Applying the Ballad Style to melodies in three easy steps. 2 2
Step one. 3 3
Left hand. 4 4
So very easy left hand ballad style. 5 5
In G. 6 6
Root, fifth, first back to the fifth. 7 7
[MUSIC] 8 8
And the peddle, keep the peddle down for each chord change. 9 9
So, without the peddle. 10 10
[MUSIC] 11 11
No sustain. 12 12
With the peddle. 13 13
[MUSIC] 14 14
And if you're changing chords you're left to put it back down again. 15 15
And the great thing about this left on ballad style pattern is that It works for 16 16
either major or minor chords in the right hand because your leaving out 17 17
the third which determines whether its a major or So G major [MUSIC but 18 18
your not playing the third your just playing first and fifth just the same for 19 19
for either major or minor. 20 20
So it will apply to both. 21 21
Okay, let's apply the pattern to the first four chords of the song Auld Lang Syne. 22 22
G going to E minor, up to A minor, up to D. 23 23
[MUSIC] 24 24
Very often you'll see songbooks with lyrics and chord changes will come in 25 25
exactly at the point of the lyric where they're meant to change. 26 26
Step two add the right hand melody line. 27 27
So the melody line for this song is. 28 28
[MUSIC] 29 29
And you can see above the melody line the chord changes. 30 30
So this for G, G, 31 31
changing to E-minor. 32 32
A-minor. 33 33
D. Basically that also means that you can 34 34
play a G chord underneath. 35 35
E-minor. 36 36
A-minor. 37 37
To D. 38 38
[MUSIC] 39 39
Okay, step three. 40 40
We're going to add some right hand chord notes beneath the melody line. 41 41
So what you just played sounds okay, 42 42
but the overall sound is a bit thin. 43 43
It's just a single melody line. 44 44
There's no depth to it. 45 45
You're going to try and add some chord tones underneath the melody line. 46 46
As we looked at before, you could play chords very close to that. 47 47
[MUSIC] 48 48
G, E minor, A minor, you see how that thickens the sound up? 49 49
So, if you could play those chord tones with the left hand, 50 50
see how much thicker that is, how much more depth it's got. 51 51
So the reason you add the chord tones, underneath the melody line, is because our 52 52
ears always pick out the top notes of a chord, more so than any other note. 53 53
Okay so there's your 54 54
[MUSIC], 55 55
that's the G. 56 56
So if you play the G underneath, you're still hearing that note above all else. 57 57
If you play the G up high, it's not so clear what the note is, but 58 58
it's very clear when it's beneath the melody note. 59 59
So let's go through the song. 60 60
So the melody line is, first note is G, and that's with the G chord. 61 61
So you're looking for G chord tones to add underneath. 62 62
So you could play G backwards, because you're actually on a G, 63 63
so there's G backwards. 64 64
The next chord tone is G again, but you want E minor chord. 65 65
So there's E minor. 66 66
So you can play an E minor middle. 67 67
Next melody line is A, and you want to play A minor underneath. 68 68
A minor backwards. 69 69
A again for the melody and you're playing a D chord underneath. 70 70
[MUSIC] 71 71
So G backwards, E minor middle, 72 72
A minor backwards, D. 73 73
And if you add the left hand in on top of that. 74 74
[MUSIC] 75 75
Okay, you can hear how much more depth that has.