| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: not QUITE beginner: | |
| Dr_LX -- 07/09/2005, 08:16:21 -- #16314 | |
| Greetings everyone, I'm Thom, new to the boards. I have some questions regarding practice routines for a beginner piano player. However, I have a unique situation. I am new to the piano: lately I've been practicing the thumb-tucking techniques just so I can press the keys efficiently. But, I have been playing guitar for 6 years and jazz guitar for the past 2, so I am not clueless to music itself, but music as it is played through the piano. I know about scales, modes, intervals, polychords, progressions, and the like, but I feel that my changing musical tastes is leading me away from the sound of the guitar, and more in line with piano, so I have developed a resolve to learn it well. I sat down at the piano to practice and realized that me knowing that a major scale is made of WWHWWWH steps doesn't mean anything as I have to laboriously go through the dif. fingerings for each scale (quite different than on a guitar where you just move the scale position up or down)--ok enough sobbing... My question is basically what routines would you guys go through if (knowing what you do now) you could go back and relearn everything. Should I keep doing this: working through the major scale patterns for each key, minor scales for each key, various modes, sight reading and chord progressions? Also: how should I bring in the left hand? (I was thinking starting the major scales in the left and go up to the right, then continue going up, then bring it down and finish in the left hand low registers--would this work?) Should I just practice II-V7-I progressions in the left hand and run the scales over the right until I get it right? I have the piano practice books, but as I said I am not a complete beginner to music, so I want to cut the fat off my practice routine (my goal is to get good fast, and I realize this takes a lot of effort, but I do not want to waste any).... What are your thoughts? Thom | |
| Dr. Whack -- 07/09/2005, 08:57:56 -- #16316 | |
| I think you should look for a piano teacher and work on how to play the instrument. You may end up doing a bit of "re-inventing the wheel" if you try to teach yourself. Although I had lessons when I was young, I quit when I was about 8 and continued learning by ear. By the time I was 15 I could usually playing anything I heard, but I always had a crappy sound. I then started lessons with a great pianist and began to learn ho to play the piano...(and I'm still working on it 30 years later:) | |
| 7 -- 07/09/2005, 08:58:59 -- #16317 | |
| One of the first things to realize is that the guitar and the piano have very different stylistic conventions (ie. they use different clichés). Although piano was my first instrument, I play all styles of guitar (except Classical) at a completely professional level as well. Many excellent guitarists have come to me over the years to have me teach them to play keys. While you don't have to forget everything you know about music, you pretty much have to forget everything you know about guitar. You'll need to learn to play the piano the way a pianist plays the piano. You'll find that simply bashing out rhythmic chords the way a guitarist does doesn't cut it on the piano. Also, all those cool riffs that sound so great on guitar generally sound very un-pianistic on the ivories. What to do? Yes, of course you need to know all your scales and chords. Every instrument does. That's baby steps. First, you need to understand that the piano is divided into three main regions - the bass region, the chord region and the soloing region. In the bass region you'll need to know every bit as much about bass lines as any pro bassist. In the chord region you'll need to know cool voicings and master the techinques of punches and stabs. In the solo region you'll need to know your pianistic licks. Then you'll have to put it together. While it's often referred to as "hand independence" in reality there are a lot of interlocking aspects. Much like drumming. Keep in mind that each style has its own set of conventions that have evolved over time. Remember that the audience and your fellow musicians have expectations of what types of things you'll be playing when playing in a certain genre. It's generally a very good idea to respect the conventions of the genre while comping or soloing. That's not to say that you shouldn't play with your own voice or that you should never throw in a surprise or two here, just remember music is a team sport. So pick a style (or two) and concentrate on that for now. Even with Jazz there are a multitude of sub-genres: Dixieland, Stride, Swing, Bop, Cool, Fusion, etc.... | |
| sdm -- 07/09/2005, 12:49:29 -- #16332 | |
| 7, thanks for the bit about "interlocking" aspects of hand independence. I've often worried that I would never have it (independence) until I figured out that without the interlocking relationship between the hands in time and harmony it wouldn't be music. Sort of like independence between the bass and the soloist on a sax I guess. | |
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