3 Ways This ONE System INSTANTLY Transforms Your Piano Playing

hey welcome to better piano if you want to transform your piano skills almost instantly then stay tuned for this video because we're going to talk about three ways that we use one incredible system to absolutely transform your playing in an instant check this out so the system we're going to talk about you may have heard before it's called the number system and it's a very interesting way of thinking about music that makes it incredibly easy to think about so many different things that we do in music and I'm going to tell you why but more importantly we're going to talk about three different ways to actually think about this system because I think this can kind of be confusing if you're first starting out really getting familiarized with the number system and how to use it so let's dive into that the number system very simply put is just assigning a number to every degree of the major scale so if we take a look at a C major scale we can look at the note names for all of these right c d e f g a b and that brings us back to C an octave up right and if we go back down c b a g f e d c now that's great we can do a lot with that we can write Out chords we know that a major Triad is made in this case from c e and G right and we can do all kinds of things if we know the note names that's fantastic right however it's going to transform your entire understanding of music if you simply start to think about everything as numbers here's here's what I mean rather than C we're going to just call this one and then the second note of the scale oh we're going to call that two and so on and so forth we have the third note of the scale the fourth note of the scale is four the fifth note of the scale is five six 7 ah but this brings us back to one because it's the same thing we could start it up here 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 right we generally usually refer to C's as one because it makes it so that it doesn't matter what octave we're in we can kind of just always say that oh c is one now there's actually going to be an exception to that rule but we'll talk about that a little later in the video so the three ways I want to talk about utilizing this number system are really really important to understand and to differentiate from one another they are the ways that we use the number system to identify music and to make it easier for us to learn music and perhaps most importantly it makes it very easy for us to communicate music right to explain to someone else what we want something to sound like so let's talk about the first usage of the number system and that is to explain Melody of course we recognize that as Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer and if I were to write that Melody out you might read it as g a g e c a g right g a g a g c B that's great but it's even more convenient if we just understand the numbers because I can tell you oh yeah it's starts on the five well if we think about our major scale 1 2 3 4 five great 5 6 53 1 65 and because we know how Rudolph the rednose reindeer goes we can probably figure out that one we're talking about like eight theoretically right 56 53 one or 8 65 56565 17 we can explain Melodies In this way now the reason why we would think about it this way and as opposed to just the note names we're going to talk about a little bit later but there is one huge reason why this absolutely transforms your understanding of music but first let's talk about the second usage of the number system now this one is a little more common the first one is common but it's more like an available tool if you need it the second one is far more widely utilized and that is to identify chords more specifically we're talking about the construction of chords now in the beginning we said that a major Triad is made from c e and G in the case of C major right we're talking about the c major scale here and the c major Triad is c e and G so the second way we're going to use the number system is for constructing chords we're literally going to use the numbers to tell us what notes actually are used to build a chord now in the case of C major it's not c e and G instead it's the first degree of the scale the first note of the scale the third degree of the scale and the fifth degree of the scale and that helps us go like oh okay cool like I know it's 1 3 and five now we can add stuff to that what if we want to make it a C6 chord 1 3 5 six what about a major 7th chord 1 3 5 major 7 right what about a uh what about a minor 7th chord One Flat three oh five flat seven we just unlocked another secret to the number system you can alter any number because we're talking about the major scale right that's what we said we said we start we start from C major one 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 but any note in C major can be changed we can make this flat oh well instead of being d flat well it's just the flat two it's the second degree made Flat right or how about the third made Flat and we know from our knowledge of major and minor that minor just means that we've made the third flat so identifying chords using the number system and using the number system to construct chords is probably something that you've already had familiarity with even if you've never thought about it in this context but when we talk about building a Triad we start typically very early on in our piano education with the understanding that a major chord is built with 1 three and five that is the usage of the number system as it relates to building and constructing courts but it goes so much further than just 1 3 and 5 and we just Illustrated that somewhat with sevenths but it goes even further than that this is where the exception to that one octave rule comes