How To Play The Piano Using "Shorthand" -- Chord Symbols -- Instead of Reading the Full Score

Fm7 Bb7 Ebm6 Edim7

Most people who took piano lessons as a kid, including me, grew up learning to read music exactly as it is written on the printed page. Being able to read music is a valuable skill, and I am delighted I learned that skill at an early age.
But there is a downside to only being able to read music without understanding what you are reading. A couple real-life examples illustrate the point:
What happens when you are playing and your sheet music slips off the piano and onto the floor? Unless your name is Victor Borge and you can turn the situation into comedy, you will probably find the situation extremely embarrassing. I have seen it happen several times to pianists who play well but who don't know how to improvise, and it's not a pretty site. It happened to me once years ago as well. I was accompanying a singer and someone opened a side door, letting a gust of wind sweep into the auditorium and right across my piano. The sheet music scattered onto the stage and a couple pieces blew off the stage. If I hadn't understood the music and had a grasp of it's harmonic form, I would have had to stop, pick up the music, get it back in order, and so forth, delaying the soloist and the performance. As it turned out I had several people ask me how I kept playing without the music in front of me. I replied that I knew the chord progressions of the song, so was able to "wrap the chords around the singer" and therefore keep the song going.
So what are chord symbols, and how do they work?
Chord symbols are a shorthand way of writing what is going on harmonically in a song. For example, if I were to write the chord symbols of the first line of What Child Is This? (also known as Greensleeves and several other titles) in the key of Am, I would write:
Am G F E7 -- which corresponds to the first line of the song and would appear directly above the melody line in the treble clef, so all the pianist would need to do would be to read the melody (tune) of the song -- not all the supporting notes.
I think you can see that once you know a few chords this would be infinitely easier to remember than the entire score of the song. Not only that, but that chord progression -- A, G, F, E7 -- repeats several times during the song, so once you know the form of the song, you have a huge advantage over someone who is chained to the written music and has no idea about the logic of the song.
So how does a person learn this "musical shorthand"? It's no secret -- there are books galore on learning chords, plus web sites that teach chords, or you could even pick up a chart of chords in your local music store.
Then buy a "fake book" -- a songbook with hundreds or even thousands of songs, each song showing just the melody of the song with the chord symbols listed above it. Each song alone would be known as a "lead sheet", but cumulatively the collection of songs is known as a "fake book". Then every day play a dozen or so songs just with the melody in your right hand and the chord in your left hand. It will sound barren at first, but you're learning how it works.
After a couple weeks of that, instead of playing the melody in your right hand, sing the melody (doesn't matter at all how it sounds) and use your right hand to break up the notes of the chord you are playing in your left hand. Once you get the hang of it, you can start breaking up the chord in both hands and experimenting with various rhythm patterns.
I am not saying it's easy; I am saying it's fun and exciting and that it is worth it many times over!

http://www.playpiano.com/Articles/16-shorthandchordsymbols.htm

http://piano-music-chords.com/Duanes-students-only/index-of-good-stuff.htm

The Immense Popularity of the Piano Continues To This Day...

The Immense Popularity of the Piano

Every since about 1709 when Christofori announced that he had invented an instrument to upscale the harpsichord, which plays all at one volume level -- no soft or loud -- that played both soft and loud -- which he appropriately named the "pianoforte" (which means "soft-loud" -- later the name was shorted to just "piano") -- people throughout the world have been entranced with the harmonic sound of the piano - it's richness and fullness in enabling musicians to play many notes at once or in rapid succession.

(An excellent history of the piano may be found at http://www.uk-piano.org/history/piano-tuner-history.html )

Most instruments are not solo instruments in the sense that they require an accompanianist, but not so with the piano. It can play alone as well as with combos, orchestras, or whatever. It's unique sound qualities make it the first choice in musical instruments for millions of folks the world over.

Because of that fact, multitudes of people around the world have purchased pianos and continue to purchase pianos in hopes of mastering the "musical monster with 88 ivory teeth". Some of the dominant manufacturers are Steinway, Yamaha, Baldwin, Kawaii, Bosendorfer and many others. Pianos come in various shapes and sizes, including:

Grand Pianos:

Parlor Grand. Size 4'5" to 5'5"

Baby Grand. Size 5'0" to 6'5"

Medium Studio Grand. Size 5'6" to 6'5"

Semi-Concert Grand. Size 6'6" to 8'0"

Concert Grand. Most concert grands are 9' in length

Upright Pianos:

Spinet. Size 35" to 39" tall.

Console. 40" to 44" tall.

Studio: 45" to 47" tall.

Professional. 48" to 52" tall.

Every since the invention of the piano, parents have signed their children up for piano lessons in hope they would become the next Mozart, or a least be able to entertain family and friends. But for every 100 kids that start piano lessons, probably less than 20% or so actually continue with the lessons long enough to play decently. Still, it is a good education in music, and certainly good for developing self-discipline and focus.

