Adults often come to the point in their lives when they want to explore new hobbies. One of the most common hobbies adults pursue is learning to play the piano. It may be the first time they play or a return to a childhood pleasure. Whether you’re an adult sitting down to learn the instrument for the first time or you want to brush up on your skills, keep in mind some basic rules of piano practice.

Posture is very important. Make sure that the piano bench is high enough. Your shoulders should hang freely, while your forearms are parallel to the floor. This allows the greatest freedom of movement and keeps your body from feeling constricted. While your hands are directly in front of you on the keyboard, your elbows should be just slightly forward of the center of your body. Sit forward on the bench so that your body is relaxed.

Create a regular piano practice schedule. Start with short sessions of 15 minutes. Increase the time as your skill progresses and your hands start to feel more limber. You may not have time for piano practices longer than half an hour, but that’s enough to increase your skill and flexibility. Just try not to miss too many days in a row. Time of day is important. Pick a time when you’ll be least distracted by the worries of life.

Practice books are extremely helpful for both beginners and experienced players. These contain exercises and tips that improve your technique. Many also teach musical theory, providing detailed explanations of scales, chords, modes and relative tonality. This is great for expanding your musical palette and understanding how melodies and harmonies work in the context of a piece.

Piano practice books also contain musical pieces adjusted to your skill level. At the end of each chapter you’ll often find a piece that demonstrates techniques that you learned in the preceding pages. It may take a while to coordinate both of your hands, so don’t expect to play at full speed right away. Practice each hand separately, at a moderate speed, before combining the two parts. You’ll be less discouraged and find that your playing is more accurate.

Remember, piano practice isn’t a competition. Even if you are a highly driven individual, take your time and be patient when learning the piano. You’ll avoid frustration and possible injury if you avoid pushing yourself too hard. It’s supposed to be enjoyable.

A metronome is an invaluable tool for piano practice. A metronome is a device that keeps perfect time, providing an audible beat set to an exacting tempo. Metronomes are adjustable from very slow to very fast, well within the limits of pieces you’ll be practicing. Even if you feel that you have a great sense of timing, invest in this handy little tool for your piano practice sessions. You’ll be amazed how often you change tempos slightly while running through exercises.

Whatever amount of time and dedication you are able to invest in the piano, it’s a great instrument for adults to learn. The piano is a few hundred years old, and people are still exploring its musical possibilities. Join their ranks and make music that you’ll love for the rest of your life.

Rock and roll piano springs from many different styles. On the surface the early styles just seemed to be blues playing at a high speed, but a closer look reveals a lot more under the surface. Rock and roll piano is an amalgam of many styles as is jazz or classical playing.

One of the pioneers of rock and roll piano is Little Richard. Little Richard was a fiery pianist, combining boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel music into his own unique blend. In fact, his introduction to music was in a highly energetic church environment. Combined with his highly suggestive singing, Little Richard formed the basics of rock and roll. He emphasize the back beat in his music to give it wild momentum, unlike many of his peers. James Brown once said that Little Richard “put the funk in the rock and roll beat.”

Jerry Lee Lewis is also a founder of rock and roll piano. His poor family mortgaged their farm in order to buy a piano, and he learned from playing with his cousins. His style combined similar elements as Little Richard’s, but with the inclusion of country piano. One of his early influences was country boogie player Moon Mullican, whose piano style was a precursor to rock and roll. Lewis developed his style at a young age,  but he transformed traditional gospel numbers into boogie songs.

Before these two performers, there was a man named Fats Domino. In 1949, he released a record entitled “The Fat Man,” which became the first rock and roll record to sell a million copies. During the most successful part of his career, he had many Top 40 hits until the tastes of the record buying public changed. Without his contribution to rock and roll piano, we may have never have heard Lady Madonna by the Beatles.

Both Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis treated the piano not only as an instrument, but as a prop as well. They would play standing up. They would kick the bench out from under them. They would dance on top of the piano while the band continued to play. Rock and roll piano was an untamed beast. Even today Elton John and Billy Joel, artists who are considered very mainstream, adopt some of these wild antics Rock and roll piano lives on in a different form today. There are revivalists, traditionalists and copycat artists all around the world. Popular artists from each subsequent musical generation have mined the style, updating it and adding to their own stew. There are always new avenues to explore in rock and roll.

