 Hi guys, this is Jason here from the Nathaniel School of Music and in this lesson Let's navigate through the problem which most of us pianists face, which is shifting between our chords and I've prepared Five short tips to help you work on your chord shifting There are it's of course a work in progress But I will do my best to tell you what I know and what helps especially beginners with the process of chord shifting Especially when it comes to things like triads. Okay, so for this exercise, I'm just taking the C major scale and Pretty much going to choose the chords of the C major scale. So if you have let's say two chords Let's say C major and A minor, you know C major and A minor I'm playing both these chords Pretty much in a six by eight rhythm for now. I've just decided that rhythm pattern So let's look at the pattern again. One two three four five six and then change two three four five six Okay, you can do other chords as well This rhythm pattern is quite nice. It's used for songs like hallelujah and a wonderful world and whatnot We've also done a lesson on six by eight arpeggio playing. You may want to check that out as well It'll be in the comments. So before we get started on my five efficient chord shifting techniques on the piano It'll be great if you can subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven't already and turn on the bell icon for notifications Let's get started the first tip when it comes to shifting between the chords I've observed with a lot of newer piano players is that when they play two chords C major and Then a minor So what needs to happen is both the chords have different notes So you need to you're already visualizing C major and then you need to re-visualize a minor I guess you need to do that well in advance. Don't you you cannot do a minor visualization after you finished C major So a great way to navigate through two chords would actually be to think of the next chord while you're playing the current So if you do C major C major I'm already thinking of my a minor shape. I'm kind of visualizing it I'm storing it here and bringing it out when it should come on the beat So this is what I call is just predicting the future, you know, so you go C major which is this hold and a minor which is that hold now you have to go from here all the way to here This is not the world's easiest thing to do So you need to imagine this shape and imagine and of course you're on this shape You're gonna start from here So good way to navigate to a minor and be on time is to just visualize its shape So you go C major a minor and you see what I did with my thumb finger there I stretched it out because I don't want to lose out on what I'm doing with C major I wanted to come and anticipate the a minor and not be a kind of a jerk a jerky motion While going from the C to a minor. So it'll sound like this C major a minor right Back to C major Maybe G major That's a bigger jump C major G major Maybe F major Up to G major And back to C major Okay So you don't want to do something like that right, that's not gonna sound very musical and More importantly when you play chords, you're supporting the singer and playing with drums The drummer doesn't have to change anything. He's pretty much playing on the same groove And the singer is just going to go with the flow So you need to work things out with respect to your band So you can learn this or develop this just by playing with musicians, you know They will push you to kind of get this done inevitably But when you're doing practice at home, I think you need to keep this in mind So it'll really prepare you for like the real world when you actually get to play with More musicians, right? So that's about predicting the future At least on the piano you should be able to and moving on to tip number two So generally when constructing chord progressions Most artists or most songwriters tend to always have a note in common between the chords And when navigating through the chords or through the changes of the chords That common note could actually be retained. So for instance, if I take C major here I could take or I could leave or retain C and the E Because C and E are common to which is the next chord A minor Which is A C E, right? So instead of going All the way down and displacing my fingers I could just use the logic behind the chords, you know, the chord has three shapes Root position first inversion and second inversion So you could choose The first inversion of A minor which has A up top And save anyway, even if you're playing a six by eight pattern with four fingers and you're a triad You still have one finger free So you could use the ring finger to kind of add that A and not play the middle finger for the G So C major A minor C major so This will work really great for most of the popular chord progressions However, when you do something like F major to G major, there's nothing in common there, right F major G major So when there's nothing in common, you hold your shape or you hold the inversion So if F major was in the second inversion As it is now You could hold the inversion and just move it up and then come back So let's just walk you through a few inversions and a few chords C major C A minor You see that's an inversion. It's C and E are common. Maybe F major now Okay, and then maybe a D minor And by the way F major had C in common now D minor Right and then back to C major. Now, how do I do that? There's nothing