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Top Tips for Teaching Yourself Piano

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© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

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Thank you so much for downloading your free copy of my eBook and for signing upfor The Piano Informer Newsletter! My site is dedicated to giving the most in-depth piano instruction available online.This eBook is no different. Here you will find important tips that all beginner and

intermediate piano players need to know.

I hope you enjoy Top Tips For Teaching Yourself Piano and please feel free toshare my site with anyone you may know who is looking for helpful information onlearning to play the piano! Cheers! Eric RaderPiano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

Where To Start

It can be confusing looking at the keys on the piano. Seeing all the white and blackkeys that seem to go on and on forever in either direction can be a dauntingundertaking.

Trying to read music, using the pedal, andmaking all ten fingers work together can be alittle overwhelming.

When you start learning to play piano there are alot of different resources out there claiming to bethe end all to learning piano. They give youpromise like:

“You can learn to play piano in 3 weeks.”

Well, Iʼm not going to tell you that. Iʼm also not going to tell you that itʼs going to beeasy. Learning to play to piano is a lifelong process. I learn new things, and improvemy playing everyday.

Learning to play the piano is a difficult process. You canʼt just learn a few chords thengo out on the road. You can however, learn the simple techniques and expound uponthem to make your playing unique and exciting to those who hear it.

I can promise you that if you take time, and progressively enhance your skills,that you will learn to play the piano.

© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

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Whatʼs In This eBook?

This eBook is meant to give a primer on some of the basic concepts that are commonlyoverlooked by the beginning piano teacher. I remember coming across these tips

thinking: “I wish someone would have told me this three years ago.”

Most teachers have the philosophy that you need to learn the notes on the piano, thenyou can focus on the other tangibles.

I have the outlook that if you have these important concepts down, you will enhanceyour knowledge, and enhance the way you practice, leading to more efficient playingand learning.

I hope you are able to use these ideas to help enhance your playing.

Tip #1 Warming Up

Are you serious? Youʼre telling me that warming up is one of your 10 tips?

This is the most overlooked aspect of playing that beginners tend to forget, or simply,give no attention to.

Taking at least 5 to 10 minutes to warm up at the piano will dramatically help yourplaying.

How does warming up help you?

• Gives your fingers the much needed speed to move around the keys• Stretched the fingers so you can reach further to make some beautiful sounding

chords.• Adds muscle memory to you hands and fingers, so when it comes time to play

that C#dim11 chord you know exactly where to put your fingers• Gives coordination to the left hand and those hard to train fingers.•

Gets you ready for the piece or song you are about to play• Helps you memorize chords and scales for more difficult keys

© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

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Use Your Time Wisely

The key here is to make sure to use this time wisely. If you are practicing for an hour aday, you want to make sure that the time you use for warm-ups is spend doing thingsthat are going to benefit you.

For example, focusing on awkward scales or uncommon chords wonʼt add to yourpractice session unless you are at that level of playing and you need those chords orscales for a particular song.

My Favorite Warm-Up Exercises:

• Major Scales• Minor Scales• Two Octave Scales• Chords in all keys• Chord Inversions

I like to use these warm-ups every time I sit downand practice. The major scales are good just toget your fingers loose. You donʼt want tight fingerswhen you sit down to play.

The two octave scale really gets your fingers moving up and down the piano. Playingall the chords in all keys and their inversions gets your muscles in your fingers ready to

fall to those chords.

When doing these warm-ups you want to make sure that you play them once with theright hand, once with the left, and then together with both hands. This will give youthat coordination that you need to start playing effectively with both hands.

Try and make time to warm up. Just try it for a week or two and see if it helps. Ipromise that once you start taking the time to do these warm-ups you will see adramatic change in you speed and dexterity when playing.

It seems like a waste of time sometimes. I hate to do them sometimes too. But, when

you start to see the benefits of these practices you will be glad that you took the time dothese exercises.

Tip #2 Practice Makes Perfect

Anything worth having takes hard work.

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This statement is especially true for learning to play piano. If you really want to learn topay then you have to work hard. Taking time to practice everyday is the key tobecoming a great piano player.

