Sprinkle Some Pepper On Your Musical Meal Through The Use of Augmented Chords

Sprinkle Some Pepper On Your Musical Meal Through The Use of Augmented Chords

Augmented chords are to a piece of music like pepper is to a meal; you would never sit down to a meal of pepper alone, but you might sprinkle a little on your food to liven up the taste a bit.
Augmented triads (triads are 3-note chords) are one of the 4 basic chord types, yet they are used very little compared to major and minor chords.

There are four basic kinds of triads in music:

Major triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Minor triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Diminished triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and diminished 5th of a major scale.
Augmented triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and augmented 5th of a major scale.

As an example, the C major scale is:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

So a C major triad would be:
C, E, G
A minor triad would be:
C, Eb, G
A diminished triad would be:
C, Eb, Gb
An augmented triad would be:
C, E, G#

Most of the songs we know or hear on the radio or TV (or on our IPOD's or other MP3 player) are written in a major key. That means that most of the chords in those songs are major chords -- only 20% or so are minor chords.

The other 10% of songs and musical compositions are written in a minor key, which means that there will be several minor chords within the context of the piece.

So if nearly 100% of all songs contain major and minor chords, what place is there for diminished and augmented triads?

They are the salt and pepper of a musical meal.

In other words, major chords are like the main dish -- the steak, if you will, of a song. Minor chords are like a side dish of corn or broccoli (yuk!) or whatever. You would never sit down to a meal of just pepper or just salt, would you? Same way here; you use diminished and augmented triads to add spice to your meat and potatoes. We covered diminished triads in an earlier article, so this time we will focus on augmented triads.

Here are the 12 augmented triads:

C aug: C, E, G#
F aug: F, A, C#
G aug: G, B, D#
D aug: D, F#, A#
E aug: E, G#, B# (enharmonic with C)
A aug: A, C#, E# (enharmonic with F)
Db aug: Db, F, A
Eb aug: Eb, G, B
Ab aug: Ab, C, E
Gb aug: Gb, Bb, D
Bb aug: Bb, D, F#
B aug: B, D#, Fx (F double-sharp, which is enharmonic with G)

So like diminished chords, augmented chords are used to add spice to your musical meal. You don't linger on them, but use them as transition chords between a major and another major chord, or between a major and a minor chord, or sometimes even between two minor chords.
As an example, let's say you are playing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the key of C and your first chord is C major on the entire first phrase "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord" As you transition to the F chord on the word "trampling", you can insert a C augmented triad on the words "He is". It only lasts one beat, but it adds interest to the song by leading smoothly from the C chord to the F chord.

You could also use a C augmented chord in the chorus as you move from the 1st phrase "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" to the second "Glory, glory, hallelujah!" You are moving from a C chord to an F chord, so insert a C+ chord (the symbol for an augmented triad is a + sign) right before you play the F chord.

As you play various songs, look for opportunities to use augmented triads as transition chords. And just like pepper is to a meal of food, so augmented triads are to a musical meal.

http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/7-augmented.htm

Learn Music Fast -- Online!

Learn music fast online

With the advent of the internet there is no longer any excuse for not learning music if a person wants to learn. Learning music online has revolutionized learning, since it is the first time in history that anyone with a computer can virtually find out anything they want to know about music -- and find out quick!

There are sites galore teaching everything about music from chords to trombone lessons to drum lessons to music theory lessons to guitar lessons to piano lessons, and a whole lot more. Many are free while others charge a very reasonable tuition. But think what a bargain that is; no travel, no traffic jams; no rescheduling lessons; no missed lessons; and because the lessons are online (or in some cases on CD's and DVD's) they can be replayed over and over until the lesson is thoroughly learned, which is not the case in a personal lesson or a college classroom. You have one chance to understand, and if you don't, you're immediately behind the curve and have to do extra studies to catch up. Not so with online music lessons.

Back just 15 years ago if an individual wanted to learn music, about the only places he or she could do so would be from a private teacher, a music school of some sort -- private or public or correspondence, or self-taught from a music book. All of which is fine, but slow if an individual is really chomping at the bit to learn, and learn fast.

But today there are literally hundreds of sites on the internet from which any ambitious person can access and learn virtually anything they want about music. There are sites dealing with music instruction for beginners as well as college-level sites that deal with figured bass and advanced music theory and composition issues, as well as improvisation and arranging music.

For example, there are piano lesson sites that teach how to improvise -- all styles of improvisation including jazz, rock, gospel, new age music and more. There are piano instruction sites that shows you how to play piano sheet music as a map, instead of having to sight read the printed music as it is written. By learning how to do this, you can create your own free piano sheet music by creating a song and then notating it in a music software program such as Finale using piano tabs, piano chords, and chord symbols. A person can learn to play piano notes by the fist-full by learning piano chording music styles.

