Jazz Piano Vocabulary Volume 1: The Major Scale
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
| Q | Could you please help me choose an effective practice schedule? My musical history: guitar playing for 12 years, graduate from a two-year jazz studies degree in guitar performance. I have been working diligently on the Beginner's One Note and Fanatic's Guide for about 2 months now. I have worked on the major scale with success incorrectly using resolutions such as re to do and la to so etc. I figured it out after starting the non-diatonic notes and I saw that I was blatantly doing this. So I will have to start again trying to make sure this habit does not persist.
Also I would like to learn to play the piano and I only have class piano lessons that I don't remember much of (I know you are a guitarist but I would like any suggestions you may have). I have a lot of music theory knowledge from school such as what scales go with each chord, chord substitutions etc. but I don't know any voicing on the piano accept what I build using my theory knowledge. One problem with my theory knowledge was based on scale degree recognition (by position) on the guitar and I have never memorized the names of the notes within the scale. I would also like to learn to read (I used to get by in rehearsals by my chord chart reading skills base on known chard shapes). All of this in a consistent two-hour a day. I am an electrical engineering student and this is what I have to offer my musical life. I would like the focus to be ear training (could you please tell me what exercises to focus on?). I feel that my ear should lead me to technique advancement because my technique (fingers and guitaristic patterns) have been leading me for years. |
| A | First for the ear training I would listen to the One Note CD 5 times a day for 10 minutes. You should space this out throughout the day. You can even do other short 3-5 minute listens. Every little bit will help you remember the sounds. In the Fanatic's Guide I'd start with the One Note exercise. If you could do that for 10 minutes at the beginning, middle and end of your practice session that would be great.
For piano I'd highly recommend Roberta Piket's Jazz Piano Vocabulary http://www.muse-eek.com/books/piket_v1_major/lower.html She has one of the few books that gives you hip chord voicings along with lots of other information to get you playing the piano quickly. To help you learn what the notes are of every scale and where they are on the fretboard I'd recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. This will have you write out every scale on the music staff and on a guitar fretboard to help you learn it in a way that will be useful. I would also follow the links provided with this book to start learning the scales on the guitar. You will find PDF's and Videos to help you learn the scales properly. I would also get the ebook Guitar Technique so you can use the proper technique when learning the guitar. This is important stuff. If you use bad technique you will not improve past a certain amount. For sight reading I have a pretty big resource for this. To start out with I'd spend approximately 30 minutes sight reading. I'd work out of these books for 5-10 minutes a piece. Rhythm Primer LINES Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One Single String Studies 1. Rhythm Primer: 3 Pages a day. Follow the direction in the book. 2. LINES: Read first four pages of each key as fast as possible. You want to strive to put the metronome on 2 and 4 when you read these pages. You may have to start with the metronome on every beat or on 1 and 3 if that's where your current ability is. In any case you always want to tap your foot either on 1 and 3 or on every beat if it is slow. I'd go through the book just reading the single note pages first, then start the book over reading the 2 note pages. Try to do one key a week. 3. Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume: Learn one chord progression starting on page 107 a week (use a swing/blues feel i.e. 1 and the and of 2). Use metronome markings from book but make them half notes rather than quarters so the progression on page 107 would be a half note equals 80. Of course play these pages slower if you have to and if you can put the metronome on 2 and 4. Learn to read chord voicings for this chord progression which is located on page 131. We usually do the reading of the actually chord voicings slower so you may have to read them out of time. You should go to the address below to hear me playing these progressions so you know what I'm looking for: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html 4. Single String Studies for Guitar Volume #1: Read one page a week and be patient with yourself this is a hard book, play exercise on one string, start somewhere at around quarter = 50 with the metronome on each beat or slower if you need it. Try not to look at the neck to find notes. You can find audio files to help you make sure you are playing correctly at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/sst1/midi.html I'd like you to get through the 22 most commonly used scales in improvising which are contained in the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two. You can find a list with fingerings in