Piano Cheats

Let’s start with the video illustration….

I did not include the intro to the song in this video, but if you are interested, the progression for the intro goes like this…

I –> IV –> I –> III4 –> III

The song is in the key of E. The above is translated therefore as:

E –> A –> E –> G#4 (or G#sus) –> G#

Please see “Suspension (part 3)” post for III4 and the leading from III4 to III major chord.

The verse goes like this (Note the bass note pattern for the part (1))…

(1). VIm –> VIm/5 –> IV –> (I/M) –>

(2). IIm –> V –> IIIm –> VIm –>

(3). IV –> V –> IIIm –> VIm –>

(4). IIm –> V

I have broken down the above into 4 parts. The bass notes for the Part (1) is quite obvious, i.e., it goes from the “la” note down all the way to “re” note (the beginning of the Part (2)), 6 –> 5 –> 4 –> 3 –> 2. The chord in bracket, i.e., (I/M), is a transition chord. See “The M Bass” post for the “M” notation.

Part (2) and part (3) are very similar. They are the common what-I-call 4 –> 5 –> 3 –> 6 progression, i.e., IV –> V –> IIIm –> VIm. The only difference between the two parts is that Part (2) started with IIm instead of IV. But if you remember the minor-chord improvisation in “The 3 Minor Chords” post, indeed IIm chord is just the IV chord with a different bass note, i.e., the “re” bass note.

Part (4) is another one of those familiar association of chords. See “Chord Association (part 1)” post for more details.

So the above is really not that difficult. In the key of E, the progression is translated into:

(1) C#m –> C#m/B –> A –> (E/G#) –>

(2) F#m –> B –> G#m –> C#m –>

(3) A –> B –> G#m –> C#m –>

(4) F#m –> B

With a bit of tweaking (see “Changing The Bass Notes” post), the B chord in Part (2) and Part (4) of the progression is changed to A/B to produce a better or more modern sound.

With Piano Cheats theories and tricks thrown in, the above translation becomes:

(1) E/C# –> E/B –> A –> E/G# –>

(2) A/F# –> A/B –> B/G# –> E/C# –>

(3) A –> B –> B/G# –> E/C# –>

(4) F#/A –> A/B

The chorus goes like this…

I –> IIIm –> IV –> IVm –> V

I –> IIIm –> VIm –> IIm –> V

In E key, the above is translated into…

E –> G#m –> A –> Am –> B

E –> G#m –> C#m –> F#m –> B

Changing the B chords into A/B, you get…

E –> G#m –> A –> Am –> A/B –> E –> G#m –> C#m –> F#m –> A/B

Replacing all the IIIm, VIm and IIm minor chords with “the 3 basic chords”, you get:

E –> B/G# –> A –> Am –> A/B –> E –> B/G# –> E/C# –> A/F# –> A/B

You might have noticed, the whole song needs only the 3 basic chords, E, A, B, and the Am chord to play (on your right hand, that is).

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Before I go into a lengthy explanation of how I play this song, let’s watch the video illustration…

There are 2 parts in the verse. The 1st progression goes like this:

I –> V/7 –> VIm –> VIm/5 –> IV –> V –> I

Can you see the pattern in the bass? The bass simply walks down the scale from the “doe” note and then back up to the “so” and then “doe” notes after it reaches the “fa” note, i.e.,

1 –> 7 –> 6 –> 5 –> 4 –> 5 –> 1

In the C key (originally in Bb), this chord progression is translated as:

C –> G/B –> Am –> Am/G –> F –> G –> C

By improvising the Am using C chord on A bass (see “The 3 Minor Chords” post), you get this:

RH: C –> G –> C –> C –> F –> F –> C

LH: C –> B –> A –> G –> F –> G –> C

“RH” above means Right-Hand chord, and “LH” means Left-Hand bass note. The second last chord is F/G instead of G to produce a better sound (See “Changing The Bass Notes” and “Changing The Bass Notes (part 2)” posts)

The 2nd progression in the verse goes like this:

(V/7) –> VIm –> VIm/5 –> IV –> (I/3) –> IIm –> I/3 –> IV –> V

The chords in brackets ( ) are transitional. You might have noticed, there is a distinct pattern in the bass notes again, i.e.,

(7) –> 6 –> 5 –> 4 –> (3) –> 2 –> 3 –> 4 –> 5

In the C key, and with some minor-chord improvisation (See “The 3 Minor Chords” post) and chord tweaking, this is what you get:

RH: (G) –> C –> C –> F –> C –> F –> C –> F –> F

LH: (B) –> A –> G –> F –> E –> D –> E –> F –> G

Then at the chorus, the following progression is repeated twice:

IV –> V/4 –> IIIm –> VIm

Notice in the above progression the ‘chord association’ mentioned in my “Chord Association (part 1)” post, i.e., IIIm –> VIm

In the C key, with some minor-chord improvisation and chord tweaking, this is translated into:

RH: F –> G –> G –> C

LH: F –> F –> E –> A

Then the song finishes with the following progression:

IV –> V/4 –> III4 –> III/M –> VIm –> IIm –> V –> I

Again, notice in the above progression the ‘chord association’ mentioned in my “Chord Association (part 1)” and “Chord Association (part 2)” post, these are:

· III4 –> III/M –> VIm

· VIm –> IIm

· IIm –> V

· V –> I

See my “Suspension (part 3)” post for this progression: III4 –> III/M –> VIm

In the C key, the progression above is translated into:

F –> G –> E4 –> E –> Am –> Dm –> G –> C

The “Piano Cheats” way of playing is:

RH: F –> G –> Esus –> E –> C –> F –> F –> G –> C

LH: F –> F –> E –> G# –> A –> D –> G –> G –> C

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This song is in the A key. I have simplified it such that you only need 4 chords on the right hand to play the whole song. This 4 chords are the 3 basic chords of the A key, i.e., A, D and E chords; and the G chord.