Learning to play the piano, learning to read piano music, learning piano songs from classical music to popular music is one of the most fun things a person can do. There are piano lessons online using major chords, minor chords, 7th chords, and all kinds of chord progressions. Learning to play the piano music of your dreams using piano chords & piano chording techniques is now within the reach of anyone with an internet connection! And don't forget harmony and music theory -- including scales and fingering of scale and chord passages in musical scores and sheet music -- it's all available online. Music history and music appreciation is important too -- guys like Bach & Mozart & Beethoven & Chopin knew what they were doing -- and we can learn much from them and stand on their shoulders simply by accessing the biggest library in the history of mankind -- the cyber library of the internet.

Here are just a few of the sites online where you can learn music:

http://www.workshoplive.com/ Guitar lessons online using video. Song writing instruction.

http://www.berkleemusic.com/ The Berklee School of Music in Boston has long been one of the two or three top schools in the world for aspiring jazz musicians. Now it has an online division, so you don't have to pack your bags for Boston -- you can learn music right at home.

http://mto.societymusictheory.org/ Music theory and criticism for advanced musicians, teachers, composers, and scholars.

http://www.musictheory.net/ Includes introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, ear training.

http://www.murraystate.edu/qacd/cfac/music/MUS109e/intro/chapter_index.htm An interactive internet course for learning music fundamentals. Designed to be a high school AP course or freshman college level remedial theory course.

http://www.teoria.com/tutorials/index.htm Tutorials on reading music, scales, intervals, chords.

http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/FreeLessons.htm 101-part online newsletter teaching piano chords & chord progressions.

This list just scratches the surface; if you type "music lessons online" into the Google search box, you will come up with something like eight million results! "Piano lessons" will call up about a million and a half, while "guitar lessons online" will bring up over two million search results.

With this abundance of material online, there is no excuse for anyone who really wants to learn music to not avail themselves of the opportunity, especially when they realize that this is the first time in the history of the world that this riches of knowledge has been available with just the click of a mouse.

http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/20-learnmusiconline.htm

http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/FreeLessons.htm

Can You Play All The Major Chords in 3 Seconds or Less?

Can YOU Play All The Major Chords in 3 Seconds or Less?

Did you have any idea how easy it is to learn ALL the major chords (there are 12 of them)
and be able to play them in seconds -- not hours or days or weeks or months or years?
Some people go through their entire lives not being sure about what such and such a major
chord is -- and it's all so unnecessary, because you can memorize them in just a few
minutes, and learn to play them in 12 seconds or less - one second per major chord.

I have had many private students over the years who could play them all in as little as 5
seconds -- one little gal (she was about 12 at the time) had particularly fast hands, and
could play them in - believe it or not - 3 seconds! I have slow hands with fat fingers,
and yet I can play them in something like 5 or 6 seconds. So if I can do it with little
fat hands and chubby short fingers, you can too.

First, here's what the major chords look like on the staff: I hope you noticed that 3 of
the major chords were made of all white keys: C F G. And I hope you noticed that 3 of the
major chords were made of white keys on the outside, with a black key in the middle: D E
A. And did you notice that 3 of the major chords were like an Oreo cookie? Black on the
outside, white on the inside? Db Eb Ab. That only leaves 3 major chords, one of which is
all black, and one of which is white, black, black, and the other the reverse -- black,
white, white. Gb (all black) B (white, black, black) Bb (black, white, white). And that's
it..

Practice playing the first 3 major chords over and over until you can move between them
smoothly and quickly. Then practice the next 3 major chords -- then the next 3 -- then
the last 3. After you can play them by 3's, practice playing the first 6 without
stopping. Then practice the first 9 without stopping. Then finally practice playing all
12 without stopping.

There's no particular virtue, of course, in playing them quickly, except for the fact
that it makes you confident you can find them in a hurry when you need them in a song.
But you'll find that as your confidence grows, your enjoyment and competence in piano
playing will grow commensurately.

For a sight-and-sound lesson on the 12 major chords, please go to:

Major chords

http://playpiano.com/101-tips/3-major-chords.htm

Diminished Triads: The Salt of a Musical Meal

Diminished Chords: The Salt of a Musical Meal

There are four basic kinds of triads (3-note chords) in music:

Major triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Minor triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Diminished triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and diminished 5th of a major scale.
Augmented triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and augmented 5th of a major scale.

