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Week 48

Special Bonus Lesson on Playing Beautiful Christmas Carols!

(It probably isn't Christmas as you are receiving this, but it was when I wrote this issue, and Christmas WILL come -- it does every year -- so get a head start on playing Christmas Carols for next Christmas!)

     Did you know that you can play many of the old familiar Christmas carols using just 3 chords?

     It's true.

     For example, listen as I play Silent Night just using the 3 "home boy" chords in the Key of C. Then by simply adding a few "cousin-chords" to the mix, we can come out with a pretty nice arrangement:

     Below is a description of the technique I used to choose the other "cousin-chords":

The "What Other Chord?" Technique

     The "What Other Chord?" technique is one of the best ways to create a fresh harmonization of a familiar melody.

     You simply ask yourself: "In to what other chord will this melody note fit?"

     For example, the melody of Silent Night (if we play it in the key of C) goes like this:

G     A     G         E

     In the original score, the chord under this melody is C major. But are we obligated to keep the original harmony? Not at all. If we decide to go with C major on the first measure, we may want to change the chord in the 2nd measure just for variety. But to what chord?

     That's where our "What other chord?" technique comes in. We simply ask ourselves "Into what other chord will this melody note -- namely E -- fit?" Let's see: In the C chord, E is the 3rd of the chord, so:

     E is the root of the E chord, so we could try E, or Em, or Em7, or any other kind of "E" chord.

     E is the 5th of the A chord, so we could try A, or Am, or Am7, or any other kind of "A" chord.

     E is the 7th of the F chord, so we could try Fmaj7, or Fm/maj7, or F+/maj7, etc. -- any F chord with an E in it.

     E is the 9th of the D chord, so we could try D9, or Dm9, or any D chord with an E in it.

     Get the idea?

     If you learned just a little bit from this short lesson, you will learn a TON from our full-blown courses on playing "Spectacularly Beautiful Christmas Carols"!

     Click here for information on that great course.

Thanks, and may

 God bless you!