Practice Every Day

If you really want to become the best musician that you can you have to take time topractice ever single day.

When I was first learning to play I would practiced all the time. Sometimes for hours aday. I would sit at the piano from the minute I got home from school and wouldnʼt get upuntil dark.

This was the time that I noticed the biggest increases in my playing.

When I started to become confident in my playing I wouldn ʼt play as much. There weredays when I wouldnʼt play at all.

This left my playing stale and I wasnʼt learning anything new.

Getting Over the Hump

You canʼt get to a place where you feel that you are as

good as you are going to get. I was there. I thought “Ican play really good, Iʼm happy with my ability.”

I was totally wrong!

I made a decision to start to practice everyday for atleast 2 hours. I did that for about 3 months and havenever seen more progress then I did in that time.

You have to make a point to practice. There are timeswhen we feel that we canʼt get any better, or we think

we can play good enough. But the fact is, that we canalways get better. If you focus at least thirty minutes topractice I promise you that in a month you will notbelieve how much better you are playing.

Take it from me. I played in church, weddings, and other venues and thought I wasgood. I started practicing 2 hours a day and I saw how much improvement you canmake by just staying dedicated to practicing.

© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

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Tip #3 Learn Scales!!If there is one thing that I wish I would have known when I was first learning to playpiano its how important scales are.

When I was first learning to play I was using chord charts from church. When I wouldget to a chord that I didnʼt know, I had to run to the computer and look up the notes inthe chord, try not to forget the notes before I got back to the piano, and then try andmemorize it for when it came back up in the song.

This was such a headache.

But what I didnʼt know was, if I would have leaned all the major scales, then I couldeasily find any chord that I wanted without all the extra hassle.

If you take the time to memorize all the scale then you can basically find any chord, witha little theory of course.

This is beyond the scope of this eBook, but if you want to find out more about how tofind a chord by knowing a scale then you can check it out on the site at http:// www.piano-lessons-made-simple.com/piano-chords.html

Why Scales Are So Important

Scales make up the backbone of allthe keys signatures. If you know thescale you are in then you can playpretty much anything in that key and itwill sound good. This doesnʼt work allthe time, but for the most part it does.

Knowing scales is great to knowbecause then you can build any chordyou want. Say you want to build a Gmajor chord. All you have to do is findthe notes in the G major Scale, thenfind the 1st, 3rd, and 5th note in thatscale and then youʼll have that chord.

© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

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This goes for any major chord on the piano. If you want to build a major chord just findthe note in that scale and youʼve got it.

Use Those Scales!

If you had to decide which thing to learn first on the piano I would say it would bescales. Just about everything you learn on the piano comes from some type of scale.

If you know scaled then the theory behind playing piano will come to you a lot quicker.When you start to build chords the scales will be an important tool to build any chordyou want to play.

Take your time and learn major and minor scales. Then move on to blues scales andpentatonic scales and other less common scales.

Tip #4 Know Every Chord in Every Key

To really become a great piano playeryou have to know every chord in everykey. That doesnʼt mean you have toknow every single chord every created.You donʼt have to memorize a German5th diminished 11th. (Whatever that is?)

Obviously these strange and uncommonchords wonʼt help you a whole lot. If youknow the more common chords though,it will really take your playing to a wholenew level.

Chords You Have To Know

So which chords are the ones you need to know?

You HAVE to know all major and minor chords. Knowing these majors and minors willtake up about 80% of your chord knowledge. Almost every contemporary song outthere is made up of major and minor chords.

Different styles of music will use different types of chords. Some contemporary musicwill use 7th or major 7thʼs, but not very often. If you play gospel or hymns them youmight come across diminished and augmented chords.

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If you want to play jazz or blues then you will need to learn minors, 9 thʼs, and 11thʼs.

It really depends on the style of music you play what chords you need to learn. Themost important ones you need to start off with though are the major and minors.

Learn major and minors in every key. Know them like the back of your hand. Knowthem with your eyes shut. Really learn them. Once you know these chords you are onyour way to playing 90% of the songs out there.

Chord Inversions

Inversions are simply playing different voicingsof a chord.

