Intro & Basic knowledge

Bare Essential
Keys to Harmony
HOW WELL GO ABOUT AND WHY THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE PIANO-METHOD.

Hack the Piano

Bare Essential
Keys to Harmony

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ii

Bare Essential Keys to Harmony

Contents.

Foreword. p.iv

First and Foremost. p.6

- Intro
- Piano?
- (Take it) Easy. My side of the story.
Part 1. Basic knowledge - Pop-Pianos ABCs. p.10
Basic Knowledge: Theory. p.11

Logics in learning: Vocabulary and other lingual comparisons. p.20

Basic Knowledge: Technique, Fingering. p.23

Part 2. Theory - Pop-Pianos WHAT to play. p.28
Theory Intro. p.29
Chords. Triads, Major and Minor Chords. p.23

Campfires, Guitars and a Contradiction. p.40

Part 3. Technique - Pop-Pianos HOW to play. p.44

Technique Intro. p.45
Rhythmic basics & patterns with the right hand. p.47

iii

Foreword

Foreword

This is a peek into my mind and that of every other Pop-Pianist.

How we think about music. How we approach music and the
piano. How we see music. In a logical, easy-to-grasp and highly
functional way.
- Coen Modder

This is not your average piano method.

This is a book, a course, that will make you see music, feel music, understand music
by hacking the piano; hacking music, if you will. It will teach you Pop-Piano
enabling you to play along to, cover, accompany or even compose any song you'd like
in the shortest amount of time possible.
What is Pop-Piano and why is it dierent from classical, conventional piano?
Many people, including teachers, still see piano as being a classical instrument and
therefore think that its best (read: necessary) to learn how to play it, teach and be
taught the classical way.
Nonsense.
If your goal is learning how to play classical music, you should go study classical music.
If however, you want to play pop-music or any one of its many subgenres, theres no
need to practice any form of classical music whatsoever. That is the conventional way
and unfortunately, still the commonly accepted way.

iv

This on the other hand is the unconventional way, which as

youll start to see very soon just happens to be the easy and
fast way too. And in fact, not just for learning Pop-Piano, but for
learning to understand and play music and the piano in any style.

There are a few things to note and keep in mind before taking o,
though...

Its the extraction of exactly that which is most eective, ecient,

relevant and useful. It consists of that and ONLY that which is
actually necessary to learn how to PLAY.
This is a peek into my mind and that of every other Pop-Pianist.
How we think about music. How we approach music and the
piano. How we see music. In a logical, easy-to-grasp and highly
functional way.
My favorite and in my opinion best metaphor to illustrate the
dierence in approach, without getting into technical detail just
yet is this: The Pop-approach to playing music is to think and
use words to build sentences, whereas the classical approach
tends to focus on reading letters to spell.
Were you able to speak before you could read; before you could
spell? I bet you were.
In my mind thats a way more logical approach, a more logical
starting point; what do you think?
You can always get to reading and spelling later on if you want.
But first, lets learn how to speak.
Lets PLAY.
If youll follow along my ride, Ill hand you the chunks, words,
sentences thatll make you speak in no time.
v

Section 1

First and
Foremost
CONTENTS
Intro.
Piano?
(Take it) easy. My side of the story.

Eectiveness is at the heart of this course.

Eectiveness is at the heart of this course. Youve picked up this book because you
want to learn to play the piano. Maybe youre looking for some entertainment.
Obviously, playing the piano is entertainment. Pure entertainment, in fact. Because
of the fact that by picking up this book youve been brave enough to take a big step
the first step towards starting an actual new hobby and thereby automatically
taken a step in the direction of significantly increasing your own entertainment,
besides us striving towards your goal ASAP, I do hope youll also be able to
appreciate the sporadic joke, anecdote or bit of background information every now
and then.
Note that everything Ive written is meant to contribute something to the whole,
either to the entertainment or to the eectiveness. Hopefully to both.
At the start of this adventure, realize that certain things in life tend to proceed more
comfortably and eventually quicker when you choose a path that at first might
actually seem to be the long way around. Are you gonna wait for your car to get
fixed or decide to go walking? Depends on how far you have to travel, of course.
To keep the book as eective as possible my main focus when teaching, helping
people solve problems and reaching goals I could have decided just to oer dry
and practical matter, but to make the book both more enjoyable and illustrative I
chose to embellish a bit here and there.
All the background stories are aimed at supporting my personal approach,
broadening your general understanding and giving you a glimpse into my mind. Into
how I think about the piano, learning and playing. If you read them, your
understanding of my teaching method and my approach to playing the piano will
deepen in such a way that the rest of the course will become easier to follow, sink in
better and youll make progress a lot faster in the end. If you prefer to get going right
away (and choose to start walking), thats possible too. In that case, you should
tackle only those chapters that are marked at the beginning with the following
6

underlined headings: Terms and Knowledge, Style and

Level. These chapters contain the eective theory, exercises
and techniques necessary to achieving the fastest and most
ecient learning curve. The titles of these chapters are in bold
type.
In the background stories I have tried to explain the underlying
ideas in a light, easygoing manner but when it comes to what you
absolutely need to learn (the chapters with titles in bold type), I
have indeed tried to present everything in the most eective way,
keeping it short and to the point. As short as possible at least.
After all, Rome wasnt built in a day.

As you grasp the logic of the approach as your ability to

recognize, assimilate, see and create constructions and the
coherence of it all grows the learning process will steadily get
easier.
I hope you decide to wait for your car
Have fun!

Coen

Overall this book is designed to maintain the highest possible

level of eciency in learning and practicing so that you can reach
your musical goals as quickly as possible. By focusing solely on
what is highly relevant and just as important on what is
broadly usable, and by ignoring whatever is superfluous, Ill teach
you how to lay a firm foundation for your piano playing in the
shortest possible time. Based on this foundation, you will
experience playing the piano as something completely logical
and yes believe it or not even really easy.
The fact that each new bit of theory and each new technique
youll learn will not only enable you to play one particular song (as
is the case with conventional methods), but will immediately be
applicable to any and every other song, means that with every
new thing youll learn all of your playing will benefit. This way,
every bit of theory and every exercise contributes to your overall
growth as a pianist. Eective. Ecient. And pretty damn fun too.

This fundamental skill is exactly

what I'm going to teach you.

PIANO?

Playing the piano can be done in

countless dierent ways and many
dierent styles.
If, for example, youd compare Alicia
Keys, Chris Martin (Coldplay), Stevie
Wonder, Norah Jones, Wibi Soerjadi,
Paul McCartney (The Beatles), Dr.
John, Art Tatum, Tori Amos, Jamie
Cullum, Elton John, Ray Charles,
Sergio Mendez, Jordan Rudess and
Herbie Hancock, youd hear how all
these world-famous musicians play
the same instrument (yes, piano), yet
all seem to make it sound beautiful
in their very own, unique way.
All gifted pianists do have one major
thing in common, though:
Theyunderstandboth their
instrument and music in general.
This gives them the freedom to play
whatever they feel like, whenever
they feel like it, and truly express
their emotions through their music,
playing by ear and by heart.

With just 10 minutes of supereective rehearsal time per day,

youll be able to (select any one or
more):
Learn to play any one of your
favorite songs, using chord
knowledge, your own musicality
and ears and without having to
ever read a single note (more on
this later).
Learn how to play by ear.
Create your own (cover) piano
version of any song in the world,
whether the original version has or
HASN'T got a piano in it.
Learn to be creative with the
piano, by truly understanding both
the instrument and music itself.
Learn how to accompany any
singer, including yourself.
Learn how to be the keyboardist in
a rock/soul/funk/singer-songwriter
or any other pop band.

