Piano for All Review - Book 1 - Party Time

Book 1 – Party Time / Rhythm Style Piano / Learn Piano Chords

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Getting to know the keyboard
Understanding the keyboard is a lot easier than you might imagine. A complete, clear, concise overview of learning piano and chords from scratch. No frills, no fuss – only what you NEED to know to learn FAST. Memory tricks, BLUFFS, formulas, lots of innovative ways to get you playing NOW

The key to playing piano by ear – Chords and Rhythmic Patterns
Piano Chords are very easy to play, easy to remember, they sound great and they enable you to sound like a real pianist right from the start. Pianoforall explains them in ways that make SENSE – you won’t have to memorize complicated theory – it’s so much easier if you see them in terms of SHAPES and PATTERNS

Music Notation Made INCREDIBLY Easy
Traditional teaching methods have always made sight reading seem like a complicated foreign language. Pianoforall changes all that! It all comes down to how well it is explained. It’s NOT about MEMORY – it’s NOT about THEORY – it’s about SEEING music notation in a brand new way – ANYONE can do it!
You’ll need just FOUR pages of basic music notation (explained the Pianoforall way!) and then you’ll be ready to start playing.
A special Note Finder to print out that will help you find any note on the piano.

10 Classic Party Rhythms
These 10 Rhythms are the underlying basic rhythms for nearly every popular tune ever written. Learn them well and they will serve you well!

Rhythm 1 – Left Note / Right Chord
This simple ‘funky’ rhythm makes your chords sound far more interesting and is great for left and right hand coordination. You can accompany lots of songs using this exact rhythm and chord sequence – Blue Moon / Red Red Wine / Always Look On The Bright Side Of Your Life / All I Have To Do Is Dream

Piano Chords in the key of C
The best chords to start with are the C Family piano chords (all white keys) There are special cartoons to help you remember ALL the chords in about 5 MINUTES – and I guarantee you’ll NEVER forget them!

Rhythm 2 – Straight Beat Gospel Piano Style
A nice slow easy rhythm for Gospel piano style songs like Let It Be.

Rhythm 3 – Oom Pah
A fun, bouncy, ‘Paul McCartney style’ rhythm that can be applied to SO many songs.
Oom Pah Practice Progressions using C family chords in the style of songs like: When I’m 64 / Song Song Blue / I Wanna be like You / The Bear Necessities / Top Of The World / Life Is A Cabaret / Love And Marriage / Maxwell’s Silver Hammer / Always Look On The Bright Side Of Your Life, etc:

The Amazing ‘Broken Chord’ Ballad
This impressive ballad is incredibly easy yet sounds very impressive and takes you up and down the entire keyboard using just the basic ‘C Family’ piano chords shapes. You won’t believe you’re actually playing this after just a few days!

More Piano Chords More Songs
An easy way to make four new piano chords – and some terrific progressions in the style of classic songs to help you commit them to memory.
Hit The Road Jack / Bye Bye Love / Show Me The Way To Go Home / Your Mother Should Know / Doe A Deer / In The Summertime / Yellow Submarine / The Blue Ridge Mountains Of Virginia / Feeling Groovy

Seventh Heaven
‘Seventh’ chords will instantly add colour to your playing. Pianoforall teaches you two MAGIC formulas that will enable you to play ANY seventh chord in ANY shape ANYWHERE on the piano in a flash! (One student told me that this trick alone was worth the price of the book)

Rhythm 4 – Split Chord
This is a rhythm you hear very often in slow ballads – it has a lovely ‘ringing’ quality and sounds fantastic when combined with Sevenths. The Beatles used this rhythm a lot. Imagine and Something are classic examples.
Split Chord and Sevenths Practice Progressions in the style of classic songs like:
Amazing Grace / We Wish You A Merry Christmas / Something / Streets Of London / Imagine / All I Have To Do Is Dream

Rhythm 5 – Half Beat bounce
This rhythm is used in many slow songs that have a slight ‘bounce’ in their step. Think of songs like Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head / Auld Lang Sang, Desperado / Sweet Home Alabama / Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue / Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door / Rocket Man / Everybody Hurts (REM) / Jealous Guy, etc

Rhythm 6 – Twist
This classic ‘Doo-Wap’ rhythm is called ‘Twist’ after the song Let’s Twist Again but it is used in a lot of songs including Under The Boardwalk / Can’t Buy Me Love / Stand By Me / Barbara Anne / Only The Lonely / Let’s Stick Together / Save The Last Dance For Me / The Ballad Of John And Yoko / What A Wonderful World This Could Be, etc

‘Slash Chords’ / Bass Runs
It may sound scary but Slash Chords and Bass Runs are a very simple way to add a lot of colour to your playing with the minimum of effort. Used in songs like Freebird / Whiter Shade Of Pale / Sunny Afternoon (Kinks) / Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis) / Mind Games (John Lennon) / Hello (Lionel Ritchie) / Mandy etc

Rhythm 7 – Three Beat Bounce
This is a great little rhythm used in songs composed in 3/4 time like Pianoman (Billy Joel) / Mr Bojangles / The Wild Rover / Try To Remember / Morning Has Broken / etc

Rhythm 8 – 12/8 Country Shuffle
This is a very easy and very recognisable rhythm and if you learn it with just three chords you can play a million country songs – yee ha!

