Here's How To Take Your Piano Playing To The Next Level In
2008 And Become The Piano Player Of Your Dreams!
I dare you to improve more at the
piano in 2008
than you have in the last five years.
Dear piano-playing friend:
I don't know about you, but I'm one of those people
who is never satisfied with my own piano playing. There are always new sounds
and patterns and rhythms and melodies in my head that I can't quite transfer to
the keyboard, and so I am always asking myself questions such as:
- How can I improvise a new melody line on this song?
- Can I apply a different rhythm to this song?
- How can I play this run faster?
- What if I combine this chord with that chord?
- What if I use the intro I use on one song on another song?
- How can pedal better to make my playing more explosive?
- What new arranging technique can I use?
- Is there a better fingering for this passage?
When I was in my early twenties I learned more in
one year than I had in the previous 5 years (or more). I did it because I
challenged myself with a goal to learn as much as I possibly could about piano
playing in one year.
I took my own "crash course" which involved several
things:
I bought every book on piano technique and styles that I could find.
I determined that I would be an expert on chords within one year, so I
studied and drilled endlessly on all kinds of chords until I understood them
thoroughly.
I asked a well-known jazz pianist in Hollywood named Les who the very best
piano teacher was, and took several months of lessons from him - a fantastic
teacher named Dave that taught me to understand what I was playing.
And of course, I played song after song after song out of a fake book until
I not only knew the song, but could play it in several different styles and
improvise on it as well.
Did it work?
I think you know it did.
So now I am daring you to improve at
the piano this year -- 2008 -- more than you have in the past five years.
To do that, you are going to have to do some things
differently than you have in the past, because if we do the same things we
have always done, we will get the same result we have always gotten.
So I am daring you this year to:
- Learn ALL the chords and how they are formed so you will never have
to wonder about them again.
- Take lessons or a course that is organized so it will cover not only
sight-reading, but also chords and music theory and piano styles and all the
things that go into becoming a good piano player -- including UNDERSTANDING
what you are playing.
I know this sounds like a plug for my courses, but
it really isn't -- you don't have to take a course from me -- it
could be a local artist or another music school or whatever -- as long it is
quality teaching.
But since I know my own courses best, I would
recommend the following:
Will you become the piano player of your dreams this
coming year? Only YOU can determine that. I offer no promises -- just my own
experience. I wouldn't trade anything for that year that I spent in concentrated
study. I have received literally a MILLION times more benefits than the work and
cost I expended that year.
Will you join me?
I hope so. I hope that this time next year you will
look back and say "This was the year I took my piano playing to the next level,
and I LOVE IT!"
So Happy New Year!
Duane
PS If you already read music and know chords, then don't take
the Crash Course. Instead, consider any or all of the following:
