In this post, we’re counting down the top 10 iconic keyboard riffs of the 80s and featuring the instruments that made them famous: synths! And while many of the original keyboards used for these riffs are no longer available for sale, enthusiasts may find them second-hand.

And as you can see, it’s possible to recreate the sound of the original riffs using instruments available to us.

See how many of these riffs you can recognize!

#10. “Axel F” – Harold Faltermeyer (from Beverly Hills Cop)

Original Keyboard: Roland Jupiter-8
Our Keyboard: Roland Jupiter-X (0-00-10 preset)

Let’s start with the iconic theme song from the 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop. “Axel F” by Harold Faltermeyer originally used a Roland Jupiter-8, which was produced between 1981 and 1984 and has been named one of Roland’s best analog synths of all time, featuring eight-voice polyphony. For our remake, we’ll be using the newer Jupiter-X model.

#9. “Home Sweet Home” – Mötley Crüe

Original Keyboard: Yamaha CP-70

Next, we’ll play the opening riff to “Home Sweet Home” by Mötley Crüe. Drummer Tommy Lee plays these iconic measures on a Yamaha CP-70 in the track’s music video. Now discontinued, the CP-70 was designed to imitate an acoustic piano in a compact, portable, and amplified package. It uses acoustic-style frame action and frame construction together with electric guitar style pick-ups.

#8. “Runaway” – Bon Jovi

Original Keyboard: Oberheim OB-Xa
Our Keyboard: Roland Jupiter-X + Oberheimer Xpander

The keyboard part that opens this track was recorded by session musician Roy Bittan, who was later replaced by David Bryan. Originally, this riff was played on an Oberheim OB-Xa, which has been discontinued, but we’ve recreated the sound reasonably well by combining a Roland Jupiter-X and Oberheimer Xpander. The Xpander doesn’t include a keyboard interface, but it’s been lauded as one of the most flexible non-modular analog synths.

Riffs & Fills

Riffs and fills are what take a piano player from good to great. Take your playing to the next level with Riffs and Fills. Free with your Pianote membership.

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#7. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” – Eurhythmics

Original Keyboard(s): Uncertain, but the gear may have included an Oberheim OB-X, Roland JUNO-6, Roland SH-09, and Roland CSQ-100
Our Keyboard: Roland JUNO-106

One of the most iconic songs of the 1980s was performed by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, a couple at the time, and was written after they had a big fight. The catchiness of the “Sweet Dreams” riff can be attributed to the way it’s composed, the top note reaching higher and higher before resolving back to the beginning of the riff. We’ll play this riff on the JUNO-106, which recreates the sound and vibe quite well.

#6. “Right Here Waiting” – Richard Marx

Our Keyboard: Yamaha CP-70

Now let’s switch the mood over to a classic, wistful 80s ballad. Richard Marx reportedly wrote “Right Here Waiting” in 20 minutes for his wife, whom he missed dearly while on tour. We’ll play this opener on the CP-70, but the melody’s shimmering quality will sound beautiful on any acoustic or acoustic-sounding piano.

#5. “The Final Countdown” – Europe

Original Keyboard: Roland JX-8P

Just in time to narrow down our top 5, let’s switch gears again into the world of hard rock. This is the heroic riff from Europe’s “The Final Countdown,” which rocketed up to #1 in the charts of 26 countries! And while the keyboard part was played by Mic Michaeli, the riff itself was actually written by Joey Tempest, the lead singer of Europe five years before the song was recorded! We’ll hear the sound of this legendary riff on the Roland JX-8P.

#4. “Thriller” – Michael Jackson

Original Keyboard: Mini Moog

We can’t talk about 80s hits without Michael Jackson! The left hand part to this riff, rich with syncopations, is funk at its best and matches the bass perfectly. Greg Phillinganes plays the Mini Moog on this track, a legendary synth that, thanks to its compact size, is considered the first synth for musicians! Its creator, Robert Moog, is a pioneer of electronic music, having invented the original Moog synthesizer in 1964.

