10000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) piano tutorial in the key of E

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Today I would like us to examine the song "10000 Reasons" by Matt Redman. It is going to be in the key of E. We sing this song in church and it's one of my favorites, so I thought I'd share it with you. I have added a video tutorial first which you can watch on my Youtube channel or just click on the video below:

So for those who prefer reading, continue here. The number system and scale for E is as follows:

E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-1

Please note that if you are entirely new to playing the piano or keyboard, I would suggest you look at my previous lessons (First lesson, Number system, Major triads and Building on Major Minor),  This lesson will focus on the song as well as incorporating the melody to the major and minor chords. THE MELODY NOTE SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE FURTHEST NOTE IN YOUR RIGHT HAND CHORD!!! Please remember this at all times!

If you start the song on the chorus the progressions goes as follow:

Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, Oh my soul (4-1-5-6)

Worship his holy name (4-1-5)

Sing like never before (4-6)

Oh my soul (4-5-6)

I worship your holy name (4-5-1)

So to start this lesson, the first chord is the 4 chord for "Bless the Lord", but you can add this passing chord (3 chord) to get to the 4 chord on the"Bless" part looking like this:

Next you play the B single note on the "the" part of Bless the Lord with your pinkie in your right hand. That will lead you to the next chord which is on the 4 chord over the "Lord" part:

When you play 4 chord, play the left hand notes as single notes and arppegiate up till C#, starting on A. This will make it sound much fuller. If you struggle, take a look at the video lesson for an illustration. Now to move over to the 5 chord movement. Instead of playing the 5, substitute it with the 7 chord. Play it like this:

Once you played the 7 chord for "Oh", add G#-F#-E on your right hand pinkie to cover the "o-Oh my" part in Oh my soul then move to the 6 chord. The 6 chord gets played over the "soul" part.

You will notice that the 6 chord at this stage is actually a C# minor chord in the 1st inversion position. Next we will look at Worship his holy name (4-1-5). The second time you play the 4 chord, you can play it like this:

The chord ending on C# you will play on the "Wor-" part of "Worship" then you add the melody notes E and B afterwards for "-ship his". Remember to sustain those notes with your sustain pedal. The next chord is on the 1, for "holy":

Here you play the left hand as single notes just as previously explained on the 4 chord. Now to look at the Sing like never before (4-6) part. You can repeat the 3-4 chords in the same way you did with "Bless the" in the beginning of this lesson, that should cover "Sing like never". From the 4, you move to the 6 chord that covers the "before" part. Here it is:

The 6 chord have been altered to look like this and the melody still remains on top. Next we move to Oh my soul (4-5-6). This chords get played for each word therefore the "Oh" part is on the 4 chord, like this: 

"my" can be played on the 5 chord like this:

And then "soul" is on the 6 chord...

Now the last section is for I worship your holy name (4-5-1). The 4 chord can be substituted with a 2 chord to cover "I worship your":

First start off by playing F# alone on the "I" part then you play the chord to cover the "wor-" part then add two melody notes for  "-ship your" part. "Holy" get's covered when you play the 5 chord, here...

If you want, add a grace note C#-D# on your right hand. You can also play the root chord in your left hand.

There we go. That's the whole chorus covered. Now to play the verses. The verse is fairly straight forward so lets look at the progressions first.

The sun comes up (4-1)

It's a new day dawning (5-6)

It's time to sing your song again (4-1-5-6)

Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me (4-1-7-6)

Let me be singing when the evening comes (4-1-5-1)

The verse starts by going to the 4 chord:

The melody note is incorporated in the chord as E. This also covers "The sun comes" part of the first line. Then you play the 1 chord like this:

This chord is just a basic E major triad in the 1st inversion position. This covers the "up" part of the first line. Now for the next line-It's a new day dawning (5-6). Before you play the 5 chord, you can add two melody notes: D#-C# to cover "It's a", then you play the 5 chord like this:

The 5 chord lands on the "new" part of the second line and should be followed by a E melody note on  "day" . Then for "dawning" you can play the 6 chord, like this:

The next line is-It's time to sing your song again (4-1-5-6). You can repeat the same chords for this part as in the verse accept for the 6 chord. You can use the other 6 chord as explained in the chorus part. Here it is again:

Now move to the second to last line in the verse-Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me (4-1-7-6). When you play the 4 chord on "Whatever may" you will change it up as follows:

This is a much fuller chord because it contains the 7th scale degree added on the left hand and you play a full octave with an added 9 on the right hand. Please see if you can notice the difference! The next part on the 1 chord will cover the "pass and" section of the line, and it can be played like the previously played 1 chord. Can you still remember this one?

Now for the 7 chord. This is exactly the same as the other 7 chord in this lesson. Please go look at that chord and add it here again to cover "whatever lies be-" section of that line. Next it's the 6 chord that will cover the "-fore me" section of the line. Here it is:

Lastly we will look at the line Let me be singing when the evening comes (4-1-5-1). With this progression you can play the same 4-1 movement as the first section of the verse. The difference only occurs when you play the last section on the 5 chord. There will be 2 chords that you should play in your right hand because of the melody. This will cover the "eve-ning": 

Then just end on the 1 chord with E major triad in the 1st inversion position. 

That's it! This was really fun. I hope you've learned something new from this lesson.

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All the best!