Last time we talked about how musicians improvise on the 12 bar blues. The other standard form on which improvisation takes place is the popular song. Each popular song has its own distinctive chord progression, plus its own unique melody. In the 12-bar blues form there was only the chord progression structure — no melody.

Most popular songs fall itno one of thress categories:

ABA form — in other words, theme A, theme B, and theme A repeated

AABA form - theme A, theme A repeated, theme B, theme A

ABAC form - theme A, theme B, theme a, theme C

The largest percentage of popular songs fall into the AABA category, the usual length of the song being 32 bars:

A - 8 bars

A - 8 bars

B - 8 bars

A - 8 bars

Musicians improvise from the chord structure of the popular song, often making reference to the individual melody in their improvised creations.

There are other forms, of course, such as verse-chorus, and you find this form typically in folk songs and hymns, as well as in some pop songs.

Nobody knows exactly how the musicians around the turn of the century came to settle on a  format for the blues, but at least by shortly after 1900 it was obvious that the blues were generally performed in a 12 measure format which came to be referred to as simply “the blues.” It’s possible to have “blue notes” (flat 3rds, 5ths, 7ths) in any popular song, but when jazz musicians speak of the blues, they usually mean the 12-bar format.

Here is the structure of the 12-bar blues:

*4 bars of the I chord (the root chord of whatever key you’re playing in)
*2 bars of the IV chord (often with the 7th)
*2 bars of the I chord
*2 bars of the V chord (almost always with the 7th) or 1 bar of the V chord followed by 1 bar of the IV chord.
*2 bars of the I chord

Then repeat for as many times as desired.

Over this chord structure the musicians improvised a melody based on the given chords and scales of those chords. He or she is free to play whatever they want to play, consistent with his ability and taste. Typically the blues is performed by a small group, often made up of a piano, bass, drums, and 1 or 3 solo instruments such as a sax or trumpet.

Most improvisation is done in one of two basic frameworks:

1. The 12-bar blues.

2. The popular song.

There are other forms, particularly in contemporary improvisation, such as an agreement that improvisation will take place for 16 bars in the Dorian mode, 8 bars in the Lydian mode, then 8 bars in the Dorian Mode again. There is even a “free” form, where musicians just start playing and see what happens. But far and away the two main forms cover virtually all of improvised music today. Tomorrow we’ll take a look at the 12-bar blues form.

If you will think of most any piece of music, I think you will find that it is based on the twin factors of tension and relaxation.

For example, if you play nothing but a major chord over and over, there is no tension at all. If a famous pianist just played the same chord over and over again at the same rate and the same volume, people whould soon get bored and leave, no matter how great the reputation of the pianist.

But why? What’s wrong with a major chord? It seems to be a perfectly legitimate chord to play.

The answer is, of course, that no tension has been created by his performance. It is all relaxation. And for music to interest us, there has to be some kind of a balance between tension and relaxation.

What if our pianist played a song that never repeated a single chord twice — and was just a conglomeration of dissonant sounds that went nowhere in no cohesive order? We might be interested for a while, but the tension would finally drive us to get up and leave — because there was no relaxtion at all in the piece.

To be enjoyable, any piece of music has to hit some happy medium between tension and relaxation. Next time you hear a song, think about that, and I know you’ll find it true.

One of the hardest things to learn when beginning to play the piano is hand independence.   At first it seems complicated just getting your fingers on one hand to flow up and down the keys the way you want them to, without worrying about what your other hand is doing, but it does get better!  There are two methods of improving your hand co-ordination that you can try to see if they help.

Firstly, practice each hand separately.  Practice the notes on the right hand first of all.  Get the melody straight in your mind.  Learn how to place your fingers so that the notes are comfortable to play and don’t have awkward reaches.  Start off slowly, use a metronome to learn the timing of the piece of music, and slowly build it up to where it’s supposed to be.  Do the same with your left hand.  The harmony on the left hand will be more chord related than the melody.  As with the right hand, practice will help you remember which keys are involved with which chords and this will become easier for you to remember.  Use the metronome to help you build to the correct timing so that you are playing both right and left hands at the same tempo.  Once you are comfortable with both hands, bring them together.  You should try to put them together at least once per practice session so that you get an idea for how you’re progressing. 

