Learn Piano Online

Play Piano Instantly - Even If You Don't Know Where Middle C Is!

2008-01-20T21:45:00.001-08:00

So, you've been dying to play the piano. But you don't want to spend years learning how to read music. Of course you don't! And you won't have to IF you learn a chord-based approach to playing the piano.

Here's a method I use to get my students playing piano in a flash. First, you need to learn a few chords. But not just any chord type. No. The chord type I have my students learn first is something called the open position chord. And with it, you'll be able to create your own unique music right away!

The open position chord is exactly what its name implies. It's a chord structure that covers more than 2 octaves of the keyboard AND uses both hands right away. If you don't know what an octave is, not to worry. Suffice it to say that 2 octaves are over 16 white keys. It's a handful to play this chord structure but once you master it, you'll be well on your way to unlocking the secrets of keyboard harmony.

So, how exactly can we use this chord to create music with? Easy. Take a look at my free piano lesson "Reflections in Water" (available by clicking below.) The first thing you notice about this lesson is that it's unusual. It's not your typical piano lesson by far. In fact, you might even think it looks like an art lesson - and you'd be right! I specifically designed the lessons using a step by step approach that many art instruction books use.

The lesson contains four open position piano chords with fingering diagrams. The beautiful thing about this chord structure is that once you master it, you can easily use it to play ALL the chords in all 12 keys. The first thing I ask you to do is play the chords - first all tones together (solid chords) and then with the tones broken up (broken chords.)

Once you have this chord structure under your fingers and you've developed a muscle memory for it, the rest is easy!

In the lesson "Reflections in Water," we use this chord structure to improvise a few minutes of music. The chord progression is laid out for you and all you have to do is simply follow along. I also provide audio examples so you can hear how I used the same chords to improvise with.

If you really want to play piano in a flash and don't want to wait, try the open position piano chord. You won't be disappointed!

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

Learn to Play Piano Fast!

2008-01-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

If you?ve ever wanted to learn to play piano, you are in good company. Many people list ?Learn to play the piano? on their New Year?s Resolution lists, or have it as a goal for their future. However, not many people take the steps necessary to learn how to play.

The sad part is that taking the time to learn to play piano has many advantages. In all actuality, with the right method, learning to play doesn?t take as much time as most people expect.

I believe that everyone can benefit from having some musical ability. The piano is one of the most versatile instruments. With a few simple lessons, you can learn to play:

Classical
Swing
Jazz
New Age
Rock/Pop

I can guarantee that you will never get bored playing the piano. There is always a new style to try, or a new song to master. Plus, sheet music is most likely available for your favorite songs, which makes the process even more fun.

Playing the piano is seen as a very intelligent skill, and with good reason. The skills you master when you learn to play piano will help increase your hand eye coordination and improve your left and right brain thinking. There is always something new to learn when you learn to play piano.

Just by learning a few songs on the piano, you?ll exercise your brain and gain a reputation as a semi-genius!

One of the fastest and most satisfying ways to learn to play piano is taking a chord-based approach. Most piano teachers will teach from a classical method. This includes those infamous scales, learning to read music, playing Fur Elise again and again?..all the (boring) things we typically think of when we picture piano lessons.

The classical method does work, but it takes forever?.which is why most teachers focus on this approach. Think about it. If you were a teacher, charging $40 an hour, would you go with a method that will take your students years to master? Or would you choose a method that has them improvising their own music and understanding musicianship within a few months?

I?d personally go with the option that will guarantee me long-term clients who will pay me $40 a week for years on end.

Learning to play by chords, however, is better for the students and not the teachers. If your goal is to learn to play piano, a chord-based approach to learning will give you more satisfaction, more quickly than the classical method. Your time-spent learning will be greatly reduced and, better yet, you?ll actually understand how music is created.

So find a teacher, or website, that focuses on chord-based teaching, and you?ll be able to finally reach your perpetual ?learn to play piano? goal.

Learn To Play Piano Online- Free Piano Lessons, Lesson Reviews and much more...Claim your Free Piano Lessons eBook at http://www.learntoplaypianoonline.com/

Is It Really Possible To Play The Piano By Ear?

2008-01-17T21:33:00.002-08:00

Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along. And even after these musicians master their instruments or a particular song, playing by ear still plays a large role.

Many pop and rock bands don't play or write their songs based on sheet music, they figure the songs out by playing by ear. It's even common among non-musicians. Ever sit down a piano and mindlessly pick out the tune to "Mary Had a Little Lamb"? What about grabbing a guitar and suddenly finding yourself playing the opening licks to "Smoke on the Water"? That's playing by ear. You're able to play part of the song just because you've heard it so often.

Playing by ear is a valuable technique for many musicians; learning songs based solely on hearing them is a great way to understand song and chord structure. In fact, a great number of rock and pop musicians learned to play their instruments this way. Instead of picking up a book or taking lessons, they concentrated on figuring out the notes and rhythms to a song until it was mastered. Then they moved on to another song. And another. Gradually, they learned their instrument just by playing by ear -- and in the process learned how to effectively structure a song in that particular genre.

Playing by ear is also beneficial in helping a musician develop his or her own style; sure, they'll at first mimic the style of the song they're imitating, but the amalgamation of the music that they're playing by ear will help them create something distinctive, something indicative of them only. Though classical musicians are generally educated based on tons of music theory and sight reading, some methods rely on playing by ear. The Suzuki method of musical training, for instance, claims that learning music is the same as learning a language; it's acquired by years of hearing it, eventually coupled with formal training. Just like we pick up our language by listening to our parents and subsequently attending school, we can learn music by playing by ear and later taking formal lessons.

So can the average person ever hope to play their piano by ear? Maybe not to the degree that some extremely talented musicians do, but anyone can learn enough about the basics of playing by ear if they learn the following skills:

Being able to hear a tune and have a general sense of the contour of the melody -- when the tune moves higher or lower as the song progresses.

Learning to chart that melody contour either on paper or in their memory.

Learning to match the melody to appropriate chords.

Playing by ear is really a combination of of three factors:

1. Using your tonal memory to recall music you have heard:
2. Using your ears and fingers to help you reproduce what you recall;
3. Using "melody contour" (the "shape" of the tune), "chord structure" (how to form the chords on the keyboard to match the tune), and "chord progressions" (the path chords take as they move through a song).

Obviously, the first 2 steps you can take more or less by yourself -- you can mentally rehearse recalling a particular tune; you can sit at the piano for hours and through trial and error pick out tunes, chords, and rhythms. But the real key to playing by ear is learning how to chart the shape of a tune, learn how to construct chords, and then determine the likelihood of chord progressions -- in other words, which chord comes next.

When you get an understanding of step three, you will be in a MUCH better position to understand and profit from steps one and two!

For more info on playing the piano by ear, please go to "How To Play Piano By Ear!" In addition, a series of 101 free email lessons on playing by ear & piano chords is available at "Exciting Piano Lessons on Musical Form & Playing Piano By Ear & Sizzling Chord Progressions!"

How To Play Piano Despite Years Of Lesson

2008-01-17T21:33:00.001-08:00

Why is it that after years of studying something as a child, we forget later in life what we learned? Such is the common question of how to play piano despite years of lesson. Here i get you back to playing music even if you think you've lost it, and have begun to give up on how to play piano despite years of lesson.

First, realize that you have had lesson in piano, years of it perhaps, and that DOES count for a whole lot. How to play piano despite years of lesson entails mentally realizing that you really are only a step or two away from being able to play piano. The problem is that it seems like that first step is a big hurdle, and obviously a frustrating one having already had lesson, but unable to play.

Second: Start slow, do scales. Get the basic scales out and go through them. It took me actually having to number my keyboard at first, i had forgotten so much. From there i was able to translate the numbers to notes, and the scales began to get familiar. So often in trying to figure how to play piano despite years of lesson we don't want to succumb back to the simple things. This scale practice is also preparation for the next step.

Third. Twinkle twinkle little star. That's correct. I can't think of a better way to get back in the game and figure how to play piano despite years of lesson than to go back to a simple melody or song and start playing it over and over. This connects everything - the notes, fingerings, melody and sound - all together as one, and the simplest route is by practicing a simple children's song. Again the hardest part is going to mentally get over the hurdle of playing little kids songs when you "feel" as if you should be playing grander pieces. But if one wants to get to grander pieces and answer the question of how to play piano despite years of lesson, then one has to bite the bullet and get back to raw basics.

Finally, one should research new ways of learning to play piano! Since most people last took lessons years ago, they may not realize that new methods or techniques have come out that can cut to the chase much more clearly and quickly than before. From teachers to online courses, there are different outlets and methods to now explore while realizing how to play piano despite years of lesson is definitely an achievable goal!

Quick and Easy Piano learning methods do now exist. Check out http://www.squidoo.com/easy-piano-play/ for Chess's blog to further find out how to play piano despite years of lesson. Thanks so much for reading and feel free to check out http://www.squidoo.com/easy-piano-play/ Thanks!

Don't Let Playing Piano In Front Of An Audience Intimidate You

2008-01-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

I remember very well the first time I ever played piano in front of what seemed like a large audience. In reality, it was probably a fairly small audience, but I was nervous regardless, as I was just a young kid. My time on stage that day didn't really last very long, but it seemed like an eternity. I wasn't sure if I would even be able to complete my so-called performance. I wasn't sure exactly why I was nervous, because I knew I had practiced and was perfectly capable of playing the piano music that I had planned on playing.

After the performance I commented to my mother about how nervous I had been during the performance and I told her I didn't know why. Of course she told me I played the piano fine and that I didn't appear to be nervous. I knew otherwise. I realized later that my problem was that I felt self-conscious the whole time I was in front of that audience. I was concerned about what I looked like up there, what the music sounded like to the audience, what the audience and even my mom was thinking about my piano playing, and probably any other number of things that raced through my mind while I was playing piano on stage. I simply couldn't relax and enjoy the time.

How should I go about correcting this problem of being self-concious while playing the piano? For an overwhelming majority of people, performing in public in front of an audience can be a very frightening experience, but it shouldn't be. The idea is to keep playing, and eventually your confidence will grow and you won't have that fear when you perform. Some people just feel more confident playing the piano in front of an audience than other people do, and that's fine. There is nothing wrong with being nervous at all.

I think one of the best ways to overcome this is to just start playing piano in front of small audiences, even if only one or two people, and gradually work your way up to playing the piano in front of larger crowds. If you can play piano in front of just one person, then you can play piano for any large number of people too! You just have to realize that a large crowd is simply a group of smaller crowds and individuals. Rather than beginning your piano performing career in front of large crowds, where it's only natural to be a bit nervous, you should start by playing in front of small groups and you won't have to experience that fear nearly as much, and your confidence will grow without you hardly even noticing it. That confidence will show through when you start playing piano in larger venues for bigger audiences.

Todd Bridges is a life-long music fan and piano lover. His website is at http://www.perfect-piano.com

Teach Yourself How To Play Piano Despite Years Of Lessons

2008-01-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

So, you've taken piano lessons for years but you still can't play on your own.

You probably know the scales and can read off music sheets, but you can't just sit down at the piano and make music.

Don't worry. It's not your fault. You see, literally thousands of people are just like you. They've taken piano lessons for years and while they can play a piece by Bach or Beethoven, they can't for the life of them figure out how to create something original. Something that is not written by a dead composer or that isn't on music sheets.

Here's the solution? Learn a chord-based approach to playing piano!

What's that you ask? Simple. A chord-based approach allows you to think and play like the composers you can play so well off of sheet music. Chords and the Key they come from determine the sound of music.

You may think this approach takes a while to learn. Nope. Not at all. In fact, in my free lesson Reflections in Water, you learn how to play 4 chords right away - and you get to make your own music with them as well. In this lesson, you learn how to use open position chords in the Key of C major along with broken chord technique to create a calm, reflective mood! And best of all - you can do it now? right away - without having any piano playing experience whatsoever!

How is this accomplished? Through the use of chords and the scale in the Key of C major. You first learn the chords and the C major scale (which you probably already know) and begin to improvise with them. There are 2 audio tracks to this lesson that lets you hear exactly how it's done. Exciting? You bet. Difficult? Not at all. In fact, this may be the easiest, most fun lesson you'll ever get to play online!

Should I Learn To Play Piano, Keyboard Or Organ?

2008-01-12T01:06:00.000-08:00

The first thing to consider when choosing the instrument you want to learn is which one do you like the best. If you like them all, then we can move onto which one is the most practical for you.

The easiest and cheapest option is the keyboard. You can buy a keyboard for less then ?100.00 and you only need to learn to read music for the right hand. The left hand is made easy because you just learn left hand chords as you need them. Typically, you would start with C chord and G chord. With a keyboard, you should be playing a simple tune within a day, it?s that easy.

The piano is a more expensive option. If you buy a real piano (not electric) then you need the room, if you go for the electric option then you really should be looking at an 88 note keyboard especially if you intend taking exams. With piano sheet music, you will need to learn to read right hand (treble clef) and left hand (bass clef). You can expect to play a simple tune within a week, based on at least half an hour practice a day.

The electric organ can be a very expensive option if bought new, fortunately, there is a healthy second hand market and you can pick up a bargain. Like the piano, you need room for the organ because they are big and heavy. At the moment, there are no portable options available in the UK. However, you can import the Yamaha D-Deck organ or the Yamaha Electone Stagea organ, which are portable and very modern looking. The organ has two keyboards and a pedal board. The right hand plays the top keyboard the left hand plays the lower keyboard and your left foot plays the pedal board. It is initially more the most difficult to learn because you need to learn to play the bass pedals however when starting to learn the organ, like the keyboard you just need to learn to read music for the right hand and use chord symbols for the left hand and bass pedals.

I personally started on piano then moved to organ and I prefer the organ because of the vast amount of sounds. With a piano, you will only ever have a piano. If I had to answer the question for you then I would say start with a cheap keyboard. If you like it, move on to a bigger keyboard, a piano, or an organ, if not, it?s not cost you a lot of money to find out that this music lark is not for you.Michael David Shaw (Mike to his friends) runs the websites http://www.mikesmusicroom.co.uk, http://www.keyboardsheetmusic.co.uk and http://www.guitarmusicbooks.co.uk

Learn To Play Amazing Grace With Piano Tabs

2008-01-10T21:54:00.001-08:00

You can learn to play popular melodies without sheet music. Today you will learn to use piano tab notation to learn a popular song!

Piano tabs show you where to play the notes on the piano. We will today use the numbers 1 to 8 to help you find the notes.

First we will locate the note 1. It is the note that is found to the left of two black keys. There are many such places on a piano but I suggest that you choose a number one somewhere in the middle of the keyboard.

The note 1 is also called C. The notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8 are also called C D E F G A B and C.

The note named 2 in our piano tab notation is the white key immediately to the right of 1. Then note 3 is the white key to the right of 2 and so on.

Let's start by taking a look at the lyrics for the first verse:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

We will start to play the melody to the first line of lyrics:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

1 4 6 4 6 5 4 2 1

This type of piano tab does not tell you the length of the notes. If you sing the lyrics you will probably feel how long the notes should be.

Time for the next line:

That saved a wretch like me

1 4 6 4 6 5 6 8

Maybe you are using your right hand index finger to play all notes and I guess it works with this easy melody. I suggest that you try to use all right hand fingers to play the melody, including the thumb.

This will help you prepare for more difficult piano pieces and when you get used to play this way you will feel that it is in fact easier to play this way.

Here are the next piano tab:

I once was lost, but now am found

6 8 6 4 6 5 4 2 1

The last line is here:

Was blind, but now I see

1 4 6 4 6 5 4

If you want to play chords with your left hand I will give you three piano chords that will work with the song.

I will write them down with the same piano tab notation you already know but you of course have to play the chords starting with a 1 note somewhere to the left of the numbers you use for the melody:

F: 1 4 6

Bb: 2 4 7b

C7: 1 3 7b

7b means that you instead of playing on the white 7 key should play the black key to the left of the white key 7.

In the following text I have placed the chord names in parenthesis immediately before the syllable on which to play the chord:

A-(F)mazing Grace, how (Bb)sweet the (F)sound
That (F)saved a wretch like (C7)me
I (F)once was lost, but (Bb)now am (F)found
Was (F)blind, but (C7)now I (F)see

As my old piano teacher used to say, learn one thing at a time. Start with learning the right hand melody by heart, line by line. Learn to play the chords by heart and then try to sing the song together with the chords.

When you have learned to sing the song with the chords by heart it's time to combine the melody with the chords. By now it should be easy.

Peter Edvinsson invites you to download your free piano sheet music, guitar tabs, ebooks, music lessons and read his music blog at Capotasto Music.

Learn to PLay Piano By Ear - Left Hand Techniques

2008-01-10T21:53:00.001-08:00

The tenth (10th) chord is an excellent technique you can use on your left hand. The 10th chord is basically following this:

Every major chord is made up of the numbers 1-3-5 of the scale played simultaneously. Basically, the 10th chord is made up of these three numbers inverted and played either simultaneously or in a "roll" form.

1-5-3 (the 3 actually becomes the 10)

For example:

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
1 2 3 4 7 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

That means that on the left hand you would play C-G-E. Now this may be rather hard for some of you. In fact, when I started playing the 10th chord I have to "roll" it until my fingers stretched out enough to play it as a chord. (I'll focus on stretching exercises later.)

HOW DO I USE THE 10th CHORD ON SLOW TO MODERATE SONGS?

The most common way of using the 10th chord is to use it on the left hand on most "down" beats. It creates a wonderful full sound. Another common way to use the 10th chord is in a roll. This would mean the pianist would create the rhythm to the song playing the following numbers:

Moving up the keyboard: 1-5-3-5-1 (repeat)

So, if you were in the key of C and you were in the C chord change, while your right hand is playing the melody to the song, the left hand would follow the pattern above and would look like this:

Moving up the keyboard: C-G-E-G-C

When you get to the F chord change:

Moving up the keyboard: F-C-A-C-F

Wow! What a difference in the full sound it gives! Try the 10th run!

Matthew Stephens has been playing the piano for over 27 years and giving piano lessons by ear for 17. Learn more about him at http://www.thepianobyear.com

Being Piano Man - Tips for Teaching Yourself to Play Piano Easily

2008-01-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

The piano is an exquisite musical instrument that may be a bit intimidating to learn but is worth every sweat, time and money you'll spend. If you want to teach yourself to play piano easily and fast, start now. The earlier you begin, the better you'll be and the earlier you'll be able to play a favorite piece. Here's how you can start:

Decide on your piano playing.

If you want to teach yourself to play piano easily, you need to decide what kind of piano player you want to be. If you want to be a concert pianist playing Mozart or Tchaikovsky, you will have to learn how to read notes and somewhere down the line, probably take formal lessons, if only for the technique. But if you only want to learn the piano so you can accompany a singer or compose your own song, you can start with chords, which is arguably the easier way to start playing.

There are also different styles of piano playing you might want to concentrate on ? classical, jazz, blues, new age, etc. You can learn one or several of these styles in the future once you're familiar with the instrument itself.

Have access to a piano.

To teach yourself to play piano easily you need access to a piano. A piano is a bit expensive, but you don?t have to buy one to be able to teach yourself to play piano easily. There are many sources you can tap for free ? local clubs, schools, churches, even friends and neighbors who might be willing to let you use their piano.

If you're a little shy and want to practice at home, get a portable electronic keyboard to learn to play piano easily. There are some very inexpensive ones that work as well as a Korg or a Roland. These keyboards even allow you to plug a headphone so no one else hears your playing. Just buy one with full-sized keys because the really cheap ones can have smaller-sized keys. If your fingers get used to smaller keys, you might have some trouble adjusting if you begin playing a full-sized piano in the future.

Get your lesson.

A piano lesson is never far away. There are numerous books, CDs and online lessons you can tap to help you to teach yourself to play piano easily. There are some videos and audio instructional sources you can use.

You can get free or paid lessons easily and can even access some of the most popular music to learn. Because we all learn differently, it's important that you find the lesson that you feel most comfortable with to teach yourself to play piano easily.

Have a back up.

There are times when you might get stumped on a lesson simply because you don?t get it or are not using the right technique. If this happens, find a different resource you can use for reference to teach yourself to play piano easily such as a different website, book or video or just simply ask someone if you're playing the piano correctly.

Practice.

Nobody learned to play the piano practicing only when they felt like it. Even the virtuosos played the piano as often as they can. Playing this instrument requires teaching your hand and mind to remember motions and learn to associate notes with the black and white keys on the piano. Practice for at least half an hour everyday or about 4 to 5 days a week is one way to teach yourself to play piano easily.

Learning to play the piano doesn?t mean you have to be born with talent nor do you have to be as young as your niece or grandchild. Anyone who has normal mental and physical abilities can teach himself to learn to play piano easily and succeed. Piano playing is as much a learned skill as it is a talent. If you can teach yourself the skill, you're halfway there.

Do you want to discover the astonishing, step-by-step secrets of how to play the piano with the rhythm, timing and magic of a professional? You're going to save time, money, and aggravation. You'll learn to avoid the mistakes and disastrous situations that you've been vulnerable to. Teach yourself to play piano easily visit Rocket Piano -The Ultimate Piano Learning Kit at Learn To Play Music Instruments

Gerry Restrivera writes informative articles on various subjects including Being Piano Man: Tips for Teaching Yourself to Play Piano Easily. You are allowed to publish this article in its entirety provided that author?s name, bio and website links must remain intact and included with every reproduction.

Tickle The Ivory And Play That Piano

2008-01-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

When most people think of learning how to play piano, they already have a certain style in mind. When learning the piano it doesn?t matter if you learn on a baby grand or a bar type of piano, both will do, the more important thing is to learn how to play. You like the way it looks and sounds but you're too afraid to approach the task of learning how to play it. This is most peoples fear.

Many children in piano lessons are not getting the proper training every piano student needs to benefit from their lessons. It is sad, however, that many children in after school programs offering piano lessons fail to learn, because the children are stretched so thin between all the activities they are in.

Beginning piano students feel the same way and have more control over their progress than they often realize. For some reason students often overlook this important part of piano study. But students have difficulty believing this because when learning something new it is much harder to see how much easier it is to learn when you enjoy what you are doing.