10

Minutes

Of daily practice to
learn:

UNIVERSAL SKILLS
In stead of learning just one
song, were going to learn music
by tackling its actual building
blocks that you can (re-)use in

Re-use each new skill

on every following song

EVERY song.

BY EAR AND HEART

Forget about reading single
notes from classical music
sheets. These foundational
blocks are like words: easy to
remember and say what you feel.

Learn to recognize
music and understand
what youre doing

IN OVERDRIVE MODE
Broadening musical vocabulary
with every new block you learn
will be like becoming more fluent
in a language, grasping new
music exponentially faster.

In stead of focussing
on just the one song,
grow as an overall
pianist

 Improvise.
Use the piano to write your own songs, in the same way all
famous (and not as famous) pop musicians do.
Whatever your musical goal is, I'll show you how to get there
ASAP.

(TAKE IT) EASY. MY SIDE OF THE STORY.

When thinking about learning how to play the piano, it's important
to realize that its actually quite an easy instrument.Ask any
random person to press one of those black or white oblong
objects (named keys) and the sound will be the same with
anybody youd ask.
This in great contrast to, for example a trumpet, where virtually no
one will be able to produce a solid tone at their first try, or a
singer who should first learn how to control the voice to be able
to produce the right intonation (sing in tune).
To play a non solid or out of tune note on a piano is
impossible. You can at worst hit a key you didn't intend to hit
which, as we'll see later on, isn't nearly as bad as it may seem to
you now.
Then why does learning to play the piano seem so damn hard?
Don't you have to learn dicult theories, fingerings and music
notation first?

Well... it is exactly these conventional forms of approach and

methods that make learning how to play the piano and even
after you've mastered those basics, playing piano itself
unnecessarily dicult.
Sight-reading and conventional musical notation make a song
look way harder than it actually is. Translating this musical
notation from a sheet to the exact keys on the piano is something
that takes years to master and even after that, will limit your
abilities to play freely enormously.
At age 17, I taught myself how to play the piano. Four years and
exactly zero piano lessons after I first (re)touched the instrument
(get to that in a sec), I was accepted into the Amsterdam
Conservatory of Music (Pop-Piano), which I finished in four and a
half years (some personal problems caused a half-year delay)
without EVER needing the skill of sight-reading. Not once.
Am I that talented? No.
Sure, I suppose I am what you might call a musical person, and
yes, I might even have a tiny bit of talent (it'll probably get a little
tricky getting accepted into a Music BA program if you don't have
the slightest feel for music), but mostly I blame it on the fact that I
figured how to hack the piano. And music in general, for that
matter. I saw the logic. Understood its construction. Really
understood it. And found that it was actually quite easy.
To play pop-music, whether on the piano, or any other
instrument, you don't need sheet music or sight-reading skills.
If youll let me, and are really motivated to do this, to learn how to
play real music yourself, I'll show you exactly how it's done.
9

Part 1

Basic Knowledge
Pop-Pianos ABCs

THE BASICS ARE THE FOUNDATIONS OF ALL THAT IS ADVANCED, SO LETS START
AT THE BEGINNING.

1.1. Basic Knowledge.

Theory

The basics are the foundation of all that is

advanced, so lets start at the beginning.

TERMS & CONCEPTS

Keys and the keyboard.

The keyboard, keys, notes, tones, names of the dierent keys and
their corresponding tones, octave, harmony, melody.

When you look at the piano, youll see quite a lot of black and
white, oblong objects. The blacks are shorter and higher, the
whites are longer and lower.

STYLE
All.

LEVEL
Elementary.

These black and white pieces are called the keys of the piano.
In pop-music, when somebody plays the piano, he or she is
therefore also referred to as the keyboardist or he/she who
plays the keys.

11

The structure of the keyboard is the same on every keyboard

instrument*.
All those keys together form what is called the keyboard. This
name keyboard can thus stand for both the specific instrument
called a keyboard and for the before-mentioned row of keys on a
keyboard instrument (for example a piano, a synthesizer, organ
etc.).

2 - 3 Black keys.

A Group of 2 Blacks

A regular piano (grand piano or acoustic/wall piano) has a

keyboard with 88 keys, counting both white and black keys. In
other keyboards (synthesizers, organs or other types of keyboards)
this number can vary; 73, 61, 41 or 25 keys are common.
When you take a close look at the keyboard, you might notice that
there is a repeating pattern of groups of 3 black keys and then 2
blacks, alternating.

A Group of 3 Blacks

This pattern is your visual reference on the keyboard a thing that

will be will be very important throughout this book/course so its
important to take close note of this fact.
1

12

Exercise
1

KEYBOARD STRUCTURE
Take a close look at the keyboard and make sure that the
structure of the keyboard: 3 blacks, 2 blacks, really sinks in.
Take close note and store this recurring (visual) pattern in
your mind.

Keyboard structure: 3 blacks, 2

blacks, 3 blacks etc.

Tones, names and sounds.

All the keys on the keyboard represent a specific tone* or
note*. I'll use these two words interchangeably.
The further to the right side of the keyboard a key is
pressed (e.g. a tone/note is played) the higher the tone
thatll be produced will sound. The more to the left, the
lower the note.
So when, in music, were talking about playing higher,
or going up thats to the right side of the keyboard. To
go lower or down youll go left.
As said, by pressing a key youre playing a note. Every
dierent note has its own specific sound.

13

Exercise
2

TONAL HEIGHTS
Play a few random
notes (press a few
random keys) and
listen carefully how

The white key that is positioned right below (to the left) of a group of 2 black
keys, highlighted in red in the above image, is called c.

every key produces its

very own, unique
sound. Can you hear
that, the more to the
right you play, the
higher the tones get?
If this isnt obvious to
you, try and sing the
notes you are playing,
while gradually going
higher: moving to the
right side of the
keyboard. This way
youll soon notice that
singing along becomes
quite difficult.

Moving to the next group of 2 black keys by either going up or down 7

white keys youll find a white key looking exactly the same, because it
is again positioned right below a group of 2 blacks. That white key is
again called a c. In fact, all white keys positioned immediately below a
group of two blacks are called c.
The distance between two of the same notes in this example,
between two cs is called an octave, coming from the latin word
octo, meaning eight. -> there are 8 notes in an octave.
So, going up one octave means going up 7 steps from a specific key
-> walking up until you reach that same key again.

14

All cs also sound very similar all over the keyboard, only higher
(more to the right) or lower (to the left).
Its not just cs that repeat all over the keyboard.

In my methods, either one is fine and will be used interchangeably.

First, the black keys can be named by adding a # (sharp) to the
white key to their left (or, in other words, by going up/to the right
from their white, left neighbor).

As the visual pattern on the keyboard repeats, the names of the

notes repeat as well. This way, instead of 88 dierent notes (the
amount of keys on a regular or grand piano) there are just 7
dierent names for white keys, which correspond with the first 7
letters from the alphabet: a, b, c, d, e, f and g.

