Q. I've been playing classical piano forever(I'm almost 15)!! I've done bits and pieces of different genres of music. But no jazz. I've grown up around lots of jazz and always admired jazz piano improv. So i started a jazz camp this week and they basically hand me music with tons of chords I don't recognize quickly and at least 4 flats per song. They expect me to sight-read which I am good at. But this is so much harder. I'm in a small ensemble where I am the only pianist and they want me to do random solos I can't keep up with. It's a complete mess... What should help?? How to improv or try to???
A. just do your best. Jazz _does_ require advanced skills that you won't pick up overnight, so don't expect too much of yourself; that'll just make this painful instead of fun.
This free booklet from Jamey Aebersold has a bunch of piano voicings around p 49... since you read well that should help you at least decipher the chord charts.
http://www.jazzbooks.com/mm5/download/FQBK-handbook.pdf
There's a lot of other great info as well, including tips on improvising, as well as the Charlie Parker story that everybody knows: how he got laughed off the bandstand when he was about 16 or 17. He later became one of the most influential jazz players of all time, for not just sax but everybody... there isn't a jazz player alive who hasn't studied Bird.
Sheet music question?
Q. I have recently downloaded a .pdf file, which contains a song I want to learn to play at my piano. But the sheet dosen't have two separate lines (one for your right hand and one for your left), but THREE of them.
Two of them are marked with the "right-hand" sign, the very elaborated capital G. The third one is for the left hand.
The top most seems to contain the melody itself, without any accords, just simple notes, while the two below seems to "fit together" better, with a more complicated design.
Now, is the top one made for another instrument, or do you somehow play all three at the same time? Or how the heck is this suppose to work?!
I demand answers!
...please?
also uploading an example of what I'm talking about (not the same song, but same stuff)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/696/sentochihironokamikakus.gif/
A. I'm going to give you several options on what I think it might be. Without further information I can't really narrow these options down to anything more specific, but I think you could figure it out.
1) The piano part is an accompaniment to a melody that is either sung or played by another instrument.
2) The composer or arranger desired to emphasize the melody on a separate staff.
I'm assuming the piano part is separated with the common piano staff bracket and is below the melody staff. Is this correct?
3) Another issue might be that this is originally a piano piece that has been specifically arranged for a particular accompanying instrument along with the piano. In this case, the piano part may be altered from the original to remove the melody while maintaining all of the other harmonic elements such that the separate instrument plays the intended melody by itself. If that's the case you might want to seek out a score that has just the original piano arrangement. Otherwise you may be missing something.
From the link you shared it looks like it's a piano accompaniment with melody intended for a 2nd instrument or voice. In that case the piece would not be complete without the other instrument or voice. You'll just be playing an accompaniment.
4) A lot of what they call "fake books" will include this sort of arrangement. If it's a pop song, the piano will be an arrangement of all the instruments involved in the original recording. Let's take a Beatles song for example: "Hey Jude." The piano part will be an arrangement, or an approximation of all the instrumental music on the recording of "Hey Jude." The top staff will be the melody part that is sung. It will usually include the lyrics below the staff, and guitar chord charts above the staff. Since you didn't state whether this is a pop song or a classical piece, this remains an option of what it might be.
There may be other options as well, but at the moment I can't think of any.
Am I supposed to strum all the guitar strings or just pluck the one?
Q. My mother bought me a guitar last Christmas and I recently went out and bought some beginner books to learn to play as I now have a lot of spare time on my hands. I'm using Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1 book at the moment.
The book is filled with sheet music which I can read as I played piano for many years, I'm just learning what string is which and where notes are but I'm at a slight predicament.
I'm starting with the E string and learning the notes E, F, and G. However do I just pluck that one string or am I supposed to be strumming them all from top to bottom?
It says;
E(Open)
F(1st Fret, 1st Finger)
G(1st Fret, 3rd Finger)
I'm playing the 1st-String Etude in the book;
It goes EEE F G E G(2 count) FF F(2 count) EEE EEE F G E G(2 count) FF GG E(2 count) E(2 count).
If it doesn't say 2 count(half note) beside it, its just your basic quarter note.
I've been strumming all the string while holding down the string I'm supposed to in the right places but it sounds so busy...just plucking the E string while playing those chords sounds more music refined but that just seems so simple?
Maybe I'm looking to much into it, but are you supposed to be strumming all the strings or just plucking the one?
A. Hello there,
The particular exercises you mention seem to be single note exercises and not chord strumming exercises. In the exercises, of course you play what ever strings they say to play. Overall, whether you play single notes or strum 2 or more strings depends on the sound you want. The options are many and that is what makes playing so versatile. You can create a great many sounds to work into your music. Do keep up with the exercises in the books. However, give this a try also. Here is a link to a video lesson at Youtube. This guy has a series of 12 video lessons and you can find them all there at Youtube. He covers the basics very well. He uses an electric guitar in the lessons, but most of the material translates very well to the acoustic. Oh by the way, he talks about sending you lessons and going to his website. You no longer need to do that. All 12 lessons are now on Youtube. He used to email the lessons to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxhxIV0I5T8&feature=related
Also, you need to learn to read tabs. Tabs is a shorthand method of writing guitar music and is widely used these days.
http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/lessons/the-basics/how-to-read-guitar-tab/
Here is a chord chart. Down load this PDF file to your computer. It is handy when you need to see how some chord is played.
http://www.guitarnotes.com/guitar/notes2/ultimate11.shtml
We used to have to buy chord books to get this information. Now it is available free on the internet.
Later,
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Title : jazz piano HELP!!!!!?
Description : Q. I've been playing classical piano forever(I'm almost 15)!! I've done bits and pieces of different genres of music. But no ja...