Michael buble is the perfect thing play on valentines day. but wait, valentines day was yesterday! thats ok. presidents day can be just as romantic… besides, you shouldn’t need an excuse to play a song for that special someone of yours and this song will make anyone feel loved. Bonus points if you play and sing it! Have a great presidents day!
Version #1 of Everything - For Solo Piano. (Bass line and melody)
Version #2 of Everything - Fancy Introduction & Play / Sing
Let me know if you want to see the chords for this!
There are two arrangements of Mercy Mercy Mercy in this video.
The first half is the easier one, its all written down in the handout.
The second half of the video is trickier. I’m using a bass line in the left hand and chords and melody combined in the right hand.
Left Hand Voicings from the Video!
In the example below, there are a few different voicings, play through them to hear how they sound!
Example 1 is the basic root position voicing for Eb and Bb.
Example 2 has the root of the chord in the left hand, and the 7th, 3rd & 5th of the Bb7 chord. It then moves to the 3rd, 7th & 9th of the Eb9 chord. Each finger moves only a half step which creates a very smooth sound!
Example 3 is the same as example 2 but reversed.
The trick to combining the chords and melody in the right hand is to always make the melody note the highest note. Keeping the melody on top helps it ring out. If its in the middle of the chord, it gets hidden and masked.
WARNING FLATS AHEAD!
Don’t forget the flats by the way!
Because of the key signature at the beginning,
All the B’s and E’s are flatted in the music below.
Cool Bb Blues Lick!
This is taken from the middle section of the handout. Play through it to get a feel for how it sounds. You can print it off by clicking on it.
In the example above, the left hand is acting like a bass player playing the roots of the chord in 8th notes.
The right hand is playing the famous blues lick. Its all based around a Bb7 chord. Start off with the Bb major triad then move your top two fingers up the Bb7 scale.
Bb7 Dominant Scale aka Bb7 Mixolydian Mode
Below is the Bb dominant scale. This is the scale to play on Bb7 chords. Its exactly like the Bb major scale, but "A" the 7th note has been lowered to "Ab". (Notice it says "Flat 7th Note").
Also try using the Bb Blues scale. Bb Blues scale would sound good over the entire song!
Here is a notated example of the bossa nova groove. The treble clef has rhythmic notation - The slashes tell you the rhythms of the notes, but not the specific notes to play. You have to decide how you want to play Dm7 in your right hand. I recommend [DFAC] like in the video. If that is too big of a stretch for your hands, then try just the Dminor triad [DFA].
MAKE SURE TO COUNT AND PLAY THIS! The rhythms are very complicated, especially when putting two hands together. I had to practice this over and over again with a metronome, each hand separately first and then together. (COUNTING the whole time!) I put the numbers in between the bass and treble clef to help you see how the counting should line up with the notes! (1 + 2 + should be pronounced “one and two and”)
The left hand in Bossa Nova almost always plays a root and a fifth of the chord. You can vary the rhythm shown a little bit.
In the video below it shows this example with a C major chord added in. These are still the basic left and right hand patterns on piano for a bossa nova. The left hand just imitates what a bass player would do normally. If you are playing solo piano, then your whole goal is split the chord in your right hand so that the melody is on top and the chord rhythms are playing out beneath.
If you are having trouble with learning this pattern after practicing it for an hour or two. Post a comment and let me know! I will break down the left hand part and right hand parts in to smaller lessons.
Thanks!
Chris Marx
Here is the famous piano crossover lick! It gets used a lot in blues, rock and country keyboard styles. Probably one of the most popular and common licks you’ll hear used on recordings. This can be used anytime you are improvising over a C chord.
You really should transpose this to other keys. Try and see how it is based around a C major triad and it will help you take it to new keys.
Video outline:
The first half of the video is a different lick over a 2 5 1 progression. In this key the 2 is Dminor, the 5 is G7 and the 1 chord is Cmajor 7.
Right around :15 is where the lick demonstration gets slowed down.
In this blues lick exercise for piano, the trick to playing the grace notes is to slide your pinky off the first note and land on the next key–all in one action.
This is great to use in the first two bars, or sixth and seventh bars of the 12 bar blues where you’re going from C to F. It really highlights the change in harmony because there’s an E in C but an Eb in F7.
