One of the most useful videos I’ve watched about how chords work.
(I’m at level 1 but after 29 days of playing, I can understand level 8, something I couldn’t have done before starting).
Day 28 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
I didn’t spot it right away, but I can’t help but hear it now. Every song on Simply Piano is a cover.
It seems appropriate. Everyone using the app is covering the song too. But it does make it seem like it’s training me less to be a solo pianist and more to be playing Uptown Girl in a wedding band.
Day 26 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
I cannot play any of these songs. Or any part of any of these songs.
But I did try this, and it worked.
Day 25 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
When I look at the keys I see the computer game, Tetris. There are serveral falling blocks and each block is a different shape. You can rotate the blocks, you make them fall faster or slow them back down, but every second, you’re trying to make the blocks fit together in harmony, in an unbroken straight line.
With the piano, I imagine my fingers as the blocks, there’s several shapes but with four fingers and a thumb there’s only a limited number of shapes I can make with them. Each one of those shapes is a chord, and if I can only move them around the piano, sometimes faster, sometime slower, I can make them all fit together in harmony.
Which sounds simple in practice, like Tetris. But harder and harder in practice as one mistake means it’s game over.
Day 23 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
Today I learned that Avicii never sang any of his songs. He always used a vocalist. Also like Calvin Harris who, despite singing on many of his songs, is more processed than a Kraft cheese slice. His songs should say vocals by Apple Mac.
I also don’t sing and, like Avicii, I can also play Wake Me Up. Or at least a four chord version of it that only sounds like Wake Me Up when you play Wake Me Up over it.
Now, if I can now learn how to use AutoTune, I might be ready to become the next Calvin Harris.
Day 22 – Learning the Piano (Andrew)
In my two previous January challenges – 31 days of fitness and 31 days of stretching - by the time I got to this point I was starting together into a routine… and into a rut. Not another run! Not another yoga pose!
But, at this point, it doesn’t feel like a chore to play the piano. It remains fun. It’s something I look forward to doing when I get home. And it still doesn’t feel like homework, even if the musical theory is now looking at more than just what the black blobs on a music sheet are called.
Day 21 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
Mrs TwinBikeRun has been learning the piano too. Unlike me, she has stayed with the essential lessons on the Simply Piano app and has advanced through to level 3. I’m still working my way through chords.
Today, she decided to start chords and after an hour said “It’s too hard, my hands hurt!”.
So do mine but I’d never thought about it until she said. Of course our hands hurt, we’re bashing – I’d say playing, but bashing is a better description of what we’re doing! – away at the keys and it takes an effort to do that when you don’t use your hands for anything else. I type. I hold a knife and fork. I don’t do anything particularly tiring or taxing with my hands. I’m using my little pinky to lift up a truck. Instead, this is the first time I will have been using my hands for long periods of time and apply force and strength while my fingers are fully extended. It’s got to hurt – but not equally. Some fingers are stronger than others, I’ve realised. And that’s when I stumbled across this:
There is a sub-genre of piano videos to teach you how to strengthen your fingers, even down to looking at an individual finger and working on it.
Now, how do I work on my middle finger?
Day 19 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
There are three pedals at the bottom of our piano. I know that one of them muffles the sound of the piano. We have this on at all times as we live in a semi-detached home, albeit one with thick walls, and we don’t want to bug our neighbour with our practice.
Some people would love to live next to piano wizard, Lang Lang. However, we are Clang Clang, and no one wants to live next door to that.
But I have no idea what the other two pedals do. One seems to make the piano sound echo-ey. I call it the Ghost Pedal as it makes the piano sound haunter.
The other one does…. nothing. I press it. Nothing. It doesn’t muffle. It’s doesn’t try and scare me. Nothing.
I could google the answer but it seems more fun to try and work it out myself, like it’s a rite of passage for all piano players. Until you work it out, you can’t call yourself a musician. And looking up the answer would just be cheating.
Day 17 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
I’ve been watching a a lot of videos about learning to play the piano and this one, ahem, struck a chord.
As I’m following the Simply Piano app, I’ve not thought a lot about timing.
1… 2… 3… 4
1……. 2…… 3
12345678
Part of not thinking about timing is that I’m both not fast and too fast. I’m not fast, as I try and play pieces and can’t change between chords as fast as shown on the screen. I’m also too fast as when I practice on my own, I try and play as fast as I can rather than going slower and learning better technique.
I need to slow down to speed up.
Day 16 – Learning The Piano (Andrew)
It turns out I like banging away at chords. I’m now spending more time just randomly playing patterns of chords than following the app itself. I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.
I think it’s good to practice myself and see what I can learn by trying different rhythms, different keys and hearing the difference it makes (usually awful). But am I getting into bad patterns that will hamper me later?
For the moment, I’m going with it’s good to noodle. Elton John didn’t have an app. Lang Lang doesn’t take an iPad out when he wants to practice. So why should I?
(Obvious answer – because they have years of experience and I have only a couple of weeks).
Twin brothers swimming, cycling and running in Scotland 