in and this is one of those things we start to learn as we start dealing with more complex chords there is a thing in the number system and we call it upper extensions it's basically we don't want to be limited to just these notes to make a chord because we can put chords we can put notes on top of that we can do all kinds of things on top of that once we leave those first four notes right and we exit that first octave where we have built our basic chord we've put our Triad down here and maybe we've added our seventh here and that kind of that's it for the first uh Octave of a chord that we that we want to build really so as soon as we leave that first octave we enter what we call the upper extension we can add notes like that or we can add notes like that or we can add notes like like that or if you're Jacob Collier we can add notes like that right and what we're doing here that actually is a really great chord we're creating an upper extension now what would I call what I just did well we started we know with 1 3 5 and 7even right we made no alterations these are the 1 3 5 and seven that exist in the major scale so we're just going to say 13 5 and 7even but unlike when we were doing our scale and we went 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven oh there's one again right we're now going to keep counting that we call nine that would be the 11 and the note that I played was this which we would call a sharp 11 cuz I took that 11 and I made it sharp right so that's a sharp 11 well we just keep going that's a 13 we can go all the way up to 13 and like I said if you're Jacob Collier you might have like a sharp 15 or yeah whatever but so these are the upper extension notes that we can mess around with and we can change the quality of those notes right let's say I have a dominant chord or a C7 chord that consists of a major Triad plus a flat 7even right things start getting really interesting in the upper extension once I start playing a dominant chord like this because what happens if I take my nine and I make it flat I get that sound well what if I have an 11 and I make it sharp who what if I have just a regular [Music] 13oo that is some spicy chord right there beautiful right and all of that I'm able to discuss and I'm able to construct with intention because I'm familiar with how the number system applies to Upper extensions and this is that exception to that octave rule we talk about nines we talk about 11s we talk about 30 13s we can talk about 15s if you want not very common but you know it's a thing now the important thing to notice here is that nine is the same as what well if it was down here that's just a two okay well what about a sharp 11 well that's the same as sharp 4 okay so two four well by doing a little bit of math we can assume that our 13 is the same as our six and when we fill in all the notes we end up with a scale that's it they're upper extensions because we have left that first octave and we've played them up here but theoretically they're the same notes that you would play here and that would just create a scale this is going to eventually unlock the secrets to like chord voicings any way you want them and improvisation the understanding that all chords are just the answer to the question well what scale are we using because if you condense chords together you wind up with some type of complete scale and that is usually a really great option for improvising with using the notes that that we have when we combine everything together and you can build chords any way you want if I know I have these I can spread these out on the piano any way I any way I want [Music] to sure why not but that leads us to the third usage of the number system so what we just talked about was how the number number system applies within a chord right and we normally use that language we say oh it's 1357 with a flat n and a sharp 11 and a 13 or however you want to say it whatever chord it is we can explain to somebody how that chord is constructed using the number system but we need to take a step outside of chords and talk about chord progressions because this is going to be the most common and widely applied usage of the number system when we talk about chord progressions we're going to talk about them as numbers now again we still have one very important detail as to why and we're going to talk about that in just a second the quickest way to explain to fellow musicians how a song is constructed is to use the number system to explain the chord progression you may be familiar with the term 251 Jazz musicians use this term all the time to explain this sound now within that 2551 can I take this chord and say oh well it's 1 5 flat 7 there's a flat three um and a nine yeah I can absolutely do that but we're thinking like one level outside of that and we're just saying the two chord the five chord and the one chord the one of course in this case was E flat so if we take the E flat major scale we know that the two is f the five is B flat and the one of course is E flat so we can explain a chord progression as oh yeah it starts on one and then it goes 6 2 5 3 6 2 five and then we can do cool things like we can say oh and then there's a 2 five leading to the four let's let's break that down really quick so again if we're in E Flat we're saying 1 2 3 4 oh so if we're going to play a 25 leading to the four let's think of this as home base for a second and go what's the two of that well it's this and the five of that would be this and that would lead to this note which is the four of our home base key now that might sound a little bit complex but trust me these are just the language things that eventually you get to kind of you get you get the feel for it more importantly you start to understand the sound of it like if we go back