Fast Piano Lessons Blog

Not sure what to call this version of jingle bells… Is it more jazz or blues or rock? You decide!
This is for all the intermediate to advanced players who have been asking for something a little bit more challenging, otherwise I would normally break this lesson down into smaller steps. See if you can steal a few of my voicings for chords!

Outline:
The first half is a little reserved with some jazz voicings.. but not for long!
The second half has a walking bass line in the left hand with the right hand embellishing the melody quite a bit with some extra blues notes.
At the end I’ve attached a blues lick ending walking down from C, Bb, A, Ab, G back to C while the right hand trys to solo like crazy.
And then the final chord: C13#11 (C E G Bb, D F# A)

Sorry I’ve only posted one lesson this week.
I was in a minor car accident and it’s kinda taken the energy out of me!
Things will be back to normal shortly!

This is the second piano lesson in a 3 part series with examples for how to play a ballad similar to the style that Elton John uses on songs like “Tiny Dancer”. In fact, the first pattern I play in the video is very similar to the piano introduction to Tiny Dancer.

Use these patterns as guidelines though. To make them your own, you’ll have to add a few different notes and rhythms here and there. Not even Elton John plays his piano parts the same way twice.

The chords are C major and F major.

OUTLINE:
:03 - Tiny Dancer example
:09 - Variations on the first example slowed down
:50 - Country lick slowed down

Practice Tips: Please realize that I’ve only shown you two examples on the C and F chords. Transpose them to another key to get the most benefit from them. For example, try to play these patterns on D & G, or E & A.

Here is a link to Lesson 1: Make Your Piano Ballads Sound Better

This is the first piano lesson in a 3 part series with examples for how to play a ballad similar to the style that Elton John uses on songs like “Your Song” or “Tiny Dancer”. In this lesson we start of with some very simple patterns for the C major and F major chords. The biggest piece of advice I can give is to be comfortable with your inversions of chords and arpeggios. Don’t practice for perfection here.

Use these patterns as guidelines, making sure to change a few of the notes here and there each time you play them.

OUTLINE:

:10 - Example #1: The Easy Version: Rolling the chord Up

:25 - Example #2: Rolling the chord up & down.

:37 - Experiment with different rhythms and patterns for endless possibilities. Its up to you to be creative!

1:03 - Explanation of Chord Tones: Chord tones are the notes in the chord. Cmajor is made up of the chord tones “C E G”. Non-chord tones are all the other notes not in the chord (D, F, A, B,).

Practice Tip: Using Chord Tones and Non-Chord Tones

Use only the chord tones at first and then try to add non-chord tones as you get more comfortable with how they sound. Non-chord tones don’t always sound good with a chord so use caution. For example if you play the note F in your right hand, with the chord C major in your left hand, the E&F notes will clash. This clashing doesn’t sound good if you hold on the F for a long time. If you play the F note only for a short duration as just a passing note, then the clashing will not be that noticeable.

Here is a good definition of a lick:
A lick is “a stock pattern or phrase” (Middleton 1990, p. 137). In other words, Its a short melody made of a small number of notes that you have rehearsed. You want to do this so you sound better prepared for playing solos or improvising.

I am constantly adding new licks to my musical vocabulary. Here are a few short ones to get started with as well as a short explanation of fingering for the blues scale:

This lesson starts off covering two different easy blues scale licks at :04

Then we cover the two hand positions at :15
Make sure to learn the scale from both hand positions. Otherwise your limiting your creative possibilities. If you just start improvising from the C note every single time, what should be “improvising” will fall into becoming very routine.

I show you the fingering for the blues scale at :40
There are two different options for fingering the C blues scale:
You could use 1212121. (Thumb, Pointer, Thumber Pointer Etc)
Or 1234123 (Thumb = 1, Pointer = 2, Middle = 3, Ring Finger = 4).
Its good to be comfortable playing both fingerings.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions by posting a comment!

In this piano lesson, we cover the music that plays for 15 seconds or so in the Super Mario Brothers video game series when you get an “invincible star”. Video game music has been a great teaching tool for me. I find that nothing inspires young kids more than to learn a song they’ve heard a million times on their favorite video game.

The chords are Dmin7 and Cmaj7. The rhythms are almost a jazzy samba type pattern.
Most of the video game music from the mario series was written by koji kondo. His original venue was the video game console, but now his music is played by orchestras and bands all over the world!

You get the star if you learn this song!

This is a really cute song. Its been in a lot of the Alvin and the Chipmunk movies.

Here are the lyrics:

(Dave:)Alright you Chipmunks, Ready to sing your song?
(Alvin:)I’d say we are
(Theodore:)Yeah, Lets sing it now!
(Dave:)Okay, Simon?
(Simon:)OK
(Dave:)Okay, Theodore?
(Theodore:)OK
(Dave:)Okay Alvin?…Alvin?…ALVIN!!!
(Alvin:)OKAY!!

(Chipmunks:)
Christmas, Christmas time is near,
Time for toys and time for cheer.
We’ve been good, but we can’t last,
Hurry Christmas, Hurry fast.
Want a plane that loops the loop,
(Alvin:) Me, I want a Hula-Hoop.
(Chipmunks:)
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don’t be late.

(Dave:) Ok Fellas, Get ready.
That was very good, Simon.
(Simon:)Naturally!
(Dave:)Very Good Theodore
(Theodore:) He He He He
(Dave:)Uh Alvin, You were a little flat
So, watch it, Alvin…Alvin?…ALVIN!!!
(Alvin:)OKAY!!

(Chimpunks:)
Want a plane that loops the loop,
(Alvin:)I still want a Hula-Hoop.
(Chimpunks:)
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don’t be late.
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don’t be late.

I want to know if you like to sing the lyrics & melody when you play, or if you like to play piano without singing. Please see the poll below!

Most of my lessons on this blog have been focused on chords which are good for accompanying a singer. The other option is to play solo piano, which means you would play the melody in the right hand and the chord in the left hand.

If you tried to do this with a singer, the piano melody would clash rhythmically with the singers melody. In other words, you would each be playing the same pitches (notes), but the rhythms would not be perfectly synced up.

This is why when two or more people play together its better to have only one person perform the melody. The other members of the group can play the chords or basslines or set a groove!

Its important to learn how to play solo piano and with a group, especially a singer. But what would you like to focus the most on?

Here is a performance example of Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire. Halloween isn’t even a week away and my students in Seattle are asking for me to teach them christmas songs. This one is a little more jazzy than most of them. This isn’t a lesson so much as a teaser to get everyone in the mood for the holidays! You can still pick up some advanced chord voicings (7ths & 9ths) by watching my hands. To tell which chord I’m playing, you can watch my left hand. I almost always play the root of the chord as the lowest note.

Here are the lyrics:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa’s on his way;
He’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother’s child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I’m offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you

This is the song Christmas Time is Here by Vince Guaraldi from A Charlie Brown Christmas. In the cartoon there are a bunch of voices singing it. It can have a very nice christmas jazz feel too it.

This sounds like a difficult song, only because I’ve added a lot of fills and embellishments. I recommend getting the music from “The Easy christmas Fakebook” it will give you the melody and the chords to play the song. (its a big red book).

I’ll be walking through how to play this on my blog as we get closer to christmas! I’m thinking about creating a bunch of christmas lessons, but I’m not sure which songs to do yet. Please post your ideas!

Here are the lyrics:
Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer
Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of the year

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere
Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

Christmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year…