Welcome future pianists of the world! We're going to be doing an advanced lesson on major
chords which includes things like (Plays Piano), or something like this (Plays Piano). Now
those are aspects of what the chords are like, but here are the chords themselves. (Plays
Piano) So we're going to learn about how to get those major chords anywhere on the piano.
We're also going to learn about those numbers you sometimes see attached to major chords,
or other chords for that matter. And also we're going to tap into how the scales work.
Now understand that these concepts that are being demonstrated on piano are applicable
to all instruments and all music everywhere, okay? Pretty excited? Oh yeah, let's get started!
Now to get a better idea about chords in general, we need to learn about something called whole
tones and semitones. Lets try it first with C major because this is a real easy chord
for beginners, but we will try some other examples too after this. So here is our root
key, C. Here for example is a whole tone. (Plays Piano) It includes going up two keys
from where you hit your last key. So if you start here and then go up (Plays Piano) (C,
C#, D), see how we counted up two there? Well that there is a whole tone. If you were to
only go up a semitone, which is only a half step, then what you would do is only go up
one key. (Plays Piano) (E, F) Did you note how we just went up one key there? So that
is going up a semitone, and the other one was a whole tone. So why do we need to know
what whole tones and semi tones are? Because there is actually a formula for major scales
which the major chords are based off of. It goes like this: (on screen). Now this isn't
advanced physics or anything like that, so let's see what it looks like on the piano.
Whole tone, whole tone.... (above on screen) There it is again, let me just put my other
hand here to show it. Now here we go again: whole tone... (above on screen). And that
is that familiar major scale sound. Pretty sweet huh? You know that method works everywhere
on the piano with every single root key. Maybe you're a little skeptical though. Maybe you
are thinking "oh this formula doesn't work everywhere else!" So let's try it out with
E major. Okay? Here is our E root key and then we will go up. (Above on screen) Isn't
that interesting? It's like we're throwing random black keys into there but we're really
not. They are just apart of the scale for E major. Okay so let's take this one step
further. We are going to go back to C major and we are going to take all of those notes
(whole, whole, whole, semi (repeats)), and we're going to put numbers on them. 1 - 7.
(counts) and then the next one would be 8, or 1, depending
on how you look at it. Take note this can be put anywhere on the piano. There is a C
there, a C there, and there is a lower C and so on and so forth. Those are all what we
call different octaves. So now that we've learned about this major scale and the numbers
1-7, and then 8, now we can see how to play major chords anywhere because a major chord
is really just a 1, 3, and 5. That would be C major. Let's not stop there though because
not all C major chords look like this C E G . Sometimes they're switched up and although
they are the same notes being played, they are being played differently on the keyboard.
So we can take C E G, move our thumb down and then play G C E. That is also C major.
Let's do it again, okay? So now we are back to C E G. Let's move our pinky up to the C
up here. Now we are playing E G C, also another C major chord. Interesting huh? So they all
sound the same but they are being played differently. Let's go back to E major and see what a major
chord sounds like on that. Here is our E, and then we count up 1, 2, 3... and then we
go 4, 5... So now we have 1, 3, and 5. This is what E major is. So that is E G# B. Let's
move it up to G# B E. Here is another one, B E G#. They are all the same notes, just
played differently. Then we have the same exact chord because that would be E major.
Sometimes to have a more rich sounding chord we don't just hit 3 keys with our 3 fingers,
but if you have a large enough hand, you can actually expand it so that you are hitting
4 keys as well. Here is C major, and it's played in a much more rich sounding fashion.
Now note, if you move your hand around, still playing the same notes with your four fingers,
you can still play the C major chord, but its just on a different part of the keyboard.
This is important because when you are watching somebody play the piano you might see them
playing a chord, and knowing that a C major hand might look different one way compared
to another way, you are able to figure out real quick if its C major. It's the same with
any other kind of chord. So practice around with playing it not just C E G, but also do
G C E and etc. Hopefully this tutorial has been enjoyable for you, make sure to check
out a tutorial we are going to be putting out about how to do minor chords as well as
a tutorial showing how to do a good way of playing these different kinds of scales for
major chords as well as minor chords. (On screen captions) Thanks for watching! Please
click on any one of these videos right here, and while I wait for you to do it, I'll do
some interpretive dance of how awesome you are! (Song and Dance)