Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. How to Play By Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps(Course Notes) This is a free course created by Sandra Chen Lau, founder of the ​
Inspired Keyboardist YouTube Channel and ​
inspiredkeyboardist.com​
. This set of course notes complements this video course series. Hi there! I'm Sandra and I LOVE playing worship keyboard! My goal is spread the love for worship keyboard playing by sharing what I know. ​
I welcome any questions from you​
any time you have any comments, suggestions, or questions throughout the course​
. Some quick things before we start: Our goal here is to play a song without relying on chord sheets from the internet which might be inaccurate. Some emotional / mental prep is needed: (1) Playing by ear is like a muscle ­ it can be strengthened with practice, and with hard work, it is possible to attain and apply this skill regularly. (2) This skill might come easier to some than others, you’ve got to persevere! Having an experimental spirit is key. Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. Prerequisite music theory information (​
email me if you’d like to know even more about any of these topics​
) (1) ​
The key signature of every key (2) ​
Exactly what note is the scale degree number in any key (3) ​
A chord is made up of 3 notes stacked a 3rd apart. The root position is the commonly used. The 1st inversion is rather common, while the 2nd inversion is less common. (4) There might be exceptions to any generalised aspects of music theory (e.g. “seldom used”) for the sake of simplicity and accuracy within the contemporary worship music context. Example songs featured in this course are based on the YouTube videos of these 2 relatively popular and well known contemporary worship songs: “How Great is Our God” by Chris Tomlin​
, and “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman Now that we're sorted with these stuff, let's get started with the 3 steps to playing by ear! Play By Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps Overview: Step 1: Identify the tonic note and the key of the song Step 2: Figure out the melody of a song using scale degree numbers Step 3: Figure out the chords of a song using chord numbers Step 4: Apply both the melody and the chords in the required key Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. Step 1: How to identify the tonic note and key of the song. What is tonic note? The tonic note is also known as the “home” note. An easy test to detect if a note if the tonic is to hear if it gives a sense that the song is “complete,” or “home,” particularly when used right at the end of a song. ​
More explanations here​
. How do we find the key of a song? This is easy ­ the tonic note is usually the key of the song. E.g. If the tonic note is C, the key is C Major. (It could also be C Minor but worship songs are usually in major keys. ​
Find out more about major VS minor chords here​
.) How do we find the tonic note with the help of the piano? Sing the tonic note to find it the piano ­ find the note that matches what you’re singing. Video Demonstration Watch the video ​
to see how I figure out the tonic note of “How Great is Our God” and “10,000 Reasons" How do I further strengthen the skill of identifying the tonic note and key of a song? Further exercises are available in the Inspired Keyboardist Membership area. Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. Step 2: Figure out the melody of a song using scale degree numbers First, we need to understand the major scale in terms of scale degree numbers. What are scale degree numbers? Scale degree numbers are the numbers based on the major scale sequence. There are 7 unique notes in the major scale. Scale degree numbers can also be called Nashville numb ers but we'll stick to the former term throughout this course. KEY UNDERSTANDING: Every melody is built out of a special order of the scale degree. Our job is to figure out the unique order of scale degree numbers in the melody. How do I figure out the scale degree numbers to each song? (1) Sit at your keyboard and try to figure out the scale degree numbers of all the melody notes of your ultimate favourite worship song. Write the chords down in roman numerals or arabic numbers if you prefer. (2) Repeat step 1 on your next 4 favourite songs. If you keep at it, you can do this on the fly. Video Demonstration Watch this video ​
to see how I figure out the scale degree numbers of "How Great is Our God" and "10,000 Reasons"​
How do I further strengthen the skill of figuring out the scale degree numbers of a melody? Further exercises are available in the Inspired Keyboardist Membership area. Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. Step 3: Figure out the chords of a song using chord numbers Learn to recognise chords in terms of chord numbers. Roman numerals could also be used too (to prevent confusion since there are lots of numbers going on in Step 2 already). Major chords are in caps, minor in small letters. Most worship songs are harmonically simple and usually use a combination of any of these 6 chords. Chords can be recognized just like how we recognize a person’s voice, a person’s accent, or how we know what instrument is being played without having to look. Learn to recognise the flavour of these chords by playing them in the key of C Major, and then by analyzing the chords of songs: I, Ib ii iii IV, IVb V, Vb vi vii​
is a diminished chord and seldom used. The most commonly used chords are I, IV, V, and vi. How do I figure out the chords to a song? (1) Sit at your keyboard and try to figure out all the chords of your ultimate favourite worship song. Write the chords down in roman numerals or arabic numbers if you prefer. (2) Repeat step 1 on your next 4 favourite songs. If you keep at it, you can do this on the fly. Video Demonstration Watch the video to see how I Identify chords in “How Great is Our God” and “10,000 Reasons." Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. How do I further strengthen the skill of recognizing the chords in a song? Further exercises are available in the Inspired Keyboardist Membership area. Step 4: Apply both the melody and the chords in the required key Why do I have to know the key signature of each song? This ensures accurate transposition of the song in different keys. If you're not yet familiar with all key signatures, just play in C Major first. I started out with lots of C Major before moving on to some other simpler keys with 1, 2, or 3 key signatures. Recommended keys to practice in (in order of difficulty) (1) C Major (no sharp and flats) (2) G Major (1 sharp) and F Major (1 flat) (3) D Major (2 sharps) and B­flat Major (2 flats) And so forth. 3 ways to get good at all 12 keys (1) Memorise key signatures by rote (2) Play the scale of each key (3) Play very simple songs e.g. “Twinkle Twinkle” “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in each key Video Demonstration Watch the video to see how I put together the melody and chords of “How Great is Our God” and “10,000 Reasons" first in C Major, then in G Major and F Major. How do I further strengthen the skill of applying chords and melody in different keys? Further exercises are available in the Inspired Keyboardist Membership area. Free Course: Play by Ear on the Worship Keyboard in 4 Steps (Course Notes) by Sandra Chen Lau of inspiredkeyboardist.com. © All rights reserved. Congratulations! You made it to the end. What a feat ­ give yourself a big pat on the back! I sincerely hope you’ve gained a general idea of how we can play by ear in just 4 steps. Do be prepared to spend hours on your keyboard to master the skill. A lot of the topics I mentioned about in this course are also taught further in the ​
31 Days to Better Worship Keyboard Playing e­book. Check out the 31 topics here. Would you like to learn even more about playing better worship keyboard? ​
You’re going to love what you’ll learn in the Inspired Keyboardist Membership. Have a question? ​
Send me an email, I’d love to hear from you. God bless and take care! Sandra PS: Follow me! YouTube Instagram Snapchat ­ “inspiredkeys” Twitter Facebook