 Hi everyone, this is Jason here from Nathaniel School of Music. We are going to learn the iconic piano intro of a song, Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm sure you all know it. It's a masterpiece of a song. There are too many piano parts. So I figured I'll just do the most catchy one, at least what most people try to learn and ask me to teach them. So I'm just going to give it my humble attempt at teaching this incredible song and it's quite easy actually, at least the main part where, you know, mama just killed a man, that part is actually very playable. There's just a little bit of dynamics, little bit of hand movement, some fingering, which I'm going to tell you and we are good to go. If you read sheet music, the notation of this entire intro, which has been transcribed for you, it's as a PDF file on our Patreon. You'll also get the MIDI, if you use that, you'll also get the MUSE score file, which you can import into the software MUSE score, which is pretty much free. And there we have it. It's all available on Patreon and just before we start, if you are watching this video and you haven't subscribed, it'll be really cool if you can hit that subscribe button and also consider hitting that bell icon. We do a lot of videos on our channel, at least three to four lessons a week. You can find, so don't miss any of them. Hit that bell and stay subscribed. Let's get cracking with Bohemian Rhapsody, the intro of this epic classic. It's on B-flat major. So B-flat major has two flats, namely B-flat, the root of course, and E-flat, the fourth. B-flat, C, D, E-flat, F, G, A, B-flat, down. B-flat, A, G, F, E-flat, D, C, B-flat. Now, we say the songs on B-flat major, but in reality, there's a lot of other stuff which goes on. But for all practical purposes, it's on B-flat. Most of the parts of the song are on B-flat. So we'll say it's B-flat. So I'm going to start first with the intro, and then what's really cool about the whole process is, once you know the intro, it's pretty much going to be a change of notes and rather a change of chords, which you can then realign and mechanically do the same thing. So if you do, for example, you can repeat that mechanical process for the next section and then for the next section and so on and so forth. So let's invest a lot of time on the intro and then it'll get a lot easier from there. And I have done the effort of transcribing this entire song, not just the piano part. So if you're interested, do leave us a comment and we will do like a really, really detailed tutorial on Bohemian Rhapsody. And we do teach stuff like this in very, very detailed classes at Nathaniel, the school which I run and I'm a faculty. What happens there is we are allowed to play the song number one without the video being taken down and stuff like that. So if you'd like to really dive into songs, the theory, why did he compose that and so on and so forth, do consider a course at our music school. You can fill up a form in the description or head over to the website. Anyway, coming back to this one, if you have a piano ready with you, it'll be great or a book or something like that. Because if you have a piano, you will get this with me. I'm going to slow it down. I'm going to really make sure you can play this intro. So the beginning part, let me just play it and then slow the whole process down. So now the fingering is up to you. For the most part, this is what I think Freddie does in his intro. He does thumb, middle and pinky. So he'll go... It's a very interesting way of playing a chord. It's a B-flat major chord. You play both B-flats in your bass. B-flat is the root of B-flat major as we know. And he inverts the chord as F, B-flat, D. So this is your main handhold for the intro. Now to make this in motion, we go... Got that? So instead of playing the chord head-on like that and then up-agitating or whatever, what he does is he takes the top two notes of the chord which is B-flat and D. Then come back to thumb on F. Okay, so it goes... Now that's a supremely high G, right? Which is weird when you hear the song. How on earth, maybe there's a second pianist or someone who plays that... That's screaming G. But no, it's the same piano player, Freddie Mercury, who's doing this and singing, which is ridiculously tough. So he goes something like... Takes his entire hand, the left hand and puts it to the right of the right hand which is very, very unconventional for normal piano playing, right? But it works really, really well and makes this... Gives it that iconic touch which is gonna make it a timeless song, which it is. So you go... Okay? And not just any G, G with its octave. So... Then... Then you just whack this thumb in between the G's and the F's. Again. Now, if you find your hand having a glitch or an issue while shifting so much and then jerking it too much another fingering possibility could be play thumb on F, index finger