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 Full 21 Day eBook Presented by PianoIn21Days.com By Jacques Hopkins Copyright © 2014 by Jacques Hopkins All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Table of Contents Introduction Day 1 – Navigate the White Keys Day 2 – Navigate the Black Keys Day 3 – From Key to Key Day 4 – Introduction to Chords Day 5 – Major Chords Day 6 – Left Hand Day 7 – Minor Chords Day 8 – Learn 36 Songs in a Few Minutes Day 9 – The Pedal Day 10 – Learning New Songs Part 1 (Wagon Wheel) Day 11 – Learning New Songs Part 2 (Hallelujah) Day 12 – 7th Chords Day 13 – Learning New Songs Part 3 (When I Was Your Man) Day 14 – Slash Chords Day 15 – Learning New Songs Part 4 (Someone Like You) Day 16 – Major Scales Day 17 – Minor Scales Day 18 – Learning New Songs Part 5 (Let Her Go) Day 19 – Sus, 4th, 2nd, and 9th Chords Day 20 – Learning New Songs Part 6 (Candle In The Wind) Day 21 – Learning Melodies & Beyond Appendix A ­ Flashcards ­ White Keys Appendix B ­ Flashcards ­ Black Keys Appendix C ­ Song Chords ­ Wagon Wheel Appendix D ­ Song Chords ­ Hallelujah Appendix E ­ Song Chords ­ When I Was Your Man Appendix F ­ Song Chords ­ Someone Like You Appendix G ­ Song Chords ­ Let Her Go Appendix H ­ Song Chords ­ Candle In The Wind Appendix I ­ Formula Cheat Sheet Foreword Piano In 21 Days is just over 1 year old. It started with just me and an idea. An idea to teach people piano in a way no one else is teaching. A way that makes it easy, fast, and fun. A way that makes you want to strangle yourself for all the time you wasted with traditional piano lessons as a kid. Piano is simply not that hard. In fact, it is the absolute best first instrument to learn for the simple reason that every note is right in front of you and in order. Think about other instruments, with strings and blowing and crazy movement. If you think learning the piano is difficult, it is because someone made you think that with complicated theory and boring practice. Give my method a shot and you will see what I mean. I wish you the very best. Jacques Hopkins New Orleans, LA April, 2014 Introduction I am Jacques Hopkins, your host on this journey to piano competency. Let me start by telling you about some of my frustrations with playing the piano. I took piano lessons growing up like many kids do. I hated piano lessons growing up like many kids do. One of the main reasons is because I’m just not very good at reading sheet music (and don’t like it very much). Sheet music is great for some people. But banging out songs after hours and hours and days and days with sheet music is simply not enjoyable for me. I knew there had to be a better way. Another way some people learn is by ear. They hear a tune and then can “pick it up”. Not my style either. It just doesn’t work for me. The method I lay out in the pages to follow is the only way I play today and the way I have been playing for the past 12 years. This method has enabled me to play in several bands, rack up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and provide me with an overall pleasurable experience every time I sit down at the piano. Once you learn my method, you will be learning songs in 5 minutes, not 5 weeks. As the saying goes, I’m going to teach you to fish rather than simply give you a fish. What’s different about my course versus virtually any other piano learning method out there is my course teaches you how to learn for yourself. I’m not going to simply teach you certain songs, but am going to teach you how to learn the techniques to enable you to learn just about any song in just a few minutes. A quick note about practice before we begin with the first lesson. I’ve done the very best I can to help you by putting this course together. Now it’s up to you to follow through. Each day, I provide you with a lesson and one or more guided practice sessions. To get the most out of this course, you should spend as much time as it takes on your own master that day’s lesson. This practice can get boring at times, but I promise it will be worth it. Once you learn the fundamentals of my method, practice will be a delight. After the first 8 days, you will be playing a basic version of songs like “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey, “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5, or “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga. After the full 21 days, you will have learned the more advanced techniques to able to play the songs like I do in my videos. I wish you the best of luck in this journey. Enjoy. Day 1 – Navigate the White Keys We are going to start right from the beginning. If you are a beginner, you’re in the perfect place. If you have some experience, you can continue through the course to find the right place to pick up, or you may want to just stick here for a review. Here we go. This is what all the keys on a piano look like: 88 keys. 52 white keys. 36 black keys. You may have a keyboard that has less than 88 keys, that’s okay. You probably have the important ones. If you are new to piano, don’t get overwhelmed already. Today we are going to focus on just the white keys. Music is broken into 7 letter notes. You may have heard of a song “being in the key of C” or someone playing a “G” or an “A”. Those are musical notes and there are 7 and only 7 of them. We are going to start with “C” since it is so easy to recognize on the piano. C is the key just to the left of the 2 black keys that are together. See if you can find all of them. Notice how 2 black keys are grouped together and 3 black keys are grouped together. Where you have the 2 black keys together, just to the left is the “C” key. The same pattern of 12 keys (7 white, 5 black) repeats itself over and over again on the piano. For now, pick