Playing By Ear 3
As mentioned before, most popular songs are built on the root, dominant and subdominant chords, or the 1, the 5 and the 4 chords, respectively. Some songs have just these three chords in them, and some add just a few others like the 7th, or minor chords built on the 3rd and 6th note of the scale.
So as our first example, we’ll listen to "Silent Night." A very simple song, and a great place to start.
Hopefully, you’ve followed the previous instructions for picking out the melody notes. If not, revisit the last post and use your ear’s memory of all the notes and small or large spaces between the notes (intervals) to hunt down and pick out the correct notes to "Silent Night’s" melody.
The first accompanying chord is the 1 chord, built on the first note of the scale. For this example we’ll say the song is in the key of "C". It fits perfectly under the repeated melody of "Silent Night…holy night". But then when the melody jumps to "all is calm…" you can hear that the accompanying chord also jumps to another chord, the "C" chord no longer matches. Can you tell what chord it jumps to? It jumps to 5 chord, built on the fifth note of the scale, or G, as in G, B, D. It comes back to the "C" or 1 chord for "all is bright…" But then it jumps away from C chord again to accompany the next part, "round young virgin…", but not to the 5 chord, which if you try it, will not fit. Try some of the other chords in the scale to see which one does fit. Eventually you’ll hear that the best match is the 4 chord, built on "F" as F, A and C. It goes back and forth between the 4 chord and the 1 chord a couple times, under "mother &child…holy infant so…tender and mild," then jumps back to the 5 chord on G under "sleep in heavenly…" and the 1 chord for "peace…" Then it ends with one more quick turn-around of the 1-5-1 chords under the repetition of "sleep in heavenly peace."
So "Silent Night" can be played with just 3 accompanying chords, the 1, the 5, and the 4 chords…that’s it!
But what’s really amazing, as you’ll discover, is that that simple structure underpins many modern songs, and the ones it’ not sufficient for need only a few extra chords, and you’re done!
Let’s check that out by looking at the chord structures to a few other popular songs:
"The Music Of The Night" from Phantom Of The Opera
1 5 1 5
Slowly, gently, night unfurls it’s splendour,
1 5 4 5
Grasp it sense it, tremulous and tender
4 1 4 1
Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your
4 1
Thoughts away from cold unfeeling light
5 1
And listen to the music of the night
"Daniel" by Elton John
1 4
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
5 3 maj. 6 min.
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain
4 5 6 4
I can see Daniel waving goodbye, God it looks like Daniel
5 1
Must be the clouds in my eyes
As you can see, a song as grand as "Music Of The Night" is built primarily on these 1, 4 and 5 chords. Elton John’s "Daniel" adds just two others, the 3 and 6 chords, both which are very common extras in popular 1,4,5 -patterned songs.
Start now, listening to all your favorite songs with a keen ear for picking out the chord patterns you hear. And regularly practice picking out these patterns on your piano. In short order, you will get quite good at finding he correct melody notes and accompanying chords for any popular song…and you’ll be able to declare, "Yes, I can play by ear!"
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