Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman. Today we're learning how to add
chords to the chorus of "Firework" so if
you haven't already learned how to play
the melody of "Firework" in my other
lesson you probably want to do that
lesson first, unless of course you have a
friend who knows how to play the melody.
In that case your friend could play the
melody while you play the chords and it
will make an awesome duet. Whatever you
decide to do let's get started learning
the chords. Today we can make "Firework"
sounds so much cooler by adding chords.
So you'll recall our right hand is here
in the G major pentascale. First G
above middle C. Left hand is going to
start off on this low G. Sometimes I call
it ground G because you can see on the
staff it's this bottom line of the bass clef,
and this song uses what's called power
chord. It's open fifth, so it's the
distance of five notes, which is called a
fifth in music. So I will call the chords by
its bottom name, but there's always going
to be a fifth above that, so if I say a G
chord I mean play a G and a fifth above,
which is B, just using fingers one and
five. Now you'll see in each measure we
have the chord repeated four times with
quarter notes, so we'll keep a very
steady beat. We have four G chords, one two
three four, then four A chords, one two three four,
then four E chords, so we've got to shift
our hand down to E, 1 2 3 4, then four C chords,
all the way down here on low C, 1 2 3 4 then
shift back and we repeat that pattern
again. four G chords, four A chords, four E
chords, four C chords. Now I'd
like you to press pause and practice
that on your own about five times. Count
out loud one two three four and let's
make these chords staccato. You'll see
that little dot under each note. That
indicates staccato
so it has a nice driving sound. This
would be the electric guitar part, so we
wanted to have a really strong gutsy
sound. Okay press pause, practice on your
own, then press play when you're ready to
go on.
Great, now let's try putting this
together. I'd like you to play the chords
with your left hand while I play the
melody with my right hand. I'll also play
the chords along with you too. I'd like
you to count out loud, one two three four,
and that will help you stay focused on
your part because what's going to happen
when I'm playing the melody, it's going
to distract you, and I want you to really
stay focused on four beats on each chord
the moment you start your chords is on
the word fire. Firework. Ok so when I get
"baby you're a" and then on "fire" that's when
you start the chords. Baby you're a play. All
right let's try it. So get your left hand
in position and when I get to the word
fire, you start and count one two three
four on each chord, here we go. Baby you're a
[counting]
Good. Now if that didn't go perfectly that's fine.
Just rewind and try it again, or pause
and practice on your own. Once you can do
that comfortably with me you're ready to
try this next section. You'll see in the
next measure we shift from playing
quarter note chord to eighth note
chords where now it's going to be 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Ok now
it's eight notes per measure or we've
got these eight notes 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4
now if that's too fast and feels
uncomfortable for you then you can stick
with quarter notes the whole time, like
this, but if you want to ramp up the
energy there, baby you're a firework, it's important when you're
playing these chords that you keep a
loose wrist. For example when you're
doing these fast eighth notes if you
play with a stiff arm and wrist you're
going to get really sore and it's going
to make kind of an ugly sound. You want
to kind of bounce. keep your wrist loose
as you're playing, just think really kind
of floppy and bouncy, 1 2 3 4. Don't worry
about playing it too loud. All right? So
let's try the chords starting here in
this measure. Cover up a G and now we're
going to say one and two and three and
four and so there's an and in between
each number, and then we shift up to the A,
it's the same pattern as before, G chord
A chord E chord C chord. Let's start on
the G chord. Count out loud with me one
and two and three and go one two three
four A chord 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, E chord, to the
C chord, repeat, [counting]
Once again if you find your hand
getting really stiff, or your arm, then
maybe you want to just stick with
quarter notes 1 2, 1 2 3 4. to do it this faster
speed you really have to keep your wrist
...
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