 Hi guys, so this is Ed Sheeran's perfect on A-flat major So there are basically two sections in the song or two chord changes Actually three. There's a verse. There's a pre-chorus and there's a chorus Okay, and all the chords are pretty much on the key of A-flat major. So A-flat major Let's have a quick recap. It has four flats. Doesn't it? A-flat B-flat D-flat and E-flat. So if I play the key So the default chord is going to be A-flat. In fact, when he starts singing, I'm sure there'll be an A-flat So usually the home chord or the root chord will be the first chord in the song So you have A-flat and the other major chords are D-flat and E-flat. So that's A-flat, D-flat and E-flat majors. Then the minors are B-flat minor C minor and F minor B-flat, C and F. So for all you know, it's going to involve these chords in the song However, what he composes based on are all the major chords A-flat, D-flat and E-flat And he uses the occasional F minor Okay So let me go through all the chord progressions first on the piano And then we'll try and see if we can come up with some different patterns on the piano To perhaps make the song a little bit more interesting First off, please note that it is a triplet feel. So As he sings One two three So as you improvise and get more familiar with the song just just note that it's a triplet feel where the beat How you move your head generally the feel will be division by three two three two two three So even though your head is going to move once You still need to feel that triplet one two three one two one two three one two three In fact, it may it may make sense to just sing the song. If you know the lyrics just with this triplet feel So on Two three And so on I tried maybe doing the whole song just with counting three and giving an emphasis emphasis on the one So the way I count could be Clap finger finger clap finger finger the finger hits are obviously a lot softer So you can feel it a little better So that will get you to digest the song a little better and after which is just a matter of chords So write down your a flat major scale three major chords three minor chords. You're good to go Okay, so let's start with the verse A flat So do every chord four times D flat or C sharp E flat A flat F minor No D flat Okay, so that's your entire verse when it goes to the pre it's almost the same as the verse it's just that you have an interesting Quick chord change, which is a flat and e flat. So let me show that A flat F minor same thing as the verse so far and d flat Yes So that is I guess that word is time. So a flat and e flat. Okay And keep the triplet A flat to e flat, right So verse is a flat F minor d flat e flat and the pre is A flat F minor D flat and without it instead of just doing E flat he goes A flat and then E flat okay I repeat so let me just do a sample of the verse and the pre the chorus is really easy E flat okay and then D flat and then the quick change A flat E flat okay I've also marked out a baseline option in the in the file where you go one one and two and three and four and one and two and three so you can add some extra bass elements so that's only in the left hand so one and two and three and four and one and two and three right four so that's just the left hand otherwise it'll it'll get a little bit boring and all I'm following is the actual bass player in the song which you're trying to replicate in the left of the piano that could be for pretty much the pre-chorus as well okay coming to the chorus I think the chords are the same is just jumbled so he starts on the F minor which used to be always the second chord right so he starts on the F minor maybe F minor D flat A flat E flat F minor D flat or C sharp A flat E flat F minor D flat A flat E flat F minor D flat A flat E flat okay this is F minor D flat A flat E flat that's that dancing in the dark the chorus and there's a nice string orchestra section which will go after all his choruses it'll play so that's nothing but so I've written that in the red color you can see A flat over C G with B flat F with A flat E flat over G and D flat with F and E flat over G so your D flat over F is repeated one more time you could say right so that happens at the end of the chorus and you can even play it with some triplets and a single single note in the left A flat G F E flat D flat E flat and then goes either to the verse or at the end of the song I think this pretty much ends the song I guess this is the outro right so my suggestion is try to map out the structure of the song first how does it start when does the verse come in what is the verse what is the pre what is the chorus and so on the lyrics can definitely help you to find what part is coming where and a few things you can do once you know the chords really well with their respective inversions is try to bring out that triplet feel as you play right and if you keep feeling the triplets one and two two three it'll somehow come out in your performance sort of like a drummer playing on the snare drum and then building those ghost notes which make a makes a drum performance so much more you know exciting so on the piano what was once something like this so this is what you're normally playing na na na na na two three na na na na so bring out that triplet so try to strike the chord at the quarter notes or at the strong beat but add those triplets to and try to make them lit as soft as possible you don't want to do that would become like an arpeggio you want it to sound more like a ghost ghost passage na na na let's slow that down we're just trying to bring out the triplet you don't have to do it all the time focus a lot on dynamics break it down depends a lot on your singer and the words probably at the end of the cycle play a bit softer and so on so three sections triplet feel a fairly standard chord progression using juggling between one four five and the occasional six minor okay and it's also nice to remember these songs as one four five six minor because you never know what if you're doing this song maybe with a girl singing i don't think a female vocalist can can hit these notes it may be a bit low for them so then immediately she's going to ask you to change your scale or maybe you don't prefer the scale of a flat major don't choose the scale because of your instrument choose the scale because of your voice or the singer's voice and don't ever think that it needs to be played on the original scale of a flat which is why the progression is a one five four with a six here in there try to look at it like that so when you have to play it on let's say a semitone down maybe g major for instance it would then be g e minor c major and d major those that'll be the one six four five of g or if you're doing it on a flat oh this is a flat if you're doing it on another scale you know what to do right so try to generalize the chord progression that is a very good habit to learn and you'll also learn the chord progression so if you're trying to write your own song well you could use this same chord progression i'm sure there are lots of songs in the past also and lots of songs which are going to be released in the future which will probably have the same chord progression chord progressions can be copied i guess yeah but you you need to learn from song so a good way would be to generalize it and then understand it'll also help you understand what makes this song such a popular song it i don't think it's just the melody the melody is sort of like a magnet which is finding the chord notes to sort of connect with right so in a lot of senses the melody was written because of the chords so you have to know the chords even if you're a singer i would encourage you to learn the chords so that it'll help you as a songwriter in in the future as you write your songs right so this is Ed Sheeran's perfect hope you had some fun and hope you have some fun playing it with your musician friends and with your band and i hope to see you on the road don't forget to like subscribe hit that bell icon for notifications leave us a comment for any other video you'd like us to do next and don't forget to share the video with all your musician friends cheers