Beginner's pop piano lessons (2)

[pianomankris]

Hey guys

OK - so we learned the chords C major, F major, and G major in the last lesson.

This lesson we are going to learn 6 more chords, and then learn some tunes using our chords.

Remember - all chords just use the basic musical aphabet letters, and we get the notes of a chord by missing a letter out to make a triad (triad = 3-note chord using the basic structure we discussed in the previous lesson)




For the major chords other than C, F and G, there are certain rules to remember, as well as using the basic 'triadic' structure.

For example, the D major chord contains the notes D F# A.

The A major chord contains the notes A C# E.

The E major chord contains the notes E G# B.

These three chords follow the same rule - the rule being sharpen the middle note.

So, A major, D major and E major have a # in the middle.

A = A C# E
D = D F# A
E = E G# B

The # doesn't affect the left hand, since the left hand doesn't play the middle note anyway.





There is another grouping of chords. The chords are Eb, Ab, and Db.

The rule is: natural (not sharp or flat; just 'normal') in the middle, the other two are b.

So, if we want the notes in the Eb chord, we take the triad starting on E. This gives us E G and B.

We then apply the rule.

So, the notes in the Eb chord are: Eb G Bb.

Here are the three chords in full:

Eb = Eb G Bb
Ab = Ab C Eb
Db = Db F Ab

Take care with the LH when paying these three chords. The LH will be playing the flat notes of these chords, as the LH plays the chord, only with no middle note.

 

[pianomankris]

We now know 9 major chords.

There are 12 in total. We only have three to go.

The other three are slightly harder, as they have their own rule. We will learn them in lesson 3.



So, the chords we know are:

C, F, and G (all natural)
D, A, and E (# in the middle)
Db, Ab, and Eb (natural in the middle, the other two are b)



Before we learn a song, it is good to practise some more chord progressions, to get used to the changes.

You can practise these progressions in the same manner as we practised the progressions in the first lesson.

Here are some progressions to try:


1) C | F | G | C |

2) G | C | D | G |

3) D | G | A | D |

4) A | D | E | A |

5) Ab | Db | Eb | Ab |



I'll leave it a few days before we begin to learn songs, and if there are any questions regarding this lesson, they can be asked in the meantime.

Enjoy

Kris


PS the amount of info will become less and less per each lesson (as you'll know all the chords soon anyway), so don't worry if the info seems a little overwhelming at first. It gets easier.

In a few lessons, we'll just get straight into learning songs, with no theory to learn.

That is, until we learn jazz theory lol

 

[SomethingNew]

thanks!

 

[[vogue]angel]

hey kris, I found out that some people hate playing classical piano. Can you maybe show a proper approach on playing classical music? thanks

 

[pianomankris]

Sorry guys, i've been busy for like the whole of January.

Vogue_angel - i'll stick with pop piano just now, then go on to jazz.

There is so much regarding the aesthetics of 'proper' classical playing that it couldn't even begin to be covered in this forum.

You should read some books by Charles Rosen if this interests you. 'Piano Notes' is a good one, and very accessible, if it is the first book by him you will read.

'Famous Pianists And Their Technique' by Reginald R. Gerig is also a good read.

Just check amazon or something. It'll probably have them.



RE this lesson - i'll write out some songs in a few days.

 

[pianomankris]

Counting multiple bars of silence

OK, so before we learn our first song, we need to learn how to count bars of silence (e.g. where the piano is 'out').

Say we are in 4/4 time, and we have 4 bars of silence for the piano. We can count '1 2 3 4' four times, but in doing this, it is easy to lose count of which bar we are at.

As a general rule, we count the bars, as well as the beats of the bar.

e.g. to count 4 bars' silence, it would be better to count:

'1 2 3 4 | 2 2 3 4 | 3 2 3 4 | 4 2 3 4'


(the bols numbers indicate the actual bars)
(PS the '|' lines are just the bar lines, and not indicative of 'beat 1')


This way is far easier to follow, as we can now count the beats of the bar, and the number of actual bars at the same time.

