Ok -I'm leading the Web 2.0 charge at IBM, so I should probably practice it in my real life as well. To that end, no email for this, just blog posts. So....Martha...I've listened to the song...didn't know it before tonight, but now I want to play it. The recording I heard happened to be (coincidentally) in the "cheapest key" E flat. We're not going to do that. We'll play it in C or G, but I have to learn it first.
As for inversions of chords, there are right ways to play chords, and then sort of right way to play chords. If the song calls for a G7, any inversion is going to deliver the desired response: a nice grounding root, a defining third, and a tempting 7th leading tone. The human brain will almost always fill in the blanks for inversion stuff*. That's my experience at least. However, when you do arrange the chords the way they were originally played in the song, you'll get that wonderful feeling of sounding like the record.
So, let's learn Martha together, but not in E flat. I hope to have something on video for you tomorrow night.
*Interesting and dorky fact: if you play a root and a fifth, a human brain will almost always assume a major chord unless given some other cue.
3 comments:
Awesome. I'm ready for Martha. Not sure how much I can assist here but am diving in myself to see what I can come up with.
Thanks for the inversion explanation. That's sorta what I figured, but I keep assuming there's a better way to play, regardless of where my hands fall.
Also, a question: how much of the time do you fill out full chords and with your left and use your right for noddling around? I've pretty much been using my left hand exclusively to add heavy bass and then forming the chord with my right--which leaves little or no available finger space for filling in with those nice little fills, like at the beginning of ol 55.
So I guess my question is: should I be getting my left hand used to knowing what the chords feel like or will I really just want him around for bass lines?
So, didn't get around to playing the song tonight.
But for the bass lines, it kind of depends on the artist. Like, if you're playing some folks (like Bach), both hands are expected to do the same (very hard) work all the time.
Other folks, like the kind we'll play, rely on the bass hand to do roots and fifths and the occasional passing tones.
That said - there will still be a lot of rhythm required for this...like if you think of a standard 12 bar blues...the piano does the moving bass line and the melody.
The very short answer to your question is this: you can hit a root and a fifth in the bass and do all the fun you want in the melody and the song will sound right.
I stumbled onto this blog, and I must say, I don't understand a thing y'all are saying... but it sounds very smart, and I can't wait to hear the product.
I hope you guys are well and hope to see you and your families soon!
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