Posts Tagged ‘Sheet Music’

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!

Reading piano notes may seem daunting at first, but it really isn’t if you ground yourself in the basics. The first step is learning the names of the notes. The great thing is that you only have seven to memorize.

All music is the result of combinations of these seven. These notes, named after letters in the alphabet, are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Specific keys on the piano, associated with these notes, comprise your piano playing toolkit.

These seven notes sit on lines and spaces, called a music staff. Piano music consists of two staffs or staves: the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. The notes from the upper portion of the piano keyboard sit on the Treble Clef. The notes from the lower portion of the keyboard sit on the Bass Clef.

Usually, the right hand plays the notes in the Treble Clef, while the left hand plays notes in the Bass Clef. The key to reading piano notes is in knowing what key relates to what note on the sheet music.

The note A on a piano is a white key. The A on the music staff corresponds to where the A note is on the keyboard. The notes on a keyboard repeat themselves:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

Each of these notes is a key on the piano. It’s that simple, all along the keyboard.

The first A sits on one point of the music staff. As you play along the keyboard, the second A you play sits further up the music staff. As your fingers run up to the upper portions of the keyboard, the higher the notes sit on the Treble Clef. The further down you play on the piano keyboard, the further down the notes sit on the music staff, running into the Bass Clef.

You can group notes together on a music staff vertically. These vertical grouping are chords. A chord is a group of three or more notes played simultaneously. If you play the C, E and G keys at the same time on the keyboard, you play a chord known as a triad. On a piece of sheet music, you will see these three notes as such:

G
E
C …piled on top of one another so-to-speak.

If the composer wants these notes played separately, he would write them out horizontally on the music staff as such:

C E G …moves along the music staff.

Of course, these letters do not appear on the music staff; instead oval notes replace the letters.
When you first begin to read piano sheet music, locate the reference point note of each staff. This allows you to determine the rest of the notes on the staff.

The Treble Clef has the G note as its reference point. This note is on the second line from the bottom of the five line Treble Clef staff. The Bass Clef has the F notes as its reference point. This note is on the second line from the top of the five line Bass Clef staff. Every other note on either staff is easily located from these points.

Reading piano notes will be easier when you study the fundamentals. Learn the Treble and Bass Clefs and where the seven notes sit on them, and your reading skills will improve.

When you improvise you need to know the relationship between chords and scales. You can of course use your ear when you improvise over chord changes but you will benefit from the freedom of knowing what you are doing when you press down the keys to create music.

Let us start with the C-major chord. In this piano lesson you will use your left hand to play chords and your right hand for scale improvisation. You can practice improvising with your left hand and playing chords with your right hand too. You are the one to decide what you need to practice.

This article is not written on a music sheet so I can not use traditional sheet music notation. I will instead use the note names together with an indication of which octave to play the note.

Here is the C-major chord for your left hand:

C: C3 E3 G3

The number three tells you to play the chord in the third octave of a common piano keyboard. That is, a keyboard with 88 keys. The important thing to remember is that the fourth octave is the middle octave of a keyboard. C4 is the famous middle C or keyhole C on an traditional piano.

Okey, it is time to see what scale to use together with the C chord. The most common choice would be to use a C-major scale as a base for your improvisations. The C-major scale consists of the white keys on your piano. Here is the C-major scale in the fourth octave:

C4 D4 E4 F4 G4 A4 B4

As soon as you can play a piano scale by heart it is time to create music with it. You can practice to play patterns built upon these scale notes. Here are a few examples:

C4 E4 G4 B4 D5 B4 G4 E4 C4

E5 B4 D5 C5 B4 G4 E4 C4 B3

C4 D4 E4 G4 A4 4B C5 E5 B4

Another common scale to use together with the C-major chord is the C-major pentatonic scale. This scale consists of only five notes in each octave instead of the seven notes in the C-major scale. This scale is constructed by omitting the fourth and seventh note in the major scale. Here are the notes:

C4 D4 E4 G4 A4

The pentatonic scale has a few benefits:

1. With only five notes it can be used together with more chords without interfering with the chord notes.

2. It is so interesting as it is that you can create melodic patterns by just playing it up and down the keyboard.

Let us create a pattern with this scale:

C4 D4 E4 G4 D4 E4 G4 A4 E4 G4 A4 C5

You can also play it the other way:

C5 A4 G4 E4 A4 G4 E4 D4 G4 E4 D4 C4

Before we finish this piano lesson we have to take a look at another interesting scale. It is the C Lydian scale. It resembles the C-major scale but with a F# instead of F. Here is the scale written out:

C4 D4 E4 F#4 G4 A4 B4

As I mentioned before the scale looks a lot like the major scale with the exception of the raised 4th. The raised 4th gives the ear the sensation of momentum and it sounds modern. Many people feel that the normal F is dissonant together with the C major chord. The F# on the other hand can be used the same way as the other notes in the scale.