Beginning piano students can become focused on reading the notes and finding the right keys on the piano and miss the point of playing ? to make the music sound, well, musical. Most students don't want to wait years before they can create music. There are many ideas to help beginning piano students energize their music and bring it to life with personality and style, the best place to find these ideas is on the internet.

Many parent do not push the classical pieces of music, they rather have their children play more popular pieces of music because the parents thinks the classical pieces will be to hard. With any type of training it always better to push a little, you would be surprised what your children are capable of.

Many people think all you really need is knowledge of a few chords and how to play them. So people like to memorize the primary chords by using an associating method with acronyms which will help remember the chords. This is a good way to learn in the short run but in the long run practice, practice, practice is the only way to get better at the piano.

Here is a quick tip that will help when learning the piano. When playing the piano you can push the damper pedal and it will raise the hammers and the string will have nothing touching them, so when the hammers don?t touch the strings the sound will continue and not stop.

To find a good teacher is not as hard as you think, talk to friends look in the phone book or check online, teacher are usually anywhere from $30 to $60 an hour depending on the teacher and the studio. A good piano teacher is very important to find. If you find the right teacher the learning process is that much easier.

David Marc Fishman is the owner of audition site for singers . The online talent shows

Play it again and play it right - a piano does not just have to stay in tune

2008-01-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

Melbourne Pianos will sound different to Sydney Pianos. It can be the same manufacturer and exactly the same right down to the smallest detail, but because of environment, atmospherics, altitude and humidity, the same Piano will sound totally different.

This is perhaps overkill, many piano players play because they enjoy what a piano brings - entertainment, and it is really only at the high level of concert pianists who are concerned over the difference in sound between venues, however the reason for this article is not how a piano sounds, but rather if a piano is right for you?

The joy of playing is also the joy of playing a piano that fits you and your expectations. For many years I have been placing people with pianos, and yes, I have matched concert pianos to concert pianists and good friendships have flourished. David Helfgott is a good friend who I've known since before he was famous. He and I both in obscurity and look at him now!

If you are looking to buy a piano, you are looking at an investment and something that should bring joy to you and your family. Pianos are affordable and the range, styles and sounds available are varied, like I said, if you're a perfectionist; what sounds good in Sydney may not sound so great in Melbourne (although the Piano can be retuned).

The best way to buy a piano is to sit and try it before you commit your self. By going to see a range of pianos you'll get a good idea as to what will work for you, try and find a large showroom with a great selection - I have customers come from interstate my showroom! and you can see what I mean by a selection, have a look at my website on http://www.pianoworld.com.au/

You'll also find the advice of a professional piano retailer invaluable. I've been selling pianos for years and I have seen many of my customers return as they continue to trade up to the next level piano, this takes years to achieve, so your piano retailer should take the time to get to know you and what will fit your style.

Brought to you by Hans Heshusius.

J.Victor Essling has written this for Hans Heshusius who has owned and run Austral Piano World for the last 20 years and can be found at 245-247 Lower Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe East, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Telephone 03 9497 2616 http://www.pianoworld.com.au/

Online piano lessons- How to play popular piano in 10 easy lessons

2008-01-07T21:54:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt, the piano is one of the most beautiful instruments to play and listen to. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions as to how difficult it is to play and therefore many people don't take the first step out of fear of failure. We've been conditioned to believe that traditional methods of learning, such as reading music and practicing scales are the only way to learn and this is not entirely true.

Learning piano without years of lessons is not difficult, however it's important that students understand that learning to play requires daily practice and a lot of discipline and for many, this is difficult. Fortunately, we have options today and thanks to the Internet we have the ability to invite a virtual tutor right into your living room at any given time via the online piano lesson

Do interactive piano lessons really work? Traditionalist will say this system of learning is flawed, but you can't argue with the results people are having and they are impressive. Traditional lessons typically run 30 minutes long once or twice a week at a rough cost of $20 per lesson. The online or interactive lesson has a one time cost and you have the luxury of "hiring" you tutor at any time. As with anything, you're going to have to do you homework before you purchase a home study course.

So are there actually 10 easy lessons to play popular piano? Perhaps there are, but keep in mind that practice and discipline are just important.

Finding the right online piano lesson is as simple if you know where to look. Learn how to really play piano despite years of lessons

http://www.piano-lessons.consumer-reporter.com

Want To Know How To Play A Piano First Decide What Kind Of Piano You Need

2008-01-04T22:16:00.001-08:00

If you've decided that it is time for you buy a piano then you should start looking for what kind of piano you want to buy. Do you want something that will be smaller or something that will be something that can make a statement To start with it might be easier to know what kind of pianos you can buy.

You can start with an upright piano. These will help you save room.

Spinet: this is a piano that is 36 to 38 inches tall and 58 inches wide. Because of its size most people pick this kind of piano because it can fit into limited space.

Console: slightly larger then the Spinet. You'll be able to find this type in different styles and colors.

Studio: This is the kind of piano that you see in music school. Because of it's larger size it will be durable and have a very good sound quality.

Upright: this is the tallest amount the vertical pianos. This might be the kind of piano you're grandparents might have used.

The next type of pianos is horizontal pianos.

Petite Grand: this is the smallest of the horizontal pianos. It is small, but very powerful.

Baby Grand: this is a very popular piano to buy. This piano can be from four feet to five feet.

Medium Grand: larger then the baby grand.

Parlor Grand: this type of piano range in size from five feet to six feet. You'll have to make sure you have room for a piano this size.

Semi-concert or Ballroom: the next size up from a Parlor Grand. This one is around 7 feet long.

All the pianos might be the right one for you to start playing. But you should make sure that you find the right piano for you. Besides looking at the type of pianos you should make sure that they have the right price. Researching what kind price range might help in deciding also.

It might be worth it to spend a little extra money to get a better piano. You can also make sure that you have the enough room to show off you're new piano. Most of all pick a piano that you know you'll play and have fun playing it.

Victor C. is an Engineer in Computer Systems who loves to read and write about any subject, as long as it's interesting and useful for the reader.

Besides his love for computers, he loves to play piano, guitar and sing at his curche's chorus.

If you love music too, specially the great piano, you have to check out => http://www.the-best-on-line.com/music/piano.html You'll love what you'll find there!

How To Play A Piano

Learn To Play Piano Online

2008-01-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to teach children piano without them hating it and quitting?

The answer to both questions is surprisingly Yes, but a few warnings apply. In a nutshell, "Learn to Play the Piano" courses and software are now ubiquitous, and while some packages are amazingly effective, others are just short of being outright scams.

Caveat Emptor:

Do NOT waste your time, money and energy on "Learn Piano" scams or bad products!

You will be amazed at what an effective program can do to your singing. No matter if you are a complete novice or a seasoned pro - there are a program or two out there that can really help you. These Effective products will:

Teach you to play your favorite songs in a matter of hours or days.

Continue improving your playing skills, to advanced or professional levels.

Train your ear for "play by ear" occasions, while teaching how to read sheet music.

Offer tips & tricks for various playing situations (solo, jamming, etc.)

Be fun and easy to follow.

Offer a true money back guarantee.

However, Bad products frequently:

Leave you playing like a novice, repeating a few chords.

Are misguiding, and teach you bad playing habits.

Are badly produced, difficult to use, boring.

Take your money and practice time, leaving you feeling like a fool.

The problem is that sifting the good from the bad is difficult, as even awful products may come wrapped in shiny, tempting web sites. For many products, the only way to find out that they are scams is to fall into them. To help you find your way through the market, the Review team of experts performed hands-on tests of numerous piano lessons programs currently on offer. We also contacted some of the people behind the products, to assess our findings better. The following web pages provide in-depth reviews of the four top-rated learn piano courses, plus one top-rated auxiliary software product. The reviews are followed by our Conclusions where we compare these products to each, and by important Buying Tips.

The four top-rated courses are:

Piano By Pattern, by Albert Edge

Rocket Piano and Rocket Piano Gospel Method, by Ashleigh Southam

Power Piano Chords, by Duane Shinn

Piano Is Fun, by Anthony Fernando

The auxiliary software product is:

Instant Keyboard Chord Finder, by Duane Shinn

Although we tested numerous other courses, software packages and programs, these did not make the cut. To avoid data overkill (and legal issues from sore losers), the also-rans and scams are not listed here. You may of course try other products, but we strongly advise you to be very cautious in doing so, as your chances of unknowingly falling upon a bad product and wasting your time, energy and money, are enormous.

Jay Bo is a pianist/composer and webmaster of business,health and product reviewer. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://piano4dummys-at.blogspot.com for a piano lesson!

How To Learn To Play Piano Efficiently And Easily By Mimicking Professional Piano Players

2008-01-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

The best way to learn a language is to imitate native speakers. Likewise, the best way to learn the piano is to imitate professional piano players.

When you learn a foreign language, you try to converse with those who speak the language fluently. Hopefully, youll pick up the right intonation, phrasing, accent, and pronunciation. The more you imitate, the more fluent you become.

Learning the piano is no different. Music is a language. As such, it has intonation, phrasing, dynamics, etc. But the key to mastering the piano, like mastering a verbal language, is to acquire good habits from the start. This is why its important to learn from someone who has already mastered the language of piano. Many beginning piano students fall into the trap of learning by themselves without the proper guidance to master the fundamentals. The following pointers help to get beginning students into the right track to becoming competent piano players.

Seek out a good piano teacher who does not hesitate to let you imitate his/her skills. Ask yourself this question is he/she going to teach me the necessary skills to become a well rounded player or is he/she just going to teach me the same old Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star like many other old school teachers do. If you go with self study, make sure you choose a system that emphasizes the imitation technique.

Learn the fundamentals take your time to learn the basics. When you first learn a foreign language, you dont try to converse in full sentences right away. You start out with one letter at a time, one syllable at a time. Then you put syllables together to form one word, and then you put words together to form sentences. Before long youre able to communicate with your fellow students. Likewise, when you start out learning the piano, learn one hand at a time, then hands together; one chord structure at a time, then chord progressions. Simply and joyfully.

Choose a method that de-emphasizes note reading and encourages chord style playing and playing by ear. Im not saying that you should not learn how to read note, but if you want to start playing hundreds of songs, start learning chord style piano. Chords are much easier to learn and master. With only a few chords you can play many pop songs pretty quickly. And if you are so inclined to learn classical piano later on, you can always focus on pure reading then.

Have fun or else just because you are starting out learning the piano, doesnt mean you cant have fun. This is important if you want to keep playing the piano for years down the road. Many students give up early because they dont have fun. Unfortunately, traditional methods that teach rote memory and emphasize on sight reading tend to discourage this important element. Thanks to todays technology and other alternative piano methods that focus on chord style piano playing, students learn to play and have fun from day one. Some online piano methods incorporate audio, video, and computer games to help the beginning students learn better and faster.

The key to learning to play the piano well is not about suffer first then enjoy later, but to enjoy it now - from day one! It doesnt have to take 6 months before you start having fun. Take all the time you need, but enjoy every moment of it now.

Alex Nguyen is the Rapid Piano Expert who has been playing the piano for over 20 years. Now hes helping others learn to play the piano rapidly and enjoy it from day one. To get your FREE mini report The 7 Most Powerful Tips To Learning The Piano Rapidly, and learn how you can get personal piano coaching from Alex for FREE for a very limited time, go to http://www.RapidPiano.com

Learn To Play Piano - It's Possible If You Want

2008-01-02T01:03:00.001-08:00

Who hasn?t heard a piano with admiration? and how many of those admiring a piano melody ever wished they could play this famous instrument as good as the performer. The piano is widely used in western music for solo performance, chamber music, and accompaniment in a number of genres. It is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal. Though piano is not portable and it?s often expensive, it?s versatility and ubiquity has made of it one of the most familiar of all musical instruments.

Among the greatest performers we can find; Haydn, the immortals Mozart and Beethoven and Romantic composers such as Listz, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms. Of course piano is not only played in classical music. This instrument has a great versatility that allows it to be played in a number of diverse genres as jazz and pop music.

Of course the personalities mentioned above belong to those ne in a life time performers. But you don?t need to be one of them to play piano well where ever you want. At home or somewhere public. You just need to have the discipline and right techniques to learn the basics and build over them. To learn to play piano is not an impossible task for any one. It?s something that is perfectly doable and attainable for you.

Many experts day that he best way to learn piano is to look for someone who will teach you ?piano fluency?. This is finding a method that will train you to use your ear to bring you to the stage where you can play virtually any piano song that you hear. Making the playing of the piano a natural performance of your senses.

Private piano lessons can cost $30 an hour and more. Imagine if you did not need a piano tutor at all, how much would you save?http://www.askingplanet.com/Play-Piano

Beginner Piano Tunes: Music and Lyrics of Auld Lang Syne and How to Play It on the Piano with Ease!

2008-01-01T21:34:00.001-08:00

Try out this free printable beginner piano lesson for learning to play the old favorite song, Auld Lang Syne, for New Year's Eve! This article includes both the lyrics and music.

You will find it surprisingly easy to learn how to play Auld Lang Syne! It is one of a special selection of tunes that can be played on a five-note piano scale called the Pentatonic Scale.

'Auld Lang Syne', meaning 'Times Gone By' or 'Days Gone By', is a traditional song sung on New Year's Eve in many countries. The words were written by the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns.

Lyrics of Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And here's a hand, my trusty friend
And gie's a hand o' thine
We'll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Melody of Auld Lang Syne

Did you know that the tune of Auld Lang Syne can be played on just the five different black notes of your piano or keyboard? The black notes on your piano keyboard are arranged in two different groups: sets of two black notes and sets of three black notes.

From left to right, the names of these notes are:

-- In each set of two black notes: C# and D#

-- In each set of three black notes: F#, G# and A#.

To play Auld Lang Syne, begin on the C# black note that is just to the right of Middle C.

Here is how the melody goes:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
C# F# F# F# A# G# F# G#

and never brought to mind?
A# G# F# F# A# C# D#

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
D# C# A# A# F# G# F# G#

and days of auld lang syne?
A# G# F# D# D# C# F#

For auld lang syne, my dear,
D# C# A# A# F# G# F# G#

for auld lang syne,
D# C# A# A# C# D#

we'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
D# C# A# A# F# G# F# G#

for auld lang syne.
A# G# F# D# D# C# F#

This rather haunting melody is special because it is written on the five note pentatonic scale. Another pentatonic scale tune that can be played in a similar way, on the black notes of a piano keyboard, is 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot'.

Learning how to play the piano can be fun and easy! Impress your friends with this Music With Ease method of playing Auld Lang Syne on the pentatonic scale, this New Year's Eve!

Betty Wagner has been teaching music for over 30 years. Her unique multimedia ebooks make learning to play the piano fun and easy -- at a price to fit your budget! Learn to read music notes with the help of funny cartoon characters, embedded sound clips and flashcards; or master piano chords for beginners so you can play your favorite popular music with style; or play music scales the easiest way ever with simplified scale charts, fingering tips and memory aids: http://www.musicwithease.com/play-music-scales.html

Play Piano Like a Pro: Even If You've Never Taken a Lesson in Your Life!

2007-12-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

The first thing most students think they have to learn when taking piano lessons is note reading. But not only is note reading unnecessary...it's a hindrance when you really want to play piano like a pro. Why? Because pros use chords. And chords are much, much easier to learn than reading sheet music.

While chords will help you play like a pro fast, it all depends on the kind of chords you play. For example, most fledgling piano students think they will begin by playing triads. And for most piano teachers, this is the chord structure taught at the beginning. While there is nothing at all wrong with triads (all western music is built on this) it just won't give you a modern sound.

A chord structure I have my beginning students learn first, the open position piano chord, uses both hands right away to create a modern sound!

The benefit of using both hands right away is that you can vary the tones between hands to create a rich, beautiful sound that can NEVER be accomplished with the simple triad. Why piano teachers have their students learn triads first, I'll never know. But when you learn this chord position first, it allows you to create a open vented sound that is perfect for today's contemporary styles. Jazz, New Age, etc.. These styles can be created easily using the open position piano chord.

The way to play these chords is relatively easy. It may take a few minutes for your hands to get used to because this chord structure really stretches your hands. Here's how it works. The left hand gets the root note, the fifth, and the seventh. The right hand gets to play the third, seventh, and third again. So, if we were to play a C Major 7 chord, it would be spelled like this: LH - c, g, b RH - e, b, e. This looks a lot more complicated than it actually is and when you see it laid out for you on a keyboard diagram, you'll immediately see how easy it actually is to play!

To play the piano like a pro, don't start with triads; try the open position piano chord. You won't be sorry!

Learn and Play Piano Now With This Easy to Use Technique!

2007-12-27T21:42:00.001-08:00

You want to learn piano and play it now, but you don't want to spend years at it. Understandable. You're going to love this. It's something called the ostinato technique and with it you'll be able to improvise and create your own unique piano music right away!

An ostinato simply means repeating pattern. It's used in all types of music and is perfectly suited for the piano. Why? Because it's easy to create with! For example, let's look at one of my free piano lessons, "Winter Scene."

Here we have a repeating pattern (ostinato) going on in the left hand while the right hand improvises a melody. Now, why is this such a great technique for beginners? Because most anyone can play an ostinato pattern right away! There is no note-reading, no theory, and no requirement here other than being able to finger a chord. And 99.9% of people can do this!

The first thing you notice with this lesson is the sound. A full rich sound that's created with the left hand. The ostinato pattern creates a harmonic background over which you can improvise your own melody. And it takes just a few minutes to do! You don't have to read music. You don't have to take years of lessons. No. You just have to learn a little about chords and you can sound like a pro faster than any adult student who decides to go the classical route and spend thousands of dollars on a piano teacher.

To learn and play piano fast, learn the ostinato technique. It can be used in many, many different musical styles and offers you a quick way to create your own music fast!

Play and Compose New Age Piano Now - Even if You've Never Touched a Keyboard!

2007-12-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

So, you love the sound of New Age piano. You may have wondered how certain people can just sit down at the piano and start playing from scratch. It's not magic! It's called knowing what you're doing and you can do the same! To begin, you need to know a few chords. I suggest complete beginners start out with something called the open position chord. This chord structure has many, many benefits for the beginner (and advanced student!)

First, it's a modern sounding chord. Forget about triads and scales. The open position chord allows you to play seventh chords right away. This chord structure is used by most jazz and contemporary piano players.

Second, it uses both hands right away! When you first finger this chord structure, it will stretch your hands out completely. In fact, you will be playing more than 2 octaves of the piano keyboard. This is something beginners want to do right away and it can be done with a minimum of practice.

Let's look at how we can use this chord structure to create music with. In the lesson "Reflections in Water" we have 4 chords to play. The chords are in the Key of C major, which means they are all located on the white keys. We finger the first chord (C Major 7) with both hands and notice the sound. How open it is! The sound you get from this chord is perfect for the New Age sound. In fact, once we finger this chord, we only have to move our fingers around a little and music comes out. It's really an amazing thing.

We switch chords using the same fingering and play around with the notes from the C major scale. This is all that is required to create New Age piano music or Jazz music for that matter. The amazing thing about this chord type is the amount of music you can create right from the start. If you're into New Age piano and want to immediately play in this style, I highly recommend you learn how to play the open position piano chord!

Play Piano Tonight

2007-12-23T21:37:00.001-08:00

play piano tonight! A new mathmatical way of learning to play the piano tonight - without the stress!

As a professional concert pianist I often have people ask me, "I'm in my 50's is it too late to learn piano?" Well, there is no simple answer to this question since everyone's capacity to learn and everyone's passion to learn is different.

But, based on my experience it is never too late. However, it is absolutely imperative that you Start Learning play piano tonight! Why? Because, a very wise man once told me, if you're not learning you're dying. You see, life is all about learning. It's what gives us reason to live. Can you think of anything better about life than the new experiences, relationships and wisdom that comes from learning? So, if you have any passion at all for learning to play piano music then I highly recommend that you start right away.

The most important question you should be asking yourself is; "How can I learn faster and retain more information?"

Do you know what most people don't understand about the learning process? It's not how much information you can cram into your head at one time but, how much information you can actually retain that causes you to learn faster and more efficiently. What happens is; people inevitably try to tackle all at once the incredible amount of work that it takes to play the piano. Not only is that impossible to do, but it's not much fun either. And, that's why most people give up after only trying for a short period of time.

Let's talk about the way most people were taught to learn. Think back for a moment to when you were in school. Do you remember cramming for an exam? Most people certainly remember the anxiety associated with it. You cram as much information as you can into your head in a very short period of time, hoping to get a good grade on your exam. So, what would happen 2 weeks after taking the exam if you had to take it again? How much would you remember? Not much at all I'm sure! That's why learning this way is so painful because you're never able to show consistent long term retention.

Now, imagine for a moment that you applied this technique of learning to the piano. You cram for 2 weeks as much information as you can get into your brain about a piece of piano music. Then, you stop practicing for 2 weeks. Then, you go back and try to play what you learned. How much do you think you could get right? Based on my experience, "Almost Nothing!"

In my line of work I am responsible for not only remembering a minimum of 1.5 hours of piano music for every concert I perform but, I have to perform it flawlessly. Is this possible? Yes it is! But, not by learning the way most people learn. You see, there is a formula that works best for learning to play piano tonight and it's the same formula that works for learning anything worthwhile. And, here it is....

10-24-7

What does this mean? Well, 10 stands for the amount of energy you put into learning what it is you're learning. How many things can you learn at once? One! So get rid of that big pile of music sitting on the piano because that just represents stress! You can't possibly learn all that anyway. So, just learn one thing at a time and do it at a level 10 which is; giving 100% of your energy until you can play it without thinking.

Then, do the same thing again in 24 hours. At a level 10 (100% of your energy), learn the same single thing you just learned the day before. Then, in 7 days do it again and I promise you that your retention rate for that one thing you learned will go up by 85%. Is this possible? Yes! That's how I'm able to perform as many concerts as I do and never take a sheet of music with me on stage. I learn one thing at a time. But, once I learn it, I don't forget it...ever!

There's a term we use for this type of learning and it's called "accelerated learning techniques" or "advanced learning techniques." It's what I teach in my seminars because it's what works best for me and for the hundreds of people I've taught it to. So, if you want to play piano tonight, even if it's for the first time, follow my example. Use the 10-24-7 approach, you won't regret it.