As an example, the C major scale is:

C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

So a C major triad would be:
C, E, G
A minor triad would be:
C, Eb, G
A diminished triad would be:
C, Eb, Gb
An augmented triad would be:
C, E, G#

About 90% of the songs we know or hear on the radio or TV (or on our IPOD's or other MP3 player) are written in a major key. That means that most of the chords in those songs are major chords -- only 20% or so are minor chords.

The other 10% of songs and musical compositions are written in a minor key, which means that there will be several minor chords within the context of the piece.
So if nearly 100% of all songs contain major and minor chords, what place is there for diminished and augmented triads?

They are the salt and pepper of a musical meal.

In other words, major chords are like the main dish -- the steak, if you will, of a song. Minor chords are like a side dish of corn or broccoli (yuk!) or whatever.

You would never sit down to a meal of just pepper or just salt, would you? Same way here; you use diminished and augmented triads to add spice to your meat and potatoes.

So here are the 12 diminished triads:

C dim: C, Eb, Gb
F dim: F, Ab, Cb
G dim: G, Bb, Db
D dim: D, F, Ab
E dim: E, G, Bb
A dim: A, C, Eb
Db dim: Db, Fb, Abb (same as G)(By the way, Db dim is enharmonic with C# dim)
Eb dim: Eb, Gb, Bbb (same as A) (Eb dim is enharmonic with D# dim)
Ab dim: Ab, Cb, Ebb (same as D) (Ab dim is enharmonic with G# dim)
Gb dim: Gb, Bb, Dbb (same as C) (Gb dim is enharmonic with F# dim)
Bb dim: Bb, Db, Fb (Bb dim is enharmonic with A# dim)
B dim: B, D, F

So diminished chords are used to add spice to your musical meal. You don't linger on them, but use them as transition chords between a major and another major chord, or between a major and a minor chord, or sometimes even between two minor chords.

For example, let's say you are playing "Amazing Grace" in the key of F and your first chord is F major on the words "Amazing grace". As you transition to the Dm chord on the word "sweet", you can insert a C# diminished triad on the word "how". It only lasts one beat, but it adds interest to the song.

As you play various songs, look for opportunities to use diminished triads as transition chords. And just like salt is to a meal, so diminished triads are to a musical meal.

Minor Chords: How To Form Them & Use Them

Minor Chords: How To Form Them & Use Them

Minor chords create a sound which is somber or serious; some people even think of minor chords as "sad", as opposed to major chords which sound "normal", or "happy". Some of the great classics are written in minor keys, including Fur Elise by Beethoven, Prelude in C# Minor by Rachmaninoff, Prelude in Cm by Chopin, and many others. In popular music there is "Summertime", "A Taste of Honey", "'Round Midnight", etc. and in folk music there is "Greensleeves", "Dark Eyes", "Volga Boatman","When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and many more.
But minor chords also occur frequently in songs which are written in major keys, and they provide the contrast needed to make a song interesting. The most-used chords in any given key are the I, IV, and V chords which are major, but followed by the ii, iii, and iv chords which are minor. So most songs written in a major key include from 1 to 3 minor chords somewhere along the line.
To understand minor chords we first need to understand major chords. Major chords are created using the root, 3rd, and 5th of a major scale. A major scale (from "la scala" = the ladder) is defined as a row of notes that moves from a root (the bottom or starting note) and moves upward by 2 whole steps, a half step, 3 whole steps, and one half step until it reaches the octave note (8 notes higher). By selecting the root, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale we create a major chord (also known as a triad -- a 3-note chord).
There are only 12 different major chords:
3 of the major chords were made of all white keys: C F G.
3 of the major chords were made of white keys on the outside, with a black key in
the middle: D E A.
3 of the major chords were like an Oreo cookie? Black on the outside, white on the inside: Db Eb Ab.
That only leaves 3 major chords, one of which is all black, and one of which is white, black, black, and the other the reverse -- black, white, white. Gb (all black) B (white, black, black) Bb (black, white, white).


And that's it.
Here they are in that order:
Major chords composed of all white keys:
C major chord: C, E, G
F major chord: F, A, C
G major chord: G, B, D
Major chords composed of white keys on the outside with a black key in the center:
D major chord: D, F#, A
E major chord: E, G#, B
A major chord: A, C#, E
Major chords composed of black keys on the outside with a white key in the center: Db major chord: Db, F, Ab
Eb major chord: Eb, G, Bb
Ab major chord: Ab, C, Eb
Major chords left over:
Gb major chord (all black keys): Gb, Bb, Db
Bb major chord: Bb,
D, F B major chord: B, D#, F#