#3. “Jump” – Van Halen

Original Keyboard: Oberheim OB-Xa
Our Keyboard: Roland JUNO-X + Oberheim Xpander

Van Halen’s most successful single stands out from their other work by being entirely based on a synth line. It was recorded on an Oberheim OB-Xa but since that model is no longer available, we’ll be playing this riff on a Roland Juno-X linked to an Oberheim Xpander to see how it sounds.

#2. “Take On Me” – a-ha

Original Keyboard: Roland JUNO-60
Our Keyboard: Roland JUNO-106

“Take On Me” is famous now, especially for its unique music video, but two previous versions were complete flops. Only the third version became the hit we know and love today. Here, we’ll play “Take On Me” on the Roland JUNO-106, but the original song was created with the Roland JUNO-60.

And now for our number one 80s keyboard riff…

#1. “Don’t Stop Believin'” – Journey

Our Keyboard: Roland V-Piano Grand

“Don’t Stop Believin’” was written by Jonathan Cain, Journey’s keyboardist, who was thinking of quitting the music business. But every time he called home, his father would tell him, “Don’t stop believin’,” which eventually became the chorus and title of Journey’s seminal, karaoke-worthy song.

We hope you enjoyed these iconic keyboard riffs! The piano is a truly versatile instrument — even more so when it’s hooked up to a few electronics. And knowing your keyboard well can definitely translate into synth skills.

For more synth action, check out our vlog with Mr. Tuna, and let us know which 80s riff is your favorite on our YouTube video.

The post Top 10 Keyboard Riffs of the 80s appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

People learn how to play piano for many reasons. Some of you want to impress your friends. Some of you want to work out your brains. Still others just want to play beautiful music. Well, these three exercises will cover all those bases! You’ll play something impressive that sounds nice and challenges your dexterity.

Download the free resources in F Major and let’s get started!

The Pitter-Patter Pattern

This one is fun — both to say and to play!

Sped up, this arpeggio looks difficult and fancy, but we’ll break it down between the two hands.

I play the pattern in C Major in the video, but in F Major, the fingering should work the same. Here’s the same fingering for the downloadable sheet music:

Make sure you take this slowly at first! The only way to get fast is to start slow.

It also helps to use a stronger finger like finger 2 or 3 instead of your pinky for that highest crossover note, which we’ve bedazzled in the mark-up above. Keep an eye on that top note — it’s kind of like target practice when it comes to hitting it.

The Mind Bender

Like the Pitter-Patter, the Mind Bender splits the arpeggios between the left and right hands. We’ll cycle through a few chords here.

This is the fingering I use:

It helps to look ahead and line your fingers up with your target notes. Keep track of where you are. Focus is important here!

As for ending the pattern, you can end it on the low C on your left hand.

My tips for this one:

1. Practice slowly first so you can increase speed with confidence.
2. Use a metronome to help you keep your rhythm even. Speed isn’t everything — you need to be even too!
3. Finally, be patient New skills take time and that’s normal.

The Dreamscape

This one can sound very nice right off the bat. We’ll start high (the highest note here is a high F):

The fingering can feel a little odd at first with this one, so I suggest you practice the movement a few times, hands separate and together.

The neat thing about the Dreamscape is that it’ll sound pretty even if you play it slow. Add some pedal (you don’t even need to bother to lift it until the end!) to connect those notes. Now you’re sounding professional.

We hope you have fun with these arpeggio exercises. Now practice lots and impress your friends!

The post 3 Beautiful Arpeggio Exercises appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Secret of Slash Chords

Slash chords are a great way to have fun and explore the sounds of your piano. Working through these chords you’ll better understand the scales you’re playing in, you’ll be working on your chord progressions, and you’ll be improving your dexterity on the keys.

So what are they?

A slash chord (or compound chord) is a combination of 2 chords.

When I look at a slash chord I like to think of ‘the slash’ as something that divides your chords from top to bottom (or what divides your right and left hands).

Think of a chord like ‘G/D’ as “G over top of D”, so you will play the G Major chord with your right hand on the upper register of the keyboard, and with your left hand on the bass notes, you’ll play D.

This exercise is about exploring all the harmonies and ‘slash chords’ you can create using just 1 triad. You won’t have to read them on a chord sheet, but now you’ll have the tools to when you need. You can check out our more in-depth lesson on slash chords here.