A voicing is just taking a simple chord andadding something to is or replacing some ofthe notes. You might take the root note andinstead of playing it with your thumb, you mightplay it with your pinky.

This is an inversion. When you rework a chordand play it in a different way you are playing aninversion.

For example, playing a C Major chord with the thumb on an E, index finger on G, andsmall finger on C would be an inversion.

Playing a C chord this way can give a chord a whole new sound. It almost makes thechord sound totally different. So, you can play one chord in three different ways givingyou an almost unlimited amount of sounds to play a song.

Use inversions to make your music sound different. Instead of always playing a rootchord, add an inversion to give the song some variety.

Uses for Inversions

They are also useful when the next root chord is far away, you can use an inversion ofthat chord to make the change more fluent and easy.

Itʼs very important to know all of the major and minor chord inversions because youplaying start to sound predictable if you use the same root chords all the time.

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Add in different inversions of chords to make the simple chords sound more unique.

Tip #5 Playing By Ear

You really CAN learn to play piano by ear! You donʼt have to have some special secretability in order to do it. Some people think itʼs impossible to learn to play by ear, andonly the most talented musicians can do it.

This Canʼt Be True…… Or Can It?

I believe that anyone can learn to play by ear. Donʼt get me wrong..... I think if you have

natural talent, and have special ability to hear music, then playing by ear will be easierfor you. But, that doesnʼt mean that it canʼt be done and that you still canʼt enjoy playingthe piano.

If you are willing to take the time and are willing to make a commitment to really learnthe piano, then you will be successful. After each day of practice you will notice thatyour fingers will move a little more fluently, your hands will fall to chords much moreeasily, your ears will detect chords without even playing a note on the piano.

Give yourself a goal to practice for thirty minutes each day. I promise that in time youwill learn to play the piano.

It does take a lot of hard work. But with time you WILL learn to play!

How To Start Playing By Ear

Most people who want to pay by ear have some musicalbackground. That doesn't mean that if you donʼt thenyou still cant play by ear.

It is crucial that when you start to learn to play by ear that

you lear to develop your ear to hear musically. You haveto train your ear to hear the differences between chords,the different harmonies, and inversions that are beingplayed.

This may seem very hard at first.... Let me start over......

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It IS hard at first. But it doesn't mean that you cant train yourself to hear like a musician.The most important tool that a musician has is his/her ear. With time you will start tonotice correct intervals, chords, and harmonies.

In this eBook we will talk about a few of the basic training techniques you can follow to

help train your ear.

Hearing Harmonies

Most modern and classical music is made up of three note chords. A chord is series ofnotes that when played together create harmonies.

If you really want to hear what harmony sounds like, listen to church choir. When allthree (or four) parts are singing together they singing harmony. When you hear thebackground vocals on your favorite singers CD, you are hearing harmony.

Now.... how does this all apply to playing the piano?

When we play a song on the piano we are using chords, which are made up ofharmonies. These harmonies are the building block of the song and creates the varietyof sounds that you make on the piano.

Practice Hearing Harmony

The best way that helped me hear harmony was to listen to choirs. I grew up in church

singing in the choir. When I was young I had no idea what a harmony was. As I gotolder I started to realize that each group sang their own part, and when these partsblended together it sounded amazing !

I wanted to hear every part. I wanted to hear the soprano (highest part), alto (middlepart), tenor (highest male part), and bass (lowest part).

When I started to hear each partindividually, I could then define eachpart when they were put together in thegroup. When you start to listen intentlyto each individual part of a choir, youwill start to hear the individual notesthat are being sung.

Now.... applying this to the piano. Asyou start to recognize the individualparts in a choir, or even background

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singers on a CD, you will hear how the parts blend together to create a single chord.

Now go to the piano.

Play any major chord. Play each individual note by itself.

Listen to its tone, its warmth, its texture.

Now play them together. Hear how the fit together. Its almost like they were made tomatch one another.

Play them alone again. Really listen to each note by itself.

Repeat this process until you can hear each note as an individual note, and as a wholein the chord.

Now move on to a minor chord. Can you hear the difference? Hear how the majorchord and minor chord are totally different? You will hear the harmonies that arecreated within the chord and how they are different from one another.

