I wish
you could have seen me play the piano when I was just
learning. I was the nearest thing to “hopeless”
that you could imagine. I was into baseball, not music
– and my heroes were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle,
and Ted Williams. (And by the way, I still have a
picture of those 3 guys on my wall.) My dream was
to hit baseballs like them, not to play the piano.
But
an opportunity to play with a combo presented itself
to me when I was a freshman in high school. Seems
the piano player of the group had graduated the previous
year, and nobody else played piano well enough to
play in the school jazz combo. I didn’t know
zilch about playing in a group, and I didn’t
know chords. But I was excited to have the opportunity
to play with older guys, and so I took the job.
The
lead sax player told me I really should know chords
in order to play in the group, so I searched through
a music magazine until I found an ad for a chord chart.
It cost two bucks, as I recall, so I sent off for
it. When I received it in the mail I slipped it behind
the keys on my parents old upright piano, and promptly
learned to play my first chord – Dm7. I LOVED
the sound of it, and was hooked for life on chords.
The 2nd chord I learned was Cmaj7, then Em7, then
Ebm7 – and before that first night was over
I had learned to play “Frankie & Johnnie”
– the tune in my right hand, and those fabulous
7th chords in my left hand!
I loved
it – LOVED IT – LOVED IT! And it even
sounded good enough to impress some of my friends
the next day. I suppose that simple chord chart that
cost me two bucks has been worth several million over
the course of my lifetime. And much more than that,
has been worth quadrillions in pleasure and satisfaction
and relaxation and……
Even
though I came in the back door as far as piano playing
was concerned, I learned fast because of what I knew
about chords, so college was a snap, and so was my
post-graduate Masters Degree at Southern Oregon University.
After high school I studied with several of the finest
private teachers on the West Coast, including a year
with THE finest teacher – his name was Dave
– and his studio was on Cauhenga Blvd. in Hollywood.
As I would come for my piano lesson, I would often
pass a big name recording artist coming to their lesson
– and anyone who was anyone in Hollywood in
those days took lessons from Dave.
Dave
taught me 2 fundamental principles about piano playing:
1.
The piano is NOT played with the hands – it
is played with the brain. The hands are just tools.
2. If you master chord relationships, you can master
music.
I’ve
got little fat hands with short fingers. Hardly the
ideal hands for piano playing.
I’ve
also got a lousy sense of rhythm.
But
you know what? Because of those two principles Dave
taught me, I can play “above” my fat hands
and my weak rhythm.
Above?
Yes.
Above.
Once
a person “gets into the flow” of understanding
chord relationships and then letting the brain knowledge
flow into the hands, that person plays “above”
his ability.
And
the great thing about it is this: It’s not some
secret formula hidden in the archives of some dusty
music conservatory in Prague. Instead it’s an
open book – there are courses galore on the
internet you can take for peanuts compared to a traditional
music conservatory. The internet age has provided
a way for the average person to become an above-average
musician!
Duane
Shinn is the author of over 500 music and piano
books and products such as DVD's, CD's, musical
games for kids, chord charts, musical software,
and piano lesson instructional courses for adults.
He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University
and was the founder of Piano University in Southern
Oregon. He can be reached at http://www.pianolessonsbyvideo.com.
He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail
newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Piano Chords
& Sizzling Chord Progressions" with over 55,000
current subscribers.
Those
interested may obtain a free two-year subscription
by going to http://www.playpiano.com/
(Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/)
Do you have
a related piano article you want to post here?
Email it to us
|
at www.pianos.e-mart4all.com,
you will find Lowest Priced Yamaha pianos (motif,
P120, P250, Tyros, YDP223, etc.), Korg pianos (SP500,
Triton, Karma, PA80, MicroKorg, MS200b, PA1x, SP200,
SP300, X5, BX3, CX3, etc.) Roland pianos (Fantom,
FP2, etc.), Casio Pianos (AP38, CTK691, PS20, PX100,
Privia, PX300, WK3500, etc.)
ARTICLES