The first step is picking which chord to use with our right hand. I’ve chosen F in its second inversion, but you can choose whatever you see fit!

Take Note! A triad is inverted when a note other than the root is acting as the bass note. For each triad there are 2 possible inversions: the third as the bass note, or the fifth as the bass note. You can read more about inversions here!

The 1-6-4-5 Progression

This is where things are going to get fun. To begin our exploration of these mysterious slash chords I want you to play a basic 1-6-4-5 (I-vi-IV-V) progression with your left hand to a simple rhythm in the key of F.

Hot tip! If you’ve chosen a right-hand chord other than F Major, use the Number System to find out which notes fall into the progression.

In the key of F, the notes will be as follows:

Each time you play a note with your left hand that isn’t F (your root note) and play the F Major triad in your right, you are creating a slash chord!

The chord progression looks like this:

The More You Know! The 1-6-4-5 Progression is used in 100s of songs with great variety, like Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me”, and Justin Bieber’s “Baby”.

Tonic Chords

It’s important to always finish your progressions on the ‘tonic’ (your root chord, or the first chord you started with) because it’s going to give some sense of resolution to your playing. Ultimately, It’s going to make the progression sound like it’s at the end. Don’t be afraid to try out different options and experiment, but it might sound awkward and suspenseful to finish up with something other than your tonic chord.

Use Octaves

You might have noticed in my initial performance that I am bridging octaves with my left hand. Playing octaves is a powerful way to bring drama and gravitas to your playing. It may take time to come to terms with, but with some practice and patience it will become much more natural. Use octaves and you will be amazed at the epic sound you can get out of your piano.

Hot tip! Octaves might seem intimidating for players with smaller hands, but we’ve got a lesson designed specifically for that! Check it out here.

Get Creative

Now that we’ve spent some time and had our fun with the 1-6-4-5 progression, it’s time to branch out and explore some of the sounds relative to the key we are playing in. Since we are playing in F Major, we can start with the F Major scale:

If you are choosing to explore this exercise with a tonic chord other than F, for now just stick to the notes within its scale… If you are playing a C chord, use the C major scale. If you are playing an Ab minor chord, use the Ab minor scale.

Playing within the confines of the key you’ve chosen will keep these complex chords in traditional harmonies. It’s when you start to explore outside of the scale, trying out interesting and unexpected combinations, that you will begin to open up new avenues of sound; beautiful and not-so-beautiful.

Try ALL Combinations

There are 12 possible combinations as there are 12 notes in the chromatic scale.

Some of them are going to sound beautiful, some of them are going to sound spooky or haunting, some may be dreamy, or dramatic or even off-putting… but they all have a place in music, it’s just a matter of finding the right opportunities. Take some time at the end of your practice to let creativity flow through you and explore any and every combination you can think of. There is a world of endless sonic possibilities waiting for the pioneering pianist, and it’s up to you to find them and make the most of them.

Right Hand Broken Chords

Once you’ve got the hang of that and you’ve got a good grasp of what’s going on, you can break up the chords in your right hand with basic arpeggios.

Take Note: Arpeggios are the single notes of a chord broken-up and played in a repeating pattern. Learn more about arpeggios and how they can make your music sound beautiful here.

This is going to add variety and feeling to your playing. You could choose to play the notes in quarter or eighth-note rhythms, you could alternate between the broken and solid chords to create a sense of change– and you can try out any combination of bass note harmonies that we’ve explored previous to this. Broken chords are going to make your playing sound awesome.

Now there is a lot to think about once you get to this level, and there are a lot of moving parts– but there’s still plenty you can do to get creative and have some fun. Trying moving up an octave, try speeding up or slowing down your rhythms in your left hand. There is so much to explore.

Closing Thoughts

After some time with this you’ll be much better equipped to know the notes of your scales: what sounds good, what doesn’t. What you like, and what you want to hear more of. Music is about discovery and it isn’t always going to be beautiful, but the journey will be. Never be afraid to try something new, and practice makes progress!

Take care and happy practicing!

The post Endless Harmonies From Just ONE Chord (Slash Chords) appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Rhythm brings emotion and context to your playing. It can create tension or relief. Learning this new rhythm might really challenge your skill, but the results of patience and practice are well worth it.

