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I am practicing Alfred's Level One, Page 73 and trying to play Why Am I Blue. I think I am doing O.K. until the last bar on the third line(If you see my baby) but it does not sound right. I have checked and rechecked my fingering and am quite sure I am hitting the right keys but it sounds off key. Any explanation?

Thank you.

Make sure you're playing the first note longer than the second. So that measure would go:

dummm da dummm da dummm dummmmmmm
ifff ya seeee ma babyyyyyyyyyyy

The whole piece should be played with that rhythm. See the note at the bottom of "Got those Blues" earlier in the book.

Also, in the very last measure, the left hand G chord is the "Why", the F/D# is the "Am" (note the rest for the left hand), the G/E is the "I" and the final G chord joins the G/E already in progress with "Blue".

For flair, you can waggle your hands back and forth on that last chord with the pedal down.

The V7 chord there uses F# (key of G). Could that be it?

F# also at the last "F/D#"...
Any F without a natural, in key of G.

Yep, F# is key. Get it? Key? Ha! I kill myself!

F/D# should read F#/D#, it's just that when I'm in a key with an accidental, I like to think of the accidental as just a plain note. When I play F# in the key of G, I'm thinking F while I'm playing the F#.

Hi DarrenT may i know which alfred adult book u used ? Mine is this one :- http://store.musicbasics.com/pm-a2236.html

Yeah, but that's exactly the kind of mistake I was always making right at first... "Oh! That F too?" So it seemed worth mentioning this time.

"So it seemed worth mentioning this time."

Absolutely.

I did the same thing when I started too. I'd go to my lesson playing plain old F with my pinky. Of course my teacher would mention it, and I'd go "Doh!"

I set the metronome for 8 clicks per measure on this song. That helped me hold the notes for the proper value, as the concept of syncopation was introduced with this song. It took me forever to play the last chord (2nd time) correctly. Finger position with the F# was tricky for me. Once I got it down, though it was fun to play.

I found it much easier to play if I sang aloud (or in my head) with the words as I played the notes. I am now tackling 'The Stranger' on page 129 of my Alfred\'s Book 1

It has kind of a foreboding sound.

Right, and then about the time we realize that we have a problem, then it just naturally becomes automatic, and is no longer a problem.

The V7 chord also helps flag this one sharp in that D chord as being F#. I dont use Alfreds, so I may be overlooking it, but I think Alfreds doesnt actually ever explain this V7 concept, why those chord notes? A new beginner probably doesnt care why, its just some more notes to be played at that point.

But this V7 on that measure of Why Am I Blue is just an inverted D chord. D is V (5th note in scale) in key of G, and this 7 chord adds the minor 7th, and the 3rd is omitted, and the chord is inverted twice, ie, the standard V7 notes.

Bastiens has a shortcut method for determining V7 that I find very helpful, both to recognize them, and esp for fake books, where the notes are not written. This is surely common knowledge, but my limited experience hasnt seen it elsewhere.

To find V7, start the thinking with the I triad chord in that key. Key of G, triad G at I is 1,3,5 GBD (this 1,3,5 are the chord note numbers, left hand fingers are opposite). But for V7, instead of 135, play 4 and 5 (C and D) and move 1 down a half step (G to F#). That is always V7 in any key. V7 always has that pattern look, starting just below the scale, and the top note is the root of the twice inverted chord, D in this case. By default, this also places V7 below the non-inverted hand position of same D chord, straddling the I chord position.

Thank you all. I believe I've got it right.

"I believe I've got it right"

Just curious, what were you doing that made it wrong?

Bob, I had the keys right, but the rhthym wrong. I tried your "dummm da dummm da dummm dummmmmmm" and it helped but it still sounds a little off-key to me. Must be my impaired hearing.