Lesson 34

Amazing Piano!
The Complete Piano Learning System
For Teenagers & Adults

Online Piano Lesson #34
Part 4 - How To Learn Complicated Songs

More Inverted Chords: There are a bunch of inverted chords in Piano Man, so you will get a lot of practice with slash chords, (a.k.a. inverted chords).

R.H. Melody

Click the play button for the video directly below to see and hear the right hand melody for "Piano Man" - Measures 1 to 4 of the Chorus.

Inverted Chords

In Video 34.2 you will see two inverted chords, the Em/B and the C/G.

I've included 4 chords in this video lesson, but if this is too much in the beginning, then practice just 2 chords at a time. As your skills grow, learning 4 measures at a time will get much easier.

Take Note: I am using the treble clef for the right and left hand staves. It is common for the treble clef to be used for the left hand if it will help keep the notes from being placed to high above the staff, as is the case here.

Click the play button for the video directly below to see and hear the left hand chords for "Piano Man" - Measures 1 to 4.

Both Hands Together

Click the play button for the video directly below to see and hear both hands played together for "Piano Man" - Measures 1 to 4.

Broken Chords

The best time to start using broken chords is when you have a single note in the R.H. melody that is being held for an extended period of time.

In the illustration below, the D in the melody is being held for 5 consecutive beats, which provides the perfect opportunity to use broken chords in the left hand to fill in.

I have also reverted back to the bass clef in the left hand; in this case to keep the notes from being placed too far below the staff.

The illustration below shows what measures 5 to 8 would look like if I continued to use the treble clef for the left hand notation. As you can see, the notes are written too far below the staff, making them much harder to read.

L.H. Chords

Click the play button for the video directly below to see and hear the left hand blocked and broken chords for "Piano Man" - Measures 5 to 8.

My Go-To Broken Chord

Left hand broken chords give a song a sense of rhythm, or movement and is one of the main musical tools that you will use to make your piano arrangements more interesting.

There are many different types of broken chords that you can use, depending on the song and the level of difficulty.

In Bonus Lesson 37, I will be introducing a simple broken chord that I use in one form or another in just about every piano arrangement I create. I call it the 1-5-1.

I would definitely call the 1-5-1 my Go To broken chord. It's the foundation of every left hand broken chord that I use.