You can do this!

I’ve got some quick tips and a fun routine that will improve your hand independence, and maybe just ‘break your brain’ a little bit!

Let’s Get Started

To begin learning a new rhythm, I always like to tap it out on my legs (or a table), so I can ‘feel it out’ before adding it to the piano.

Start with your left hand. It’s just 4 claps on the beat:

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Alright, now here’s where things are going to start to get wild:

Watch the video as I add in my right hand.

…Did you get it?

1000 bonus points if you did– but I’ve got a much simpler way to lay this rhythm out for you:

The Trick

All you’ve got to do is think about when your hands are hitting your legs. ()

It goes like this:

Together, right, left, right, together, right, left, right.

Or:

Take some time with that, and when you’re ready, it’s time to put this brain-breaking rhythm to good use.

On The Piano

Thankfully we’re only worrying about 2 notes with your right hand: G & D.

Once you get comfortable, l want you to add in a low ‘G’ with your left hand, but be careful about sticking to our rhythm:

Together, right, left, right, together, right, left, right.

That alone should be a very helpful exercise for hand independence and coordination, but let’s take it one extra step and add a little musicality with the 1-5-4 progression.

This is going to sound great, and really get your fingers working!

With your left hand, the 1-5-4 progression will be as follows:

G – D – C

Watch the video to get the best sense of how this progression fits in.

Hot Tip: If you are unfamiliar with ‘The Number System’ (or just need a quick refresher), you don’t need to be a math whiz: Check out the lesson here.

Review

Spend time with this and don’t be afraid to have some fun– experiment with volume or speed changes, and always be challenging yourself to be the best player you can be.

So can you play this rhythm? Remember practice is the doorway to progress, and patience is the key!

For more on learning and playing complicated rhythms, follow up with this next lesson.

Take care!

The post Can You Play This Rhythm? appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Today, I’ll show you one of my favorite intervals that will bring new beauty into your performances:

The 6th Interval

A “6th” is a musical interval that encompasses 6 notes of a scale (In this case from ‘F’ to ‘D’). There are 2 commonly occurring 6ths: A “major 6th” spans 9 semitones, while a “minor 6th” spans 8 semitones. (ie: from ‘A’ to ‘E’). In context, a major chord will generally seem to have a happier disposition, while minor chords tend to sound more somber.

Today we’ll be focusing on 6ths in the key of F. Here’s the F major scale:

F-G-A-B♭-C-D-E

To create a 6th, pick a key and count 6 notes up the scale. Be mindful of the shape you are creating with your hand, and take time to practice moving back and forth from different keys: It can be very tricky to keep track of two notes at the same time.

Using that spacing in the key of F, there will 5 major 6ths, and 3 minor 6ths.

F6 – G6 – Am6 – B♭6 – C6 – Dm6 – Em6

The ‘I-vi-IV-V’ Progression (1-6-4-5)

Let’s add some context to our sound with a simple and beautiful chord progression. If you are familiar with The Number System, it’s likely you know the very popular 1-6-4-5 progression.

Take Note! The 1-6-4-5 progression is commonly known as “The ’50s progression”. As the name implies, it was common in the 1950s and early 1960s and is particularly associated with doo-wop.

In the key of F Major, the sequence is as follows:

F – Dm – B♭ – C

Got it? Now all I want you to do is add some random 6ths over top of your new progression.

On top of all that, you can experiment with jumps and rhythms to bring extra interest to your playing.

Change It Up With Different Chord Progressions

This is where you can get creative. Try out different chord progressions, make the most of your diatonic chords, and don’t be afraid to experiment or test something new: Music is yours to discover!

Here is a 2nd sequence you can practice, with a ‘more melancholy’ feel to it:

The ‘vi-I-IV-V’ Progression (6-1-4-5)

The 6-1-4-5 progression in the key of ‘F’ is as follows:

Dm – F – B♭ – C

These are the same notes we played in the 1-6-4-5, but in a different order, creating a very different feeling.

It might be difficult to keep track of everything, but that’s okay! If you take the time with this routine it’s going to sound beautiful, no matter your speed or skill. Spend some time really focusing on your hand shape and how it fits across different keys, and don’t forget to have fun doing it.

