PIANO MEGATHREAD: How to start out

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No Music Discussion > Musician's Lounge > PIANO MEGATHREAD: How to start out

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Hey guys! I got into piano a few years ago, and started learning on my own. I think I'm passable at improvising at this point, but I'd like to improve, mainly into the arena of jazz.

I know scales and chords, but I can't put them together the way most jazz pianists seem to be able to do. I can either just play chords in my right hand, with some kind of bass accompaniment in my left, or I can play boring chords in my left, with melody stuff in my right. Both sound kinda cool to mess around with, but neither is actually that professional sounding.

So basically, I'd like to know how to make my improv playing sound more interesting. I don't know what the hell to do with my left hand =(

# ¿ Feb 22, 2008 03:32

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 02:12

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Alizee posted:

It would be helpful if you included an example of that "professional sound".

I thought you're improvising was quite good although I only listened to a third of it.

Thanks =)

I know its quite a long ways from where I'm at, but I really love the way Jordan Rudess plays. Here's a short piano solo from the Liquid Tension song Biaxident, I think it's awesome. It's got a ton of technical stuff thats totally beyond me, but the idea is that I'm stuck on pentatonics and pretty basic scales, and I'd it to sound a little less...well...basic.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2008 13:27

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Alizee posted:

Ahhhh Jordan Rudess.

Really I didn't think that was amazingly interesting itself. It certainly was extremely technical but well...

If I can think of anything that would add more interest to what you're wanting add more tensions and distinguish the melody more by bringing it up an octave in most cases.

Sorry I can't be of more help vOv

Yeah, I love that kind of technical stuff. The problem is that I can only play very simplistic things at that kind of speed.

Can you recommend any useful scales or chords to learn in particular? Plain old major and minor chords are kinda boring, and pentatonic scales are even worse =(

# ¿ Feb 23, 2008 21:12

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Quasimodo posted:

Lydian: 1, 2, 3, #4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (play over major chords/ major 7 chords)
Mixolydian: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 8 (play over Dominant 7th chords or major triads)
Phrygian: 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7, 8(play over any minor chord, but specifically the iii chord)
Dorian: 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, 6, b7, 8 (basic choice for minor chords)
Aeolian: 1, b2, b3, 4, 5, b6, b7, 8 (second most basic choice for minor chords)
Harmonic Minor: 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, b6, 7, 8 (minor chords, sounds all eastern european)
Diminished: 1, 2, b3, 4, b5, b6, bb7, 8(diminished chords, sounds like a lady is tied to the railroad tracks and the evil villain is stroking his mustache)
As far as chords for your left hand, you can try to move away from basic voicings a little bit. Perhaps leave out the root note, and instead substitute scale degree 2(also known as scale degree 9).
Whole Tone: 1, 2, 3, #4, #5, #6, 8 (sounds like a dream sequence)

For example, for a C major chord, you could quickly strike a C bass note low down on the keyboard, and then move your hand up and play a voicing like "e, g, b, d" - or you could also do "e, a, b, d". If this doesn't fit your style, try adding more 7ths or 6ths on top of your triads. Look into half diminished chords(1, b3, b5, 7) or augmented triads (1, 3, #5).

Hope this helps.

Modes have never made sense to me. I tried playing some of those you posted over the chords you recommended, and I couldn't really make them sound good. I don't think I'm picking the right notes or the right chords or something.

So when you say Dorian for instance, and I want to play in Cm, putting in the notes for numbers gives me C, Db, Eb, F, G, A, Bb, C. Most of those make sense, but Db and A natural sound terrible, and if I leave them out, I'm back to the ol' pentatonic =(

Also a problem for me, is I don't know how to ascend or descend a scale for more than a few notes at time without making it sound like, well, a scale. I hear jazz improvisations that sound a lot like they're just climbing a scale, but then I do that too, and it sounds horribly basic. What's the difference I'm missing here?

What definitely did help was your advice about 7ths and 6ths. It's amazing how much cooler the same progression sounds when you add on some of those extra tones, thanks!