a section of these 12 keys and stick with them for the next several days (pick something in the middle). So, again, we’ll start with the “C” key. Let’s work our way from there to the right. The next white key is “D”. Notice the “D” key is right between the group of 2 black keys. Then we have the “E” key, to the right of the 2 black keys. Then the “F” key to the left of the group of 3 black keys. Then “G” is next. What’s after “G”? The alphabet starts over after “G” in music. The “A” key is after “G”. Finally, the “B” key is just to the right of the group of 3 black keys. If we were to go one more key to the right, we would be back to another “C” key. Now that we have gotten acquainted with the 7 white key notes, we can begin playing them. We are going to go ahead and jump into our first Practice Session of today. Day 1, Practice Session 1 Play a white key and name that key. Use any finger(s) you want at this point. Day 1, Practice Session 2 Print out Appendix A and cut along the lines to make flash cards. Put the flash cards in a stack and shuffle. Go through flash cards one at a time and play the note you see. For example, if you see the “E” flash card, look at your piano and play “E”. Then, move on to another flash card. That’s it for today. Make sure you don’t move on to Day 2 until you are comfortable with everything in Day 1. Tomorrow in Day 2’s lesson, we’ll begin with the black keys. Day 2 – Navigate the Black Keys Welcome to the 2nd day of the Piano in 21 Days course. Today we are going to learn about the black keys on the piano. Yesterday we learned the white keys and at this point I should be able to play any white key and you should be able to name the letter note corresponding to that key. I should also be able to say a letter and have you play the correct key. If you are having trouble with either, make sure you review yesterday’s lesson before proceeding with today’s. Hopefully you are ready, though. If so, let’s press forward with the black keys. You may have heard of “flats” and “sharps” in music. These are the black keys. A flat is the black key just to the left of a white key. A sharp is the black key just to the right of a white key. A good way to remember it is if you think about the words “flat” and “left”, they both contain the letters “f”, “l”, and “t”, so they are very similar word. Flat think left. Sharp think right. Also note the symbols for flats and sharps. The symbol for flat is ♭. The symbol for sharp is ♯. From yesterday, you know where the D key is, for example. If you play the black note just to the left of D, that is the D♭. If I play the black note just to the right of D, we have the D♯. Now, here is where it can get tricky. D♯ has another name. Do you know what it is? That’s right, E♭. The black key between D and E is both D♯ and E♭. For every 7 white keys, there are only 5 black keys. Let’s look at the 5 black keys as sharps and then as flats. Make sure to refer to the image to the left. Sharps: ● C♯ ● D♯ ● F♯ ● G♯ ● A♯ Flats: ● D♭ ● E♭ ● G♭ ● A♭ ● B♭ That’s really it for the main idea for today. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re now going to do a couple of practice sessions involving the black keys. Day 2, Practice Session 1 Play a black key and give both names for that key. Use any finger(s) you want at this point. Day 2, Practice Session 2 Print out Appendix B and cut along the lines to make flash cards. Put the flash cards in a stack and shuffle. Go through flash cards one at a time and play the note you see. For example, if you see the E♭ flash card, look at your piano and play E♭. Then, move on to another flash card. Day 2, Practice Session 3 Mix together flash cards from Day 1 and Day 2 and repeat Practice Session 2. After Day 2, you should feel very comfortable with every individual key on the piano. Continue practicing on your own with the flash cards as necessary. We’ll begin playing sequences of notes tomorrow. Day 3 – From Key to Key Welcome to Day 3. If you came into this as a complete beginner, you should be feeling pretty good about yourself as you now know every key on the piano in only 2 days. Today, we are going to get into playing two consecutive notes. If you play a note on the piano, then play the absolute very next note in either direction, you have just gone a half step. For example, play a D and then a D♯. You have just gone up a half step. Now play D and then D♭. You have just gone down a half step. Get it? Try playing some of these half steps on your own: ●
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E to E♭ is a half step down G to G♯ is a half step up B to B♭ is a half step down F to F♯ is a half step up C to C♯ is a half step up A to A♭ is a half step down Now, here are some tricky ones. I mentioned it’s a half step if it’s the absolute next key. So, what is a half step up from E? That’s right, F. And a half step down from F is E. The same thing applies to B and C. Now, what do you get when you put two half steps together? Right, a whole step. 1/2 + 1/2 = 1 whole. A whole step up from C is D. A whole step up from G is F. A whole step up from D is F♯. Let’s try some: ●
