Q. I'm in my thirties and I play guitar. I just got a 61 key electronic keyboard for the holidays. I need suggestions for good beginning piano books appropriate for my age. The book stores and Amazon have nothing. I guess that I need to go to a community college bookstore or something.
A. What kind of music do you like? There are two routes you can take: Classical or Contemporary.
Classical although more complex and sophisticated is in my opinion easier to learn ( at first) becase it is more detailed and self explanatory. Once you learn how to read, sheet music. You can pick up a work by chopin and little by little start playing (poor technique though, but audible).
Contemporary styles are very very difficult to teach yourself (I speak from experience). You have to decipher chord symbols, study rhythms, harmonize melodies, memorize chord progressions, hand inversions, all instantaneously if you want it too sound good.
Honestly, a teacher is your best bet. Believe me you'll knock yrs off your quest.
But if your like me, who wants to be self taught: Let me recommend:
Piano for dummies (good introductory stuff)
Contemporary music theory (lv 1,2)
" " " " ear training
Pop piano book
all by mark harrison (awesome books!)
Jamie aebersold books (there are alot, but its play along, his methods have been proven, and you can start IMPROVISING the standards and classic jazz tunes.
For classical music:
I don't know any good books honestly, ther are so many methods out there. Personally once I learned how to read music (youd be surprise how quickly you can pick it up) all you have to do is get the sheet music for whatever it is you want to play (bach, beethoven, mozart, chopin, whatever)
let them be your teachers, everything is in the sheet music.
Anyway good luck!
BTW, you got a good headstart, since you already play the guitar. You have a good grasp of chords and progressions. This will aid you in piano. That 61 keyboard you got is good for the beginning but you should consider after awhile, if your still into it to at least getting a 76 keyboard one. That way you'll avoid frustrations when you see that there aren't enough keys to play a piece that you started (like moonlight sonata).
How to make guitar chords played on the piano sound like a song?
Q. I play in the praise band at my school, you guessed it, on the keyboard. The only music I have is the guitar chords. Before you say it, I already know how to play guitar chords on piano. That isn't my problem. My problem is that it just sounds like I'm play guitar chords, and it's sounds stupid and boring.
Is there any easy way to jazz it up a bit to where it sounds like a song? And no, I cannot get the sheet music for most of the songs.
A. I play a lot of keyboard, and I also write many of my own parts off of the guitar chord progressions. What I often do when I`m writing my own lines is outline the basic chord in the left hand and then play on the tones a bit more in the right. like, I might play the root and fifth of the chord in the left hand, and noodle around with the third, seventh and ninth in the right. One thing to keep in mind: Since you`re performing with guitars, they will likely be doing the main outlining of the chords, which leaves you free to get as creative as you want as long as you stay in the right key. so, for example, one thing you can try to make it more interesting is to really pull the chords apart between the two hands and several octaves of the piano; instead of just playing a solid chord, make it into running eighth notes. you can make up all sorts of neat patterns that compliment the vocal/melody line. Just get really used to hearing the chord progressions and get a feel for what notes fit in where, and have fun with it! :)
How do I learn what guitar chords to play in order to jam in a certain key.?
Q. I know scale positions on a guitar but how do I learn which chords can be played in a certain key? I want to be able to jam with chords, not just play solos.
A. Doing this well requires a good knowledge of music theory, but here is a basic stuff to get you started:
You first need to find the relative major scale of key you are using. For example, G is the relative major to E min because they have the same notes, just a different order. C is the relative major to A min, ect.
If you are in a major key, the distance between the notes should be as follows
I-whole-ii-whole-iii-half-IV-whole-V7-whole-vi-whole-viidim-half-I
The "wholes" represent two half steps (two frets) and the "halfs" represent one half step, or one fret. For example, F# is one half step above F. G is one whole step above F.
When counting up, remember what a piano looks like - there is no black key between B/C and between E/F. This means that F is one half step up from E.
Now that you have your scale, you find the chords. If you look at the spacing chart above, you'll notice some roman numerals are capitalized - this means they are major chords. The lower case are minor chords. The V7 means a 7th chord (you can do major or minor depending on the style of music [ie jazz uses min7]) You can also just play a major chord if you don't want to get fancy. The viidim is a tricky chord. It is REALLY hard to figure in melodically. Many people just use vii instead.
To sum it all up, let me give an example. Let's say we have the Emin scale. I'd want to find the relative major scale - G. The notes in G are G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G. The chords, therefore, are G Amin Bmin C D (or D7) Emin F#min (or F#dim) G.
There is quite a bit more to this on when to use 6th chords, and augmented chords, and more....but you need to know the basics first. Every song can be jammed to or played with basic chords. Making them more complex will add style once you get the basic chord progression down.
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Title : Any suggestions for good beginning piano books?
Description : Q. I'm in my thirties and I play guitar. I just got a 61 key electronic keyboard for the holidays. I need suggestions for good beginnin...