterns. You’re really trying to key in on what the bass player is doing.
Having bass boost headphones can help. Turning up the bass may also help.
But from experience, it’s not really ONLY what the bass is doing but when you get good, you can just hear overall what’s going on. Your excuse will never be “the bass isn’t loud” because even if you can’t hear the bass itself, you can hear everything else and that should still hint you in the right direction.
Say you hear these 5 bass notes in the key of C major:
C >>> A >>> D >>> G >>> C
Good job, you picked them out!
Now all you gotta do is put this system all together:
Goal #5 – Put it all together
If you’ve picked out these notes in the bass:
C >>> A >>> D >>> G >>> C
…all you do now is backtrack.
You’ve already used step 1 to tell you the key (hopefully).
If you’ve listened to me, you’ve also used step 2 to key in on the major scale and limit your choices to the 7 notes of the scale (which will occur majority of the time; outside notes can occur too but they are not the norm).
Now you’ll use step 2 to also make sure you know your numbers for these bass notes:
C is 1
A is 6
D is 2
G is 5
C is 1
Now that you have the numbers, you can use the “go-to chords” in step 3.
I’m not saying these will always be your final chords. But they should always be your “GO-TO CHORDS.” The only exception to this rule is when you’ve developed your ears so well that you know without a doubt what chords are occurring.
If not, start with your go-to chords. And at least, if one or two don’t work, you can try other chords on those tones (like if one tone usually has a minor chord, try a major chord).
If your go-to chords sound right, then you focus on finding the right voicings or inversions.
Sure, you may be correct in knowing that C major is played off the 1st tone of the scale. But which C major?
C + E + G (root position)?
E + G + C (first inversion)?
G + C + E (second inversion)?
And if you’ve gotten the right inversion, have you got the right voicing?
Maybe the composer put two “E’s” in the chord (e.g. – E + G + C + E). It doesn’t change the fact that it’s a C major chord but it definitely accentuates the E’s (aka – “3rd tone”)… which sounds very good by the way when playing major 7 chords (E + G + B + E over “C” bass).
That’s basically the system.
Find key >>> identify major scale and numbers >>> determine bass >>> put correct go-to chords on each bass tone >>> tweak.
It seems long but each step is pretty short. And you get better and better over time.
For me, this all happens in about 20 seconds after turning a song off. For a beginner, it may take several hours. That’s ok. It’s better than sheet music because you’re FREE and liberated with this method. And as you get better and better, you’ll add stuff to the song. As Paula Abdul on American Idol used to say, “you’ll make it your own.”
Well, I’m done for today. This lesson has quite a few gems in it. Save it, print it, read and re-read it. Tack it up on your wall.
This is it right here. Follow it, hone it, and you’ll do really well.
Until next time.
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