The second method is to play both hands together but very slowly.  Ignore all timing until you’re comfortable with your ability to move your hands in different directions at the same time.  Acknowledge that this isn’t an easy skill, and that your progress in achieving this is a great step forward in your skill as a pianist.  The more times you practice, the more proficient you will get at this skill.  You’ll find that by practicing measure by measure you start to move your hands almost without thinking about it, and that’s when you’ll know that your training is paying off!

The worst thing you can do is to focus on the fact that you need your hands to do completely different things at the same time.  When you are relaxed and not thinking intensely about it, you’ll find the skill comes a lot easier.  If you start to play and you find that your left hand is all over the keys because you can’t look at both hands at once, concentrate on playing the melody.  If you are reading music, look at the music not your hands, with practice your fingers will know where they’re going without you watching them.  Trust in your ability to play the music.  As you relax and hear the melody, the harmony line on the music will grab your attention and you’ll find your left hand starting to play.  It might not be perfect at first, but that doesn’t matter.  The aim is to get both hands moving in different directions at the same time. 

As with patting your head and rubbing your stomach, it’s when you are least focused on what you’re trying to achieve that you’ll succeed in playing the piano with both hands.   Once you’ve mastered this skill, you’ll find that it becomes such second nature that you don’t think about it anymore, you just put your fingers on the keys, and play!

The Mozart Effect, Piano Playing and You

For years people have enjoyed the beauty of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music. Those inclined to classical compositions enjoy the intricacies and nuances that are part of his works. His varied music inspires, soothes and invigorates those who take the time to listen to it.

Some researchers believe Mozart’s music does more than this. They expound on the Mozart Effect, which research suggests that listening to Mozart’s music may cause short-term improvement of spatio-temporal reasoning. This spatio-temporal reasoning is the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks.

The term Mozart Effect also includes popular versions of this theory. These popular theories suggest that listening to the composer’s music can make you smarter. Further, these theories state that there are benefits to mental development in those who listen to classical music in early childhood.

Those who have trademark products related to the Mozart Effect suggest even more. They believe that music has powers that can affect one’s quality of life positively in many ways. They believe music is beneficial for overall well being. They sell trademark music and music-related products to achieve this.

What does all this mean for those interested in piano playing and music in general? It means that music is a tool that, while used for enjoyment, may offer benefits beyond simple pleasure. Learning music, listening to music and playing the piano can help one in other activities.

The Mozart Effect and the temporary improvement of the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks are intriguing. This suggests it may be beneficial to listen to Mozart before you sit down to practice the piano. It may be a good thing to listen to Mozart before you sit down to construct a product. Maybe your next game of chess will improve after listening to Mozart.

The Mozart Effect may be beneficial to your actual piano playing in a variety of ways. Combining classical music listening with structured piano study can give you a total music education. It can accomplish this in three ways:

o First, the Mozart Effect may improve immediate piano study. Before you sit down for your regular piano practice session, listen to some Mozart. The temporary improvement of your spatio-temporal reasoning may be just the boost you need to get the most out of that session.

Make sure you get to the piano though in short time. Research suggests that this performance improvement benefit is not something that endures. In fact, some research suggests that the Mozart Effect may only last 10 or 15 minutes. That’s an excuse to sit down and listen to more Mozart, then get back to the keyboard again and practice.

o Second, Mozart, or other classical music, may pack that emotional punch you need. The majesty of the music can inspire you to sit down and create music of your own. This is the transformative power of organized, rhythmic, harmonic and melodic sound. The beauty of the music you hear works on your mind and emotions and can encourage action.

o Third, research showing that early childhood exposure to classical music is beneficial means you can boost mental development early on. They may grasp music concepts and principles and recognize sound patterns better later in life. The Mozart Effect is something to consider when teaching children music.

This beneficial effect on mental development may also pay other dividends. In later years, it may help individuals striving to excel in academia and in their careers. This is a significant point that those who research the Mozart Effect espouse. They speak of the long-term benefit of sustained exposure to classical music and how it boosts mental function.

Consider the benefits of Mozart’s music beyond the immediate pleasure of listening. Research further to find out how the Mozart Effect may help you in your efforts to improve your performance of daily tasks. In addition, consider how the Mozart Effect may help your piano study. You may find there’s more to his music than meets the ear.

