Q. I have very little experience in piano and want to start now. I have a lot of spare time so I could dedicate a few hours a day, 7 days a week. I need all the advice you can give me. Any good books or videos on youtube etc. How long before I can play waltz for debby? And what's the easiest jazz song to learn first?
A. Okay here's the deal.
I am a pianist in the loosest sense of the term. I have taken Royal Boards to Grade 8 and I have played classical, jazz, and even composed some of my own four part harmonies to play for some events.
One day, my aunt at her wedding asked me to play for everyone, so I got up, walked over to the piano, sat down, and shat myself at little. I couldn't improvise!!! At most, I would need five minutes to develop a melody, maybe figure out chord progressions in my head from what would sound "right," and then compose a robotic sounding but totally "correct," piece. But I couldn't leave the piano alone, I played a memorized piece and that was that.
I went home, pissed that after 12 years of piano, I could play, but I couldn't PLAY. How did these musicians create these beautiful works of art? Clair de lune! MY GOD! If I could improvise that I would be some godly panty dropper.
So I sat down, thought about theory a little bit, but more or less started simple, touching keys familiar to me and put them together, strung with a little bit of theory. It sounded 10x better than my robotic piece imitation even if it was just one chord up and down the piano. Why? Because it had soul. For the first time in my life I had a real genuine tremble go through my spine from a piece of music that I played!
Waltz for Debby. I played that during a recital along with a Fats Waller song that I cannot remember. Like any piece, as a classically trained pianist, it only took an hour to learn, but days to memorize and perfect. If you are totally new, but know what all of the signs on a sheet of music mean, you can easily learn it in a few days. And I mean LEARN it, like copy and play perfectly.
Unfortunately, I don't really advise doing this. Actually I advise against playing sheet music period. I can't believe I wasted all of my time doing all of that. I now play by chord and by ear. My improvisation still isn't where I want it to be but at least when people say, "Hey, play something for me," I'll be able to play something for them.
Here's some stuff to get you started.
Learn the keys, the name of the keys, all of them.
Then begin slowly, you will have to learn all of the scales. Major, minor, harmonic minor for example.
How you decide to learn them.. whether through Circle of Fifths .. memorization.. whatever, is totally up to you, but you should know the names of the keys (CDEFGAB, etc, and what sharps or flats are in them.)
There are just so many resources available nowadays that it makes it pointless to buy any books, really..
Again, I really advise against learning songs for the sake of playing them to others.. I was lost in that mindset for twelve years. TWELVE YEARS!! I only saw the light after that incident.
Regardless, here's a little taste of jazz.
Pick a major scale.. for example G major.
G major has one sharp, which is the first sharp, F#.
So this means to play G major, you can play any of these notes: G A B C D E F#, and it will sound good.
Go to your piano and play.. G A B C D E. That's G major.
Now play G A B C D# E. How did that sound to you? Pretty jazzy right? But D# isn't a part of the G major scale, why are you allowed to play that note, you ask?
Well, that's jazz for you. And if you'd like to learn more, BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY!
How do you play an F sharp minor chord on a guitar?
Q. If it helps, it's an electric, Fender stratocaster with pretty low action.
@Jos h2o - THANK. YOU. Seriously, I really needed this. X)
A. I can show you a few ways. One would be like this:
E-2
A-4
D-4
G-2
B-2
e-2
(if you don't like to barre chords, play the high e and the B strings with your index finger and skip the low E--it's easier... Or just skip the high e string as well http://josh2o.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/f-minor-e-shape.jpg ).
Also, you can play it like this:
E-x
A-x
D-4
G-6
B-7
e-5
It's like playing a Dm, but moved up four frets( http://josh2o.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/f-minor-d-shape.jpg ).
By far, the easiest way, but it only has one voicing of each note and is an inversion, is this:
E-x
A-x
D-x
G-2
B-2
e-2
( http://josh2o.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/f-minor-first-inversion.jpg )
EDIT: I added links to pictures kind of showing you the easiest way of holding these shapes... Easiest in my opinion.
Also, and I'm sure you know this since you play classical music on a piano, but the inversion has the same notes as the whole minor chord(F# A C#), but it's rearranged so the third degree is where the root usually is(A F# C#).
Just FYI.
Before i asked a question on double flats and sharps, why not just write what your supposed to play ?
Q. With the double sharps and flats, I ask myself WHY?!? Instead of writting G double sharp why not just natural A? Triple and quadruple sharps and flats? People PLEASE!! I know it concerns music theory and all, but can annyone shed a bit of light on this subject? In plainest terms please!
A. The section after this first one is about triple sharps and flats. I figured that I might as well answer the main question in simple terms since I posted in here.
If you don't use double sharps or double flats, then music gets even more confusing than you think. Sure, some of us understand what you are getting at with this question. You want an enharmonically equivalent note that is simpler to read.... but this makes no sense at all if you are looking at chords (string music, piano music, etc.). Your "easy to read" notes make chords look completely dissonant when, in fact, they are pleasant chords.
The Doctor's example is good here. If we were to cater to you and spell the Gb minor chord as Gb, A, and Db, then it would look like like a sus2 chord - a chord with a dissonant second (in purer Classical music this dissonance is arrived at via non-harmonic tones - in this case the appogiatura or retardation would be appropriate). The performer would not immediately recognize such a chord spelling, and would assume that the composer had meant for some strange dissonance; however, the chord is simply a Gb minor triad. Nothing more, and nothing less. If you think about this example, you might understand why double sharps and flats are absolutely necessary when it comes to stacking chords. They are also necessary in voice leading (the creation of individual musical lines and parts).
I decided to show you this example (so I wrote it out in Finale for you):
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1655/finout.jpg
edit: The fact that the above example can resolve to some other chord does not make it any less awkward.
Let's also assume that Gb minor is the vi chord and that I doubled the third because it was necessary =). I wrote it in bass and treble clef just in case the poster can only read one or the other.
Others have already elaborated on why you need double sharps or flats for voice leading purposes.
* * * * * * * *
The reason that you don't see triple sharp or triple flat more often is because they are only needed when you have a key signature full of sharps or flats.
It makes theoretical sense. If you have C# major as your key and you build an augmented chord on the Leading Tone (B#+), then the best theoretically correct way to spell it is B#, Dx, and F#x (F triple sharp).
This is the only example I can think of, so that is probably why it is not generally taught or accepted. That is why they are only used in modern repertoire on rare occasions. But - nonetheless - I have SEEN them in real music. Therefore, they surely exist. Triple sharps have been published in music, therefore they exist.
You can deny it and say they don't exist because they only have 1 or 2 uses. That is fine. I don't mind.
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