Piano Lesson

Piano as a
2 nd
Instrument
A Beginner’s Guide
Ben Yates
Copyright © 2005-2006 by Ben Yates
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Ben Yates unless such
copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to Ben Yates
at 10 Ridgeway, Ann Arbor MI 48104.
All brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders, including the following:
Microsoft® Office Word

Sound Forge®
ACID®
Fruityloops®
Yamaha®
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................1
Pop, Rock, and Music Theory .......................................................................1
The Learning Curve..........................................................................................2
Equipment...........................................................................................................2
Formatting Guide..............................................................................................3
Audio Content....................................................................................................3
Learning Piano ............................................................................................................4
First Steps ............................................................................................................4
Making Friends with your Piano..........................................................4
Having Good Technique.......................................................................5
Getting your Bearings: Finding C........................................................6
C Major ................................................................................................................7
F Major.................................................................................................................8
Relative Names ..................................................................................................8
Voicings................................................................................................................9
Rearranging Notes ...................................................................................9
Adding Bass.............................................................................................11
G Major..............................................................................................................12
“If I had $1000000”........................................................................................13
A Minor..............................................................................................................15
Tapping Your Fingers....................................................................................16
“When I Come Around” ..............................................................................17
“If I had $1000000” Revisited .....................................................................18
D Minor .............................................................................................................19
“Evil Ways”.......................................................................................................20
Chord Transformations.................................................................................21
Moving Fifths and Roots by a Full Step ..........................................23
Moving Fifths and Roots by a Half Step.........................................23
“Praise You”.....................................................................................................25
“When I Come Around” Revisited............................................................26
“Wonderwall”...................................................................................................26
Conclusion..................................................................................................................32
Introduction
One of the tragedies of the 19th century is that piano playing became separate
from composing: starting with Liszt, technical virtuosity was valued over
musical understanding and composing ability. And if you wanted respect,
you needed years of formal training.
Thankfully, this is 2006. You can hardly walk down a city block without
running across a guitar player improvising on front steps, a computer looping
samples through an open window, or fraternity brothers tossing improvised
hip hop back and forth.
Pop, Rock, and Music Theor y

Piano as a Second Instrument is meant for someone interested in rock or pop
music, with access to some sort of a keyboard or piano. You should know
most of these terms before going in:
 Note
 Chord
 Scale
 Octave
 Half Step
 Whole Step
This manual can be used by both experienced and inexperienced players, but
unless you’re particularly talented, it’s not something you’ll complete in single
1
late night session – nor is it comprehensive. Use it as a guide, and as a push
to learn new ways of playing.
The Learning Curve

After you get comfortable with a section’s topics and exercises, you should
spend some time (anything from minutes to weeks, depending on your
interest and playing level) fooling around – have fun, experiment, don’t
worry about being technically correct. As you improve, you’ll probably be
more interested in playing on your own time, and less interested in
instruction as anything but a means to your own ends.
The manual is designed with this attitude shift in mind: its first sections are
relatively simple, and (depending on your experience with other instruments)
quick to learn; its later sections both more complex and applicable to a wider
range of possible playing.
Equipment
It’s best to have a real piano, but pianos are expensive.
If you have a synthesizer or keyboard, make sure that it at least has touch
sensitivity: that pushing keys harder creates louder sounds. Without touch
sensitivity, it’s almost impossible to play with feeling. A better keyboard
should have hammer action – a simulation of the hammers in a real piano.
Yamaha is known for its realistic hammer action.
2 P I A NO A S A SE CO ND I N ST RU ME NT
Formatting Guide
As you read the manual, you’ll encounter text formatted in different ways.
 Musical notes are italicized.
 Unfamiliar terms are also italicized.
 Chords in body text look like this: C M ajor.
 Lyrics are monospaced.
 Chords in song text, and lyrics falling on chord transitions, are

monospaced and bolded.
Audio Content
The easiest way to learn music is by hearing it. This manual is therefore
accompanied by audio tracks demonstrating the notes, chords, and songs
described in the text.
Alright, let’s dive in. Have fun.
P I A NO A S A SE CO ND I N ST RU ME NT 3
Learning Piano
This tutorial will guide you from basic knowledge to intermediate playing.
First Steps
A New Instrument
Learning a second language is harder than learning a first, but for

instruments, the reverse is true. Nevertheless, there are concepts you should
get under your fingers before playing music on piano.
Making Friends with your Piano