This results in c#, pronounced c-sharp being the black key right
above the c.
d# is d-sharp, positioned right above the d. f# is f-sharp,
positioned above the f. g-sharp (g#) is the black key above the g
and a-sharp (a#) is found above the a.
Ah. Logic and ease. Nice.
As you see in the above picture, the key that corresponds with first
letter of the alphabet, the a, is a little harder to find, since it
seems to really be somewhere in between that group of three
blacks. Since c is easily found, it'll be our first reference point.
Right next to c is d, then e, f and g. After g is where we start back
at a. Then b, c etc. just like the (first 7 letters of the) alphabet a-g.

Secondly, the black keys can be named by adding a (or b,

pronounced as flat) to the note they are below, the note their
name is derived from (naming them after the white note that is to
their right/above them + the addition flat).

The names of the black keys are derived from the names of the
white key they are next to.
As black keys are in between two white keys, and thus next to two
dierent white keys, they can also be named two dierent ways
and in fact indeed all have two names.

15

This way the black key right below the d is called db (d-flat), the
black key below (to the left of) the g is the gb (g-flat), etc.

NAMES OF THE KEYS, SUMMARIZED.

The names of the white keys are: a, b, c, d, e, f and g.
All black keys have 2 names:

So, gb (g-flat) is in fact THE SAME key as f# (f-sharp), db=c#, eb =

d# etc.
Theyre just names. If they confuse you, dont pay too much
attention to them for now and just make sure you try at least to
learn and remember the names of the white keys.
As blacks are simply derived (same names with an addition) from
whites, theyll follow accordingly.

Seen from the white key to their left (the white key
that is situated below the black key) theyre called # =
sharp. For example, the black key thats situated to
the right of (above) the f is called f# (f-sharp).
Seen from the white key situated to their right (the
white key above the black key) theyre called = flat.
For example, the black key situated to the left (below)
the g is called g (g-flat). This will also be notated as
gb.
So, for instance, the f-sharp and g-flat are in fact the
SAME note.
The most important key to remember for this moment
is the c: the key thats highlighted in red (the white key
below to the left of a group of two black keys).
This will be our reference point to start remembering
the rest of the keys.

16

Exercise
3

SOAK UP THE NAMES

Play the c and say its name out loud.
Next, play the white key above it (to
the right) and say its name too (d), after
that the e, then the f and the g (just like
the alphabet). To the right of the g is the
a, b and c etc. again.

The most important thing is to play SLOWLY and look

very thoroughly. Really try to soak it up.

Harmony, melody and the might of the chords.

In music we distinguish harmony* and melody*.
The harmony can be defined as being the carpet or
background that originates from multiple (two or more) notes
sounding together.
The melody is the succession of notes that form the
foreground in a song.

Simply put: in pop-music, the melody often is that which is

sung (the vocal melody line) and the harmony that which is
played by the instruments*.
On the piano, we can of course play a succession of single notes
to create a melody, but because its also possible to play multiple
notes at the same time (strike multiple keys simultaneously) we as
pianists are also able to play harmonies all by ourselves.
This in contrast to, for example a trumpet, on which only one note
at a time can be played. So on its own, this instrument could never
play a harmony.
On the piano, we can even play both harmony and melody
simultaneously.
Melodies originate from harmonies. How exactly this works and
also, that this statement might be a little shortsighted (yet
illustrative enough for this moment), will become clearer along the
way. Nevertheless, you could say that the harmony is the
foundation supporting the construction of melodies.
In Hack the Piano I therefore decided not to start with singlenote melodies, like is the approach in conventional methods, for
this often results in very limited to no understanding at all of
cohesion and context of musical constructions. This results in your
melodies however dainty they may be being completely
unfounded.
Here well learn piano (and music) with a solid foundation as our
base, starting with harmonies. On this solid foundation we can
then safely start building beautiful melodic constructions.
Youll soon see that by starting with this harmony approach, logic
and contexts will start to become clear that will simplify playing the
piano enormously.
17

A chord is multiple notes, played and sounding together.

In other words, a chord is a harmony.
Because were tackling piano and music through a harmony approach, these chords are going to be the first building blocks well be
learning to lay our strong foundation for playing and understanding music.
Chords are a really useful tool for learning (pop-)music theory, to gain insight in music and the piano, easily remember songs
and a lot more.
Starting to build at the foundation also seems kinda... logical, right?

Exercise
4

FIRST HARMONY & MELODY

Simultaneously play the notes c, e and g* with
your right hand, by using your thumb to play
middle c (the c in the middle of the
keyboard), your middle finger to play the e
(two white keys above the c) and your pinky to
play the g above that. This chord is called the
C chord, or simply C.

Now play the same notes, only one octave down, with your left hand. Notice that you are playing the same form only one
octave lower on the keyboard. To play this same form with your left hand, use your pinky to play the c, your middle finger
to play the e and your thumb to play the g.
Play this C chord with your left hand and hold it (keep the keys pressed down). Then, while holding this chord with your left
hand, use your right hand to play the notes c, d, e, c, after one another.
Congratulations! Youve just played your very first harmony + melody! (Frere Jaques/Brother John/Are you sleeping?).

T HESE ICONS MEAN THERE IS A VIDEO EXAMPLE TO ILLUSTRATE WHAT WAS JUST TOLD .
M AKE SURE YOU FIRST READ THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE EXERCISE AND THEN SIMPLY TAP / CLICK EM TO PLAY !
( YOU LL BE TAKEN ONLINE TO THE CORRECT VIDEO ON A PAGE WHERE YOU NEED TO LOGIN WITH YOUR P IANO C OUTURE CREDENTIALS , MAKE SURE YOU RE CONNECTED )

18

SUMMARY
The keyboard is the part of the piano that is used for playing. It consists of white and black keys.
The more to the right side of the keyboard youre playing, the higher the tones will sound. The more to the left, the lower theyll be. To
the right is therefore called up, while to the left is down.
There is a repeating visual pattern in the keyboard consisting of groups of black keys: 2 black keys alternated with 3 black keys. 2
blacks, 3 blacks, etc.
The names of the white keys are a, b, c, d, e, f and g, just like the alphabet. When youd start on the c and go up (to the right) playing
just those white keys, youd get to the d, then the e, f, g, a, b and then youd get back to c again.
The black keys have 2 dierent names, for they can be named either after the white key they are situated above (adding a # or sharp),
or from the white key they are below (adding a or flat). This way the note d# (d-sharp) is the same note as the eb (e-flat).
The distance between 2 of the same keys that are nearest apart (for instance from c to the nearest c) is called an octave. After each
octave, both the visual pattern of the keyboard and the names of the keys repeat over again.
The harmony is the base, the carpet or foundation of a song, which is created by two or more tones sounding simultaneously. In pop
music, often this is that which is being played by the instruments* (bass, keys, guitar).
The melody is a succession of single notes that form the foreground, lead or main line. In pop music this often is the singing line or the
hook, the catchy tune that sticks in your mind.*
A chord is formed by multiple notes sounding together. In other words, a chord is a harmony. In the Theory part of Hack the Piano
youll learn all about chords and how to use them to really get insight and understand how music works, to learn how to play PopPiano like a pro in an easy, fast and highly eective way.

F ULL V IDEO L ESSON :

19

1.1.1.

Logics in learning: Vocabulary and

other lingual comparisons.
Note that, as mentioned in the intro, these in-between wait for your car stories with titles
with three digits (1.1.1) are meant to illustrate, deepen your sense of the method, widen your
insight and entertain. They are not necessarily required to achieve maximum learning speed
per se.
If you are impatient or eager to just learn on, youre free to skip to chapters with titles starting
with two digits.

