Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman. Today we're learning how to play
chords in the left hand with "Silver
Birch Tree."
Let's come to the piano to get started.
Okay, so we're figuring out these chords
for the left hand for "Silver Birch
Tree."
Here's my middle C, so I'm coming down to
the left of that, and let's review the
I chord. the I chord is always built
on DO MI SO or since we're minor DO ME
SO. There's our I chord. Now can you
play that on your piano?
Now our V7 chord, let me put the I chord back
up here, remember DO always goes down a
half step to TI. Show me a half step below
this D. If you're pointing right here, you're
correct. Half-step is always the nearest possible
note, which if you're on a white key is
usually going to go to a black key. Now
ME will go up to FA, which is right here, so our
V7 chord looks like this. SO stays
the same. We got C sharp, G, and A, builds
the V7 chord. Can you try that on your
piano? Sounds like that.
Let's come back to the I chord.
Go back to the V7 chord,
and then back to the I chord.
Good, now in "Silver Birch Tree" we get to
learn a new chord and it's called the
IV chord. Now as I mentioned before,
later on we're going to learn why the
chords are called what they're called, but
I'll give you a little sneak peek.
The reason this is called the IV chord
that we're about to see is basically, the
reason this is called the I chord,
actually let me back up, is it's built on the
first note of the scale. Now if you go up
four notes, one, two, three, four,
there's another chord we could build on
that G using a G, a B-flat, and a D, which
is the IV chord, but because that's so
far away, we actually take this D from
here, put it down here, and that gives us
the IV chord. If that was a little
confusing, don't worry about why it's
called the IV chord. Just trust me. This
is the IV chord. Here's our I chord.
Basically to get a IV chord all you have
to do is take MI and SO, or ME and SO,
move ME up to FA and SO up to, in minor
we call this LE. Typically this would be
LA but since we're in minor we're going
to use the B flat. That gives us the
IV chord. To play that what you're going to
do is use finger five for the D, finger
two for the G, and you want to use your
finger one for the B-flat. You can see that's
a little bit awkward
so what you're going to do is slide
fingers two and five forward, so I'm in
between these black keys, and now my
finger one can reach pretty comfortably.
If that is too big of a stretch for your
hands, let's say you have small hands, for
younger students it's okay to just play
the G and the B with fingers two and one.
Don't worry about getting your pinky
down as well. But if your finger five can
reach this D that is the full IV chord.
D, G, B-flat.
Now practice playing the IV chord on
your piano.
Let's go ahead and press pause and
practice going from the I chord, which
is fingers 5, 3, 1, to the four chord which
again is right here,
D, G, and B-flat with fingers 5 2 1. Practice
going back and forth between I and
IV, then press play when you're ready
to go on.
Ok, now let's actually apply these chords
to "Silver Birch Tree." If you look at the
music you'll see that we start with four
beats on a I chord, so let's play I,
the I chord, and we'll count four beats. Go,
Two, three, four, then we go to a IV
chord for two beats, again sliding
towards your piano so finger one can
reach the B-flat, two beats on the IV
chord, 1, 2, then back to a I chord for two
beats, then two beats on the V7, 1, 2, then
two beats on the I chord, one, two. Now let's
put all of that together. We get 1 2 3 4,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2. Now press pause and practice
that sequence of chords while counting
the beat until you feel confident, then
press play when you're ready to go on.
Okay let's try this. You play the chords
and I'll play the chords with you, but I
will also add the melody. Your job is
just the left hand chords and counting
how many beats for each chord. Ready, go.
1 2 3 4, 1 2, 1 2, V7, 1 2, 1 2. Good and then line two is
the same thing, so let's try it again.
Go. 1 2 3 4, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2. Very nice. If you need
more practice with that just pause,
practice some more, and then you can
rewind and try it again.
Ok, for lines three and four the music tells us
that there are no chords and that both
hands play the melody. So it will be like this
1 2 3 4
So now with your left hand
practice the melody. Don't worry about
playing hands together unless you want
an extra challenge. Practice lines three
and four, then press play when you're
ready to try it with me.
Ok, we're going to try lines three and
four. You have a choice. You can do just
left hand alone, if you want the extra
challenge you can try both hands.
Remember, three beats on the first note.
Ready, go.
Great, now let's try playing the whole
thing together. I'm going to show you
both hands, and again you can just do the
left hand, or if you've been practicing and
you want to try hands together you
can, but probably on your first try let's
just do left hand and let's go through
the whole song together now. Remember to
count the beat as you play each chord.
Ready, go. 1 2 3 4, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2. 1 2 3 4,
1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2. 1 2 3...
1 2, 1 2
... 2 3...
1 2, 1 2. Nice job learning the left hand to
"Silver Birch Tree." Practice those chords
until you're comfortable and confident,
and then try playing it hands together.
Happy practicing and see you next time.
Wow, you're right chef. The shade is
really nice here.
Yep. Very refreshing and cool.
Hey, while we relax here, how about
some tree jokes?
Okay, sounds fun.
Okay here's one. How do trees get on the
internet?
I don't know.
They just login!
Alright here's one for you now.
Ok
What did the little tree say to the big tree?
I don't know, what?
Leaf me alone.
[laughter]