Chopstickshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkvpks6Af8kChopstickshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkvpks6Af8kWhat are the musical intervals used in Chopsticks?

Here is a transcript of the video in case you might like to follow along:

Hi, this is Duane playing Chopsticks, obviously. I’d like to just show you how easy it is to learn musical intervals while you’re playing Chopsticks, because the first thing you play is the second. One, two, that’s the second.

The next thing you play is a third and then you skip to a sixth. Why is that called a sixth? One, two, three, four, five six. That’s called an octave. Sixth, fourth, now why didn’t I come down octave, seventh, sixth? It would have if you’d kept that the same, but since both parts are moving, you move from an octave to a sixth, to a fourth, to a second … third … sixth … octave. You play parallel sixth there. Thirds … I’m sorry, seconds … thirds … sixth … sixth. Now the middle part is all thirds … second … third … sixth … octaves … sixth, fourth, second.

Now even if I put chords under it, I’m still playing the dominant notes are a second … third … sixth … octave … sixth, fourth, second … sixth. Those are sixth. You can come down to thirds, but you can also come down to sixth. By the way, you don’t have to use the harmony that is given to you in a song, any kind of song. I wouldn’t have to play G7 there, I know that’s the way it’s written, but I could play D minor seventh or E minor seventh. Let me just play D minor seventh and then go down a half step to D flat seventh, C major seventh, A major seventh with a flat ninth maybe … not major seventh, A seventh with flat ninth. That’s a six nine chord.

That’s C, G, a C and G and so on. The middle part, what I did is I transposed the key of E flat briefly instead of playing … I went … there I’m on E flat … E flat. I say that just to broaden your horizons and realize you don’t have to play the chords that are given in a song. You can re-harmonize those chords as you learn more about chords.

Okay, that’s it for today. I’m kind of getting choked up, so I’ll say goodbye for now. Thanks for being with me. If you’re not already signed up for our free piano tips, be sure to come over to PlayPiano.com and do that. See you there. Bye-bye for now.

Here is the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkvpks6Af8k
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