The piano keyboard can appear overwhelming at first glance, but playing
tones on piano is in fact more straightforward than on many other
instruments: each key corresponds to exactly one note.
You’ve probably played around on a piano before, experimenting with

sounds. If not, do so now, and frequently in the future. Instruction can only
take you so far; if you want to become proficient and creative, unstructured
playing is essential.
In your first few minutes playing around, you’ll notice a few things:
 As you move from left to right, the pitch of the tones increases.
 When you release a key, a note will stop, unless the rightmost pedal is
depressed.
 Pressing every white key consecutively creates a cheerful-sounding scale.
 Pressing every black key consecutively creates a pentatonic scale (which

sounds “Asian” or “bluesy”)
 Pressing every key consecutively creates a chromatic scale.
 Adjacent keys played simultaneously sound dissonant.
 Pressing every other key often creates a pleasing chord or arpeggio.
 The keyboard layout is periodic: the pattern of black and white keys
repeats many times.
Having Good Technique

One advantage of piano is that it’s easy to produce clear-sounding notes:
simply press the key. By contrast, cleanly plucking a guitar’s strings takes
practice, and so does producing smooth tone on a violin.
Nevertheless, there are physical details a piano player should know:
 Press keys with the tips of your fingers, but avoid using your fingernails .
(If you have long fingernails, trim them.)
 Keep your wrists straight and relaxed to avoid developing carpel tunnel
syndrome. As with typing, pressing the keys should not bend your fingers
and hands backward.
 If you cannot comfortably play with a straight back and straight wrists,
adjust the height of your seat.
Getting your Bearings: Finding C
It can be difficult to know which note is which: the keys are unlabeled and
identical. You’ll learn to identify each note based on the pattern of black and
white keys, which is not uniform and thus can be used as a reference. The
first step in this process is to locate the note C. (Figure 1)
• Figure 1:The note C

On the piano keyboard, C is the white key immediately left of each cluster of two black
keys. In this diagram, keys other than C are gray or black.
Starting at one of the C notes, push each white key consecutively until you
reach the next C -- you’ve played a C Major scale
C Major
Chord
This is a C Major chord (Figure 2)
• Figure 2: C M a j o r
Notes in the C Ma jo r chord are shown in white.
Play the chord by pressing all three keys at once. You can use whichever
fingers you like, depending on what’s most comfortable. The author uses
index finger, ring finger, and little finger for this chord.
F Major
Chord
Now move the top two notes up and play a chord again: this is F Major.
(Figure 3)
• Figure 3: F M a j o r
The F Major chord is shown in white.
Practice moving from C Major to F Major and back again.
Relative Names
More Precise Language
We could call each note by its letter name, but because each chord of the
same type (Major, for instance) is fundamentally similar, it makes sense to use
a relative naming system rather than an absolute one.
 The root of C Major is C. The root of a chord is the note that
corresponds to the chord's name.
 The third of C Major is E. The third of a chord is the third note in that
chord's scale.
 The fifth of C Major is G—unsurprisingly, the fifth note in the C Major
scale.
 "Eighths" are not referred to—they are just considered roots played an
octave higher.
Every relative name except "root" can also refer to the distance between a
note and the root. For example, F could be said to be a fourth. above C.
Chords can be thought of in terms of relative distances as well. Thus,