to what I was saying before one 6 2 5 3 6 2 5 then a 25 to the four would sound like this Ah that's a cool sound what about a flat seven woo then a 3 6 2 5 1 this is how we talk about chord progressions when we get to a little bit more of an advanced level it's incredibly useful but there's one main reason why all of this is the absolute transformative instant complete change in how you think about music music and that is because numbers are Universal what does that mean let's go back to our C major we said that we're going to think of these instead of note names as numbers but we never really talked about why okay we can it can help us build chords yeah I can see that it can help us understand upper structures I can see that it can help us understand maybe chord progressions yeah it can help with that too but like still why is it necessary for us to think in numbers cuz check this out remember how I said in E Flat 1 6 2 5 1 let's change home base what if home base is a flat major let's do the same thing 1 6 2 5 1 hm how about d flat major 1 6 2 5 one numbers are Universal a major 1 6 2 5 1 they're Universal it doesn't matter what key we're in we can be in any key we only need to understand the music one way and if we're familiar with all 12 Keys which of course is an advanced thing to be familiar with all 12 keys I don't even think I'm familiar with all 12 keys well enough to play in any key at any time but I can understand if you tell me oh it's a 251 okay what key because no matter what key we're in we can call it a 251 this makes communication of Music absolutely insanely easy because no longer do we have to go through oh but in this key it's a major 7 uh oh it's an F sharp dominant chord and then a a b minor 7 and and an E7 and then a major 7 okay well what if we want to change Keys how about F or now it's F major d 7 G minor 7 C7 back to F major that is just too much it's just too much it's too much to deal with it's too much too much to have to talk about or try to tell somebody you know it's way easier 1 6 2 5 1 numbers just transform your understanding of Music in an instant makes everything so much easier because everything becomes Universal we can just think about things is like ah sick uh I don't care what key we're in because I know that it's a 251 so if I don't know say you're playing with a singer and they come in and they got a cold that day and they're like hey instead of doing this this High I need to do it a little lower can we do this in a different key you're like I don't care because I know that the numbers are still the same so if there's a 251 in the key of BF flat there can be a 251 in the key of G flat totally different chords with totally different names and totally different notes but because we're able to refer to them universally with numbers it makes it so much quicker and so much easier to just think about now this of course is a pretty Advanced concept that can take a while for you to become familiar with but the important thing to understand is that the number system has three distinctly different applications Melody chords and chord progressions and that the reason the number system is so important is because it allows us to speak about music universally in the simplest terms we are absolutely going to talk more about this and we certainly will be talking more about it inside of my brand new community over on better piano.com and if you haven't heard yet better piano is a place that I've recently built and launched because I wanted to solve a fundamental problem that I feel like online music courses just can't really solve and that is ensuring that you do them maybe you played piano once when you were younger and for whatever reason you gave it up maybe life got in the way maybe you had a bad experience but for whatever reason now you're thinking about playing the piano again and you're like you know wouldn't it be great to be able to play some of the things that you know and love and that you'd love to play for your friends your family your loved ones whatever you have goals on the piano and better piano designed to help you reach them it has my entire library of piano courses that have helped tens of thousands of students reach their piano goals but more importantly almost it has what I think is the missing link to getting online music education to be way more effective and that is a dedicated Community where you can be surrounded by like-minded individuals who all have this goal of learning to play this instrument learning to play the piano can be really isolating if no one else in your life is also currently learning so wouldn't it be amazing to just have have a place where everyone is talking about the same stuff we're all sharing music we're all sharing our struggles we're all encouraging each other to work towards reaching our individual goals that's what better piano is all about and I've been absolutely Blown Away by the community we have built in just a very short period of time since we've launched and because it's only been a short period of time you could take advantage of special introductory pricing as we build out this community it's available at the link in the description down below and I would love to see you over in the community on better piano so use that link it's the best way to support the channel I'm so appreciative of that support and I can't wait to see you inside that's it that's going to be all for this video we will definitely be diving more into the number system in the future but for now thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time [Music]

Channel: Better Piano

Views: 4,369

Keywords: piano, piano lesson, music theory, number system, piano tutorial

Id: gggM79ZD0r0

Length: 18min 57sec (1137 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2024