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Play D and then a whole step up from D (E) Play A and then a whole step down from A (G) Play C♯ and then a whole step up from C♯ (D♯) Play F and then a whole step down from F (D♯) Play E and then a whole step up from E (F♯) Great. Mastering half and whole steps is really going to help us on our way to learning chords (notes played at the same time). Let’s continue with another practice session. Day 3, Practice Session 1 Use all of your flash cards from Day 1 and Day 2. When you see a flash card, play that key, and then one half step up from that key. For example, if you see the C flash card, play C and then C♯. Day 3, Practice Session 2 Repeat Practice Session 1 but going a half step down instead of up. Day 3, Practice Session 3 Repeat Practice Session 2 but go up a whole step. Day 3, Practice Session 4 Repeat Practice Session 3 but go down a whole step. Great work. Remember to practice as much as you feel necessary. Remember, the journey of a thousand miles starts with just a single step. It may seem like a while to day 21, but believe me you have taken many steps and will be playing real songs before you know it. Tomorrow we will get started with actual chords. I’m really looking forward to it and hope you are too. Day 4 – Introduction to Chords Day 4 is upon us and this is where things start to get very interesting! Today we are going to begin playing multiple notes at the same time, known as chords. It won’t be long before we can put a few chords together and start playing songs. Let’s jump right in. As I mentioned, a chord is basically just a set of notes played at the same time. Chords come in a variety of flavors, but the two main ones (and you’ve probably heard of these) are major and minor chords. Just so you know, major chords are the ones that have a nice bright and cheery sound to them. Minor chords are a darker, sadder sound. Try it yourself. A C Major chord is one of the most popular chords out there. It is typically played with your right hand in the following position: ● Thumb on C ● Middle finger on E ● Pinky on G Go ahead and put your fingers there and press down at the same time. That is a C Major Chord. You will notice the sound is bright and cheery. Day 4, Practice Session 1 Play the C major chord over and over again until you are comfortable with the physical motion of playing three keys at the same time. Now let’s try a C Minor chord and try to hear the difference. A C Minor chord is typically played with your right hand in the following position: ● Thumb on C ● Middle finger on E♭ ● Pinky on Put your fingers there and press down at the same time. You should notice this time the sound is a little darker and sadder. Day 4, Practice Session 2 Play the C minor chord over and over again until you are comfortable. Day 4, Practice Session 3 Alternate between playing C major and C minor to begin getting used to transitioning from one chord to another. That’s all for today! Chords are so powerful and today was just the introduction. Over the course of the next few days, we are going to learn many more. Day 5 – Major Chords Today we are going to focus on the major chords. Now, all major chords have exactly the same structure. That’s right, once you learn one major chord, you know them all. And you thought you had to spend years learning piano! And fortunately after Day 4, we already know a couple chords. Here is all you have to remember for major chords: 4­3. That’s it. I’m going to use the C major chord from yesterday to begin to show you what I mean. Right now we want to play a C major chord. Put your right thumb on C. From there, we’ll count up 4 half steps (the first number of 4­3) and end up on E. Now, do the same thing from E and go 3 half steps. That puts you on a G. Put your thumb on C, your middle finger on E and your pinky finger on G. Press all three keys at the same time and we have a C major chord. You see how we built the chord? Again, to build a C major chord, we started at the C key, went up 4 half steps, and then 3 half steps. Day 5, Practice Session 1 Play the C major chord (C­E­G) several times with your right.. Next, I want you to play every C major chord you can find on your piano or keyboard. Play it over and over again until you feel comfortable. Once finished with Practice Session 1, you should be an expert on C major! Let’s try a couple more chords now. F major is going to be next. We are going to build the F major chord the same way we did for C. Start at the F key, go up 4 half steps, and then 3 half steps (remember 4­3). You should have F­A­C. Use the same finger structure as you did for the C major chord (thumb on F, middle finger on A, pinky on C). Day 5, Practice Session 2 Play all the F major chords on your piano or keyboard. Day 5, Practice Session 3 Build a G major chord the same way you built the C major chord and F major chord. Really try to figure it out on your own then play all the G major chords on your piano or keyboard. Day 5, Practice Session 4 Build the remaining major chords on your own and practice them. There are 12 in all. Day 5, Practice Session 5 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that major chord. You have now learned 12 chords: C, F, & G major. Just so you know, it is no coincidence we are starting with these 3 as they are the only 3 major chords using only white keys. Let’s try 1 more Practice Session. Ready to add in the left hand? We’ll get into that tomorrow. Day 6 – Left Hand If you’ve made it this far, let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief, as today should be a relatively easy day. In just 5 days you now know every key on the piano, as well as many of the most popular chords. It’s high time we throw in the left hand. Up to this point everything we have done has been with the right hand and it’s time to change that. Today will be completely devoted to adding in the left hand to what we have already done. Let’s start with our trusty C major chord in the right hand. The way to add in the left hand for now is to stretch out your hand and play two C notes, one with your left pinky, and one with your left thumb. These two C notes will be the next two C notes to the left of the chord you are playing in your right hand. When you play the 3 notes in the right hand, also play the 2 notes in the left hand. Day 7, Practice Session 1 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that