This piano tutorial builds on some of the stuff I covered in Piano chords: some tips for non-pianists a few days ago.
It basically shows you how to add character to piano chords by adding ninths and suspended fourths into the brew. You’ll find it useful if you want to add some piano to your mixes but you’re not a very experienced pianist and everything you do sounds a bit bare-bones on the keyboard.
This will be most useful for people doing acoustic, singer-songwriter, folky, soft rock type material - but it’s good stuff for anyone who wants to improve their piano playing a bit.
Tip: watch in full screen mode (toggle bottom r.h. corner) for best effect.
I’d be very interested in comments about how you find these piano tutorials. I always think it’s a nightmare trying to copy specific riffs and techniques from a video, which is why I say the important thing to do is to use these tips as starting points. That is, try to absorb the approach and the way of thinking rather than slavishly copying what I’m doing note for note. Sit in front of your own piano or keyboard and experiment.
Take plenty of time, and remember there’s no such thing as a wrong note. If your family/housemates/significant others start to complain about you playing the same chords and melodies over and over again, you’re almost certainly doing it right.
Once again, try not to copy exactly from the video. Bit of a mini-rant here: there are lots of piano tutorials on YouTube, but so many of them set up the expectation that you need to copy what the presenters do exactly, finger for finger, note for note. Take it from me that doing that is very, very hard - I’ve been playing the piano for 25 years and I struggle to do it. I guess beginners try, inevitably fail, and get dishearted.
So to repeat: with this, as with all my piano tutorials, pick up the general ideas then sit down at your own piano and start experimenting. Go wild! Any questions you have - on chords, harmony, piano technique or whatever - post below and I’ll answer ASAP.
By the way, I’m also looking for other piano topics to post tutorials on, so feel free to make suggestions.
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great vid! Watched twice and saved to favorites! Starred and shared. More, more more!
Piano chords: some tips for non-pianists - is even better for us beginners! Thank so much, Bill!
Hey Gennady, thanks for the kind words!
Yep, more piano tutorials are on their way very soon. Right now I’m trying to work out the best way of getting the lighting right on the keyboard - it occurs to me that it’s a little difficult to see what my fingers are doing while I’m explaining the chords.
Any requests you have, let me know: I can’t guarantee to fulfil all of them, but the whole point of me creating this blog is to help people with the stuff they want to learn rather than the stuff I think they ought to learn.
In general, I want to stay away from teaching particular riffs and songs (with one or two exceptions), because, as I’ve said, I think it’s hard to pick up material like that just from watching a guy playing the piano on video. Instead, I’m mainly going to focus on approaches, with a strong emphasis on people getting behind a piano or keyboard and experimenting for themselves - that’s the best way to develop a style.
I’d be interested to hear about your experiences!
The content on here is just getting better and better Bill! Count me in as an avid fan, and promotional disciple! I shall be spreading the Jamcast word!
M@
Cool - the Jamcast word needs spreading like anything, because right now we’ve got fairly low traffic. But folks who visit seem to like it very much. Keep coming, and don’t forget to put in requests if you want specific stuff.
Great stuff again Bill.
Well done.
I personally like the 9ths with the added minor 7th as a great passing chord.
C-E-G-Bb-D (for those with big hands) leading into the F.
Drop the first C to make things easier from the drop into F-A-C.