changing from C Major to F Major is sometimes called "moving to the
fourth". Moving to the fourth and back is the most common type of chord
transition in folk music; it is also found in most rock and pop songs.
Voicings
Filling Out the Sound
Every sound is similar to many other sounds. More specifically, every chord
can be played in countless ways.
Rearranging Notes
The notes in a chord can be played in any order. These (Figures 4-6) are all C
Major:
• Figure 4: A C M a j o r chord starting on E
• Figure 5: A C M a j o r chord starting on G
• Figure 6: A C M a j o r chord containing two C notes
These permutations of a single chord are called voicings.
If you play F Major starting with F rather than C, you'll see its similarity to
the C Major chord.
See what voicings you can find for F Major, and experiment with moving
between various voicings of C Major and F M ajor.
Adding Bass
Playing a chord's root with your left hand, an octave or two below the other
notes, can add depth to the chord's sound.
Practice moving between C Major and F Major again, this time playing a
low C under the C Major chords and a low F under the F Major chords.
G Major
Chord
Play a C M ajor chord, then move both the root and third of the chord (C
and E) down one note: they become B and D, the third and the fifth,
respectively, of G Major. (Figure 7)
• Figure 7: G M a j o r
This G M a j o r chord is made up of B, D, and G. (C, which is not played, is marked for
convenience.)
Practice moving between C Major, F M ajor, and G Major. You'll find that
if you start on G Major, then move to C Major and back, it will sound
similar to the transition between C Major and F M ajor. This is because C is
the fourth of G, and F is the fourth of C.
“If I h a d $ 10 0 0 0 0 0 ”
Putting it Together
The three chords you've learned (or, more precisely, the three relative
transitions) form the basis of much pop, rock, and folk. Countless songs use
only these transitions, including the 1990 Canadian hit “If I had $1000000”.
Most of the song is a repeating loop: C Major, G M ajor, F Major, then back
to C Major. F M ajor is held for twice as long as the other chords.
1) Practice this loop until you’re comfortable with it. You may want to find
voicings that minimize hand movement between chords.
2) If you don’t already know the melody, learn how it goes by listening to
the recording. In this version of the song, the melody begins on G.
In the following aid:
 Major chords are abbreviated with their letter names.
 Words falling near a chord transition are bolded. Note that in the
recording, these words often fall slightly before the chord is played.
C G F
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million
C G F
dollars) I’d buy you a house (I would buy you a
C G F
house) If I had a million dollars (if I had a million
C G F
dollars) I’d buy you furniture for your house (a nice Chesterfield or an
C G F
Ottoman) And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million
C G F
dollars) I’d buy you a K-car...
Before the chorus, there’s a variation, lyrically, melodically, and chordally: the
final chord of the loop is G M ajor instead of C Major.
C G F
And if I had a million dollars I’d buy your
love
Following the G Major chord,
The chorus itself is another loop: F Major, G Major , C Major.
F G C
If I had a million dollars (We’d build a tree fort in our
F G C
yard) If I had a million dollars (You could help me, wouldn’t be that
F G C
hard). . .
At the end of the chorus, there’s a spoken interlude; the first chord loop
continues underneath it.
We’ll revisit “If I had $1000000” later. Although you can play almost all of
the song now, the final chorus contains a chord you haven’t learned yet: A
Minor.
A Minor
Chord
Play C Major, and move the fifth (G) up. This is A Minor (Figure 8), which
you’ll notice sounds sad, cool, or reflective.
C and E become the third and fifth.
• Figure 8: A M i n o r
A Minor is the relative minor of C Major : its scale uses the same notes as the
C M ajor scale. You can play an A Minor scale simply by pressing all the
white keys between two As.
Practice moving between A M inor and the other chords you’ve learned. The
A Minor -F Major transition is especially striking. (Transitions of this type
are often found in Pop-Punk.)
Ta p p i n g Yo u r F i n ge rs
Getting Rhythm
Kids often try to scratch their heads and rub their stomachs simultaneously.
Piano players face a similar task: decoupling the left and right hands so that
each can play its own pattern.
Classical music requires a mastery of this decoupling, but our requirements

