{"id":279,"date":"2020-04-03T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2023-01-12T12:38:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T20:38:48","slug":"1234-piano-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/1234-piano-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Play “1234” by Feist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<< Download the FREE lead sheet here >><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“1234” by Feist has to be one of my favorite songs to sing and play on the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also one of my favorite songs to teach. Because while it’s really magical and beautiful…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also SO simple!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There aren’t too many chords to learn, and for most of the song, your right-hand plays the same thing. That means it’s perfect for anyone who’s new to the piano and wants to play something that sounds INSTANTLY awesome and impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus — it just makes you feel good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ud83c\udfb9 Play REAL Songs…The Ones You Love \ud83c\udfb5<\/h3><\/center>

The best way to learn music is by playing, not reading. Start off on a good note with our 500 Songs in 5 Days course pack. Free with your Pianote membership. <\/p>

START PLAYING SONGS TODAY<\/a><\/center>
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The Chords and Their Shapes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The verses all use the same chord progressions<\/a>, and this is where we’ll be keeping the same pattern for our right hand even though the chords change. This can be a little confusing when you look at the lead sheet:<\/p>\n\n\n

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That can look intimidating, especially for new players. But I’ll show you exactly what shapes to play, and you’ll see how simple it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The D Chord<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is the shape you’ll be using with your right hand, and it WILL NOT change! So get comfortable \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n

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Play the top D with the pinky finger of your right hand, and let your 2nd finger (your index finger) play the A. Then you’ll use your left hand to play that bottom D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And your left hand is the only thing that’s going to change for the whole riff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The D\/C# Chord<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is called a slash chord<\/a> and it can be confusing for a lot of piano players. All it means is that you play a D chord in your right hand with a C# note in the bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you’re already playing a D chord with your right hand, so that doesn’t have to change. Instead, you’ll only have to step your left hand down from the D to the C#, so it will look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Bm Chord<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Again your right-hand stays the same, and your left-hand steps down from C# to the B:<\/p>\n\n\n

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FUN FACT TIME!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A B-minor chord has the notes B-D-F#. Now you should notice there is no F# here, and there’s an A! That means this is actually a B-minor-7 chord (Bm7). The A is the 7th note of the B minor scale. I love 7th chords, and we have a full lesson on them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G Chord<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The last chord of this progression and you can probably guess what we’re going to do. That’s right, keep the right-hand the same and move only the left:<\/p>\n\n\n

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MORE FUN FACT TIME!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A G chord has the notes G-B-D. Here you can see we have the G and the D, but no B. Instead we have an A. This is actually a Gsus2 chord! We have “suspended” the B (taken it away) and replaced it with the A (which is the 2nd note of a G scale – hence the number 2). This creates a really nice feeling of tension that needs to be resolved. You can find more on suspended chords here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, nerdy theory over. This pattern repeats for every single verse! And learning this will mean you’ve learned most of the song (yay!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pre-Chorus<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Things change a little bit when we get to the pre-chorus (or second line of the verse, however you want to think about it). Now we are going to swap out that D\/C# slash chord and replace it with an Em chord:<\/p>\n\n\n

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In the video, I like to use the 1st inversion of E minor. I know inversions can be confusing, so we have a complete lesson on them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But remember — you’re only changing ONE chord. The rest stays the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s only one more part of this song to learn, and it’s super simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chorus (Only 2 Chords!)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This chorus is really beautiful and simple to play. There are only 2 chords, and we already know one of them! That means before even looking at the chorus you can already play 50% of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretty cool, huh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here it is:<\/p>\n\n\n

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And you’ll play each of these chords in root position. So for the A chord you’ll play A-C#-E and for the G it’ll be G-B-D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to get fancier I show a nice little trill that I like to include (you can find it at the 3:33<\/a> mark in the video).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that is it. The entire song repeats and uses the same chord progressions and patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure you watch to the end to see my cover version as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you feel as happy learning this song as I do every time I play it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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