Posts Tagged ‘Pianist’

Want to learn how to play the piano, but don’t want to spend a heap of time learning how to read sheet music?

Learning piano doesn’t have to be as heard as you may believe it is. If fact if you start by learning chords it is actually quite simple.

That’s understandable. Learning piano doesn’t have to be the hard chore so many believe it to be. In fact, it can be quite easy IF YOU START BY LEARNING CHORDS!

If you learn piano this way it is so much easier – and you stay motivated as you see the improvement so quickly, than learning how to read notes on a page. This is because we are creating the music ourselves.

Once you have your chords down, you are then able to explore your piano in a way that would never have been able to before. Many piano players do not believe that they have the ability to improvise, but this is not true. If you have the desire, then this is all you need. And once a student takes the plunge they are hooked!

To learn piano without years of lessons is not as hard as you would think. All it requires in the time and ability to learn a few simple chords and then create music by experimenting with those chords.

However if you are looking to be a classically trained pianist you are going to have to learn how to read music, but if you are just wanting to learn the piano, chord learning is perfect.

The piano has come a long way since it’s invention 500 years ago. The original version has now been replicated and improved countless times, resulting in a large number of different piano styles and with the latest technology, digital pianos have cropped up and become a popular alternative. But which one is right for you? That depends greatly on what you intend to do with your piano playing and what your budget is. However, there are many pros and cons for both sides.

Acoustic Piano

The acoustic piano is a complicated structure. Touching the keys results in a hammer hitting a string, which then vibrates and the sound produced is amplified by the piano`s soundboard. This provides a rich, true piano sound, which is quite valued at concerts and recitals. However, an acoustic piano requires a lot of space, upkeep and money.

Things to Consider When Choosing an Acoustic Piano

o Acoustic pianos need regular tuning, particularly if there are changes in the weather or if the piano is moved.

o Nothing compares to the full-bodied sound provided by an acoustic piano.

o These pianos allow the artist to play softly or loudly, depending on the mood of the piece . . . the piano responds to the touch of the pianist.

o Acoustic pianos are large, weighing between 450 and 1,000 pounds and take up a large part of a room.

o Affordable acoustic pianos are usually wrought with flaws and not worth buying . . . but for many, a true, good quality one is simply beyond their budget.

Digital Piano

A digital piano is one that is a replica of an acoustic piano. Rather than contain the strings and mechanisms to produce the sound, digital pianos just use recorded notes from a real piano. There are definite advantages to using one of these instruments and they are often used by bands who need an easily portable instrument, but there are definite down sides, as well.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Digital Piano

o Digital pianos are considerably cheaper than acoustic.

o There is very little sensitivity in the digital key, meaning that true interpretation of many piano pieces is simply not possible.

o Some piano teachers will not teach students who only have access to a digital piano.

o These instruments are quite light and portable, some even come in their own carry bag.

o A high end digital piano offers a wide range of styles and features, including drum tracks and recorded notes from a variety of other instruments and types of pianos.

o Digital pianos don’t need to be tuned, making them very useful in humid areas or where the weather changes drastically.

The debate of traditional acoustic pianos vs. digital ones has been around as long as digital pianos. Classical piano students insist that an acoustic piano is the best and to be honest, the digital piano is only an imitation, albeit a very good one these days. Even with the best technology, digital pianos are simply not able to live up to the original acoustic.

However, this doesn’t rule out digital pianos completely. They are still extremely useful for the piano student on a budget or for anyone who has little space in their home for a large acoustic piano. Bands also find the more portable version to be easier to use, since it doesn’t require tuning and can easily be packed up and moved to the next gig. In the end, it depends on your intent, as well as a few other factors, such as budget and space, as to whether or not you will go with an acoustic or a digital piano.

Piano Tabs vs. Guitar Tabs

Piano Tabs are basically the same as guitar tabs. Why is that fact important to you? Simply because most chords/lyrics which are in tab form on the internet are going to be listed as “Guitar Tabs” and not necessarily “Piano Tabs”. The chords to a song, the lyrics to a song are the same regardless if a guitarist or a pianist is playing it. So if you’re looking for the “tabs” for a song on the internet, you may end up having to look at a guitar tab site rather than a piano tab site. But no big deal here!