major chord, adding the left hand as well. (this is a repeat of the last practice session from yesterday but with the left hand added) After Practice Session 1, that is all for today. Day 7 – Minor Chords Welcome to Day 7. I want to remind you that I can’t stress practicing enough. You should be following the lessons and practice sessions, but also not moving on to the next thing until feeling comfortable to that point. Believe me, it’s going to be worth it. Let me let you in on a little secret. The practice you are doing right now is the most boring, tedious, and lame practice you will ever do if you stick with my method. Once you learn the method, you will be able to pick up songs in a matter of minutes and practice will be a blast because you will actually be playing the song. I hope that gives you a little motivation to keep going. Today, we are going to focus on the minor chords. If you remember from Day 4, I mentioned that major chords are the ones that sounds happy and cheery. Minor chords sound a little less happy and a little darker. That’s the best way to tell them apart. I have mentioned several times now the key to forming a major chord is to remember 4­3. Well, every minor chord is just the opposite: 3­4. Let’s start with C. A C major chord is C­E­G. We built it by starting at C, going up 4 half steps to E, and then 3 half steps to G. Let’s reverse the formula and build a minor chord. Start at C, go up 3 half steps to E♭, then go 4 half steps from there to G. So that’s C­E♭­G. You will notice the top and bottom notes are the same between the major and minor chord. That’s because 4 + 3 = 7 and 3 + 4 = 7. The top and bottom note will always be the same between the major and minor chord. The only difference between a major and minor chord is you drop the middle note one half step. Day 7, Practice Session 1 Since you are now an expert at building chords, I am going to let you build the rest of the minor chords yourself. Use the formula 3­4 to build all 12 minor chords. Day 7, Practice Session 2 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that minor chord. Oh, and make sure you are sticking with the left hand! One week down. I’ve got a special reward for you tomorrow for making it through the first week. After tomorrow, you will be able to play 36 songs. And it’s only going to take us 18 hours, so make sure you get your sleep tonight... Only kidding! It’s only going to take us a few minutes. And it’s not 36 songs like chopsticks. It’s 36 pop and rock radio songs. That’s the beauty of this method. Day 8 – Learn 36 Songs in a Few Minutes Welcome back to the course. I teased it a little bit yesterday by telling you that you would be learning 36 songs today. And you are. But there is one small catch. All 36 songs use the same chords in the same order. Have you heard of the band Axis of Awesome? They have a YouTube video called “4 Chord Song” where they run through 36 pop and rock songs all using the same 4 chords. If you haven’t seen the video, go check it out and come back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I Pretty cool, huh? So, the obvious question is, what are the 4 chords? In that video they played E major, B major, C♯ minor, and A major. The 2nd option is to view another video from Axis of Awesome called “4 Chords Official Music Video”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ In this video the 4 chords are D major, A major, B minor, and G major. I’m going to choose this option going forward in this lesson. Day 8, Practice Session 1 Play the chords D major, A major, B minor, and G major in order over and over again. I’ve put together a special video lesson for you for today. You can view it here: http://pianoin21days.com/ebook­video/ Day 9 – The Pedal Welcome back, everyone. Today is a special day because we are going to focus on something other than the keys. Take a look by your feet. If you are at a piano, you probably see three pedals. If you have a keyboard, hopefully you have at least one. If you have a keyboard, and don’t have a pedal, you are going to want to get one, like this. Now whether you have one, two, or three pedals, we are only concerned with the one furthest to the right. You press this pedal with your right foot by keeping your right heel on the floor and pressing down the pedal with the toe­side of your foot. Go ahead and try it a few times to get the feel for it. Now, try again while playing a note on the piano. You’ll notice that as long as you keep the pedal pressed down, the note continues, even if you let off with your finger. The music “sustains”, which is why you may have heard it called the “sustain pedal”. The way we integrate the pedal into what we’ve already done, is to release and press as soon as you begin playing a chord. For example, yesterday we played D, A, B minor, and G. Let’s continue with those four chords today. Start by playing the D chord and the pedal at the same time. When you are ready to play the A chord, as you play the A chord, release and re­press the pedal. By doing this, you remove the “sustained” sound from the D and are ready to “sustain” the A. Day 9, Practice Session 1 The practice session for today is going to be the same as yesterday, but adding the pedal. Play the chords D major, A major, B minor, and G major in order over and over again, using the release and press method with the pedal. Hopefully today’s practice session sounds a little more elegant than yesterday! Day 10 – Learning New Songs Part 1 (Wagon Wheel) Have you heard of the song, Wagon Wheel? It’s a very popular song, originally by Bob Dylon, and since covered by the likes of Old Show Medicine Crow, Darius Rucker, and Mumford & Sons. Most importantly, it’s an excellent first song to learn on the piano for two reasons: 