LESSON TEN

Flat Signs

This is a flat sign. When a flat sign is placed before a note on the staff, it means that you play the key immediately to its left. This key may be either black or white. The note B flat (written as Bb) is shown on the staff below.

The Note B Flat

This Bb note (above Middle C) is the black key immediately to the left of the B note, as shown in the diagram.

This Bb note is written on the third line of the treble staff.

12 Bar Blues

12 Bar Blues is a pattern of chords which repeats every 12 bars. There are hundreds of well known songs based on this chord progression, i.e., they contain basically the same chords in the same order. 12 Bar Blues is commonly used in Rock music and is the basis of Blues music.

Songs using the 12 Bar Blues Progression

  • Original Batman T.V. Theme
  • Hound Dog - Elvis Presley
  • Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley
  • Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry
  • Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley
  • In The Mood - Glen Miller
  • Shake, Rattle and Roll - Bill Haley
  • Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
  • Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
  • Dizzy Miss Lizzy - The Beatles
  • Surfin’ U.S.A. - The Beach Boys
  • Good Golly Miss Molly - Little Richard

12 Bar Blues in the Key of C Major

The following 12 Bar Blues is in the key of C major, and uses some of the chords you have learned so far. When a song is said to be in the key of C major, it means that the most important chord (and usually the first chord) is the C chord.

42 12 Bar Blues in the Key of C Major

This pattern of chords will probably sound familiar to you.

The Key of F Major

The F major scale starts and ends on the note F, and it contains a Bb note instead of a B note. Play The F major scale below and listen for the Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do sound. Songs that are in the key of F major contain notes from the F major scale and hence contain the note Bb.

43

Key Signature of F Major

Instead of writing the flat sign before every B note on the staff, one flat sign can be written after each clef. This means that all B notes on the staff are played as Bb, even though there is no flat sign written before them. This is the key signature for the key of F major. There is one flat sign after each clef.

44 Marianne

Marianne is in the key of F major. The left hand part here is a variation on the eighth note arpeggio style. Instead of playing the arpeggio straight up and down, the pattern alternates between the lowest note and the other two notes of each chord. This style of accompaniment is very popular in Classical music and is called an Alberti bass. Practice the left hand part by itself before combining it with the melody.

 

The song Molly Malone (also called "Cockles And Mussels") is a well known traditional Irish song and is written below in the key of F major. The left hand part is a variation on the Alberti bass pattern, altered to fit in with ^ time. Once again, practice each hand separately at first if necessary.

You have now learned all three of the basic methods of accompanying melodies: chord style, broken chord style and arpeggio style. The accompaniment you use can make a big difference to how good the overall piece of music sounds. You can often make a simple melody sound great just by giving it an interesting accompaniment. Go back through the book and experiment with various accompaniments to each of the songs. Remember that each accompaniment style is based on the same basic chord shapes.

45 Molly Malone

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