Hi, everyone. This is Maria Palazian from London
Contemporary School of Piano. Into this tutorial, we're going to learn
how to play chords with melody line, but our focus will be on the right hand
only. If you have any questions, just visit our website and get in touch
with us and we can help you with anything. How can we play the melody and the chords
both together with the right hand? The first song that we're going to work on
is Hallelujah. Let me play the tune. Just a small section of the tune. If we look at the chord
progression of this song and if I play the chords
all in roots position. This is how it sounds? We don't hear the melody at all. So what we should do to these chords? Some of them,
we should play them in inversions. We knew that each chord,
the triada has two inversions, first inversion and second inversions. How to know
whether we should play the first inversion or the second inversion. Here is a good tip for you. If the roots
note of the chord is at the top, then you use the first inversion. If the second note of the chords
is at the top, then you use the second inversion. I will show you how it works
with this song. So the first note is G,
and that's the top note of C major. We don't have any problems.
We can play it in root position. Then comes A and the chord is A minor actually. See, the root note is at the top. So I'm going to use the first inversion
here. Then is the same again. C Major, and the top note is G. It move back to A
and the chord is A minor. So the root note is at the top and see what I'm doing here. From C to A, I'm just lifting the top note because C major and A minor, they share two notes,
which is the C and the E.
Let's continue then comes F major chords. But the top note is A.
A is the second note of the chord. So we're going to play the chord
in second inversion. Then there's an E here with the G
major chord. That's just let's consider it as a note that doesn't belong to the chord,
because the next note is the GM. And look, that's the G major chord
and the roots note is at the top. So we will play it in first inversion, then we play C major in root position
because G is at the top. Then we have G again with the
G major chord. So this means the root note is at the top. That's first inversion. Let's continue now, let's see now for the F major chord the second note of the chord. So we're going to use second inversion. Then with the G, we have B, that's again
the second note of the chord. So it's again second inversion. And with the A, we have C,
which is again the second note. So again second inversion, then F see root position, then G, F and G, we're going to play them in root positions
because they don't have any connections. Let's continue. The next chord is E, and the top note is E. So that's the root note. So we're going to play in first inversion, then note, the second note is at the top. So we play the A minor
in second inversion. Let's work on the Hallelujah section now. So F major chords. The top note is a
that's the second note of the chord. A minor is in roots position here. Second note again with the F major. So the second inversion. Now the ending that E
with a C major chord. So there's a second note at the top. So second inversion then I'm just going to keep the ending
simple. I'm not going to do all these things. I'm just going to keep it simple We have G major chord where the D and then the top note, the root note is at the top. So we will end the song
with the first inversion of C. Now, what we can do with the left hand. Because with the right hand we're playing the melody and the chords,
what we can do with the left hand. I know that the original song
is based on arpeggios, but let's keep it very simple and let's play
all the octaves with the left hand. So this is how it's going to sound. Now, if you'd like to have a copy
of the sheet, you can visit our website. We're going to move to another song.
We're going to work on Lay All Your Love on Me. We're going to do the same thing. We're going to add chords
to the melody line. This song originally is written on D minor,
but we're going to work on it in C minor. Let me play the tune. Now, let me play the chords. Similar to Hallelujah. We cannot hear the melody
when we just play the chords, so we're going to work on inversions
again. Just a reminder when the root note
is at the top, we use the first inversion. When the second note of the chord is
at the top, we use the second inversion. So we will start with E flat
and in C minor, E flat is the second note. So we're going to use
the second inversion. So this song actually starts
with an inversion. Hallelujah. I started with the root position chord, then the next G it's going to be root
position. Then it's again C minor. But the top note is C.
So that's first inversion back to root position G, and then we have E flat the second note. So the second inversion
and to connect G to C, look, you can just lift the top two notes
and then play G seven. That's G seven, it just seven to it. Then we play A flat in root position and G position A flat and G,
they don't have any connections. So if the first is root, usually
the second will be in root as well. Now, G to C minor, we saw it in the previous example
as well. We're going to lift the top two notes
to play the C minor in second inversion because the second note is at the top,
then that's B flat, then we have E flat. But the second note is at the top. So that's going to be second inversion. Our next chord, this F minor seven, F minor seven is like this, so
F with an A flat chord So because the F is at the top,
to get the inversion of F is very easy. We can play the influence
major chord down here. That's how we're going to play
the inversion of F minor seven. Then we play B flat in root position and then the last chord is E flat. But the roots note is at
the top, so it's going to be first inversion. Now what
we're going to do with the left hand. Instead of playing them as octaves,
we can just play single notes. Hope you enjoy these two songs. You can add chords
to any melody that you want. Just think about inversions as well
and just a quick reminder. So when the root note is at
the top is the first inversion, when the second note is at the top,
use the second inversion. And if you have any questions,
just visit our website and get in touch with us
and we can help you with anything. You can also watch other tutorials
and lessons here at the next video.