Learning the logical way.

For this story, Im gonna go back in time a
little.
Back to when you were still in your
diapers, drooling on everything that
entered your little baby crib at age.
6 months. Give or take.
So just a little while back.

Auditive and communicative

development.
How we learn to play with words and can
imitate the same process for learning how
to play music
First you listen.

Slowly you start to recognize, learning

sounds.
Then you imitate. You learn to use the
outline, the structures, of words. Being
able to produce, to speak, to play, way
before fully understanding. For fully
understanding, youd have to know what
these words are made of letters
and maybe even how to use those to write.
For fully understanding one might even say
youd also have to know a few synonyms
and how (or even why) sentences are built
the way they are, right? Youre not exactly
an expert yet.
Understanding fully here appears to be far
from necessary to be able to use, to play,
to babble.

20

At first, playing with words might be a bit shaky of course, saying

daahaaa instead of daddy let alone father, but you manage.
You play.
As you imitate, you learn, you listen, learn some more and
improve as you do more. More and more.
Better and better, and as practice again proves to make perfect,
you even start to actually talk.

The steps would go something like this. Something like what I

have in mind for you in this book:
First learn chords, the outlines, words, chunks for playing
music. "Daaddaaa." (Theory/Chords section)
Add (basic) patterns, imitate, listen and learn how to actually
play, to babble, to talk. (Technique/Pattern section)

Its only after a while, after you know how to speak pretty decent,
somewhere around age 4, that you first get to know about letters,
the subpartials of those words. A seemingly more basic variable
than the actual words they can together form, one might think.

Then learn to use chords in as many dierent ways you can

(inversions, dierent ways of voicing etc. learned first in Chapter
2.4), combine dierent patterns and start building real
sentences.

Isnt it strange that we do not start the learning process of talking

at this more basic variable of letters?

Make them a little more dicult: learn and add some chord
extensions, sus4, 7s etc. (Chapter 2.9) and learn to replace
words like dad(a) with father.

Isnt learning by imitating sounds, using words before letters and

thus first learning to play with outlines, chunks before going
deeper into the level of their basic particles, the letters, an
irrational, illogical way of learning?
Well, it seems to work pretty damn fine for every single one of
us.
So if this method works so well for learning something as auditive
as speaking, could we maybe simulate this process to achieve
the same for another very auditive concept like, say music?
Well yes maam.
This is done by starting with learning and later still approaching
music throughchords andharmonies -> more notes (letters)
together forming the musical words, metaphorically speaking.

Break em up (Chapter 3.5), learn how to use dierent

combinations of the above variables, DO, practice and start to
actually play. Speak, sound good and be fully understood.
Breaking up chords using patterns (Technique section) is your
first step in going into deeper levels, as youll see that, like letters
that sound consecutively (not at the same time) yet still form a
word, also consecutive notes still actuallyform a chord.
Looking at consecutive (played after each other instead of at the
same time) notes this way which CHORD they actually form
together (and are derived from) will simplify memorizing songs
and all of your piano parts enormously.
This also works vice versa: creating your own, single-note
melody-line-piano parts with notes derived from the harmony;
21

from chords by combining them with (broken) patterns (Chapter

3.4).
Practice makes perfect.
Talk.
Play.

22


Technique: Fingering.
1.2. Basic Knowledge.

TERMS & CONCEPTS

Fingering

STYLE
All.

LEVEL

Although technique is in fact sort of an

important aspect of playing the piano, it is
also often overrated.

Although technique is in fact sort of an important aspect of

playing the piano, it is also often overrated. A good technique
will follow accordingly, by practicing the theoretical things youve
learned. As long as you know the basics and stick to those, all
will be fine.
Never go too fast, too soon. Always play right at the tempo limit
of your capabilities of playing flawlessly. (see chapter The
Eective Dose for further clarification)
The basics are vital. The rest will follow accordingly.

Elementary.

23

Numbers and eciency.

5 fingers x 2 hands. How to use em?
To simplify which finger were talking about at a specific moment,
theyre numbered as shown in the image below.
We start counting at the thumb (1) up to the pinky (5).
Thumb = 1
Index finger = 2
Middle finger = 3
Ring finger = 4
Pinky = 5
This applies in the same way for both the left and the right hand!

In the beginning, playing the piano can often be quite a struggle

with the fingers. Which finger are you supposed to use for which
key?
Actually, there are no strict rules here. They're more like
guidelines.
That said, when you try to stick to these guidelines as much as
possible, youll soon start to notice that your playing will start to
go easier, more fluently, faster and due to of all of that and most
importantly sound better.
The main guideline well be trying to stick to both for playing
chords and single notes is to try and place our fingers as
eciently as possible.
This means moving your hands around as little as possible, by
placing your fingers on keys that they (are going to) play, as soon
as possible.
Always try to position your hand in a way that allows you to play
as many notes from the song as possible, without having to move
your hand from that position. Also, its important to USE the finger
that is already on a key to indeed PLAY that key (instead of the
often made mistake to exchange it for an easier finger; get to
that in a sec).
To accomplish this, you should always try to think ahead: What
key(s) am I going to play next and is it possible to already place a
finger on that/those key(s)?

24

As an example, lets take another look at EXERCISE 4 from the previous chapter.
In that exercise we were playing the tune Frere Jacques (also called Brother John or Are you sleeping? in English), a
French nursery song that, because of its simplicity, lends itself perfectly for clarification at this moment.

Exercise
2

USING THE FINGERS

First, lets take a look at the left hand.
This was simultaneously playing the notes c, e and g (the
C chord*).

When, as indicated here, the fingering for this chord is 5, 3, 1, this

means:
Play the c with your 5 (pinky)
Play the e with your 3 (middle finger)
Play the g with your 1 (thumb)

So the total melody is now: c, d, e, c; c, d, e, c; e, f, g; e,

f, g.
When wed start with our thumb (1) on the c and put a
finger on every key well be playing above it the index
(2) on the d, the middle (3) on the e, the ring (4) on the f
and the pinky (5) on the g youll see that its actually
really easy to stick to the following fingering, for there is
already a finger on every correct key:
1, 2, 3, 1; 1, 2, 3, 1; 3, 4, 5; 3, 4, 5.
This way you can play the entire tune, without moving
your hand one bit!

Now, lets take a look at the right hand.

V IDEO EXAMPLE

This was playing the notes c, d, e, c (are-you-slee-ping), after one

another. Lets repeat this sequence, playing it twice and then add e,
f, g (bro-ther-John).

25

NOTE. FOR THE STUBBORN AMONG US.

If at this moment, this seems harder than when you do move your hand: Trust me, this is a matter of a short period of
getting used to using all of your fingers correctly.
Very soon this way of fingering will make playing a lot easier and in its turn, make you a much better player.
Try and stick to these instructions strictly from the very start to start harvesting their fruits in the shortest amount of
time possible.
The ring finger (4) and pinky (5) simply are the weakest fingers. This goes for everybody.
Because of their natural weakness, you might be inclined to avoid using them, while in fact using them as much as
possible will give them the strengthening they need to develop correctly.
In short: Try not to avoid them, try to use them whenever possible.