1. It has a simple chord progression 2. It has the same chord progression throughout the entire song. The progression for the entire song is G, D, Em, C, G, D, C. Ready? Go…. Just kidding! I’ll give you a little more direction than that. Now that you have a foundation in playing with chords, the logical question is, “How do I know the chords to a song I want to play?” This method is not about reading sheet music, nor about playing by ear, so I would never ask you to “figure out” what the chords are to a particular song. Fortunately we have the luxery of google. Simply googling “Wagon Wheel Chords” provides some very good results for you to use. I have also put together a Wagon Wheel video lesson for you that includes the chords. You can view it by clicking here. Day 10, Practice Session 1 Practice the song “Wagon Wheel” using all the techniques we have learned to this point. Day 11 – Learning New Songs Part 2 (Hallelujah) Today we are going to continue learning how to learn new songs on the piano. Today’s song is absolutely beautiful, especially on the piano. “Hallelujah” was originally written by Leonard Cohen, but made famous by the late Jeff Buckley. You can find the chords for this song in Appendix D. Day 13, Practice Session 1 Practice the song “Hallelujah” using all the techniques we have learned to this point. Day 12 – 7th Chords 7th chords add an interesting sound to songs and you will see them from time to time. You will see them denoted like “C7” or “C7m”. The formula for major seventh chords is 4­3­3 (3­4­3 for minor). A C7 would therefore have your right hand on C, E, G, B♭. Day 12, Practice Session 1 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that 7th chord. Day 13 – Learning New Songs Part 3 (When I Was Your Man) How about a Bruno Mars song for today? “When I Was Your Man” is all piano and Bruno. If you haven’t heard it, check it out here. You can find the chords for this song in Appendix X. Day 13, Practice Session 1 Using what we learned in Day 12, practice the D7 chord (we have to use it in today’s song). Day 13, Practice Session 2 Practice “When I Was Your Man” using all the techniques we have learned to this point. Day 14 – Slash Chords Today’s topic is “Slash” chords. Simply put, slash chords are when you have a different chord in the right and left hand. I call it a slash chord, because typically it’s denotes with a slash in between the two notes. For example, G/C would be a G chord in the right hand and the left hand would be on C. A/G♯ would be an A chord in the right hand and the left hand would be on G♯. Day 14, Practice Session 1 Use all the flash cards. Draw two flash cards at a time. The first card you draw will be your right hand chord (the chord that comes first in a slash chord) and the second card you draw will be your left hand chord (the chord that comes second in a slash chord). For example, if you draw A and D#, the slash chord is A/D#. You would play an A major chord with the right hand, and two D#’s in the left hand. Tomorrow we are going to learn a new song and start integrating these slash chords. Day 15 – Learning New Songs Part 4 (Someone Like You) This is the fourth of six songs I will directly teach you in this course. The point of me showing you these songs is so you can start to pick out your own songs to learn and know how to learn it on your own. I don’t want you to have to come back to me every time you want to learn a new song. It’s like I said in the introduction, I’m going to teach you to fish rather than simply give you a fish. That being said, today’s song is a little more challenging than the previous three. We are going to incorporate what we have learned with slash chords into this song. In case you haven’t heard the song, here it is on YouTube. You can find the chords for the song in Appendix X. Day 15, Practice Session 1 Using what we learned in Day 14, practice A/G# (we have to use it in today’s song). Day 15, Practice Session 2 Practice “Someone Like You” using all the techniques we have learned to this point. That is four“official” songs. Are you ready for me to cut you loose yet? Day 16 – Major Scales If you’ve taken traditional piano lessons before, you are probably well aware of scales. Piano teachers love for their students to drill with scales over and over again. Since I’m not a fan of boring practice, do you think I believe in scales? The answer is both yes and no. While I’m not going to have you bang out scales over and over again and memorize them, I will tell you they are valuable. Fortunately, I have an easy way for you to learn all the scales, much like we learned chords. But first, what is a scale? Well, a chord was a combination of notes (usually three) played at the same time. A scale is 8 notes played in sequence. Now for the major scale formula... Let’s quickly review how we built the major and minor chords first. Major chords – 4­3; Minor chords – 3­4. Remember how easy it was? Now, the formula for any major scale is: 2­2­1­2­2­2­1. The formula is a little more lengthy than chords but the point is that you don’t have to memorize every single scale, just the formula. For example, a C major chord is C, D, E, F, G, A, B. Day 16, Practice Session 1 Build each major scale on your own using the formula above. Day 16, Practice Session 2 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that major chord. Day 17 – Minor Scales Yesterday we discussed what a scale is and how to play the major ones. Today our focus is solely on how to play the minor scales. And you know what that means… one more formula! Any minor scale is played with the formula: 2­1­2­2­1­2­2. For example, a C minor scale is C, D, E♭, F, G, A♭, B♭. Day 17, Practice Session 1 Build each minor scale on your own using the formula above. Day 17, Practice