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One of the most common questions that I get from students is, “Jonny, how do I reharmonize chord progressions?”.

The unfortunate answer is, “There are thousands of ways”.

Yikes! 😰

That’s usually not a helpful answer for students, because too many options lead to overwhelm.

Decisions, decisions, and more decisions can often kill creativity.

That’s why when I reharmonize chord progressions, I stick to a few tried-and-true methods.

To be honest, there’s just a small handful of techniques that I use 99% of the time.

And that’s why when I heard Victoria Canal’s incredible reharm of “Blackbird,” I thought, “My students need to learn this!”.

With just one simple reharm technique, she turned The Beatles’ classic “Blackbird” into something unforgettable — hauntingly beautiful.

In the video, I break down her technique so that you can start using it right away.

Once you learn it, you’ll realize how truly easy it is to make even the simplest chord progression sound hauntingly beautiful.

The trick with playing hauntingly beautiful chords is to step outside the key.

That’s because keys tend to sound “vanilla.” They stay safe, predictable, and comfortable.

But there are 6 powerful notes on the “outside”.

They are dark. They are painful. They are spicy. They are dissonant.

Whatever word you use to describe them, these 6 notes hold the keys to truly impactful playing.

Why?

Because great piano playing is great storytelling.

A happy story all the way through is a boring one.

But a story filled with challenges, struggle, heartache, and victory is a great one.

Put simply, if you learn to use dissonance in your chords, you’ll start telling better stories at the piano.

You were born to tell great stories.

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