Bethel Music’s current latest release, Come Up Here, is a great album by this amazing worship team from Redding, California.
And I’m pretty sure “Holy Forever” is the most popular song off the album, sung by Jenn Johnson.
Chris Tomlin also co-wrote this song, and it’s a wonderful song, but as I’ve listened to it more off Bethel’s album, I’m making this tutorial from that point of view.
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I’ll jump right into it without much further ado, and we’ll start with the basics.
But this piano tutorial is for how to play an amazing sounding piano accompaniment with a full band, just a few other instruments, or even just a singer (or yourself if you’re the one singing).
So let’s get right into it, here’s a complete piano tutorial for “Holy Forever” by Bethel Music, starting with the basics!
The Basics
We’re going to start with the key that we’re in, and the scale.
You cannot skip over this step!
Unless of course you already know the scale. And even then you still need to play through it and keep yourself well-acquainted with it.
Holy Forever from the Bethel recording is in the key of F.
In the key of F there is one flat, and that’s Bb.
The right hand fingering for the F major scale is a bit odd compared to the other scales that start on a white key… so I suggest you check out my full piano tutorial video to see the fingering!
For a one octave scale, the right hand ends up playing the top F with the 4th finger (ring finger) instead of the 5th finger (pinky finger) like every other major scale that starts on a white key.
You need to learn and/or practice the scale anyway, so check out my video below for it to see the scale played both hands together so you can do it too!
So if you’re playing this song in F like Bethel does, remember to practice through the scale plenty of times, get yourself really tight with the key of F, and remember as you’re playing that there’s a Bb in the key!
That’s it for the basics… it’s pretty much always the key signature and scale, but don’t ever gloss over it!
The Chords
This is, of course, the part that most people really want to dive into.
It’s really what puts the meat on the bones.
I have what I think is an amazing system for chords, how to think about them and how to play them, and really if you want to get the most out of it, I think you should check out my book, which is a $100+ value available for just $17, and has a money back guarantee!
But let me just give you at least some of the stuff you need to know for the chords.
Usually the best way to play the left hand is an octave with the 5th in the middle, as I show in the video above.
Actually, in the video above, I go through every chord in the song with a great voicing for how to play it!
So, a great rule of thumb is to play an octave with the 5th in the middle for any chord you’re doing, with few exceptions.
The right hand should mostly stay around root position and put the sugar and spice on the strong left hand base that you have if you play an octave with the 5th in the middle.
But if you want the specific chords for this song, again I say… check out the free video where I break them all down for you!
Rhythm
Rhythm can be pretty difficult to teach.
In my five plus years as a private music instructor in piano, guitar and other instruments I’ve found that rhythm is one of the hardest things to teach.
My rule of thumb formula for rhythm is this when you play a chord: both hands together (every note at the same time), then right hand work, then a left hand arpeggio.
Those three things.
I’m sorry to sound like a broken record here, but it’s probably much easier for you to understand by watching the video, where I explain the rhythm concept as well, rather than read about it through text.
You can’t always do the formula that I mentioned above though, and on “Holy Forever” there are some quicker chord changes, at least on the chorus.
On those chords, you only have time to hit all the notes together and then go on to the next chord, and that’s perfectly fine.
It also sounds good to switch things up!
There are many songs that have chord changes that are simply too quick to have a lot of time to change up the rhythm, so don’t always follow my formula.
But the real bottom line is, it’s always good to switch things up.
Wrapping It Up
This is a wonderful song off of Bethel’s current latest album, and I hope that you enjoy learning this song and worshiping Jesus through it.
If you’re interested, I also have a tutorial for another song off the album, “Surrounded by Holy”.
But just remember, whether you’re learning “Holy Forever” or whatever song, don’t skip the basics, and have fun and try to get creative as you work through the chords and everything else.
If you have any questions about this article or how to play this song or anything, please let me know in the comments section below and I’ll be so happy to hear from you and help you out!
God bless and happy practicing!
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