If piano music is your passion, check out Ron Worthy's website at https://paydotcom.com/r/6433/crawling/422201/. There you will find piano lessons on dvd for visual learners

Learn How to Play Piano

2007-12-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Some people are more musically inclined than others, but that doesn't mean you cannot learn how to play the piano. Many tricks of the trade exist that can have you playing the piano within a couple of months of practice, and some online courses even claim to help you learn much faster. No matter what is claimed or what is available, the most important aspect of learning how to play any new instrument, hobby, or art form is dedication and practice.

Listening to Beethoven, Mozart, or any other genius composers might make you want to sign up with the best instructor you can find. Your aim might be to enthrall others with the beauty of classical, modern, or even jazz piano playing. Many adults who learn how to play the piano choose to do so through rigorous methodologies of learning the fundamentals of music first. This requires dedication and lots of practice, not to mention the cost of an instructor.

For other learners who want to give the piano a try, quicker methods won't mean you will enjoy playing the piano any less. It simply means you will not have the fundamental base that someone else has learned over a longer period. One of these quicker methods, both on and offline, involve the learning of chords. In an evening, someone who knows nothing about the piano might have the ability to play a melody just on chords alone. Playing by chords is usually encouraged more than playing by tablature. And, there are no problems with those who first learn chords then learn to read music later on.

Any piano melody is made up of its smallest parts - its notes. Those who learn chords do not actually learn these 'smallest' pieces, but instead learn how to break the music into chunks. By dealing with songs one chunk at a time and matching what is heard, many piano players enjoy greater freedom of creativity as they progress.

One who learns how to play the piano using chords does it more so through trial and error. This person may not actually be able to read musical notations or scores, but he or she will at least be able to judge what chord is played and for how long. As the tune or melody is practiced, usually by breaking a song up into its basic elements and listening to it as it is being played, the person matches what he or she is hearing.

A player who learns how to play the piano by ear will not necessarily be able to judge if a key is sharp or flat, and that's where having some basic knowledge of the notes comes in handy. If you need to stay in key F-major, for example, then you will know how to keep that note flat during the entire scale. While flat keys and sharp keys follow similar patterns, learning how to play the piano is not based on this alone. For teenagers or adults who are inspired and self-motivated enough to pursue their goals, learning how to play the piano can be done within a short amount of time.

Nick Krueger is a review specialist at Reviewica.com. For more information on learning how to play the piano and related product reviews, please visit: ttp://Learn-to-Play-Piano.Reviewica.com.

Learn To Play Your Favorite Christmas Songs By Ear: Gospel Piano Course

2007-12-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friend,

The Christmas season, my favorite season of the entire year, is ALMOST here --- and courtesy of Jermaine and HearandPlay.com, I have the PERFECT gift idea that YOU or one of your relatives would LOVE to see under the tree (...or better yet, on top of their piano)!

Jermaine just let me know about his brand new 3 H-O-U-R Christmas course, Christmas Keys Vol.1 - "Conquering Christmas Classics, which has just been released.

After he takes you through his UNIQUE song learning process, you'll not ONLY know how to conquer the songs shown in this course but tons of other Christmas songs since most songs follow familiar patterns.

Christmas Keys Volume 1 is LOADED with tons of powerful tips, easy-to-do tricks, and techniques that will have you playing like an expert by this Christmas season - GUARANTEED! Click here for more details:

Christmas Keys

In this course, you'll...

* Learn how to play every song, step-by-step, with no guessing (whatsoever) or any information left out! By the end of this course, you'll have what it takes to fully play all of these Christmas songs by ear!

* Learn several variations of each song so you can play these Christmas classics a different way every time!

* Beginners: How to play an entire song with only three-fingered major chords (...also known as "major triads").

* Discover the power of "inversions" and how changing one note in your chord can totally alter the way a progression sounds!

* How to add fuel to your bass by understanding how "power" chords work in holiday music.

* How to play "Go Tell It On The Mountain" in a churchy praise style! I'm talking about bass lines, runs, fill-ins, and more (...similar to our other GospelKeys courses)!

* And tons more!

Click below if you're ready to finally learn your favorite Christmas songs by ear:

Christmas Keys

Please note: Due to the high demand and moderate supply, this incredible offer for Christmas Keys will only be around for a short time. So...

...Don't waste time! Order TODAY!

Click here for more details:

Christmas Keys

God bless,

Andre Hayward is jazz trombonist/educator in the Boston area.

He is akson an 8 year member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

led by Wynton Marsalis. He serves as adjunct trombone professor at

both The New England Conservatory and New York University

How Will You Learn to Play the Piano?

2007-12-19T21:39:00.001-08:00

Is your passion listening to piano music? Would you like to be able to play just like your idols? Are you thinking of taking lessons but you are not sure where to start? It could even be that you have had some lessons but you have given up as it has taken longer than you thought to learn. Lots of other people may well be in your shoes at this moment and only need a push in the right direction.

The Various Ways to Learn the Piano

Before you do anything else, it is essential to know that there are two ways of playing a piano. These are:

1. Chords

2. Note reading

It is a good idea to know what you want to do when playing the piano. If you are happy enough playing music other people have written, all you have to do is learn how to read the notes. However, on the other hand, if you are more creative and you would like to write your own inspiring music, an understanding of chords is a must.

If you want to learn to play the piano fairly fast, it may be a wise choice to take a chord based approach. If you learn the chords on the piano, you can learn the sounds they make and, therefore, make your own music. You can always learn note reading afterwards if you choose.

The Pros and Cons of Learning from a Teacher

Finding a qualified and reliable instructor is the key to having successful lessons while learning to play the piano. You could learn at home or at the instructor?s studio. There are advantages to both, so it all depends on where you would feel most comfortable. A lot of people try to find an instructor that is local to where they live.

When you are looking for an instructor, you will need to have a goal in mind. It could be that you want to play for fun and want to learn how to play from music sheets. However, if you want to be more creative, it may be a good idea to look for instructors that will give you chord based lessons.

If you hire a piano instructor expecting to make your own music and they teach you nothing but reading notes, you will obviously not be able to reach your goal. Make sure that you know exactly what you will be achieving. Otherwise, you could be wasting a lot of money on something that you, basically, do not want. Also, it can be a huge waste of money to learn something that you could learn online for a cheaper price, and it is just as effective.

Learning online

As mentioned earlier, learning online is a lot cheaper than piano lessons and it is just as good. It can be a great benefit to learn online as you can do it in your own time and at your own pace without someone breathing down your neck. It can also help to save time, too, so the benefits are quite good when learning online.

The only real disadvantage with learning online is that a person may not have enough motivation to learn properly. Also, with an instructor, if there is something that doesn?t make sense, they can get help. When you are learning online, it may not make much sense and there is no instructor there to ask for help.

You can also learn how to play the piano with piano learning DVDs and computer software designed to help.

General Guidelines to Learning the Piano

Overall playing the piano should be something that is fun and it should certainly not reduce you to tears all of the time. If you take your time learning and have regular practice you will eventually achieve what you want. You should not give up if it is something that you have wanted to do for a long time. There may be times that you get frustrated, but just keep going and you will be able to play the piano just as good as anyone else can, and even write your own music in time.

Kevin is the publisher and editor of musicianhome.com.

How To Play The Piano Using "Shorthand" -- Chord Symbols -- Instead of Reading the Full Score

2007-12-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

Most people who took piano lessons as a kid, including me, grew up learning to read music exactly as it is written on the printed page. Being able to read music is a valuable skill, and I am delighted I learned that skill at an early age.

But there is a downside to only being able to read music without understanding what you are reading. A couple real-life examples illustrate the point:

What happens when you are playing and your sheet music slips off the piano and onto the floor? Unless your name is Victor Borge and you can turn the situation into comedy, you will probably find the situation extremely embarrassing. I have seen it happen several times to pianists who play well but who don't know how to improvise, and it's not a pretty site. It happened to me once years ago as well. I was accompanying a singer and someone opened a side door, letting a gust of wind sweep into the auditorium and right across my piano. The sheet music scattered onto the stage and a couple pieces blew off the stage. If I hadn't understood the music and had a grasp of it's harmonic form, I would have had to stop, pick up the music, get it back in order, and so forth, delaying the soloist and the performance. As it turned out I had several people ask me how I kept playing without the music in front of me. I replied that I knew the chord progressions of the song, so was able to "wrap the chords around the singer" and therefore keep the song going.

So what are chord symbols, and how do they work?

Chord symbols are a shorthand way of writing what is going on harmonically in a song. For example, if I were to write the chord symbols of the first line of What Child Is This? (also known as Greensleeves and several other titles) in the key of Am, I would write:

Am G F E7 -- which corresponds to the first line of the song and would appear directly above the melody line in the treble clef, so all the pianist would need to do would be to read the melody (tune) of the song -- not all the supporting notes.

I think you can see that once you know a few chords this would be infinitely easier to remember than the entire score of the song. Not only that, but that chord progression -- A, G, F, E7 -- repeats several times during the song, so once you know the form of the song, you have a huge advantage over someone who is chained to the written music and has no idea about the logic of the song.

So how does a person learn this "musical shorthand"? It's no secret -- there are books galore on learning chords, plus web sites that teach chords, or you could even pick up a chart of chords in your local music store.

Then buy a "fake book" -- a songbook with hundreds or even thousands of songs, each song showing just the melody of the song with the chord symbols listed above it. Each song alone would be known as a "lead sheet", but cumulatively the collection of songs is known as a "fake book". Then every day play a dozen or so songs just with the melody in your right hand and the chord in your left hand. It will sound barren at first, but you're learning how it works.

After a couple weeks of that, instead of playing the melody in your right hand, sing the melody (doesn't matter at all how it sounds) and use your right hand to break up the notes of the chord you are playing in your left hand. Once you get the hang of it, you can start breaking up the chord in both hands and experimenting with various rhythm patterns.

I am not saying it's easy; I am saying it's fun and exciting and that it is worth it many times over!

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions- Intelligent Piano Lessons For Adults Only! " with over 84,400 current subscribers.

The Key To Unlock Learning To Play The Piano

2007-12-14T21:29:00.001-08:00

Why put off learning to play the piano? Unfortunately, a false belief holds many adults back who think that since they did not study piano as a child that they will not be able to catch on as an adult. It is true that it will be a little more difficult because learning new things comes faster when we are younger, but that does not make it impossible for adults to learn to play the piano. With regular practice, you will be able to play for friends and in a few months time even compose songs of your own.

Musicians usually find learning to play the piano helpful in their area of music since they can easily arrange music on a piano. Because it is the most versatile of instruments, the piano an be helpful in arranging music for any other instrument out there.

With the simple layout of the keyboard, a piano makes tones and chords available at once. Most people who have never played an instrument want to play the guitar or the piano. I found this music site helpful http://www.mywebrelease.com. The guitar may be easier to learn, but it will not provide the usefulness that a piano can give. In addition, learning the piano will teach you theories beyond just the music rather than simple repetition of notes.

It is best to learn to play the piano from a live instructor. With at home piano programs, you may develop bad habits and not even realize that you have done so. A real live teacher is more productive unless you have some miracle musical talent that has of yet remained hidden. With a qualified piano teacher, you will learn to play the piano right the first time.

He/she can catch your mistakes and show you how to correct them. They will also be able to listen objectively to you to measure the progress you think you are making. In this way, you will know that you have learned to play the piano correctly without guess work.

Dylan Mccabe visits the following sites: My Art Portal Photography For Fun

Playing The Piano Using Chord Symbols Instead of Being Tied To The Written Sheet Music

2007-12-13T21:37:00.001-08:00

Piano improvising and arranging is an art but definitely not a science. It is all based on chords and chord progressions. There aren't any steadfast rules for creating an arrangement, nothing to dictate the limitless potential of your imagination. Musicians learn to arrange by simply arranging and improvise by improvising -- over and over again. It's a big game of trial and error. But it's also a scientific method: you keep the experiments that work, and abandon those that don't work.

That being said, there are a few things that can help you in the knowledge of piano improvization. Don't think of these as rules, but rather points on a roadmap guiding you through the vast world of arrangement and improvisation possibilities.

The first step, of course, is to learn as much as you can about chords and how they work. Once you get a handle on piano chords and the chord symbols that represent them such as Fm7, G9, D, C7, etc., you can then learn how to break those chords up in various patterns.

Learn several different chording patterns, such as open voicing, arpeggios, upward inversions, western bass, Alberti bass, swing bass or boogie bass. This course guides you through these techniques, in addition to others, and teaches you to understand when they're the most appropriate.

Learn some right hand fillers, like octaves (and the multitude of harmonic possibilities associated with octaves), tremelos, grace notes, twangs, runs, and turnarounds. Again, this course teaches you these fills and several others.

Study pre-arranged sheet music. Your local music shop will have tons of music books containing several arrangements; read and play through these in detail. Seeing what other people have done with various pieces of music will help you understand the art of arrangement and also introduce you to new techniques!

Dig into different musical styles, like ragtime, blues or country-western. Pick up some compilation CDs focusing on a particular style of music or purchase some piano sheet music specializing in the style. Understanding the fundamental elements of various styles will help you learn to arrange any song in that particular style -- or just add a few stylized elements to any arrangement.

Jump online and type in "chord piano" or "piano chords" into your search browser, and you will come up with a zillion choices where you can learn all you need to know about chords in a reasonably short time. It's not rocket science, and once you learn a few piano chords, you probably will become addicted to chords and their application to your piano playing.

Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have Before

2007-12-12T21:43:00.001-08:00

Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law that says you have to play a song the same way everyone else plays it. By learning some basic music theory and chord formations, you can have the time of your life playing music like you have always wanted to.

Every musician has a different method of arranging. Some start with the bass, some start with the melody, some just arrange everything all at once. You'll eventually discover the process that works best for you, but here's a basic guideline list to get you started.

-- Play the song as written. Pay careful attention to the melody and harmonies so you understand how the song is supposed to sound before altering it. Make sure you can play the song very well before moving on to an arrangement.

-- Analyze the song's chord structure and form. Know all the chord changes and any key changes. Separate the piece into parts using the letter system discussed in this course; often, you'll be able to add some spice to an arrangement by simply knowing where a verse switches into a chorus.

-- Look at the song's context to determine the appropriate sort of arrangement. For instance, if you're working on a classical lullaby or wedding song, you probably won't want to add western bass or a march beat. Of course, there's no rule saying you can't do that if you're going for a comical effect. Just be aware of the effect every sort of arrangement technique will have on a song.

-- Change the bass chording pattern based on the just-analyzed song's context. Working with "Git Alone Little Dogies"? Try a western bass. A classical romantic song? Give upward inversions or arpeggios a go. Just keep switching the bass pattern until you find something you like. After awhile, you'll acquire the ability to naturally know what to do. Until then, try it all.

-- Add fillers to the melody. Again, be aware of what's appropriate. If you're playing a western bass, try grace notes and twangs. If the song is in Alberti bass, add some glissandos or delicate octave harmonies. Remember that certain fillers, like runs or straddle-downs, work best when you're holding a half note or higher in the melody.

-- Add dynamic variation. This is where the form analysis comes in handy. If you know a key or part change is coming up, consider the ways in which you can take the dynamic up or down to create a textured, interesting effect. Try not to make the whole song extremely loud or extremely soft. Remember, variety is the spice of life!

The piano arrangement you create is bound only by the limits of your imagination. Try everything and don't get discouraged -- you'll get the hang of it eventually.

Now pick a song and get to it!

Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions

2007-12-09T21:24:00.001-08:00

Piano arranging is the process by which you take a written piece of music and rework it with chords, adding new bass accompaniment, fills, or even slightly altering the song's structure. And while it's a process that takes years to truly master, anyone with a basic education in piano and a working knowledge of a few key techniques can create an inventive, satisfying arrangement. It all boils down to one thing: chord recognition. And anyone who plays a little piano can learn piano chords to add excitement to their piano playing.

Most people learn to play the piano by playing just the written music. Playing by written music is exactly what the phrase says it is; playing the exact notation on a piece of sheet music. But playing by chord symbol is a little different. Instead of following the harmony note by note, you follow the chord symbols (i.e. C7 or F) written above the harmonies, filling in the gaps with whatever you want as long as it sticks to those chords. Of course, you'll still read the melody (it is, after all, often what makes the song recognizable) but even that is completely open to interpretation. Playing by chord symbol allows you a freedom that playing by written music simply doesn't. The freedom to create. The freedom to invent. The freedom to arrange chord patterns in the way you want.

Does that mean playing by written music is less important than playing by chord symbol? Absolutely not! The ability to play by written music is an extremely valuable skill, one that even some of the most famous musicians don't possess. And while you don't necessarily need to know the skill backwards and forwards to create great arrangements, it's a tremendous help.

Think about it this way. Some of the most revered modern artists create paintings that look very simple, very rudimentary. But the majority of those artists went to art school for years before they began creating that sort of work. They learned the fundamentals of drawing and painting, of color composition and light; they learned to draw or paint something exactly as it actually looks. Only after they mastered those skills did they move on to create the simple, yet often innovative, work that hangs in galleries and museums; work that still abides by several basic principles. They learned the craft before bringing their imagination into it; after all, you have to understand the rules in order to break them.

So after you have learned the basics of reading piano sheet music, consider learning chords and chord symbols (such as G7, Fm, etc.) and chord progressions. There are many places online where you can learn all about chords; just type in "piano chords" or "chord piano" into your search browser, and you will find several to choose from. When you can both read the written sheet music and then add chords and chord progressions to your piano playing, you have the very best of all musical worlds.

Piano Lesson: Do You Know What You Learn When You Play Piano?

2007-12-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

I guess you are learning to play piano in order to become a better pianist. Do you know that there are many secret learning processes in action as you practice on your piano. Let's find out the truth!

I presume that you practice on the piano with the hope of becoming a better instrumentalist, pianist and musician and and in order to experience the joy and satisfaction that follows.

The learning processes in action as you try to learn to play the piano can lead you forward towards you goals. However, some things you learn can limit your progress and I think it is important to be aware of these factors.

Let's take a look at what you don't want to learn as you play piano! Let me mention three things!

1. At times when you practice on your piano you might experience stress and other uncomfortable feelings due to a deadline in the form of a upcoming piano lesson you don't feel prepared for or other disturbing thoughts.

The feelings you experience as you practice a specific piece of music have a tendency to be evoked when you play the same piece at another occasion.

2. Can tensions stick to your sheet music? Your actual muscle tension level when you play a piano composition tends to be present when you play the same piece of music in public.

In other words, it will be more difficult to perform and play a piano composition in a relaxed manner when you have practiced it with a high tension level.

3. Can you learn not to play a piece of music? I guess you practice on your piano and take piano lessons in order to become a better player.

However, if you don't concentrate on your piano playing and if you play new passages too fast you will probably make a lot of mistakes.

These mistakes tend to slow down the learning process and in fact they will be a part of the learning process. The more mistakes you make playing a particular piano sheet music passage the harder it will be to play it right.

Why is it so? All your earlier mistakes will accumulate and disturb you as you try to play a passage right. To play a passage wrong will become easier and easier the more times you make mistakes.

Is this depressing news? Well if these news will help you change your way of practicing piano playing it will be good news!

You can use these piano practicing news to your advantage! Read on!

1. Try to make your piano practicing sessions to peaceful and joyful occasions by never procrastinating your piano lesson homework and by having the right attitude as you start playing.

2. Always practice a new piano piece slowly and with concentration and with correct posture. If you don't make mistakes as you practice you will progress much faster!

3. Remember to relax as you play piano. Your piano practicing session can also be a relaxation exercise and if you play piano in this manner it will be beneficial both for your physical and mental health!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Learning Through Sheet Music For Guitar

2007-12-06T21:34:00.001-08:00

Encouraging your child to learn to play a musical instrument is a lovely gesture. Granted not all children are interested in learning how to play the guitar, the violin or the piano, but if they are, it's nice if a parent can present opportunities for them to pursue that. If your child is interested in learning the guitar, it's a good idea to find some sheet music for guitar that is at the playing level they're at.

Traditionally people who wanted to learn and play the guitar were restricted to purchasing books filled with music. Many sheet music for guitar books may have included dozens of songs by a particular artist or they centered on a specific theme such as summer songs or holiday tunes. Now it's a bit different, as you can find all kinds of sheet music for guitars on the Internet.

The first thing to do when looking for music is to determine what level the person playing the instrument is at. Obviously you don't want to give complicated sheet music for guitar that includes many notes and a fast tempo to a beginning player. They would struggle with this and more than likely it would frustrate them. Instead choose music that complements their current ability.

One way to get a child, in particular, to practice more is to give them songs that they enjoy. If you give a child sheet music for guitar that is for a song they've never heard of, they are less likely to want to practice it. However, if you find songs that they listen to on the radio or have sung in school, they are going to want to master those. They'll want to learn them quickly so they can impress not only their friends, but themselves.

Asking the child what songs they dream of playing is a good start. If they tell you a song that you know is beyond their current playing ability, encourage them to keep practicing and suggest other songs that you know they enjoy.

Also, explain to the child that they don't need to learn the entire song in one sitting. If they are working on a specific chord with their guitar teacher and they take a few days or weeks to learn that, reward them by telling them how proud you are. This will be the impetus they need to continue learning until they can play the entire song all at once.

Once the child feels very comfortable, they can begin to play songs that are a bit more difficult. Purchasing new sheet music for guitar for them as they progress from one playing level to another is the perfect way to constantly show them you believe strongly in their ability.

IntoTheArts gives our readers the latest updates on music & other entertainment related news.

Play Piano - There is No Substitute for Practice

2007-12-05T21:34:00.000-08:00

There is no substitute for practice. By spending a couple of hours with your instrument every day you develop a special relationship with it.

You need to have a regular practice routine that contains certain constant elements (such as warm-up exercises) as well as variable elements that address your current avenue of study. And performing doesn't count as practice. Although playing gigs, performing in Church or for your personal enjoyment is an essential part of your musical development, it won't replace time in the practice room.

There are times, however, when you just can't maintain a regular practice routine. All the other elements of your life crowd in and you find you have to grab a spare hour of practice wherever you can. It seems futile to embark on any long-range practice projects that will require weeks or months of steady work, because you know it won't happen.

So should you give up?

