Hola y bienvenidos. Soy Joseph Hoffman and in this lesson I'll be teaching you
how to play the accompaniment for "Remember Me" from the movie Coco. Once you
know the accompaniment you can play along while you or a friend sings or
plays the melody. In the original soundtrack, the accompaniment is played
on the guitar, but since I don't know how to play the guitar, 'Gracias amigo!', de nada! I'm going to
teach you how to play it on the piano, which also sounds cool. So, let's come to
the piano to get started. Okay, so for playing the accompaniment for "Remember
Me", I suggest you position yourself on the lower half of the piano. Whoever's
playing the melody for you, I recommend that they take it up one octave higher.
If here's your middle C, you know playing, ♫Remember me♫
Will be ideal so they're not crashing into your hands, because you'll be mostly
down here from middle C and below. So, let's take these chord symbols. You're
going to use these chord symbols as your guide. And again, with chord symbols there
are so many options, there's no one right or wrong way to improvise an
accompaniment. I'm just going to show you one of many possibilities. So with a
right hand you'll see this first chord is a C major chord. A capital letter for
a chord symbol just means that major chord. So our first chord is C major,
which is built on C E G and it's traditional to have the left hand play
just the root of the chord so I'm gonna play this low C with my left hand, then
my right hand is gonna do repeated block chords, almost like i'm strumming a
guitar. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Okay, let's try
that together, go. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Good, now you'll notice that,
♫Remember♫ actually comes before the accompaniment begins. So again if you
have a duet partner, they'll be up here playing that all by themselves, or if
you're accompanying yourself singing, you'll sing, ♫Remember me♫ and on 'me' is where
you start the chord. ♫though I♫ Okay, so let's try that together. Okay, sing along with me,
and we'll start playing on 'me'. ♫Remember me,♫
and 2 and 3 and ♫though I♫ Okay, now let me show you just one other option. If you
don't like how that chord sounds, you know because we're kind of getting low
on the piano, you can invert that chord, and put this C up on top like this and
go, 1 and 2 and 3. Okay, either is a possibility. This C-major, again take this C and put it on
top it's still the same chord. ♫Remember me, though I♫ Now, let's go on to the next
chord. Whenever you see one of these slashes, the symbol you see before the
slash is the chord, and whatever you see after the slash is the bass note. So
whatever you see after the slash, that's what our left hand will play.
So it says A-flat, so we're gonna play that A-flat there, then we have an F-
minor 6 chord. F-minor is this, F A-flat C. Now an F-minor 6 means you take a
sixth above the F, one, two, three, four, five, six. We can add that D ♫though I have to say goodbye♫ Okay,
you can take that D and put it on the bottom if you want. And this is called
inverting chords where you take one chord tone and just place it in a more
convenient spot. Okay, so if we're using that first inversion we can have,
♫Remember me, though I have to say goodbye♫
I'm using that F-minor 6 in inversion there. Okay, and go ahead and press pause
to try any of this that you want, otherwise I'm gonna keep going.
♫Remember me♫ we're back to the C ♫Don't let it make you cry♫ So notice there I had a B-flat seven. So B-
flat major is this. The seventh of B-flat is here. This is a dominant 7 chord,
and then I threw in the ninth too because I think that sounds kind of cool.
Okay, what you can do ♫let it make you♫ so again you don't have to play all four of those notes. You
can use these three, or these three, you know, any of those notes from the B-flat
major, sorry, B-flat 7 with, I'm adding in the ninth. Totally optional. Okay, so
♫Let it make you♫ and then we have an E7 chord. So left hand plays E, and then E
7 is this. Okay, E G-sharp B D, which I'm gonna invert and put that D down on
the bottom and leave out the E since I've got it down in the root anyways. ♫cry♫
So my B-flat 7 I'm actually gonna do this, just play D A-flat and C, with the B-
flat in the root I'm gonna leave out the F. ♫let it make you cry♫
See how I did that? ♫Don't let it make you cry, For♫ Then on A-minor, gonna play A with
my left hand for the root of the chord, and then here's our a minor chord, A C E, but
I'm going to invert that and put the E on the bottom. Okay, ♫For even if I'm far away, I♫
So I did that, so again I'm just playing that bass note on beat 1 and then
repeating eighth notes in the right hand. ♫For even if I'm far away I♫ then B-flat6. Okay, we played
the B-flat with the left hand, a B-flat major chord is B-flat D F, and G is the
sixth. Again this is the fifth of the chords so the sixth is always just gonna
be a step above. So root, third, fifth, sixth. Okay
♫For even if I'm far away I hold you in my♫
Okay, so this would be the full chord, I'm leaving out the F, and then 'heart' is C7.
