His hands already knew and yours will too!

Hey friends!

This week we’re visiting space together, or more specifically, a moment that happened in space many moons ago (sorry – dad jokes only around here). On July 20th, 1969, the lunar module was about ninety seconds from touching down on the moon when an alarm went off, one nobody on that crew had ever seen before, not once, in any simulation. Neil Armstrong called it in: “Program Alarm. It’s a 1202. What is that?” On top of that, when he looked out the window, he realized the guidance computer was steering them straight into a crater full of boulders the size of cars.

With less than a minute of fuel left he had to figure out what to do, and fast…

Concept

And that’s what I want to talk about this week, just with way lower stakes and nobody’s life on the line. So over the past two weeks, your left hand has been training to run on an autopilot of sorts. Hopefully you’ve been working through the exercises I gave you:

1. Playing the same chords in both hands
2. Running through the Free Fallin’ track

In this series, your right hand has been along for the ride, but this week that changes. And honestly, it’s the moment this whole series has been building toward.

As your left hand has started moving through these inversions, without your brain doing overtime, you’re getting something bigger back: freedom. Your right hand should finally stop babysitting chords and begin actually playing melodies. Instead of two hands playing the same chord together (from the exercise), your left hand will now hold the harmony/chord and your right hand will start singing the song.

Practice

For your practice this week, I want you to pull up the Free Fallin’ chart in C again. Same song and key as last week, but this time while your left hand plays the chords, your right hand is going to play the actual melody. To make sure we’re on the same page, the melody is like the tune you’d hum.

This is the first week your hands are doing genuinely different jobs at the same time, and it’s potentially going to feel clumsy for a few minutes. That’s normal. Slow it down throughout the week until it feels natural, and then bring it back up to speed.

To help you with your practice, I recorded another backing track video for subscribers only. It begins with a brief tutorial where I walk you through how to practice this song. I’ve also linked the PDF for the song below, in case you need a copy.

One quick bonus for you – remember that G chord we learned last week – the simplified version in first inversion: B – D – G?

This week we’re going to add another layer to it by making it a G7. I want you to add in an F note near the top of that same chord shape, so you’ll be playing:

B – D – F – G (with the 5 – 4 – 2 – 1 fingers of your left hand, respectively). It’s nearly the same hand position you already know, but adding that note provides a bit more color to the song. Once you get comfortable playing the melody over the chords, try adding this in a few times for an extra challenge, plus another tone within the song.

Listen

For this week’s listen, check out the intro to Billy Joel’s Vienna. It’s a pretty solid example of a right hand carrying a beautiful melody while the left hand just holds down creative chords underneath. Put it on and loop the intro (and outro) a few times. That’s what we’re chasing.

So, back to our moon story 🌔 for a second. Nobody in that cockpit or in Mission Control had ever seen that exact alarm before. But in that moment, Armstrong didn’t freeze, and neither did the room. He took semi-manual control and flew the module past that boulder field himself, hunting for a clear patch of ground while the clock ran out. He landed with less than 30 seconds of fuel to spare.

Now, here’s the part that’s important for us: the alarm was new, but his training & control of his hands weren’t. Years of simulator drills had made his actual flying nearly automatic, so even facing something he’d never trained for, his hands already knew what to do. That freed up his mind for the one thing that actually mattered right then, finding somewhere safe to land.

It’s the same type of work you’re doing this week. Once your left hand knows where it’s going without having to concentrate directly on it, your mind (and your right hand) are free to find new places to land. This skill is not one to just write-off, it will truly change your playing.

Hit reply and let me know how ‘Free Fallin” feels once both hands are moving, or what music you’re working on currently. Either way, I read every reply.

Dan 🎹