Hello and welcome. I'm Joseph Hoffman and today we're going to learn how to play
one of the world's most beloved traditional Christian hymns, Amazing
Grace. This video tutorial is my super easy, what I call, "preparatory level"
tutorial which means even if you're an absolute beginner with just a few months'
experience or even no experience at all, I will guide you step by step to be able
to play this song. If you're looking for a more advanced tutorial where I show
you how to play not just the melody but also chords and accompaniment, please
check out my level 2 or level 4 Amazing Grace piano tutorials. Alright, let's come
to the piano to get started. So first off let's find our position on the piano.
Here's my middle C. So, go ahead and find your middle C on your piano. Our left
hand is only going to need to worry about these two notes. This note is G,
this one's A and I'd like you to use fingers two and three. Remember finger one
is your thumb, so fingers two and three on A and G. Go ahead and get your left
hand in position there. Your right hand only needs to worry about these four
blue notes, and you'll use fingers one, two, three, and five on C, D, E, and G. So go
ahead and make sure your hands are in this position, and let's go ahead and get
started with the first two notes. You'll see the first note down here in the bass
clef which is G, so use finger three of your left hand. Play that G and then we
come up to the right hand finger one on C.
Okay now you try. Now you'll notice the next two notes are both for the right
hand, and we have an E with finger three and then a C for "amazing." Now you try.
Good, now let's add one more note after "-zing" then it comes back to E for "grace."
So all together we have C, notice it just kind of rocks back and forth between C
and E, now you try. Good now let's pause to notice something about music and
that's how rhythm is notated. You'll notice this first note is filled in in
the middle, and that's called a quarter note. It lasts just one beat. It kind of
has the sound as if you're walking: TA, TA, TA has a nice slow and steady
sound. And then this next note is called a half
note. It's actually twice as long as a quarter note, so it's good to think two
beats like this. You'll go ♫ "TA, one, two."♫ You can actually think "one, two" in your
mind while you hold that, and if you don't do, that you won't hold that note
long enough, generally. ♫ "One, two"♫ and then these two notes that are beamed together like
that, these are called two eighth notes and they're a little bit
faster they go about the speed of like if you were jogging. TI-TI. Jogging, jogging,
or ♫ TI-TI.♫ So altogether we have a quarter note, two, one two.
To play this song correctly it's very important that you not just play the
right notes, but that you have the right timing, so be sure to think about the
rhythm. So what I'd like you to do is press pause and just work on this first
phrase paying attention to both the notes and the rhythms. ♫ "TA 1-2, TI-TI, 1-2,"♫ for ♫ "Amazing grace."♫
Press pause to practice that a little on your ow,n then press play to go
on.
Now after "grace" on E, it steps down to D, then down to C for ♫ "how sweet."♫ Then it
comes back to the left hand, ♫ "the sound."♫ So in letters we have ♫ "D, C, A, G." two notes for the right
hand, two notes for the left hand. Now you try. Good now back to the beginning we
have: ♫ "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound."♫ Now, will you try putting all of that together? Press pause to try that a
few times on your own, then press play to go on.
Now the next phrase starts off the same way as the first phrase. ♫ "G, C, E-C-E,"♫ and that's
for ♫ "that saved a wretch."♫ And then it's a little different here, it steps down to D and
then skips all the way up to G with finger five, which is your pinkie, ♫ "like me."♫
Okay so together we get (♫plays "that saved a wretch like me." ♫ )
Now, press pause and work on that phrase on your own, then press play to go on.
Now let's notice that ♫ "me,"♫ the note we just played, actually is a new kind
of rhythm that we haven't seen yet in this song. It's a dotted half note tied
to a half note. Dotted half note is three beats, half note is two beats, so together
we'll hold this note down for five beats. And again that's very important
in a little while when we play this with an accompaniment. Or let's say you're
playing along with a singer, you'd have to hold that note for the correct number
of beats, so you might count "one, two, three, one, two." Or you could count "one, two,
three, four, five." Either way be sure to hold it for five beats, and then we go on.
So here we're just going back and forth between E and G: ♫ "E, G, E-G-E C," for ♫ "I once was
lost."♫ Just fingers three, and five, and one. Now you try.
Good, now let's try it one more time. ♫ "I once was lost."♫ Now you try. You might find it helpful to
actually sing along as you play. That will help you remember the correct
rhythm, and the correct sound of the notes. Now the next phrase is ♫ "but now"♫
we're going down to the left hand with the ♫ "G, A."♫ Now you try. Good and then the
right hand is going to play two Cs: ♫ "(n)-ow a-am"♫ and then it comes back to the left hand for
an ♫ "A, G"♫ for ♫ "am found."♫ So notice we have G, A in the left hand, then two Cs, then A G comes
back down to G. ♫ "But no-ow a-am found."♫
Now you try.
