Piano Note

So, you want to learn how to play piano. So do thousands of others around the world. Here’s how they usually go about it.

First, they try to find a piano teacher close to where they live. They may or may not know what style they want to learn, but figure the piano teacher can help them figure this out.

Next, it’s off to the piano teacher for the first appointment. What usually happens here is the teacher gives the student “an assessment” to see what they know. Now, for the most part, piano teachers won’t ask prospective students what they want to learn because they assume it will be classical in nature.

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When a landscape artist wants to get the essence of a beautiful scene, they make a quick pencil sketch of it.

The artist doesn’t want to represent the entire landscape as it is, but as they feel it to be. A few lines scribbled here and there indicate the feelings the artist wishes to convey. We musicians can do the same thing! We can quickly sketch out our ideas on paper by using chords and a chord chart.

A chord chart is just a way to notate when chords change through time. You can write out 8-bars to begin with (as I do). Now let us suppose you have the urge to capture something musically. What do you do? Well, for starters,

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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

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One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar player is learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it so important to learn these basic chords? Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the most memorable rock riffs think AC/DC s Back in Black or The Who s Won t Get Fooled Again . What s really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!

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As much as I like to just “fool around” on the piano, there comes a time when I want to remember or capture what I’ve been doing. But what’s an easy way to do this you ask? I’ll tell you. By charting out your chord changes on a piece of paper, you’ll remember the harmonic background easier. Here’s how.

First, get a sheet of paper. Any paper will do. It doesn’t have to be lined or ruled and it doesn’t have to be music paper. Next draw out 8-bars. I usually just draw 4 bars, skip down some and then draw another 4-bars. This is your chord chart! It doesn’t have to be more complicated than this. In fact, this quick

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