Chords for How to Play "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay | HDpiano (Part 1) Piano Tutorial

_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] Hey everybody, [Eb] it's Devin with HDpiano.com and [Cm] in today's lesson we're going to check
[Eb] out Viva La Vida, a Coldplay [Db] throwback that definitely takes me back to high school.
I'm going to teach you guys the main riff in this video, but the rest of the videos
with the rest of the song can be found over at HDpiano.com.
Here's what we're learning today.
One, two, three.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _ _
[Db] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _
[E] Alright so that's the main riff and that honestly will get you through most of the song, but
I'll be breaking down the bridge, the chorus, and also giving kind of a rundown of the string
melodies and how you can incorporate that kind of stuff into the piano part in the future
videos over at the site.
_ Alright but before I dive in, I'm curious if you have any particular memories associated
with this song.
For me it's getting out of school and on those days when I was able to borrow my parents'
car I'd pull this CD out of the visor CD _ holder, slip it in and just start jamming out, roll
down the windows.
_ _ This was definitely the soundtrack of my life for a few months when it came out.
_ So I'm curious, what sort [Db] of memories do you guys have with this music because I'm sure
it's significant for a lot of you.
_ Okay well, _ we are in the [Ab] key of A flat. _ _
We're starting on the four [Db] chord which is D flat major and this string part, we're learning
the string part on piano essentially.
It's fairly ambiguous.
Right here we have D flats in the left, A flat, D flat in the right.
We don't even have a third but if we did it would be an F, D flat major.
But in this case it's just kind of this open _ sound and I find that strings work really well.
You don't need to play the entire [Eb] chord in a string arrangement.
You can [Db] just _ double up on some notes and it's more about getting that thick texture.
So _ _ _ _ there's measure one.
Pretty simple.
_ _ Three steady quarter notes.
One, two, three, four and.
On beat four we [Db] hit this chord again [Eb] but on the and of four we take our left hand up to E flat.
We finish out the second measure which is four and one and two and three, four.
So two upbeats and then two downbeats.
_ [Db] So those two measures.
_ One, two, three, [Eb] four and one and two and three, four.
_ Alright. _
_ Now I think it's best to play [Db] no pedal _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ and a mix between staccato and legato.
You want a little space between those notes to kind of simulate the strings because you
have to take your hand off the string or take your bow off the string.
And you know. _ _
_ _ _ _ Right.
So there's going to be little breaks in there and you just want to think like how can I
best emulate a string section on the piano.
[Db] _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] Alright.
Next two measures.
_ We go to A flat major.
This is our home base.
The tonic chord.
A flat, E flat in the left.
A flat and C in the right.
Same rhythm here.
One, two, three, [Fm] four and.
_ _ _ So on the and of four we take our left hand from this fifth [F] and we stretch it out to an
octave on [Fm] Fs.
And our right hand stays the same.
A flat and C.
And we continue with the same two _ _ _ _ _ _ upbeats and two downbeats.
So let's do it really slow.
Four measures.
One, two, three, four.
[Db] _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] A flat major.
Left hand goes to F.
[Fm] Whoops.
_ _ Three, four.
Back to [Db] D flat.
Two, three, [Eb] four.
E flat and.
And three, four.
[Ab] A flat.
Two, three, four.
[Fm] And.
And.
Three, four. _
_ _ Okay.
There you have it.
Let's bump it up a little closer to tempo now.
_ One, two, three, [Db] four.
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ _ _ _ Alright.
[Db] So that gets us through the first verse and then we have a little instrumental bit.
And I want to just go ahead and show you a little something you can slip in there.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ You notice as soon as you start adding notes that hold it's almost like, whoa, there's
a new instrument playing around.
It's as if this new string player is just kind of tucked away subtly in the background.
So that's just an example of the many [E] ways you can add some variety to this part.
It's very staccato and kind of jarring to begin with.
But if you free up your pinky, you can play any note in the A flat major scale or any
note from each of these chords and kind of create your own little string line.
But of course, in one of the future videos, I will be going through and breaking up or
breaking down all the string elements as best I can that show up throughout and talking
about how we can incorporate that with the piano part.
Because obviously we got 10 fingers and there's probably more than 10 string players on this recording. _ _
Alright.
So the next video is going to be the chorus, but I'll go ahead and play you guys out one
more time with the main riff and then I hope to see you there.
One, two, three, [Db] four. _
Let's take it up in tempo a little bit.
One, two, three, four. _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ _ _ So we start off real strong and then of course when the vocals come in, we want to bring
it down a little bit.
[Db] _ _ _ [Eb] _ Same part.
Oops.
_ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _
[Gm] And just think about that.
You don't want to be bashing this out while you or somebody else is singing.
You want to try and incorporate as much dynamics as possible into the piano part.
Alright guys, this is Devin with HDpiano.com.
Good work.
We'll see you over at part two [F] for the chorus over at HDpiano.com.
In the meantime, like [Eb] and subscribe here on YouTube and follow us on all those social
media platforms if you want to keep in [Dm] touch and stay in the know about all the latest tutorials.
[Eb] _ Alrighty.
We'll see you there.
This is Devin.