 Hi everyone this is Jason here from the Nathaniel School of Music and in this video we are going to look at a few left hand patterns which I think are really important to learn at the same time very popular if you want to play music which spans a lot of genres which doesn't really depend on rock and roll or blues or any such thing you can pretty much use this as a default to play a lot of styles and while doing this lesson we're also going to look at three very very important chords which you can play with the left hand and also use that to train your ear and musicianship in the sense if you have a singing line or if you have a melody line which chords can go with that melody so that's also what I wanted to share and at a sort of a beginner level if you're watching this you can also get started with your left hand to play these really really important and easy chords which can be used to play as I said earlier a wide variety of music whether it's folk music whether it's children's music or nursery rhymes or whether it's some simple classical music as well right so you would have heard the introduction which I did the introduction tune I played basically twinkle twinkle little star in a very minor or a dark way so it's quite simple and we are going to look at all of these options on the piano right so the first thing to learn is in a major scale among the seven notes you have we are going to build three chords out of them so the major scale which I've chosen for today's lesson is the G major scale so let's look at G again G major G A B C D E F sharp G G F sharp E D C B A G right so it has one simple sharp which is that F sharp right there okay now the chords let's first look at the chords which we are going to build and the first chord which is called as the home chord or the tonic chord is called as the G major chord and this is how it's formed okay so to form the tonic chord of any scale you're going to do one three and five the root of the scale G which is G the third of the scale G which is B and the fifth of the G major scale which is which is D so G B D form the G major chord which we also call as a triad and since it highlights the root the third and the fifth we also call it the tonic chord we feel that the song is very stable or very resolved or very much at home when we play this chord so you could do the tonic which is one three five and in the G major scale G B D so I hope you figure that one out and then to support the tonic or to sort of tell a story around the tonic wherein you can shift from one to the other and sort of create a journey you have two other chords which I think are very simple you have the sub dominant chord and the dominant chord so first let's look at the dominant chord and the dominant chord is formed using the seventh of the scale first what is the seventh F sharp so I would suggest to write down the G major scale first and then you learn that G is the one B A is the two B is the three C is the four and goes on and then F sharp is the seven so we are going to do seven played first four which is the C and five which is the D and I may or may not have mentioned it earlier but all these chords are to be played in the left hand so you can free up that right hand of yours to play the melody line of the song but what we are trying to do is figure out what the left hand can do really stabilize it and make it as scalable and commit that to sort of our subconscious brain so we can focus more on the melody line and let the chords and the rhythm pattern of the chords just run smoothly okay so you go G major again just G B D and then the dominant chord which is also called as D seventh is F sharp C D if you don't know the names or the theory behind it that's not really a problem you just need to know the notes of the major scale that's pretty much it and if you are a newcomer to the piano perhaps the names and conventions of all these things could hit you a lot later you could first focus on just playing the piano and having some fun right so you have the 135 tonic G B D and the 745 which is called as the dominant chord played on the G major scale with F sharp C and D so let's see how that sounds tonic feels very much at home right the dominant chord feels a little unstable and we stabilize it back to the tonic which is usually what happens and we have one more chord which can add to the spice of the music you're trying to play that is the subdominant which I'm writing now as one four one four and six so the one four six of the G major scale you could perhaps see your notepad or whatever it is you're using to write one is G four is C and six is E okay that's G C E okay let's come back to the tonic which is G B D subdominant G C E dominant F sharp C D G B D so you can use these three chords and play around with them and serve the melody with these chords in other words you can choose one one of these chords based on the melody line which you're trying to play in the right hand okay so let's just look at it again and revise because this is like the foundation of the lesson so your home chord or the tonic chord which is G B D okay try to get used to that try to play it with all your fingers these fingers should be fine G C E G C E subdominant F sharp C D G B D okay now that you've got the the chord structure or the chord formation let's look at a few rhythm patterns which you could use to play these chords okay and you may want to pause the video if you want to just revise the chords once and then you know get back