Practice grabbing a chord and then play the same chord a half step lower.Ĥ. Practice grabbing a chord and then play the same chord a half step higher.ģ. Not fluent in all 12 keys yet? Check out this piano major scales lesson.Ģ. 6 Tips To Help You Practice This Piano Lessonġ. If you want to learn another song that features the blues scale heavily I recommend you also check out this Chariot piano tutorial. You would flat the 3rd note (G# turns into G), the 5th note (B turns into Bb), and the 7th note (D# turns into D). So, in the key of E the major scale notes are E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D# E. Blues Scale Construction: 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7, 1.

First, start with a major scale and build your scale using the formula below: The blues scale is an easy scale to play. These little soulful fills are mostly made of the blues scale. Blues Scale And FillsĪs you can hear in the video I use little melodic fills here and there. (Sorry for the Star Trek reference by the way. On a rhythmic level funk works because of the back and forth of syncopated rhythmic attacks with sustained notes. Notice how I don’t fill up every beat of the measure with a rhythmic attack. The notes you don’t play are just as important as the notes you do play. I play Bbm7 on the upbeats (either on the ‘and’ of the measure or the ‘e’ of the measure (second sixteenth note of the the measure) 4.

In the video I play the main chords Em7, Bm7, and Am7 mostly on the downbeats (beat 1 of the measure especially). So, in order to be most effective with this chromatic chord technique make sure you listen to the rhythms i used in the video. So, if you resolution chord is an Amin7 you would play either a Abmin7 (half step below) or a Bbm7 (half step above) right before the Amin7. The secret to getting that jazzy chromatic sound in your R&B piano chords is to play the same chord voicing either a half step up or a half step below your resolution chord. If you want to learn more about these chords you can check out this lesson on minor jazz piano chords. These chord voicings can be used in both R and B, neo soul, jazz, and hip hop too. Most of the time I’m playing the root of the chord in my left hand and the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th of the chord in my right hand. The chords in this lessons are all minor chords. R&B Piano Chords Are Often Times Just Jazz Chords (Make sure you also check out all the extra tips and practice strategies on the bottom of the page.)ħ Concepts To Help You Master This Lesson 1. Now, check out the chord chart with the chromatic passing chords written in. First, I’ll show you the chord progression written out without any chromatic passing chords. The chords I play in the video above are from a i iv v chord progression in the key of E minor.

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