Here are two examples of patterns:

C4 E4 G4 F#4 A4 C5 B4 G4 E4

C5 B4 G4 E4 A4 F#4 E4 D4

The important thing with all these scales is to create your own melodies. Give yourself time to practice slowly which will give your heart and mind time to create music.

Even if you haven’t played guitar tablature before you can impress or maybe shock your friends by playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Let’s start playing guitar tab!

We will use guitar tabs so you will not need to read traditional sheet music. You will only use the thinnest strings on the guitar which also will make this song a little bit easier to play.

The string with the highest pitch is called the first string or E-string. Look at the following guitar tab staff:

1. —————-

2. —————-

3. —————-

In this guitar tab staff we have three lines representing the three first strings on your guitar. The top line represents the E-string on your guitar. That is the thinnest string or the string with the highest pitch.

When you look at a guitar tablature staff you will find numbers on it that tells you which frets to press down. Here is an example:

1. ————

2. ——–3—

3. —-0——-

The number zero on the third line tells you to play the third string without pressing down a left hand finger. This note is a G. In other words, the number O represents an open string. The number 3 on the second string indicates that you shall press down the third fret on the second string and play the note. This note is a D.

Here are the first line of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with lyrics and corresponding guitar tab:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

1. ——————-0—0——-

2. ———–3—3———–3—

3. —0—0———————–

What to do with your left hand? I mean, which fingers should you use to press down the frets?

I admit that this is a little bit tricky at first but I suggest that you use your index finger for the notes on the first fret, the middle finger for the notes on the second fret and your ring finger for the third fret.

Time for the next tablature staff:

How I wonder where you are

1. ——————————-

2. —1—1—0—0—————

3. ——————-2—2—0—

Maybe you feel that it is difficult to use your left hand fingers the way I described. The only thing I can say is, be patient! Very soon you will reap the benefits from using these fingers when playing guitar.

1. You will be able to keep your hand from moving as you use three fingers instead of one finger for the three frets which will make it easier to play more advanced melodies on your guitar.

2. You will not have to look on the fretboard as much as your fingers have their fixed frets to work with and they will help you find your way around the fretboard.

Next guitar tab:

Up above the world so high

1. ——————————-

2. —3—3—1—1—0—0——-

3. —————————2—

You can’t see the length of the notes in these guitar tabs. Actually it is possible to notate even the length of notes but I guess you already know this melody well and will be able to find out how to play the rhythm of the song by ear.

Let’s continue with the guitar tabs:

Like a diamond in the sky

1. ——————————-

2. —3—3—1—1—0—0——-

3. —————————2—

Now when you understand guitar tab notation you can find many songs written this way on the internet. A complete guitar tablature staff has six lines representing the six strings.

Here is the last guitar tabs to learn. Actually you know this melody part already:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

1. ——————-0—0——-

2. ———–3—3———–3—

3. —0—0———————–

How I wonder where you are

1. ——————————-

2. —1—1—0—0—————

3. ——————-2—2—0—

Now you have completed the song! But you still have to learn it by heart to be able to play it to your friends! One line at a time until you know the whole song!

Sheet music for Christian songs is becoming easier to obtain as the popularity of Christian music continues to rise. Many people use sheet music for Christian songs for various purposes. With the internet, you are no longer limited to buying sheet music at a local music store, nor are you limited to songs that already slipped from popularity. Sheet music for Christian songs is available in several different forms, and therefore used by different people. For example, many individuals use sheet music for their instrument or voice for their own personal worship, or to share as a soloist at their church. In another respect, a choir director or worship leader may use sheet music for Christian songs that covers various instruments and vocal ranges.

Whatever song or type of music you are looking for, you will probably find sheet music for Christian songs online, if not at your local music store. While your local music store may carry a great selection, often the internet had the best selection, especially of the newest Christian music. Internet search engines will also help you to find even those difficult to locate songs, whether older or hot off the contemporary Christian charts. Furthermore, you can find sheet music for Christian songs in many different styles of music. For example, there is sheet music for Christmas, gospel, contemporary and every style in between. There is sheet music for jazzy instrumentals to fill your service prelude or postlude needs. Sheet music for Christian songs is even available for your individual or worship teams or choir needs.

Websites sites may offer different options for ordering sheet music for Christian songs. Some websites are set up to let you hear the song before you order the sheet music. Many sites allow you to order individual songs, while some websites may also offer books of songs by a particular artist or company. Much of the sheet music for Christian songs is downloadable, provided you can use a credit card to pay for your selections. Most individual songs will be under three dollars. Keep in mind that sheet music for Christian songs needs to be used in accordance with the copyright laws that protect it. Most sheet music is available only for individual or church use. If your church is in agreement with Christian Copyright Licensing International, the license for reproducing lyrics and music, you must report your use of the sheet music.

You are no longer limited by going to your local music store for sheet music for Christian songs. Nor do you have to wait for an order if a particular song or book that you want is not in stock. Instead, you can search the internet which has many resources for ordering sheet music for Christian songs. Often, the Christian music you are looking for is only a click away.