Ten Blog Posts To Improve Your Piano Playing

Pop-punk chord progression in C major About this sound Play ( help · info ) . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think Jermaine Griggs is a great teacher. If you have the time, take a look at these links.

HearandPlay Blog Posts that I think are valuable and worth checking out:

1. Quartal Chords - Secret Chords That Work

2. Transposition and Modulation - How To Transpose and Modulate

3. Diminished Scale - How To Play the Diminished Scale

4. Chord Substitutions - Chord Substitutions Advice

5. Suspended Chords - Easy Way to Play Suspended Chords

6. Cadences - Amen Cadence Tips

7. Borrowed Chords - Learn What Borrowed Chords Are

8. 6-2-5-1 Chord Progressions - How To Play-6-2-5-1 chord progressions in minutes

9. Major 2 Chords - What Are Major 2 Chords

10. Left Hand Strength - 5-ways-to-improve-your-left-hand

4 Free Video Lessons

Happy Friday Freebie to you!






"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Chord Voicings- Which Chords with Which Notes?

Cover of Now He Sings Now He Sobs

* What Is A Slash Chord?

A slash chord is any triad played above a bass note:
D/C, Bb/C, F/C, and Ab/C are all examples of slash chords

* Improvisation:

Most young improvisers are taught that every chord has a scale to which it is married.
Try playing melodic lines over:

Slash Chord - Substitution For
E/C Cmaj#5
G/C Cmaj7(9)
A/C C7(13,b9)
Eb/C C7#9
D/C C7sus(9) (Dom or Maj7)
Bb/C C7sus(9)

* Arranging:

As composers and arrangers, we can easily fall prey to utilizing the same chord voicings over and over. Get yourself out of the funk by thinking in slash chords. Each time you invert the triad above the bass note, you'll get a different melody note in the lead voice.

* Add to Your Bag of Tricks

Hopefully this post has been an intro to using slash chords to your improvisation. Remember to experiment. I haven't covered all possible triad and bass note combinations... not by a long shot. Try developing a few of your own voicings to add to your bag of tricks. Then let me know what you come up with!

Two of my favorites are:
Gmaj7/C, which gives you a C Lydian sound and E7/C which gives you a C Lydian Augmented sound.

* GREAT Article by Gary Ewer (love this)

http://garyewer.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/which-chords-with-notes-harmonizing-a-melody

1. Every song needs a basic harmonic rhythm. It’s the frequency of the chord changes. For many songs, chords will change every four to eight beats. Determine what it will be for your own song. This usually means identifying the time signature for your song. If your song exhibits a continuous STRONG-weak-STRONG-weak pattern, you’re probably in 4/4 time.
2. Identify the key of your melody. Often the first and (especially) last notes of your melody will be the key note (tonic) of your song. Once you know the key, you’ll be able to identify the three chords that you’ll uyse the most: I, IV and V of that key (for example, in A major, you’ll find that A, D and E will be the chords that work best.
3. Chords will usually change on strong beats. This means that beats one and three of every bar of your song will be good spots for you to change chords.
4. Identify the melody note on the strong beat. Usually the note or two after it will also offer a good clue as to what the chord should be. Let’s say your melody has the notes A and C# at the beginning. These are two notes from the A chord, and it’s a safe bet to use that chord. But you’ll also find that the notes A and C# also exist in F#m, so consider that chord as well.
5. In general, your chord progressions will start on the tonic chord, then go to the IV-chord, moving on to the V-chord, then return to the I-chord. There are other chords you can use, of course, but that I – IV – V pattern will be a workhorse that will work well for you.
6. The faster your song, the less frequent your chord changes should be. Changing chords frequently in a fast song makes the song sound frantic, and so unless you’re looking for that effect, make chord changes less frequent in faster tempos.

* Suggested Playlist:

Kind of Blue- Miles Davis
Now He Sings, Now He Sobs- Chick Corea... listen to him on acoustic piano.
My Favorite Things- John Coltrane

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Chord Substitution

A friend asked me what substitute chord could take the place of D minor (ii chord) in the Key of C. Here's what I found:

* Any chord can be substituted for another which has the same tonic, dominant or traveling function. For example, in the key of C the progression becomes Dm7, Db7, CM rather than Dm7, G7, CM. ...

http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/jazz/substitutions.html

* So in the key of C, the primary dominant is the V7 chord, G7, and the subV for G7 is Db7. ... can play a D major triad on top of the regular C, E, G, and Bb. ...

So what is a substitute dominant chord?

Well, it's a dominant chord an augmented fourth, aka tritone, away from the dominant chord it's substituting for.

Replacing dominants with their substitutes

C7 / F7 / C7/ G-7 Gb7
F7 / F#dim7 / C7 / E-7 Eb7
D-7 / Db7 / C7 Eb7 / D-7 Db7

http://www.thejazzresource.com/substitute_dominant_chords.html

Substitute Dominant chords, sometimes referred to as tritone substitutes, are some of my favorite chords in jazz. On page 185 of Jermaine Griggs The Secrets To Playing Piano By Ear, he explains that the iimin7 chord can be substituted for a iv#dim7
Do you have the 300 page course book?
Click Here, 300 Page Piano Course

* Discussion on substitute chords

http://zone.hearandplay.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=25303

* Swap out dull chords for exciting ones at the Learning Center

http://www.hearandplay.com/main/tag/substitute-tritones-in-chord-progression

* Chromatic Root Movement
This is one of my favorite changes in the key of G, play ii-sub V- I
Play D minor (D-F-A), Db (Db-F-Cb) and C (C-E-C)

* Tonic substitutes are chords which sound very similar to the tonic chord (or I chord) in a tune. In major keys, the chords iii and vi are often substituted for the I chord, to add interest. In the key of C Major, the I Major 7 chord is "C, E, G, B" the iii chord is e minor 7 ("E, G, B, D") and the vi minor 7 chord is a minor ("A, C, E, G"). Both of the tonic substitute chords use notes from the tonic chord, which means that they will usually support a melody that was originally designed for the tonic (I) chord.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_substitution

* Free Chord Charts- Lots of Freebies!
One of my favorite sites for charts, you'll want to visit

http://www.completechords.com/Pages_Pathway_Posters/Poster_Keyboard_Chord_1.htm