Rhythm 9 – Bossa Nova Bounce
This rhythm has a Bossa Nova ‘feel’ to it but is used in lots of modern popular tunes as well. It’s a classic Elton John style rhythm. Used for songs like Your Song / Daniel / Isn’t She Lovely / Up On The Roof / Always Something There to Remind Me / It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me / The River / Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me / I’ll Never fall In Love Again / Lying Eyes, etc

Rhythm 10 – Twist 2
This rhythm is slightly more difficult than Twist (1) and has a more open and ‘laid back’ feel to it. Used in songs like Let’s Stick Together / Only the Lonely / Save The Last Dance For Me, etc

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Jazz Improvisation Tips Volume 1

Melodic Lines

When playing a melodic line, try thinking in terms of four-note groups.

Using various scales, try the following patterns: 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-5, 1- 3-5-7, and 1-7-7b-1. For example, in the Eb harmonic minor scale, 1-3-5-7 would be Eb-Gb-Bb-D. 

Practice these forward, backward, and upside-down. 

Try them using different rhythms. See what works and what does not. Remember what Duke Ellington said, ... "If it sounds good, it is good." 

Try combining groups that sound good.

Playing Within the Scale 
To maintain the harmony of a progression while improvising within the scale, try the following: Hold chord tones longer. Play chord tones on the first, last, high, & low notes. Play chord tones on the downbeats (especially roots & thirds). Accent chord tones. Precede chord tones with an arpeggio. Approach the chord tone with a series of chromatic tones. Remember what Duke Ellington said, ... "If it sounds good, it is good."

Functional Structure
When moving through a harmonic progression: Focus on harmonizing with the root and fifth (and possibly the seventh). Space the remaining notes in thirds or fourths for a resonant sound. Space the remaining notes in seconds for a sharper sound.
In general, most chord progressions move around the circle of fifths (C-FBb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb-B-E-A-D ...).
The progression can move upward in perfect fifths (clockwise) or downward in perfect fourths (counter-clockwise).
The chord types (M7, m7, 7, m9, b9, etc.) in the progession will vary.
Some chords may be added, deleted, or repeated but this general pattern is very common in jazz progressions.
The circle of fifths represents a good example of how many jazz chord progressions move from the subdominant to the dominant to the tonic.
The most common progression is IIm7 -- V7 -- IM7. Variations of these chords may also be substituted to keep the progression interesting (as shown below).
SUBDOMINANT: IIm7 (1-3b-5-7b), IIm9 (3b-5-7b-9).
DOMINANT: V7 (1-3-5-7b), V7b9 (3-5-7b-9b), V7b5b9 (3-5b-7b-9b), VM7b13 (7-9-11-b13).
TONIC: IM7 (1-3-5-7), IM6 (1-3-5-6), IM9 (3-5-7-9).

The next most common tendency is for the progression to move chromatically downward (usually using the same chord type).
Remember what Duke Ellington said, ... "If it sounds good, it is good."

Miscellaneous Jazz Tips
The best thing is to make your own solo transcriptions. Tristano had his students start with Lester Young, then move on to Charlie Parker. Get it in your head, then onto your instrument, then notate it.
Run a lick through the cycle of fifths at a slow enough tempo to keep the beat. Comp with the lick.
Clap hands with a metronome -- put your whole body into it.
Listen to all sorts of music, all sorts of jazz. Keep your ears wide open.

A Blues Progression
Listening is one of the biggest parts of improvisation. Listen until you can sing back the solo, the bassline, and even the piano voicing without even thinking about it. This will give you phrasing.
You must listen to jazz, not only to learn how to play, but also for pleasure.
You will learn a lot by giving everything a chance.
Here is a typical blues progression in the key of F: F7-F7-F7-F7-Bb7-Bb7-F7-F7-C7-Bb7-F7-F7.
Here is the same blues progression in the style of Charlie Parker [each chord is one bar, except for those in ( ), which indicates two beats for each chord]: F6-(Bb7-Bdim)-F7-(Cm7-F7)-Bb7-Bdim-FM7-(Am-D7)-Gm-C7-(Am-D7)-(Gm-D7).
Although this may not be known to most novices, the second progression adds a lot more movement to the blues.

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