on B flat, middle finger on D and if you can stretch a ninth from F to a G this will work really well for you. But if you're a kid watching this maybe your hands are not gonna stretch that much or if you have small hands in general go back to what Freddie is doing which is 1, 3, 5 both fingers on the octave crossing. I just prefer... something like that. This is what I've gotten used to. Also if you have a tummy like me it can help greatly. Just try and stretch. So F to G. So this is how I play generally. That's pretty much the intro. So you could play it like this. Both fingers. But remember to whack this F along with that octave. Now this would not be even 1% possible to have that magic if you don't use your sustain pedal. So what's happening behind the scenes is I'm holding my pedal I'm able to lift this hand so that stuff gets held on if you did not hold it it's gonna sound not like Bohemian Rhapsody. So hold the pedal draw the entirety of the phrase. The phrase is... and proceeds forward. So remember hold your pedal if you want to play Bohemian Rhapsody like the original you need a pedal. So if you don't have one do consider getting one which is compatible for your keyboard figure it out on Amazon or hopefully it came with your keyboard which will be great. This is the sustain pedal the one on the right. And also note I'm whacking octaves in my bass I'm not doing single B flat. So that's the idea. So B flat octave with B flat D in the right hand now I arpeggiate get ready for the octave F octave again either displace between your two hands or as Freddie goes also adds a lot more glamour right because you can do something cool with that hand there we go. So have some fun with that intro that is the intro and it goes on before he starts singing so I figured let's just not stop only with that intro there's so much in the song so let me teach you the whole worst part of the song okay mama just kill the man pull the gun against his head pull the trigger now he's dead na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na let's top it from there and do that in another lesson so we'll do till there that whole phrase because that entirety that entire phrase will be This sort of a vibe, this sort of a mechanical technique throughout. So let's dive forward, right guys? So first we go, which is exactly the way you played the intro. Let me slow down a bit more, again. Don't forget this toggling F. Now we go to kill the man, which is G minor. So first chord was B flat major in its second inversion. Second chord is G minor in its root position, G B flat D. So you need your G in the bass, so first chord B flat, second chord G minor and pretty much the same fashion. 3, 5 of the chord, the top two notes, then you come back down, which is the same mechanical movement as the B flat chord, G minor, same thing. And as always he stretches to a ninth, so A is the ninth of G. Now if you cannot stretch that, as I'm sure a lot of you can't, you will then continue to do thumb, middle and pinky, and when you do the octave A, G, G, G, A octave, G, G, G. Okay, again whole of the second chord. Okay, mama just killed a man. Let's repeat that, mama just killed a man. Let's just repeat that, mama just killed a man, just killed a man. Shall we move forward? Put a gun against his head. So that's a C minor chord, but what he's doing is, I don't think he's playing, he's not doing, I think there he just goes, again I figure this primarily by ear, so it may be subject to some form of debate, I'll be happy to hear that in the comments. So I think he's actually doing, that allows his hand to also cross, with the octave cross there and a C bass in the left hand. So the same mechanics as earlier, B flat, G minor, C minor. You could also add that G, there's no harm in doing that, works fine. You ensure that pattern match. C minor, again you could practice it this way by crossing both fingers up or what I do is I just move my hand like this and play one finger. Okay, so we've got the first three chords, let's figure that out, revise it. I'll just kill the man, put a gun against his head to my trigger, now he's dead, that'll be, okay that's C minor 7th and this is the hand hold, but he doesn't play all together, he goes, he goes E flat, B flat first which is note number 2 of C minor 7th and B flat is the 4th note. So again your pedal is held, now C minor is the 2 of B flat, where does the 2 generally go, it goes to the 5 and then where does the 5 generally go, the 1. So this is the very very common jazz cadence, 2, 5, 1. Lot of videos on the YouTube channel head over there after this one of course and check out some of my lessons on the 2, 5, 1 cadence. One of the most famous jazz cadences which are used to loop things which is exactly what happens here, okay. So C minor 7th is played in this unique fashion by Freddie. Now when you go to F, it's an F7th, F dominant 7th, so C minor 7th is voiced