| |
| |
|
Music Information |
|
|
|
Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict!
I wish you could have seen me play the piano when I was just learning. I was the nearest thing to "hopeless" that you could imagine. I was into baseball, not music - and my heroes were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. (And by the way, I still have a picture of those 3 guys on my wall.) My dream was to hit baseballs like them, not to play the piano. But an opportunity to play with a combo presented itself to me when I was a freshman in high school. Seems the piano player of the group had graduated the previous year, and nobody else played piano well enough to play in the school jazz combo. I didn't know zilch about playing in a group, and I didn't know chords. But I was excited to have the opportunity to play with older guys, and so I took the job. The lead sax player told me I really should know chords in order to play in the group, so I searched through a music magazine until I found an ad for a chord chart. It cost two bucks, as I recall, so I sent off for it. When I received it in the mail I slipped it behind the keys on my parents old upright piano, and promptly learned to play my first chord - Dm7. I LOVED the sound of it, and was hooked for life on chords. The 2nd chord I learned was Cmaj7, then Em7, then Ebm7 - and before that first night was over I had learned to play "Frankie & Johnnie" - the tune in my right hand, and those fabulous 7th chords in my left hand! I loved it - LOVED IT - LOVED IT! And it even sounded good enough to impress some of my friends the next day. I suppose that simple chord chart that cost me two bucks has been worth several million over the course of my lifetime. And much more than that, has been worth quadrillions in pleasure and satisfaction and relaxation and?? Even though I came in the back door as far as piano playing was concerned, I learned fast because of what I knew about chords, so college was a snap, and so was my post-graduate Masters Degree at Southern Oregon University. After high school I studied with several of the finest private teachers on the West Coast, including a year with THE finest teacher - his name was Dave - and his studio was on Cauhenga Blvd. in Hollywood. As I would come for my piano lesson, I would often pass a big name recording artist coming to their lesson - and anyone who was anyone in Hollywood in those days took lessons from Dave. Dave taught me 2 fundamental principles about piano playing: 1. The piano is NOT played with the hands - it is played with the brain. The hands are just tools. 2. If you master chord relationships, you can master music. I've got little fat hands with short fingers. Hardly the ideal hands for piano playing. I've also got a lousy sense of rhythm. But you know what? Because of those two principles Dave taught me, I can play "above" my fat hands and my weak rhythm. Above? Yes. Above. Once a person "gets into the flow" of understanding chord relationships and then letting the brain knowledge flow into the hands, that person plays "above" his ability. And the great thing about it is this: It's not some secret formula hidden in the archives of some dusty music conservatory in Prague. Instead it's an open book - there are courses galore on the internet you can take for peanuts compared to a traditional music conservatory. The internet age has provided a way for the average person to become an above-average musician! Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music and piano books and products such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He can be reached at http://www.pianolessonsbyvideo.com. He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 55,000 current subscribers. Those interested may obtain a free two-year subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com/
MORE RESOURCES:
Music - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How Many Songs Are In Your Pocket? The portable MP3 player continues to be the hot item for those who want music on the go. I was talking to a teen the other day wearing a wristwatch MP3 player she takes on her walks. Liberate your iPod When Akio Morita came up with the idea of the Sony Walkman all of his colleagues at the thought he was completely insane. The general consensus was that people wouldn't want to walk around the streets wearing headphones. The Bagpipe and Its History You may have heard that bagpipes are a Scottish invention; you may have heard that they are an Irish invention. The truth (of course) is neither one. How To Write A Song Did you ever wish that it was your song playing on the radio? It could be. It is not that hard once you know the formula. Review: Audioslave - Out of Exile Every once in a while a band comes along that really changes the way you perceive music, for me one of these bands was Rage Against the Machine. I'll be the first to admit that I, like most angsty teenagers was lured into Rage's music by their anti-authoritarian songs, and honestly dude, they said "fuck" a whole lot. How the Internet Helps Musicians Everyone talks about the negative impact of the Internet on the music business. Illegal file sharing and copyright violations have decimated the profits in the industry. Modal Theory for Guitar Players - Part 2 Playing the ModesWhen I used to use this pack with students, I provided them with a CD which contained a backing track for each of the modes. This enabled them to practive getting the sounds and shapes under their fingers. Independent Music Promotion on the Web: 3 Steps to Success Let's face it, the wildfire spread of web-based portals designed to introduce independent music to the world has created a bewildering array of opportunities and costs. So where do they all balance out? When does the cost of signing up to yet another music promotion service yield results? What results are we looking for anyway?The key is to make your web promotion targeted, systematic and rich. To Record or Not To Record - At Home, That Is I will be honest. I am addicted to music recording. Guitar Tuning Tips Most new guitar players and even some experienced ones have trouble staying and playing in tune. I'll try listing here some of the common mistakes and there solutions. Music Licensing: The Cold Cash Facts About Money for your Music Where music meets licensing, there's money to be made. How much money? "I have synched quite a few thousand songs into productions over the years," states Peter Jansson of Janssongs, Inc. Irish Fiddle Ornaments When I started playing jigs, my default bowing pattern made a groove like Pop Goes the Weasel: "Long-short, long-short, muberry bush, the long-short, long-short weasel."And that still works for me without having to think about it. Yo, is Rap Just Another Four Letter Word? Flaunting any excessive or anti-social behavior is considered brazen. When it is no longer considered brazen it is proof that it has become embedded as part of our culture. The History Of Drums - A Journey Of Sound Music and musical instruments are an extremely important part of human history. The use of rhythm and song has long been used to express meaning, and feeling and accompany rituals. Guitar Practice (Part 2) - Does Practice Make Perfect? You've probably heard the saying "practice makes perfect" and it sounds true enough, but is t really? We all know the importance of practicing a new skill in order to become proficient at it. This is especially true when it comes to playing the guitar, or any other musical instrument for that matter. Origin of Erik Saties Gnossiennes The 'trois Gnossiennes' (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces of similar character, like the earlier composed 'trois Sarabandes' (1887) and 'trois Gymnopédies' (1888). The 'trois Gnossiennes' were first published by Satie as a set through Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. The First Step and Most Important Thing in Learning Guitar Most of the guitar lovers playing guitar for few years but still unsatisfied with their progress. They feel like still stand at the starting point and can't enjoy their playing. Ibanez SR400 Bass Guitar The Ibanez SR400 bass guitar is very comfortable to play. The neck is thin up at the headstock, you can move your hand along it well because of the necks finish. Piano Lessons Can be Fun! There are essentially two ways to learn piano - note reading or chords. For those who want to spend years learning how to play other peoples music, note reading is the way to go. 10 Top Reasons You Should Learn to Play Chord Piano There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn enough chords to be able to "chord a song" at the piano. By "chord a song", I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings the tune.
|
|
home | site map Visit our other sites: GamesBlog | GamingDepot | GimmeaRide | GimmeNetwork | Golf Biz | HotorNotGame | I Want Computers | I Want Games | I Want Hosting | I Want Music | I Want Security | JokeBox | ScriptShock | Wantedfonts | Webalize |
| © 2006 |
