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…)

Some piano students make emotional trouble for themselves

Instead of focusing on the sheer enjoyment of making music which they love, they wonder if they are “doing it properly.” Similar concerns are too common as well. Such folks have been indoctrinated, often at a young age, that there is a right way and wrong way to make music. I’d say something different – that there is a way that makes the listener happy and a way that does not. By “listener” I include the pianist him/herself. (more…)