Must you put off the idea of improving your musicianship until you have more time (and are you sure that time will come)? Here's an alternative - I call it "target bombing."

You have an hour to practice. Find something to practice that is not currently in your arsenal. It could be a lick, a scale, a set of chord voicings, a section of a tune, a transcribed solo, anything. But this is important: it must be small. Don't set a general goal (e.g., mastering the McCoy Tyner style of pentatonic scale improvisation). Instead, select a little piece of business (such as a particular pentatonic lick to be learned in 12 keys). Assume that this is the only opportunity you'll have to learn this particular item. Tomorrow you'll move on to something else.

Approach the hour's practice with this attitude: "What can I do within the next hour to permanently improve my musicianship in one very small but measurable way?"

More specifically, "What can I do to master this one item so that it will be self-reinforcing, so that it will immediately begin to show up in my actual performances?"

Your plan is to devour this one small thing so completely that it can't slip away.

If it's a lick, make it a short one and learn it in several keys. Work out the fingering.

Play it over random ii-V progressions.

Solo over a few tunes and work that lick in wherever you can.

If it's a chord voicing, practice it in 12 keys, work it into tunes, and make sure you can make smooth transitions to and from other voicings.

If you don't get it by the end of the hour, you lose it forever. But if you ingest it fully enough, then it will immediately begin to show up in your performances. It will become a small element of your style and you'll never lose it.

This is target bombing. It's intense, focused, and can be tremendously effective and satisfying. Although at first it may be a method that you use because you can't find time for the more traditional, routine-oriented practice, you may find it so successful and fun that you make it your primary approach.

After all, you climb a mountain with thousands of small steps. Take each step so well that you never have to take it again.

I've seen this approach work wonders for many students, and I use it all the time myself. I've also seen it fail miserably for others. It requires a type of tunnel vision, a willingness to gnaw on one thing for one hour without letting other concerns intrude.

You might feel as if you are playing when you should be working or that focusing on a tiny area is not productive when there are so many major areas to be covered. But once you successfully target bomb a few small items, you'll realize the needlessness of your concerns.

Anyway, try this method on - see if it fits your style

How To Learn Piano

2007-12-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

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Play Piano - Preparing to Practice

2007-12-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

When the practicing "blahs" strike, you just need an attitude adjustment. You don't have to sweat blood to practice well. You don't even have to think of it as work, or duty, or even something that you ought to do.

Stop a minute and think about it. You like music, and you want to play some special piece that really means something to you. You want it to sound through you - right through your fingertips.

Okay? Well, you practice it to fulfill that desire, not to frustrate it.

Pause here and ask yourself some questions:

What if you could look at a piece of music for the first time, and play it correctly straight off, just as fine as you please?

How would you feel about practicing then?

Or, what if you were practicing for the Olympic swim meet next year, and felt deep down that you had a chance? How would you feel then about the training? Would you plunge into it each morning?

What if you were interrupted at a good point in yesterday's practicing? What if you had just about broken through a tough spot when you had to stop? Would you want to get back to it today as soon as possible?

You answer those questions, honestly, for yourself. There are ways to say "YES!" every day.

But, first, you've got to stop blaming yourself. You don't have to be perfect every time. You don't have to be the best player, today. And you don't have to listen to what other people say about your playing - people who are only half listening, and don't care the way you do.

Put all that out of your mind. What matters is your desire to play as well as possible.

Just start with playing - one note after another, and keep going. As the Chinese say, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first, step." And, if the very first step leads to the first slip, be glad for it. You can't, repeat, cannot learn without mistakes!

Now, start to think more personally about your instrument.

The piano, like the guitar, is a "touchy" instrument. Touch it, and you both produce and color its tones, like a potter molding clay. Think of the keys, all gleaming white, as the "skin" of the piano; you can either please them or hurt them. Stroke them, and the sound will come out mellow and purring. Poke them, and the sound will either "bark" sharply or woodenly "thud."

Stop thinking of yourself as playing "on" or "at" the piano. Rather, think of the instrument as an extension of your own body. When an artificial leg is fitted to an amputee, he is then taught to walk with it. Gradually, it feels more natural - more like his own leg walking. The French call the keys "les touches," or "touch-points" - as if the keys, not you, were doing the feeling.

Every musician wants to personalize this instrument. Take a look at the vocalist who hugs his guitar, or without a guitar, woos his microphone, or, without a microphone, simply woos the audience?

Every musician seeks to make his instrument an extension of his own body, the tool he or she needs to put across the strong feelings he as for the music.

Nadia Boulanger, one of the greatest teachers, put it best: "Don't speak to me of talent; speak to me of desire."

Go to the piano or keyboard not to reproduce a piece, but to experiment with your best way to bring out what is there. There is no one right way to play a piece - no matter how loudly some people protest that there is.

Artists in fact, vary greatly, and audiences return again and again to hear the same piece, as played by pianist X or pianist Y. You simply cannot play a piece twice the same way. Try it!

Here's how to practice an exercise or a song:

Six quietly, upright and relaxed Hear the music in your head: hear it better than life. Sense its movement and pulse rolling through you, turning and adjusting your own pulse, you are the prime "instrument" of this music - sitting there alert, tuned by silence, vibrating to is rhythm, lending it your own life entirely.

As you feel the music filling you, heart and soul, you will know that it is getting ready to be born.

When it has stirred you, lift your hands to the keyboard. This is the reason you wanted to play in the first place: to bring alive what has already moved you. And, suddenly, by centering your focus, you've turned practicing from a duty into an attraction.

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Pianist and Songwriter. He offers online instruction that focuses on Rock, Pop, Blues, Cocktail, R&B and "Smooth Jazz" piano styles. To Download Your FREE Piano Lesson Video, go to: http://www.playpianotonight.com/VC.html.

Learn To Play Piano Chords: Learn To Play II-V-I Progressions

2007-12-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

II-V-I progressions are common in most types of popular music and mainstream jazz and more. If you can play II-V-I progressions you are in a lucky position. What then is a II-V-I progression? Well, come and see!

A C-major scale consists of seven notes: C D E F G A B

A C-major chord consists of the first, third and fifth notes in the C-major scale. This is called a triad.

A chord built from the first step of the scale can also be called I from the roman number one.

If I start on the second note of the C-major scale and construct a triad chord consisting of D F A, I have a chord built upon the second step of the scale.

This will be a D-minor chord and I can indicate that I have built a chord from the second note of the C-major scale by giving it the number II with roman numbers.

If I decide to build a triad chord from the fifth note of the C-major scale I have to add more notes in the C-major scale: C D E F G A B C D

If I start building a triad from G it will consist of the notes G B D. This is a G-major chord and to show that it is a triad built from the fifth step of the C-major scale we can call it V which is the roman number for five.

The smart thing with the roman numbers is that they don't indicate an absolute chord but rather the position of a chord in the key you are playing on your guitar, piano or other instrument.

In the key of C the roman numbers I stands for the chord C, II indicates the chord D-minor and V the chord G. Simplified we can say that when I say I will play a II-V-I chord progression in the key of C I will play the chords D-minor, G and C.

Actually this is just the beginning of the art of playing II-V-I progressions. You can spice the chords in different ways and play the chords in major or minor.

And of course a chord on a piano can be played in many different ways. A C-major chord must have the notes C, E and G but how many or where to play them is a matter of choice.

Here are a few easy examples of II-V-I progressions in C-major that can be transposed to other keys:

1. Dm, G7, C 2. Dm7, G7, C 3. D7, G7, C

When you practice these progressions on your piano you can choose to play them with both hands, with the left hand, giving room for right hand improvisation or your right hand, giving room for left hand bass playing or improvisation.

Practicing playing II-V-I progressions on your piano will help you see the relationship between chords and being able to play these progressions in different key will give you a tool that will help you recognize chord progressions in songs you hear which will help you trancribe songs by ear.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

How To Play More Notes On The Piano Without Reading More Notes!

2007-11-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

Most professional musicians play from a book called a "Fake Book". I bought my first fake book containing only about 200 songs when I was a teenager -- they were illegal then, but most musicians owned them -- for $50. That would be equal to $500. or more now. But fortunately, they have since become legal, so you can buy a real good one with 1000 songs now for $50. or less. A fake book contains just the melody (tune) and the chord symbols of a song, so you have to know chords to use one. But when you do, your playing comes alive -- you're only reading a few notes, but playing lots of notes.

Most people learn to play the piano by playing just the written music. Playing by written music is exactly what the phrase says it is -- playing the exact notation on a piece of sheet music. But playing by chord symbol is very different. Instead of following the harmony note by note, you follow the chord symbols (i.e. C7 or F) written above the harmonies, filling in the gaps with...well, whatever you want as long as it sticks to those chords. Of course, you'll still read the melody (it is, after all, often what makes the song recognizable) but even that is completely open to interpretation. Playing by chord symbol allows you a freedom that playing by written music simply doesn't. The freedom to create. The freedom to invent. The freedom to arrange chord patterns in the way you want.

Does that mean playing by written music is less important than playing by chord symbol? No. The ability to play by written music is an extremely valuable skill, one that even some of the most famous musicians don't possess. And while you don't necessarily need to know the skill backwards and forwards to create great arrangements, it's a great help.

Chord symbols -- sometimes referred to as "chord tabs" (for example, Cmaj7 or G6 or Fm7) are a type of notation used frequently in jazz and other areas of modern music to notate chord progressions and changes. This type of notation differs from that of classical music in that chord symbols don't show the function of a chord the way the Roman numeral notation does. Chord symbols, for modern music with lots of changes, are much easier to read. They function as a sort of shorthand for change-heavy music and are written with four chord parts in mind: the root, the quality, the extension, and the alterations.

The first part in chord symbols, the root, tells the musician which note is the root of the chord. In an E6 chord, for instance, the E serves as the root. In a C7 chord, C is the root. Easy enough.

Quality, the second part in chord symbols, denotes whether the chord is major, minor, diminished, or augmented. In a Cmaj7, the maj tells us that the C chord is major. The abbreviations for this area in chord symbols are maj, min, dim, and aug respectively. So Cm means the chord is a C minor chord. Caug means that the chord is a C augmented chord.

The extension in chord symbols, written after the quality, shows the musician if the chord differs from a triad, such as an 11th or 6th or 9th or 7th or 13th. So a C9 would mean that the C chord includes the 9th note above C, which is D. A C6 chord would mean that the C chord includes the 6th scale note above C, which is A. This part of chord symbols is not always shown; if there is no indication of an extension, the musician is to assume that the chord is a triad.

The last part in chord symbols, the alteration, is usually but not always expressed. Think of this part as the "notes" section in chord symbols; it gives the musician any specific (and sometimes irregular) instructions for playing the chord and is always written in parentheses after the extension (or the quality, if no extension exists). For instance, (no fifth) would tell the musician that the chord is to be played with the fifth tone left out. Sus - short for "suspension", would mean to play the 4th scale note instead of the 3rd. A minus sign would mean to lower (flat) a chord tone, such as C-9 which would mean to flat the 9th of the chord. Conversely, a plus sign would mean to raise (sharp) a particular chord tone.

Reading music using chord symbols allows a person to use written music as a map, rather than a note-for-note approach -- being tied to the written sheet music. By just reading the melody note and the chord symbols, musicians can improvise to their hearts content and create their own sounds on the keyboard. So you can use sheet music as a map instead of a ball & chain that ties you down.

Did you know that many pianists wouldn't have a clue what to do if a gust of wind blew their sheet music off the music rack? I've actually seen it happen, and it is very embarrassing to the pianist. And it's so un-necessary! And there's a true story about a famous concert pianist who could play most any piece of written music, but when asked to play "Happy Birthday" at a party, she couldn't do it because she didn't have any written music! Almost unbelievable, but true.

Once you learn this skill you'll be reading only a few notes per measure, but playing handfuls of notes -- arpeggios, chords, runs, riffs, fills, etc. You can then "do your own thing" on the piano, instead of playing a song the same way everyone else is playing it.

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 71,400 current subscribers.

Play Piano - Preparing to Practice

2007-11-30T04:11:00.000-08:00

Stop a minute and think about it. You like music, and you want to play some special piece that really means something to you. You want it to sound through you - right through your fingertips.

Okay? Well, you practice it to fulfill that desire, not to frustrate it.

Pause here and ask yourself some questions:

What if you could look at a piece of music for the first time, and play it correctly straight off, just as fine as you please?

How would you feel about practicing then?

Or, what if you were practicing for the Olympic swim meet next year, and felt deep down that you had a chance? How would you feel then about the training? Would you plunge into it each morning?

You answer those questions, honestly, for yourself. There are ways to say "YES!" every day.

Put all that out of your mind. What matters is your desire to play as well as possible.

Now, start to think more personally about your instrument.

Every musician wants to personalize this instrument. Take a look at the vocalist who hugs his guitar, or without a guitar, woos his microphone, or, without a microphone, simply woos the audience?

Every musician seeks to make his instrument an extension of his own body, the tool he or she needs to put across the strong feelings he as for the music.

Nadia Boulanger, one of the greatest teachers, put it best: "Don't speak to me of talent; speak to me of desire."

Artists in fact, vary greatly, and audiences return again and again to hear the same piece, as played by pianist X or pianist Y. You simply cannot play a piece twice the same way. Try it!

Here's how to practice an exercise or a song:

As you feel the music filling you, heart and soul, you will know that it is getting ready to be born.

I Can Play Piano: I Look Forward To Be Able To Say IT

2007-11-28T22:10:00.001-08:00

Have you encounter people that tell you: " My wife and I plan one day to have a piano in our home that the whole family can enjoy. Perhaps our children can learn to play also.... I will practice and practice until I become good at it. If I can't practice in the morning then I will do it when I come home at night after work, and on weekends I can play the piano for hours on end."

I do not think you had that experienced too often, maybe never, but my guess is that there are many of you that have friends in other parts of the country or less fortunate countries where they know of people in this situation.

The point I am trying to make is that there are people out there that can not wait the moment in which they can have access to a piano or another 'proper' like instrument where they can practice and practice, because it is a joy and a dream for them.

On the other hand, I ask myself if there are many people that buy pianos, very expensive pianos just for show, to be used just as furniture display items, that gather dust in a corner of a mansion, while in a different neighborhood we have somebody that would love to get his/her hands on it for just few minutes. How can we develop this same feeling of love for an instrument? I believe some ways would be:

1) By being aware that an instrument, expensive or not needs to be used and care for. 2) By seeking out like-minded individuals with whom you can learn how to play this beautiful instrument.

It should be a rewarding experience to meet a bunch of different people with access to a piano, and you can go to it and improvise and laugh with your friends about the funky noises that you make and start to take some shape. For sure that would be therapeutic, playing in groups, not only the piano, but also music games, piano learning video games and the like.

Another option would be to take your own I Can Play Piano Camp instruction somewhere that is available in your city or at your own home. You can even take advantage of it while on vacation. Take a few moments and head for the entertainment room at the hotel, restaurant, conference area where you can find a free piano and play by ear whatever tune you desire.

You will see how music inspiration thoughts come to mind. Remember, your audience either does not know much as you do now, or has gone through the same challenges that you are experiencing and they will be happy for your accomplishments.

My best wishes to you in your new musical adventure. I know it will be rewarding and fun. Awake those hidden talents!

Jesse Fisher enjoys writing about interesting new developments in the music instruction world. To learn more about milestones in educational music products, visit PianoWizard's I Can Play Piano informational page.

Learn To Play Piano: A Digital Or An Acoustic Piano?

2007-11-25T21:50:00.000-08:00

If I have to choose between buying an acoustic piano or a digital piano what is the best choice? let's take a look at the different choices if you want to learn to play piano.

Personally I haven't been forced to make the decision between buying a normal upright piano and a digital piano as I have both in my home. I can see advantages in both types of pianos when practicing the art of learning to play piano.

A normal upright piano produces sounds with hammers that strikes the strings. A digital piano on the other hand tries to duplicate the feeling of playing an acoustic piano.

Most people are familiar with the normal upright piano but what advantages has a digital piano?

First let us describe a digital piano.

A digital piano consists of a keyboard with weighted key action, sensors that detect the velocity when you play the keys and a set of sounds you can choose from. To make it possible to listen to the piano when you play you have an amplifier and loudspeakers and headphone jacks.

Here are some advantages with a digital piano:

1. A digital piano doesn't need to be tuned. A normal acoustic piano you should tune once or twice a year. If you can't tune a piano yourself you have to turn to a piano tuner. It can be quite expensive of course. Even a piano tuner has to pay his bills.

2. You can practice silently. A digital piano usually has a headphone jack so by using headphones you can practise as much as you want without disturbing neighbours or family members.

3. Midi interface. A digital piano usually has a midi interface which makes it possible to connect your piano to a computer and use music software like notation programs or a sequenser program or a software synthesizer.

What then are the disadvantages of having a digital piano?

1. The sounds in an acoustic piano are produced by strings vibrating and the different pitches interact in ways that you cannot copy on a digital piano. The sound quality of the sounds produced by digital pianos are becoming better and better but it is still a completely different way of producing sounds.

2. A digital piano is limited when it comes to producing different tone colors by different ways of playing. An accomplished pianist might feel limited by the sampled sounds.

There are many more things to say about choosing a piano but this is a beginning.

As you can see it is not so easy to decide what's best for you. If you can't decide what type of piano to buy you can do as I have done. Have both types of pianos and keep smiling.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Learn To Play Piano - Let The Train Station Teach You About Piano Playing

2007-11-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

Learn to play piano on a train station? Let me show you what you can learn about piano playing as you wait for your train!

Well, all people seem to go by car these days but we might have had the privilege to go by train and this experience can teach us a lot about piano playing:

1. You want to go somewhere by train. In piano playing this is the wish you have to learn something on the piano.

2. You go to the train station trying to find a suitable train. Before you can know if you are taking the right train you have to decide where you want to go. When learning to play the piano this is the goal you want to reach.

3. Before buying a ticket to the right train you have to decide when you want to arrive. When you learn to play piano this means when your goal is to be accomplished.

4. When you know these things it is much easier to find the right train. In piano playing this means that when you know what you want to accomplish as a pianist and when you want to have accomplished it it is much easier to select a proper method to use to reach your goal.

5. Now you can buy a ticket to the right train. This is when your decision becomes a commitment. Learning to play the piano can involve money but the most important investment is your work and motivation. Through a commitment you gain momentum to accomplish the piano playing goal.

6. After having bought a ticket most of the job is done. Left is only to find your train and your seat and then relax. In your piano playing this means that when you have decided what you really want to accomplish it is much easier to progress. You know where you are in your piano skills, where to begin your work and you don't have to waste your energi by wondering what to do.

Do you have to take the right train?

Some unusual people might think it is okay to take any train and travel for the fun of it with no thought about the destination. If you feel that way about your piano playing and are comfortable with it it's okay I guess.

Let me share some thoughts...

The reason why I started to be very interested in computers way back in the late 80's was because of what I believed that computers could help me with. I was very interested in composing music and had used pen and paper so far.

I tried to write nice sheets with music but it took a lot of time and if I wanted to change something in my compositions, which I often wanted then and even now, it was difficult.

The notation programs back then were difficult to use but I perused the manuals because I had this great goal before me that computers and notation programs could help me with my creative endeavors.

The goal was actually to compose music and the means was computers and notation programs.

Computers have become much easier to use and notation programs more sophisticated since then and I feel that I have reached the goal to become more effective as a composer through the use of computers as a means for my music composing.

Some of my friends have used computers the opposite way. They have been interested in computers and have aimlessly installed and uninstalled programs and changed os or messed around in the Windows directory and so on.

I guess we could say that their goal was to have fun with computers, even if they haven't expressed it that way, and I think they also reach their goal.

What I wanted to say with this is that it is much easier to select methods to use and to be really motivated when you learn to play the piano if you know what you want to accomplish.

Take the right train and enjoy your journey into piano land!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Learning To Play Piano Chords

2007-11-23T22:31:00.001-08:00

If you are playing several notes at the same time, then you are playing piano chords. Simply put, when multiple notes are played together, piano chords are achieved. The chords then come together to form a melody. Every song that you hear has a melody and it is through each melody that music is achieved. Sound complicated? Well, that?s ok because it really isn?t as difficult as it sounds.

As a musician, whether it be professional or hobbyist, you will need to learn the various types of piano chords. The more that you understand about piano chords, the more variety you will have when playing. If you want to write your own music, you not only need an ear for tunes, but also the understanding of how to make them come together. A good instructor will introduce you to piano chords during lessons.

If you already have some experience, but simply want a better understanding of advanced piano chords, discuss these options with a private tutor or music teacher. By gaining an understanding of what sounds good and what doesn?t, you will have the undeniable edge over other budding musicians.

Every piano has 88 keys and while it may seem intimidating to learn piano chords, it actually comes down to memory. When typing on the computer, you know which keys to press in order to make a lowercase letters change to uppercase, right? By studying piano chords, you will begin to understand which keys to press at the same time in order to play a chord. During your introduction to learning piano, an instructor will cover some of the basic chords and you will come to know their sound when you hear them. After enough practice, you will be able to immediately identify piano chords by ear.

There are several other ways to help in your learning of piano chords, including instructional books, tutorials and videos. In the beginning, it may even help to label the keys until you have a better understanding of each of their unique sounds. As you progress in your learning, you can remove the identification labels and play using any arrangement of sheet music. Learning to identify notes will play a large part in your understanding of piano chords. As you move through your studies, you will learn all of the terminology associated with piano playing and the definition of each.

Learning piano chords is a very important part of the process, but it does require a certain degree of patience. Always remember that time will lessen the difficulty and, before you know it, you will be playing and identifying piano chords by ear. While it may seem intimidating at first, you will soon begin to notice the ease of playing piano chords will come naturally. Happy tunes!

Ian Williamson is the owner of The top learn to play piano site.

Networking is Like Playing the Piano

2007-11-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Networking is Like Playing the Piano

by: Janice Byer, CCVA, MVA

For anyone who has ever read articles I have written or asked me for helpful tips for getting their business up and going, you know that I truly believe that networking is one of the most important aspects to building a successful business. The spoken word has an awesome power for any entrepreneur.

