5-Minute Piano Lessons

The proper priorities regarding chords and fakebooks can save time and improve your playing

Note: This essay is taken from my ebook concerning Advanced Chord and Fakebook Use. I felt it too important to limit it to that source.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of what I consider Advanced chord and fakebook usage, I want to urge you to keep your priorities straight as you study. These priorities are stated in this essay’s title, at least as I’ve found them in 40+ years of successful piano performance. I truly believe it will be very worth your time to consider my reasoning before you embark upon the study of the rest of this ebook. (more…)

The Basics of Chord Use for the Piano Student

Wouldn’t it be great if these short essays could teach you to apply everything you needed to know about chords? That isn’t going to happen. The route to understanding and really using the information I’ve presented is working on many, many pieces of music and applying these concepts to get the overall sound you are looking for. It’s the study of a lifetime and no one knows it all. However, if you look on your work with chords as a continuing “voyage of discovery” you will find a great deal of enjoyment in your explorations and experiments. (more…)