Session 2 Use the flashcards from Appendix 1 and 2. Draw a card at random and play that minor scale. Tomorrow we’ll learn more about how to use the scales while playing songs on the piano. Day 18 – Learning New Songs Part 5 (Let Her Go) Today we are coming back to an easier level song so we can learn how to integrate scales into the way we are playing. The song for today is “Let Her Go” by Passenger. The chords I like to use are in Appendix G. Day 18, Practice Session 1 Practice “Let Her Go” using all the techniques we have learned to this point, being especially conscience of integrating scales. Day 19 – Sus, 4th, 2nd, and 9th Chords At this point in the course, we have hit most of the popular chords you will come across. Today, we’re going to look at a few more chords you might see. You will rarely come across the chords in today’s lesson, but I want you to be ready when you see them. We’ll start with suspended and 4th chords. Suspended and 4th chords are denoted differently but you play them exactly the same way. For example, you might see either Csus or C4. Either way, the formula is 5­2. So, Csus would be C, F, G. C4 would also be C, F, G. Day 19, Practice Session 1 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that suspended/4th chord. Next is ninth chords and second chords. You also play these exactly the same on the piano. You’ll see something like C9 or C2. The formula is 2­5. Either C9 or C2 would be C, E♭, G. Day 19, Practice Session 2 Use all the flash cards. Draw a card at random and play that 2nd/9th chord. That was the last of the formulas we will learn in the course. Refer to Appendix I for a reference of all the formulas. Day 20 – Learning New Songs Part 6 (Candle In The Wind) Today I am going to show you the sixth and final song in this course. “Candle In The Wind” by Elton John is a more advanced song to play with chords that will really build upon what we have learned in this course. Take your time with it and have fun. The chords I like to use are in Appendix X. Day 20, Practice Session 1 Practice “Candle in the Wind” using all the techniques we have learned to this point. Day 21 – Learning Melodies & Beyond Finally the day we have all been waiting for! We have come a long way in just 21 days and I am so excited for you and the possibilities you now have. Just one more lesson from me then it’s your turn to fly. To this point I have shown you how to make songs “your own” but haven’t talked much about how to play piano exactly like someone else. Well, that isn’t really my thing, but some people like it so I think it is important to mention it here. Through the six “learning new song” lessons what I’ve shown you is basically really great “accompaniment” versions of songs. The word accompaniment is just a fancy word for “playing along with”. What I mean is it’s great for singing along with, playing with a band, etc. It also sounds great for a solo performance, but if you want to play in a solo performance, you may want to add the melody. For example, let’s take the Day 18 lesson where we learned “Ler Her Go” by Passsenger. I hope by this point you are enjoying playing your version of this song. However I’m sure you realize you are not playing every single note from the actual song. I’m not going to show you how to do that in this course, but I will show you where to go to learn it yourself. I recommend going to YouTube.com and searching for “<song you want to learn> Piano Tutorial. In this case, you would type in “Let Her Go Piano Tutorial”. Joe Raciti is a friend and a YouTube piano superstar. He has an excellent tutorial of “Let Her Go” that shows up right at the top of the search results. You can find the video I’m talking about here. In this video, he walks you through the exact notes to play to match the song. Day 21, Practice Session 1 Follow along with Joe Raciti’s “Let Her Go” video above and learn to play that version of the song. Day 21, Practice Session 2 Pick one of your favorite songs in the world that you would like to learn on piano. First use my method of googling “<song you want to learn> Piano Chords” and begin playing with my method. Then, go to YouTube.com and search for “<song you want to learn> Piano Turorial”, find a good video, and learn the song that way. In closing, I want to express my sincere thanks for sticking with me through this course. As I mentioned in the introduction, I created this course because people like you asked for it. At this point I have given all the tools you need to learn any song on the piano. It’s now up to you to take that information, find what works best for you, and continue to have fun with it. And I beg of you… stick with it! Piano is an incredibly rewarding hobby that you can enjoy for the rest of your life. I had a great­grandmother that lived until 98 that played piano all the way up to her last days. I wish you the very best in your piano journey. Appendix A ­ Flashcards ­ White Keys Appendix B ­ Flashcards ­ Black Keys Appendix C ­ Song Chords ­ Wagon Wheel [Intro] G, D, Em, C G, D, C 2x [Verse 1] G D Headed down south to the land of the pines Em C And I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline G Starin' up the road D C And pray to God I see headlights G D I made it down the coast in seventeen hours Em C Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers G And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh D C I can see my baby tonight [Chorus] G D So rock me mama like a wagon wheel Em C Rock me mama anyway you feel G D C Hey, mama rock me G D Rock me mama like the wind and the rain Em C Rock me mama like a south­bound train G D C Hey, mama rock me G, D, Em, C G, D, C [Verse 2] G D Runnin' from the cold up in New England Em C I was born to be a fiddler in an old­time stringband G