# ¿ Feb 25, 2008 20:29

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Hughmoris posted:

Are there any tips or cheats for transposing songs? I want to start singing with some of the songs I'm playing but a few of them seem too high for my voice. Currently I'm working on Lionel Richie's 'Hello' (yes I watched Glee) and I just can't get that high without straining. Any help is appreciated.

Thinking about the chords and notes you're playing as relative intervals instead of objective names definitely helps. If I'm playing a C / G / Am / F for instance, I think about it like I / V / vi / IV, which makes it a lot easier to transpose on the fly. Do you want to transpose the sheet music by hand? If not, I'm sure you can find a MIDI of 'Hello' online somewhere, and just drag all the notes down a few steps as well, that might be faster. A lot of programs let you view MIDI as a sheet music score afterward as well.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2010 19:38

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Hughmoris posted:

I'm not sure if I understand the theory behind transposing. The sheet music I've found for 'Hello' has it in the key of C. If I want to move it down to a range that I can sing, would I just convert it so that its in the key of G?

Sure. So you'd change the key signature, and then take all the C chords and turn them into G chords, take all the F chords and turn them into C chords, take all the G chords and turn them into D chords, etc. Move all the notes 5 half steps down to find their new equivalents, their relative pitches will all stay the same if you move them by the same amount.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2010 20:36

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Alizee posted:

Does anyone have experience with a Triton Extreme that can help me with some band/gig related things I need to do with it.

The manual is a bit confusing.

Basically I just want to know how to do some basic things and one kinda special tweak.

Super late on this but I had an Extreme for years, PM me if you still need help.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2010 16:38

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Lusername posted:

Can anyone tell me what genre this charmingly cheerful piano ditty is? It's an excerpt from The Rocky Horror Show ("I Can Make You A Man"). I'm a beginner but I'd love to be able to play like that. Also, would anyone know of any similar sounding songs? Thanks. http://www.tindeck.com/listen/ytkm

Sounds like ragtime to me. Here's one of my favorite ragtime pieces, Maple Leaf Rag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B04--XmZiE

# ¿ Sep 10, 2010 20:39

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

FateFree posted:

I'm trying to combine my piano desk with my computer desk - I'm basically looking for a way to attach a large (60inch) pull out shelf under my desk. Is there any DIY kit or something I can look into for making this?

I looked into this for a while when I was thinking about a new desk. There exist pre-made desks for this purpose, that looked sweet as heck, but ran upwards of $1-2K. I found a used one of CL for <$1K, and was strongly considering it, but I ended up finding a pretty sweet dining table in Ikea's As-Is section, that I'm now using as my music desk. The keyboard just sits on top of the desk, and there's plenty of real estate to fit mouse/keyboard/everything else because it's not really a desk, it's a huge dining table. Works for me though! If you have the money, the pre-made ones are slick, but honestly I'm extremely happy with what I have now, just make sure to measure the distances and heights with the chair you'll be using to make sure everything is a comfortable level for playing.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2012 01:46

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Hey piano dudes, released a new piano album, let me know what you think.

http://dukamok.bandcamp.com/album/timeshift

Next up I'd like to learn a little more classical, at the moment I'm stuck in the "chords+scales" method, but I think I could grow a lot by picking up some more arranged things. Based on what I've already got here, anyone have any piano composer recommendations to start learning with?

# ¿ Dec 22, 2012 19:46

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 02:12

DukAmok: Sep 21, 2006; Using drugs will kill. So be for real.

Cast_No_Shadow posted:

Not an area of expertise for my self but the extend of my knowledge is basically, if you are playing to yourself\in your bed room etc just buy any half decent monitors and be happy.

Yeah an amp is probably overkill if you're just starting out. Just buy some 1/4" cables and plug those left and right outputs into your front two inputs on the Focusrite, hook up some decent studio monitors to the Focusrite as well, route everything through your computer, and you're all set for quite a long runway of home use/learning.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2013 23:30

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