to the patterns another thing you may want to do is all of this material is available as a pdf file all you have to do is click the link in the description and you can download a nice pdf file with all my handwritten notes and also as you'll see at the end of the video you'll also have a lot of videos of me playing a lot of these songs which I'm teaching you in this lesson so apart from the the the lesson where I'm trying to teach you some patterns and left hand comping exercises I've also sort of played a lot of pieces of music with staff notation if you read or else you have a video so I would suggest to hit the link and get yourself a copy of all this and also you could support our channel as well on patreon moving on these are the left hand patterns which you can have on the piano so if I I'm just going to show you all the patterns using just pretty much the tonic chord I may then go to the dominant and the subdominant and let's see how it goes okay so this is our tonic again GBD and let's look at an arpeggio pattern first because I think that sounds the smoothest and it's just something which can work for a lot of tunes okay so this is how it works so I've written it down as L H M H okay L H M H L basically means the low note of the chord M is the middle and H is the high or the rightmost note of the triad and all the chords we are doing this lesson are triads so that's three notes okay L H M H L H I've also circled the L indicating that you need to hold it with your pinky while playing or whichever fingers at the low let's try that again L H M H G D B D so you could try the same pattern with the other chords subdominant G C E G D B tonic dominant tonic subdominant and back to the tonic right the other pattern which you could learn which is again which is a little bit more groovier than the arpeggio pattern is what we call as umpa it's like a 2 4 pattern so you could do I'll just play it once and then show you guys right quite simple right so you take the chord you take the low note of the chord and then play the rest of the notes of the chord so C H which I've written there indicates the remaining notes of the chord played together so you have root lowest note and remaining notes so root chord root chord you could also give it what I call as a bounce like a very bouncy effect where the root is a little longer and the chords when you play the note together it's a little choppier or less intense so umpa umpa like the word umpa I guess right umpa umpa umpa root chord root so again tonic chord and then the dominant chord back to tonic umpa umpa subdominant works a lot for a lot of the folk songs or rhymes some classical songs as well if you want to add a little bit of groovy flavor moving on another rhythm pattern is called as the waltz which is on three beats per bar or the three four time signature so what you do it's the same as umpa you just do root chord chord so it's root chord chord root chord chord or you can even say umpa umpa umpa again try to keep the powers a little shorter and the um a little longer or maybe the first part choppier and the second part a little longer umpa umpa umpa umpa umpa umpa umpa umpa umpa waltz works quite well right another thing which is a little bit more modern you could find it in more of the yeah the like songs from could say the last decade which passed by I guess that's what they call or you could call as the salsa rhythm, which sort of sounds like this, sort of like that shape of you pattern. So with this you do what's called as block chords. That means you play the entire triad together, not one by one or broken. So you go, okay, it's a nice rhythm and where it gets a little interesting is where you play this rhythm, keep it focused that way and then try to add a melody line over that and they really complement quite well. So the way I'm counting it is using eighth notes. The way you say eighth notes could be one and two and three and four and slightly faster, one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and and as I've written down the pattern in your notes, the salsa pattern is where you take at the one, the 2.5 and the four. 2.5 is at the two end. So one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and right. So let's try and replicate that on the piano with the chords. One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and try to keep it a little choppy. Two and three and four and then tonic, sub, tonic, dominant, tonic. So I'm just trying to sing something so you get an idea. So generally, whenever you're trying to now bring in the right hand and try to play a melody, my suggestion to anyone who I teach, even who come to the school to learn is basically try to get one hand going, try to convert that hand movement and all what you play to your subconscious mind. In other words, you need to just practice it a lot so that you're not thinking of it too much. It's sort of like a very involuntary kind of action which you're doing. So one way to really get it even more sound or technically tight inside you before you get the melody going is to just sort of sing the tune. Whatever you're trying to eventually play in the right hand is what you need to first sing. Singing will also motivate your right hand to latch on to the correct note and I'm not a huge fan of trying to align the right hand with the left hand in the sense wherever the left hand strikes, the right hand strikes on it before it, after it. I think that makes the process very sort of maths heavy or very