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Bless The Broken Road was made popular by Rascal Flatts on their album Feels Like Today which was released in September of 2004.

Intro

This song is in the key C so it is played with all white keys.

Right Hand

the right hand starts with a C and G together followed by a D then a C. you play through this twice.

Next you play a G chord and walk up from the B to a C then D.

You then play an A Minor chord and walk up the same way as the G chord except on the D and E.

Next play a second inversion F chord twice and then move down to a third inversion C then move to a second inversion C.

The second part of the intro starts by playing an octave C. Then an octave B twice. Next move down to an octave G.

After playing the octaves you just finish of with the rest of the intro.

Left Hand

The left hand starts on an E octave. You then walk up with the octave playing F, G, A, F, G, C.

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Part 1

Part 2

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Chords

Intro:     C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C   (Repeat)

Verse

C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C

C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C

Am     G     F     C/E     Dm     G

C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C

Chorus

F     C     G     C

F     Am     F     G

F     C     G     Am

F     G     F

C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C

Outro

C/E     F     G     Am     F     G     C   (Repeat)

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Lyrics

Verse 1
I set out on a narrow way, many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn’t see how every sign pointed straight to you

Chorus
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart, they were like northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Verse 2
I think about the years I spent, just passing through
I’d like to have the time I lost, and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You’ve been there, you understand
It’s all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Chorus

But now I’m just rolling home into my lover’s arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

That God bless the broken road
That led me straight to you

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Blues scales are the backbone of the blues. Without it there would be no blues. Learning how to use scales will greatly add to your blues arsenal.

In this article I’ not going to talk about how to build a scale (you can find that here) but I am going to talk about how to use the scale.

Warmups

When learning the blues you might feel like your hands won’t move the way you want them to. You might have a lick you can hear in your head but you just can’t make your fingers do it.

This is why doing warmups are important.

If you want true freedom in your hands, for them to do what you want them to you need to exercise them. Yes, exercise.

Playing the piano, especially the blues, takes work just like everything else. You need to work out your hands, get them used to the scale and how it fits on the piano.

How to Practice Scales

When practicing scales you always start playing with the right hand and very slow. As you start to get better you speed it up.

Once you have mastered the right hand you play with the left hand. Start slow and then get faster.

With the left hand mastered now try playing the scale with both hands at the same time. Start out slow like always and then get faster.

Make sure you practice this method with all twelve keys. Don’t get in a hurry and try to learn only one scale, learn them all and spread your time to all twelve keys.

Half Scale

A half scale is simply what the name implies, it is half of the scale.

The half scale is made up of the first four notes of the blues scale. When first learning the blues you should use the half scales to help strengthen your fingers.

This exercise will get you familiar with these types of scales in all twelve keys and get your fingers stronger and faster.

Full Scale

The full blues scale is good practice because it gets you used to to crossing over your fingers. When playing a full scale you need to cross over your fingers to get to the rest of the notes.

Using this exercise will help you for when you are soloing because you will be able to move up and down the keyboard flawlessly because you have practiced crossing your fingers over.

Two Octave Scale

The two octave scale starts on the first note of the scale and ends on the same note two octaves up. Once yo have mastered this in both hands ascending and descending you will start to see your blues taking a different form.

You will be able to play new riffs because you fingers will have mobility that they never had before.

Octave Scale

These are more advanced type of blues scales. For this exercise play the root note with the first finger and then the same note an octave above with the fifth finger. Play each note separately not at the same time.

Once you played the first note then move up to the second note in the blues scale and so on until you reach the octave.

Conclusion

These four types of blues scales will help you gain strength and stamina in your fingers. You might not think that its not that important but once you start practicing this way you will see how important it is to have independent fast moving fingers when playing the blues.

Make sure that you practice these scales in every key. Try and do these everyday to keep up the muscle memory in your fingers.

Don’t practice these scales too long at first. If your hands start to hurt stop for a little bit then come back. If you do too much at once then you are wasting your time. Its like working a muscle at the gym. If you work it out too much then it won’t help. Your hands need rest just like any other muscle.

Take your time and you will be playing blues like a pro!

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The bass clef scale is an easy to learn scale that will widely improve your piano paying. For some people it can seem a little harder to learn the the treble clef.

Don’t get discouraged though!

With a little bit of practice you will be playing these scales in no time. For most people the treble clef is the more common of the two scales. Because of this, when learning the piano, we tend to focus more time studying and practicing this scale.

This can cause you to be a little unfamiliar with the bass clef. Use this page to help you bring your confidence in the bass clef to same level as the treble clef. We have included here a list of all the scales for the bass clef, and also a downloadable PDF document that you can save to your computer and print.

Let’s get started by noticing the differences in the bass and treble clef scale.

Bass Clef Scale Versus Treble Clef Scale

Each clef is made up of line and spaces. Each line and space represents a note on the scale. While each clef has five lines and four spaces, the notes on each clef are different.

The bottom line of the treble clef is an E note, and the top line note is an F. The bottom line on the bass clef is a G and top line is A.

Because these two clefs are slightly different, they will have slightly different scales. The notes on the bass clef scale are slightly different from the treble clef.

For example: If you compare the C major scale on both of the clefs below, you will notice that each of them looks slightly different.

This is because the notes in the clefs are different. This is what causes confusing for beginning musicians.

