 Hi guys, this is Jason here from the Nathaniel School of Music. In this lesson, we are going to look at a very popular and also very important pattern to coordinate your hands really well with. We call it the reggae piano pattern because it's inspired from the reggae genre. Stuff like that. We are reminded of artists like the great Bob Mali and so on and so forth. Now all of these hit points and all of these patterns are produced by all sorts of instruments. It could be a drum arrangement, it could be done on the guitar, it could be done on the marimba or any kind of Caribbean instrument which produces the genre really well. It could even be done by the singer. So the pattern which I have for you is a simple but very effective pattern to get the essence of the genre onto the piano. So even if you are at a beginner level, I think you can get this or if you are at a more intermediate level, do stay along for the entire lesson because the exercise will get very very interesting. So let's first start with some basics of how I am counting the pattern and then let's take it forward. Before we do, it will be great if you can give our video a like. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. Leave us a comment with stuff you'd like to learn and you can also consider downloading some of the notes or rather all of the notes on our Patreon page where we provide the notes, some of my handwritten points of instruction and also notation whenever the lesson demands. So let's get cracking with the exercise. The first thing you'd like to learn with respect to reggae is what we call as the swing pattern or the swing time feel. So whenever you count something, let's say we divide the beat into four units and we go, let me use my shaker to demonstrate 1e and a 2e and a 3 and a 4. Now in this instance, the division is exactly equal. It's 25% of the beat. It's a 25 mark, the E, 1e and that would be 1e and that's a 50% mark of the beat 1e and a that'll be the 75% or the third four point of the beat. Now what we do with reggae or as well as a lot of other dance rhythms is we swing this. So instead of doing 1e and a 2e and a 3e and a 4e and we do 1e and a 2e and a 2e and a 4e and a 2e and an a 2e and a 4e and a 2e and a 2e and a either we emphasize a lot on the E's or the E's because those are what give you that vibe. E, E, E, E, E, E, right or we emphasize on the E's and a more common thing or a more pulsating or a supporting rhythm would be some musician would be playing the chords at the end. So that will be an, an, an, an, an, right, right. So you need to get these subdivisions first and we are swinging. It's not da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, it's da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. So let's do that again, ans first, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, an, ease, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, ee, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, okay. Right, so there we have it. Those are your points. So this entire pattern kind of has those hit points in mind. So you can't play a reggae pattern with just the down beats. You can't do one, two, three, four. four. That will not be anything. It won't. So a genre of music also is dependent or defined by these patterns, these characteristic assortments of hit points over a beat division. So in this case, you're dividing by four, you're swinging it, and you're focusing on specific hit points. You divide the beat, define whether you want to swing it or straight it. And last but not least, you devise a pattern. A pattern is obviously something which doesn't involve everything. If you do, if you play everything, it won't work so well. So you have to define which points you want to accent or play or hit or emphasize. Okay, so that's about the pattern. And with this pattern, we are going to bring in both our left hand and our right hand and a couple of things to note. The left hand is going to focus on the roots of the chord primarily, as well as the fifth of the chord in some occasions. So for example, if I take the C major chord, I'm playing it as G C E in the right hand to the left hand, you're going to want to figure out where your root is the root of any major chord or minor chord is the name of the chord. So C major means you place C in the base. Okay. And then the fifth, you either go five scale steps or you go a perfect fifth, if you know your intervals or just figure it out. The circle of fifths will also help you find the fifth. Okay, that's your five C G. So you want to get acquainted with the root and the fifth. And the right hand is just going to hold chords. I repeat, right hand will do chords. Left hand will play the root primarily and at some important groovy points or accent hits, it will play the fifth. And another thing we are going to do in this lesson is to look at the concept of a ghost note as we call it, at least as drummers call it. So a ghost note is just a very soft hit for something. Maybe you do right. It's soft and staccato. You hit that a bit soft. You don't want to do you in this exercise, we are never going to play