Piano Practice Tips for Adults

Adults often come to the point in their lives when they want to explore new hobbies. One of the most common hobbies adults pursue is learning to play the piano. It may be the first time they play or a return to a childhood pleasure. Whether you’re an adult sitting down to learn the instrument for the first time or you want to brush up on your skills, keep in mind some basic rules of piano practice.

Posture is very important. Make sure that the piano bench is high enough. Your shoulders should hang freely, while your forearms are parallel to the floor. This allows the greatest freedom of movement and keeps your body from feeling constricted. While your hands are directly in front of you on the keyboard, your elbows should be just slightly forward of the center of your body. Sit forward on the bench so that your body is relaxed.

Create a regular piano practice schedule. Start with short sessions of 15 minutes. Increase the time as your skill progresses and your hands start to feel more limber. You may not have time for piano practices longer than half an hour, but that’s enough to increase your skill and flexibility. Just try not to miss too many days in a row. Time of day is important. Pick a time when you’ll be least distracted by the worries of life.

Practice books are extremely helpful for both beginners and experienced players. These contain exercises and tips that improve your technique. Many also teach musical theory, providing detailed explanations of scales, chords, modes and relative tonality. This is great for expanding your musical palette and understanding how melodies and harmonies work in the context of a piece.

Piano practice books also contain musical pieces adjusted to your skill level. At the end of each chapter you’ll often find a piece that demonstrates techniques that you learned in the preceding pages. It may take a while to coordinate both of your hands, so don’t expect to play at full speed right away. Practice each hand separately, at a moderate speed, before combining the two parts. You’ll be less discouraged and find that your playing is more accurate.

Remember, piano practice isn’t a competition. Even if you are a highly driven individual, take your time and be patient when learning the piano. You’ll avoid frustration and possible injury if you avoid pushing yourself too hard. It’s supposed to be enjoyable.

A metronome is an invaluable tool for piano practice. A metronome is a device that keeps perfect time, providing an audible beat set to an exacting tempo. Metronomes are adjustable from very slow to very fast, well within the limits of pieces you’ll be practicing. Even if you feel that you have a great sense of timing, invest in this handy little tool for your piano practice sessions. You’ll be amazed how often you change tempos slightly while running through exercises.

Whatever amount of time and dedication you are able to invest in the piano, it’s a great instrument for adults to learn. The piano is a few hundred years old, and people are still exploring its musical possibilities. Join their ranks and make music that you’ll love for the rest of your life.

Some musicians are true naturals. This certainly is true of Floyd Cramer, who learned to play the piano by ear at the age of five. Once he refined his raw talent, Floyd Cramer was on his way to being a musician others would seek when recording. Today, Floyd Cramer’s legacy is the wealth of music recordings that display his elegant style of piano playing.

Born on October 27, 1933 in Samti, Louisiana, near Shreveport, Floyd Cramer subsequently grew up in Huttig Arkansas. He taught himself to play piano and returned to Louisiana in 1951. He proceeded to play in the studio band on the popular radio show Louisiana Hayride. In 1955, he migrated to Nashville, Tenn.

In Nashville, Floyd Cramer’s skills were apparent, and he became an in-demand studio musician for country and western recordings. The piano was an instrument that this genre’s artists were using more in their music. As a studio musician, he played for Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and more.

While being a studio musician was his specialty, Floyd Cramer did record solo albums too. In fact, in his career he recorded more than 50 albums under his name. In the early 1960s, he had three Top 100 Hits. Two of these were “Last Date” and “On the Rebound,” both original compositions. The third hit was his rendition of the Bob Wills hit “San Antonio Rose.”

Floyd Cramer did state that he felt the song “Last Date” was a good one for piano students. He said the song is an exercise for both hands. “Last Date” has solid left hand patterns. The song also makes a pianist play a dominant melody with the right hand. It provides for good interplay between the left and right hand.

In the 1960s, Floyd Cramer did touring with the guitarist Chet Atkins and saxophonist Boots Randolph. Chet Atkins was the producer of Floyd Cramer’s albums with RCA. For approximately two decades, the pianist worked for the recording giant.

Floyd Cramer’s signature style was his Slip Note or Bent Note sound. This style involved hitting a note and then immediately sliding into the next note. He noted that he was trying to fashion this sound after Mother Maybelle Carter’s auto harp playing.

