Posts Tagged ‘Melodies’

55 Days to Playing Piano Like a Pro!

Monday, May 11th, 2009



Do you ever hear someone playing the piano smoothly, and wish you could do the same? Do you hear the wonderful symphonies of Mozart, and wish you could produce the same beautiful melodies?

Sure, we all do!

And while there are limitless ways to play the piano, I’ve found one in particular that is really worth a shot–and it won’t break the bank in doing so (it’s only $40–really not going to break anything!). It’s called Rocket Piano, and depending on your aspirations, it may be just what you need to make your piano-playing dreams a reality.

Let’s find out more now:

The Good

In addition to the quality information in the glossy 3 book series, Rocket Piano includes hundreds of sound files that explain how to play, so you can hear what your playing is supposed to sound like. The songs are broken down into pieces, which enables the student to learn each piece before they are ready to tackle the whole song. Being able to play these songs will amaze friends and acquaintances alike, and this is made easy through the hundreds of lines of music included for your benefit.

The Bad

If there’s one downside, it’s perhaps that the course doesn’t really take you to “virtuoso” level. You’re going to learn how to play the piano, and play it well, but you probably won’t ever get to “performing in a packed concert hall” level.

Additonally, the Members Area could be better organized. But that’s the only “downside” in a comprehensive course that really helped me improve my piano playing–fast.

The Free

A surprisingly thorough, enjoyable e-course is available free of charge right here. It will teach you a lot about not only the various piano keys, but also about piano theory and history. It’s quite interesting.

The Rating

I suggest buying this course. First, the free newsletter series is quite interesting and useful, and for just $39.95 (fully refundable if you’re not satisfied), you really can’t go wrong with the full package. There’s always the money-back guarantee that they DO HONOR if you’re not happy.

Hey, why not go for it? You can do like I did: put your dreams into reality and start learning to play the piano today!



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Piano Tabs: Learn To Play Happy Birthday To You

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Piano tab notation will help you learn melodies without knowing sheet music. In this piano lesson you will learn to read easy piano tabs. You will also learn to play Happy Birthday To You!

If you do not know how to read piano sheet music I suggest that you try to learn it. If you start with very easy melodies with just a few notes you will not get too frustrated. Learn the names of the keys of your piano. Also, learn the names of the notes as they appear on an easy music sheet, focusing on just a few at a time.

To read sheet music well you have to have the patience and devote time to practicing. This practice time will pay off as you will have an immense amount of sheet music waiting to be played. Until you have mastered the art of playing sheet music you can use piano tabs to help you play melodies.

With the help of piano tablature you can easily learn melodies, chords and other music on your piano. Tabs cannot replace sheet music but you can notate much musical information even with this type of notation.

What is piano tablature?

Piano tab notation is an established system for reading and writing music. Actually there are several systems, some with numbers and others with letters but we will use a simplified form of the most common system on the net.

Sheet music notation shows the actual notes to play but not how to play them on your piano. This task you have to perform yourself. Piano tablature on the other hand is a way of showing which keys to play on your piano. When you have learned the system you will find it easy to play melodies. But, first you have to learn the note names.

The note names

We will use the note names on the piano as the basis for the notation. You will have to learn the names of the notes on the white keys of your piano. The first note we will learn is the middle c. It is easy to understand that the middle c is at the middle of the piano but exactly where?

You have probably noticed that the black keys on your piano or keyboard are organized in groups. You will find groups with two and with three black keys all over the keyboard.

If you take a look at the two black keys at the middle of your piano you will find middle c immediately to the left of these black keys. This middle c is sometimes called c4. The number 4 shows that it is the c in the fourth octave.

What is an octave?

Octave means eight and if you play the note c and the following notes until you come to the next c you have played eight notes. This c note is to the left of the next two black keys one octave higher.

The notes after middle c are d e f g a b and then comes c again. When you play these notes from c to the next c you have played a c-major scale. The next c is sometimes called c5 as it is in the next octave which is the fifth octave of a piano keyboard. The c in the octave to the left of middle c is called c3.

Now we will take a closer look at the piano tablature we will use in the song Happy Birthday To You.

The rules

In this article we will use a simplified version of the piano tabs you will find on the Internet. Here are the rules:

1. Lowercase letters show the white keys. That is, c d e f g a b.

2. Uppercase letters show the black keys. The note C means that you shall play the black key to the right of c. This note is written as c# in traditional sheet music language.

3. A number after a note name shows in which octave to play the note. The note c4 means middle c. The following notes to play will not have a number until you change octave.

Happy Birthday To You

Now it is time for you to read the piano tabs to Happy Birthday To You! I will write down the lyrics, one line at a time with the corresponding piano tabs below. It is written in the key of F-major.

The chords to play if someone wants to accompany you are written in brackets before the appropriate syllable. If you already know how to play chords with your left hand you can try to play them yourself as you play the melody with your right hand.

Happy (F)Birthday to (C7)you, happy birthday to (F)you

c4 c d c f e c c d c g f

The number 4 after the first c shows that you are to play the notes in the fourth octave until you find a new octave indication.

Happy (F)birthday, dear (Bb)”Liza”

c c c5 a4 f e d

(Bb)Happy (F)birthday (C7)to (F)you

A A a f g f

Remember, uppercase A is the black note to the right of a.

Remember, the note A is the black key to the right of a.

I suggest that you memorize the melody one line at a time so you do not have to rely on the tab notation. These piano tabs are an introduction to the little more advanced tablature system on the Internet.

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Piano Lesson: How To Improvise The Classical Piano Way

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

Is it possible to improvise on the piano in a classical manner? This piano lesson will help you find out how to cultivate this art and the benefits you reap as a pianist!

Jazz piano improvising is an established art nowadays and much have been written on how to develop improvisational skills in this area.

What about classical piano improvisation?

Many of the methods used for learning jazz piano improvisation can be applied in classical piano improvisation as well.

Many composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, W.A. Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin and others were actually more famous for their improvisational skills during their lifetime.

Personally I have tried to develop this skill and I find it very enjoyable to improvise with classical piano pieces as a basis for creative trips.

I love to improvise in the style of classical composers trying to find myself somewhere among the notes. These special moments are a form of meditation. They clear my mind and also helps me as a composer to stimulate my creative abilities.

The most important reason for developing this skill is that it is fun and very enjoyable. If you learn classical piano improvisation you will benefit from it in many other ways too:

1. It will be easier for you to memorize classical piano sheet music as you will become more aware of what happens when you press down the piano keys.

2. You will find it easier to compose your own piano pieces in a classical piano style.

3. You can make up your own technical exercises on your piano on the go.

4. You will understand your piano better.

There are many ways to develop your skill in classical piano improvisation. Let’s see!

1. As soon as you have learned a piano scale try to use it by creating improvised melodies while playing chords or patterns with the other hand.

2. When you learn new chords try to create patterns to play with your left hand as you play improvised melodies with your right hand. A common easy left hand pattern is with the chord C:

C G E G C G E G

3. As you learn to play new classical piano compositions try to memorize beautiful or exciting passages in these compositions and play around with them and try to modify them and improvise over them.

4. Try to create classical melodies at the piano without stopping. In order to learn to improvise classical music you have to practice just that – To improvise classical piano music.

The most basic requisite in order to develop the skill of classical piano improvisation is that you want to learn this art and with this desire you will find ways to practice this art in all your piano playing.

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