Notes from a session at Mission Worship 2014 (and other events) on approaching the keyboard as a chords based instrument. Lose your dependency on the music score, learn how to use melodic fills between chords and to play in different styles to suit the song. Left and right hand rhythm skills. Integrating added, suspended and extended chords. Using riffs to develop effective parts. Develop techniques for learning worship as a keyboard player. Make better use of your keyboard sounds. Obviously this is all quite difficult to demonstrate on a slide presentation so do check out our Keyboard DVDs http://www.musicademy.com/info/worship-keyboard/ Get over 40 free lessons from Musicademy http://bit.ly/1pQDyUF

1. Worship Keyboard
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+ 40 free downloadable lessons
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2. We will cover:
• Chord based playing
• Left and right hand rhythm
• Melodic ideas and fills
• Extended chords
• Leading worship from the keyboard
• Using various sounds
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3. Chords based playing
• First things first - get to know different keys
• TTS (T) TTS
• Chords are based on scale notes
• Understand major and minor chords
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4. Chord voicing
• Voicing is the order in which you play notes
• If the bass note is right you can play the
other notes in any order
• 3 ways to play any major or minor chord
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5. Chord voicing
• Aim for smooth voice leading.
• Economy of movement
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6. A quick cheat...
• Notes 1, 2 & 5 in the key will work almost all
the time.
• Note 7 is a helpful addition - feel it!
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Rhythm
• Keep it simple
• Try just marking chords
• 1/4 notes often best when more is required
• Try 1/8 notes (and occasionally 1/16 notes) -
often as a broken chord
• Left hand simpler than right hand
• More movement at the end of the bar
• Do less than you think you should...

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Melody
• Melodic parts add interest
• Be careful and sparing
• Use chord notes, passing notes, auxiliary
notes
• Approach your destination by step (or from
another chord note)
• Make good use of the 3rd-4th and 7th-8th
notes in the key (the semitones)
• Don’t cut across others in the band

9. More chords
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• Sus chords

10. More chords
• 7th chords - 4 types!
• 7, m7, maj7 and maj-min7!
• ‘Dominant’ 7th important because of the
pull towards chord 1:
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11. More chords
• Be careful with all 7ths in major chords -
they always change the sound
• You can nearly always use a 7th in a minor
chord (particularly in a major key) - it simply
makes the sound richer
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12. More chords
• Added note chords are based around
counting up a scale from the root note:
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13. Changing chords
• You always need to agree changes with
others
• Change inversion (note in the bass)
• Another chord with the melody note in
• A chord which leads where you're going -
think 2-5-1 (where 1 becomes the chord
you're landing on)
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14. Different sounds
• 5 main types of sound - Piano, EP, Pad,
Strings, Hammond organ, Synth
• Understand the style of music you’re
playing
• Remember you don’t always need to play
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15. Leading worship...
• Practise all of your songs on your own so
that the keyboard part is automatic
• Keep your playing simple
• Remember not to take up too much space
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Conclusion
• Just because you can doesn’t mean you
should!
• Keep it simple
• BUT be creative where you can
• Always try to support the sound and meaning
of the song