All these chords shown above are in "root position"; that is, the root, or name of the chord, is on the bottom of the chord. In a subsequent article we will take up the other positions in which we can play chords: inversions.
So why do I need to learn the major chords?
The answer is simple: all other chords are formed by altering one or more notes of a major chord. So once you know major chords, it's easy to find minor, diminished, augmented, and extended chords.
So to find a minor chord, all we need to do is lower the 3rd of each chord 1/2 step. So to make the C major chord into a C minor chord, we just need to lower E (the 3rd of the chord) 1/2 step to Eb.
So C minor chord is C, Eb, G
Here are the rest of the minor chords:
F minor chord: F, Ab, C
G minor chord: G, Bb, D
D minor chord: D, F, A
E minor chord: E, G, B
A minor chord: A, C, E
Db minor chord: Db, Fb, Ab (Fb is the same as E)
Eb minor chord: Eb, Gb, Bb
Ab minor chord: Ab, Cb, Eb (Cb is the same as B)
Gb minor chord: Gb, Bbb, Db (Bbb is the same as A)
B minor chord: B, D, F#
Bb minor chord: Bb, Db, F
Learn them well, as you will be playing them all of your life in countless songs.
To see all the minor chords illustrated, please go to: www.playpiano.com/101-tips/4-minor-chords.htm

Christmas Carols You Can Play this Christmas With Only 3 Chords!

Christmas Carols You Can Play this Christmas With Only 3 Chords!

Did you know that there are literally thousands of songs you can play if you know just 3 chords?It's true. Songs from "Amazing Grace" to "Cum Ba Ya" to "Happy Birthday" to "On Top Of Old Smoky", "My Country 'Tis of Thee", "Take Me Out To The Ball Game", "God Bless America" and countless others.

But there are also Christmas Carols that you can learn to play this Christmas if you know, or are willing to learn, three simple chords.So what are these chords?In any given key, there are 3 "family members" that are residents of that key -- the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord. They are far and away the most likely chords to occur in any given key.For example, if I am playing in the Key of C, and the first chord is the C chord and I have to guess what the next chord is, I would guess that it would be either the F chord or the G chord. Why? Because those are the other "family members." So we have narrowed the odds a great deal just by knowing who the members of the family are.So how could I tell whether it should be F or G?If the melody is a "B", then the chord is probably a G chord. Why? Because "B" is in the G chord, but is not in the F chord.If the melody is a "A", than I would guess that the chord is F. Why? Because "A" is in the F chord, but is not in the G chord.You can also just match one of the three chords to the melody to see if it sounds right. If it doesn't, try another of the 3 chords. It won't take long before you get the knack of matching chords to the tune of a song.Does that mean that there are always just 3 chords in a song? No, but there are literally hundreds of songs that are made of just 3 chords.Here are a few Christmas Carols you can play with just 3 chords:

O Christmas TreeAngels We Have Heard On HighSilent Night Away In A MangerJoy To The WorldDeck The Halls
Hark! The Herald Angels SingI Heard The Bells On Christmas DayGo, Tell It On The Mountain O Come, O Come Immanuel Star Of The EastThe First NoelThe Holly And The Ivy While Shepherds Watched Their FlocksGod Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Can you use other chords in these carols? Of course. And they will probably sound fuller if you do. But you can "get by" with just 3 chords -- the family chords in whatever key you want to play them in.Here are the primary chords (the family chords) of all the major keys (remember that the primary chords are the I chord, the IV chord, and the V chord based on the scale of that particular key):

Key of C: C, F, GKey of G: G, C, DKey of D: D, G, AKey of A: A, D, EKey of E: E, A, BKey of B: B, E, F#Key of F: F, Bb, CKey of Bb: Bb, Eb, FKey of Eb: Eb, Ab, BbKey of Ab: Ab, Db, EbKey of Db: Db, Gb, AbKey of Gb: Gb, Cb, Db

Do you have to know all these chords in all these keys?No.You can choose to play in just one key, or just a few keys.But what you MUST know is the 3 chords in whatever key you want to play in! That meansthat the stark beginner can learn 3 chords in just a few minutes, and be able to play along withthousands of tunes, because most folk songs, hymns, country songs, and many rock songs just use the 3 basic chords. That's why people who know zilch about music can pick up a guitar or sit down at a piano or keyboard, learn 3 chords, and chord along while singing everything from “Silent Night" to "Joy To The World" to..........................well, you get the idea.Go thou and do likewise. It's not too late -- Christmas comes every year right on schedule!
For an in-depth course in playing Christmas Carols, please go to:


http://www.playpiano.com/musical-courses/christmas/ChristmasCarols.html

You will love it -- and it will be a great gift to yourself that will last as long as you play every Christmas!