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 turn guitar chords into scales?
Q. If I play a chord, like F major and A minor, how do I know/find out what scale works for those two chords? I'm not entirely looking for the answer to this example, but I'm more interested in being "taught to fish" so to speak. Thanks.
A. youtube.
A scale has 8 notes in it, and three of them are in the chord that has it's name.. except if the chord's a minor..
Am uses the C scale, F uses the F scale, G uses the G scale.. Em uses the G scale too..
So..
The C scale is the notes c, d, e, f, g, a, b, c..
doh, re, mi fa so la ti doh..
These are the white notes on the piano, starting with the one that's just left of the group of two black ones..
The black notes in between are sharps or flats in the C scale..
So the piano goes
c, c#, d, d#, e, f, f#, g, g#, a, a#,.b, c...
Notice some of the notes don't have a sharp between them... true of any scale... the amount of space between each note in the scale is called the interval, most are two spaces, or semi tones.. some are one.. Each scale has the same pattern, starting with the name note of the scale..
For today... learn the C scale.. then go to youtube, and look for more.. or you can probably find diagrams.. and there are people who will show you places to put your hand to make scales...
A chord.. is the first, third and fifth note in the scale.. ie, in the C scale, the chord notes are C, E, G, repeated in the chord...
On the guitar, C is third fret on the fifth string [second fattest one] D is the fourth string open, E is fourth string second fret.. F is fourthe string third fret.. G is the third string, A is third string second fret, B is second string, and C is second string first fret....
Now... put a capo on the guitar, on the second fret, and play the same scale.. it's a D scale here... though you can to it without the capo...
D is the fourth string.. you can find the scale by counting up... the same intervals as in the c scale...
the intervals in semitones, starting from the name note..
D+2,+2+,1,+2,+2,+2,+1 will get you back to D... do it all on the D string... think of each fret as an interval, semi tone.. So.. D is open string.. next note.. 2nd fret..
Could Someone Help Me With Guitar Chords Please?
Q. Hi there! I play piano, and I have written a song that I would like to play, but the piano I have isn't portable so I wanted to play the chords on the guitar.. The only problem? I don't know any guitar chords or anything. I can only strum and pick and whatever.
The piano chords are simple:
F A-sharp D
F A C
D-sharp G A-sharp
If someone could tell me where to put my fingers on the guitar neck to make these chords then please help! Thank you!
A. Hello there,
The strings of a guitar are tuned to E D A G B E. The lowest pitched string (the largest on the guitar) is written on the left. The highest pitched string (the thinnest on the guitar) is written on the right. Guitar chords are written in diagrams like this
F
E D A G B E
X 0 3 2 1 1
The X means that string is not struck. The numbers represent the fret at which you depress that string. 0 means the string is played open. So the F chord you would only strike 5 strings (not the low E). You leave the D string open. You depress the A string at the 3rd fret. You depress the G string at the 2nd fret and the B and high E strings are depressed at the 1st fret.
A#
E D A G B E
X 1 3 3 3 1
D
E D A G B E
X X 0 2 3 2
A
E D A G B E
X 0 2 2 2 0
C
E D A G B E
X 3 2 0 1 0
D#
E D A G B E
X X 5 3 4 3
G
E D A G B E
3 2 0 0 0 3
Later,
Powered by Yahoo! Answers