To really master piano playing, a beginning student must gradually learn many different disciplines and aspects of music including: sight-reading sheet music (or the score of a classical piece); fingering of scale passages and chord formations; keyboard chords, from major chords to minor chords to augmented chords to diminished chords to 7th chords and more; music theory, including major scales, minor scales, whole-tone and chromatic scales, and the "church modes", plus some specialty scales such as the Mediterranean scale, the blues scale, and so on; the tonic note or tonic tone, triads, arpeggios, the concept of key (key of C, key of Eb, key of F#, etc.) unisons, intervals, inversions, chords -- both primary and secondary, figured bass, chord symbols; dynamics and dynamic markings such as sforzando, presto, largo, allegro, etc, pedaling, body position, ear-training, music appreciation, a study of the great composers such as Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, etc., interpretation, arranging, and a host of related subjects in the harmony and music theory areas.

This often involves years of learning at home with a teacher ( sometimes supplemented by online music lessons) and numerous music books, chord charts, fingering diagrams and musical scores. Meanwhile the student learns to play songs and classical pieces galore that contribute to the warmth of the home and the enjoyment of the family.

And if the student fails to become another Brubeck or Garner, he or she has still benefited tremendously in terms of music education, appreciation, the ability to concentrate, and many other qualities that flow out of having taken piano lessons. Plus he or she has brought the sound of music into their parent's home, and hopefully will continue with it when they form their own family.

http://www.playpiano.com/catalog.htm

Piano lessons galore...

Piano lesson courses galore that teach how to improvise -- all styles of improvisation including jazz, rock, gospel, new age music and more. Piano instruction that shows you how to play piano sheet music as a map, instead of having to sight read the printed music as it is written. By learning how to do this, you can create your own free piano sheet music by creating a song and then notating it in a music software program such as Finale using piano tabs, piano chords, and chord symbols. Learn to play piano notes by the fist-full by learning piano chording music styles. Learn to play the piano, learn to read piano music, learn piano songs from classical music to popular music. Learning piano and music notes is one of the most fun things you can do. Piano lessons online using major chords, minor chords, 7th chords, and all kinds of chord progressions. Learn to play the piano music of your dreams using piano chords & piano chording techniques!

http://www.playpiano.com/catalog.htm

Adults Only Piano Lessons!

Play Piano ...Adult Piano Lessons on CD & DVD


Piano playing for the thinking adult who wants to understand what they are playing when they play piano music!
Learn chords galore & how to weave them into chord progressions.

Dear Intelligent Adult:
Did you know that music is based on natural "laws" -- like gravity -- and by learning to understand how those natural laws work we can actually understand what we are doing when we play -- we don't have to be at the mercy of what someone else has written on a piece of music.
How many of these facts do you know about music & piano playing? Test yourself and then check the answers at the bottom of the page:
Did you know that by learning just 3 chords you can play hundreds of songs?
Did you know that there are only 12 major keys you can play in, but you only really have to master one key to play most popular songs?
Did you know that it is possible to easily match any melody note (tune) to a chord, so you can harmonize any note?
Did you know that Beethoven's Fur Elise and the blues song "Summertime" uses the exact same chords for the theme of the song?
Did you know that it is quite possible to predict what chord comes next in a song with accuracy approaching 85%?
Did you know you can use the same chords to play boogie, blues, new age, gospel, pop, rock, jazz, country - anything except classical music? (And even some classics!)
Did you know that by coming in through the backdoor of piano playing -- chords -- you can start making wonderful and satisfying sounds on the piano in just a few days instead of a few years -- even if you don't know Middle C from Tweedle Dee?
Did you know there is a guy up in Oregon who will teach you all this stuff by mailing you CD's and DVD's along with whatever printed material is necessary? These are piano lessons for adults -- thinking adults who want to understand what they are doing when they play the piano -- not play by rote.
And did you know that if you believe NONE of the above, you can still sign up for a free 39 week email newsletter on "Piano Chords And Chord Progressions!" so you can see for yourself that everything above is true?
Answers to piano playing music questions:
True. That's because there are just 3 primary chords in any key -- like family members: Mom, Dad, Child. Get to know those 3 and you've got it.
True. It's like languages. It's great to be able to speak several, but you can get by with just one. I'd love to speak other languages, but I can get by with just English.
True. Every note is part of several different chords. So it is easy to harmonize any song once you know the secret.
True. Yep. They both use the A minor chord and the E7 chord in their themes. (Click here and hear me prove it.)
True. I know that's hard to believe, but remember that music is based on math. Once you understand a thing called the "Circle of 4ths" it's a piece of cake. In fact, I can tell you right now that 85% of the time the G chord comes directly after the D7 chord. So next time you run into the D7 chord, you have an educated guess of 85% that the next chord will be some form of the G chord. (G, G7 etc.) If you're into amazing your friends, that'll do it!
True. Apply different rhythms to the same chords, and you have many styles of music! With the very same chords I can play boogie, jazz, rock, pop, gospel, new age, ragtime.
True. Make me prove it by clicking here.
True. He's been teaching intelligent piano playing since he was 25, and you may be able to tell by the photo that he's not 25 anymore. He's been around the block and it shows. His courses don't screw around with silly drills. He teaches understanding -- adult piano lessons for thinking adults.
True. OK, you skeptic. Click here to sign up for the 39-week course and prove it to yourself. It's free. Should you not like it (GASP! -- that's hard to imagine!) you can unsubscribe anytime. And for those who believe -- you should sign up too.

http://www.playpiano.com/piano-lessons-for-adults.htm

Crash Course In Exciting Piano Playing

Here's a review of our "Crash Course" by a jazz site.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/entity.php?id=6438

How To Play "Chord" Guitar

How To Play "Chord" Guitar

http://www.chord-guitar-music.com/

A whole bunch of new ways to learn the piano!

