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Author Topic: Learning the keyboard  (Read 842 times)

MsNixon

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Learning the keyboard
« on: March 20, 2006, 05:09:35 PM »
I have a very nice keyboard that I inherited from my sister.  It has been collecting dust in my room since she passed.  I was reading back through some of your posts and it seems that most of you agree that it is better, or at least spiritually more benificial to play by ear.  My question is, how do I (at age 24) learn to play?  Where should I start?

Offline 1BLESSEDSOUL

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2006, 06:41:11 PM »
I would have to say the scale

Offline mteekemp

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2006, 07:35:43 PM »
(pray and seek god for what you want to accomplish by playing)...learn your scales and chords. Find a good anointed musician and watch, learn, and ask questions. Listen to and learn what chords go with what in certain songs and apply all of those particular principles as you learn them...or you could take some lessons from someone who you feel is qualified to teach you what you want to know. I have been playing for 15 years and I never took lessons. I learned from watching and listening...and practicing. One night as I was struggling to learn to play, I couldn't get a song to go right...well I cried myself to sleep( I ain't gay or nothing like that, but I really wanted to play and in my frustrations, I cried...), well God had compassion on me and my tears provoked Him to touch my hands. The next morning I could play and I am not joking...so seek God and trust Him for your gift...
mad love until we meet again...Mtee-

Offline ddwilkins

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2006, 07:39:30 PM »
Pray, seek God, listen and watch other musicians as well as ask questions on this site.  Find a song that you really like that has simple progressions like a hymn and try to start learning them, then gradually progress to something a little harder.
Keep God first and he'll do the rest!!!

Offline T-Block

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2006, 10:36:21 PM »
You start by learning as much music theory as you can.  Music starts in you mind, so that's where you should start.  Make sure to learn all your black and white notes on your keyboard before you do anything.  If you don't know your notes, you gonna have a hard time.  After that, start with information on scales, progressions, and basic chords.  Here is a little Basic Music Theory page for you:

BASIC MUSIC THEORY

Keyboard make-up

The keyboard uses the first 7 letters of the alphabet:  A  B  C  D  E  F  G 


A piano/keyboard is made up of black and white notes.  The white notes are the regular letters.  The black notes can mean 2 different things.  As u move up the keyboard, from left to right, the black notes are indicated by #, which means sharp.  So, the first black note after F going up the keyboard is F#, and the next black note is G#, etc.  As u move down the keyboard, from right to left, the black notes are indicated by b, which means flat.  So, the last black note before B going down the keyboard is Bb, and the next black note is Ab, etc.  Make sure you know your notes.


Hands and its members

When u sit down to play the keyboard, of course u are using 2 hands, Left Hand and Right Hand.  On each hand there are 5 fingers.  Each finger has a number (same for both hands):

Thumb = 1     Index = 2     Middle = 3     Ring = 4     Pinky = 5


Movement on the keyboard

The first movement is a half step (HS).  A half step is from one key to the very next key, regardless of color or direction.  Here are some examples:  F to F#,  F# to F,  B to C,  C to B,  D to Eb,  Eb to D,  etc. 

The second movement is a whole step (WS).  A whole step is from one key to the very next key w/one in between, regardless of color of direction. Here are some examples:  F to G,  G to F,  B to C#,  C# to B,  Db to Eb,  Eb to Db, etc.

All other movement on the keyboard is a combination of half and whole steps.


Major scales

A scale is simply a group of notes that start and end on the same note.  There are many, many types of scales involved in music, but the most basic scale is the major scale.  The pattern for forming a major scale is:

 First, pick a note.  Then:   _WS _  WS _   HS _  WS _  WS _  WS _  HS _

Each of these scale members also get a number from 1-7 called scale degrees.  The first member is 1, the second member is 2, etc.


Chords built off scale degrees (major mode)

1 (I) / 8 = Major
2 (ii) / 9 = minor
3 (iii) / 10 = minor
4 (IV) / 11 = Major
5 (V) / 12 = Major
6 (vi) / 13 = minor
7 (vii) = diminished


4 basic types of chords

There are 4 basic types of chords that are the basis for all the chords used in music.  They are major, minor, augmented, diminished.  To add to the diminished chord, there is also the fully diminished chord.  So really I guess u can say there are 5 basic types of chords.  Forming each of these types of chords goes back to the principle of scale degrees.  We use scale degrees so that it can be universal for any chord in any key.

major: 1   3   5
minor: 1   b3   5
diminshed: 1   b3   b5
*fully diminshed: 1   b3   b5   bb7  *just an extension of the regular diminished chord
augmented: 1   3   #5


Other chords

major 7th: 1   3   5   7
dominant 7th (V7): 1   3   5   b7
minor 7th: 1   b3   5   b7
6th: 1   3   5   6
9th: 1   2   3   5
11th: 1   3   5   b7   9   11
13th: 1   3   5   b7   9   11   13
*Each of these chords can also be altered by sharping (#) or flatting (b) a note(s) to form even more chords


Inversions

Look at those basic chords, what if we were to play those same chords, but switch up the order of the notes.  This is where inversions come from.  An inversion is just switching the order of the members of a chord.  How do u invert a chord?  You invert a chord by taking the first letter and moving it to the end.  Depending on how many notes there are in the chord, there can be many inversions.  Here they are:

    3-note chords:                            4-note chords:                                  5-note chords:
root position =  x   y   z             root position =  w   x   y   z          root position =  v   w   x   y   z
1st inversion =  y   z   x             1st inversion =  x   y   z   w          1st inversion =  w   x   y   z   v
2nd inversion =  z   x   y            2nd inversion =  y   z   w   x         2nd inversion =  x   y   z   v   w
                                              3rd inversion =  z   w   x   y         3rd inversion =  y   z   v   w   x
                                                                                              4th inversion =  z   v   w   x   y



Real musicians play in every key!!!
Music Theory, da numbers work!

