Taken from "http://www.piano-playing-by-ear.com/" >>>
Monday, August 27, 2018
10:22 PM
I never know contemporary or pop piano could be so fun until i figured chords! I've been looking around for resources, and this site
http://www.piano-playing-by-ear.com/ has been very enlightening. Here's what some of it looks like:
1st Month: Straddles -- We will learn what a straddle is, then work on 3 note straddles on all 12 major chords, all 12 minor chords, all 12 augmented and diminished chords, then take up 4-note straddles using 7ths, then 6ths, then 9ths. We will drill, drill, drill on notes, fingering, pedaling -- everything necessary to make an exciting straddle sound. (Not 1 piano player in a hundred even knows about straddles!)
2nd Month: 2-1 and 3-1 Breakups -- We will practice fills in all keys using these broken chords. They are easy, once you know how, but most pianists go a lifetime without knowing how! (You'll LOVE triplet 2-1's!)
3rd Month: Waterfall Chords -- Extremely rapid descending chordal runs that give the impression of a cascading rush of water, like a waterfall. We will learn them on all the basic chords first, then add the extensions, such as 6ths, etc.
4th Month: Tremolo-Fired Runs -- These a super-fast runs that shoot up the keyboard and back down like a lightning bolt, but they are "launched" by a tremolo -- a "shaking" of a chord. One solid hour of drills on these runs in all keys. Practice them for an hour for 30 days and your friends might just start calling you "lightning fingers."
5th Month: Half-Step Slides -- Every time you move from one chord to the next, you have the potential for a chord substitution through the simple use of half-step slides. You can slide up, or you can slide down, or even both, if you have the time. This one element alone can make your piano playing ever so much more professional!
6th Month: Suspensions -- A great deal of contemporary music called "fusion" is based on suspensions, so if you want to understand current music, you really need to know suspensions inside out. Bach used them a lot in his music, too, so they're not exactly new. We'll learn them in all keys, and learn when to use them to create interest.
7th Month: Chord Substitutions -- There are 3 basic keys to chord substitutions, but the application of these keys takes a lifetime of experimentation. In this hour, we'll do more substitutions than the average person does in an entire lifetime!
8th Month: Voicing in 4ths -- We'll take up the whole matter of "voicing" a chord, then learn how to voice in 4ths rather than in 3rds for a "pro sound". (Have you ever compared your chords to the chords of a top pro? Chances are, you are playing the same notes, but the way the pro "voices" them on the keyboard makes a tremendous difference in the sound.)
9th Month: Turnarounds -- Turnarounds are chord progressions that occur at the end of phrases to keep the interest level up -- so the song doesn't "sag" between phrases. You'll learn a half-dozen turnarounds that will keep you busy for years applying them to all kinds of songs -- popular, gospel, standards.
10th Month: Introductions -- We'll learn how to put a "front door" on a song that is both beautiful and useful. We'll learn the different functions of an intro and what's suitable for different styles.
11th Month: Endings -- There are some marvelous "stock endings" you can memorize, then use on most any song. We'll learn those, but also learn how to "tailor make" an ending for a particular song by recapitulating the theme in a "familiar echo."
12th Month: Transposing -- Of the 3 ways to transpose, you will have a favorite -- one way will seem easier than the others to you. But we'll learn all 3 ways, and we will transpose both melodies and chords in all keys. But after you pick your favorite way of transposing, you can focus on that method -- you don't really need to use all 3.
13th Month: Modulating -- Different than transposing, this is the process of getting from one key to another key smoothly, without anyone hardly noticing the change. Once you understand the basic principle, it is very easy to do.
14th Month: Altering a Melody To Create a New Melody -- Did you know that many of the best pianists do exactly this when they "improvise"? People think they are making things up out of their head, when really they are playing the existing melody inverted, contorted, inside-out, compressed, and so on. We'll learn how to do this and apply it to many songs.
15th Month: Inversions -- Turning chords upside down in lighting-flash speed is one of the keys to a "pro sound." Not just triads, but extended chords, such as 6/9 chords and others. We'll drill, drill, drill on the common chords, then drill even harder on the advanced chords.
16th Month -- Creating Original Chord Progressions -- The boys and the girls are separated from the men and the women when it comes to ORIGINAL chord progressions. The stamp of professionalism is on anyone who can come up with a truly original progressions. But it's not that hard, and on this one hour session we'll drill over and over again on the essentials of a creative and fresh approach to progressions.
17th Month: Echoes -- Rhythmic, Melodic, & Harmonic -- Probably the simplest way to improve your playing dramatically is through the use of echoes. Almost no one uses them as much as they could be used -- and I have noticed recently that the masters such as Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, etc. use them extensively -- much more than the average pianist -- does that tell you something? We'll show how to use them to build continuity in the rhythm, melody, and harmony of most any song.