Networking, in relation to running your business, is not just attending events that allow you to meet new contacts and exchange business cards. Networking is any time you talk about your business. Whether you are at a social event and you get the chance to bring up the wonders of being a small business owner or you bump into an old college friend and you swap stories about what has happened in your lives since you last saw each other, anytime you get to tell someone about your business, that is networking and you should jump at the chance.

Even when you chat on the email discussion lists that you belong to and use your signature line, that is networking. There are so many opportunities to network every day.

But (and I am sure some of you can relate to this) the hardest part of networking can be what do I say? How do you let them know the great aspects of your business without over doing it or sounding full of yourself?

Well, there are many contributing factors when it comes to saying just the right thing at just the right time, factors that will influence how well you impress others and whether you leave a positive lasting effect. First and foremost, what are the circumstances of your encounter? Are you at an organized networking event or are you chatting with a friend? More often than not, your attitude and professionalism will be determined by your surroundings.

You will also have to play it by ear at times. You need to get a feel of how much your listener wants to hear. If someone comes right out and asks, What do you do?, dont refrain. This is a perfect opportunity to describe your business. But, there are two things to remember one, dont over talk; and two, give your audience a chance to talk about themselves as well.

However, if you are in a situation where it is not an organized networking event but you get the feeling that mentioning your business would fit into the conversation, then be as reserved as the situation warrants. A social conversation is no the place to ramble on. A quick mention would suffice and, if you notice an interest from the person you are talking to, by all means continue on. But remember to call it quits when you get a feeling it is time to do so.

Regardless of the situation, if you have an opportunity to talk about your business, be sure that one of the first things you mention is the benefits your product of service offers. Sure, your name and the name of your business is important but it is the benefits of your products or service that are going to influence your listener and make the sale.

Also, networking is like playing the piano you get better with time and practice. Everyone feels nervous (to a certain degree) when they visit networking events, whether they are in the start up phase or even after years of running their business. But, the more times you attend them, the easier it will get. You will be able to calculate what you say that has the highest impact on your listener and mould that into the perfect infomercial for your product or service.

Networking is a vital and powerful way to promote your business. So, keep your eyes open for opportunities and fine-tune what you will say and soon you will become a master at convincing others of the benefits of what you have to offer.

Janice Byer is the founder of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net), a professional Virtual Assistance and Website Design company, specializing in helping small business owners get ahead. She is a certified Canadian Virtual Assistant and Master Virtual Assistant and winner of the Most Successful Start Up 2000 and Home Based Business of the Year 2000 Awards

jbyer@docutype.net

Play Piano As Fast As Possible

2007-11-19T22:18:00.001-08:00

Proven Tips, Tools and Tactics (that anyone can learn) to Play Rock, Pop, Blues, R&B and "Smooth Jazz Piano.

One of the rules of practicing we all hear over and over is "Be sure to practice slowly." (I'm guilty of this too!) Often the result of this is a feeling of inhibition, which leads to tedium. Picture yourself filled with excitement and yearning in setting out to learn a new piece. Suddenly a voice from the darkness whispers: "Don't touch those keys! Sit erect, play slowly, stay strictly in time, watch that fingering..." and your smile is gone. I'm beginning to feel a cramp just talking about it.

The fact is, a certain amount of slow practice and attention to small scale detail is absolutely necessary. But there is something lacking in the approach so many of us have taken; we set out to make music, and end up playing what amounts to no more than a series of sterile exercises.

How can we overcome this problem?

First of all, it's important to remember that music comes to life through shading, dynamics, differences in touch, the shapes of its phrases, the rhythmic vitality that is so much a part of the right tempo. These qualities are all missing in a slow, rigid "practice" version of a piece. They are just as essential as correct fingering, and they don't come across without careful work.

So, perhaps we should change that rule from "Be sure to practice slowly" to "Practice as fast as possible." But Wait! This requires some further discussion. The slow part of practice helps teach the fingers where to go, and makes it mush easier to learn the work. But in order to learn how to create music, how to make the piece singwe must practice it at a tempo that will help reveal musical relationships and subtleties of form. Pianists must have the opportunity to experiment with touch and phrasing while practicing, and there is little chance of boredom when so many exciting elements are introduced to the practice session.

In my E-book, I've included many basic exercises with background music to assist you in acquiring this level of keyboard performance. In other words, you will be practicing with other instrumentalists. You will hear the drums, bass and an unobtrusive piano accompaniment that provides a harmonic blanket for YOU to practice your course material!

Ideally, then, both ways of practicing should be used!

First, we should practice slowly enough to learn the notes and fingerings. Then, we should "practice as fast as possible"; that is, as fast as we can without losing control of the basics we learned in slow practice.

Here' how this would work. Take a short part of the piece; you might choose a four- or eight-measure phrase. Practice it slowly. When you feel comfortable with the music, increase the tempo. Don't wait until you've practiced the entire work slowly. In this way, at each sitting you'll get to learn a little section, bring it up to tempo, and feel into what is needed to bring it to life.

At the next sitting, work on the next four or eight measure. When you have that section brought up to tempo, combine it with the first section. Now, you will begin to understand how the phrases relate to each other. You can introduce the idea of dynamic shading and decide which lines to bring out at a given moment. In fact, you will be making real, exciting musiceven before you've learned the whole piece!

As you go on in this way, you will probably change your mind about how to play the work as new sections are added. This is part of the process of discovery and experimentation. Concert artists are always re-interpreting, because they think about these elements all the time.

So play as slowly as you need to; but as fast as you are able!

I wish you the best of success.

Ron Worthy

Ron Worthy is a Music Educator, Songwriter and Performer. His Website, Play Piano Like a PRO, offers online multimedia piano instruction for all ages.

An Innovative Piano Instruction Video Game - Excellent Way to Learn to Play Piano

2007-11-18T21:48:00.001-08:00

People that play the piano beautifully fascinate me. It is interesting the different paths some of them take to become good at it. There are so many options now days for children and adults interested in becoming concert pianists, or just become comfortable with this instrument and play it whenever they feel like it, carry a tune for their enjoyment or to please others like myself.

Many excellent piano players started their education at a young age, because they were given the opportunity by their parents, relatives or friends, and with time they found a way to express themselves, increasing their self confidence opening doors of inspiration and self satisfaction to become better at their new enterprise.

In this technological age of computers and video games, these have become an excellent way to transmit information at an early age to children. The challenge remains in figuring out which video games should we buy and keep.

As far as piano learning is concerned, recently I have been shown and become interested in the PianoWizard video game package from Allegro Multimedia. piano instruction game computer software provides a fun attention grabber display setting to users, teaching them to play music first by being involved with game activities on the screen that they can interact with a fun color coded keyboard. This makes children start enjoying music without them even realizing they are stepping into the piano-playing world. This computer instruction game teaches music notation while children get more into the game, making the learning curve transparent, pressure free, fun and enjoyable.

The system works with MIDI files that one can download to a computer, in fact, the company's main site has links to many sites that have a large amount of MIDI files and information.

I find that the price for the keyboard and PianoWizard video game package is very affordable for all the capabilities included in the piano instruction software. I really do like the fact that one can up-load any type of song in MIDI format into the game and start playing it along in minutes. I believe your time will be well spent while visiting their site http://www.pianowizard.com/piano-instruction/ and learn about their excellent piano instruction game purchasing offer.

My best wishes to you and your children in this musical and uplifting venture.
Ivan Alegre is a Technology Market Analyst and apiano instruction game enthusiast.

Is My Child Old Enough to Start Piano-Music Lessons?

2007-11-15T21:34:00.001-08:00

Before I give you my opinion on this, I want you to ask yourself this question: ?Why do I want my child to take piano lessons??

Proper answers should include these types of responses:

?I want to give my child a love for music that they can enjoy and carry on throughout their entire life.?
?I want to give my child a boost in creativity and spatial reasoning skills by studying music.?

They should not be this:

?I want my child to be involved in music from an early age because I hear that they can earn big scholarships to colleges/universitiesand I wont have the money to send them to a good school."
?I want my child to be a famous music star!?
?I took lessons when I was young and hated them, but I wish I would have kept going, so now I am going to force my child to take lessons so that they don?t have the same regret that I do."

Although these 3 responses, phrased differently, may have some positives, they are focused on YOU, and not your child. Please make sure that you are enrolling them in piano lessons because you want them to have a great experience that they can enjoy and keep with them for the rest of their lives, while increasing their brain?s capacity for doing math and other augmenting other reasoning skills. With that being said, let me answer the first question, ?Is my child old enough to start piano lessons?? This depends on a number of factors:

Can your child physically sit still for at least a half-hour? (The typical length of a beginning-level piano lesson)
Can your child mentally focus on doing what is expected of them for at least a half-hour?
Does you child need you to be in the room, or will they suffer from separation anxiety causing them to be focused on where you are and not at the task at hand, which is learning music?
Can your child read the letters of the alphabet?
Can your child read and count numbers?
Can they do very simple addition like 2+2=4?
Do they get enough exposure to the types of music that would complement what they will be learning?

Although each of these factors can be worked around in some fashion, especially when first starting out in music, these could be considered a good list of pre-requisites. In my personal experience, I have started children as early as 4, but suggest that they probably wait till 5, in order to be more familiar with the pre-requisites I just spoke of. One of the good things about learning to read notes, at such an early age, is that children pick up on them rather quickly. They are learning to read the letters of the alphabet (putting a name to a symbol) which is exactly the same thing as learning to read the notes. The closer together these two experiences happen (learning to read letters and learning to read notes) the better. I have even heard of parents using flash cards with notes on them (can be picked up at just about any music store) while doing letters of the alphabet at the same time and find that their children learn both equally as fast, and better yet retain them! This can be a great advantage because once they can read music (both treble and bass clefs), learning to play an instrument becomes very easy, since it is a matter of motor coordination (something that is generally easier to learn once the ?notes are out of the way?.)

It is also beneficial for your child to have friends that are going through the experience of learning music at the same time. They often will want to show each other what they have learned and play together. This is exactly what happened to me. I had friends that were taking lessons and showing me what they were learning and I wanted to do the same thing. Before I knew it, we were in school band together (now playing band instruments as well as piano) and were enjoying it ?socially?.

I wish you and your child/children all the success in the world and welcome any questions that you may have for me. Please feel free to contact me at my website:

http://JerryGreene.Com

Jerry A. Greene is a private music teacher in the San Antonio, TX area. If you are interested in taking private lessons with him, please click one of the links below:
Piano Lessons in San Antonio, TX Private In-Home Music Lessons in San Antonio, TX

Piano Lessons and the Importance of Learning Chords and Music Theory

2007-11-13T21:56:00.003-08:00

To truly learn to play the piano well, piano lessons and a proper instructor are of utmost importance. Sure, there have been many great self-taught piano players throughout the history of the piano, but even the most naturally gifted piano players know the benefits of having a good mentor can result in a much quicker and more well-rounded learning process for the average beginning pianist. When I say "much quicker," I do not mean that a qualified piano instructor will magically turn you into a concert pianist in a week?s time, because it takes years to truly reach an advanced level of piano playing, even for the gifted students. The reason that proper piano instruction is vital to the learning process is that it enables the piano student to learn proper piano playing techniques from a qualified source and gives the student an additional perspective rather than being only self-taught.

Of course, the styles of each piano instructor you meet may vary, but their teaching should always cover the same five basic topics: fingering and posture, reading music, scales, technique, and sight reading. The proper fingering and posture should be taught earliest, due to the importance of a piano student knowing how to their hands and where to place them on the piano keys. The basis of this area of study should be repetitive practicing of scales. Soon after, the piano student should start learning how to read music notation beginning with the very simplest notes, key signatures and time signatures before moving on to more advanced ideas.

Piano teachers introduce most of these ideas into the piano lessons at the same time the student is learning to read music notation. Learning to read music is an area of practice that will continue throughout the full course of learning to play the piano. A piano teacher will usually begin a student with easy musical pieces to start off with, and gradually increase the difficulty level and introduce the piano student to more advanced assignments. After the student is adequately knowledgeable in reading music, a piano teacher might introduce the student to Sight Reading, which is the term used for playing a piece of piano music without having seen it before.

Another detail of properly learning to play the piano is studying and practicing music theory and chords. Chords and music theory are extremely valuable aspects of a pianist's learning process. When learning to read music, a beginning piano player should be taught to understand the theory behind the music, rather than simply relying on sheet music. There may be instances in a pianist's life in which he or she will have to perform without the aid of sheet music, and this is where the value of knowing chords and music theory kicks in. Unfortunately, many piano instructors seem to leave this factor out of their piano lesson plans, but with chords and music theory mixed in with all other quality piano instruction, the beginning piano player begins to grow as a pianist since all of the elements of instruction are working together. Learning to play the piano then becomes simply gaining knowledge gradually over time, and it only gets easier and more enjoyable!

Todd Bridges is a life-long music fan and piano lover. His website is at http://www.perfect-piano.com. Other than standard piano lessons, Mr. Bridges is a supporter of the educational and entertaining Piano Wizard software for learning how to play the piano.

Piano Lessons and the Importance of Learning Chords and Music Theory

2007-11-13T21:56:00.001-08:00

Adult Piano Lessons... It's Never Too Late!

2007-11-12T21:45:00.001-08:00

As a piano teacher, I talk a lot about what I do. And I'm always amazed when adults tell me they've dreamed of playing piano, but believe it's too late for them to learn. I wish I knew where this belief came from -- it's simply not true!

Adult piano lessons can be a rewarding process for both the student and the teacher. And playing piano is certainly a wonderful stress-reliever for busy lives.

If you're an adult who is ready to play piano, here are some helpful tips as you find a teacher and become a student once again.

1 -- Find a great teacher.
Find a teacher who is passionate about and experienced with teaching adults, and who has adult students in her studio. If a piano teacher's experience and specialty is starting young children, and her studio is full of 5-15 year-olds, she may not be the best choice.

Why? As a teacher, all her preparation, repertoire, and teaching tools are geared towards children. That's not to say she couldn't teach adults -- but her studio is geared for a younger age group.

2 -- Choose your method.
Are you really wanting to play classical? Or is jazz more what you're looking for? Maybe you're not even interested in learning to read music -- you just want to be able to improvise on chords and read lead sheets. Why not take lessons that are giving you exactly what you want?

There are so many ways to go about learning to play piano. Talk to prospective teachers about the methods they teach, and find one that will teach you in a way that makes you excited to play every day.

3 -- Make the time.
Adult piano lessons are a commitment of time and resources in a busy life. It helps to make a conscious decision to devote the part of your everyday routine to piano practice. If piano is low on your to-do list, you'll end up practicing only on weekends -- which will lead to a disappointing experience for you. Really.

So carve out just 10 or 15 minutes a day to totally devote to piano. It will work wonders!

4 -- Be a student.
Ask yourself: are you truly willing to be a student, and be taught?

One of the most difficult things for my adult students is releasing control of the learning process. I understand -- as adults, we need to make decisions, solve problems, and decide the best way to do things. But piano lessons are different.

You're a beginner. Accept that, enjoy it, and allow your teacher to guide you in the learning process -- even if you don't understand why she might be asking you to practice a certain way, or you're just sure you can do it faster or better. After all, who is the expert? If you knew the answers, you'd already be playing piano!

5 -- Patience!
Lastly, patience is a virtue. Learning to express yourself fluently at the piano is like learning a new language: it takes time. Be patient! Play each and every piece, from the first one you learn, with intention and beauty.

Don't ignore the journey by focusing on the destination. You'll miss out on enjoying all the simple pieces if you believe anything less than Chopin isn't really playing the piano. From the moment your fingers touch the keys, you're playing. Enjoy it!

Your piano lessons, and the time you spend every day at the piano, can bring you happiness from the moment you start.

It's never too late to learn to play piano!

Kimberly Luker is a studio owner, piano and flute teacher, and webmaster of You Can Play Piano! - a friendly, informative site full of resources to get you playing piano and loving it. She believes that everyone is deeply and naturally musical -- including you!

For more tips on adult piano lessons, visit Adult Piano Lessons at You Can Play Piano! And while you're there, sign up for our free newsletter, PianoForte!

What To Look For In Beginning Piano Lessons

2007-11-11T21:52:00.001-08:00

When looking for beginning piano lessons, one must assess their personal needs. If you are an adult looking to play piano as a hobby, you would certainly have different needs than a parent looking for classical piano lessons for their child. Many things come into play when looking for beginning piano lessons, such as how much time you have to practice and how serious you want to be about your piano playing. Do you have the time to practice? Are the beginning piano lessons worth the cost? No matter what you are looking for in your lessons there are a few fundamental questions that one must answer before choosing a piano book, piano instructor or piano lesson software package.

What is your goal with the piano? Have you ever heard the age old saying, ?If you don?t know where you are going, you certainly won?t get there?? Well it is absolutely true when it comes to playing a musical instrument! You must set a strict set of goals and work to reach them. If your goal is to just play your favorite songs you hear on the radio, you most likely wont need to sit and practice music theory or classical pieces of music on your piano. So in order to effectively reach your goal on the instrument, be honest with yourself up front and focus on what you want to play. Nobody can be a jack of all trades, so its best to just focus on what you want to do and practice your beginning piano lessons around your goal.

How much time do you have for your beginning piano lessons? To really reach your goal, no matter if its simply playing ?Mary had a little lamb? on the piano, you need time to practice! Many people think that if they go to their piano instructor once a week for 30 minutes, pay the fee and play the exercises during their beginning piano lessons, they will reach their goal in no time. This way of thinking couldn't be further from the truth. I hate to break it to you, but playing a musical instrument is not easy. It takes blood, sweat and tears to become a competent piano player. You need to set time aside for practice and take it serious if you want to learn the piano.

Which process do you want to use to learn piano? When starting your beginning piano lessons, you can really take two separate routes. One way is the way that many think of as real piano lessons, where the student starts playing scales, arpeggios and reading sheet music. However there is also the route of learning by learning simple chords and playing songs right away. Instead of learning music theory, sight reading and scales from the start, you can start playing real songs immediately and learning by ear. However learning piano from the immediate playing method has many pitfalls, such as not knowing and understanding the structure and theory behind the music.

There are many other questions you should ask yourself before beginning piano lessons, but the ones listed above are a good starting point. Some of these questions may seem like common sense to many of you reading this, but they are fundamental and key to your success and learning. Without starting with a good foundation as to which way, why and how you are going to reach your goals of playing the piano, you will never achieve them.

If you are looking for further information on which beginning piano lessons are better suited for your goals, you may want to check out Jack Patterson?s website at http://www.piano-learning.info Jack not only gives piano lessons but gives reviews of many different piano educational products to save you time searching for them yourself.

Teach Yourself How To Play Piano Despite Years Of Lessons

2007-11-07T21:44:00.001-08:00

So, you've taken piano lessons for years but you still can't play on your own.

You probably know the scales and can read off music sheets, but you can't just sit down at the piano and make music.

Here's the solution? Learn a chord-based approach to playing piano!

Piano Lessons For Beginners - A New Approach

2007-11-05T22:04:00.001-08:00

If you're interested in learning how to play the piano and you're a beginner listen up. What I'm about to share with you will have you playing the piano in no time at all.

First off, forget about note reading. Forget about sheet music and trying to play Bach or Beethoven. While all of these have their place in piano lessons for beginners, it's not what I'm going to teach you. I promised you a new approach and that's exactly what this article will deliver.

Take a look at my free piano lesson "Reflections in Water," (available by clicking below.) The first thing you probably will notice is the title followed by what this lesson will teach you to do - namely using open position chords in the Key of C major to create a calm, relaxed atmosphere.

Notice anything here? This piano lesson actually looks like an art lesson doesn't it! It's completely different as it takes you step by step through the process of actually creating your own music.

After you notice the title and the description of the lesson, you may also notice a small paragraph of text to the left that reads "materials used." Again, like an art lesson, you see exactly what you'll be using to create with. At the beginning of most art lessons, the author introduces you to the materials and techniques you'll be using to complete a finished painting. That's exactly what I do with piano instruction.

And my students love it. It gets them playing piano almost right away. Plus, it allows them to create music with modern sounding chords instead of the usual boring triads.

Note reading is not required for this approach. Just a little knowledge of chords. For the lesson "Reflections in Water," you'll see 4 chords and the keyboard diagrams they are laid out on. Once you get the feel for the open position chord, you'll love it and want to play the piano with enthusiasm. Why? Because it's fun! And it's easy.

And if that wasn't enough to get you motivated, there are also audio samples that let you hear how another pianist plays it.

Piano lessons for beginners do not have to be the same old boring thing most of us have come to know. They can actually be fun AND creative!

How To Choose The Right Online Piano Lessons For You

2007-11-05T22:03:00.001-08:00

Back before the internet dominated the way in which we find products and services we relied on more conventional means such as; the yellow pages, print advertising and word of mouth. While these are still effective ways to find information, the internet is certainly as effective and in many ways far more efficient.

The major difference between them is; the internet can display hundreds of thousands of search results for a single search. And, although a search engine like Google can give you many relevant results, it makes it hard sometimes to filter through it all and find what you're looking for. The choices are often overwhelming.

For example, a Google search for piano lessons reveals a million and a half results. How would you even begin to sift through it all and find yourself a piano course that's right for you? Try it yourself. Do a search and visit some of these websites, you'll find thousands of online piano lessons and thousands of different piano methods.

Most of these sites do very well at pitching you why they're the best method for you. Most focus on the beginning piano player. Why? Because, it's an audience that know the least and it's easy to appeal to their emotions. Bold selling statements like, "learn to play by ear" and "impress your friends by playing all your favorite music after only 1 hour" and "the secret piano method that makes the pros jealous!"

I admire these people for their ability to pitch. In fact the internet has made it possible for anyone with an idea and a few copy writing courses to sell just about anything. And, it works. But, what is the aftermath of learning one of these so-called shortcut piano methods. Do they really teach you how to play in and hour? Can you really learn to play by ear overnight? Well, not really.

Certainly, it's possible to learn how to play by ear and to learn how to play all your favorite songs but for most beginning piano players these are just completely outrageous claims.

What should you look for instead, in order to avoid getting sucked into these "learn to play fast" schemes? First of all, if you're even considering learning how to play from an online course I would recommend that you do a little research on who is actually giving the course. Are they professional musicians or just someone with a little knowledge? Do they have backgrounds in music? Do they have recordings that you can listen to? Or, are they offering only shortcuts to amazing playing?