This signature style was part of the Nashville sound prevalent in country and western music of that era. The Nashville sound of that time was a polished, slick form of country music. It employed ultra smooth production values. In addition, songs of this period often had lush background vocals. Floyd Cramer was one of the pioneers or architects of this Nashville sound.

Floyd Cramer won a Grammy Award in 1979 for Best Country Instrumental. This was for his song “My Blue Eyes.” In 2003, he received a double honor, posthumous. This was the year he received induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Today, biographies often label him as a true American Hall of Fame pianist.

Along with his music, Floyd Cramer employed other means to give to others. He funded a music scholarship at East Tennessee State University. He also worked each year to help organize an annual music festival in Nashville.

Though known for his contributions to the country and western music canon, Floyd Cramer played other styles as well. He was proficient in gospel, light classical and jazz music too. He never felt he should play only one style of music. He recorded versions of many popular top 40 tunes, such as “Mona Lisa,” “Music Box Dancer,” “Spanish Eyes” and “The Summer Wind.”

Floyd Cramer died on December 31, 1997 from cancer, at 64. He left the world a myriad recordings of beautiful music. From his country and western gems to his offerings in other styles, Floyd Cramer was a true professional musician. Whether on his own, or backing others in the studio, he has left us a treasure trove of recorded music.

How Can I Modulate Smoothly from One Key to Another?

The first thing you need to do is ensure that you do in fact wish to modulate rather than transpose your music.  Many people mix up these two terms because they appear to be similar, whereas in practical terms they are very different.  If you wish to modulate from one key into another, you are moving the music along and playing the music in the keys in which it was composed (or arranged).  Transposing on the other hand is taking the existing music and changing it into a new key.  Clear now? 

OK, so you’re sure that what you want to do is modulate from one key into another, so how do you go about it?  Well, it is possible to just play the original chord and then follow it with the new chord.  If you’re lucky, it will fit without jarring on the listeners ears.  Many times however this doesn’t happen and so what you need to learn are the basics of chord progression so that you make the key change almost invisible.

In order to make the transition from one key into another, you need to know what your pivot chord is.  That’s the chord which occurs in both the key that you’re currently playing in, and the key you are going to modulate into.  Although you could use any chord, for the modulation to be really smooth, you should choose something other than the tonic or the dominant of the key you’re modulating into. 

Another way of modulating from one key to another is by using the circle of 5ths technique.  This creates an even distance between the notes, a perfect 5th.  This means that having played the tonic, you’ll then play the dominant chord (a 5th above), or the subdominant (a 5th lower).  Having some understanding of how the circle of 5ths works will allow you to modulate more freely when you are improvising as you will acquire an instinctive feel for which chord should come next as you move from one key to the next.

Other types of modulation are common-tone modulation where one note from the current key is played repeatedly as the chord changes into the new key and so creates a musical bridge linking the two keys, chromatic modulation where one chord, such as the secondary dominant, is used to lead the chord chromatically into the new key, and enharmonic modulation where the dominant 7th/augmented 6th are used to move smoothly across from one key to the next in 3 chords or less.  Music from the romantic period made use of enharmonic modulation but by the end of this period it was used in conjunction with chromatic modulation.

There are other forms of modulation, such as sequential modulation and phrase modulation techniques which can be used to move from one key into the next, but these offer a more abrupt way of arriving in the new key.  While they are good musical tools to have for improvisation playing, especially the sequence modulation (also known as a rosalia), and can be used to create a good effect (in particular the phrase modulation) they are not usually a way of smooth and seemingly effortless modulation.

