Wish i could do better.

[happyrat1]

Eff yew kan meemoorize thuh laeturz A thru G, yew tue kan bee A moosishun. .

 

[dexman]

Eff yew kan meemoorize thuh laeturz A thru G, yew tue kan bee A moosishun. .

 

[Bouncingogre]

Here's an exercise that pretty well anybody can try. I learned it from a guy called David Crump who was a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists here in the UK when I was learning pipe organ back in the early '60s.
Play scales and chords with your eyes shut, or with a blindfold on.
Sounds easy? It is not, but once you can play keys (and also a pedalboard) by touch, you don't have to look at the keys much.
Today it's probably called muscle memory, but it's a real skill once learned.
Think of it a bit like driving a car... You know what to do with your pedals, you press switches, flashers, wipers, horn and lights automatically... Same thought process. Only an occasional downward glance is needed.
Feel the keys, and it let's you concentrate your full attention to the music.
Try it.

 

[happyrat1]

Here's an exercise that pretty well anybody can try.

Play scales and chords with your eyes shut, or with a blindfold on.

Don't forget to buy earplugs for all your housemates and neighbours

 

[Bouncingogre]

Believe me... A 16 foot bourdon pipe on Full Swell is a beast!

 

[Old No7]

Saw this on another keyboards forum, and it goes well with this posting...

Old No7

 

[joner4567]

I'm self taught by ear and started learning 25 years ago when I was in my early 40's.

It's never too hard or too late to learn to play by ear.

Just listen to music you like, pick out the scale of the key signature and try not to hit any wrong notes.

It will come to you quicker than you realize.

It also helps in my case, if I fire up a blunt beforehand.

Gary

I have been trying this today!
Now, i am getting better at hitting the right notes with out looking on the melody but, how do i work out what chords to use in the left?
It`s a what goes with what ..i can`t work out what will work with a note , i notice on the sheet music one sustained chord will go with sometimes a few notes ,sometimes just one.
I know if i play one song through enough times i will eventually remember it all.
I`m guessing that who ever wrote the song did work out exactly what chords fit where, if i play the wrong one it`s awful !

 

[jmemcse]

I use fingerings that make it easier to play without looking, especially songs that I sing. I don't like looking down while I'm singing.

 

[amwilburn]

I use fingerings that make it easier to play without looking, especially songs that I sing. I don't like looking down while I'm singing.

Of course, I'm the same way. The reason I recommended AI over multifinger, is that it will automatically produce a major chord with the first finger of a multifinger chord, which can be very off putting for beginners while you're learning to plop all 3 or 4 fingers down at once to produce a chord. AI fingered doesn't assume; if you only put down a C first, it will just play C octaves. but the moment you put down an E or Eb, it will then assume C or Cm (which is correct unless you're doing an Aug or dim, which most beginners won't be tackling). Or if you then put down an A, then it will assume Am based. (which again, will usually be correct).

This way you don't get odd "flickers" from major to minor as you're plopping your fingers down (you can definitely hear when this happens) , but adds the benefit of being able to do a walking bassline on the left without reprogramming anything else. If you try it with multifingered, it will sound *really* *really* odd as it will assume a major chord each step (and will jump to dominant 7/ and or minor, if you mistakenly put down 2 notes at the same time) as you walk down the bass line.

Hence the default fingering on Genos and sx900 (and now sx920) is AI fingered when you first purchase one.

Keep plugging away! It gets more and more fun!
Mark

 

[amwilburn]

I`m guessing that who ever wrote the song did work out exactly what chords fit where, if i play the wrong one it`s awful !

That's why I also suggested those youtube video hacks. For example, instead of playing a chord on the left? As long as you play all white keys on the right (locking you into C/Am scale), in AI fingering keyboard mode you can also *randomly* play any white key on the left (or a chord made up of all white keys, again locking you to C/Am) and as long as you don't make the notes adjacent (i.e at least another key in between your fingers) and you play on beat on the left (every bar or every half bar) you can play what you want and it will all match.