the fifth as loud as the other stuff. It's going to be really soft and really choppy. That's what gives you the ghost vibe on the piano. Very difficult actually to think of ghost notes on an instrument like the piano, because you don't have the percussion effect of the guitar where you can just mute the strings and it gives you that choppy nature, right. So on a piano, the only way to do it, I guess is manage your volume and manage your the length of the note. So I'm going to teach you that sort of a thing in this lesson. So we'll do it in stages. There'll be three stages. So step one will be very simple. You do the root at the one and the three of the bar. So you go one and two, but you need to count. You need to count the four hit division points. One and a two and a three and a four and a one. So the way was that one and the three. So you could even consider it as a two beat phrase instead of like a four beat phrase. If that works simpler for you. So you go choppy. It's a groovy pattern. So okay. So the right hand now joins the party by playing the ends. Think of it as only ends for now. And that's very, very characteristic or as we say idiomatic for this genre reggae. Okay. So you go one and a two and a three and a four and a one and a two and a right. A one and two. That's essentially what a guitar player does very often in a reggae ensemble. You'll find the guitar player just playing the chord progression, but only playing those and divisions, you know, cha, cha, cha, cha. And they may add some spicy ghost notes as well, which I'm sure some of you know, if you've heard reggae music. Okay. So let's do that again. One and two and three and four and one. After a while, forget the counting. Feel it. It's also good to move your body in some way with the music. So when you're moving your body, if you're swinging, maybe you can move sideways. It feels a lot better. And also by moving your body, especially your upper body, it gives you the sense of the pulse. So you never lose the pulse when you're playing. Even if you do it slowly, it's fine, but don't lose the pulse. Four and a one and two and three. Right. You can tap your leg as most musicians do. But I would highly recommend for this genre, for the groovier genres, you need to move your upper body, like your head and well, this whole area. So that's the first thing you get. So let's just do the basic pattern. Left hand does what again, it does the one and the three of the bar of four, if you're counting four beats, the right hand just does every single and you can generally do it staccato throughout. You can sneak in a couple of longer hits as well. But I generally like staccato throughout. Remember the swing at all times. Right. Swing one and two. Okay. So let's move on to the addition. Now all the flavors or the spices which we are going to add are going to revolve around what we just learned. So what we just learned will never change. So the spicy stuff now will be ghost notes. So the first ghost I'm going to do will be, I'll play it and then teach you. So that's at the E of the two, as well as the E of the four, if you're looking it over a four beat bar. So I'll play it and then show you and the two and the three and the four. So what's happening at the E of the two and the E of the four, I'm flicking the G, playing it very soft and choppy legato and also kind of flicking my finger a bit this side, a bit away, sort of bringing it back to the palm. Now that gives me a more like a very pronounced staccato effect, a very percussive, almost drum like because the attack is there, but it's so short that it's almost drum like, it's almost percussion like in terms of sustain because a drum instrument doesn't really have that much sustain. So one, you could also maybe make your right hand a bit more dynamically engaging by playing choppy staccato and then follow it up with a legato. That'll contrast what's going on in the left hand really well. And don't forget the root which you're playing with your pinky can be nice and long, you can drag the note because now you have choppy stuff. So to make the staccato stuff for the softer stuff more pronounced, make the other stuff even more longer and more louder. That's how you create the impact or the sound. Don't focus on something which needs to be staccato, maybe the other things can be even more legato. So let's emphasize the pinky which is playing the root a little bit more longer. I'm also emphasizing every alternate right hand hit in my C major chord here. Keep the swing. So that's what the ghost does. It just gives you that obvious swing because I'm hitting something at the E's or the R's. Okay, so now let's do this over a chord progression, right? Common reggae pop chord progression could be like a one five six four. So that's C major, G major, A minor, F major. You can see how I'm playing it. G C E, G B D, A C E, A C F with some nice inversions. G C E, G B D, A C E, A C F. Once you get a grip of those four chords, we start putting it all together with the reggae rhythm we learned with some ghosts at the G. Okay, so I'm changing the chord every two beat cycle. You can even