Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman, and in this lesson we're going to learn how to play a
two octave scale and arpeggio in C minor. Let's come to the piano to get started.
Now, you know by now that C major
is our major scale with zero sharps and flats. Now, can you tell me what minor key also has zero sharps and flats?
If you said A minor, you're correct. To find the relative minor, it's always just a skip of a third below.
So A natural minor also has zero sharps and flats just like C major.
Now today, we're going to be going up even further on the ladder of fourths.
Now we can use the minor scales just like the major scales to go up fourths and add flats. So if A minor has zero sharps and flats,
we can go up a fourth to D.
D minor has one flat.
Now if we go up another fourth from D, which would be where? Tell me a fourth above D.
If you said G, you're correct.
So G minor should have two flats. Remember, every time we go up a fourth we add a flat. So we have a B-flat and an E-flat now
in G natural minor.
Now, what if we want to go up another fourth? Where would that bring us? What's a fourth above G?
If you said C, you're correct, and I'm going to come down to this C,
and based on our law of the ladder of fourths how many flats should we now have in C minor?
If you said three, you're correct.
We're now up to three flats.
Now, let's take a look at our ladder of fourths,
and you can see if we're looking on the minor side we went up a fourth from A to D to G to C, and now that we're in C minor,
we have three flats: B-flat, E-flat, and A-flat.
Let's find those three flats on your piano. Can you play
just take any fingers and find an E-flat, an A-flat, and a B-flat.
Find that in a couple places on your piano. Maybe find three different places where you can play those three flats.
Kind of get used to where those are on your piano.
Now let's try to play the natural minor scale. We'll start with our right hand.
This uses the basic scale fingering that we've already learned, which is 1 2 3 1 2 3 4, and then it starts over.
1 2 3 1 2 3 4, and then our finger 5 plays the top note.
Then we do the same in reverse. 4 3 2 1 3 2 1, 4 3 2 1 3 2 1.
With your left hand you get 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1, then the same in reverse.
Using those three flats,
pause the video and try your right hand and left hand playing the C natural minor scale, then press play to go on.
Now let's try harmonic minor.
You'll remember that in harmonic minor we take the seventh note of the scale and raise it a half step.
Can you point to the seventh note of the C minor scale.
If you're pointing right here, you're correct. The B-flat becomes a B natural.
That seventh note was already a flat, so to raise it a half step we just turn it back to a natural.
So when you see that scale, the C harmonic minor scale written on the staff, it will look like this:
You'll see all three flats in the key signature, but when you get up to the B natural, you'll have a natural sign written in the music which cancels
the flat.
On the piano that looks like this: 1 2 3 1 2 3 4
and then 4 on that B natural 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2 1
The left hand goes 5 4 3 2 1 3 2 1
1 2 3 1 2 3 4
Be careful with those fingerings.
Pause the video and try the right hand, then left hand. Now doing the harmonic C minor scale, and then press play to go on.
Now let's try the arpeggios.
Can you point to the three keys we would need to use to build a C minor arpeggio?
If you're pointing to C, E-flat, and G you're correct.
We always take the first the third and the fifth note of the scale to build our tonic, or our i chord.
And the fingering will be our basic arpeggio finger, where we do 1 2 3, then our finger 1 comes under and we play the same chord again,
and then 5 on top 3 2 1 3 2 1. As you do the arpeggio, try to use a smooth wrist. Try not to pump your elbow up and down,
or to twist your hand a lot. Try and glide as smoothly as possible. Just let that thumb glide under.
Your hand does have to make some shifts, but try and make it as smooth as possible.
In the left hand, the fingering is 5 4 2 1 4 2 1, 2 4 1 2 4 5.
Pause the video and practice the two octave C minor arpeggio with right hand, then left hand, then press play to go on.
Great, now you've learned the C minor natural scale, you've learned C harmonic minor,
and you've learned the arpeggio.
Now let's improvise with those scales and arpeggio.
Why do we learn scales?
It's so you can make music in those keys.
Someday you're going to learn a song in C minor, and now you'll already be familiar with the keys that build C minor.
Also, if you ever want to improvise or compose your own song in C minor, you know the building blocks.
So let's improvise something right now in the key of C minor.
I'm going to play an accompaniment like this:
And that pattern will kind of repeat over and over again.
So it's kind of a flowing legato style.
So I'd like you to create the melody. I'm just kind of playing these arpeggiated chords. These broken chords flowing along,
and you're going to play any notes of the C minor scale.
Remember, when you're improvising you can use repeating notes.
You can use stepping up and down.
Most melodies are built on just simple patterns of repeating notes, sometimes stepping notes, and occasionally some skips as well.
Remember as you're improvising, these three flats. If you forget and play a note that should be flat and you accidentally make it natural,
your ears will tell you something will kind of sound off,
and that's so important as you're improvising to use your ears.
If you play a note that doesn't quite sound right, make sure it wasn't an E an A or a B, because maybe you forgot to flat those.
Also as you're improvising, sometimes you just may land on a note that sounds dissonant with the chord,
but it doesn't have to be a wrong note.
If you don't like how it sounds, just step up to the next note.
Like if I'm playing a i chord and you play a D, you can make it step up to E-flat and now suddenly it sounds good.
Music is filled with moments of dissonance that may not quite sound right, but then it resolves to something that sounds beautiful.
Also as you're playing, use your ears to decide if you should be using the natural minor scale. Like when I'm playing this chord.
The C natural minor scale may sound best, but when I'm on this chord,
using C harmonic minor may sound best. How will you tell which to use?
Again, just use your ear. Sometimes it will sound right to use the B-flat and sometimes it will sound right
to use the B natural. It depends on the chord that I'm playing.
So, great improvisers use their ears and try and listen and let your notes flow along with and
fit together with the accompaniment that I'm playing.
One last tip is at the end of your improvisation, I'm going to do a C minor chord to end on because that's our i chord.
Music almost always ends on a I chord, so we feel like we've come back home.
So in your improvisation, go ahead and when you hear me get to that last chord and you'll kind of know it because I'll slow down,
and I'll just kind of play this slow i chord, and when you get there
I encourage you to end with some kind of C minor arpeggio.
That would be a really beautiful way. You can go all the way up the piano as high as you want if you like, okay?
And with a C minor arpeggio at the end of our improvisation.
Okay, let's try to improvise together.
So go ahead and get either your right hand or your left hand ready. Just play one note at a time because you are the melody.
And whenever you feel like starting, just go ahead and jump in and play along with me to improvise in the key of C minor.
Great work today learning how to play and improvise using the C minor scale and arpeggio.
I encourage you to practice the C minor scale and arpeggio along with all the other scales and arpeggios that you know
every day using your best piano posture.
Happy practicing, and see you next time!
My turn!
Oh hi Baby!
do you mean you'd like to try C minor improvisation too?
Okay, let's go.
Wow Baby, that was amazing!
Thanks, bye!
Bye!