26

SUMMARY
The fingers are numbered: 1 = thumb, 2 = index finger, 3 = middle finger, 4 = ring finger, 5 = pinky. This applies in the
same way for both the left and the right hand.
Always try to place your hand (fingers) in the most ecient way possible. This means choosing a hand position that
allows you to play as many notes from the song, without having to move your hand. Key to achieving this is to think
ahead: Which note(s) am I going to play next and could I already place a finger on one or more of those?
Try never to avoid using certain fingers but use all of your fingers. This means, although they are weaker and might
therefore feel a bit uncomfortable at first, using your ring finger and pinky too.
Because of their natural weakness they actually require more training than your other fingers, so therefore you should
in fact use them as much as possible, instead of avoiding them. On top of that: Once they lose their backlog in
strength youll be able to use them just as easily as your other fingers. This will simplify and improve your playing
significantly.

F ULL V IDEO L ESSON :

27

Part 2

Theory

Pop-Pianos -WHAT- to play

WHAT THE TITLE OF THIS SECTION INDICATES MAY JUST SOUND A LOT SCARIER THAN
IT REALLY IS. ACTUALLY, WHEN CONSUMED AS RECOMMENDED AND WHEN ALL THE
RULES, TIPS, AND TRICKS ARE APPLIED AS INSTRUCTED, ITLL TURN OUT TO BE THE
MOST INTERESTING, EDUCATIONAL AND AMAZING SECTION OF THIS ENTIRE COURSE.

Part 2

Theory
P OP -P IANO S WHAT TO PLAY .
Theory might sound a little
boring. Scales, yuck thats
the exact reason for not choosing
classical piano lessons in the first
place. Images of hour upon hour
of endless repetition, streams of
notes performed by overtalented
kids who seem to be expected to
play faster and faster, making
playing piano look like some form
of slave labor. Piano students
who are forced to become
master concert pianists
performing impossibly
complicated pieces in huge
concert halls filled with people
dressed in suits who just seem to
look critical and uninterested
rather than listening to the music
and enjoying it... No.

What this section promises to deliver may

just sound a lot scarier than it really is.
Actually, when consumed as
recommended and when all the rules, tips
and tricks are applied as instructed, itll
turn out to be the most interesting,
educational and amazing section of this
entire course.
Admittedly, you will have to read some,
you will need to memorize and yes, there
will be terminology that, to begin with, may
momentarily conjure up the frightening
images mentioned above. But dont worry.
Were going to take a totally dierent
approach here.
Look, read, listen, practice and play. Allow
yourself to take your time. Dont rush. Do
your best to take it all in and you WILL be
able to play the piano the way youve
always wanted to.

29

Remember to keep the notion of the Eective Dose as

described above in mind at all times.
The slower the pace, the more eective the learning.

Chords. Why?
When you watch pop musicians play the piano, youll notice that
they seem to be playing freely. Theres no looking at sheet music,
the sound is rich and the playing beautiful, expressive and
sometimes complex. It seems as though not everything is entirely
fixed beforehand; a few extra notes, not heard on the original
record, may be added unexpectedly here and there to heighten
and strengthen the expressiveness even more.
How does such a performer manage to memorize all those
separate notes and play everything by heart? How is he or she
able to play so freely and improvise music on the spot, sounding
so good simply in response to what hes hearing and feeling at
that moment?
In this section youll learn the foundation that will make all of this
clear to you and enable you to do the same. Say goodbye to
complicated series of notes on paper and embrace the theory of
chords.

Playing the piano like a guitarist.

Obviously we dont really want to play (or sound) like a guitarist;
otherwise we would have chosen a dierent instrument. But
guitarists do have a number of advantages over pianists since

their instrument has certain characteristics that make it perfectly

suitable even easy for playing our Western music (pop, rock,
soul, funk, etc.).
Thats why its very instructive to take a look now and then at how
guitarists approach their instrument. We can borrow some of their
techniques and translate them in a useful way to our own
instrument, the piano.
Therefore Ill refer to guitarists and their techniques a few more
times throughout this book.
For now well start at the beginning, which also just happens to
be the beginning for many guitarists.
Guitarists who have just started learning to play the guitar are
often able to play a number of songs really nicely after just a few
lessons. Picture a campfire singalong with everyone joining in.
You know what I mean, right?
Why do so many beginner pianists often sound so boring, dull,
unappealing and so much like, well, beginners? Why cant they
also quickly learn to play a lot of songs?
The simple answer: they arent taught how.
Even though it appears that 90 percent of those who want to
learn piano would much rather be able to play their favorite song,
accompany a singer or just play that well-known hit everyone
loves (round the campfire for instance) than become the
aforementioned classical concert pianist, as many as 95 percent
(!) have nevertheless chosen the classical route (or been told to
take it by their teacher).
What most people dont know is that just like on the guitar
piano can also be learned with a harmony approach, through
30

chords (see 2.1.1. Campfires, guitars, and a contradiction for an

illustrative story), enabling the student to quickly and easily grasp
the concepts of pop music and almost instantly play a lot of
recognizable songs.

This way, the Theory and Technique sections are meant to be

used side by side. In the first section youll accumulate the
knowledge, which you will then learn to apply in practice in the
Technique section as you go along.

As I briefly mentioned before, the teaching method based on

classical theory, classical exercises and musical notation is aimed
at training you to become a classical pianist. If your aim is to
become a POP pianist, however, its logical to assume that this
method, with classical music as the final goal, will not lead you
eciently to your intended goal.

Theres a reminder at the end of each Theory chapter to help you

remember to refer to the Technique section.
But for now, lets start at the beginning. Chords? Anyone?

To learn how to play pop music, its also necessary to choose the
route that leads to understanding pop music. Welcome to the
way of the chords.

From the what to the how.

Hack the Piano is divided into 2 parts. You can regard this
Theory/Chords (chapters numbered 2) section as the
main section or guide of the course where you learn WHAT to
play.
In order to apply the knowledge you gain here in a more practical
way and use it to create interesting and beautiful piano
arrangements, youre advised to refer to the
Technique/Patterns (chapters numbered 3) section on a
regular basis. In that section you will learn HOW you can use the
material from the Theory section in songs that youd like to play
by using patterns*.

31

2.1 Chords.

Triads, major chords

and minor chords
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
Intro and Basic Knowledge. Piano keys, the keyboard, names of the
keys, tones, notes, octave, harmony, melody, fingering

TERMS & CONCEPTS

Touch (/touch), dynamics, sustain pedal, posture

STYLE
All.

LEVEL
Elementary.

Major = Happy.
Minor = Sad.

Triads, happy and sad.

The word triad* means a group of three and in music it refers
to 3 notes that are sounded together. In other words, a triad is a
chord made up of 3 notes. You could say triads are the basic
structure of all chords. Apart from a few exceptions, all of the
complicated chords are simply extensions of the triad.
First well take a look at major* and minor* triads, their dierent
sound and emotional value.
Major and minor are names that stand for a particular kind of
scale* and its corresponding chord. You could say that major
scales and chords sound happy while the minor ones sound
sad.

32

Remember:

Exercise
1

Major = Happy.
Minor = Sad.

MAJOR & MINOR TRIAD

Major
With your right hand, play the notes c, e, g; in other words, the
C major chord. The fingering is 1, 3, 5 (thumb, middle finger,
pinky). Start on middle c. Thats the c in the middle of the piano
keyboard.
Next play the C chord with your left hand using the
following fingering: 5, 3, 1 (pinky, middle finger, thumb).
Congratulations! You just learned how to play the first major
chord with both hands.
Minor
Now with your right hand, play the C major chord, c, e, g again.
Next, change the note e in the chord for the black key
directly below, the eb (e-flat), and play: c, eb, g.
The chord you are now playing c, eb, g is the C minor chord.
Listen carefully to the way the sound of the chord changes from
happy (c, e, g -> C major) to sad (c, eb, g -> C minor). This way
youll clearly hear the dierence between major and minor.

