Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today you've probably already noticed. I'm wearing my tie.
That means today is going to be an important day.
Today we're going to be adding chords to "Frog in the Middle".
That means your left hand is going to be playing chords
while your right hand plays the melody.
Remember, a chord is when you play two or more
notes in the same hand at the same time.
So first, please find a C and G chord in your left hand
and we're going to play a chord every time we sing the word frog.
Let's try it at the piano.
Okay notice I have my finger five for my left hand on C
and my left hand finger one on G.
We're going to drop on C and G every time we sing the word frog.
Also at the end of the song when we sing can't catch me,
play one chord on every word like this: can't catch me.
I'll do it once by myself, and then you can try it with me.
Here's "Frog in the Middle" playing a chord every time we say the word frog.
Here we go.
Frog in the Middle,
frog in the sea.
Frog in the Middle,
can't catch me!
Remember, when you play a chord, you should drop slightly,
and then after you're done with that chord your wrist will float up and relax.
So your wrist is always a little bit flexible, not stiff.
Stay relaxed when you play the chords.
Let's do "Frog in the Middle" together. Play the chords and sing along with me.
Ready go.
Frog in the Middle,
frog in the sea.
Frog in the Middle,
can't catch me!
Great job.
Now we're going to add the melody in the right hand.
If you need to pause and review playing the melody
in the right hand, please do that now.
You'll need to be very confident playing the melody in your right hand
before you try the next step.
When you are ready, push play again.
Alright, now that you know how to play the melody in the right hand
and the chords in the left hand, I'll show you how to put it together.
So it should look like this.
Frog in the Middle,
frog in the sea.
Frog in the Middle,
can't catch me!
When you try this the first time, I recommend just playing the very first line of the song.
Just this part.
Frog in the Middle and then stop.
And just work on that again and again until it's comfortable.
Remember, hold the chord down the whole time while you're playing the other words.
Don't just go Frog in the Middle.
Did you hear how I let go of the chord?
I want you to hold that chord down while your right hand
continues to play the other words like this.
[Playing piano]
Once that feels really comfortable, you can try the rest of the song.
Now I'm going to play the whole thing one more time,
and if you're ready, try it with me.
[Playing piano]
Great work today.
I know that adding chords can be tricky,
but it's very exciting to be able to play a song with chords.
Keep working at it until you feel great about how you're sounding.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.