This video is here to give you the tools you need to play for level 2. This video is divided into chapters with each of the concepts. I suggest watching the whole way through that’ll be best for you but if you’re looking for something specific feel free to skip ahead to the part that you need, music is a combination of different sounds these sounds have different frequencies or pitches.
Frequencies some of them are higher pitched some of them are lower pitched for example a C note is a low pitch frequency versus a G note is a higher pitch frequency.
We need to understand the distances between these nodes measured in frequencies now we don’t have to go into the science of measuring each frequency but we should understand how one node is different from another node and this is where the system of tones and semitones comes into place.
If you look at the Keyboard we have a bunch of notes, there are 61 on my keyboard you can go from one note to the next in intervals so if we count the distance between two nodes for example C to E there are a few notes in between them that we have skipped getting there so while making any music or analyzing any music the distances between notes and these distances are measured in the most basic form as semitones. A semitone is the shortest interval in
Western music from one note to the next node on our keyboard so if we go from C to C sharp we call that a semitone distance now neither C nor C sharp is a semitone. A semitone is a distance between C and C sharp so C sharp to D that’s a semitone distance but again neither of those notes are a semitone.
Tones are basically two semitones so a distance of C to D would be an entire tone or two semitones. Again neither of these notes are a tone the distance between them is.
We can measure any distance now using a combination of tones and semitones. If we look at C to F we’ve got one two three four five semitones or two and a half tones is the distance between these nodes once we understand how to apply these tones and semitones we can create patterns on our keyboard or in music in general and shift them to any part of the keyboard that we want to play.
Music has three core elements the melody which is the tune which is notes one after another all of those are one after another they create a melody.
A Harmony which is notes at the same time to create chords. So here I’ve got three notes at the same time that creates a pleasant sound so I can create more emotions with harmonies and of course Rhythm which keeps you in time or gives you a Beat. Now the keyboard of course any music is going to be rhythmic because you have to have some sort of timing when you’re playing it but the keyboard is mainly a harmonic instrument because you’ve got
10 fingers you can play a bunch of notes at the same time but understanding these harmonies takes a little bit of work and a little bit of study it is quite theoretical so let’s look at the most core concept of Harmony which is a chord.
A chord is basically more than two notes played at the same time chords have names some of them don’t have names but most of them do have names chords are named based on the scale that they come from now scales are a little bit of a difficult concept. We’ll get into that at the next level, level three but what you’ve got to understand about chords is that they create harmonies, they create moods and feelings so when you’re playing a melody
the same Melody I played before I can play a chord that adds some positivity some happiness to it or some sort of Evil dark feeling towards it so a lot of Harmony and chords go into helping you create emotions in your music now let’s get into the different types of chords there’s two main types of chords and we learn about them right now.
Most chords that have names have three different nodes now there are two types of chords major chords and minor chords that come from major scales and minor scales but again that’s for the next video so a major chord is three notes together that give you generally a positive or A Happy Feeling this is not always the rule this is just a general idea but how we create a major chord on our keyboard or in music. All major chords have the same sort of pattern to them so remember we talked about tones and semitones when we play any chord we can create any major chord just by looking at the distances that we play so if I play the C major chord again C E and G if you look at the distances I start on C I have one two three four semitones to E and then one two three semitones to G so if I keep the same pattern I can play any major chord I want to. I have 12 notes on my keyboard, I can pick any of the 12 let’s say A flat most random one and I follow that same pattern of four semitones and then three semitones so start on A flat four semitones to see and then three semitones to E flat and that gives me an A flat major chord.
So any major chord I want to see is F G A flat F sharp C sharp any of them I know because I know those patterns stay the same, those are all major chords minor chords follow almost the same rule as major chords because all you’ve got is a different pattern that sort of extends to all the other minor chords so if you have a C
minor chord for example this pattern is a little different from the major chord because this time you start on C you have three semitones to E flat and then four semitones to G and this gives you any minor chord when you follow that pattern so that’s C minor that’s F sharp minor that’s G minor that’s E minor that’s B flat minor.
I can keep going because I know these patterns that give you all of your minor codes. Now one thing to remember with these chords is that once you have that set of three notes the chord’s name doesn’t change at all regardless of what order you play it in so if I play C E and G I know this is a C major chord but if I play E G and C that’s still a C major chord because no other chord has only these three notes C E and G so keep that in mind because you might see some of these codes in different shapes in these inversions that you have and when you see them like that don’t get stressed because this is now a whole new set of distances right it’s just a C major chord in a new shape as songs get more challenging to play they’re going to use more notes on the keyboard in different positions as well since we have only two hands we’re going to have to start moving our hands a lot more across the entire keyboard to accommodate those challenges now there are some ways to do this that are better than others based on what notes you’re playing, so make sure always that when you’re looking at what you’re playing look at what you’re playing next so that you can move your hand so that your fingers accommodate the notes that are coming next.
Now moving positions is very important for your left hand especially because your left hand usually plays chords and chords don’t necessarily stay in the same sort of place because you might play a C major and you have to jump to an F major jump to a G major jump to an A Minor so these are big jumps and you have to be really comfortable with those movements all this takes is a lot of practice it’s not something that can be just told to you or taught you to need to sit down and do it again and again and we have a bunch of drills that will help you with this.
LEARN: How to play Chords on keyboards! from the video below