technical. If you are like a very maths loving person, you may get it but I don't think you'll enjoy it as much as when you are going to sing something. So singing is the most natural form of expression. Even if you're not a good singer, you can produce the tune out and it motivates your right hand, the melody line. So basically what you're trying to do is get all the four rhythm patterns of the left hand nice and sound and sort of program it inside you and then you have a great firm foundation to bring in the right hand. And while you're programming the left hand pattern inside of you, try to sing a few popular tunes or try and get it going, try and get the whole process underway. So let's recap all of the melodies, sorry, all of the left hand patterns once more. This is our arpeggio, L, H, M, K then the groovy umpa, umpa, then the waltz which is on three beats. Of course with all the three chords we've learnt, tonic, dominant and subdominant. Finally, the more modern salsa pattern. So now let's get to the melody line. So before I actually tell you the melodies which you're going to end up playing, hopefully after having watched this lesson. Let me just tell you how I'm also choosing my chords. Now in the downloadable lessons, the videos and the PDF things, I've given you everything but what I'd urge you to do is also try and try to form the chords just using your own ears as well as using the theory behind it which I'm going to tell you now. So now we need to bring in the melody. So let me try and start with, you know, everyone's favorite, twinkle, twinkle, little star, right? I'm sure you've heard that. I hope you have. Anyway, so you have, we are playing it on the key of G major, so you go, okay. So while you play this, start by trying and getting the L, H, M, H. I think the L, H, M, H arpeggio will work nice and smooth for twinkle, right? Twinkle, twinkle. Now you see what I did when I went to the word little, little, now I played E, right? Now if I stick with the tonic, twinkle, twinkle, little star, well, it doesn't really sound too bad, but it just feels like the song doesn't have any direction. It's just right there. It's sort of at home and it's relaxing, it's not really telling a story, like the lyrics are telling you a story, right? With all the words, the music needs to support that. So wherever you have the opportunity to change the chord, you need to change the chord. So whenever I go, twinkle, twinkle, well, you could change it there also, but I'm choosing to change it at the word little. So twinkle, twinkle, little. Now I played G C E, I played the subdominant at the word little, why? Because the word little has the sixth in it, isn't it? There's an E and there's an E in the chord. So basically, whenever the melody note is sort of longer and whenever it lands on the strong beat of the bar, which could be beat one, mostly or beat three, well, mostly beat one, what you're going to do is you're going to observe that melody point more often than not that note will be longer in timing. So the word little, both the words, both the syllables of the word little have E and E, right? Twinkle, twinkle, little star, now I came back to D. So I could go back to G major, right? Because G B D has D in it, star, how, how, here I could hit the dominant because it has a C in it. So twinkle, twinkle, little star, so you could toggle between these three chords and it works quite well and so on. Just make sure when you're landing and whenever that note is long, you need to figure out a chord and once the chords are set, you can also change or improvise on the melody a little bit more, right? Maybe I, maybe I'll tell you that in another lesson. So anyway, yeah, if you take other songs, let's say you take the Titan song, pretty much the same, that, that watch at Titan, which actually got ripped off from some classical song, which you probably know. Okay, G, dominant, tonic, dominant, subdom, dom, tonic, subdom. So it's sort of also like when you're ending the song, you have some cadences or resolutions, if you will, the subdominant usually tends to want to go to the tonic, sorry, dominant and the dominant tends to want to go to our tonic. So that's also how the music wants to move. So you could try out some other songs as well. Now, if you do umpa, maybe it'll work for more groovier songs, right? And you could figure out which chords work like... I think I prefer the four there or the subdominant. Sounds good with the umpa. You could also perhaps take obladi, oblada by the Beatles, dominant, sorry, tonic, sub, tonic, dominant, man, this is tough to say and play, but you get the idea. And anyway, all of these songs are written down in staff notation, and there's a video of each of these tunes, which I've played nice and slow. So if you want to learn them, perhaps at the end of the lesson, please click the in the description, you'll have a link, click and watch everything in slow mo and whatnot. Okay. So obladi, oblada had the chords played a little faster, possibly as eighth notes, right? Then for waltz, what could you do? Huh. Happy birthday, isn't it? So you could do three blind mice, three blind mice. I know I'm choosing a lot of nursery rhymes. I guess I like them. Yeah. So three blind mice, happy birthday for waltz. And finally on salsa. So this is where it gets a little tricky because the songs you're going to choose melodically are going to be a little busy. It's not going to be, it may not work because the three blind mice, a little