There is so much beauty waiting to be discovered in 6ths, so try it out, and make sure to experiment in new key signatures and styles!

See you next time, and happy practicing!

The post Beautiful Piano Music With One Interval appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Here are our Top 10 Hollywood piano moments, in no particular order:

ROCKETMAN – Your Song

Piano Trivia: Although it’s 100% Taron’s voice through-out the film, and he learned to make his playing look as realistic as possible, the sound of young Elton’s playing is credited to David Hartley, professional pianist and conductor.

Piano Trivia: On the day they filmed that famous scene at FAO Schwarz, Robert Loggia and Tom Hanks noticed that doubles dressed like them were on hand just in case the two could not do the dance moves correctly. It became their goal to do the entire keyboard number without the aid of the doubles. They succeeded.

CASABLANCA – As Time Goes By

Piano Trivia: In 2014, the original Casablanca miniature piano sold at auction for an incredible 3.4 MILLION dollars.

BONUS Trivia! The line “Play it again, Sam” is one of the most widely quoted lines from Casablanca, but it never appears in the film. In the famous piano scene, Ilsa leans on the piano and says, “Play it once, Sam” and “Play it, Sam.”

THE PIANIST – Szpilman & Hosenfeld

Piano Trivia: Shots of Szpilman’s hands playing the piano in close-up were performed by Polish classical pianist Janusz Olejniczak, who also performed on the soundtrack.

TOM & JERRY: The Cat Concerto

Piano Trivia: Tom’s piano playing was dubbed by musical director Scott Bradley. In some passages, to make it sound extra difficult and impossible for the cat to play while dealing with Jerry, it was arranged for a 4-hand piano duet.

TWILIGHT: Bella’s Lullaby

Piano Trivia: “’Bella’s Lullaby‘, as it appears in this film, was not written specifically for the movie, but to speak of love—ecstatic, tormented love,” Burwell writes on his website.

RAY: What’d I Say

OFFICIAL PIANOTE RANKING:
LISA: 8/10
SAM: 9/10

Piano Trivia: Jamie Foxx remarked that the demanding role barely left him any time to sleep. His day would begin early in the morning filming for long hours, then he’d go home and stay up late practicing the piano.

Hot Tip! It might look intimidating, but with a little bit of practice and patience, even you can learn to “Play Like Ray”!

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PT.1: Ron & Hermione

OFFICIAL PIANOTE RANKING:
LISA: 6/10
SAM: 8.5/10

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: Live Aid Performance

OFFICIAL PIANOTE RANKING:
LISA: 9/10
SAM: 9/10
Honourable Mention

Piano Trivia: Rami Malek worked to painstakingly match his performance – including the smallest gestures and physical ticks – to the now famed recording of Freddie Mercury in Queen‘s Live Aid set.

LA LA LAND

Piano Trivia: Gosling had no prior experience playing the piano before this film. Co-star John Legend, who is a classically trained pianist, said he was “jealous” of how quickly Gosling learned to play so well, so quickly.

Well, that’s it! 10 incredible Hollywood piano moments from 1942 to 2019. I know there’s plenty more out there to inspire you to practice or try something new, what did we miss? We’ve picked our favorites, so what are you watching tonight??

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The first time I remember hearing this kind of music, I was listening to a man called Jerry Lee Lewis— also known by his nickname: The Killer. He has been described as “Rock ‘n’ Roll’s first great wild man”, and is absolutely one of the most influential pianists of the twentieth century.

As part of his act, he would pound the keys with his heel, kick the piano bench aside, sit on the keyboard, and even stand on top of the instrument. He was an incredible showman and musician– one of the first true pioneers of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

As you can see in the video– Rock ‘n’ Roll piano might be a bit crazy to play, but it’s a great way to test your endurance on the keys, and have a lot of fun doing it!

Let’s dig our heels in.

The Progression

Keeping things simple, we’ll use the1-4-5 progression in the key of C (all the white keys).

Right-Hand Technique

For each measure, play your chords repeatedly in 8th notes.

C Major: 2 measures
F Major: 2 measures
G Major: 1 measure
F Major: 1 measure
C Major: 1 measure
G Major: 1 measure
(Repeat)

Start slow and work your way up to get to familiar with the progression. When you finish, try to end on the 1st C for a sense of resolution.

