How To Really Play The Piano - Video Index and Resources
Below is a full index of videos relevant to my book, How To Really Play The Piano. All the videos are hosted on YouTube and completely free to watch - so if you’re wondering whether to buy the book, why not check out some of the videos first? The blues improvisation and introduction to comping series should give you a flavour of the style!
The list below is divided into three sections: first, the video tutorials specific to each part of the book; second, some bonus videos that build on the material in the book and offer extra examples; and third, links to videos of some of the performances I reference in the book.
30 April 2010: Most of the key videos are now online, with the rest following over the next couple of weeks. If you experience any problems finding a particular video, drop me an email.
Videos marked with an asterisk (*) were created before the book was written, and don’t contain specific page refs.
Main video tutorials
Intro: Getting started and some thoughts about practice
Part 1: Really basic harmony 1
Part 1: Really basic harmony 2
Part 1: Really basic harmony 3
Part 1: Understanding the dominant seventh
Part 1: Chord resolution 1: dominant, subdominant and tonic
Part 2: Chord resolution 2: strong and weak resolution
Part 1: How chord progressions work
Part 1: More complex chords 1: 6 and m7
Part 1: More complex chords 2: maj7
Part 1: More complex chords 3: 9, maj9, m9
Part 1: More complex chords 4: sus/sus4
Part 1: More complex chords 5: augmenteds
Part 1: More complex chords 6: diminisheds
Part 1: Some less common chords
Part 1: Understanding bass voicings
Part 2: Twelve-bar structures
Part 2: Blues tutorial 1*
Part 2: Blues tutorial 2*
Part 2: Blues tutorial 3*
Part 3: How lead sheets work
Part 3: Lead sheets and early pop/jazz
Part 3: Lead sheets and more recent pop
Part 3: Introduction to comping
Part 3: Comping early pop/jazz, part 1
Part 3: Comping early pop/jazz, part 2
Part 3: Comping more recent pop (parts 1 and 2)
Part 3: Loops and grooves
Part 4: Scales
Part 4: More advanced improvisation
App 1: Intervals
Bonus videos
Jazz piano improvisation exercise in Cm
Blues piano lick in C
Blues and boogie-woogie piano - 10 tips
Performances mentioned in the book
Nerina Pallot - Geek Love This isn’t the best version available, but several of Pallot’s YouTube vids have been removed recently. If you can find it, there’s a superb version called “Geek Love Live” which is just Pallot in a studio with a piano. This version is still pretty good.
Nerina Pallot - I Don’t Want To Go Out. Song starts about three minutes in.
Elton John - Tiny Dancer. The cover by Ben Folds is also worth a look, not least because you get a clearer view of his hands than of Elton’s.
Ben Folds - Landed. Complex and rhythmical - brilliant stuff.
Ben Folds (with Guster) - Not The Same. Listen to the rhythm! I love this song.
Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin’ - not as hard as he makes it look. Check out the glissandi.
Fat Boy Slim - Praise You. No keyboard shots, but a great example of a piano loop.
REM - Nightswimming. Fantastic semi-looped piano part.
Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me. If you want to see a really incredible version - albeit one that doesn’t use the vamp I describe in this book - check out this one, with some of the most incredible quasi-classical improvisation you’ll ever see. Bravo!
Comments on this entry are closed.