Once you've done your research on the teacher then look for anyone else who has taken their courses. What are they saying? Do they give any testimonials as to the effectiveness of the courses? Do other students give any proof of their new piano playing abilities?

What I'm trying to point out is; if you dig deep enough you'll avoid spending your hard earned money on bogus schemes that simply do not work. Learning to play the piano is a lengthy process and should not be taken lightly. It can be fun, but it still takes practice. Anyone who thinks otherwise simply does not understand or does not have enough experience to know any better.

So, let's say you do find yourself a true professional; someone with a lot of experience, a great track record and plenty of proof to backup it up. What's the number one reason why you should learn online from this person rather than find a local teacher?

For starters, your online teacher will likely have way more experience and credibility that your local teacher. But, the main reason to learn online is price. A local teacher of any credible stature will be charging at least $75 an hour. An hour online video lesson will run you an average of about $25.

There are other benefits such as; you can learn at your own pace, there are no travel expenses, it's anonymous, it's stress free and your lesson is always available for review at any time. But, for most people it's a question of economics. It's way cheaper to study online than in person.

So, the next time you do a search for "piano lessons" on Google, please use the above information above to help you choose the right piano lesson for you.

If you are looking for highly motivating and entertaining online piano lessons, Paul Tobey is a certified piano lesson trainer and multi-award winning concert pianist whose piano music is known throughout the world.

Private Piano Lessons are a Waste of Money!

2007-11-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

Have you wasted your money? Are you wasting your money? Or are you about to waste your money on private piano lessons?

In the following article you will find out exactly what I mean.

* * Private Piano Lessons Are a Waste of Money! * *

When you are starting out, you will realize that there are lots of different ways you can learn the piano.

* From a book * Private teacher * Online lessons * Music School (group lessons)

All of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

What you are about to learn in the following article is the advantages and disadvantages of having private lessons and the answer to the controversial statement "private piano lessons are a waste of money".

Having private piano lessons means one-to-one piano lessons in your own home or at your teacher's home.

* * Piano lessons in your home * *

- - Advantages - -

* Saves you time, zero traveling * You can make "your own cup of tea just the way you like it" * You can keep up-to-date with your favorite TV program at the same time!? * You can disappear to the toilet at anytime to escape from the boredom

Only joking! But it really does happen sometimes. Really there is only ONE advantage and that is saving the time it takes to travel to lessons.

- - Disadvantages - -

Distraction is the biggest disadvantage if you decide to have piano lessons at home. It really is unavoidable.

* Your phone rings * Your dog is barking and wants attention * Your neighbor is banging nails into the wall * Your other neighbor is 'not the greatest fan of the piano' and is banging something else on the wall * Your teacher is stuck in traffic and is running late * Your teacher complains every week about the poor quality of your piano, and that it is always out of tune * Private piano lessons are incredibly expensive and you usually have to commit for a certain period of time

And on...and on...Well, you get the idea.

Distractions affect your concentration, your ability to learn and remember things and it really wastes everyone's time.

* * Private lessons in the piano teacher's home * * If you don't have to travel too far and can avoid traffic jams then having piano lessons at your teacher's home is better than in your own home.

- - Advantages - -

* Your teacher's piano is usually a good one, and is normally in tune * You rarely get distractions at your teacher's home

- - Disadvantages - -

* Traveling time * Stressful driving in traffic * Finding a parking space * Parking costs * Fuel or public transport costs

- - Conclusion - -

Private piano lessons at home are ok if you have an endless supply of money (who has?), and distractions do not bother you.

Piano lessons in your teacher's home are slightly better, but the boredom level is significantly increased!

- - The Answer - -

Go and learn by yourself! Buy an online piano course (not a free one, as you usually don't get enough information).

The best online piano courses usually cost less than $50 and you get the same information and sometimes more than any teacher would give you.

You can also study the course in your own time, in the comfort of your own home, with your feet up on the desk, sipping the best cup of tea in the world ;-)

P.S. You may think that I'm out on a mission in this article to bash private piano teachers. This is NOT the case. There comes a time when you reach a certain level that having private piano lessons is the ONLY option. I am simply stating that these days there are much cheaper and more convenient ways for beginners to learn the piano.

Graham Howard is considered an expert in the piano industry. He has spent his whole life SURROUNDED by pianos. You can get "Learn How to Play Piano, Read Chords, Understand Rhythm and Read Music", a free 5-part mini course written by Graham Howard here: http://www.alltalents.co.uk/Free_Piano_Lessons.html

[You're free to use this article on your website or newsletter as long as it remains intact and includes the author's biog box]

Piano Lessons: Make Sure They Include Chords & Music Theory!

2007-11-04T22:57:00.000-08:00

Proper piano instruction is an element extremely vital to learning the instrument well. Though it's very possible to be a self-taught piano player, piano lessons can really increase the speed and efficiency with which one learns the instrument.

That's not to say that great piano instruction makes great piano players overnight; even the most naturally talented pianists still play for years before they consider themselves advanced. But proper piano lesson instructions will maximize those years to the fullest and ensure that the student is learning the correct techniques.

Though teaching styles always vary from instructor to instructor, piano instruction generally covers the same basic areas: fingering, music reading, scales, technique, and sight reading. The early lessons will cover fingering and posture, making sure the student knows how to hold his or her hands and where to put them on the keys; series of scales practiced repeatedly will be the basis of this area. Piano instruction will then move on to notation essentials, starting with the basics of notes and key signatures and time signatures and then moving forward to more advanced concepts in rhythm, tempo and dynamics.

Many of these concepts are introduced into the piano instruction while the student is learning to read music, a practice that runs through the entire course of the piano instruction. Teachers will assign short, easy pieces to kick start the student's music reading knowledge and eventually move forward to more advanced pieces. Sight reading, the ability to play a piece of music without ever having seen it, is sometimes placed sporadically throughout the piano instruction, after a student is fairly well-versed in reading music.

One crucial element of piano playing that is often left out of traditional piano lessons is the study and practice of chords and music theory. To learn to read music without understanding the theory behind the music and the chords and chord progressions that form the music is almost like teaching a surgeon to cut without understanding the human anatomy and it's interrelated parts. The student will be able to play the piano from a piece of sheet music, but take that music away or have it blow off the piano and he or she is immediately in big trouble.

There is a famous anecdote about a lady who was a concert pianist and could impress people with her playing, yet when asked to play "Happy Birthday" at a party had to decline with great embarrassment because she didn't have sheet music for the song handy. To be tied to the written music is a shame, when learning chords and music theory adds so much to the value of piano instruction.

Given a healthy dose of music theory and chord instruction mixed in, all of the other elements of piano instruction eventually begin to work hand in hand. Piano instruction then becomes an intricate web of gaining bits of detailed knowledge little by little and understanding the music that's being played without fully realizing that it's being gained.

Playing the piano then becomes more fun and a joyful event that can be shared with full understanding of the music theory and form and chord structure that lies behind each song.

A series or free lessons from Duane on the various aspects of chords & music theory is available: "Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!"

Piano Tricks Site Offers Online Video Piano Lessons

2007-11-03T01:10:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Berkeley, CA--January 15, 2007-- PianoTricks.com is the collaboration of Jon Broderick, webmaster, and Christopher Schlegel, piano instructor. Jon and Christopher work in a successful partnership on the popular guitar instruction site guitartricks.com. They decided to expand their reach into cyberspace in 2006 by offering an innovative online piano lesson resource with modern video lessons. Because of the popularity of their sister site the team realized that the techniques they have learned teaching guitar online could translate to people motivated to learn piano online as well, while allowing the students to do it easily in the convenience and comfort of their own homes.

The instructor Christopher Schlegel has many credentials and he is an experienced musical performer and teacher. He has been playing music for 30 years, piano for 12 years, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bethel College in Tennessee. Christopher loves music of many different styles and knows how to apply the basic fundamental unifying principles of music to any genre. He also composes and performs his own original music in addition to teaching classes and seminars involving music technology (MIDI sequencing, digital recording, scoring). Christopher has 20 years of private instruction experience teaching guitar, piano, and music theory to students of all ages and all styles and a very thorough and enthusiastic teaching style, which is visible in his lessons.

People today have hectic schedules to maintain and as the ability to relax and unwind becomes increasingly difficult, the internet offers an outlet for individuals to pursue activities they would not normally because of the constraints on time, travel, and expense. PianoTricks.com offers an outlet for your busy life and leaves no excuse in your way to take the music lessons you always wanted to.

Visit the PianoTricks.com site to get an example of how lessons are delivered right to your desktop in the easiest possible format. Online piano lessons can fit any schedule 24/7.

Contact: Jon Broderick
Company: Web Trick Inc.
Address: 2625 Alcatraz Avenue, #311, Berkeley, CA 94705
Phone: (510) 991-7414
Email
Website

PR Created and Distributed By MuzikReviews.com

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck conducts interviews, writes reviews, biographies, press releases and articles for Independent and Major artists Worldwide. Articles are dispersed on a vast network of websites. Links to sites with great music content are provided on Homepage and Links Page.

Online piano lessons- How to play popular piano in 10 easy lessons

2007-11-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

So are there actually 10 easy lessons to play popular piano? Perhaps there are, but keep in mind that practice and discipline are just important.

Finding the right online piano lesson is as simple if you know where to look. Learn how to really play piano despite years of lessons

http://www.piano-lessons.consumer-reporter.com

Looking for Piano Lessons in Los Angeles? Don't Leave Home!

2007-11-02T00:08:00.001-07:00

So, you live in Los Angeles and you want to play piano. Here are your options. You can pick up your local yellow pages and thumb through dozens of ads in the hope of finding a qualified teacher. Or?

You can learn how to play piano online for a fraction of the cost. That's right! Piano lessons in Los Angeles do not have to be expensive. You can pretty much find what you're looking for online. And most of the time, you can find piano lessons that are free.

For instance, the website gopiano.com has been around forever and teaches the beginning student how to play in the classical style.

If you're looking for something a little more creative, there's a website that teaches you how to improvise your own music. It's called quiescencemusic.com and has a free piano lesson for you.

The lesson is titled "Reflections in Water" and shows beginning students how to play something called the open position chord. This chord structure gives students an opportunity to play modern sounds right away. And you get to use BOTH hands.

Most online piano lesson sites try to start students off with triads. There's nothing wrong with triads. It's just that they aren't very modern sounding and aren't used much in today's music. With open position chords, you can begin playing and creating your own music? literally in minutes!

Look, if you live in Los Angeles, you know you have to get in your car to get pretty much anywhere. Why spend 20 minutes on the highway when you can learn piano from the comfort of home. In fact, by taking online piano lessons, you'll save a LOT of money. How much money? Look at it this way.

If online piano lessons cost $9.97 a month and you're run of the mill piano teacher in Los Angeles charges $30-$50 per hour (that's a conservative estimate) the cost for a year's worth of piano lessons would run you $960. That's if you spend $40 every other week.

But, if you decide to learn piano online, you could access ALL the lessons anytime you want and it would run you only $119. That's practically eight times cheaper. All in all, a pretty good deal!

Listen - don't waste your hard-earned money trying to find a piano teacher who lives 30 miles away. Save your time and your money. Learn piano online!

Piano Lessons: Creating an Impressionistic Soundscape

2007-11-01T01:30:00.001-07:00

Ah? the Soundscape. That indefinable rush of notes that envelopes and soothes. The first classical composer to really embrace this type of music was Claude Debussy.

In fact, a whole style of music (Impressionism) was coined based on his music alone.

It's a lush style that tries to steer clear of too definable a melody line. Instead, textures and rhythms are explored. Some students think this style is the hardest to learn but I think it's actually easier to play this style than the straight melodic style embraced in the classical period.

For the improvising pianist, creating an impressionist Soundscape requires nothing more than learning a few chords and playing them.

Debussy based much of his music on something called the whole-tone scale. This scale basically takes out any "tension" that can be found in our major and minor scales. The Chinese and Japanese use pentatonic scales frequently and this is also similar.

But, we don't have to use these scales to create our Soundscape. The C Major scale will work just fine. For instance, in the lesson "Reflections in Water," we use open position chords to create with. It's HOW we use them that gives us the feeling of a Soundscape.

We play slowly and allow the notes to ring out. No rushing is involved here. Instead, we adapt an attitude of exploration. The music is created by allowing our fingers to play with the tones in the C Major scale. Chord changes come every few bars or so. The music is repeated a few times and then we stop.

You see, you don't need fancy materials to create beautiful Soundscapes with. You can use just a few chords from the C Major scale and improvise a beautiful piece of music! We play with the textures and allow the music to appear - without forcing or willing it into being.

Where To Learn Piano

2007-10-29T00:35:00.000-07:00

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Piano Lessons Outside the Box: A New Approach to Learning Piano

2007-10-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

Usually, piano lessons consist of a teacher assigning a method book to students in an attempt to teach them how to play the music of the "masters."

The hopeful student learns to read music (in a year or two) and begins to play his first pieces.

For most, this is satisfactory. All they really want to to do is play classical music and entertain themselves and others. Nothing wrong with it at all.

But what if there was a way to play the piano that allowed you to express yourself creatively - just like painters do? There is a way. And it all has to do with a chord-based approach!

You see, chords are to the pianist as what colors are to the visual artist. The artist uses color, form, and technique to create with. The improvising and composing musician uses melody, rhythm, and harmony to create music with.

Yet the sad truth of the matter is music students rarely learn this art. If they do, it's after they've mastered note reading and piano technique. The truly creative stuff doesn't appear until well after in most cases.

Now, I don't know why this is. But one thing is for sure? it doesn't have to be that way!

For example, by using a few chords and a way to play these chords, you can create your own music. Be it improvised or composed. Take my free lesson "Reflections in Water" for example.

Here we have 4 chords in the Key of C Major. The chords are modern sounding seventh chords and are all played in open position. By using the materials of music (chords) we can quickly begin creating music - much like visual artists do.

You don't have to be Beethoven or Mozart to do this. On the contrary, the less you know, the better you will be able to improvise because you haven't learned what you "should" be doing.

I believe piano lessons can be taught much like an art lesson. You first have the title of the piece you'll be creating. You then use a step by step method that shows you how the piece was made. I've been using this method to teach with for years now and my students love it.

In short, don't think going the classical route is the only way. It's not. If you want to create your own unique music, you can!

Creative Piano Lessons for the Absolute Beginner

2007-10-26T01:30:00.001-07:00

So, you've been thinking about taking piano lessons. And you're a beginner. You probably think you'll begin your piano lessons studies with note-reading and triads. And you'd be right!

Most piano teachers begin their students out on some obscure method book that drags out the teaching process. This makes your piano teacher rich and you a much poorer piano player.

You may be thinking there's a better way to learn piano. And you'd be right again! Listen to this. What if there was a method? a way to play piano right away using a modern sounding chord? And what if you could use this chord to create your OWN music instead of playing Kum ba ya 40-50 times for practice.

You're in for a treat because this kind of piano instruction exists and can be found right on the internet. I'm talking about something called the Open Position Piano Chord and with it, you can quickly and easily create your own unique music. Not in months or years. Not even in weeks. I'm talking about hours!

But how you ask?

The answer is easy. The Open Position Piano Chord uses both hands right away to create a modern sound. Once you master this chord position (takes about 10 minutes or less) you'll be well on your way to playing contemporary styles. The best part about this chord structure though is how easy it is to create with.

Because both hands are used immediately, you have the opportunity to play with the tones under your fingers. The lowly triad, while still used in much western music, is not so friendly in this regard.

With the triad, you get 3 tones to play around with and while you can create some music with this, it's just not what today's sound is all about.

The Open Position Chord however gives you a modern seventh chord to play with right away. Used in Jazz, New Age, and Contemporary styles, the seventh chord is the foundation of most of today's music!

Look, if you want to get really creative at the piano, try the Open Position Piano Chord and you'll see how your piano lessons will become that much easier!

Jazz Piano Lessons - A Whole New Approach

2007-10-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

Jazz. Just the word alone sounds musical. If you're looking for jazz piano lessons and a new way to play jazz piano, read on!

For the most part, jazz piano lessons begin with the study of chords. And that's a good thing! But chords alone will not help you make music. Sure, chords are important. But so is the other half of learning piano improvisation and that has everything to do with TRUSTING YOUR INTUITION!

This is where the usual jazz piano lesson routine falls apart. You're taught chords yes. But what do you do with these chords? You create music with them.

Now, most jazz students have as their goal, the ability to comp. They want to be part of a trio or duo or some other combination of musical group. The most common of these is the jazz trio. Here we have keyboards, bass, and drums. And this makes a very nice combo. But if you're interested in playing solo, you have a different problem.

The solo jazz pianist has to not only know how to play chords, but how to read from a lead sheet. A lead sheet gives you the chord symbols and the melody line and that is all you need to create your own arrangements.

There are many fine books out there for the aspiring jazz pianist to learn the art of soloing. But one thing most of these books don't teach you is how to improvise and compose YOUR OWN MUSIC!

It's no surprise that there's a shortage on this kind of instruction. It's not in high demand. As I mentioned before, most jazz pianists in training want to learn how to play in a group setting. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to learn how to compose your own music?

If you understand and can play 4 and 8-bar phrases, you're already aware of the importance of repetition and contrast in music. Repetition and contrast are the cornerstones of composition.

Listen, if you're already taking jazz piano lessons and want to learn the art of composition on your own, study and learn how to play in 4 and 8-bar phrases. It will serve you well in the long run.

Piano Lessons - Failure Is Not An Option

2007-10-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ever find yourself humming a song, or hearing a song in your head? Sometimes we find ourselves singing the same song over and over all day long, even if we can't stand the song! The fact is, music is just a part of us.

We are exposed to music from the day we are conceived. We can feel and hear it in the womb. Many of us on our day of birth can hear our Mother singing, "Rock-a-bye-baby." That turns to "Happy Birthday" every single year after that. Everyone has certain songs that invoke strong memories from the past. How about that special wedding song?

Music can make us laugh, and it can make us cry. Music is a part of our soul. Music education is important to our growth. It helps our brains process information better. Students involved in music get higher grades in Math and other subjects. They do better on their SAT scores. It improves self-esteem and social skills.

Everyone would love to play an instrument. Who wouldn't love to walk over to the piano at a party and be the life of the party?

Music is a birthright. We are all capable of learning and mastering it. So the question is: why don't we? Why are normal attrition rates at around 80%? The answer is simple: we do not fail the system; the system fails us.

Theory and Notation

Sheet music represents the universal language of music notation...a visual interpretation of what we call "Music Theory." It's a system of dots, dashes, circles, lines and other hieroglyphics that is richly layered with centuries of historical evolution and meaning.

The preferred method of teaching piano is to immediately introduce theory and notation, marking learning far more difficult than it needs to be. That is why there is such a high failure rate for most of us in learning to play. Focusing on the translation of notation as a first step is difficult for most of us and it is one of the contributing factors making practicing painful and un-enjoyable.

So how can we turn the odds in our favor at succeed at piano lessons?

Reverse the process

Music is a language, and like learning any second language, it is difficult. We learn to speak our own language naturally, not by going to school. Then, once we are in school we learn how to "read" that language. In music, we learn the "written language" first (notation) then learn how to play. This is contrary to the way we naturally learn our language, and that's what make it so hard.

Make it fun

First, make it fun and enjoyable. If it isn't fun, do you think a child would rather play their video games than practice?

Don't be pushy and let your child learn at his or her own pace. They'll tell you (either verbally or through results) when it's time to take the next step. Stick with it, and you can beat the odds.

Vincent Miele is an accomplished musician and consultant for Allegro Multimedia. To learn about the Piano Wizard, please visit www.piano-wizard.net

Private Piano Lessons - Are They a Waste of Time?

2007-10-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

Let me say from the start that I have nothing against private piano lessons. I think there are good teachers out there who can help you reach your goals. Having said that, I do have some things to say about them from personal experience.

My goal was to find a private piano teacher who could help me create my own music in the style I enjoyed - New Age piano. I knew a few chords but what I really wanted was a mentor; someone who could already compose and improvise and help me do the same. And so I searched my city of San Diego for a teacher.

I found someone who I thought could help me (because of the brochure he mailed) and made an appointment. The first thing he did was assess what I already knew?which was what he was supposed to do. Fine. I showed him the chords I could play.

Then, for some bizarre reason, he started writing out chords on a piece of paper and that was the rest of the lesson! Talk about disappointing! And a waste of time and money.

I soon discovered, much to my dismay, that I probably wasn't going to find private piano lessons that would help me reach my goal. Now, if my goal was learning classical piano, there are literally thousands of teachers out there who could just whip out a folio and have me go through the book.

But I really wanted to be able to create my OWN music. Why was that so difficult?

My search finally took me to my local libraries where I discovered the books and materials to help me.

Look, I'm not saying that there aren't any good private piano lessons out there. I'm saying there are other ways to reach your music goals.

How To Learn Piano Keys

2007-10-22T01:52:00.000-07:00

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Piano Lessons For Adults

2007-10-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

If you?re an adult who is thinking of taking up the piano, then I want to congratulate you.

Why?

Because many adults seem to think that you must start when you?re a child, if you?re ever to make any progress with learning piano. And it simply isn?t true.

So with that out of the way, what?s the best way for an adult to go about learning piano?

Well, the best way to learn the piano is to find a good piano teacher. This is the common advice, and it is usually the best option for most people. But its also the most time consuming and expensive.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other options for you to chose, if adult piano lessons isn?t something you have the time for, or can afford.

The first option I would recommend to you is to take some online piano lessons. There?s some great products out there on the web, which are very high quality, and also as good as having a real life teacher sitting next to you. These products often include videos and audio as well, which really speeds up your learning.

But if that?s an option that you?re not keen on, you can always get some adult piano lesson books. A quick look on Amazon should reveal plenty of books that will get you on the right track. Although something to be wary of when learning from a book, is the fact that you can?t actually see what to do like you can in a video or real life. This means you can easily learn things incorrectly, which can hold back your learning as you become more advanced.

Another option is to find videos and DVDs that teach piano. There?s plenty that cater specifically for adults. By learning this way, you can actually see what?s happening, which means it will be faster and less confusing to learn new music and techniques.

I hope this quick overview of the different ways you can learn piano as an adult will inspire you to find the method that works best for you. And don?t let anyone tell you that you can?t learn piano as an adult, because it simply isn?t true!

Claire Diner is the owner of the Piano Lesson Blog, where she gives people free advice and piano lesson for adults. To find out more information on how to learn piano as an adult learner, be sure to visit her blog.

Piano Lessons Using Rocket Piano

2007-10-17T01:32:00.000-07:00

"Someday I would like to learn to play the piano." I have heard this many times, but somehow time and money seem to get in the way. Now we have a solution to both of those problems. Technology has made it possible for people to realize their dreams. First, digital music has made the inexpensive keyboards of today sound as good as their expensive counterparts of only a few years ago. You can buy a nice keyboard for under $100. Second, the internet has made it possible for the lessons to be delivered to many people simultaneously rather than just one at a time by a teacher in a private studio. The piano lessons can be downloaded for you to use any time it is convenient for you. The delivery of lessons on the internet has made the cost miniscule compared to going to a studio for lessons.

Rocket Piano is undoubtedly the best choice for most people wanting to learn to play the piano without breaking the bank. Even if you did spend more money on lessons, you would be hard-pressed to find a better quality product. The lessons were developed by Ashleigh Southam, a professional musician and jazz artist. Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced students will benefit from these lessons. They are presented in multimedia. Numerous video and audio clips are contained throughout the lessons that demonstrate exactly what a song should sound and look like. Rocket piano lessons will teach you any style of music you want to learn to play: jazz, rock, pop, gospel, blues, or classical.

These are not your mother's piano lessons. For most people, the point of learning to play is enjoyment, relaxation and to have fun! Ashleigh understands that. Yes, to become highly skilled a person would need to spend many hours practicing speed drills, arpeggios, and scales; I know, because I did. However, to play for pleasure you don't need hours of practice each day.

Being classically trained is something I will never regret, but I never was able to just sit down and play for fun. Unless I had memorized the piece, I needed the sheet music to play. There is nothing wrong with that, except that you don't always have it handy. The most memorable and happy times when people gather around the piano to sing or just listen are often spontaneous. I longed to learn to play by ear; Rocket Piano made that possible. It is possible for you as well. Join Ashleigh and me in learning to play the piano! ali rae is a freelance writer and former teacher/tutor (and loves playing the piano)

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Learn Piano Chording

2007-10-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

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Why Most Online Piano Lessons Websites Suck

2007-10-10T00:57:00.000-07:00

Recently, I did a Google search for the term "piano lessons." After hitting the return key, it came up with millions of search results. Of course, I'm only going to wade through the first 20 or so. And so I did.

The one site I came upon more often than others (because of the Google ads) was something called Rocket Piano. It's a site that promises to teach you piano. What's not clear is just exactly what style it teaches. But it does promise to teach you piano.

On the site is a black and white picture of the creator (supposedly) named Ashleigh Southam. Now, I'm not saying this product is good or bad. It would be nice to see a sample lesson or a screenshot of what is being offered although to be fair, he does offer free sample lessons.

Another site you'll see a lot is called Hear and Play. This site is a lot clearer in what it teaches - gospel piano. Not being a fan of gospel piano, I can't comment on the content. What I can comment on, however, is the tacky nature of the website itself. It's very "sales" oriented as its author wants to sell you his products and services. Nothing wrong with that. Just a little too flashy for my tastes.

All in all, a good piano lesson website will give you a sample of what's being offered. If not, they're trying to hide something - or they're trying to close as many sales as possible by provoking the curiosity factor where you salivate over the benefits and features to sign up only to be disappointed after buying.

I'm not saying that what I offer is the best online piano lessons site. I am saying I show you what kind of lessons to expect. Look?you can shop around and buy anything you want. But ask yourself why a website wouldn't show you what they've got first.

What Piano Bears Can Teach Kids about Lessons

2007-10-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

Did you know that animals can help children learn? It's true. By giving human characteristics to animals, anthropomorphic literature and learning aids create an adventure to help children explore new ideas and develop new skills. This is no less true when it come to helping kids learn piano. Creative piano education resources give meaningful context to learning with literary aids that delight, inspire and inform. Here?s a story example using two characters from Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources.

Beary Ann is a young girl bear who likes to dress nicely, with a ribbon in her hair and socks that match her shoes. She loves music and is learning to play the piano, but one day at her lesson she started to worry. While starring down at her shoes, she tells her teacher,

"I'm having soooooo much trouble remembering the line notes of the bass staff! How will I ever learn my new song in G Position?" Her teacher, Mrs. Treble Beary suggests a fun sentence to help Beary Ann remember.

"I'm sure you can remember this sentence to help you read the notes, said Mrs. Treble beary, Great Bears Do Find Answers."
Beary Ann looked up at Mrs. Treble Beary with a smile on her face, "That's not too difficult. I think I can remember that, but how will it help me learn to read the notes?"
"Well, the first letter of each word names the line notes of the Bass Staff." Mrs. Treble Beary pointed to each line on the bass staff beginning with the bottom line and said, "G, B, D, F, A - Great Bears Do Find Answers."
"Oh, I see, said Beary Ann, you invented a sentence to help you remember the line notes."
"Yes. You can make up your own sentence, if you like, Beary Ann," said Mrs. Treble Beary.
"I can?"
"Sure you can."
Beary Ann thought for a while...and then said excitedly, "GBDFA - Gorgeous Bears Do Find Accessories!"
"Very creative," replied Mrs. T., chuckling. "You're good at this!"
Beary Ann went on to read the lines of the bass staff and learn her new songs in G Position. She made up a sentence for the space notes as well - ACEG, All Chocolate Eats Good. At her piano recital Beary Ann wore a matching outfit and played, "Ode to Bears" and "Elise's Fur," by her most favorite composer in the whole world, Beartoven.

See how stories and make piano lessons more fun and inspire children to feel more confident about learning. It's hard to believe that a simple thing like a little story, can help students change perspective, overcome worries, and set goals. But it's true. Simple things (and bears) can make a big diffrence in a child's future.

To learn the best way to share the gift of music with children visit Amazon.com for my Piano Adventure Stories for Children These exciting Piano Adventure stores for children ages 5 to 11 feature the loveable characters, Mrs. Treble Beary and her passionate, new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. Children love following along with Albeart to Mrs. Treble Beary's piano studio in Musical Acres Forest. Here they learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand and appreciate! Piano students laugh and giggle while reading "Little Bear's Musical Garden" and "Little Bear's Piano Goals."

For a wealth of f'ree information and piano music online visit Piano Adventure Bears Music Education Resources Don't Wait to Share the Gift of Music!

Piano Lessons For Your Kids

2007-10-08T23:40:00.000-07:00

Children can start taking piano lessons at the age of four when they already know ABCs and numbers. You don't have to wait untill your kids show interest in piano. You can always start introduce the instrument to them. When they can learn fast and enjoy the lesson, you know that it's in their blood to play piano.

When you planned to give your kids piano lessons, you better start planning to buy a piano if you don't have it already. Piano player, even the professional ones still need to practice on the daily basis.

Piano lessons need more than just understanding and memorizing, the fingers need to feels the lessons through practices. So it is very crucial to have a piano in your house.

You should not substitute piano with keyboard or digital piano. At this early stage of learning piano, the fingers are going to an important stage of forming the muscle. The kids also learn to coordinate their fingers with the sounds they make. Accoustic piano give an unlimited sounds that will influence the sensitivity of ears from the sounds it makes.

It doesn't have to be a good piano from an expensive brand, but an ordinary accoustic piano will do. A used ones will work nicely too. You can always try to rent them if you can't afford to buy one.

Last but not least. When choosing a piano teacher, you should examine if that person is really just a player or is a teacher. You will need to find a teacher. Not all piano player is a good teacher.

Dini Shanti is a working at home moms who own a site dedicated for moms including articles about piano. Please keep the links active when using this articles on your website.

Memorizing your piano lessons

2007-10-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

People have been debating the pros and cons of the memory technique used in taking piano learning lessons. Some of the champions of this technique line up a long list of benefits those can be accrued from this technique. Their major claim for the suitability of this technique lies in the perception that the player doesn't need a book to turn to for taking the lessons or playing the piano. Once can simply memorize and start playing the instrument. Another advantage cited by these people is that the player doesn't need to divert his attention to book - one can concentrate solely on the fingers. This focused attention leads to better performance. Moreover, one need not spend time on turning the pages of the book. Add to that the benefit of ability of playing piano anywhere, even if the book is not available. The benefits can be stretched to an extent where the player can play the piano in dark and that it can also be done by closing eyes.

Those against the use of this technique for piano learning lessons assert that this technique is difficult for some people. People with limited memory retention are at a disadvantage to use this technique. Even if a student is good at it, he may forget some parts of the lessons while performing, and this may have detrimental effect on his overall capabilities of taking piano lessons and play at a pro level.

While you are taking piano lessons, it is important to know what to be memorized. In other words, which pieces must be memorized so that the performance is not at risk. One must be very good listener in order to have larger chunk of piece being memorized with ease. Further, you must try to memorize something which you have started practicing. It shouldn't be other way around - you first memorize and then memorize the same.

You or your tutor must be able to analyze the piece by splitting it into parts clearly identifying the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic units separately. This analysis must mandatorily precede memorizing. Experts also offer this piece of advice for those taking piano lessons - technique of verbal mediation. This technique employs simple procedure - student should speak out the lessons and practice it simultaneously. Memorizing process can be reinforced with the help of visual memory.

Dave is the owner of http://www.learn-piano.info and http://www.play-piano.info websites providing information on playing the piano.

Online Piano Lessons Will Help You To Play Piano By Ear

2007-10-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

There is no time like the present to start learning how to play piano by ear and online piano lessons are the fastest way for you to learn this amazing skill. And since you are learning you should learn the best way possible, you should learn to play piano by ear. It is only by learning to play piano by ear that you will be able to sit down to your piano and play something that you just heard on TV or on the radio and this is such a fun thing to be able to do. Not only will it feel good for you to be able to play piano by ear, it will impress the heck out of all your friends.

Online piano lessons are cheap and they are easy to follow. You can actually find some free online piano lessons, you should look into this first. Even if you decide to take more paid for online piano lessons at least this way you will have a foundation down first. This will make your further education in learning to play piano by ear much easier for you. Learning to play piano by ear is a big step and you need all of the help you can get, the less it costs the better right?

There are some techniques that you can use to learn to play piano by ear. These can be added to your online piano lessons. Learning them in conjunction is a smart way to learn to play piano by ear. For example you can start with the chords. Listen to them as you play them and then tape them. Listen to them over and over again until you can hear the subtle and not so subtle differences. This is key if you want to play piano by ear.

Before you choose the online piano lessons that are right for you, make sure that they really are the right ones. Try to focus on online piano lessons that will help you to play piano by ear. Some online piano lessons will state that this is their goal, to help you to play piano by ear. This is what you want to look for in your lessons.

Josh Nelson is an avid piano player and learned to play the piano by ear. He offers a free report on the tips and tricks to playing by ear at his site: http://www.get-online-piano-lessons.com

Kid's Quest: Choosing the Right Time for Piano Lessons

2007-10-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Many parents embrace the idea of piano lessons for their children, but wonder when beginner piano lessons are appropriate. Is it when their prodigy-to-be bangs out his first tune on his toy piano? Is it once he's show an interest in an educational toy or an educational game? Is it once he's started school?

Experts generally agree that parents should take their child's lead in deciding when beginner piano lessons are appropriate. If a child shows an interest in her toy piano, that may be an early indicator. A child who sits down at her aunt's piano and bangs out notes at every opportunity is one who may be ready for piano lessons.

Ultimately, a child's experience of piano lessons - just like the experience of playing with an educational toy or educational game - should be one that's enjoyable. He should be old enough to understand that there is a level of commitment necessary in learning to play the piano, and to understand that beginner piano lessons are just that - for beginners. Once he can see that his skills improve with practice, he's likely to more thoroughly enjoy his piano lessons.

Parents can contribute to their child's feels of satisfaction about her progress by encouraging her at every opportunity. Applaud her initiative in practicing, attend her recitals, and - if you've ever had the urge - consider taking beginner piano lessons with her. Family involvement in her piano lessons will go far in giving her the motivation to continue playing.

If a child does lose interest in piano lessons after a time, though, it doesn't pay for parents to force their child to continue taking piano lessons. Instead, they should encourage him to continue to enjoy music in its infinite variety.

Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource web site at: http://www.majon.com.

To learn more about subjects like piano please visit the web site at: http://www.pianomadeeasy.com/.

For more information and informative related articles and links about this subject matter and content, please visit Majon's Music directory: http://www.majon.com/directory/Music.

Kid's Quest: Choosing the Right Time for Piano Lessons

2007-09-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

To this day, I feel deprived that my parents didn't sign me up for piano lessons. You see, I have two sisters who are considerably older than I am (ten and 14 years older, respectively). They both learned to play the piano, and my parents had a piano in the house until the time I was six years old. At that point, they sold the piano and, alas, my potential piano lessons went with out the door with the instrument. In retrospect, I imagine they felt as though they'd "been there, done that" with my sisters, and that another round of piano practices and recitals was more than they could bear. Still, to this day, I wish I had learned to play the piano.

Many parents embrace the idea of piano lessons for their children, but wonder when beginner piano lessons are appropriate. Is it when their prodigy-to-be bangs out his first tune on his toy piano? Is it once he's show an interest in an educational toy or an educational game? Is it once he's started school?

Experts generally agree that parents should take their child's lead in deciding when beginner piano lessons are appropriate. If a child shows an interest in her toy piano, that may be an early indicator. A child who sits down at her aunt's piano and bangs out notes at every opportunity is one who may be ready for piano lessons.

Ultimately, a child's experience of piano lessons - just like the experience of playing with an educational toy or educational game - should be one that's enjoyable. He should be old enough to understand that there is a level of commitment necessary in learning to play the piano, and to understand that beginner piano lessons are just that - for beginners. Once he can see that his skills improve with practice, he's likely to more thoroughly enjoy his piano lessons.

Parents can contribute to their child's feels of satisfaction about her progress by encouraging her at every opportunity. Applaud her initiative in practicing, attend her recitals, and - if you've ever had the urge - consider taking beginner piano lessons with her. Family involvement in her piano lessons will go far in giving her the motivation to continue playing.

If a child does lose interest in piano lessons after a time, though, it doesn't pay for parents to force their child to continue taking piano lessons. Instead, they should encourage him to continue to enjoy music in its infinite variety.

One of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Music Website and Majon's Music directory.

Learn Piano Online In A Fast And Easy Manner

2007-09-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

If you want to learn piano online like me, then you know that this can be a not so easy task to accomplish. As a beginner, I knew absolutely nothing about pianos before trying to learn it. I simply bought a keyboard and decided that I wanted to learn to play it, instead of it collecting dust like my old guitar is. The best part to learn piano online is that you don?t have to sit on a little bench with your legs dangling off while your eighty year old neighbor sits their and corrects your posture.

Black Keys: If you want to learn piano online, the first things you must learn are the keys. Black keys come in groups of two and groups of three. This means something that will be described next. White Keys: The white key right before the first black key in the two group is the C note. From then on, a total of 7 notes are played, in a repeating pattern.

Hands: Your hands are your tools. Treat them well, because if you lose them, you no longer play. A good rule of thumb is that for the right side of the keyboard; only use your right hand. Left side uses only the left hand to play.

Now, you want to have fun. Try to just play a few random notes. Don?t worry how it sounds or the fact that you aren?t playing a song; just get yourself accustomed to the keyboard. Remember to also use the black keys in your practice session, as many people forget those keys completely. Also remember to keep the left hand on the left side and right on right.

Hand eye coordination is another huge factor in learning piano online. Your eyes might see the keys you want to hit, but your hands must hit them correctly. This may not happen all the time, so practice a simple song with just one hand until you have perfected it. Then, try a slightly harder song, and see if you can keep up your hand-eye coordination, using the same or different hands.

Pretty soon you will be learning how to play using both hands and maybe someday you will learn to read sheet music, but if that doesn?t happen don?t get discouraged. Some of the best pianists could not read sheet music, but were still considered some of the best of their time.

If you desire to learn piano online, then it is a must that you get the needed information and resources that you need to be just as good as Beethoven :) http://www.squidoo.com/learnpianoonline/

Game Software Makes Learning Piano Fun

2007-09-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of ?Dance Dance Revolution,? the arcade game phenomenon that got all the teenagers dancing and exercising like crazy, or Guitar Hero, the PS2 hit that has kids cranking out their favorite songs on toy guitars. Dust off your keyboards, because the movement is being taken to the next level with Piano Wizard, software that makes learning to play piano into a fun game.

Piano lessons no longer equal tears and pouting with new piano software. This new piano game is so sleek, colorful, and fun, that kids think they are playing an online video game. We won?t tell them the truth, which is that they?re learning the finger positions and piano basics that lead them to read music and eventually play piano.

As old-fashioned piano lessons usually go, a teacher forces boring, tedious notation to memory before a child ever experiences the joy of actually creating recognizable sound with a piano. With this piano game?s many levels and custom options, however, any player can gain a feeling of immediate confidence by playing a favorite song on a real keyboard. This incredible piano software takes us from hitting colored keys corresponding to floating on-screen characters of our choice all the way to reading black and white musical scores.

The piano game is versatile: kid-friendly, with vibrant colors and animation plus a fun funkiness that adults love. It is extremely easy to navigate and manipulate to each player?s speed, sound, or level preferences. Using a real piano keyboard instead of a mouse sets this game apart from others, providing valuably applicable and translatable lessons for all learners. Any song available in a MIDI format, meaning thousands available for free download on the internet, is perfect for the program, giving us thousands of choices of almost any popular tune to tackle.

So, the software is fun and exciting, but does it work? Yes! Watching my child progress rapidly over the past two months is personal proof that this piano game gives the gift of piano basics to anyone who chooses to pursue it.

Finally, this new piano game has made a reality of what we should have thought of years ago-- learn to play piano using songs we actually like and desire to know, letting note memorization and finger placement come as a natural result. Be your own teacher; be your child?s teacher, just don?t be surprised when you order a second piano video game to avoid begging your children to play theirs.

Bethany is a mom of son Evan who writes as a hobby. She also likes to cook and take dance classes.

Learn to Play Piano Fast!

2007-09-24T01:52:00.000-07:00

The sad part is that taking the time to learn to play piano has many advantages. In all actuality, with the right method, learning to play doesn?t take as much time as most people expect.

I believe that everyone can benefit from having some musical ability. The piano is one of the most versatile instruments. With a few simple lessons, you can learn to play:

Classical
Swing
Jazz
New Age
Rock/Pop

Just by learning a few songs on the piano, you?ll exercise your brain and gain a reputation as a semi-genius!

I?d personally go with the option that will guarantee me long-term clients who will pay me $40 a week for years on end.

So find a teacher, or website, that focuses on chord-based teaching, and you?ll be able to finally reach your perpetual ?learn to play piano? goal.

Learn To Play Piano Online- Free Piano Lessons, Lesson Reviews and much more...Claim your Free Piano Lessons eBook at http://www.learntoplaypianoonline.com/

Should I Learn To Play Piano, Keyboard Or Organ?

2007-09-24T01:50:00.000-07:00

The first thing to consider when choosing the instrument you want to learn is which one do you like the best. If you like them all, then we can move onto which one is the most practical for you.

Michael David Shaw (Mike to his friends) runs the websites http://www.mikesmusicroom.co.uk, http://www.keyboardsheetmusic.co.uk and http://www.guitarmusicbooks.co.uk

Learn To Play Amazing Grace With Piano Tabs

2007-09-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

You can learn to play popular melodies without sheet music. Today you will learn to use piano tab notation to learn a popular song!

Piano tabs show you where to play the notes on the piano. We will today use the numbers 1 to 8 to help you find the notes.

The note 1 is also called C. The notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and 8 are also called C D E F G A B and C.

The note named 2 in our piano tab notation is the white key immediately to the right of 1. Then note 3 is the white key to the right of 2 and so on.

Let's start by taking a look at the lyrics for the first verse:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

We will start to play the melody to the first line of lyrics:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

1 4 6 4 6 5 4 2 1

This type of piano tab does not tell you the length of the notes. If you sing the lyrics you will probably feel how long the notes should be.

Time for the next line:

That saved a wretch like me

1 4 6 4 6 5 6 8

This will help you prepare for more difficult piano pieces and when you get used to play this way you will feel that it is in fact easier to play this way.

Here are the next piano tab:

I once was lost, but now am found

6 8 6 4 6 5 4 2 1

The last line is here:

Was blind, but now I see

1 4 6 4 6 5 4

If you want to play chords with your left hand I will give you three piano chords that will work with the song.

I will write them down with the same piano tab notation you already know but you of course have to play the chords starting with a 1 note somewhere to the left of the numbers you use for the melody:

F: 1 4 6

Bb: 2 4 7b

C7: 1 3 7b

7b means that you instead of playing on the white 7 key should play the black key to the left of the white key 7.

In the following text I have placed the chord names in parenthesis immediately before the syllable on which to play the chord:

A-(F)mazing Grace, how (Bb)sweet the (F)sound
That (F)saved a wretch like (C7)me
I (F)once was lost, but (Bb)now am (F)found
Was (F)blind, but (C7)now I (F)see

When you have learned to sing the song with the chords by heart it's time to combine the melody with the chords. By now it should be easy.

Peter Edvinsson invites you to download your free piano sheet music, guitar tabs, ebooks, music lessons and read his music blog at Capotasto Music.

Learn Piano Classics

2007-09-22T03:34:00.000-07:00

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Learning Piano by Ear - Good or Bad Idea?

2007-09-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

There are many websites which claim to teach you to play piano by ear. But, the real question is; does it work? Can you truly learn to play the piano strictly by ear? While I believe it is possible, I believe that this method has its limitations.

First of all, learning to play by ear generally means that you need to be able to hear pitch and gage the quality of chords with your ear. In other words you would need to be able to distinguish the difference between major and minor chords, dominant and diminished etc. The only problem is most people do not possess an ear capable of such distinctions.

I?ve been playing the piano for 36 years and I often cannot tell the difference between chords. How is someone with no experience supposed to do this? Does this mean that my ear isn?t any good? Quite the contrary, I have very good relative pitch and can often hear entire chord progressions but often miss the nuances of each specific chord. Therefore an approach which is solely geared to hearing the changes has its limitations.

The other problem with learning by ear is that you cannot gain a complete understanding of music just by listening. You see, music is like math. It has formative structure derived from centuries of musicians and teachers who have dedicated their lives to the understanding a betterment of each specific musical genre. To discount this process and work around it using just your ear is counter productive.

For example; let?s say you?re going to learn to play the blues. If you learn by ear that would mean you would have to hear not only the dominant seventh chords, then the melody which is derived from the blues scale, the rhythm which comes from structured meter and the re-harmonization of the chord structure all without understanding the words I just said. It would mean you would have to hear all of this without knowing what its called, how it works and how it all comes together. You would learn by watching someone else play the piano, copy it and repeat it until it sounds the same as what you just hear.

Not only is this a completely inefficient way of learning it is highly limited because you cannot gain an understanding of what it is you?re actually doing. Only until you are able to comprehend and dissect each specific aspect of the music can you fully appreciate and learn from it.

I believe that it?s highly productive to learn how music is formulated rather than just hearing it and trying to repeat it. Why? Because that way you can stretch the boundaries of learning and be able to move your playing to another level. Even if you were able to copy certain aspects of learning to play by ear that would severely limit you from moving beyond that point because you simply cannot understand what it is you?re doing.

It would be like trying to build a house with no foundation. Eventually if you wanted to add an extra floor of musical knowledge your paper thin layer of foundation and understanding couldn?t possibly support it.

So, what?s a better way to learn? Choose a teacher or online piano lessons that can help you build a strong foundation. In other words, pick a course that helps you with the basic understanding of how music works. Then you can use your ear to strengthen your understanding because the ear can converse with the mind and come to a consensus of how and why things sound the way they do.

Where do you start? Start with how chords and scales are made and use that information to formulate melody and structure. Your ear can support this process obviously but it?s the scales and chords that create the building blocks of true musical understanding.

It?s not enough to know how to play a simple F, G, C progression with melody. You need to know why and how this progression works and why it sounds the way it does. Then and only then can you begin to build on that foundation by learning richer chords, re-harmonization and more complicated melodies.

For example; F, G, C can sound so much better if you play it as Fmaj7, D-7, G7, Db7, Cmaj7. This is the same chord progression but re-harmonized to sound richer and more pleasing to the ear. How can you possibly do this if you use only your ear? For the vast majority of people who want to learn to play the piano it?s impossible. So, next time you?re thinking of learning just by ear, you might want to reconsider that plan. Why limit yourself?

Online piano lessons are becoming very popular and Paul Tobey, a professional concert pianist, offer a free piano lesson to and student wishing to participate. One piano lesson is all it takes to decide if he is the right teacher for you.

Learn to PLay Piano By Ear - Left Hand Techniques

2007-09-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

The tenth (10th) chord is an excellent technique you can use on your left hand. The 10th chord is basically following this:

1-5-3 (the 3 actually becomes the 10)

For example:

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
1 2 3 4 7 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

HOW DO I USE THE 10th CHORD ON SLOW TO MODERATE SONGS?

Moving up the keyboard: 1-5-3-5-1 (repeat)

So, if you were in the key of C and you were in the C chord change, while your right hand is playing the melody to the song, the left hand would follow the pattern above and would look like this:

Moving up the keyboard: C-G-E-G-C

When you get to the F chord change:

Moving up the keyboard: F-C-A-C-F

Wow! What a difference in the full sound it gives! Try the 10th run!

Matthew Stephens has been playing the piano for over 27 years and giving piano lessons by ear for 17. Learn more about him at http://www.thepianobyear.com

The Best Way To Learn The Piano

2007-09-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

Is there any other educational area where students are taught only in a one-on-one situation, not really?

In essence, this is what classical piano students do. It is very important and monotonous for students who are learning to play the piano to practice everyday, this takes discipline which you do not see in children or parents. Both of these attitudes create artificial limitations for students that hinder their ability to grow and develop musically. Here?s the message piano students need to hear -- ?Your effort matters and it makes a difference.

However, about a third of parents do too much and try to take over responsibility for their child?s progress, which hinders their child?s ability to develop positive learning skills on their own. To help their children learn and accomplish their goals, parents need to focus on the process and content of the learning rather than the final product.What the young student doesn?t understand is the piano learning process.

Private lessons have good and bad connotation associated with them, sometimes children create a dependence on the teacher and it is hard for children to overcome this and children are not encouraged to develop their own independence when it comes to learning the necessary skills, on the other hand having the one on one teaching is very beneficial to the child because more can get accomplished in a shorter period of time. Plus, there is no point in having your child spend 30 minutes practicing incorrectly without learning their pieces when the material can be mastered in 10 minutes with good practice habits.

Because parents are in charge of their children?s schedule and curriculum, home school students can set their own pace and spend more time on music than in the public or private schools. Music is even more fun when you can share it with others. Young children have the ability to learn music theory and are able to learn concepts on the keyboard as the children grow and develop their musical ear.

If your children know their alphabet and how to identify numbers and count, they?re old enough to start learning music theory. With the rise of the internet more adults have learned that taking piano lesson does not have be taught in classrooms or studios it can be taught over the internet, this helps with today?s busy schedules and adults do not have to be locked into a schedule.

Well, you might find this hard to believe, but encouraging your child taking piano lessons to practice doesn?t have to be a struggle. They do want to be sure, however, that their young child is old enough to benefit from formal musical training.

One of the choices that parents have when their child is beginning piano lessons is whether to enroll their son or daughter in a private or group lesson.

Over time this will make sitting down at the piano to practice feel more natural to your young child or your older beginner and make learning easier. Establish a routine practice time.

Set meaningful goals that will last, focus on the ?What? and the ?Why. Writing down the goals and dreams that first motivated you to give your child the gift of piano lessons provides a reminder that will keep your energy focused over the long term.

David Marc Fishman is the owner of www.bornasuperstar.com The online audition for magicians

Should You Learn on a Keyboard or Digital Piano?

2007-09-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

The keyboard and digital piano market is certainly much larger today than the acoustic piano market. The reasons for this are mainly due to the available space in the modern home, advances in technology that allow you to record your own music on your digital piano or keyboard, and the useful feature of being able to play with headphones.

- - Grand Pianos - -

In an ideal world it is best to learn on a grand piano.

The grand piano produces the best sound, has more weight to the keys which strengthens the fingers more, and has a faster repetition due to the superior horizontal piano action which relies more on gravity than the upright.

The disadvantages of the grand piano are mainly the space they take up and the high price tag.

- - Upright Pianos - -

The upright piano is the next best thing to learn on.

Much less space is required than a grand piano, prices are cheaper and the sound of the tallest uprights are almost identical to the grand piano.

- - Digital Pianos - -

The digital piano comes next in line.

The sounds are recordings from a grand piano and the touch, although lighter than a grand or upright piano, is pretty realistic.

The main advantages of the digital piano are:

* Cheaper to buy * Easier to mover around * Lots of different instrument sounds to play around with * Can be used with headphones * Takes up less room than an upright piano * Easy to record your own music * No tuning required

Disadvantages:

* New improved models are brought out every 2-3 years * They wear out very quickly if played a lot * The touch is not quite heavy enough * The sound is easily identifiable as electronic

- - Keyboards - -

Last in line is the keyboard.

The keyboard is not the best thing to learn on.

Advantages are:

* Much cheaper to buy than any other type of piano * Easy to carry around * Takes up limited space. Easily storable * Record your own music * No tuning required

Disadvantages:

* The keys are way too light * Only 61 keys instead of 88 * Poor sound quality * Harder to play dynamics

- - Conclusion - -

If your budget is tight, then a keyboard will do for the first year of playing only.

Practicing on a keyboard is ok if you are mainly learning the notes and the theory of music. After one year you will need to upgrade to either a digital piano or an acoustic piano.

There is a free piano course I have created for you below. It will give you a taster for piano lessons without you having to spend any money. I have given as much information, tips and techniques as possible.

Graham Howard is considered an expert in the piano industry. He has spent his whole life SURROUNDED by pianos. You can get some free piano lessons: "Learn How to Play Piano, Read Chords, Understand Rhythm and Read Music", a free 5-part mini course written by Graham Howard here: http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/free-online-piano-lessons.html

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Learn Piano Rapidly With The Chord Based Approach

2007-09-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

Have you always wanted to play the piano for fun but can?t seem to get started?

Most people have the desire to be able to play piano but don?t know which approach to take. There are in general two approaches to learning the piano: the traditional method and the chord based approach. One approach may be a better fit for you, but if you want to start having fun right away, the chord based approach is the way to go. Here are some benefits of the chord based approach to learning the piano.

1. The chord based approach allows you to have fun from day one! The traditional method focuses heavily on sight reading. You?re required to practice scales and sight reading music of the masters such as Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. It takes some time before you can be able to sound half way decent. The chord based approach to piano learning is all about learning chords. Yes, you will still learn to read music, but it?s very minimal. After learning a few chords and some practice, you?ll be able to play songs right away. You?ll be able to play pop songs, gospel, show tunes, jazz, etc, basically anything except classical music.

2. It?s much inexpensive to learn the chord based approach. Compared to the classical method, the chord based approach is cheap. You might have to spend anywhere from $45-$65 for a one-hour lesson with the traditional approach. Depending on your motivation and how fast you learn, it might take weeks, months, or even years before you get good. With the chord based approach all it takes is learning some chords and you?re off to go. You can even teach yourself how to play piano the chord style approach for cheap. There are many self study courses available that you can find on the internet for a fraction of what you?d have to pay for with the traditional approach.

3. The chord based approach allows you to unravel the mystery of music. Classical pianists might be able to play Chopin Etudes at lightning speed, but they have no idea if what they?re playing is a Cm9 or FMaj13. Chord-based piano players, however, are always conscious of what they?re playing. Thus, they?re more proactive to music. With the chord based approach you learn a few rules on how chord construction and once you know the rules you can pretty much figure out on your own. Think of it as learning how to fish as opposed to having a fish caught for you. Big difference.

There?s nothing wrong with learning the classical method. If your goal is to become a classical pianist, by all means choose a great local teacher to learn from. However, if all you want is to have fun learning the piano in the shortest time possible, then the chord style approach might be a better choice for you. You can always go back and add classical music to your repertoire later on, if you wish.

Alex Nguyen is a ?Rapid Piano Expert? who has been playing the piano for over 20 years. Now he?s helping others learn to play the piano rapidly and enjoy it from day one. To get your FREE mini report ?The 7 Most Powerful Tips To Learning The Piano Rapidly,? and learn how you can get personal piano coaching from Alex for FREE for a very limited time, go to http://www.RapidPiano.com

How To Learn To Play Piano Efficiently And Easily By Mimicking Professional Piano Players

2007-09-19T03:37:00.000-07:00

The best way to learn a language is to imitate native speakers. Likewise, the best way to learn the piano is to imitate professional piano players.

When you learn a foreign language, you try to converse with those who speak the language fluently. Hopefully, you?ll pick up the right intonation, phrasing, accent, and pronunciation. The more you imitate, the more fluent you become.

Learning the piano is no different. Music is a language. As such, it has intonation, phrasing, dynamics, etc. But the key to mastering the piano, like mastering a verbal language, is to acquire good habits from the start. This is why it?s important to learn from someone who has already mastered the language of piano. Many beginning piano students fall into the trap of learning by themselves without the proper guidance to master the fundamentals. The following pointers help to get beginning students into the right track to becoming competent piano players.

? Seek out a good piano teacher who does not hesitate to let you imitate his/her skills. Ask yourself this question ?is he/she going to teach me the necessary skills to become a well rounded player or is he/she just going to teach me the same old ?Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star? like many other old school teachers do. If you go with self study, make sure you choose a system that emphasizes the imitation technique.

? Learn the fundamentals ? take your time to learn the basics. When you first learn a foreign language, you don?t try to converse in full sentences right away. You start out with one letter at a time, one syllable at a time. Then you put syllables together to form one word, and then you put words together to form sentences. Before long you?re able to communicate with your fellow students. Likewise, when you start out learning the piano, learn one hand at a time, then hands together; one chord structure at a time, then chord progressions. Simply and joyfully.

? Choose a method that de-emphasizes note reading and encourages chord style playing and playing by ear. I?m not saying that you should not learn how to read note, but if you want to start playing hundreds of songs, start learning chord style piano. Chords are much easier to learn and master. With only a few chords you can play many pop songs pretty quickly. And if you are so inclined to learn classical piano later on, you can always focus on pure reading then.

? Have fun or else ? just because you are starting out learning the piano, doesn?t mean you can?t have fun. This is important if you want to keep playing the piano for years down the road. Many students give up early because they don?t have fun. Unfortunately, traditional methods that teach rote memory and emphasize on sight reading tend to discourage this important element. Thanks to today?s technology and other alternative piano methods that focus on chord style piano playing, students learn to play and have fun from day one. Some online piano methods incorporate audio, video, and computer games to help the beginning students learn better and faster.

The key to learning to play the piano well is not about ?suffer first then enjoy later?, but to enjoy it now - from day one! It doesn?t have to take 6 months before you start having fun. Take all the time you need, but enjoy every moment of it now.

Alex Nguyen is the ?Rapid Piano Expert? who has been playing the piano for over 20 years. Now he?s helping others learn to play the piano rapidly and enjoy it from day one. To get your FREE mini report ?The 7 Most Powerful Tips To Learning The Piano Rapidly,? and learn how you can get personal piano coaching from Alex for FREE for a very limited time, go to http://www.RapidPiano.com

Learn To Play Your Favorite Christmas Songs By Ear: Gospel Piano Course

2007-09-18T02:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend,

Jermaine just let me know about his brand new 3 H-O-U-R Christmas course, Christmas Keys Vol.1 - "Conquering Christmas Classics, which has just been released.

Christmas Keys

In this course, you'll...

* Learn several variations of each song so you can play these Christmas classics a different way every time!

* Beginners: How to play an entire song with only three-fingered major chords (...also known as "major triads").

* Discover the power of "inversions" and how changing one note in your chord can totally alter the way a progression sounds!

* How to add fuel to your bass by understanding how "power" chords work in holiday music.

* How to play "Go Tell It On The Mountain" in a churchy praise style! I'm talking about bass lines, runs, fill-ins, and more (...similar to our other GospelKeys courses)!

* And tons more!

Click below if you're ready to finally learn your favorite Christmas songs by ear:

Christmas Keys

Please note: Due to the high demand and moderate supply, this incredible offer for Christmas Keys will only be around for a short time. So...

...Don't waste time! Order TODAY!

Click here for more details:

Christmas Keys

God bless,

Andre Hayward is jazz trombonist/educator in the Boston area.

He is akson an 8 year member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

led by Wynton Marsalis. He serves as adjunct trombone professor at

both The New England Conservatory and New York University.

How Will You Learn to Play the Piano?

2007-09-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

The Various Ways to Learn the Piano

Before you do anything else, it is essential to know that there are two ways of playing a piano. These are:

1. Chords

2. Note reading

The Pros and Cons of Learning from a Teacher

Learning online

You can also learn how to play the piano with piano learning DVDs and computer software designed to help.

General Guidelines to Learning the Piano

Kevin is the publisher and editor of musicianhome.com.

Learning to Memorize Piano Music

2007-09-18T02:11:00.000-07:00

We all have our psychological, emotional, mental and physical barriers when it comes to practicing and/or performing. One such particularly difficult challenge is that many pianists simply cannot remember a piece. However, it is the emotional reaction to not remembering a piece which is the most painful. In fact, what it creates is stress. And, that is a huge problem and very difficult barrier that pianists need to overcome.

Knowing what stress is however can completely change your perspective. Here?s the real definition of stress;

Stress is the amount of energy you put into resisting your situation.

This will help to change your behavior and therefore, if you change your behavior, you change the results. The first step is to become aware of your internal dialogue when you approach the piano. What is your little voice telling you? Is it saying, ?I feel guilty for not doing what is expected of me?? Is it saying, ?I?m not good enough, talented enough, smart enough, disciplined enough??

What you focus on expands. If you focus on what you cannot do or are not able to do, that will expand. If you focus on what you can do, that will expand as well.

When you are sitting at the piano, your thoughts become reality. Your thoughts instantly take form as you are creating. Your barrier may be that you are focused on what once was, instead of focusing on the now! If all you do is focus on the fact that it was once easy for you to memorize, you are not focusing on the now. Present moment awareness is the key to learning to play the piano or any other instrument. It is also the key to learning anything in life that?s worthwhile learning.

The next time you practice just sit at the piano and meditate on what you are feeling. Don?t play, just feel. Does it feel stressful, joyful or painful? Are you anticipating stress or anticipating pain? Are you looking forward to playing or are you hearing little scripts in your head saying ?you used to be great, now your not, you are not this, that, etc?? What are you feeling?

The next day, sit at the piano again and turn your attention to the now. Feel the joy of playing. Feel the joy of what it is to make beautiful sounds. Just let your hands explore over the keys, and listen to every note like it was the most beautiful sound you ever made! You are in the now! No one can steal this moment and pure joy from you. Feel the joy and the freedom in the now.

Once you have gone through this little exercise, and you are in the now, and every note becomes beautiful?even wrong notes. Now, in the present moment, without any negative thoughts to the contrary, you are ready to learn one thing at a time.

I teach the 10-24-7 Paul Tobey method! This means that you learn one thing at a time with 100% of your energy, learn it again in 24 hours and again in 7 days. Your retention rate for this one thing will go up 85%.

There?s a term we use for this type of learning and it?s called ?accelerated learning techniques? or ?advanced learning techniques.? It?s what I teach in my seminars because it?s what works best for me and for the hundreds of people I?ve taught it to.

Your barriers are not in the brain. It?s not a malfunction of your intellectual or physical ability. Your barriers (self-perceived limitations) are our little voices that constantly speak to us from deep within in our brains. You can eliminate it but, first you must understand it. You must stop feeling like a victim. You must stop focusing on the past (who you were), and start focusing on who you are (in the now). Your passion for the piano is evident. Your passion is living in the now.

The question is, how long is your past going to control your present? If want to experience freedom at the piano, all you have to do is sit on the bench, let your hands feel the notes, and listen to every note like it was the best note you ever played. Then, without judging yourself, or any note you play, just learn one thing in the now. Do it again in 24 hours, and again in 7 days.

Remember, don?t judge what you can or cannot do. Just feel, and be aware of the little voice inside your mind. And when it says to you ?I can?t memorize this piece,? just say to your mind ?thanks for sharing,? and go right back to the joy of playing.

Paul Tobey has recorded several CDs and performed piano concerts all over the world. He is considered unique among pianists because of his individual style and composing abilities.

Learn Blues Piano

2007-09-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

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The Key To Unlock Learning To Play The Piano

2007-09-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students

2007-09-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years:

1. A Colonel in Virginia that I taught for several years got up at 4AM every weekday morning and practiced on an electronic keyboard with headphones so he wouldn't disturb anyone at that time of the morning. "I love the early morning", he said, "because it's so quiet and peaceful and I'm fresh and raring to go. No phones are ringing, no people walking into the room, no disturbances at all. I practice for a half-hour, have breakfast, and then hit it for another half-hour -- all before I have to show up for work. When I get home in the evening, if I'm too tired to practice, I don't feel guilty because I've already got my licks in for the day. And if I'm up to practicing some more -- well, it's a bonus!"

2. An elementary school teacher in Indiana told me she took each piece I assigned her and transposed it into all 12 keys -- not written out, but at the piano -- in her head. She said "It doesn't always sound so hot, but I find that if I keep at it day after day, I can at least get by in the most difficult keys, and it makes the easier keys seem real simple. And it gives me a perspective that I just wouldn't get it I just played it in one key -- the key it is written in. I've learned that each key has it's own "feel", and some keys are bright (like "D") and some keys are mellow (like "Db").

3. Another piano student with a similar idea, who was the Minister of Music in a Catholic church, said he took one whole month of the year and devoted it to mastering just one key. Since there are 12 months in the year and 12 Major keys, that works out perfectly. So in January he played everything he could find in the key of C, and transposed anything that wasn't in C into C. In February he went up 1/2 step to the key of C# (also known as Db enharmonically) and played everything in Db and searched for pieces written in the key of Db, and so on. By the time the year was up, he had a pretty fair grasp on the 12 Major keys. I suggested that he devote the next year to the 12 minor keys, and the next year to the modes, and the next year to polytonality, etc., etc. -- but as I recall he decided to just recycle through the 12 major keys, since he used them so much more than the ones I suggested.

4. Still another piano student took an idea from me and twisted it a bit. I suggested that she play along with pieces she liked on tapes and CD's, so she would get a feel for the motion of the song. (I used to do that by the hour when I was a teen-ager, and it paid off big time for me!). She took the idea and tried it and liked it so much that she started getting videos of people playing the piano. She arranged her TV and video player so that she could be at her piano while the video was playing, and she would play along with the pianist on the screen, following her/his hand motions and arm motions and finger position and thereby getting a feeling for the flow of the music. (Patterning). Her creativity is paying off for her -- she is advancing rapidly. (And by the way, don't think she is "copying" the person she is watching -- not at all. It's the same principle as watching Michael Jordan moving toward the basket, or watching Sammy Sosa swing a bat -- it just gets you in the right groove before you apply your own style to it.)

5. A doctor I have taught for years makes a idea file of things he has learned about piano playing over the years. He notes where in a given book or tape or video I discuss such and such a topic, and files that alphabetically. Then later when he needs to refer to that idea, he simply looks up the idea in his file, locates the video or cassette or book, and presto -- he can review that idea or concept almost instantly. It's like a card catalog in the library -- makes finding things so much faster than flipping through endless books trying to find that idea you saw long ago.

With the advent of the computer a person could store and categorize ideas such as this very quickly.

Hope this gives you some ideas of your own!

Learn To Play The Piano Better By Learning To Arrange Chords & Chord Progressions

2007-09-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

Piano Lesson: Do You Know What You Learn When You Play Piano?

2007-09-13T02:32:00.000-07:00