They don’t take the time to study both clefs equally. Because they mainly focus on the treble clef, they are slightly behind when reading notes on the bass clef. Make sure you take equal time studying the notes and scales in the bass clef so that you are comfortable reading notes in both clefs.

Check out the page on piano notes to learn how to read notes on both the bass and treble clef.

The Scales

Here is every major bass clef scale in every sharp and flat key. I have also included a downloadable PDF file that you can save to your computer that has all the scales.

You can save this file, or even print it off if you like and keep it next to your piano. Study the notes on the bass clef scale to where you comfortable enough where you no longer need the chart.

Click Here to Download the PDF File

Here are the scale:

Sharps

C Major

G Major

D Major

A Major

E Major

B Major

F# Major

C# Major

Flats

F Major

Bb Major

Eb Major

Ab Major

Db Major

Gb Major

Cb Major

Moving Forward

Learning each of these scales in the bass clef will really help make you a better musician. Don’t just focus on the treble clef. It’s easy to get caught only looking at the one clef.

Start with the C Major Scale. Practice playing it until you are able to play it without any mistakes. When you are able to play it flawlessly, then try and play it without the notes in front of you.

This is going to take a little more practice.

Once you are able to play it flawlessly without sheet music, them move on to the next scale. Learn each scale this way. Once you learn one, move on to the next.

Once you learn each bass clef scale by memory you should then add these scales into your daily practice routine. Play through each scale one at a time. Try playing them together with the right hand. Try playing two octave scales. This means that rather then just playing the scale just one time, try playing two time over two octaves.

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The B7 Chord is another variation of the Dominant Seven family of chords. This chord is the same as the B Major Chord with an additional “A” note added to the top of the chord. It contains the exact same notes as the B major with an added dominant seven note.

Let’s take a look at the notes in the chord, how it’s built, and the different inversions and fingerings.

What is a B Dominant 7 Chord?

This chord is constructed exactly the same way as all the other “7” Chords. It contains the notes B-D#-F#-A.

This note is very easy to play becasue it comes from the the B Major Chord. If you can play B Major, then you can easily play a B7.

All you have to do is play B-D#-F# from the B major chord, then add an A to the top of the chord.

This is the easiest way to play any dominant seven chord. Simply play the major chord then add the dominant seven note to the top.

How to Make a B Dominant 7 Chord

The B7 chord can have multiple names. It can also be referred to as B Dominat Seven as well. The reason for this is because you use the dominant seven note instead of the major 7 note.

The major 7 note is the more common note that most people will recognize. This is because it lies within the major scale. The dominant seven however, is outside of the major scale.

The major seventh in the key of B is A#. You can find the major seventh my counting to the seventh note in the major scale.

B Major Scale
B-C#-D#-E-F#-G#-A#-B

But in order to play a B dominant seven chord, we need play an A note instead of the A# note.

If we look at the B major scale we can see that the A from the dominant seven chord is not inside of the scale.

Instead of using the major seventh in this chord, you must use whats known as the minor major seventh. The minor major seventh gives you the dominant seven completing the B7 chord.

This just means that you need to find the major seventh note and then minor it, or lower it a half-step.

Take a look at the picture below for more details.

Quick Tip!
The notes in the B7 chord are B, D#, F#, and A.

The A natural is not in the B Major Scale, but this note is the cornerstone of the B dominant 7 chord.

Fingering and Inversions

The fingering for the B7 chord is similar to other dominant seventh chords. Because the notes are spread out across the keyboard, it’s necessary to stretch your fingers a little bit to play this chord and some of the different inversions.

Use the chart below to see the fingering and notes for each of the four inversions.

Root Position

The root position is the standard inversion for any chord. Start with your thumb on B, add the second finger on D#, third finger on F#, and your fifth finger on A.

This inversion is a little bit of a stretch but is still short of a full octave.

First Inversion

The second inversion has the notes closer to each other making it easier to play then the root inversion.

To play the first inversion; start with your thumb on D#, add F# with you second finger, then play A with you ring finger, and then add the root note B with your fifth finger.

Second Inversion

The second inversion starts with the first finger on F#. Then add the second finger on A, third finger on B, and finally the fifth finger on D#.

Third Inversion

The third inversion starts with the thumb on A. Add your second finger on B, fourth finger on D#, and the fifth finger on F#.

Sheet Music

Use this sheet music to show you the four inversions of the B7 chord. You can see how there are two sharps in this chord, a D# and F#. The other two notes in the chord are natural notes, the B and A.

The B7 chord, along with other dominant seven chords is a slightly advanced chord. If you are a beginner I would reccomend you skip this chord and stick with the basic major and minor chords.

If you are an intermediate player whoa already knows these basic chords then this chord will really add to your piano toolbox.

Make sure you remeber that the dominat seventh note is different than the major seventh note. The dominant seven is outside of the major scale, while the major seven is inside of the major scale.

Click here if you are still needing more info on playing and building chords.

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So you want to play a song by ear?

In order to play a song by ear you have to approach the song correctly. That means that you have to listen to song with purpose.

Watch the video below to see what aspects of the song to listen for when approaching a new song.

If you want to play songs quickly, then you need to be able to find the key of the song.

This can be a difficult task (especially if you are a beginner).

If you want to learn my simple method for finding the key of a song in minutes then you need to check this out.

Click here to learn how to find the key of a song in minutes…