Nest post i'll put a (well known lol) song up.

We'll learn 4 or 5 songs before doing any more theory.

 

[pf]

I was taught to count '1&2&3&4&'

Easier to do the sub-divisions for more complicated songs later.

Such as '1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a | 1e&a2e&a3e&a4e&a ' for 16 notes

or '1&a2&a3&a4&a' for compound time.

Just a suggestion.

 

[pianomankris]

Yes, but your counting is rhythm-specific (e.g. semiquavers/quavers), rather than bar-specific.

What happens, then, if the rhythm in the bar changes?



I was dealing with just the basic counting of the beat, rather than the counting of any subdivisions of a beat within the bar.

There is no need to count ryhthmical subdivisions as there are no rhymical subdivisions within the bar since the instrument is silent anyway.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[pf]

Yeah. I was taught to count the same way during rests also. It wasn't to be as an alternative. My suggestions were for playing. Sorry for not making that clear.

 

[KeDraiv]

hey pianomankris, in relation to vogue angel's question, what do you think of " Pratical method for beginners" by Czerny?

good book to start for beginners learning the classical approach to piano?

 

[pianomankris]

Kedraiv:

The Czerny is very good for beginners.

Anything that increases repertoire is good for beginners.

I think the most important thing for beginner pianists is to build a repertoire of pieces they have under their belt, that they can play at the drop of a hat.

I get my students to make up folders of pieces they can play. Anytime they learn a new piece, they put it in their folder (alphabetically organised).

If the student has, say, 50 full pieces they can play, it inspires far more confidence, and, just as important, a want to practise, than being fluent at playing scales/three grade one pieces does.

Regarding scales and beginners - I used to be of the mindset that scales were necessary practise for beginners. The I played at a masterclass with Boris Berman (I was playing Prokofieff's 'Visions Fugitives'). He asked me about scales, and why they should be practised.

His reasoning was that if you need it explained to you why you need to practise scales, you aren't ready to practise scales, or you won't get much out of doing them. His example was that if you were playing a piece that had, for example, scalar runs in it, then you would see the reason for practising scales (i.e. fluency of execution of the music, for one). If the student needs explained to them that they 'must' practise scales, it can be counter-productive, as many beginners don't see the musical connection between scales and pieces.

It can be our job as teachers to either show the students why scales 'can' be important (technically I mean, and not harmonically/theoretically), or to allow the student to discover for themselves (maybe with a little guidance, of course) that they will reach a point where practising scales will become necesary in order to facilitate easier execution of a piece.

I'd now rather teach someone 20 pieces they can manage than one piece they will struggle through for months. Yes, pushing ahead is necessary, but sometimes even this in itself can be detrimental to the players' technique.

(There's nothing worse than hearing a 'grade 8' player (i.e. someone who can play 3 grade 8 pieces, and that is all) struggle through their pieces. I'd call a grade 8 player someone who can execute any/every piece at that level.)

I know this may be a little contrtoversial, and a little off-topic, but it may give you some food for thought. If it helps you to think of something in a new way, then it could prove useful.

 

[pianomankris]

guys - time for some songs

Excuse the delay - i've been run off my feet teaching, been dealing with arranging some concerts in Holland this summer, been in the studio (recording some Philip Glass - nothing too extreme lol), and been trying to learn Morton Feldman's 'Triadic Memories', which is taking a bit of work lol

OK - first song - The Byrds - Hey Mr. Tambourine Man.

This piece doesn't have any piano in it, but that's why i'm beginning with it.

OK - for execution, we'll begin by playing the chords simply as semibreve chords e.g. play both hands at the same time and hold the chord for four beats (one full bar, as this tune is in 4/4 time).

Here is a link to the version of the song i'm working from (it's good practise to play along with the song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVnU_WaTvdc


In the notation of this piece, you'll notice some thick bar lines - this is just to make the music easier to read - most pieces are structured in 4-bar phrases, so i'm simply dividing the music up into the phrases.