There are so many different styles and approches to piano playing that the average person sometimes becomes confused about with path he/she should take to get where they want to go.
The web site given below provides many of the approaches, from piano chords to transposition to arranging to the blues, to ..........

Here is the site:

http://www.playpiano.com/pianolessons.htm

Enjoy the variety!

Music Articles

Here's some music articles you might find interesting:

http://www.piano-playing-by-ear.com/articles/musicarticlesbyduane.htm

This has nothing to do with piano playing, but...

This has nothing to do with piano playing, but...

Here are a few interesting sites I found recently in case you are interested in:

Fishing & camping & boats: http://www.camping-fishing-gear.com/

Educational toys & games: http://www.educational-toys-games-gifts.com

Golf: http://www.sports-games-health.com

Wedding & wedding favors: http://www.wedding-cakes-portal.com

Emergency medical: http://www.emt-police-fireman-supplies.com

Table tennis & ping pong: http://www.table-tennis-ping-pong-tables.com

After all, piano players have a life outside of the keyboard!

Why Piano Students Knew More About The Differences Between The Sexes Than The Other KIds In My Home Town...

Why Piano Students Knew More About The Differences Between The Sexes Than The Other Kids In Auburn

The center for sex education in Auburn in the mid-to-late 40’s was not the home, the church, the school, or the health clinic. Not that these did not contribute to our growing body of knowledge – they certainly did – but the center for the dissemination of actual facts was Luzetta Sweat’s piano studio on Mason Way, right up the side street from Junker & Shull, the Ford agency where my Dad always brought his cars. Luzetta certainly didn’t plan it that way, and I doubt if she ever knew about it. But her piano students, of which I was fortunate to be a member throughout most of my elementary school days, led the way in describing to the rest of the Auburn kids the wonders of human anatomy around the world. Not very advanced information, granted, but the kind of information kids around 8 or 9 years old are occasionally curious about when they are not doing anything more interesting. Such things as the fact that in Borneo women not only don’t wear blouses, they don’t even wear underwear! Exciting things like that.
And how did we know?
Because in the waiting room of Luzetta’s piano studio were the well-worn copies of at least 10 years of National Geographic, and it was easy to locate the revealing sections in these magazines, as these were the very well-worn issues, often with page corners conveniently folded back for easy re-location before next week’s piano lesson.
Luzetta would often say to her waiting students such things as “Myrna! You’re here so early! Well, make yourself at home. There are magazines here for you to read while you’re waiting.” And Myrna did, and Myrna was the one to turn to when one was in need of some information on bizarre sexual customs around the world, whether women in the Congo wore bras or not, and other such vital statistics.
It took me about two years of piano lessons to figure out why the kids that arrived early for their lessons knew so much about dress (or lack of it) and customs in foreign lands. When I finally caught on, the dog-eared issue I turned to had a section missing – about 5 or 6 pages had been torn out, and on the remaining page of the missing article was a photo of an African lady who apparently was completely naked before someone had used a red crayon to provide her with a lovely American-style dress covering her nakedness, complete with matching handbag. I always wondered if it was Myrna, who was two years older, protecting young eyes from such worldly wisdom, and/or saving all the good stuff for the girls, or both. But it didn’t seem quite like her. One of these days, when I work up the courage, I’m going to ask her. I’d better hurry. Myrna is 63 now.
Our freshman year at Placer High School we had to take a class called “Freshman Problems”, which was of course a euphemism for sex education. It was taught dutifully by an old maid named Hazel Germantine, and of course the joke that continually made the rounds of freshmen was “How would she know?” which, in retrospect, I think, was a fair question. But we didn’t mean it as a fair question, but as a joke. She was 53 at the time, but to 14 year olds she might as well have been 153, and the class was approximately that exciting. It was all theory, all hypothetical, all basically boring, except for the times when it got so embarrassing we just had to laugh out loud.
But fortunately for us, although certainly not for her, Donna Jo Bofillati got pregnant about mid-way through our freshman year, and had to drop out of school. That drove us back to our texts to see how it all worked. It was no longer theory, but Donna Jo and Herbie Unser, and that took on a fleshly meaning, and we learned like we had never learn before. It wasn’t so great for them, however, and the forced marriage didn’t last past the first year, but for us it was exciting – a chance to bring our school work to life, to resurrect it from dry pages and lectures to a real life, flesh and blood situation acted out by two of our classmates.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music courses for adults including "How To Make Cool Sounds On Nay Keyboard Without Knowng a Thing About Music!"
http://www.pianoforbeginners.com/CoolSoundsLetter.htm
He is also the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled “Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions” at www.playpiano.com with over 84,400 current subscribers
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