Notice that on the word "now" you actually have two notes on one syllable, but "am"
also has two notes. Okay now you can always press pause if you need extra
time to practice something. Otherwise let's go back and put these two phrases
together. So we have ♫ "I once was lost, but now am found." ♫
Press pause and practice putting those two phrases together. I encourage you to
sing along as you play, and then press play to go on.
Alright here we are at the last phrase which it so happens has the same notes
as the first phrase. So we have ♫ "was blind but now I see."♫ Which is ♫ " G C E-C-E D C," ♫ which again
you hold for five beats, three plus two. Okay, now you try.
Now that you know all of the phrases, go ahead and press pause one more time to
practice putting everything together from the start of the song all the way
to the end, and then press play when you're ready to have me show you how you
can play "Amazing Grace" along with a backing track. The accompaniment track
that I'd like to show you how to play along with is available for download
from our website, so you can enjoy playing this song along with, we've got,
violin and cello and harp and flute put together on a track, to make this even
more beautiful. So, first you'll hear an introduction, and you'll just wait for
that, and then you'll actually play through this three times, like we have
three verses of the hymn. You'll play the same thing three times, but you'll notice
the first verse starts kind of at a medium volume, the second verse brings it
down to a very contemplative quieter volume, and then the last verse we're
going to get more powerful with more emotions so you can really play out on
that last verse. Okay I'll demonstrate the whole thing. You're welcome to play
along with me, or you're welcome to just listen here's the backing track. And
remember there's an introduction which you can just listen to as we get ready.
♫ ♫ ♫ And here's where we start ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
So you'll notice that when you're playing along with the accompaniment,
it's so important that you hold those long notes, especially those notes that
last for five beats. If you're not holding it for those five beats, you're
going to get off from the accompaniment. So be sure inside you're counting "one,
two, three, four, five" both there in the middle of the verse, as well as the last
note of each verse also being held for five beats. Thank you for learning
"Amazing Grace" with me today. I hope you find peace and joy in playing this hymn
and I hope to see you again.
"Mr. Hoffman?" "Yes, Scuba?"
"What's a wretch?"
"Well, a wretch is someone who feels wretched, which means they don't have any
hope they feel terrible inside."
"But why?" "Because they feel worthless and unloved.
Unlovable."
"But no one is worthless." "That's right Scuba, but sometimes people
make mistakes, or certain things might happen to them
that make them feel that way like there's just no hope for them. But grace
is a powerful gift that can take someone who feels wretched and hopeless and it
literally transforms them into someone who feels great love and joy."
"Wow. So how
do you get grace?"
"Well let me tell you the story of the man who wrote the
lyrics to Amazing Grace, and that might help you understand."
"Okay."
"The man was John Newton and he was born in London, England in the year 1725. His
mother died when he was only seven years old, and his father who was a ship master,
took him to sea to work on voyages from the time he was only eleven.
"Gosh, sounds like a crummy childhood."
"Well his young adult life only got worse. Before he was
20 years old he had been captured at sea and forced
to join the Royal Navy. When he tried to escape, he was captured again and whipped
severely.
"Oh, no." "Soon after that, he transferred ships
only to end up in Africa as a mistreated and abused servant to a royal family."
"Poor guy." "Well, fortunately John's
father, who by that time had retired from sailing, asked a sea captain to help
search for his lost son. The sea captain found John, rescued him, and was bringing
him home to England when a terrible storm struck off the coast of Ireland.
John awoke in the middle of the night and saw water rushing into his boat.
The ship was sinking and John thought he was going to die. In that moment of
distress, John called out in prayer to God.
According to John's own account, at that moment the cargo in the ship shifted in
such a way to block the water from rushing in and the ship was able to
safely make it home."
"Wow."
"That day marked the beginning of John's conversion to
Christianity. From that day forward John started reading the Bible. He stopped
drinking and gambling. Later in his life he retired from sailing and actually
became a minister, and eventually he worked to end the shameful slave trade
of which he himself had participated in. "Wow, that's a big change of heart."
"It certainly is, and that is the power of
grace. John Newton certainly knew what it felt like to be wretched
and he truly felt that it was God's grace that had saved him and literally
brought him safely home.
"Wow. Thanks for telling me that amazing story,
Mr. Hoffman. Hey, Amazing Grace, it really is amazing!
"Yes, it is."