the member's area under Help files for Scales All keys all degrees. Learn it by the notes not the patterns. Technique is extremely important here so if you can send a video before starting that would be great. I would learn the scales all in one key and then move to another so. C major then C dorian then C phrygian. etc... Then learn them all in F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G. Use flash cards to check yourself so: 7 cards for degrees of scale (there are 6 and 8 notes in some of the scales but just use 7 cards) 12 cards for the keys 19 cards for the modes You turn over a degree card it says 5th You turn over a key card and it says Gb You turn over a mode card and it says Dorian b2 So you play a Gb Dorian b2 scale from the 5th. These scales do not have to be fast but should be played consistently from beginning to end without stopping. |
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| Q | I already own a copy of your 1st Steps for the Beginning Guitarist. Wonderful book for breaking down chords and chord progressions. I have been using this in collaboration with an Alfred book by the name of Teach Yourself to Play Guitar (mainly for strumming techniques). My first problem is that I have difficulty remembering the positions of the chords. Secondly, I have no idea of what notes are where on the fretboard. I read your Recommendations for Study pdf and decided that the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One might be a great start and maybe later complimented with Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One. Am I headed in the right direction? Also, do any of your books cover strumming?
But, beyond that. The main purpose of this e-mail is to ask you about my piano studies. I don't know what you're experience is with the instrument, but you seem like my last recourse in a long journey. I started out using Alfred's Teach Yourself to Play Piano, which was cool for awhile but I soon found out that it didn't teach me anything about fingering or improvisation, which are two very important issues for any burgeoning pianist (I think or at least have learned since receiving no training on those topics). Anyway, I've sort of given up on that book and am in the market for something new. But then that creates an even worse situation because there is so much crap out there.I'm currently looking at purchasing the Piano Handbook by Carl Humphries. I guess my question is: Are there any books that you could recommend for an autodidact like myself? I'm really stumped right now and ready to throw in the towel. |
| A | There are two problems that most students have when starting the guitar. Remembering where the notes and chords are on the instrument and coordinating their strumming. For the open chords I would recommend learning the chord progressions in 1st Steps and other songs you like to help you memorize the open chords. For the barre chords you could use the cycle 5 progression found on page 28 of 1st steps. By moving the chords cycle 5 it will help you to memorize and play the various barre chords. Over time this will help you memorize the notes on the low E and A strings and then you can just plug in whatever barre chord you need.
Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One is also excellent for building your knowledge of notes and their corresponding shapes on the guitar. This book isn't much fun but will make a major difference if you work through it a little at a time. Single String Studies is also good. Once again a hard book and you shouldn't expect it to get any easier for quite some time. But once you get the hang of it you will have a real deep knowledge of the guitar fretboard. For strumming there is quite a bit of information in various places. You will find really basic help files for strumming in the member's area under Help files for First Steps. Of course the 1st Steps book gives you 3 strumming patterns per chord progression so that helps to build ability. I would also recommend the Rhythm books for strumming. Each page of these books gives you various rhythms. I would randomly pick a chord and strum through the exercises rather than just playing them with one note which is what the book recommends. I'd start with Rhythm Primer. For Piano I would check out Roberta Piket's books on various modes. See muse-eek.com or amazon.com She gives you the background for each scale, fingerings for playing the scale and associated chords, improvisational concepts with written out melodies so you can see typical melodies and she gives email support so you can stay on the right track. |
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| Q | I have just discovered your web page! Are any of your materials applicable to piano? I am a piano teacher looking for some written material to help teach improvisation. |
| A | There is a women Roberta Piket who has written a bunch of great books on improvisation for piano.. You can find a list at the muse-eek publishing website:
http://www.muse-eek.com/books/books.html These piano books in combination with the ear training books would be a great combination to get you started on the right path. I would start with Ear Training One Note Complete and Fanatic's Guide. |
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