The youtube videos I suggested before are even cooler than this brief description, showing you the starting blocks of jazz improv but in a really easy to learn, easily digestible way.

Mark

---

www.youtube.com/MarkWilburnTLM/Videos
DX7, CLP300, PSR60, Roland E20 + MT32, CVP309, PSRS970, Fender Std Strat, Squier RB3 Midi Strat, Ibanez SA262, Yamaha CG131, Fujiyama FC390, TUC-Kitty

 

[Rayblewit]

I can play most chords (left hand) (with ACMP) without looking at them. Secret is that I learnt the inversion method. Most chords are played using just one octave. Occasional chords will need a second octave because they cannot be inverted otherwise will impeded past the split point. But these are very few (such as Cm, F#m7, G7) and my fingers memorise where to go. 10 years of everyday playing does the trick.

 

[Rayblewit]

I have never tried scales (with right hand) blind folded. I might give that a try.

 

[Rayblewit]

AI over multifinger, is that it will automatically produce a major chord with the first finger of a multifinger chord,. . . .

I never recommend beginners learning to play single finger chords.
This is laziness and will be confusing later on as the beginner advances an needs to play 7ths and dims an augs for example.
Always learn Triads

 

[Rayblewit]

As well I do not recommend beginners putting stickers on their keys.
This makes the beginner just search for the letter without actually knowing what they are playing.
You will never advance if if you need to rely on your eyes.

 

[amwilburn]

I never recommend beginners learning to play single finger chords.
This is laziness and will be confusing later on as the beginner advances an needs to play 7ths and dims an augs for example.
Always learn Triads

Which is why I said *not* to use it; that's what he's currently using (a chording system that recognizes single finger chords, which as you correctly stated, will confuse beginners in the long run)

 

[joner4567]

I can play most chords (left hand) (with ACMP) without looking at them. Secret is that I learnt the inversion method. Most chords are played using just one octave. Occasional chords will need a second octave because they cannot be inverted otherwise will impeded past the split point. But these are very few (such as Cm, F#m7, G7) and my fingers memorise where to go. 10 years of everyday playing does the trick.

I`m ok with the LH chords but, when i was taught years ago ,he taught me a certain way ,i have still stuck to playing multi finger shapes.
It is just certain positions ,but it seems to work , i know most of the chords i come across .
I just can`t say what notes are in them!

 

[amwilburn]

That's where I think you're misunderstanding, I'm *not* telling you not to play chord triads on the left. Multifinger is a bad choice for chord fingering because it also contains single finger chord recognition (which is awful, a holdover from the basic ABC organ and early arranger years. ABC stood for auto bass chord, precursor to accompaniment). If you switch the chord recognition to AI Fingered (which is the factory default for a reason), you can safely play normal mutlifinger chords, with no *assumptions*, so you won't hear any sudden hiccups going from major to minor, etc. In fact, for *normal* 2 handed piano playing, only AI full keyboard works... Full Keyboard will *not* work for normal piano playing because it requires at least 3 different notes (octaves don't count) to change chords, which means it only works if you're constantly playing chords on the right hand, no single notes!

-AI fingered or full keyboard is what Yamahas use for 'normal' playing. Don't get hung up on the name, that's for normal playing. AI doesn't play for you, it's merely their intelligent system for figuring out which chord you're playing.

-fingered will only change if you have 3 or more different notes on the left (which is also fine for learning, but frustrating if you want to play simplified versions of complex chords like C/G... in AI fingered you literally just play G,C. And similarly C/E you would just play E,C)
-single fingered mode is the terrible one we're telling you to avoid
-Multi fingered mode is the combination of the above 2, and that's bad, because you can accidentally trigger single fingered mode without even meaning to
-fingered on bass is the same as fingered (takes 3 different notes to change chords) but the lowest becomes the bass

To change fingering mode, press "Direct Access" then "ACMP" and select. All Yamaha arrangers now default to AI Fingered from the factory, probably because of how awful single fingered mode is for learning.

They *used* to default to multifingered, which *could* be detrimental to learning, yes.

Mark