Play Your Favorite Songs with Simple Chords | Five-Finger Scales Part 4

Five-finger scales are what I call the gateway scale. Once you know them well, they open up a lot on the piano. In this lesson, we put them to work in two of the most satisfying things you can do as a beginner: accompanying yourself on songs you love, and starting to improvise. We start with a chord chart (Hallelujah, then Don't Stop Believin'). If you've practiced your five-finger scales in all 12 keys, you already know every major chord, and turning one into a minor chord takes one small change: lower the middle note. You'll see why I recommend staying in root position for now instead of worrying about inversions, a few simple options for the left hand (a single bass note, fifths, or octaves), and how to start feeling the beat as you play. Then we use those same left-hand fifths as the foundation for improvising, with the right hand exploring the five-finger scale on top. And at the end, a bonus: how two tetrachords (the first four notes of the five-finger scale) fit together to make a full major scale in any key. This is Part 4 of my Five-Finger Scales series. If you're new to five-finger scales, start here: ▶ Part 1 – The Gateway Scale:    • Five-Finger Scales: The Gateway to Underst...   ▶ Part 2 – Coordination & Articulation:    • Five-Finger Scales: Coordination & Articul...   ▶ Part 3 – Transpose Any Song into All 12 Keys:    • Transpose Any Song into All 12 Keys | Five...   Singing while playing the piano:    • Play Piano & Sing Instantly with Just Majo...   • FREE five-finger scales PDF: https://www.livelovepiano.com/five-fi... • Starting from the very beginning? My course, Simple & Beautiful Piano for Adult Beginners, explains everything step by step: https://www.livelovepiano.com/simple-... • Intermediate Musicianship – Piano Mastery Intermediate: https://www.livelovepiano.com/piano-m... • SIGHTREADING KITS Jumpstart Kit: https://www.livelovepiano.com/offers/... Kit 2: https://www.livelovepiano.com/offers/... • TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The gateway scale 00:46 Accompanying your favorite songs 01:09 Finding a chord chart 01:40 Turning major chords into minor chords 02:12 Choosing a song 02:46 Where to play, and why to skip inversions for now 03:42 Root position 04:44 Hallelujah: right-hand chords 05:10 Reading a chord chart (and its errors) 05:53 Left-hand options: bass note, fifths, octaves 07:34 Feeling the beat 08:01 Don't Stop Believin' 09:16 Accompaniment vs. solo piano 09:56 Improvisation: why fifths are everywhere 10:48 Improvising with LH fifths and RH five-finger scales 11:21 Changing hand positions 12:21 Bonus: tetrachords 13:12 Building major scales from tetrachords 14:14 Why pieces of scales matter more than full scales 15:00 Wrap-up Website: https://www.livelovepiano.com Instagram: @kristinaleemusic © Kristina Lee Music LLC