My baby plays the guitar D C I pick a banjo now G D Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now Em C Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave G But I ain't a turnin' back D C To livin' that old life no more [Chorus] G D So rock me mama like a wagon wheel Em C Rock me mama anyway you feel G D C Hey, mama rock me G D Rock me mama like the wind and the rain Em C Rock me mama like a south­bound train G D C Hey, mama rock me G, D, Em, C G, D, C 2x [Verse 2] G D Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke Em I caught a trucker out of Philly C Had a nice long toke G D But he's a headed west from the Cumberland Gap C To Johnson City, Tennessee G D And I gotta get a move on fit for the sun Em I hear my baby callin' my name C And I know that she's the only one G And if I die in Raleigh D C At least I will die free [Chorus] G D So rock me mama like a wagon wheel Em C Rock me mama anyway you feel G D C Hey, mama rock me G D Rock me mama like the wind and the rain Em C Rock me mama like a south­bound train G D C G Hey, mama rock me Appendix D ­ Song Chords ­ Hallelujah [Intro] C Am C Am [Verse 1] C Am I heard there was a secret chord C Am That David played and it pleased the lord F G C G But you don't really care for music, do you? C F G Well it goes like this the fourth, the fifth Am F The minor fall and the major lift G Em Am The baffled king composing hallelujah [Chorus] F Am F C G C Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu­u­u­u­jah .... [Verse 2] C Am Well your faith was strong but you needed proof C Am You saw her bathing on the roof F G C G Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you C F G She tied you to her kitchen chair Am F She broke your throne and she cut your hair G Em Am And from your lips she drew the hallelujah [Chorus] F Am F C G C Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu­u­u­u­jah .... [Verse 3] C Am Baby I've been here before C Am I've seen this room and I've walked this floor F G C G I used to live alone before I knew you C F G I've seen your flag on the marble arch Am F But love is not a victory march G Em Am It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah [Chorus] F Am F C G C Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu­u­u­u­jah .... [Verse 4] C Am Well there was a time when you let me know C Am What's really going on below F G C G But now you never show that to me do you C F G But remember when I moved in you Am F And the holy dove was moving too G Em Am And every breath we drew was hallelujah [Verse 5] C Am Well, maybe there's a god above C Am But all I've ever learned from love F G C G Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you C F G It's not a cry that you hear at night Am F It's not somebody who's seen the light G Em Am It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah [Chorus] F Am F C G C Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelu­u­u­u­jah .... Appendix E ­ Song Chords ­ When I Was Your Man [Intro] D7 Dm C D7 Dm C Em [Verse 1] Am C Dm Same bed, but it feels just a little bit bigger now G G7 C Em Our song on the radio, but it don't sound the same Am C Dm When our friends talk about you all it does is just tear me down G C Cause my heart breaks a little when I hear your name [Pre­Chorus] Em Am Em It all just sounds like ooh, ooh, oooh, oooh Bb C Mmm too young, too dumb to realize [Chorus] G F G C That I should've bought you flowers and held your hand F G C Shoulda gave you all my hours when I had the chance F G Am Take you to every party cause all you wanted to do was dance D7 F Fm C Em Now my baby's dancing, but she's dancing with another man [Verse 2] Am C Dm My pride, my ego, my needs and my selfish ways G G7 C Em Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life Am C Dm Now I'll never, never get to clean up the mess I made ooh G C And that haunts me every time I close my eyes [Pre­Chorus] Em Am Em It all just sounds like ooh, ooh, oooh, oooh Bb C Mmm too young, too dumb to realize [Chorus] G F G C That I should've bought you flowers and held your hand F G C Shoulda gave you all my hours when I had the chance F G Am Take you to every party cause all you wanted to do was dance D7 F Fm C Now my baby's dancing, but she's dancing with another man [Bridge] F G C G Am Em Although it hurts I'll be the first to say that I was wrong D7 Oh, I know I'm probably much too late Dm To try and apologize for my mistakes G But I just want you to know [Chorus] F G C I hope he buys you flowers, I hope he holds your hand F G C Give you all his hours when he has the chance F G Am Take you to every party cause I remember how much you love to dance D7 F Fm C Do all the things I should've done when I was your man D7 F Fm C Do all the things I should've done when I was your man Appendix F ­ Song Chords ­ Someone Like You [Intro] A A/G# Gbm D [Verse 1] A A/G# I heard that you're settled down Gbm That you found a girl D And you're married now A A/G# I heard that your dreams came true Gbm Guess she gave you things D I didn't give to you A A/G# Old friend why are you so shy Gbm It ain't like you to hold back D Or hide from life [Bridge 1] E Gbm D I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited but I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it E I'd hoped you'd see my face Gbm D Dmaj7 D And that you'd be reminded that for me it isn't over [Chorus] A E Gbm D Never mind, I'll find someone like you A E Gbm D I wish nothing but the best for you too A E Gbm D Don't forget me I beg I re­member you said A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts in­stead A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, yeah [Verse 2] A A/G# You'd know how time flies Gbm Only yesterday D was the time of our lives A We were born and raised A/G# In a summer