Ok the full structure is in the next thread

 

[pianomankris]

Intro = piano silent for four bars.

Chorus 1 (begins on the word 'hey')

G | A | D | G | D | G | A | A |

G | A | D | G | D | G | A | D | D |



Verse

G | A | D | G | D | G | D | G | D | G | D | G | A | A |

G | A | D | G | D | G | D | G | G | A | A |



Chorus 2

G | A | D | G | D | G | A | A |

G | A | D | G | D | G | A | D |


Outro = piano silent to end.


And that's it

Remember with the chords - try to play them so that your RH is always closest to middle C. So, i'd play the D with the RH beginning just above middle C, the G below middle C (RH pinky will be on D above middle C), and the A below middle C (RH pinky will be on E above middle C).

You could also play the D chord below middle C (i.e. so that your RH pinky is on A below middle C) - this will give the piece some 'depth'. Have fun with it, and go with it where it sounds best


Have fun


First things first - i'd listen through the song, making sure you can hear all the changes.

 

[pianomankris]

Regarding the structure:

Nowadays, most pieces have an intro, 2 verses, chorus etc etc


This wasn't the case in the 60's.


Reason being that in the 60's there was an explosion of music - as such, everyone was trying to get noticed.

The musical realisation of this was to put the most memorable part of the song (i.e. the chorus) early on - this way, people will remember the song quicker and easier, it will hold their attention, and they will have more reason to buy it Give people the 'catchy' part of the song almost instantly, and they'll be whistling the tune all day

The downside - the song becomes tiring very quickly. The shelf-life of the song is very short.



The reaction to this can be seen in 70's music such as songs by Led Zeppelin and the such - long, meandering songs where choruses aren't introduced (if at all) until sometimes 4 or 5 minutes into the song.


We'll go into song structure soon - i'll write the full structure of modern pop songs, and we'll study a few pieces - learn them on the piano, and also study them structurally.

PS learning music structurally will tie in with jazz, once we get on to it

Happy bashing

I'll post a new song in a day or two, and some info about playing styles (rather than just holding the chord for a full bar, we'll do more interesting things with each chord).

 

[pianomankris]

PS the timing of Mr. Tambourine Man in the recording I gave the link to is all over the place - put a metronome on with it and you'll see what I mean


I'd still encourage practising along with it, though, as it's good fun to play along with 'actual' music, and it probably won't seem 'out of time' when you're actually playing along with it.

PPs most pieces in the 60's and 70's had 'loose' timing, since the studio equipment wasn't as advanced as it is nowadays e.g. editing wasn't a case of copy/paste on a computer screen - it was a case of getting the tape from the reel to reel, diagonally splicing it, and joining it back together.

Far better and cheaper to go for most songs in one take. As long as there's no really obvious bad notes, or crazy tempo drifts from drunken drummers, it's all good


Personally I like both the modern and the older stuff - the older stuff, as it's certainly more 'live' - but the modern stuff for sheer quality of sound and accuracy of performance.

In saying that though, i'd rather listen to Bolet or Horowitz unedited piano recordings than some of today's 'pristine' recordings that can be slightly lifeless. Just as most people would rather go to a concert and hear a live performance than listen to a CD at home.


But this is a whole new debate for another thread




Some final advice regarding the song - when practising, practise each chord change, making sure you can play them well. If one change is particularly difficult, practise that specific change. Work the piece up until you can play it fluently.

When performing, NEVER stop!! If you make a mistake, just wait for the next bar, then come in with the chord from there.

Most listeners musically don't have a clue what they are hearing, since most aren't musicians. If you hit a bum note and don't make a funny face showing you have just played a bum note (e.g. if you remain confident, even when you know it's wrong), the audience more often than not think there was meant to be something 'edgy' about the piece, rather than thinking the performer made a mistake.

If you stop, or wince, they'll know instantly that you made a mistake. And that's you judged for the rest of the gig

Worth keeping in mind.