are less stringent, in part because you won’t be playing melodic lines.
Because so much music is structured around a drumset backing, learning
how to tap out simplified drumset beats will help your piano playing.
In this recording, the high-pitched taps are made with the right hand and the
low-pitched ones with the left. When you’re learning the rhythms yourself,
don’t worry about pitch, but make sure your left and right hands are playing
the beats they’re assigned.
Of course, you can tap your fingers anywhere, not just where a piano is.
“When I Come Around”
‘The Rhythm’s in the Guitars’
In 1959, the Quarry Men (shortly to become the Beatles) were down on their
luck.
In fact, at one time there were only three of us in the band, and we were
all guitarists - George, John and me. We were playing here and there,
around Liverpool, and after a while everyone else had dwindled away to
get jobs, go to college, whatever. We would show up for gigs just with
three guitars, and the person booking us would ask, 'Where's the drums,
then?' To cover this eventually we would say, 'The rhythm's in the guitars,'
stand there, smile a lot, bluff it out. There was not a lot you could say to
that, and we'd make them very rhythmic to prove our point.
–Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology
Like Paul McCartney, we only have one type of instrument available. But
much rock music (thanks partly to the Beatles’ wide influence) has strong,
guitar-rooted rhythms that we can easily replicate on piano. These rhythms
are especially strong in pop-punk, as exemplified by Green Day.
“When I Come Around” is one of the simplest of many simple Green Day
songs, but it still has some emotional depth. Listen to the original recording.
Almost the whole song is one chord loop: C Major, G Major, A M inor, F
Major (and back to C M a j o r ). Play the loop until you’re familiar with it.
Now apply the finger-tapping pattern: the right hand plays the chords, and
the left hand plays the chord roots in rhythmic counterpoint.
In the aid below, the chord letters are marked where the root is played (A
Minor is denoted A-. The right hand plays the chord one beat later.)
C G A- F
Well I heard you crying loud
C G A- F
All the way across town...
You can play all of “When I Come Around” except for the chorus. We’ll
revisit the song later.
“If I h a d $ 10 0 0 0 0 0 ” Re v i s i t e d
The Ending
Now that you know A Minor, you can play the final chorus of “If I had
$1000000”.
F G A- G F G F
If I had a million do- o- o- o- llars
G C
I’d be rich
D Minor
Chord
Play a C M ajor chord, then move every note up one step. This is D Minor.
(Figure 9)
• Figure 9: D M i n o r
D M inor is the relative minor of F Major.
“Evi l Wa ys ”
Complex Rhythms, Simple Chords
“Evil ways” has only two chords: D Minor and G M ajor. When Santana
released the single in 1969, American audiences were struck with the
unfamiliar sound of the transition between these chords and the song
reached number 9 on the Billboard charts. Today the transition sounds
familiar, but the song is still exciting if played well.
Listen to the original recording.
Now try playing the piano chords -- a simple alternation between D Minor
and G M ajor.
Add rhythmic counterpoint with your left hand. You can use a variation on
the rhythmic pattern from “When I Come Around”.
Now the hardest part -- add the melody and lyrics. (The melody starts on
A.) Don’t worry about being able to do this immediately; instead, practice a
few minutes each day, playing very slowly at first, until you can sing and play
at the same time. The scratch-your-head-and-rub-your-stomach challenge
has returned, and there is no solution except time and repetition.
You can continue through the tutorial even if you haven’t been able to play
and sing “Evil Ways” at the same time.
The following aid is included for convenience, but only listening to the
recording can give you a good feel for the rhythms. D M inor is denoted D-.
(no chord)
You got to change your evil
D- G D- G
ways baby
D- G D- G
before I stop loving you you got to
D- G D- G
change baby. . .
Chord Transformations
Taking Apart the Harmonic Clockworks
There are several simple note changes that will let you turn a major chord
into a minor chord, and vice versa.
This section introduces many complex ideas. Don’t worry if you don’t
remember all of them immediately; instead, return here repeatedly as your
playing progresses. When you know chord transformations well, it’s easier to
learn new songs and to create your own music.
Moving Thirds by a Half Step

J. S. Bach, the first major composer to use chords, liked to end his songs
with a variation on this transformation. More recently, the Beatles used it to
create original sounds.
Play C Major, then move E down by a half-step -- not to D, but to E-flat (a
black key). This is C Minor. (Figure 10)
• Figure 10: C M i n o r
The note E-flat is outlined in white.
Moving the third of major chord down by a half-step will always transform
the major chord into a similarly-named minor chord. Likewise, you can turn
a minor chord into a major chord by raising the third.
Play D Minor, then move F up by a half step, to F-sharp (a black key). This is
D M ajor. (Figure 11)
• Figure 11: D M a j o r
The note F-sharp is outlined in white.
Experiment with these new chords until you are familiar with them.
Moving Fifths and Roots by a Full Step

This transformation has been widely used for several hundred years.
Play C Major, then move the G upward: this, as you know, is A Minor.
Moving a major chord’s fifth upward will always transform the major chord
into its relative minor. The fifth becomes the minor chord’s root.
Likewise, moving a minor chord’s root down a full step creates a relative
major chord. Try this now by playing D Minor then F Major.
Moving Fifths and Roots by a Half Step

This transformation is frequently used in 1990s electronica.
Play F M ajor, then move the root down a half-step, to E (a white key). This
is A M inor.
You can also turn a minor chord into a major chord by moving the minor
chord’s fifth up a half-step. Play a D Minor, then move the A to B-flat (a
black key). This is B - F l a t Major.
• Figure 12: B - f l a t M a j o r
The note B-flat is outlined in white.
“P rai s e Yo u ”
An Opportunity for Keyboard Players
“Praise You”, a song by Fatboy Slim, juxtaposes a largely pentatonic melody

with major chords.
Like most electronic music, its greatest complexity is textural, not harmonic.
A piano rendition ignores the electronic sound textures, and is therefore easy
to play. (If you have a high-quality keyboard -- a synthesizer or sequencer --
you can have a lot of fun tweaking the sounds in this song.)
The chord loop is C Major, B-f lat Major (denoted Bb), F Major. Listen to
the recording to understand the rhythms.
Bb F C
We’ve come a long long way together
Bb F C
Through the hard times and the good
Bb F C
I’ve got to celebrate you baby
Bb F C
I’ve got to praise you like I should
Notice how Fatboy Slim chooses the types of consonant and vowel sounds
that fall on chord changes. Electronic musicians share with rappers a keen
ear for phonetics.
“When I Come Around” Revisited
Playing the Chorus
Now that you know D Major, you can play the short chorus from “When I
Come Around”.
This aid begins with the last line of the verse.
C G A- F
...you can’t go forcing something if it’s just not right
D F
No time to search the world around
D G
‘cause you know where I’ll be found when I come a-
C G A- F
-round
“ Wo n der wall ”
Beyond Standard Chords
“Wonderwall” was Oasis’s only top ten single in the United States. An
enduring Britpop hit, it is still one of the iTunes Music Store’s hundred most
downloaded songs.
“Wonderwall”’s power derives in part from its ambiguity. Just as the lyrics
never move beyond general statements and the concept of a Wonderwall is
never explained, the harmonics themselves are ambiguous. Most of the song
uses suspended harmonic patterns that only later resolve to definite major or
minor chords.
The main loop consists of several such unorthodox chords, numbered below
(Figures 13-16). The left hand is added on the second verse.
1) D, A, C, D
(Left hand plays D)
• Figure 13: “Wonderwall” chord 1

The first chord in “Wonderwall” consists of D, A, C, and another D. Subsequent
chords reveal it to be a variation of D M i n o r .
2) F, A, C, D
(Left hand plays F)
• Figure 14:
“Wonderwall” chord 2
The second chord in "Wonderwall" consists of F, A, C, and D. It is a variation of F
Majo r.
3) C, D, G
(Left hand plays C)
• Figure 15:“Wonderwall” chord 3

The third chord in "Wonderwall" consists of C, D, and G. It is a variation of C Ma jo r.
4) G, A, C, D
(Left hand plays G)
• Figure 16: “Wonderwall” chord 4

The fourth chord in "Wonderwall" consists of G, A, C, and D. It is a variation of G
majo r.
In the following aid, ambiguous chords are denoted with numbers; refer to the list
above. Miniaturizations of the 4 chords are provided for convenience.
1 2
3 4
1 2
Today is gonna be the day that they’re
3 4
gonna throw it back to you. . .
At the end of the second verse, there’s a variation leading into the chorus:
1 2
I don’t believe that anybody
3 4
feels the way I do about you
Bb C 1
now and
Bb C D-
all the roads we have to walk are winding and
Bb C D-
all the lights that light the way are blinding
Bb C
there are many things that I would
F A- D- 4
like to say to you but I don’t know how because
Bb D- F
maybe you’re gonna be the one that
Bb D- F
saves me and after
Bb D- F
all you’re my wonder-
Bb D- F 1
wall
1 2
Backbeat the word is on the street. . .
Conclusion
The first time you read this section, you probably won’t be comfortable with
every topic and exercise in this book. Practice, practice, practice. Return to
the parts you’ve had trouble with and play through them more slowly, in
smaller pieces, until you’re more confident, then gradually increase the
playing speed.
Eventually, you might begin noticing the many directions your piano playing
can take.
 If you want to learn more pop and rock songs, keep listening for
chord changes on recordings – with practice, you’ll be able to figure out
the songs out more easily. (You might also notice that some of the music
is formulaic. One of the disadvantages of practicing chords again and
again is that simple music loses its novelty.)
Buy a book of chord references, and learn as many of the major and
minor chords as you can. This is doubly true if you want to play in a
group. Figure out how to play all of the songs in this manual in their
original keys.
 If you want to write your own music, pay particular attention to the
way each note and chord transition makes you feel. Conversely, rephrase
your ideas and emotions into the language of chords, tones, and rhythms
(and, if you have a synthesizer or sampler, textures). Find a relaxed
setting where you can play without an audience present, and experiment
as much as possible.
 If you want to play classical pieces, you need to learn how to read
music. Buy a book about it or take a class. You should also develop
your “chops”, your technique. Get a book of scales and exercises. And
finally, you’ll need to disassociate your right and left hands more
completely. This will come with practice.
A good classical piece to start on is J.S. Bach’s “Minuet in G” (sometimes
called “Minuet 3”). Bach wrote this piece for his daughter, who was
learning piano, and it combines technical simplicity with Bach’s typical
brilliance.
 If you want to play jazz, be prepared for a long haul – jazz is difficult.
Depending on your taste in jazz and the your skill at singing while
playing, you might want to buy a “Real Book” -- a technically illegal
compendium of hundreds of jazz standards, sold at most music shops --
and find the songs you know (or buy or download songs you don’t
know). Learn the unfamiliar chords (don’t worry about the sharp and flat
fifths and ninths at first), and sing the melodic lines.
If you’re interested in Bebop and improvisation, learn and practice scales.
Listen closely to recordings you like and learn the “licks” – eventually,
you’ll develop a memorized collection that you synthesize and can put to
use in your own solos. You may also want to buy a Jamie Aebersold
collection (Aebersold records Jazz standards without melodic lines or
solos, so you can improvise over the recordings while they play, and
bundles the CDs with sheet music).
 If you want to produce beats, get yourself copies of whatever your