Now try and come up with your own harmonies. Try and take three or more individualnotes and blend them together to create a pleasing sound.

Not all harmonies are pleasing to the ear however. Some harmonies sound a little...funky. But, when you put them in with a particular song then they seem as though itsperfect.

Try and hear as many harmonies as you can. Listen to singers first..... its a lot easier.Then listen to harmonies on the piano.

Now you are on your way to building new and unique chords.

Intervals

Playing by ear is nothing but hearing intervals and recognizing the distance betweennotes.

An interval is simply the distance between notes. For example, the distance between Cand D is a whole step.

If you need a refresher on intervals go to my site and read up. All the information you

need is there.

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Now that you know what an interval is, lets talk about how we use these when playing

by ear.

Most songs follow the same pattern, this pattern is called a chord progression.

Information on chord progressions can also be found on the site and are beyond thescope of this book. But, we will talk a little bit about how they are used.

If you listen to any of your favorite songs you will notice that they all follow a pattern.

They start with a verse, then a chorus, repeat a verse that sounds exactly the same as

the first chorus, repeat the chorus, add some kind of bridge, and then repeat the chorus

to the end of the song.

These types of songs ate the musicians best friend. They have probably 5 chords in the

whole song and they repeat them throughout. So, if you can tell what chords are being

played in the chorus, you have 90% of the song learned.

Back to intervals.....

Intervals tell us the jump between these chords. For example, if you start with C major

chord, you might jump to play a G major chord. This is an interval.

Listen really closely to a song you want to learn. Try and hear how the chords aremoving. Do they go up or down? Are they moving a lot or a little bit?

This is where intervals come into play. If you hear a chord, and it seems like its a largedistance from the previous chord, then its interval is far away from the previous chord.If you listen to the entire song you will start to her the chords moving and you will hearthe intervals that the chords are moving to.

Once you start to hear these intervals, you can start to memorize them, and then applythem to another song.

Try and listen to bass note in the chord. Where does it move? This is an indication ofwhere the chord is moving to. Focus on where the chord starts and where the nextchord is. Try and notice the distance between these chords. You can now start playingsongs by ear by hearing the distance between the chords.

There is a whole lo more involved in playing by ear. These are just a few of the lesscommon tips that you can use to start hearing like a musician and start playing thepiano by ear.

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The best thing you can do to build your ear is just listen to music. It doesn't have to bepiano music, it can be any music. You will start to hear harmonizes, chords, andintervals as you build your ear which will give you a better understanding on where thechords on the piano go and what to play.

Always take time to not only practice playing, but to practice listening. The ear is thebest tool you can have when playing piano. Build your ear and you become a GREAT piano player

Where Do We Go From Here?

Now itʼs time to take these newlylearned concepts and apply them toyour everyday playing, practicing,and performances.

Take these small steps each dayand you will see massive amountsof improvement in a short time.

Use these tips that I have compiledhere and you Will see results!

I know that there you will meet roadblocks in your learning. There will be times whereyou wonʼt want to practice. Iʼve been there, I know what you are going through. Usethat time remember what your focus is. What are you trying to accomplish? You arewanting to Play Piano. And you will Play Piano.

Learning an instrument is like any other skill. It requires time, commitment, anddedication. Stay focussed, stay driven, and stay motivated and you will be successful.

You Will Learn to Play Piano! 

Thank You For Reading

I wanted to take this opportunity to say Thank You!  for downloading and reading TopTips For Teaching Yourself Piano. If it wasnʼt for dedicated people like youdetermined to learn to play piano, my site would be pointless.

Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com is here to help encourage and inform people like youto pursue your dreams of learning a musical instrument. I hope that this has been aninformative read, and that my site is a helpful resource for you and others. If so, please

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feel to send me an email or comment on my site. Let others know of the benefits thatare offered here!

You can reach me via email at: [email protected] 

Thank you again for reading.

Keep Playing, Keep Practicing, Keep Making Music! 

Eric Rader Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com

© Eric Rader 2012 - Piano-Lessons-Made-Simple.com