How to play "You Are Good"

"You Are Good" by Ntokozo Mbambo is fast praise at 174 BPM. It is a runner. The song is a celebration and it does not sit down. Play it too soft and you disappear.

1. The key: E major

E major. Scale: E, F♯m, G♯m, A, B, C♯m, D♯m. Song lives in 4, 1, 5 and 6m.

2. The chord shape

The classic 4-1-5-6m praise loop through the whole song. On the choruses it flips to 1-5-6m-4 for the modulation-up sections. The Ntokozo live recording shows the tempo and the modulations.

3. The Sunday-ready play

• Right hand: eighth-note comping on triads. Do not roll. Stab.
• Left hand: octaves. Root on every beat.
• One move to add: on the modulation up (half step), lead into the new key with the 5 of the new key as a passing dominant. The room feels the lift instead of stumbling into it.

4. When the leader calls a different key

This song modulates inside itself, sometimes twice. Numbers hold. Gig Mode handles the transpose.

Next step

Play Hayi Akekho Nje Ngawe next. Faster still, same E major, sharper voicings.