V IDEO EXAMPLE

33

Notation
A capital letter is used to indicate a chord. C = the C chord (the
notes c, e and g played together). C in this case is called the
chord symbol*.
When you see small letters, these stand for single notes: c = just
the note c.
When only a capital letter is used and nothing else (as in C), this
refers to a major chord.
For a minor chord, m or min is added to the chord symbol. Cm
= the C minor chord (c, e-flat, g)
When we either write or talk about the C chord, by default we
mean the major chord. If C minor is meant, this is always
specifically mentioned.

Bass
The bass in music refers to the lowest note played. In a band, the
bass is often played by a bass guitar or a synthesizer. When you're
playing the piano by yourself, its possible to fulfill the role of the
bass yourself by playing the low (bass) notes with your left hand
while playing chords with your right hand.

34

Exercise
2

BASS, 3 NEW CHORDS AND THE FIRST OF MANY POP SONGS

Play the C chord with your right hand, with middle c as the lowest note. Now at the same time and with your
left hand, play the note c one octave below the c that youre playing with your right hand. Can you hear how
the chord immediately sounds richer and fuller with this added bass note?

Now were going to play a new chord: the G chord. With your right hand play g, b, d with fingering 1, 3, 5. The lowest note g
is 3 white keys below middle c.
With your left hand, play the note g an octave lower.

Take a good look at your fingers and the notes youre playing and notice that the structure/form of G actually looks very
much like the structure of C -> you play a note, skip one, play one, skip the next, and play one again.
For C this meant: play c, skip d, play e, skip f, play g.
Now for the G chord, you've just moved this whole structure (play, skip, play, skip, play) down to start on the g, which in this
35

..Continued

The next chord were going to play is Am or in other words A minor. The notes are: a, c, e, fingering 1, 3, 5. With the
right hand, shift up all the notes from G by one. With the left hand, play the a an octave lower again as the bass note.

Isnt that the same structure again?

On to the next chord: F.
With the right hand: f, a, c. All notes shift 2 white notes down from the Am you just played. Left hand the f an octave lower.

Theres that structure again!

The chord progression* above forms the beginning of the song Let it Be by The Beatles. Try practicing these chords until you
can play them smoothly one after the other in a steady tempo.
36

..Continued

Smoothly means playing all the chords at an even pace without any hesitations or mistakes. Only increase the tempo
when you can play them all perfectly at a certain tempo and not for instance when you can play three of the chords in a
row flawlessly, but still need time to think about the fourth.
If playing all chords smoothly is too dicult, and youre not managing, play a bit slower.
The MOST important thing to remember when practicing is Dont play too fast too soon. Only when you continue to follow
this advice (therell be a few more reminders) will your progress be as fast as promised. The biggest mistake most people
make is playing too fast, too soon.
For more information, review the explanation of the Eective Dose in the intro of this chapter.

V IDEO EXAMPLE

37

In Exercise 2, we played the first few chords of the song Let it Be by The Beatles, but at the same time we also collected baggage
that we can use for playing a whole lot of pop songs. Many songs actually use those same chords, sometimes in a dierent sequence and
sometimes in exactly the same sequence.
Thats why its important to really memorize all the chords you play so that when you come across them in another song, youll have them
at your fingertips.
For each new chord, try to immediately remember which notes make up the chord, what it looks like, the position of your hands and how
it feels underneath your fingers.
A C chord always has the same notes c, e, g, whether you play it in Let It Be, No Woman No Cry, Bohemian Rhapsody, Frre
Jacques, Fr Elise or any one of the literally millions of other pop songs it is used in. This is also true for G = g, b, d; F = f, a, c and so
on for ALL chords.
A specific chord always consists of the same notes, regardless of whatever song it is used in.
So with each new chord you learn, you add to your musical vocabulary, which is not only relevant and usable for the song
youre currently learning but for all music.

Exercise
3

CREATIVE THINKING; MIXING AND MATCHING

Repeat the chords C, G, F and Am and also try to play them in a dierent sequence that you think sounds
good. (How about C, F, G, Am? C, F, C, G, C, Am, G, C? Mix 'em up!).

Youll see that by using the chords youve learned so far (C, G, Am and F), either in this or some other sequence, its already
possible to play hundreds of pop songs.

38

SUMMARY
A triad is a chord made up of three notes.
The sound of a major triad is often described as happy.
The sound of a minor triad is often described as sad.
A chord is represented by a capital letter. C is the chord symbol for the chord of C major.
Individual notes are represented by small letters. For instance, c, d, e, c are the notes in the melody of Frere
Jacques.
The chord symbol used to indicate a minor chord has an m (or min) after the capital letter. Cm means C minor.
The bass is the lowest note played. If youre playing the piano by yourself, you'll often play the bass notes with
your left hand.
Remember: Play SLOWLY when practicing (it will often feel as if youre going too slow) and LOOK and LISTEN
carefully to what youre doing. Remember the Eective Dose.

In the Technique section you can learn how you can use this knowledge to create more interesting piano
arrangements. If you want youre ok to go check out 3.1 and then come back here to the Theory section!

F ULL V IDEO L ESSON :

39

2.1.1.

Campfires, guitars and a

contradiction.
K NOWLEDGE : E XTRA INSIGHT IN HARMONY VS . MELODY APPROACH .

Youve probably witnessed one or more

times in your life, something that I like to
call the campfire phenomenon.
This phenomenon is commonly known for
beginner-intermediate guitar players who
are in the process of learning to play popguitar and basically refers to the situation
in which somebody who plays the guitar,
although for not too long or sometimes
even just a pretty damn short amount of
time is automatically expected to know
and be able to play some famous
singalong pop songs.
The phenomenon can occur in various
dierent social situations, but has to thank
its specific name to the situation when,
while camping, evening has fallen and it is
dark. Somebody had something to drink, a
campfire was made for a little old-school
camping coziness and everybody is having
a good time.

All of a sudden somebody pulls out his

guitar and starts to add some feel-good to
the atmosphere by playing She Loves
You. Somebody else recognizes the tune
and starts singing along. Then another one
joins in, and another. Soon, everybody is
singing. A few more songs follow. Laughs,
tears, clapping. Happy times.
Lets say this guitarists name is Michael
and lets say Michael has been playing
guitar for about six weeks.
SIX WEEKS!? Hes good! Too good, for just
a mere six weeks of playing right? How
can he know at least a dozen songs? In six
weeks?! Thats not possible.
In fact it IS possible, and its not
uncommon either.
Now imagine John.