18th Month: Touch -- Have you ever seen a pianist who had a nice "touch"? What does that mean? How can YOU get it? It has to do with fundamentals, but more than that, it has to do with mind-set -- your way of thinking about the FLOW of the music. We'll explore this in depth as we help you get smooth!
19th Month: The II7 to V7 Chord Progression -- This chord progressions -- where the II7 chord moves to the V7 chord -- is critical to your success as a pianist. Why? Because it is like your knee or your elbow -- it is the joint or hinge that turns the music. We'll learn why, then how to do it smoothly, in all 12 keys and all 12 minor keys as well.
20th Month: Latin-American Rhythms -- Would you like to get a handle on the favorite Latin-American rhythms from down South -- including the Bossa Nova, the Samba, the Beguine, the Bolero, etc.? You won't get great in a month's time, but you'll understand them and have a start on them.
21st Month: Locked-Hands Style -- This is a complex style used by the jazz greats that takes a great deal of time to master. What we're going to do is take a simple melody, and have you MASTER this style on that one tune through much repetition and drills. You can then go on to apply it to more complex tunes.
22nd Month: The "Garner" Style -- Errol Garner was the originator of this marvelous, orchestral style, and we're going to focus on just this one style for an hour and see what makes it tick, then apply it to a song. At the end of an hour you won't sound like Garner (sorry!), but you'll understand how you eventually can come close by using certain techniques. You're gonna love this!
23rd Month: Two-Handed Arps: "The Flowing River of Sound!" -- When you are able to arpeggiate chords with both hands at the same time, and those chords include 7ths and 9ths, you have a "flowing river" of sound. Few pianists can do this, and fewer can go up with one hand while going down with the other (contrary motion). We'll learn exactly how to do this, then by listening and playing along with the tape for the next few weeks, you'll actually begin to get the feel and the sound of it!
24th Month: Parallelisms -- We will investigate the use of parallel chords, parallel intervals, and so on. Some of the most interesting sounds that pros get come from parallelisms of various sorts. (Most piano players don't know they exist. Ask a piano playing friend about parallelisms, then get ready for a blank stare!)
25th Month: Ragtime Techniques -- Actually, we're going to focus on just 3 ragtime techniques, and drill over and over on these 3 in various situations. A mastery of these 3 techniques will allow you to play most any song in ragtime style.
26th Month: Polytonality & Superimposition -- How to play with two tonal centers at once, for either a single chord, or a phrase, or even an entire song. It creates a "dream-like" feel that nobody but the top pros know how to create.
27th Month: The "Delay-Catch-Up" Technique -- We're going to learn how to fall behind the beat, then catch up, and vice-versa. Why? Because knowing how to do so marks you as one of a special breed of pianist. VERY effective when an exclusive style is desired!
28th Month: Slash/Chords -- It's easy to learn how to read "slash/chords" (such as Gm7/F), but we're not only going to learn how to read them, but also how to create them. We enlarge our world of chords tremendously when we learn to "re-root" a chord!
29th Month: Counter-Melodies -- Bach was the master of counter-melodies, sometimes having 4 at a time! (See his 4-part inventions for proof.) We won't go that far, but we will learn how to create one melody which will run counter to the main theme, adding a wonderful fullness to any song!
30th Month: Western Sounds -- We will drill for a solid hour on the elements of a country-western sound. After a month of this, you'll even talk with a twang!
31st Month: Gospel Sounds -- I hate to use the word "gospel" in the sense, but there is a distinctive sound which is termed "gospel", and it is this sound which we will learn to emulate during this month.
32nd Month: The 12-Bar Blues -- We'll learn the formula for creating the blues, then learn it in all 12 keys. We'll also drill on "blue notes" and the chord substitutions that make for the blues sound.
33rd Month: Passing Tones -- Passing tones are any tones that are not in the chord, but "pass through" the chord to create a sensation of movement. We'll learn to use passing 9ths, 7ths, 6ths, and passing 3rds in half-steps.
34th Month: Question-Answer Techniques -- Do you remember the techniques used in some churches where the Pastor says something, then the congregation responds, and back and forth it goes? We'll, the same thing can be done in music to create some of the most creatively spontaneous sounds you have ever heard!
35th Month: Far-Out Harmonies -- How and where to use the really far-out sounds such as sharp 11ths, flat 9ths, flat 10ths, flat 5ths with a dominant 7th, and so on. Your head will be swimming for a few days, but when it gets into your fingers, your listeners' ears will be reeling!
36th Month: Syncopation -- How to create accents where they normally don't fall. How to play with a heavy "back-beat" feel. Advanced rhythmic concepts of all sorts.
D-popotamus left his footprint
here...