One big difference with guitar tabs, which of course is short for “guitar tablature”, is that the guitar diagrams are almost always shown and these indicate what fret, string, etc. to play. Just ignore that part. You’re only looking to get the lyrics and chords and disregard everything else relating to guitar playing. A student of mine once pleaded with me to explain how to directly translate the guitar notation into piano. Here’s the deal though, pianists DO NOT waste time doing that exercise. Maybe it’ll be fun for you but practically speaking, it’s a waste of time. Guitarists don’t typically take a fully written piano arrangement and extract out each note to directly use that to perform on guitar. So conversely, why whould you want to do this for piano? Just chords and lyrics my friends, chords and lyrics!!

By the way, many pianists never use guitar tab books or guitar tab sheets to work up songs. I certainly do! They argue that the melody line is not included there but it is always found in “lead sheets”. What I do for a song I’m familiar with, is I have already memorized the melody line, (a relatively simple task) so all I’m missing is the chords and lyrics. Case in point, recently, I bought a fantastic Billy Joel Guitar Tab book. I would assume though that very few keyboard players would consider picking up such a book. My thought though was that the fact that I know these songs so well, just having the chords in front of me would enable me to play the song. Additionally, I could now concentrate on working on my singing without being bogged down on the note for note piano arrangement. When you’re on stage, chances are you have memorized everything already, but if you have the guitar/piano tabs in front of you as a “cheat sheet”, it enables you to still perform the song with minimal diversion to “looking at the music”.

But the most important aspect of this type of “tab” playing is that in my experience, with pop/rock band performance, the best, most efficient information you can have to play any song and learn it quickly are guitar tabs!! That is the Secret Weapon all these garage bands use to work up songs and they’re able to do a great job playing these songs, regardless of how much traditional harmonic theory they have been exposed to!

Lesson learned? Go Google or search out your favorite songs and put “tab” after the song, and you’re 80% on the way to perfecting that song in its entirety!

There are many sites on the web where you can find Piano Tabs. If you are able to find a good piano tab site or at least accurate tabs for a song you’re searching for, you are well on your way to playing that song. The major obstacles to creating that song from tabs are

CHORDS

1. Sites infected with Viruses – Unfortunately, this is a very common problem at tab sites. More often than you’d like, your computer can be infected so make sure your viral protection programs are up and running. If you do not have protection for virus infection, you can get free trail downloads at http://www.download.com.

2. Wrong chords and/or lyrics –
Many of the tabs listed on the web for your favorite songs have been put together by well intentioned amateurs who either don’t double check that all the chords are correct or perhaps are unable to distinguish between a correct chord and an incorrect one.

On a scale of 1-10, there are varying degrees of “wrongness” for any chord. Example, if the correct chord should be G7 and instead the chord is listed simply as G, well that’s a minor offense and you could say it’s a “9″ in terms of accuracy. A common mistake is listing the relative minor for a major chord or visa versa. For this error, we might consider it a 6 or 7 in terms of accuracy. In short, for well regarded substitutions for chords, one can live with that. However, with free piano tabs, you can often see wrong chords listed which are at the opposite end of the spectrum for what the chord should in fact be. The chord might be a B flat minor and the tab says that it’s a G sharp major, not even close and completely out there in “left field”! We’d give that infraction a “1″ on a scale of 10. Then again, you will definitely see chords that are that far off. Your final judge should be your “ear”, engage your inherent musicality- if it sounds wrong or really bad to you, there’s a good chance that it is in fact wrong.

LYRICS

For lyrics, again, the same principal applies here – you will see major infractions and minor ones. Just take the posture that the lyrics are “guilty” until proven innocent, i.e., are not 100% accurate until you proof them against either an artist songbook or against a recording.

With No Written Reference for the Lyric: If a song has never been published or perhaps is out of print and one simply can not find a written reference to check the song tabs against, then your guess is as good as anyone’s really. In this case, you basically have to check it and proof it against the recording to find out how accurate it is.

Missing Lyrics and/or Chords

Another common phenomenon with free piano tabs or free tabs is that entire whole portions or sections of a song may be eliminated. It can be frustrating when this occurs so just check against the artist songbook if you have one or if one is available or check against other tab sites for that song. Speaking of which, “comparison shopping” can be a good idea with free tab sites, taking a consensus of opinion, using your own musicality as the ultimate judge again and determining which portions of a tab for any song is correct or appealing to you and which ones are not.

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!