40

John is at the party of his nephew Rick, who just turned 8 and
recently took his first piano lesson (birthday gift). John has been
following piano lessons for about 3 months now himself, which
gives Ricks mother Johns sister Marie, the idea to ask John
to give little Ricky and the rest of the curious family a
demonstration of how nice playing the piano can be and what
Ricky can expect to be playing in about 11 weeks from now.
John hesitates, but decides to give it a shot anyway and takes a
seat at the Yamaha piano (nice).
The attention of little Ricky lasts for about the first 2 minutes of
Johns struggle through the first page of Fr Elise (good thing
they had the sheet music at Maries). The rest of the family joins
in Rickys disinterest about one minute after that, so another
minute later John decides to stop. Everybody applauds as
convincingly as they can and the party continues with Lionel
Richie singing from the stereo.
Now, Im not saying every starting pianist is like John. Many DO
play what they want to play and what everybody enjoys
listening to. Unfortunately, many more ARE like John.
Some choose to be like this on purpose and are happy that way,
but many regret the fact they cannot play like Michael.
But wait, Michael was a guitar player! Totally dierent thing, right?
Nope. Not so dierent actually.

Harmony vs. Melody: Comparing a dierent

approach.
A song consists of a melody, supported by a harmony, a rhythm
and optionally a lyric. Not more to it actually.
Guitar and piano are both harmony or polyphonic
instruments, meaning they can play more than one note at a time,
contrary to say, a saxophone, that can only play one note at a
time, or a voice!
These are examples of melodic or monophonic instruments,
and are often used for playing, indeed: melodies.
In pop-music, most of the songs are vocal, meaning they
revolve around a melody that is sung, and thus most of the time
in pop-music the voice (i.e. the singer) has the melodic
function. This often leaves both the guitar and the piano with the
function of indeed playing the harmony, supporting the melody.
Heres where it gets both interesting and important.
When more than one instrument accompanies the singer, for
instance electric guitars, synthesizers, bass guitar and an organ,
they usually provide the harmony together, for example by each
playing (a) dierent note(s) that together form a complete chord,
or in other words: the harmony.
But the most basic or stripped-down form of pop-music is heard
when all the blablah, the extra electric guitars, the synthesizers,
hectic beats, bleeps, drums, production gimmicks, sound eects,
etc., which are all production tools used to dress up the song,
are removed and only the basic harmony and the melody are
played.

41

This can, and often is, done by playing the harmony part, the
carpet or wall that provides the musical atmosphere to
support the melody, on just the piano or the guitar, while indeed
singing the melody.
To get an idea of how this sounds, think of acoustic versions of
songs, with just the singer and a piano/guitar, where this is
exactly what happens: the basic harmony, with a certain rhythm,
also called the groove or pattern* is being played by the
instrument(s) and the melody is sung. (Singing, by the way, is in
fact playing the instrument voice.)
When you want to learn how to play pop-music on either the
guitar or the piano, this basic or stripped-down form, to the
contrary of what John thinks at this moment, might just be (IS!)
your best place to start. It is exactly where Michael started.
So where in pop-music the basic form of playing both guitar and
piano is harmony and rhythm-oriented, the clincher is in the fact
that John, like many (many, many) other beginner pianists,
unfortunately started learning the instrument melody-oriented.
Where Michael and his audience were having a good time by him
easily strumming away the harmonies (chords) on his guitar, John
unfortunatelycould produce nothing more than a bit of classical
finger-wrestling, fidgeting with the way more dicult melodic
approach of his classical piece. Add the fact that John also had
to tap from his skill of sight-reading to know which notes he had
to play, instead of just remembering a set of chords he would
have known by heart, and the reason for his tinkering becomes
clear.

Classical music often has no singing, especially the classical

music that is to be played on the piano and that is mind this
especially written, or rearranged for piano. The piano, therefore,
because of its ability to play so many notes at the same time, is
often used for playing the melody as well as spread-out, dicult
versions of the harmony, played simultaneously.
This way of playing is way more dicult and not a very good
starting point for a beginner-intermediate player. On top of that,
its not a very good starting point when you actually want to be
playing POP-music, where as mentioned melodies are sung.
This also brings me to the fact that classical melodies are often
very nice when played on a piano, because as said they were
written to be played on the piano.
Since pop-melodies are written to be sung they can easily sound
terribly dull when played on the piano. Harmonies on the other
hand, played on either the guitar or the piano, sound rich and
interesting from the very start.
When wanting to play pop-music on the piano, like with every
new skill, it is wise to start with the end goal in mind and to start
at the most basic form of the skill youre trying to learn, while
trying to keep irrelevancies aside. To start learning Pop-Piano,
your best bet is to start with the basics of how the piano is used
in pop-music: getting to know and learning to play the harmonies
by first of all learning the chords.
From there on you can get to patterns, licks, ris, from which
beautiful piano parts and even melodies will arise. As you will
soon start to see, melodies too will make perfect sense later on,
because they are all derived from the harmony.
42

Just like Michael chose not to follow classical guitar lessons that
would be focusing on single notes and melodies, but started by
learning how to strum chords in certain patterns and rhythms
the basic form of pop-guitar you too, as a pianist, can start at
the relevant beginning for learning your style of choice: popmusic.
Melodies (even real classical playing) can follow if you want, but
well start with the basics, the foundation.
By learning chords and the patterns and rhythms in which they
can be played, you'll start learning the way guitarists do too. And
trust me: this way just like Michael and all those other beginner
guitarists at campfires you will be able to play your favorite
songs, on the piano, in no time too.

43

Part 3

Technique

Pop-Pianos -HOW- to play

JUST PRESSING DOWN THE CORRECT KEYS DOESNT EXACTLY MAKE YOUR PIANO
SKILLS MIND-BLOWING YET. HOW TO PRESS THOSE NOTES IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN
BECOMING A BRILLIANT PIANIST

Part 3

Technique
P OP -P IANO S HOW TO PLAY

In these Technique chapters, the

knowledge you acquire in the
Theory chapters what to play
will be transformed to actual
piano parts by showing you
how to play it.
Just pressing down the correct keys
doesnt exactly make your piano skills
mind-blowing yet. HOW to press those
notes is the key to success in becoming a
brilliant pianist.
The wide-vocabulary approach of the
Theory chapters, where were using chords
as being our vessel, our reusable building
blocks to learn music and piano theory as
eectively as possible, is carried on in
Technique chapters by learning and using
patterns: reusable, vocabulary-broadening
chunks of technique.

For ease of both recognition and clarity,

the dierent exercises, rhythms, patterns
and techniques in these Technique
chapters are mostly shown with the same
set of chords. This so you wont have to
figure out the chords a theoretical part
first with every new exercise, but can
dive right into whats relevant here: the
rhythms, techniques and patterns, using
notes youre already familiar with.
However, because of this decision and
this is very important every chord in
every example can and should (after
mastering the actual pattern with the
chords as shown) be replaced by any and
every other chord out there.
Again, for letting these chapters serve your
musical growth like theyre supposed to,
this is really important, so take careful note
here.

45

The actual notes (chords) used in the examples are in fact

irrelevant. They are just played because, of course, I had to
exemplify using something. Therefore I decided to pick a set of
easy and common chords.
The pattern, rhythm, technique is what it is about here and those
work the same with whatever notes, chords you have underneath
your fingers. Changing the chords from the examples to chords
that are relevant to you, chords that you are currently practicing
(for example chords from a song you are trying to learn) or want
to learn, is key to succeeding in broadening your musical
vocabulary, pattern- and technique-wise. The more dierent
chords you do the same Technique exercise with, the more
eective it will be.
Also, skipping back to older Technique exercises and repeating
them with new theoretical knowledge and chords youve learned
later on in the course is highly advised.

Look, listen, play.