in common between D minor and C major So I go to the old technique which we discussed earlier, which is predicting the future. So Back to C. So I just stretch out my thumb a little bit and come back. So let's go through the chords again C major A minor F major in common lot of D minor back to C major predict the future And we use inversions with the common notes And also what I'd recommend with inversions is to just write down the chords as they flow from one chord to the other We've done a lot of tutorials on chord inversions So do head over and check out a playlist which we made on chord inversions So that's about chord inversions moving on So the third tip which I have when shifting between chords is basically to break it up Now a chord progression may have a lot of chords. It could have four chords or in a 12 progression like blues It could have 12 chords now. This might be tough to navigate Right, especially for a newcomer to the instrument So what I would highly recommend is just take it two at a time or maybe four at a time or Yeah, definitely start with maybe two at a time and just work through those changes Two at a time is completely fine as long as you're playing it musically with dynamics And as long as you focus on your timing and the clarity of sound, right? Don't bother about finishing the job It's always about being a bit patient. So you take Again, maybe a C major chord C major And then G major there So this is a little tricky. I have to use my ring finger on G Then I have to drop my thumb down Bring the index there And then it's awkward to bring my middle finger there. So I have to bring my ring finger there, right? So C major with the middle On G and now G major with the ring on G. So that's a little tricky. Now you may need to work this out. So If you have four chords, don't bother about playing all the four. Just play these two. So C major G major C major G major And just get through that And remember, you also have to work out your bass notes, right? If you're playing chords in the right hand What does your left hand do the left hand at the bare minimum has to play the root of the chord or the name of the chord So that's another job. So unfortunately, there's not really a shortcut with respect to the bass But don't lose the bass. The bass will always play the true root of the chord irrespective of the inversion So even if you're doing This it appears as though B is the bass or the root, but it's not it's a G major chord and you have to play G So try that out C major G major with the G that's a strong G major chord right there G major C And just get these two chords And then maybe the other two Right, so work maybe in pairs in sets of two or in sets of four, whatever you you feel is convenient for you Right, so that's about breaking up your chord progression into smaller pieces That way you really get the changes going on well for you and it's also important With any of these points, which I'm mentioning to play slow and also relax and enjoy yourself Ultimately you're playing music don't don't get worked up because of it just relax put in some time And the results will follow right just enjoy the journey of playing the instrument in the first place The result will always show itself Right everyone so the fourth point which I wanted to mention about shifting chords is how we can use functional harmony So functional harmony basically tells us that every chord has a different purpose every chord needs to Either lead to another chord or a particular chord will feel very stable or very homely Right, so when you think of a set of chords or a cluster of chords in a functional perspective It's a very it's very interesting for your mind your mind automatically wants to digest that information And you really are in the hunt so to speak right So whenever we try to play a tricky chord progression Sometimes we forget the point of the chords. Why are you playing the chords? They are beautiful things. Harmony is an is an amazing phenomenon It it allows you to tell a story with just your music, right? It's incredible So you need to sort of enjoy what you're doing and a great way to enjoy what you're doing is to first understand What the chords are why are they? Where they are placed and what feels stable what feels unstable what feels at home What feels away from home and then how do you connect from one point or the other? So I feel it's that curiosity which will get your fingers to automatically do what your brain Is just pushing them to do, you know, your brain is bubbling with that energy And it just wants to get your fingers going so Always understand your chords. So just to give you a couple of examples here. So if I take C major Okay, the C major scale if I do maybe a D minor there Then a G major Right, you feel what happened there D minor G major and C major seem to be a cluster of chords D minor is what we call the subdominant chord Which is the two minor? This is the five major or the dominant and ending on the tonic Right, so this you can do even with a two minor Five major And then another minor the rather the other tonic which is the A minor So by analyzing those three chords D minor G major to C major Or D minor G major to A minor you kind of put them together in a very musical perspective tonic Is the home? Subdominant could be either your two or the four Generally in the major scale at least the dominant chords could be the five or the seven diminished And the tonics