How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons
by Ward Cannel and Fred Marx
Product Details Title: How to play the piano despite years of lessons Author: Ward Cannel and Fred Marx Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches Pages: 239 ISBN: 0385142633 Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (January 1, 1981) Zebra Keys Editorial Reviews Introduction If you have taken years of piano lessons but are still mystified as to how music is even created, then this book will give you plenty of insight! Inside, you will learn simple ideas about music that you can use as building blocks to create original arrangements of your favorite songs. Contents This book is divided into 10 chapters, each giving you more tools to help increase your understanding of music. The book starts you off with explanations on the ideas behind melody creation and chord construction. Using this as a basis, the book starts talking about how to create skeleton arrangements, which at a minimum means using your right hand to play melody notes, while your left hand handles harmony and bass notes. A large portion of the book explains how you can go about making this basic skeleton more sophisticated. The explanation of the circle of 5ths and its relation to chord progressions are also very insightful. This book is very successful in showing you that music is nothing more than a couple simple ideas that when understood, can be combined to create some pretty fancy music. If you have prior experience with the piano, this book is a great way for you to get a handle on such subjects as improvisation, playing from fake charts, and just general knowledge of how music works. One criticism for this book is that the music examples provided seem to be more suited for playing old standards than for modern popular music. Another is that this book may not be suited for absolute beginners as some of the basic concepts are not explained in the level of detail that some beginners may require. Even with these two criticisms, this book is still excellent overall. No matter what your current level of music knowledge is, this book is a great source of reference. If you have been playing piano for a while and want to finally grasp the concepts behind how music is created, then this is a great resource! Even if you are a beginner, you may want to check it out and use this book as a guide for ideas you may want to think about as you continue your journey into piano playing. Overall, this book is highly recommended. Visit Amazon for further reviews and pricing details.

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Lines,Vines and Trying Times
Fearless
You Raise Me Up
How to Save a Life
Only Hope
Theme from the Simpsons
Star Trek The Next Generation

Breathe
Chariot
Beatles Songs
Imagine
Ebony and Ivory
Harbor Lights

Lesson 1 - Layout of Piano Keys

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Lesson 2 - " Names of White Piano Keys " Lesson 3 - " Names of Black Keys "

Music Tools - Keyboard Trainer

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1. Press "New Key" button to activate the keyboard trainer
2. A new key will be highlighted on the piano keyboard
3. Select the correct key name by pressing on the button with note name.
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Five Fingers Exercise

Five Fingers Exercise - Piano Techniques for Beginners

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Featured Sample Flash Animation - Learn to play Brother John: (click "PLAY" button below)

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Lesson 1 - Patterns of Black and White Piano Keys
Lesson 2 - Names of White Keys
Lesson 3 - Names of Black Keys
Lesson 4 - Grand Staff: Diagram of the Piano Keyboard
Lesson 5 - Note Durations
Lesson 6 - Learn How to Play "Brother John"
Lesson 7 - Learn How to Play "London Bridge is Falling Down"
Lesson 8 - Learn How to Play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
Lesson 9 - Playing the Major Chord
Lesson 10-Three Primary Chords
Lesson 11-12 Bar Blues Chord Progression
Lesson 12-12 Keys of Music
Lesson 13-Major Scale
Lesson 14-Intervals
Lesson 15-Chords of the Major Scale
Lesson 16-Circle of Fifths (5ths)
Lesson 17-Chord Inversions
Lesson 18-Double Chord Pattern
Lesson 19-Broken Chord Pattern
Lesson 20-Arpeggio Chord Pattern
Lesson 21-Sounds of the Orient
Lesson 22-Mysterious Sounds
Lesson 23-Arpeggios
Lesson 24-Learn How to Play "America"
Lesson 25-Learn How to Play "Silent Night"
Lesson 26-Learn How to Play "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Lesson 27-Playing the Minor Chord
Lesson 28-Three Secondary Chords
Lesson 29-Dominant 7th Chord
Lesson 30-Major 7th Chord
Lesson 31-Minor 7th Chord
Lesson 32-Natural Minor Scale
Lesson 33-Chords of the Natural Minor Scale
Lesson 34-Melody as Octaves
Lesson 35-Root Chord Pattern
Lesson 36-Adding Harmony Notes in the Right Hand"
Lesson 37-Major Chord Inversions"
Lesson 38-Chord Inversion Straddles"
Lesson 39-Learn How to Play "The First Noel"
Lesson 40-Learn How to Play "Auld Lang Syne"
Lesson 41-Learn How to Play "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
Lesson 42-Diminished Chord
Lesson 43-Augmented Chord
Lesson 44-6th Chords
Lesson 45-Sus2 Chords
Lesson 46-Sus4 Chords
Lesson 47-Major 9th Chords
Lesson 48-Major 11th Chords
Lesson 49-Major 13th Chords
Lesson 50-Borrowed Chords (Coming Soon!)

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Featured Sample Flash Animation - Learn to play London Bridge is Falling Down

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Black Key Groups

Lesson 1 - Layout of Piano Keys

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White Key Names

Lesson 2 - Name of White Keys

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Music Tools - Keyboard Trainer

Watch two videos above and test your skills here:
Name the highlighted key appeared on the piano keyboard, then select the correct key name corresponding to that piano key.

Music Tools - Note Trainer

Test your note reading skills here.
Name the music note appeared on the music staff, then select the correct note name corresponding to that music note.

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Interval Ear Trainer
Scale Ear Trainer
Chord Ear Trainer
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Fur Elise
Moonlight Sonata
Ode to Joy
The Entertainer
Greensleeves
Ballade

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Deck The Halls
Camptown Races
Yankee Doodle
Clementine
Aura Lee
I'm A Little Teapot

Whole Steps Half Steps

Lesson 14 - "Intervals" - Whole & Half Steps More............Piano Technique for Beginners

See full version of Lesson 6 - " Brother John " Lesson 7 - " London Bridge is Falling Down "

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Download Lesson 10 - "Three Primary Chords" Lesson 15 - "Circle of Fifths (5ths)"

Piano Learning CDs for Beginners

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