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Key of A Minor – Jonny Darko

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Instructor
Jonny May
Course
Beginner
01:36:17

Every major key has a darker partner, and A minor is the partner of C major.

Major keys tend to sound happy and bright, while minor keys sound darker and more emotional. A minor is the perfect first minor key to learn, because like C major, it uses only the white keys. In this course, you’ll learn the A minor scale in each hand, plus two variations that give minor music its unique flavor. You’ll hear how each one sounds a little different.

Next, you’ll learn the chords used most often in A minor and four common chord progressions (chord patterns) you’ll hear in real songs. Then you’ll bring it all together with Jonny Darko, a fun original tune with a playful nod to a certain movie.

Once you’re comfortable, you’ll learn inversions, which are different ways to play the same chord, and use them to make Jonny Darko sound smoother. Then you’ll play it along with a bass and drums backing track, so it feels like you’re playing in a band. Finally, you’ll learn simple ways to play chords for someone else to sing or play along to.

Course Objectives
  • Play the A natural, harmonic and melodic minor scales and understand how they differ
  • Learn the most common chords and four essential chord progressions in A minor
  • Use inversions and smooth voice leading to connect minor chords beautifully
  • Perform Jonny Darko along with a bass and drums backing track
  • Support a singer or instrumentalist with simple, effective accompaniment grooves
Learning Focus
  • Chords
  • Groove
  • Lead Sheets
  • Scales
  • Songs
Featured Reviews

View PWJ member reviews of this course!

Makes practicing fun!
I learned how to read music and count rhythm by taking piano lessons over 40 years ago, but never felt like I could actually play. Without memorizing a song, I was stuck playing "chopsticks" when I came across a piano. I love the short looping melodies and the variety of left hand arrangements that keep me wanting to practice. I am learning something with every lesson and am not embarrassed when my kids hear me practice.
A minor all over the place
This gave me an opportunity to think about the process of learning music and removing problems from my interpretation.
Moving forward
Enjoyed making progress. Looking forward to the road ahead
Highly productive lessons
One of the challenges of being a beginner is exactly that you're a beginner--you don't have mastery yet or anything close to it--it can be hard to find the fun and joy in a newly-emerging skill when it all sounds like is a bow scraping on a violin or looks like another weak and out-of-bounds tennis serve. Jonny and Company, however, have found a way to give beginners at piano a sense of accomplishment early on with their series of lessons for beginners. In no time at all you find yourself jamming, comping, and playing songs with a variety of left-hand accompaniments. And the mildly astonishing part of this is that that aren't any seventh chords yet in the lessons (through early beginner)--it's all just triads so far, which on the face of it seems limiting at least from a jazz perspective, yet it turns out that great and fun music is possible with just three notes--this was a personal revelation, and my musical world has expanded. These are terrific lessons and anyone interested in progressing will find plenty of encouragement from both the instructors and the structure of the lessons. Highly productive lessons!
Key of A minor
Great beginner course.

Course Lessons

1
Key of A Minor – Lesson 1
17:12

Natural, Harmonic, & Melodic Minor Scales

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2
Key of A Minor – Lesson 2
16:02

Common Chord Progressions, 4 Examples

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3
Key of A Minor – Lesson 3
26:04

Jonny Darko, Lead Sheet, Melody, Chords, Patterns

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4
Key of A Minor – Lesson 4
21:00

Inversions

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5
Key of A Minor – Lesson 5
6:34

Performance with Backing Track

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6
Key of A Minor – Lesson 6
9:25

Accompaniment

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Featured Reviews

View PWJ member reviews of this course!

Makes practicing fun!
I learned how to read music and count rhythm by taking piano lessons over 40 years ago, but never felt like I could actually play. Without memorizing a song, I was stuck playing "chopsticks" when I came across a piano. I love the short looping melodies and the variety of left hand arrangements that keep me wanting to practice. I am learning something with every lesson and am not embarrassed when my kids hear me practice.
A minor all over the place
This gave me an opportunity to think about the process of learning music and removing problems from my interpretation.
Moving forward
Enjoyed making progress. Looking forward to the road ahead
Highly productive lessons
One of the challenges of being a beginner is exactly that you're a beginner--you don't have mastery yet or anything close to it--it can be hard to find the fun and joy in a newly-emerging skill when it all sounds like is a bow scraping on a violin or looks like another weak and out-of-bounds tennis serve. Jonny and Company, however, have found a way to give beginners at piano a sense of accomplishment early on with their series of lessons for beginners. In no time at all you find yourself jamming, comping, and playing songs with a variety of left-hand accompaniments. And the mildly astonishing part of this is that that aren't any seventh chords yet in the lessons (through early beginner)--it's all just triads so far, which on the face of it seems limiting at least from a jazz perspective, yet it turns out that great and fun music is possible with just three notes--this was a personal revelation, and my musical world has expanded. These are terrific lessons and anyone interested in progressing will find plenty of encouragement from both the instructors and the structure of the lessons. Highly productive lessons!
Key of A minor
Great beginner course.
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