Offline mteekemp

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2006, 12:20:14 PM »
You start by learning as much music theory as you can.  Music starts in you mind, so that's where you should start.  Make sure to learn all your black and white notes on your keyboard before you do anything.  If you don't know your notes, you gonna have a hard time.  After that, start with information on scales, progressions, and basic chords.  Here is a little Basic Music Theory page for you:

BASIC MUSIC THEORY

Keyboard make-up

The keyboard uses the first 7 letters of the alphabet:  A  B  C  D  E  F  G 


A piano/keyboard is made up of black and white notes.  The white notes are the regular letters.  The black notes can mean 2 different things.  As u move up the keyboard, from left to right, the black notes are indicated by #, which means sharp.  So, the first black note after F going up the keyboard is F#, and the next black note is G#, etc.  As u move down the keyboard, from right to left, the black notes are indicated by b, which means flat.  So, the last black note before B going down the keyboard is Bb, and the next black note is Ab, etc.  Make sure you know your notes.


Hands and its members

When u sit down to play the keyboard, of course u are using 2 hands, Left Hand and Right Hand.  On each hand there are 5 fingers.  Each finger has a number (same for both hands):

Thumb = 1     Index = 2     Middle = 3     Ring = 4     Pinky = 5


Movement on the keyboard

The first movement is a half step (HS).  A half step is from one key to the very next key, regardless of color or direction.  Here are some examples:  F to F#,  F# to F,  B to C,  C to B,  D to Eb,  Eb to D,  etc. 

The second movement is a whole step (WS).  A whole step is from one key to the very next key w/one in between, regardless of color of direction. Here are some examples:  F to G,  G to F,  B to C#,  C# to B,  Db to Eb,  Eb to Db, etc.

All other movement on the keyboard is a combination of half and whole steps.


Major scales

A scale is simply a group of notes that start and end on the same note.  There are many, many types of scales involved in music, but the most basic scale is the major scale.  The pattern for forming a major scale is:

 First, pick a note.  Then:   _WS _  WS _   HS _  WS _  WS _  WS _  HS _

Each of these scale members also get a number from 1-7 called scale degrees.  The first member is 1, the second member is 2, etc.


Chords built off scale degrees (major mode)

1 (I) / 8 = Major
2 (ii) / 9 = minor
3 (iii) / 10 = minor
4 (IV) / 11 = Major
5 (V) / 12 = Major
6 (vi) / 13 = minor
7 (vii) = diminished


4 basic types of chords

There are 4 basic types of chords that are the basis for all the chords used in music.  They are major, minor, augmented, diminished.  To add to the diminished chord, there is also the fully diminished chord.  So really I guess u can say there are 5 basic types of chords.  Forming each of these types of chords goes back to the principle of scale degrees.  We use scale degrees so that it can be universal for any chord in any key.

major: 1   3   5
minor: 1   b3   5
diminshed: 1   b3   b5
*fully diminshed: 1   b3   b5   bb7  *just an extension of the regular diminished chord
augmented: 1   3   #5


Other chords

major 7th: 1   3   5   7
dominant 7th (V7): 1   3   5   b7
minor 7th: 1   b3   5   b7
6th: 1   3   5   6
9th: 1   2   3   5
11th: 1   3   5   b7   9   11
13th: 1   3   5   b7   9   11   13
*Each of these chords can also be altered by sharping (#) or flatting (b) a note(s) to form even more chords


Inversions

Look at those basic chords, what if we were to play those same chords, but switch up the order of the notes.  This is where inversions come from.  An inversion is just switching the order of the members of a chord.  How do u invert a chord?  You invert a chord by taking the first letter and moving it to the end.  Depending on how many notes there are in the chord, there can be many inversions.  Here they are:

    3-note chords:                            4-note chords:                                  5-note chords:
root position =  x   y   z             root position =  w   x   y   z          root position =  v   w   x   y   z
1st inversion =  y   z   x             1st inversion =  x   y   z   w          1st inversion =  w   x   y   z   v
2nd inversion =  z   x   y            2nd inversion =  y   z   w   x         2nd inversion =  x   y   z   v   w
                                              3rd inversion =  z   w   x   y         3rd inversion =  y   z   v   w   x
                                                                                              4th inversion =  z   v   w   x   y




t- block, you are a genius...thanks for that lesson in theory
mad love until we meet again...Mtee-

Offline T-Block

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2006, 12:59:31 PM »
Every musician should know this stuff.
Real musicians play in every key!!!
Music Theory, da numbers work!

Offline mteekemp

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2006, 01:36:30 PM »
Every musician should know this stuff.
well I never took the theory, but as I grew I picked up certain things, but I never knew some of the things that i should've knew...you feel me...
mad love until we meet again...Mtee-

Offline T-Block

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2006, 01:56:35 PM »
I feel ya.
Real musicians play in every key!!!
Music Theory, da numbers work!

Offline ddwilkins

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Re: Learning the keyboard
« Reply #9 on: March 21, 2006, 02:28:16 PM »
Thanks t-block, its been 2 years since I looked at some theory.  Now that I'm mainly playing bass instead of keys I haven't applied that much theory.  You've sparked something now I have to get back to basics and freshen up on my theory.
Keep God first and he'll do the rest!!!
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