could be the one or the six while the E minor or the three minor is a very interesting chord Which I generally tend to call as an embellishment. It's something you could just use for flavor Okay, so try to cluster cluster your chords together and see how they merge together Right, you could also look at them as a cadence. For example, the plagal cadence going a four going to one F major going to C major All right, so that's how you link those two It's the amen cadence in church music or the dominant or the authentic cadence as we call it, which is the dominant going to tonic That's the five one Or you could do what I call is the epic cadence Which is the six flat going to the seven flat and then going to the one major which is like a long set of chords So even though it is tricky to shift between these chords The whole point is you are hopefully motivated to playing them not only because you need to play them But because you just love the way they sound So you want to be part of that experience, you know to play such amazing harmony And that can only happen when you cluster them together and understand why this one is there Where does it want to go and eventually the tonic or the conclusion and then your story is over Right guys, so the final tip which I have while shifting between your chords is It's more of a sort of a guidance from a maybe more experienced player like me It is okay to make mistakes. There is no problem of making mistakes as long as you shift on time So what I mean by this is a mistake Let's look at what a mistake is first of all a mistake is either you play a bum note as we call it Like a wrong note, which is not part of the triad of that chord Or you you just kind of hesitate. You don't know where to go next Right So this may really help when you practice with a group of people And work towards a common objective It's great to play with a singer or a drummer who keep a consistent groove and who have a different perspective than you But again, if you're jamming alone at home I would definitely recommend singing I would definitely recommend being part of the music and don't worry and don't be too possessive about your playing Try to make it more about the music and less about your piano and your fingers and your Chords and whatnot right make it about the song and serve the song. So if you have let's say Uh, a problem to go from maybe C major To a flat major, which is a little tricky, isn't it? So you go C major A flat Well, you could shift between that using inversions, but if it was tough for you What you need to first do is maybe play the chord once play the C major chord C major A flat And come back and don't stop playing. It's okay if you made that mistake. It will eventually E's out Right. So let me just take a few chords and show you how I generally play through the changes In this system where, you know, timing and shifting on the bar, you know, is way more important Then landing there and making a mistake, especially when you practice Don't worry about the mistakes because the mistakes will iron themselves out eventually. So you go C major F minor A flat major B flat See right now I'm focusing on the music It's more about the music so it's okay if you make a couple of mistakes or more than a couple of mistakes It's okay. This is what you call as practice in any case, right? How else are you? What is practice? You have to practice stuff. You don't know, I guess so yes So practice it till you know it, all right guys So these are a few tips on shifting between chords efficiently on the piano. Hope you found the lesson useful Let's recap first off like I said predict the future And the very next chord you need to know the shape before you head over there The next thing would be using inversions and having clever pathways between chords using common notes If there are any or common shapes then we need to break up our Chord progression two at a time or three at a time. Keep it simple The fourth point I mentioned was usage of functional harmony Understand the role or the goal of what you're doing, right? What are the emotions of these chords which you're using and how does one go to the other and last but not least The mindset while playing your chords is very very important. It's okay to make mistakes You need to focus on timing and try to keep yourself If you're practicing at home, it's a little tricky But try to find a few hostile environments What I mean by that is try to challenge yourself like it shouldn't just be you playing the piano only Try to find a friend or a family member who can sing along with you or maybe collaborate use recording facilities And try to work with each other and that'll really push you and your technique as a piano player, right? And don't lose the left hand as well. I may have been playing a lot with my right hand But please don't lose the left hand the left hand always plays the bass or the root or the name of the chord As always, this is Jason here from the Nathaniel School of Music. Thanks a ton for watching this video Do check out all our other lessons and leave us a comment if you'd like me to handle something specific which you'd like to learn and consider following us on Patreon as well, you can subscribe there There are a lot of things going on and also look out for a bunch of things coming your way with Nathaniel with some of our Courses which are pretty much online now. So I'd love to have all of you guys on board. Cheers