haze Gbm D Bound by the surprise of our glory days [Bridge 2] E Gbm D I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited but D I couldn't stay away I couldn't fight it E I'd hoped you'd see my face Gbm D Dmaj7 D And that you'd be reminded that for me it isn't over [Chorus] A E Gbm D Never mind, I'll find someone like you A E Gbm D I wish nothing but the best for you too A E Gbm D Don't forget me I beg I re­member you said A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts in­stead, yeah [Bridge 3] E Nothing compares no worries or cares Gbm Regrets and mistakes their memories make D Who would have known how Bm Dbm D Bitter­sweet this would taste [Chorus] A E Gbm D Never mind I’ll find someone like you A E Gbm D I wish nothing but the best for you too A E Gbm D Don't forget me I beg I re­member you said A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts in­stead [Chorus/Outro] A E Gbm D Never mind I’ll find someone like you A E Gbm D I wish nothing but the best for you too A E Gbm D Don't forget me I beg I re­member you said A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts in­stead A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts in­stead A E Gbm D Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead Appendix G ­ Song Chords ­ Let Her Go [Chorus] F C Well you only need the light when it s burning low G Am Only miss the sun when it s starts to snow F C G Only know your love her when you let her go F C Only know you ve been high when you re feeling low G Am Only hate the road when you re missin home F C Only know your love her when you ve let her go G And you let her go Am F G Em Am F G [Verse 1] Am F Staring at the bottom of your glass G Em Hoping one day you will make a dream last Am F G The dreams come slow and goes so fast Am F You see her when you close your eyes G Em Maybe one day you will understand why Am F G Everything you touch surely dies [Chorus] F C Well you only need the light when it s burning low G Am Only miss the sun when it s starts to snow F C G Only know your love her when you let her go F C Only know you ve been high when you re feeling low G Am Only hate the road when you re missin home F C Only know your love her when you ve let her go [Verse 2] Am F Staring at the ceiling in the dark G Em Same old empty feeling in your heart Am F G Love comes slow and it goes so fast Am F Well you see her when you fall asleep G Em But to never to touch and never to keep Am Because you loved her to much F G And you dive too deep [Chorus] F C Well you only need the light when it s burning low G Am Only miss the sun when it s starts to snow F C G Only know your love her when you let her go F C Only know you ve been high when you re feeling low G Am Only hate the road when you re missin home F C Only know your love her when you ve let her go [Bridge] Am And you let her go F G Ooooo ooooo oooooo Am And you let her go F G Ooooooo ooooo ooooo Am F G Em And you let her go Am F G [Chorus] F C Well you only need the light when it s burning low G Am Only miss the sun when it s starts to snow F C G Only know your love her when you let her go F C Only know you ve been high when you re feeling low G Am Only hate the road when you re missin home F C Only know your love her when you ve let her go G And you let her go [Chorus] F C Well you only need the light when it s burning low G Am Only miss the sun when it s starts to snow F C G Only know your love her when you let her go F C Only know you ve been high when you re feeling low G Am Only hate the road when you re missin home F C Only know your love her when you ve let her go G Am And you let her go Appendix H ­ Song Chords ­ Candle In The Wind [Intro] B A A/G# F#m E Esus B B7 [Verse 1] E A Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all E/G# A D/A A You had the grace to hold yourself while those around you crawled E A They crawled out of the woodwork and they whispered into your brain E/G# A D/A A They sent you on a treadmill and they made you change your name [Chorus] B B7 It seems to me you lived your life E A Like a candle in the wind E B Bsus B Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in A C#m I would have liked to've known you but I was just a kid B Bsus B Your candle burned out long before A A/G# F#m E B A A/G# F#m E Esus B B7 your legend ever did [Verse 2] E A Loneliness was tough, the toughest role you ever played E/G# A D/A A Hollywood created a superstar and pain was the price you paid E A And even when you died, oh, the press still hounded you E/G# A D/A A All the papers had to say was that Marilyn was found in the nude [Chorus] B B7 It seems to me you lived your life E A Like a candle in the wind E B Bsus B Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in A C#m I would have liked to've known you but I was just a kid B Bsus B Your candle burned out long before A A/G# F#m E B A A/G# F#m E Esus B B7 your legend ever did [Verse 3] E A Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all E/G# A D/A A You had the grace to hold yourself while those around you crawled E A Goodbye Norma Jean, from a young man in the twenty second row E/G# A D/A A Who sees you as something more than sexual, more than just our Marilyn Monroe [Chorus] B B7 It seems to me you lived your life E A Like a candle in the wind E B Bsus B Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in A C#m I would have liked to've known you but I was just a kid B Bsus B Your candle burned out long before A A/G# F#m E your legend ever did Appendix I ­ Formula Cheat Sheet Also known as “the only thing I’ll have you memorize relating to piano”: Major Chords: 4­3 Minor Chords: 3­4 Major 7th Chords: 4­3­3 Minor 7th Chords: 3­4­3 Sus and 4th Chords: 5­2 2nd and 9th Chords: 2­5 Major Scales: 2­2­1­2­2­2­1 Minor Scales: 2­1­2­2­1­2­2