Written by Katie-Ann.
There are many different musical forms. Here’s a quick overview of some of the most common ones.
Concerto
A concerto is usually composed for one or more soloists combined with an orchestra. It will usually be identified by three distinctly different movements. It evolved along with another music form the concerto grosso which was composed for a small instrumental group to play with an orchestrated backing. The concerto grosso wasn’t used after the Baroque period, but the solo-based concerto continues to be played. The three instruments traditionally used in a concerto composition are piano, violin and cello but woodwind and brass solos are also known.
Symphony
A symphony is best identified by its complexity. It isn’t a form of music in its own right, but rather a style in which a composition is orchestrated. Usually it comprises four movements, the first of which being a sonata, however in the 18th century symphony was used as an interchangeable form for sinfonia and overture. The word symphony comes from the Greek word meaning “agreement of sound” which is why despite the complex orchestration heard within the symphony, the integrity of harmony is kept intact. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were among the more famous symphony classical composers, but symphonies continue to be composed today. Although for the most part they remain to be composed for orchestras, there are some symphonies which are composed for specific instrument groups such as wind instrument bands.
Sonata
This musical composition will comprise either three or four contrasting movement. Alongside the fugue it was one two musical foundations for concert music analysis. Most popular during the Classical period, the sonata was also composed during the earlier Baroque period, and later Romantic period. Sonatas composed primarily as piano solos were the most common during the Classical period, although sonatas for violin and piano, or violin and cello were also composed. During the sonata’s important classical period, the movements generally followed a generic three-movement layout of allegro, middle movement (slower such as an adagio or largo), a closing movement such as a dance minuet or another allegro. In a four-movement composition the first three movements were as for a three-movement sonata, with the addition of a final movement in a fast tempo such as a sonata-rondo form. Although used by many composers, Beethoven was particularly fond of the sonata form with 32 piano sonatas plus sonatas for other instrumental combinations.
Sonatina
Sonatina’s are a lighter version of sonatas. They have less than the four movements required in a sonata, the movements are shorter, and the level of complexity is lower - making them popular with students of the piano. This doesn’t mean that they are all easy to play however, so you need to watch the skill level required for each piece. Usually a sonatina is composed as a piano solo but some composers also created works for both piano and violin.
Bourree
This is a dance musical form from 17th century France. It is usually composed in quick double time although some composers use triple time. Similar to a gavotte, the bourree differs by starting on the last beat of a measure creating a quarter measure anacrusis (the gavotte has a half-bar anacrusis). Used by such composers as Bach, Chopin and Handel, the Bourree still exists today being used by contemporary artists such as Jethro Tull, and Tenacious D.
Fugue
This is a distinct musical form where themes are repeated in a contrapuntal style with the various harmonies being interwoven one with the other. Dating back as far as the Middle Ages this musical style was popular in works of a canonic nature. A fugue opens with a main theme which is then imitated by each “voice” in the arrangement. Once each voice has imitated the theme, then exposition is said to be complete. Sometimes this is followed by another new passage, or alternatively by a passage previously heard in the work. The fugue will close back in the originating key/tonic to which a coda is added. J.S. Bach, Beethoven and Mozart all created fugue compositions.

Chord symbols are often a part of sheet music and usually appear above each line (music staff), above each individual measure. There can be as many as five or six chord symbols for the same measure. For the most part, they are there as a guide for “playing along” with the music in the sense of accompanying the written music whether sung, played on piano, or both. These chords symbols are essentially designed for a guitarist, but can be played by other instruments such as a ukulele, banjo, mandolin, etc. Sometimes the chord symbols include the finger positions for a guitarist (to play the proper chord).

Because they are only symbols, it’s up to the musician to play each chord in whatever way they choose. For example, the chords could be played by strumming or finger picking a guitar, playing the chords in Bluegrass style on a banjo, or playing the chords in a very rhythmic fashion on a mandolin.
This, of course, all depends on the accompanying musician knowing how to form and play each chord (symbol). Some times, there are chord symbols the musician is not familiar with (and does not know how to play). Using the example of a guitar player, they will have to look up the chord (symbol) in a chord book, or create the chord using the sheet music as a guide.

An experienced musician will play the chords in a way that compliments the (piano/sheet) music. Their playing should match the tempo of the music and compliment it in style and tone. This requires being familiar with a particular piece of music and how it is intended to be played. One of the challenges of playing along using chord symbols is avoiding “conflict” with the sheet music. Care must be taken to play the proper notes of the chord and avoid disharmonic “clashes” with particular notes of the music. For example, playing the note B when the music asks for the note C, or playing an E minor chord when the music asks for E major.

Using a guitar player as an example, chord symbols allow the guitarist to sing along with their own accompaniment. The guitarist may know the piece of music and how it is sung, or if they can read music, find and sing the melody as it appears in the music. Professional musicians often use chord symbols to perform a piece of music they are not totally familiar with. For example, if a vocalist can sing the melody as presented in a piece of the sheet music, the guitarist needs to know only the chords represented by the chord symbols.

