Playing Gospel Piano: The Basics
What do you need to know when you first sit down at the piano keyboard:
First of all, these are the note names. From collection of 12 notes (not including the repeated C), 7 are chosen to make a <b>scale</b>. From here on out, we’ll be talking only about the scale of C major, which contains the notes C,D,E,F,G,A,B in that order. We usually refer to them by their scale degree, where C is 1, D is 2, E is 3 etc.
From here we can make groups of three notes called a chord. The major chord is made of scale degrees 1, 3, and 5, or in this case C, D, G. The other two very important chords (in the Key of C major) are the subdominant F major (F, A, C) and the dominant G major (G, B, D). You should locate these notes and practice playing those three chords in that order, it should sound very nice and familiar.
The next thing you’ll need to know about is rhythm. Look to the beginning of the song and you’ll see two numbers stacked on top of one another like this:
This means that you’ll be playing in “four-four” time or “common time”. The top number is the number of beats per measure and the bottom means that a quarter note counts for one beat. This is the most common time signature that you’ll see in gospel piano music.
That’s the very basics, don’t worry, we’ll start to build up from here. Good luck, and remember that you’re playing for God, so your best effort is always good enough!