this way, F dominant 7th is voiced that way, that's E flat, F, A, C. Very tricky because you're starting on a black note and things seem a bit congested but that's how it is. But you don't have to play the chords as blocks, you have time. So let me show you the fingering of that entire, at that part we go one more time. So C in the bass because it's C minor 7th, now lift your pedal bring it back to when you hit F and that hold of F dominant. So C minor 7th, F7th there, played as F, A together, F with A, E flat, F, C as an arpeggio. So you could do just only that chord, get used to that C minor 7th, right. Now last chord, A with F, again fingering is a bit tricky. But you'll have to deal with that, so start slow. What helps is you anticipate that thumb motion and play it in a go. That whole section. Mama just killed a man, pulled a gun against his head, I trigger now he's dead, pulled my trigger now he's dead. And then to our luck he repeats at least the first two chords which is mama, life has just begun. And now I've gone and thrown it all the way that part. I'll play you this and now I've gone and thrown it all the way where it gets very heavy and like disturbing, right. Because of the quality of the chords, lot of diminished chords in there and a very descending diabolic bass drop. Okay, I'll play it once, it's better if you hear me played and then I will explain. One more time, then goes to that other part. So let's first learn only the bass. C, B, D flat, A, A flat, G. Okay, C, B, B flat, A. So that's minimum half note, crotchet, crotchet or quarter note, quarter note. So it's a chromatic descent which goes on. C, B, B flat, C, B, B flat, A flat, G. Okay, A with A flat, G. So the chords are C minor, beautiful chord, B augmented, E flat over B flat then A minor seventh flat five or the half diminished chord, A flat major seventh, E flat over G. But he doesn't play it as full chord. So now I hope the left hand's clear. Let me do walk you through the left hand once more. So that follows after and now and now I've gone and thrown it off. Now let's do the right hand properly. It goes that C minor but start with the dyad C and E flat together. Now that's this inner voice goes down that's B, B flat, B making it be augmented, B flat making it E flat over B flat. So C minor, B, B flat, so it's essentially doubling the bass. So C bass, B, popping, B flat but it's just E flat and G. So the trick here is E flat and G will be ringing consistently at that entire last line. Two C, B, B flat, G. Now A minor seventh flat five but you still do A with E flat that's a tritone and then you arpeggiate. So that's a three note arpeggio. Those are quick movements because it's over a crotchet. A flat bigger stretch. A flat, G, G, G is actually if you think about it it's E flat over G. So what I think he's playing that's the epic ending of that intro part and then goes to the and then things continue and they go crazier and crazier and crazier and crazier. It just goes on and on. So that was my humble attempt at at least that first around one minute or so after the acapella section when he starts singing after the piano, after the piano plays the intro on its own. Let's just recap once the basic intro again. So I am playing it because I have that reach. If you don't have the reach do it like Freddy. Move both your fingers up. Hold your pedal. Next chord G minor. G minor. Next chord C minor and now the two five two C minor seven going to F seven which is in that unique way then F change your position and then repeat and now the epic ending and now I've gone and thrown it all that takes us to the next part right guys that was Bohemian Rhapsody a bit of it at least I hope you found the lesson useful if you need some additional help there's the notation available on our Patreon page the entire thing which we discussed right now there's also the Mu score file if you'd like to import it into Mu score and use it from that platform there's also MIDI files if you have an app which can read that pretty much everything including my hand written notes the scale the chords the inversion everything the way I teach it it's whatever you saw help you in the lesson is all there in a neat Patreon folder waiting for you get get yourselves a copy and also our website is there Nathaniel school dot com where you can consider some of our structured courses and plan a module which suits you whether you're a complete beginner or whether you've been playing for years and years I look forward to seeing you I look forward to also having you record some of this stuff and sending it to me I would love to hear you play this stuff so record yourself playing it put it on your Instagram or whatever tag me we're always available on these platforms and continue to stay tuned to our channel we put out a lot of content the subscribe will always help thanks a ton for watching the video cheers see you in the next one