There are basically 2 different chord progressions, one for the verse and the other for the chorus.

The progression of the verse goes like this:

I –> V/7 –> VIm7 –> VIm7/5 –> IV –> I/3 –> I/5 –> -I –> IV/5 –> V
Please refer to “The Minus-One Chord” for the “-I” notation in the progression above.

In the A key, this is translated into…

A –> E/G# –> F#m7 –> F#m7/E –> D –> A/C# –> A/E –> G –> D/E –> E

The chorus goes like this:

I –> VIm7 –> IV –> V (2x)

VIm7 –> VIm7/5 –> IV –> IV/5 –> V

In the A key, this is translated into:

A –> F#m7 –> D –> E (2x)

F#m7 –> F#m7/E –> D –> D/E –> E

The F#m7 chord is played as A/F#, i.e., A chord accompanied by F# bass note. Refer to “The 3 Minor Chords” post for the improvisation.

Here is the video…

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Let’s start with the video…

The original key is C#. I played it in the key of C in the video, as this is a much easier key to follow for most people.

The intro to this song is made up of 2 chords: IIm7 and V chords.

So in the key of C, these 2 chords are: Dm7 and G.

The Dm7 can be improvised as F/D. See “The 3 Minor Chords” post for explanation about the improvisation.

The verse is made up of the following chord progression:

VIm7 –> V/7 –> I –> II4 –> IV –> V/4 –> IIIm7 –> VIm7 –> IIm7 –> IV –> V4 –> V

Now, let’s break this up into 3 more easily recognizable parts:

(1) VIm7 –> V/7 –> I –> II4

(2) IV –> V/4 –> IIIm7 –> VIm7

(3) IIm7 –> IV –> V4 –> V

Progression (1) has the bass notes going up the scale: 6, 7, 1, 2. So that should be easy to remember. For II4, please refer to “Suspension (part 3)” post.

Progression (2) is the common 4,5,3,6 progression, i.e., 4th chord, 5th chord, 3rd minor chord and 6th minor chord. Besides, the IIIm7 –> VIm7 transition is one of the familiar chord-pair mentioned in my earlier “Chord Association (part 2)” post.

In Progression (3) the bass notes climb upward again, i.e., 2, 4, 5. For V4 please see my previous “Suspension (part 2)” post.

In the key of C, this progression, (1)+(2)+(3) is translated as this:

Am7 –> G/B –> C –> D4 –> F –> G/F –> Em7 –> Am7 –> Dm7 –> F –> G4 –> G

Since minor chords can be implemented using major chords (See “The 3 Minor Chords” post), all that the above progression needs are “The 3 Basic Chords” and the D4 chord (Note in the video, the right hand needs only to play C, F, G, D4 and G4 chords).

Lastly, the chorus goes like this.

I –> II4 –> II –> VIm7 –> I/4 –> IIm7 –> IV/5 –> G

In the key of C, this is translated into:

C –> D4 –> D –> Am7 –> C/F –> Dm7 –> F/G –> G

Please see “Suspension (part 3)” for D4.

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The song is originally in F#. To make it easier, I have done my illustration in the key of F instead. Please see the video below:

The introduction is not in the video. It’s just the F chord followed by a Bbm chord.

The progression for the verse is played twice. So is the progression for the chorus.

The verse goes like this…

I –> IIIm –> IIm –> IV –> V

In the F key, this becomes: F –> Am –> Gm –> Bb –> C

The pre-chorus goes like this…

IIIm –> IIm –> IIIm –> IIm –> V

In the F key, this becomes: Am –> Gm –> Am –> Gm –> C

Then the chorus goes like this…

I –> IIIm –> IV/7b –> IIm –> V

In the F key, this becomes: F –> Am –> Bb/Eb –> Gm –> C

In the video, you have seen see me play F(add2) or F2, instead of F. For further explanation of Sus2 please see my “Suspension (part 2)” post.

For Gm, you have seen me play Gm7, and therefore, my right hand actually played Bb. This is by improvising a minor chord with a major chord. See further explanation on “The 3 Minor Chords” post if you don’t already know this.

And instead of a straight C chord, you have seen me play Bb/C first before playing C. This is something I have thought before also in my earlier posts. Please look under the “Cheat Tricks” section if you need help to understand this.

One more thing I need to explain here is what I played on the left hand.

For most parts of the song, you would notice on the video that I played 2 notes for most chords. These 2 notes are the 1st note and the 5th note of the chord.

For example, while I was playing an F with the right hand, my left hand played the F note and the C note (C being the 5th note counting from F). Another example is, while I was playing an Am chord with the right hand, my left hand played the A note and the E note. (E being the 5th note counting from A).

You have probably noticed that when the chord is Am, I actually played the B and C notes on my right hand. Well, I can’t really explain that, except to say that, the purpose was to sound like what you hear on the song. It’s similar to play F(add2) or F2 instead of a straight F. I just the sound that we are after.

I hope this is clear.

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