As examples, Fm7 means an F minor 7th chord, Bb6 means a B flat sixth chord, Adim means an A diminished seventh chord, and G means a G major chord.
Having chord symbols can also help the piano player. Knowing the chord name as it is played on the piano is a great learning aid. But care has to be taken as the chord symbols are usually a very simple version of the chord on the piano.

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

Using just 5 notes of any major scale, the pentatonic scale is the basis for much of music from the far east. Watch this short video to see how you can use it in a “pentatonic turn.”

There’s really only one way by which you can improve your timing and rhythm, and that’s through hours and hours of practice. You can read books about music theory, listen to masters explain how to play a waltz or samba rhythm, but unless you put in the hours of practice, you won’t make the technical connection between what your head knows and how your fingers perform.
That’s not to say that you’re completely on your own however. One of the greatest assets a piano player can have is a metronome. This will allow you to understand how fast or slow the music you want to play is supposed to be played. Select the appropriate time as shown on the manuscript of the music you want to play and then listen. Don’t attempt to play the first time, just listen to the soft ticking of the metronome as it plays the beat that you need to recreate when you start to play.
Now you try to play it at that speed. Keep the metronome ticking out the beat and see if you can keep up. If you’re trying to play a slower piece of music you will probably have more initial success in keeping in time with the metronome than if you’re trying to play a fast flowing Mozart composition. Should your chosen piece of music be more upbeat, and you find you can’t play at the required speed, go back to the metronome and set it for a slower speed. Once you can play the music at that speed, gradually increase the metronome speed until you can confidentially play it using the correct timing.
Rhythm is something that you can improve with by listening. Learn how various music forms, such as tango and waltz are performed. Learn where the main strong beats are in each measure. Once you have some idea about how the music is supposed to sound, look at your sheet music and identify where the rhythm is showing - is it captured in the melody, or is it solely in the harmony? In a waltz for example you will usually find the left hand producing the steady, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 full tone waltz rhythm while the melody keeps in time but doesn’t always conform to a 1 2 3 steady basic pattern. Generally you’ll find that the right hand is occupied with many half, quarter or even less tones but the integrity of the waltz is maintained by the left harmony. By listening to the right rhythm before starting to play you’ll be more aware of keeping to the correct timing structure to maintain the appropriate rhythm.
Commitment to practice will greatly improve your piano playing technique, but especially in respect to timing and rhythm which require you to hear the music as well as play it, practice is absolutely essential. Add the regular use of a metronome to this commitment and you’ll soon feel more confident that you are playing the music with the right speed and with the right rhythm.
Of course there are excellent courses you can take on the subject of rhythms, such as the Rhythm Piano course.

Here is a commonly used technique which you’ve heard a thousand times in country-western songs, gospel music, and even some pop music. When the chord changes from a I chord to a IV chord, you “walk up the scale” between the two roots, but you do it in 10ths. Then when you arrive on the IV chord, you “twang” it with a crush note. Watch this super-short video and you’ll understand:

Is it normal for me to hate to practice? Anybody else feel this way? I love to play music, but hate to practice.

It’s very common for musicians to say they hate to practice. One undesirable aspect of practicing is the simple fact that the musician must practice passages and techniques that are difficult for them to play. This creates frustration on the part of the musician and can make them question their abilities.

Some practice materials are designed specifically to develop technique and playing such materials can be quite tedious. For example, a violinist may spend most of a one-hour practice session concentrating on the proper way to hold the bow and draw it across the strings. In a case like this, no real music may be played for the entire hour. Progress can be slow, adding to the musician’s disdain for practicing.

Lack of motivation can cause the musician to avoid practicing altogether. For most, it takes years (and a great deal of patience and dedication) to become an accomplished musician. The ones that succeed are good at delaying gratification and developing the patience needed to succeed. It’s very common for a musician to reach a number of plateaus where they don’t feel any progress is being made. The patient ones eventually work through the plates and move on to a higher level of musicianship. Others may give up their instrument entirely.

Having practice sessions at the same time on the same day (although important to getting good results) may be too regimented for some musicians. Music, by it nature, is a very creative endeavor, often requiring the freedom to experiment and explore new sounds and styles. Being “stuck to a schedule” doesn’t work for some musicians.