lazy, a kind of tune. So the waltz works well for that. If you're doing something on the salsa, you could perhaps try Yankee Doodle or O Susana. Right? O Susana. That song. I don't, I don't know what the name is. I hope it's O Susana. I guess. Okay. So you have salsa. And try to always try and sing the melody by singing it as you play in the right end, some, something or the other or somehow it just works. Right? And even though your right hand is not able to catch up with your singing voice, eventually it will, eventually it's sort of pushed to, to, to bring out the melody. Also the left hand is like a motor. So do not change the left hand and don't stop the left hand. And my other suggestion while you practice is when you make mistakes, try to, try to keep the left hand rhythm going. Don't stop the left hand because the left hand is slowly also coming into your subconscious brain. Don't stop the left hand while you're having some issues with the right hand. So perhaps you could chill out with the right hand after a while, sing, but keep the left hand pumping because that's your engine. That's the motor. Okay. So O Susana. What else can you do? Maybe Yankee Doodle. I think that should work fine. I think we need to figure out better songs. But yeah, actually I like these songs anyway, so it can also be used for a lot of folk songs. So the sky is the limit guys. You could try out as many songs with any of these four patterns. And especially if you're new to the instrument, you have a lot of work. You have a lot of permutations, which you can do, right? And one additional thing which I want to talk about in addition with this, I hope you all have fun playing it till here. But sometimes I like to have a little more fun and that's where you can mess up the tune a little bit, right? So if you take let's say another scale, apart from the major scale which we've been looking at throughout the lesson, if you take let's say a minor scale, the minor scale has the third flat and the sixth flat. So the third B flat replaces the major third B and the sixth E replaces itself with E flat. And in the natural minor you have F and the harmonic minor you just stick with the F sharp which is the major seventh, right? And that's the natural minor. So basically you just need to rewrite the entire songs on the respective minor modes if you will. Where in all that happens is anytime the song has a B in the left hand or the right hand, you change that B to B flat. And anytime it has an E in both the left and right hand, you change it to E flat. And similarly if it's harmonic minor or natural minor, you have to decide whether you're flattening the seventh or leaving the seventh natural, okay? So what can we do? So let's say if you take, if you take twinkle, major, right, minor, immediately it's going to annoy a few people, you may want to perfect it on your own and then maybe play it in front of others. And even the left hand which was once G B D can now become G B flat D which we call as G minor. And again do check out the notes which we have in the description, we've written them all, at least I have handwritten everything out with a lot of sort of graphs and lines and shapes and all that. So try to check it out and hopefully you'll find that as a good study material, okay? I'm quite liking this minor. So you have minor third, B flat. So the chords change in the left hand and also the melody line will change depending on the intervals. Yeah, you can do this pretty much with all the tracks, right? Right, so that is happy birthday. You may want to be careful if you play that version in front of your friend or relative. Maybe you could. It should be interesting. Yeah, it should be fun. Okay, so in conclusion, what we've done in the lesson is we've looked at various left hand patterns. We've looked at arpeggio, umpa, waltz and salsa, very, very important. And I've tried to cover a sort of different generations of music, if you will, something very, very old school, something very usable for anything mellow and also something a bit dancy and groovy. And we've also covered the three by four time signature, which is there in some songs, right? And while playing the left hand, also keep in mind that we have the three chords. We have the tonic chord, we have the subdominant chord, and we have the dominant chord. All these three chords are super important. And with any melody, if it's a folk, classical or a children's tune and so on, these chords seem to work really, really well. In fact, you could just use them and ignore the other chords of the major scale as well, right? And try to practice shifting first of all between the tonic, dominant and subdominant as I've showed you, you could perhaps go a little back, pause the video, try it out and keep moving forward as we've done quite a bit of information. Then we try to do a few popular songs. The notation and all the videos are there in the description. Do check it out. And finally, we also try to convert things to minor, a little darker version or mysterious version where we did it with happy birthday as well to annoy your friends. So yeah, do try all this out and have some fun as you play it along on the piano and maybe with your band as well. And as always, enjoy yourself, have fun, I'll catch you in the next lesson. And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for a lot more lessons on piano, bass, theory, performances by our students, faculty and a lot more. Cheers and thanks for watching this lesson.