Last time we finished by taking a quick look at the first and most important part of the whole song: the bass line. Just like the original, this video starts with this 'one-in-a-million', signature part of the song.

As I want to teach you about the importance of bass notes, devoting such a major, two-part lesson to this song, carried by such an excellent bass-line, was no accident. (as many of you might remember, I started introducing the importance of bass notes even earlier, in the post 'Play ANY song – The first step in creating your own harmony.')

 

So, at this point, after reading the two previously mentioned articles, I take it you now know that the bass defines the harmony. Come again?
THE BASS DEFINES THE HARMONY. This might just be the most important thing to remember in this whole Pop-Piano, harmony/chord oriënted way of playing the piano that I'm trying to teach you. So please don't get angry with me for repeating it another zillion times. ;).

We've seen that adding a bass note, can provide a certain 'depth' to the harmony by providing it with a strong 'root' (for instance when the right hand plays a F#m chord and the left hand plays a 'f#' note one or two octaves below).

We've also seen that when the harmony is defined (like in the above case, an F#m chord with a 'f#' in the bass means the harmony at that time is in fact F#m) many more notes on the keyboard become 'optional' notes for you as a pianist to play and use to create your piano part.

 

F#m in first inversion and all the options that arise.

 The red dots indicate (from left to right) the 'root'/bass 'f#', played with the left hand and the F#m chord in first inversion ('a' - 'third' on the bottom, followed by the 'c#' - 'fifth' and the 'f#' - 'root' on top) played with the right hand.

The blue dot's indicate all the other 'optional' notes that can be used in this situation: all the other 'f#''s, 'a''s and 'c#''s on the keyboard. 

 

These notes are yours to play, either to form a right-hand-part, by using and combining them with one or more of the many different right hand patterns (want to know more about patterns? try our course, which covers everything), but they can also be used to form a left hand part i.e. bass line.

Now as all you course followers know very well, the '1' and '5' are very common notes to use in the left hand. Many, many variations can be made using the 1, 5 technique and it's derived patterns and very interesting piano parts can be made just by using these two notes.
Usage of the '3' -also shown in the above picture (and in the previous two lessons)- doesn't quite come as a surprise as well.

But, apart from our beloved, '1', '5' and '3', there are even more notes to consider for usage in the left hand...

Let's take a look at the first part of the bass line of Billy Jean again:

As indicated the key of the song is F#m, as is the first chord. Now as you can see, the bass line makes use of the above mentioned 'optional' notes that arise from the harmony being F#m: the '1' or root 'f#', and the '5' 'c#'. But Billy Jean's bass line also add's in two more notes that are not in the actual chord F#m: the notes 'e' and 'b'.

These are notes that are derived from the KEY OF THE SONG F#m, the 'e' being the 7th note of the F#m scale, and the 'b' being the 4th note.

(Since the chord F#m is of course a derivation of the F#m scale itself, as it is -of course- built using the 1, 3 and 5 of this scale, the above notes 'b' and 'e' could also be seen as 'chord extension' notes of the F#m chord: the 'e' being the 7th of the F#m chord, and the 'b' being the 4th. Same thing, different appoach. If you don't get it, don't pay to much attention to this one at this for now).

This is (one of the many) reasons I always suggest learning your scales and in particular the scale of the key of the song you are currently learning.

 

Optional notes for you to use are derived from:

1. The chord that defines the harmony at the point it is being played (as we know, the bass note defines the harmony).

2. The key of the song.

 

I hope this gives you some more insight (and hopefully motivation) in why I suggest you take the time to learn and understand all your chords, inversions and the scales to all keys.

If you want step-by-step guidance in learning and understanding chords, harmonies, structures, modes, scales and keys and all that you can do with them, please consider taking our course.

 

So now that you know where this bass line comes from, do you see how much this insight helps you remember it as well?

The fingering for playing this left hand part: 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3. If you feel better playing the 'b' with your '5' (pinky) in stead of your 4, that's ok too.

 

Then, add in the right hand voicings I taught you in the last lesson: F#m, G#m/F#, A/F#. The '/F#' in the last two chords indicates that the bass is still F#, as the bass line just continues playing what it does (which, as we just saw, is derived from F#m).

The timing of the chords: they fall on all the 'f#''s played with the left hand. So every time your left hand plays an 'f#', your right hand plays the next chord.

 

Next, let's take a look at the part where Michael sings: "gonna dance, on the floor...". In this part the harmony skips to Bm and the exact bass line also skips to Bm. What?

Let's take a look at what notes are being played, and their relation to the harmony here, Bm: 'b' = 1 (root), 'f#' = 5, 'a' = 7, 'e' = 4.

1, 5, 7, 4. See that these are the exact numbers that were used for the bass line on the F#m chord? They are simply transposed to Bm. The 7 in Bm ('a') is of course not the same note as the 7 in F#m ('e'), but they have the same relation to the harmony, as they are both the '7'.

As you might or might not notice, all the notes used in this part are also in the key of F#m: the key of the song. As is the last note 'c#'. A 'passing note' taken from the key of the song to smoothly return to the harmony being F#m ('c#' is the '2' of Bm, but the '5' of F#m. Using this note in the way it is used here, is thus actually a form of the 1,5,1 technique).

Note that there is a minor timing difference between this part of the bass line, and the F#m part, which is created by the fact that the note that falls on the 5th 8th beat ('e' in the F#m part), is left out here.

Fingering for this part: 1, 3, 2, 1, 3, 4, 3, 1, 3, 2, 1, 3, 4, 5. As you have to play the last note 'c#', I recommend using your 4 for the 'e' here, and not your 5, as that finger is used for playing the 'c#'.

 

Then the pre-chorus ("people always told me...").

Now as you look at this part and try to learn it, try to realise that what I play exactly, isn't all that relevant. It is a combination of the things that I told you over the last few lessons and basic chord / pattern - style Pop-Piano.
I tried to copy and implement some pieces of Michaels vocal, as well as some instrumental parts (horns, for example) and combined them into my own unique piano piece.

The picture above shows you notes to choose from per the method I explained in this lesson (using inversions and 'in between notes' between the bass and the melody). The '2' in D(2) is derived from the melody line, as is the '7' in F#m(7).

You can either try to copy me, but I'd suggest you really dive into the harmony, the chords, the scale (F#m in this case) and try to combine it all with different patterns to create a part to your own taste.
LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL RECORDING for inspiration or to try and copy some original parts. (for instance, the second time this pre-chorus is heard in the original song, the horn part that I copied and play here is replaced with strings which would work really well on piano as well!).

 

Need more guidance in chords, patterns or both? You can learn lots and lots more in our course, of course. :). 

 

The part D(2) Fm(7) D(2) Fm(7) is repeated and thus played two times. Then the pre-chorus ends with a C#7 chord after which the chorus ("Billy Jean is not my lover...") kicks in.

 

The chorus that follows, is exactly the same as the intro / verse: The killer bass line with the right hand slash voicings (G#m/F# etc. ) on top followed by the 'Bm part'.

 

So I guess that's all you need to play this entire song on the piano, and all for now!

 

Any questions / remarks or other comments are more than welcome, so please feel free to post a comment below!

 

For now, happy playing and see you again in two weeks or so. I have a very special one in mind for y'all!

 

Cheers, Coen.