The musician’s attitude toward practice can have a lot to do with their current teacher or instructor. Some teachers go to great lengths to give their students interesting and enjoyable practice assignments as they realize musicians who enjoy practice, practice longer. An experienced teacher who knows their student well, is very adept at choosing music that develops the musician’s skills while giving them something to look forward to playing. Unfortunately, many musicians who need a teacher to keep them focused and practicing may not be able to afford private or group lessons.

Until recent years, methods books for virtually any instrument were quite boring and dry and focused on repetition as being the key element for learning. Method books today often include a number of popular songs, and more interesting and musical materials. Some include an accompanying CD for the student to use for hearing how a piece should be played. You can also find CDs that contain a “backing” band for the student, allowing them to build their musicianship by playing along with others.

Whatever you do, use spaced repetition instead of doing all your practice in one session! If you practice 1 hour per day, break it up into 3 sessions of 20 minutes each. Remember that the mind can only retain what the seat can tolerate. Plus you will keep your concentration better if you only practice 20 minutes in one sitting as opposed to one hour.

Finally, the quality of the instrument being played can have a great effect on the musician’s attitude toward practicing. A poorly-made or dull sounding instrument is just not a pleasure to play. Many students find their playing and attitude toward practicing improves when they purchase a better instrument.

Major 6th chords and minor 7th chords are really just inversions of one another. It depends which note you put on the bottom as to how the chord functions. Watch this 2-minute video and you’ll understand:

The Circle of Keys; The Circle of 4ths; the circle of 5ths — are they the same or different? Of what use are they?
Understanding the circle of fifths (and thus, the circle of fourths) and how it applies to music can be challenging. It’s important to have a visual representation (mostly seen in the form of a wheel), which you can purchase at most music stores.
Perhaps the best reason to study the circle of 5ths is it makes sense mathematically on a number of different levels and thus it’s very helpful to anyone studying music and music theory. Most often using a circle to display the relationships of particular key signatures (both major and minor), one of the functions of the circle of fifths is a geometrical representation of these relationships. The key of C (no sharps or flats) is usually placed at the top of the circle and is followed, in order and clockwise by the keys of G, D, A, E, B, Gb/F# (overlapping at the bottom of the circle), then D, Ab, Eb, Bb, F, finally returning to C at the top of the wheel. This order (going clockwise from the top) is determined by the amount of sharps or flats in a particular key. It goes as follows: C (no sharps or flats), G (one sharp), D (two sharps), A (three sharps) and so on.

The circle of fifths also shows corresponding key signatures and each major key’s relative minor key. (On the inside of the circle, the minor keys are displayed and are marked as such.) For example, the relative minor for C is A minor. We know this because both the keys C and A minor have no sharps or flats. As another example, the key of E has C# minor as its relative minor (both use four sharps)

You can also use the circle of fifths to study scales. If you wish to see a fifth on piano (the fifth note of a scale), start at any key (both black and white) and count seven half-steps to the right. That note (key) will be the fifth of the note you on which you began. Looking at the circle of fifths in regard to scales, taking it slowly, the note D is the fifth note of the G scale, the note A is the fifth note of the D scale, and E is the fifth note of an A scale, and so on.

The circle of fifths is also an effective way to show the relationships of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale (think of a piano with its white and black keys with the chromatic scale made up of adjacent piano keys played in succession G,G#,A#,B . . .).
Reading the circle of fifths as descending pitches going clockwise, or ascending counterclockwise, gives the circle of fourths. One can think about the circle of fourths as going in the opposite direction as the circle of fifths. Although circle of fifths is the more common term and is often used with the intent of describing both fourths and fifths.

For more details on the circle go to http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/20-circle-of-keys.htm and also to http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/21-circle-of-minor-keys.htm

Every major key has a relative minor key which is related to it — kind of a “kissing cousin” — by the same key signature. For example, the key of C major and A minor both share the same key signature — no sharps and no flats. Playing the A natural minor scale is like playing the C major scale, but playing it from A to A instead of from C to C. Parallel minor scales are those which begin on the same root — such as C major scale and C minor scale. Major and minor key signatures are the same, naturally — Eb major scale has 3 flats while C minor scale (it’s relative minor scale) also has 3 flats. Major & minor pentatonic scales work a little differently, and will be taken up separately at another time.