favorite software is (one possible suite is Fruity Loops, Acid, and Sound
Forge), and a computer with lots of memory and storage space. Also buy
a physical book about some of your software. Even if you’ve developed
your own techniques, there are most likely simpler and more powerful
ways of doing things that you won’t discover on your own.

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Pop, Rock, and Music Theory .......................................................................1

The Learning Curve..........................................................................................2

Learning Piano ............................................................................................................4

First Steps ............................................................................................................4

Making Friends with your Piano..........................................................4

Having Good Technique.......................................................................5

Getting your Bearings: Finding C........................................................6

Relative Names ..................................................................................................8

Rearranging Notes ...................................................................................9

“If I had $1000000”........................................................................................13

Tapping Your Fingers....................................................................................16

“When I Come Around” ..............................................................................17

“If I had $1000000” Revisited .....................................................................18

Moving Fifths and Roots by a Full Step ..........................................23

Moving Fifths and Roots by a Half Step.........................................23

“When I Come Around” Revisited............................................................26

Pop, Rock, and Music Theor y

The Learning Curve

 Musical notes are italicized.

 Unfamiliar terms are also italicized.

 Chords in body text look like this: C M ajor.

 Lyrics are monospaced.

 Chords in song text, and lyrics falling on chord transitions, are

Alright, let’s dive in. Have fun.

Learning a second language is harder than learning a first, but for

Making Friends with your Piano

You’ve probably played around on a piano before, experimenting with

 Pressing every white key consecutively creates a cheerful-sounding scale.

 Pressing every black key consecutively creates a pentatonic scale (which

 Adjacent keys played simultaneously sound dissonant.

 Pressing every other key often creates a pleasing chord or arpeggio.

Having Good Technique

Nevertheless, there are physical details a piano player should know:

• Figure 1:The note C

This is a C Major chord (Figure 2)

Practice moving from C Major to F Major and back again.

 The fifth of C Major is G—unsurprisingly, the fifth note in the C Major

Chords can be thought of in terms of relative distances as well. Thus,

• Figure 5: A C M a j o r chord starting on G

These permutations of a single chord are called voicings.

In the following aid:

 Major chords are abbreviated with their letter names.

If I had a million dollars (if I had a million

dollars) I’d buy you a house (I would buy you a

house) If I had a million dollars (if I had a million

Ottoman) And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million

dollars) I’d buy you a K-car...

And if I had a million dollars I’d buy your

Following the G Major chord,

The chorus itself is another loop: F Major, G Major , C Major.

If I had a million dollars (We’d build a tree fort in our

C and E become the third and fifth.

Classical music requires a mastery of this decoupling, but our requirements

–Paul McCartney, The Beatles Anthology

Well I heard you crying loud

All the way across town...

If I had a million do- o- o- o- llars

D M inor is the relative minor of F Major.

Listen to the original recording.

You got to change your evil

before I stop loving you you got to