In teaching this how technique, demonstrating often tends to
be way clearer than explaining with words. Though this is in fact
a book, consisting of words that I've obviously written down for
you to grasp and learn how to play the piano, when constructing
this Technique part of the equation I therefore stumbled upon
quite a dilemma. Since using words to describe rhythm and
technique can become a bit confusing, even dare I say it a
little sluggish and unnecessarily hard to understand quite quickly
(basically the opposite of what we're trying to achieve), I decided
to enhance and add value by adding way more video examples in

this part. Therefore Technique chapters contain fewer words and

more videos.
This is not to say that the words are useless, obviously. Far from
it. If I'd felt that way, I wouldn't have written them down in the
first place. The text in the exercises is meant to illustrate and truly
explain whats going on for you to really grasp the concept. I've
tried to write them as lightheartedly, while illustrative and to-thepoint as possible.
The videos on their part are equally important, illustrating those
words and making them more tangible. It is in fact the
combination of both elements that will greatly increase your ease
of learning, as well as contribute to your overall level of
understanding by yes yes, you know how we go about things
here tackling the stu from multiple angles.
However, if at a certain point you feel the words are too tough,
too much or just too hard to understand in the first place, you
might want to try the video first. The exercises are perfectly
playable by simply imitating whats clearly exemplified in the
videos. The words then will start making more sense, after youve
followed along with the video example.
It works both ways, so you're free to pick one that is applicable
for you in each individual situation. You'll find out what works
best for you along the way. Alternate and combine. That's my
advice.
This is where the party starts.
Have fun.

46

3.1 Technique.

Rhythmic basics & patterns

with the right hand.

Rhythm might just very well be the most

dierentiating aspect in music.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE
Up to and including 2.1. Triads, major chords and minor chords.

TERMS & CONCEPTS

Bass, rhythm, chords, meter, time, patterns, quarter beats.

STYLE
All

LEVEL

This way of playing already allows you to play a very basic

version of songs, for example to play along to an original
version. When youd play all the right chords from a song at the
right time, it would all sound very correct, but maybe not exactly
super-exciting... yet.
The very first possibility to spice things up a bit, as weve also
seen in Chapter 2.1, is to add a bass note to those chords, by
playing the root note with your left hand. This basic technique is
actually the starting point/form for every Pop-Pianist.

Basic.

Like weve seen in Chapter 2.1 the easiest, most basic way of
playing chords is to simply press all the notes from the triad
simultaneously. This can be done with both the left and the right
hand.

For many well-known singer-songwriters, or pianists who

accompany singers, theres actually not that much more to it
than using this basic technique in dierent rhythms.

47

Rhythm.
Rhythm might just very well be the most dierentiating aspect in
music. As I told you in Chapter 2.1, in pop music, there is an
almost infinite amount of songs that use the same chord
progressions. The reason that two songs that use the exact same
chord progression can still sound so very dierent is due to
dierences in:

Melody: What is being sung or played as lead? In other words,

what is the foreground of the song? When youd play those 4
chords from the previous example (or any chord progression), in
the exact same way after one another, without any other
additions, variations or dierences whatsoever, but change the
melody, this will in fact still make it sound like a dierent song.

Melody.
Production/arrangement: the dressing up mostly done in the
studio. Which instruments play on the record, at what volume
are they mixed in, what exactly do they play, are we using
eects like compression, reverb, delay, panning, EQ and a
whole catalogue of terms that are irrelevant to explain here for
learning how to play.
The rhythm.

When playing solo piano these three aspects can be translated to

the piano by:

Production/arrangement: There are many dierent ways to play

(the same set of) chords. Ill be getting back on this extensively in
the Technique chapters. Arrangement, being more of the what is
played side in this form of sound crafting, holds very close
relationship to and even evolves from patterns.
The patterns, our main vessel in these Technique chapters, are
based on rhythms.
Rhythm is a movement in time, formed by accents. Imagine a
beat or groove, played by a drummer, or simpler: clapping along
to a song. Its the thing that makes your head bounce, your ass
shake.
When clapping a rhythm, every clap is an accent. How far these
accents are apart (how much time is in between each clap)
determines the tempo and the rhythm. It is very important that
48

these spaces in between the claps (accents) are consistent, for an

actual (consistent -> musical) tempo to originate.
Rhythms are often formed by a pattern that repeats every given
amount of beats (time).

The amount of beats the pattern is repeated, depends on the

meter*. In pop music we often count three or four beats and
then start over at one again.
This so-called meter is what indicates how many beats there are
before starting over with a new one or, as this is ocially called,
how many beats are found in a measure or bar*.
In music the one is the beat with the heaviest feel, the heaviest
accent. It is the start of a new measure/bar.
A so-called 4-4 meter counts up to 4; a 3-4 meter counts up
to three. That second 4 (4-4 meter) indicates the fact that
each whole bar is split into quarter beats -> 4 quarters make for
one whole (bar). The first 4 tells us there are indeed 4 of those
beats found in one measure. With 3-4 measures, you could say

the bar is simply cut o after just the 3 quarter beats, starting back at
one. It simply misses that fourth quarter, giving it a very specific
feel.
A measure that counts up to 4 will be indicated with the topmost
image below, 3 beats in one measure are indicated with the bottom
image.

Patterns.
Apart from clapping patterns, or playing patterns on a drum kit, we as
pianists can also play them on the piano. Referring to guitarists yet
again: These patterns can be compared to dierent kinds of stroking/
strumming techniques, patterns, rhythms and plucks like guitar
players use. Our patterns actually work very similarly.
Patterns on the piano can be played both with single notes (forming
melodic phrases, melodies, ris and/or licks), with chords or parts of
chords and even with a mixture of those elements.
Adding patterns will make playing chords sound way more interesting
and make your playing truly come alive.
49

Exercise
1

TASTING RHYTHM AND PLAYING PATTERNS

Pattern 1: Right hand plays all quarter beats.
Used chords:

Quarter beats are the basic form of accents, the basic or main subdivision of a measure. When a song is in a 4-4 meter, this
means there are 4 quarter beats in a measure. In other words: In a 4-4 meter, counting these main, most obvious beats, those
beats youd clap when clapping along, youd count to 4 before starting over at one.
Clap along with the next example video on every count (1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4) to get a good feel of quarter beats. Replay the video
and repeat for about 3 times.

For this exercise were going to play those same 4 chords that weve seen in Chapter 2.1, and just like we did in Exercise 1 from
that chapter, were playing the triad with our right hand, while playing the bass note (the root of the chord) with our left hand, one
octave lower.
50

..CONTINUED

Only now, instead of playing the chord just once on the beat where the chord changes, strike the chord again on
every quarter beat. In this case, this means now playing each right-hand triad 2 times, at an even time apart from
each other, before changing to the next chord.
With your left hand, just play the root of the chord once, every time a chord changes to the next.

This is the very first basic (but highly eective and usable) form of a pattern for you to use to add rhythm, feel and liveliness to
your playing. Heres an example of how it could sound when changing both the chord progression and durations.

51

CHANGE IT UP!

Remember that all the chords in the examples can be changed to any other chord you please.
Make sure you repeat all patterns and exercises, changing the chords of the example to chords that you are
currently learning!
It's your choice here to either go on to the next Technique chapter (3.2) with the chord knowledge you have
now, or first get back to learning some more about chords by checking out Chapter 2.3 to repeat the
exercises from this and the next Technique chapter with.

F ULL V IDEO L ESSON :

52

Hack the Piano Bare Essential Keys to harmony

Thank you

This manifesto consists of the first few chapters to my full book, course:
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