The C7 chord is C E G B-flat. I'm gonna put a C on top and leave out
that G. Okay, and you can kind of mix and match with chords. ♫hold you in my heart♫
There's a C7, ♫I sing a secret song to you♫ That's the F-major chord, so F in the
left hand, F-major, F A C in the right hand. ♫I sing a secret song to you each♫ Now let me show you a
little secret, advanced trick you can do right here. Instead of playing the chords,
you can double the melody, which sounds really beautiful here if you do it in
thirds. So I'm gonna go ♫I sing a secret song to you each♫ See how I did that? You're doubling the
melody even though your accompaniment, hey, you can have some of the fun too
right? So 'sing' left hand base, and then you kind
of follow along with the melody, ♫a secret song to you each♫
Got it? So I'm just playing the melody, and adding a third below that.
And then on 'night' we get an A-flat in the base note, see after the slash we have
that A-flat, and then our F-minor chord, you can add a six if you want, ♫night we are a-♫ and then
on 'part', you can see after the slash is a G, so I've got to play G with my left
hand and then an F-major chord with the right hand. That's a really nice sound,
huh? ♫night we♫, see it's F-minor here ♫night we are a-♫ and then on ♫-part♫ it goes to F major
with the G. ♫night we are apart♫ Then breath mark, so you can let go. ♫Remember me♫ then we're just back to
the beginning. ♫though I have to travel far. Remember me,♫
♫each time♫ Okay, so here, ♫each time you♫ G-minor 7. So G-minor 7 is G B-flat D.
These four notes G B-flat D F. So I played the G in the left hand, I'm going
to put the B-flat up here.
♫each time you hear a sad guitar♫ And then our C7 again, which we remember from before
right? ♫hear a sad guitar♫
Then just like before, I'm gonna use this advanced technique of playing doubling
the melody in thirds. ♫Know that I'm with you the only♫ And then on 'way', we have an E-minor ♫way♫
♫that I can be♫ After the slash we
have the G-sharp. So the left hand is going 'way that I can be', E G-sharp A. The right hand,
and I'm kind of doubling the melody and doing chords at the same time. See I have
this E-minor chord inverted down ♫way that♫ and then ♫I can♫ and then on 'be', I'm using this
inverted A-minor chord. ♫Way that I can be♫
And then an A-flat major chord. Here's that root position A-flat C E-
flat. That's A-flat major, and I'm inverting, taking that E-flat and putting
it on the bottom. And the vocalist or singer or pianist if you're playing this
as a duet, has a little rest there, and then we get this great moment where we
have this low base D. ♫until you're in my arms again♫
So you notice my left hand was playing this D, when my right hand was playing
these A-flat major chords. Doing inversions which doubles the melody ♫until you're in my arms again♫ And
see how it says N.C. there? That means no chord. So I'm just gonna play a D. I'm
doing it in octaves, or you can just play that high D, ♫until you're in my arms again♫ and then we have a G in
the bass, and I'd like to play that ahead of the chord, and then we have C-minor, which
I'll do an inversion. Here's a C minor, we're going to invert it 'Re-' and then A-
flat major. Which I'll also do an inversion. and, then F-
minor root position. Well that G is just holding in the bass
line, and this is on the last 'Remember'. So we have bass note, ♫Remember♫,
and then the singer sometimes will sing that 'me' by itself, ♫me♫, and then you can add
a nice C major chord at the end. I did C G C here, and then E G C there. Nice C-major
finish. Here's the ending again. ♫Until your in my arms again♫
bass note, ♫ Remember me♫
Great work learning the accompaniment for "Remember Me". I hope you enjoy playing
the song as much as I have. Thanks for learning with me today, and adios mis amigos.
♫Señoras y señores, Buenas tardes, buenas noches, Buenas tardes,♫
♫buenas noches, Señoritas y señores, To be here with you tonight brings me joy,♫
♫que alegria, for this music is my language and the world es mi tortilla.♫ I think it's supposed to be 'familia'.
♫For this music is my language and the world es mi tortilla.♫ It's 'familia'! ♫For this music is my language♫
♫and the world es mi tortilla!♫