In today’s “Why is this song so beautiful” video, we will talk about one of the most famous piano classical pieces ever written.
The piece is called For Elise. It was composed by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven in 1810, but it was only published 40 years after the composer’s death.
Can you imagine writing one of the most famous piano classical pieces just to see it published after you are dead?
For Elise is a lovely piece in A minor. The melody and chords simple in their structure and beautiful to listen to. Although the piece is quite rich and complex, it is one of the first piano pieces that beginners learn to play.
In this video, we will take a look at the opening section of the piece, which is indeed the most popular.
The arrangement I am playing in this video is in the key of E minor (even though the original composition is in A minor). I will link a few youtube videos of the song played in A minor, so make sure you check them out if you want to learn the song in its original key.
The goal is to break down the simple melody and the chords and try to understand why this simple melody has become one of the most played classical pieces of all time.
Hey guys, welcome to Rhythmic Fingerstyle Module 5.
In this course, we will be taking a look at the most common rhythmic patterns on the guitar.
This course aims to teach you how to read the rhythmic notation and apply rhythmic techniques.
In module five, we will learn how to play a beautiful Spanish chord progression and a Spanish rhythm.
Of course, we will learn a lovely jazz chord progression with extended chords and a simple melody.
THE BASIC LEVEL: Learn how to read and play the simple Spanish arpeggio. THE CREATIVE LEVEL: Learn how to use the rhythmic pattern creatively with more notes.
Let me show you the 7 steps to beautiful guitar arrangements.
This video will show you how to arrange a simple chord progression using seven guitar tracks that work perfectly together. The goal is to create the perfect harmonic and melodic balance between the seven guitar tracks so that they all work together to create a lovely arrangement.
Now, believe it or not, I never played even just one chord in these seven tracks. Most of the tracks are played with only one note.
Of course, you have to make smart choices to make sure that these single notes make sense when they play together. In this video,
I will break down each track, show you how to play it, the harmonic and melodic choices behind each track, and the type of sound I used. The seven tracks are:
Hey guys, with Christmas coming soon, I thought it would be cool to share with you one of the most beautiful Christmas Carol called “O Holy Night.”
In this fingerstyle arrangement, we will take a look at O Holy Night played in the key of G major. I did my best to arrange the song as simple as possible. I am not sure, though, whether we could call this arrangement easy or not.
The rhythm and the chords are pretty basic without too many harmonic and melodic embellishments. Christmas is in a month, so I was going with something that would be easy-ish to play.
As you will see, most of the notes of the melody are played within the chords. The G major key is perfect for this song as we can benefit from playing simple and familiar chords.
The tab is written in 6/8 (six notes per measure) in what we call a “waltz-feel” tempo. However, the song is mostly played with “Free tempo.” This way of playing allows you to interpret the song without following a steady rhythm. Free tempo is also known as “Rubato” or “Stolen Time.”
In this guitar lesson, I will show you how to take basic chords to the next level. I call these chords the “No Pain No Gain” chord because they are beautiful and very challenging.
There are two things that we can do to transform a chord from basic to advanced:
Make the chord harmonically more challenging.
Make the chord technically more challenging.
In this lesson, we will explore both of them. As you will see, as we add more notes to the chords, the chord shapes will inevitably become more challenging to play.
One of my favorite chords in this lesson is the lovely Cmaj7 chord played with a not quite simple shape.
In this guitar lesson, I will show you how to play a lovely neo-soul chord progression in the key of D minor.
We will explore the Min7 chords and learn how to add rhythm and a melody to the chords.
In this neo-soul chord progression, we will be using a simple fingerpicking pattern to play the chords. The goal is to diversify the tone and rhythm of the chord progression.
The melody will be played between the chords. As the chord progression is in D minor, we will wisely select the notes from the D natural minor scale to create a simple and unique neo-soul melody on the guitar.
The neo-soul chord progression is this one: Gm7 | Am7 | Dm7 | Dm9.
The Min7 and Min9 are some of the most popular neo-soul chords. Once you learn this chord progression, use the concepts you learned to create your music.
Don’t just copy the chords; instead, use this lesson to learn new chords that you can use to compose your music.
Hey guys, in this fingerstyle guitar lesson, I will show you how to play a lovely Spanish chord progression in the key of D minor.
The most popular Spanish chord progression is the i VII VI V in the minor key. If we play these chords in the key of D minor, we will have the D minor chord, the C major, the Bb major, and the A major.
Each chord can then be changed into more colorful chords. For example, we can change the C major chord into a Cadd9 or the Bb major into a Bb major #11.
The fingerpicking technique will then be able to add a lovely rhythmic pattern to the chords.
This Spanish chord progression can be played in many different ways. I recommend that you learn the one I show you in this video and then try to come up with your version.
Hey guys, welcome to Rhythmic Fingerstyle Module 4.
In this course, we will be taking a look at the most common rhythmic patterns on the guitar.
This course aims to teach you how to read the rhythmic notation and apply rhythmic techniques.
In module four, we will learn how to play one of the most common jazz patterns.
Of course, we will learn a lovely jazz chord progression with extended chords and a simple melody.
THE BASIC LEVEL: Learn how to read and play the rhythmic pattern and the simple chords. THE CREATIVE LEVEL: Learn how to use the rhythmic pattern creatively with extended chords.
Hey guys, welcome to another fingerpicking guitar lesson. Today I am going to show you how to play a lovely fingerstyle melody in A major.
The melody was written over the last couple of days while chilling on my couch. As a result, the melody sounds quite relaxing, positive, and bluesy.
Different musical elements can make this melody challenging at first. The rhythm and the thumb-slap technique, to mention a few. For this reason, we will take things step-by-step and begin by learning the chord progression.
The chords are pretty simple and beautiful to play: A Amaj7 Bm E7 E9 A Bm E.
Once you familiarize yourself with the chords, you will then add the melody and, eventually, the thumb-slap technique.
There are a lot of different ways to embellish a chord. One of the easiest ways is to move one of the notes of the chord up or down.
You can listen to this approach in the instrumental I played at the beginning of the video. I was able to transform the simple G major chord into something more interesting, rhythmic, and melodic.
In this example, I am moving the 3rd of the chord down to the 2nd and back to the 3rd. This way of embellishing the chord is simple but very effective.
We will use this approach on three major chords and one minor chord.
The embellishment always occurs in the same place, so once we know the interval structure of the chord, we can easily apply the same concept to the other chords of the key.
In this video, I am using my electric guitar PRS Single Cut Trem. I am going through the Line6 Helix amp and speaker simulation. I am also using a compressor, reverb, and delay.
You don’t have to have the same gear. Just bear in mind that the reverb and delay help sustain the chords a lot, so if you can, add some to your guitar. Any reverb and delay, as well as any other pedalboard or plugin, would do just fine.
As always, take it, step-by-step guys.
Enjoy the lesson.
