Building on Major and Minor

Previously we dealt with how to construct major and minor triads. If you haven't, click on major or minor for those lessons.

For this lessons we want to see how major and minor triads can be applied in a specific key, so we can end up playing a basic song. In the previous article we covered the 1-4-5 chords with inversions for the key of C. Now we will look at the rest of the numbers within that key.

Why do you need this?

Well, if you don't know how to read sheet music, you will have to depend on patterns that allows you to play any song. Once you understand these patterns, all you need to do is figure out which bass note (this is normally the lowest note and root in the song) is being used. Once you know the bass note, there are only a few chords that you can play against that bass note. This is why the number system is very critical to grasp in all 12 keys. It is also important to practice the different chords that accompanies that particular bass note

Here are the numbers with the chords you can play (in the most basic sense only using right hand chords and left hand bass note): 

If you start practicing this chart, just go up from 1 to 7 with only the root chords and listen to how it sounds. Repeat that with 1st inversions and then 2nd inversions. You will hear that it probably sounds like a song you've heard somewhere. The other alternative is to play from the 1 and go down to 7 and then 6. This is used a lot in different genres!

Please note that this is based on the major triad chord chart that was provided in the previous lesson (Major triads with inversions). The numbers 2, 3, 6 & 7 is supposed to be minor chords. so if you play the right hand chord with left hand bass, exclude the last note in your right hand then you'll end up playing a minor chord for that bass note! When I play, I make use of the major chord instead of the minor triad. It sounds better.

Once you practice all these chords in C, try to transpose them to the rest of the 12 keys, If you master this, I promise you will be able to play in a band within a month!! 

Please feel free to comment, share or ask questions regarding this post.

God bless!

Minor Triads

Last we looked at Major Triads and Inversions. The next step would be to introduce the Minor triad. To play a minor triad from the major triad, all you have to do is flat the 3rd of your root chord like this:

C(1)-E(3)-G(5)  (C-Major triad)

C(1)-Eb(3b)-G(5) (C-Minor triad)

Remember that 1-3-5 is based on the number system as explained in another article

From this you can invert the root like this:

Eb-G-C

G-C-Eb

Look below to see in real time:

The most important thing to understand when it comes to playing in a minor key is that "for every minor key, you have a relative major key that you play". This means that if you can master the major key than you can automatically play the minor key.

In a major key, your 6th tone will always be the relative minor of that key. So in the above example, C-minor is the 6th tone for Eb-major, therefore your relative major key is Eb.

So when a song starts with C-Minor you can actually start playing in Eb Major, but the only difference is that you start the song on the 6th tone and not with the normal 1 chord (Eb-major). Here is an example of how it would sound within a song context:

Major Triads and Inversions

When learning to play the piano, the most important part would be to know chords. The more chords you know and UNDERSTAND, the better your chances of learning how to play and master any song.

The first chord is called a triad. This consists of 3 notes that make up the chord. Here is C-Major or C triad:

C-E-G

You will use this chord mostly when you start with a song. This chord consist of the 1-3-5 degrees in your scale. If you don't understand the number system, you probably should check that out first here...

This is also known as the root chord. You can build on the root chord and create INVERSIONS:

E-G-C

G-C-E 

With the above chords, you are able to create different tones for the 1 chord.

A good progression to practice with this is the 1-4-5 progression. You can play 1 with all 3 chords, and progress to 4, then 5.

Look at the tables below:

Chords for playing in C:

C-Root	C-E-G
C-1st Inversion	E-G-C
C-2nd Inversion	G-C-E

Progress to F still in the key of C:

F-Root	F-A-C
F-1st Inversion	A-C-F
F-2nd Inversion	C-F-A

Progress to G still in the key of C:

G-Root	G-B-D
G-1st Inversion	B-D-G
G-2nd Inversion	D-G-B

Here is a sample video that illustrates what to practice. Also remember to practice this in all 12 keys. Enjoy!

The number system

To play by ear is not to difficult at all. A lot of the music you hear on your radio, iPod or mp3 player consists of patterns or musical progressions that is based on the NUMBER SYSTEM. The number system makes things easier for musicians to remember.

You can practically play with a band and call out the specific number and they will understand and will be able to accompany you as piano player.

So here's how it works:

We already looked at the major scale in a previous blog post (click here). The number system is derived from the major scale like this:

C = 1

D = 2

E = 3

F = 4

G = 5

A = 6

B = 7

C = back to 1 and repeats...

The goal is to know the number system in all 12 keys and what chords are associated with each number. An example would be your 1 chord = C major triad as shown above.

The aim of this website is to provide as much chords as possible with each of the numbers in a particular key.

I hope you enjoyed this. Please feel free to post any questions or comments. Also subscribe to my mailing list where you will be notified of any new article that are posted. 

I am in the process of creating video posts. Look out for that in the near future.

God bless!