Left-Hand Rhythms

The left hand is a little less consistent, but still follows a pattern, and the same chord progression. We’ll stick to triad shapes, all in the root pattern.

We’ll play these triads in broken form, from bottom to top on each measure, using this rhythm:

1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

Make sure to follow along in the video if you need to get a better sense of the timing. Head to 4:10 to check it out.

Tips ‘n’ Tricks for Rock ‘n’ Roll

Make sure to stay relaxed when you’re playing! The repetition of playing those quick chords with your right hand is going to get tiring– so start slowly and work your speed up, faster and faster every time you try, and when you feel ready… start going really fast.

What about one of Rock ‘n’ Roll Piano’s greatest moves? The Slide (also known as a glissando) is a fast run up or down several keys on the keyboard. It’s an interesting and engaging effect to play on the piano, but above all it’s just plain fun and really adds to that Rock mentality.

Make sure you’re using the flat part of your finger and not the edge, otherwise it might hurt!

Check it out in the video— and happy practicing!

The post Play Old School Rock ‘n’ Roll appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Learning how to play the blues on the piano will build your hand coordination and a good sense of rhythm. You’ll also learn a little about blues theory here today.

The Riff

Let’s dive right in by starting with a simple, left-hand riff to introduce the song. The notes you will be playing are F-F#-A-B-D.

We’ll end the riff with a D major triad (D-F#-A). You’ll play this triad on beat one at the same time as the last riff note (D).

This means the riff starts slightly later on an offbeat and the D major triad lands on beat one.

If this sounds confusing, it makes a lot more sense when you hear it! Feel free to rewind the video a few times and play or sing along to get comfortable with the riff.

The Chord Progression

Once you’re familiar with the riff, let’s move on to the chord progression! This 1-4-5 progression is what gives the 12 bar blues its unique, bluesy feel.

The chords we’ll be playing are: D, G, D, A, D

(There’s a little jump between the D and A major chords, so remember to look ahead and get ready for the next chord!)

We’ll play triads of these chords and play each note separately on the downbeat. This will create a running chord progression and bluesy bass line in your left hand.

D major chord: D-F#-A-F#
G major chord: G-B-D-B
D major chord: D-F#-A-F#
A major chord: A-C#-E-C#
D major chord: D-F#-A-F#

The Rhythm

Now that we have an opening riff and a funky bass line, let’s add in some right hand!

The right-hand triads are the same chords as the left hand, and you’ll play the right-hand triads on the offbeat between the left-hand notes.

If you count “one and two and three and four and,” your right-hand triads will sync with the “and.” Play each chord for eight beats.

Again, this makes more sense when you hear it. You can replay the video a few times to get familiar with how it sounds.

Put It All Together

Practice the riff and the chord progression on their own until you’re comfortable, and then put it all together for a Ray Charles style performance!

If you want to take your playing to the next level, here are some improv ideas:

Inversions

Mix up the order of the notes in your chords by playing inversions. If you’re new to chord theory, learn what are chord inversions right here on the Pianote blog.

Turnarounds

Turnarounds are little licks that connect sections together. Even a simple rising or descending scale can be a cool-sounding turnaround.

Get more out of licks by learning the blues scale formula on the piano.

Slides

Slides are fun and can be done anywhere on the keyboard! No theory required. Just pick a starting point and gently sweep your fingernail across the keyboard.

Experiment and enjoy yourself; the possibilities are endless. In no time, you’ll be playing blues piano just like Ray Charles.

The post Play 12 Bar Blues Piano Like Ray Charles appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

Ever heard of Oscar Peterson, Scott Joplin, or Fats Waller?

They’re some of the best jazz pianists in history. And they all played stride piano.

Here’s a little taste:

Stride piano involves playing the root note of a chord WAY down on the keys with your left hand, and then jumping (or “striding”) up to play the guide tones (I’ll explain these later) of the chord higher up.

Stride piano is not easy.

I want to be absolutely clear about that. Your left hand will be jumping around a lot.

But even if you have no intention or interest in jazz piano, this stride piano exercise is a fantastic way to develop your piano playing skills.

