In the past, I have mentioned that rather than discussing single chord changes, I would rather discuss how you can modify chord progressions. Today, I want to introduce another versatile chord progression.It is natural and beautiful for the chords in a progression to move in steps. As a matter of fact, when trying to reharmonize a […]
As we continue to work through “Trust and Obey”, I need to take a lesson to explain one particular chord in the song. It occurs in measure 19 and is labeled as a VI7 (dominant VI chord). Before I start talking about this particular chord, I want to point out that the chord progressions in […]
In the last lesson, we talked about substituting a ii7 for a V7 chord. I got a few questions related to the voicing (where on the piano you actually play the notes in the chord). It is critical to understand the voicing because if you do not do it right, this substitution will not always […]
This lesson covers a very important topic and is quite lengthy. If you find yourself in deep waters, you might revisit previous lessons about how to identify and name chords (look in the “Theory” section here). In modern music, the most popular chord progression is the ii-V7-I. Believe it or not, you can build entire […]
Last week, we started looking at reharmonization, and I gave you an brief overview. This week, I want to discuss a few myths that plague church pianists and introduce a first concept to start studying. I am about to start throwing out a lot of chord names. If you need a refresher course on naming […]
Starting in this lesson, I am going to attempt to tackle the ambitious task of teaching harmony–specifically how to improve the harmony (chord progressions) that you normally see in hymn books. I am not going to get far today–in fact, all I am going to cover today is an overview and a brief history of […]
As you have seen in previous lessons, the 2nd/9th is really a very versatile color note. Remember that the 2nd and 9th are the same note–you call it a 9th only if there is a seventh in the chord. Today, I want to discuss its versatility as an added note in ornamental runs and arpeggios. […]
I hope that you are practicing what I taught in the last lesson about using the 9th in specific voicings. Don’t worry if it takes a while to get–those voicings will become instinctive and will greatly help your playing.One thing I want to mention at this point is that there is one particular finger you […]
As we continue working through “Take My Life,” I will be showing you potential color notes to add. Today, I want to give you a few specific voicings for adding the 9th. Remember that the 9th is just a complicated way of saying the2nd. (you call it a 9th rather than a 2nd when a […]
In the past, I have spent a lot of time talking about the importance of the 7th in your chords. Sevenths are not the end of where you need to go, but they are a huge start in the right direction. One of the challenging things about using a 7th is choosing whether to use […]
Let’s talk about 7ths. In my opinion, 7ths are the gateway to where we are trying to go in arranging/improvisation. It is usually the first and easiest way to alter a chord, and 7ths will by themselves add a lot of depth to your sound. When we start re-harmonizing hymns, it will be our goal […]