I thank God for showing me such great things through His Spirit and through all of you wonderful people since I have been a part of the LGM family. If it is alright, I think it would be a good idea to post some advice for people starting out. I am not all that by any means, but I have learned that one of the secrets to getting more is to sow what you know into someone else. Isn't it a shame that so many selfishly keep what they have? If they knew the mystery of sowing and reaping, they could be GUARANTEED to get more, because God PROMISED to give seed to the sower!
Okay, enough preaching :wink: Here are some things that work for me, and please all of you chime in so everyone can have a good list of suggestions to learn from.
1. Listen to music. Hum parts to yourself, try to listen ANALYTICALLY to songs as they are being taught. A good ear can be developped. Let someone else play every now and then, or when visiting another church notice the different styles of playing (different shout runs, fillers and riffs, etc). Don't ever be too proud to ask the musician to show you what they did, and how they did it.
2. Keep a notebook. A simple, ninety-nine cent spiral notebook that you keep by your piano / keyboard is invaluable. Write down what you see other musicains doing, what God shows you personally. Divide it up into songs that you know you can play, songs that you want to be able to play by next month / nest week / etc. Also keep a list of those songs and they keys they sound best to you. This will keep you from "fishing" for the key.
3. Some people say start with the baseline, some people say start with the melody. Me, I like starting with the melody. Sit down and pick out the melody of a song that you are trying to learn, humming to yourself and enjoying the "hunt." Take that notebook and write down what you learned . . . nothing will stay with you longer than something God showed YOU personally.
4. Get into the habit of playing through mistakes as you practice. If you always go back to correct mistakes when you practice, you will do the same on Sunday morning . . . and that will throw everyone off. Get used to mistakes and get used to playing through them . . . everyone makes them and the more experience we get, the less mistakes we make. So for example, if you play thorugh a song twice and you seem to always get stuck at the bridge, then grab your notebook. Date it, write down what you need to practice on and what your plan is to fix this problem, and then try to play through the entire song from beginning to end without going back if make a mistake. It's good for you.
5. Learn to sight read. When you sight read, you choose a pieace of music that is one or two levels below your current ability. Look over the entire piece, looking for key changes, parts that are expecially difficult, and patterns (runs, riffs, etc) Now play SLOWLY, paying more attention to rhythm than to accurate music. DOn't go back to correct mistakes, just play the whole thing again and again until you've got it.
Okay, that's my 2 cents. What other tips are out there that you saints want to share?
Be Encouraged, be filled with Holy Ghost strength in the inner man, and . . .
Be Blessed! :lol:
BBoy