The Benefits of Stride Piano

You may never want to play a stride piano song, but it’s still a skill worth learning, because by practicing stride piano, you’ll also improve your:

• Keyboard familiarity, so you have a better understanding of where the notes on the piano are
• Accuracy, so you can play those notes (and any others) with more precision
• Understanding of chord shapes, how chords are made, and how to play them so you can see chords in a new light

In short, learning some basic stride piano exercises will improve all of the key skills that make a great piano player.

So let’s begin.

We need a chord!

We’ll use C major 7 for this lesson, but you can apply this stride technique to any 7th chord.

Let’s look at the notes fo the C major 7 chord:

As you can see, we have our C root note, plus the E-G-B.

A Word on Guide Tones

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned guide tones. Simply, guide tones are the 3rd and 7th notes of the chord.

They are called guide tones because they “guide” what type of chord it will be. The 3rd and 7th tell us whether the chord is major, minor, dominant, etc.

So for our C major 7 chord, the 3rd note is the E, and the 7th note is the B.

Those are the other 2 notes we will play in the left hand.

Your First Stride Chord

Okay, enough talking. Let’s stride.

Start by playing the root note (C) LOW down on the keys. We want to leave ourselves some room to stride, so it’s important to play the bass quite low on the piano:

Next, we need to stride up to play those guide tones. Remember we’ll be playing the 3rd and the 7th, which will be E and B.

Play them with your middle finger and thumb, like this:

Notice how big that jump is! Which brings me to the most important point…

Practice this SLOWLY!!

I cannot stress that enough. It’s much more important to be accurate than to be fast, Once you are accurate, then you can work on your speed.

As you practice this, your hands will “remember” where they are supposed to be. But you need to be accurate. Otherwise, they’ll remember all the wrong things!

To practice, simply stride back and forth between the root note and guide tones:

You can swap the note order!

Whaaaaa?!

Just like you can change the order of notes in a chord to make inversions, you can swap the order of the guide tones.

So instead of playing the 3rd and 7th (E and B) you could play the 7th and 3rd (B and E). This is a bit of a bigger jump, but it creates a different sound and is also super handy when you’re striding between different chords.

Stride piano can be really beautiful, and it’s certainly impressive!

So try striding today!

The post How To Play Stride Piano appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

It’s been used so many times, it’s now become an inside joke in the world of jazz. And once you know it, you’ll start hearing it everywhere.

And I mean, everywhere:

So become part of the inside joke, and learn it for yourself.

How to Play “The Lick”

As popular as it is, “The Lick” is very simple to play. There are only 5 notes.

Really the only tricky part is that grace note in the middle of the first measure. That teensy D note means that you play it softer and faster than the E which comes immediately after.

Make sure you watch the video to see it in action.

This is “The Lick” in the key of D minor, but it can be played in any key signature. Once you have this version down, try playing in some other keys.

Don’t play it too much though, because then you’ll never get it out of your head!

Why is “The Lick” so popular?

It’s catchy! That’s the shortest and easiest answer. It’s simple and it resolves, so our ears are naturally drawn to it.

To get a bit more technical, “The Lick” is played over a minor 7th chord. It starts on the root note of that chord, walking up the minor scale, before jumping down to the 7th note (in this case C) and finally resolving on the D.

And that resolution is really pleasing to the human ear.

How to Add “The Lick” to Your Playing

“The Lick” sounds great over a minor 7th chord. So to figure out how to use “The Lick” in your playing, you need to look for common places to find a minor 7th chord.

And one of the most common is the 2-5-1 jazz chord progression.

Let’s quickly look at this progression in the key of C.

The 2 chord is a D minor 7th. The 5 chord is a G dominant 7th. And the 1 chord is a C major 7th.

So immediately we can see that “The Lick” we’ve just learned will fit perfectly over that first D minor 7th chord!

Try it for yourself. Play the chords with your left hand and practice playing “The Lick” over the top.

And then smile.

Now you know how to play “The Lick” on piano.

And you’re part of jazz music’s biggest inside joke!

The post How To Play “The Lick” On Piano appeared first on Free Piano Lessons Online | The Note | Pianote.

What makes a song sound “jazzy”?