do it every four beat cycle. Like I'm going to do it every two beats. This reminds me of my favorite Bob Marley song. Okay. Must have heard the song, right? Okay, that's the pattern. It's also nice if you can practice singing along with it, it'll really help your independence or maybe this is your goal to be like a pianist who plays some awesome rhythm backing, some chord patterns and of course, the primary job for you is singing, which my suggestion would be practice reggae really hard, practice this pattern really hard so that your singing is not compromised. So your primary role as an artist for those of you who sing will be your voice. So the piano is always a support. So when you sing it without the piano or with the piano, your singing voice should not sort of deteriorate. It should be even better maybe in some instances which I find you can actually sing a lot better when you're playing the piano and singing as opposed to just singing without any chordal reference because the chords and the rhythm will inspire you not just in what notes you should sing but also in the way you sing, in the feel, in the dynamics as we say. So try to get some singing into play. So let's just revise the pattern again. Okay, so that's the E of the two with the ghost. And then I wish to change my chords. I've decided to do one, five, six, four, that's my the pattern. Or you can do that Jason Maraz song as well, right? No clue of the words. Right, so this is a very good foundational pattern. One more thing before I sign off with the lesson would be take the very last beat of the phrase or which is that last beat or the penultimate beat before the chord changes. So that will either be the uh of the two or the uh of the four depending on how long you're taking per chord. Is it four beats or is it two beats? So if it's a two beat equation, then what you could do one E and a two E and a three E and a four E and a. So what am I doing there? I'm having some fun with the uhs and what am I playing at the uh? Again, I'm playing yet another ghost note, but it is the fifth note of the next chord. So if the next chord is G major, knee and a two E and a sounds a bit funny when I freeze frame that note one knee and a two E and a. So that D should be ghosted very choppy, but it is anticipating the G which is going to come in at the one of the uh next bar or at the three if you're doing half bar changes one knee and a two E and a let me do this first over the whole bar one knee and a two E and a three E and a now one knee and two E and a 3 E and a 4 E and a 2e and 3e and 4e and up and 2e and 3e and 4e and up ok oh I missed that 1e and 2e and up and 2e and 3e and 2e and now I am just going to change it every 2 beats everything is going to be alright everything is going to be alright now yeah everything is going you see how long my pinky is playing the root it's lasting longer the other fingers are very choppy that creates the reggae vibe so I just thought we could bring in this rhythm and you can do it in different stages even if you're if you do the first pattern which I taught you without the ghost sounds great if you ask me, you can play this for any reggae song. So we just added the ghost notes for more maybe intermediate players or in the long run to add some bells and whistles into the piano performance. Ultimately, you're trying to do a solo piano pattern or a solo piano accompaniment pattern is just you on the piano and a singer. So you're trying to emulate everyone. You're trying to do what the guitarist would do. Your right hand is literally the guitar. Your left hand is like a drummer and it just comes in together. And then you add flavors, you add embellishments, which are those ghost notes. And I'd be very happy to do more and more lessons on the reggae genre because I really enjoy the genre, things like passing chords, things like bringing in some melody, things like whatever, more rhythm patterns. Why don't we do that? So hope you guys have found the lesson useful. Practice your reggae chops really hard. You can also record yourself playing anything and put it up on your Instagram and you could tag me at Jason Zach. And I will definitely give it a listen because that's the only way I can sort of see what you guys are doing. So put it up on your Instagram, tag me, put it on as we call it stories or reels or whatever you like to use. And let me see what you have to do with reggae. And suggest stuff in the comments. Don't forget to leave us a comment with what you'd like to learn in the future. We'd be very happy to consider lessons. In fact, this lesson was suggested by you guys. A lot of you suggested that we do reggae. So I figured let's do a video on that. And then maybe this is definitely, this feels like it's the first of more, which we can do with reggae music, dance music and some funk music, perhaps in the long run. Okay, guys, again, don't forget to subscribe. If you haven't already hit that bell for notifications, you can also consider following us on Patreon, where you will be given a bunch of these notes for every lesson and also be part of an extended learning community. Cheers.