And how do you get it to sound that way? Sam is back with another fantastic jazz lesson that will show you some very simple ways you jazz-up pretty much any song.

To prove that this works, he’ll show us how it’s done using “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. Here’s the first line of the song before we do anything fancy:

As you can see, we’re in the key of C major and we’ll be playing chords with our left hand and the melody with our right.

But before we make any changes, we need to answer the question at the start of this post. What makes a song sound “jazzy”?

Well, there are a few things, but one of the biggest is this…

7th Chords

7th chords (or seventh chords) are the backbone of jazz music. Pretty much every chord you will ever see or play in jazz is some sort of 7th chord.

They’re so popular that many jazz standards don’t even write “7” on the music. It’s just assumed that you know it’ll be a 7th chord.

So for our jazz version of “Twinkle, Twinkle”, we’ll be turning all of our regular chords into some sort of 7th chord. So our first line will now look like this:

If this looks a bit much, don’t worry. We’ll show you how to build all of these chords for “Twinkle, Twinkle” in the key of C. The important thing to remember is that we’ll be using only white notes for every chord.

If you’d like a more in-depth lesson on 7th chords in general, simply click here.

Major 7th chords

We’ll be building two different major 7th chords for this song. The first one is the first chord of the song, which is C major 7 (also written as C maj 7).

Our normal C chord has a C-E-G. These notes represent the numbers 1-3-5 when we count up from C (C is 1, E is 3, G is 5). So to make a 7th chord we need to count up 7 notes from C to find the note we will add, which is a B.

So our C major 7 chord now has 4 notes (C-E-G-B) and it looks like this:

It’s called a C major 7 chord because all of the notes in the chord are naturally found in the C major scale.

Now we’ll do the same thing for our F chord. Remember we are in the key of C so we need to use all white notes.

Our F triad has the notes F-A-C. Can you guess the extra note we’ll have to add? Counting up 7 notes from F gives us an E. So our chord has the notes F-A-C-E:

This is also an F major 7 chord because all of the notes in the chord are naturally found in the F major scale (even though we are in the key of C).

There’s only one more chord we need to learn, and it’s not a major 7th…

The Dominant 7th

This is the chord we will build from the G triad. We’ll use the same principles as before.

So our G chord has the notes G-B-D (1-3-5 counting up from G). If we count up 7 notes from G what note do we get?

F!

So our chord is G-B-D-F.

But here is the problem!

We are in the key of C major, which means we’re using all white keys. But the F note is NOT in the key of G major (it’s F#). So this chord is NOT a G major 7, because it is not using notes from the G major scale.

Instead, we call this a G dominant 7. In music, it’s just written as a G7. Now why it’s called the dominant 7th is a lesson for another day (it’s kind of complicated). But notice how it creates a really unique sound.

In music, we use these chords to build a feeling of tension and uncertainty. The chord feels “unfinished” and sounds like it wants to resolve. It’s a very powerful technique.

A Note on Chord Inversions

In this lesson, you will see Sam play a weird-looking chord in measure 14. In music it looks like this:

And on the keys it looks like this:

While it may look confusing, this is a G7 in 2nd Inversion. All that means is we are taking all the notes in a G7 chord (G-B-D-F) and arranging them in a different order. In this case, that order is D-F-G-B.

But the notes are still the same, and it’s still a G7 chord. Watch this lesson for more on inversions with 7th chords.

So now we have the chords. But there’s still one more thing to add to make this song a jazz tune.

Rhythm and Swing

Jazz songs have a certain rhythm and swing to them. They’re not straight on the beat, boring 4/4 tunes.

So try adding a bit of rhythm and playing some of the chords on the “off” the beat to create that jazzy feel.

This can be tricky for new players, so don’t feel upset if you’re not at Sam’s level after one try (he is a pro after all).

Start simply by playing one chord on the “off” beat. Then when you can do that, try adding in another one.

Rhythm can be a challenge. We have a lesson here with some fantastic tips on how to improve your rhythm that will help you with your piano playing.

And you’ve done it! You’ve changed “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” from a boring old lullaby into a swinging jazz standard.

What other songs could you try and make jazzy? Comment below to let me know.

Have fun!

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