Piano + Keys: Month 1
At least 2 people have asked me about live keys in a band situation. My first band-situation, pro-keys gig was at ACL Fest. I had to cheat to win. Stuff like the below really helped.
Here are 3 perfect starter videos:
Duxbury 1
Find middle C thru all white keys. Work on memorization of notes. Every day.
Hang out right in the middle.
Low Rez at left-most end. Hi Rez at right-most. (Brilliant analogy.) Too much information is overload, so 1-2 keys max on either end.
Stick with the white keys for now.
Duxbury 2
One finger bass + Aloha chord (amiright?): one finger bass up the C scale + G CD G
Duxbury 3
E or F or G in the bass? Try RH Index from G to G#.
D or A in the Bass? Try RH Index from G to F#/ Gb.
F# in the bass? Try RH Index from G to A.
G in the bass? Try RH Index from G to B.
The 4 lines above is what you spend a month on. Every day
Run thru this 1,000,000 times (bass bold):
C G CD G
D G CD G
E G CD G
F G CD G
G G CD G
A G CD G
B G CD G
C G CD G
D Gb CD G
D# B CD G
E G# CD G
F G# CD G
F# A CD G
G G CD G
G# B CD G
A G CD G
B G CD G
C G CD G
Like the end of video 3, make this a rote exercise. Do it over and over again. Concentrate on getting it right every time. Do not move on when you goof. Start over. Then VERY gradually speed it up. Make sure it DOES NOT sound like music. (Wrong stage developmentally.)
Put these into a song context. Remember, the left hand calls out the chord. (This is why I play bass. It’s an X chord when I say it’s an X chord.)
Separate the above. 1 is about mechanics. 2 is paying. These are very different practices.
And finally, experiment around with changing every position by a 1/2 step. See what happens.
After a month of this you can legitimately play-in / add-to a band, filling in some nice midrange. Much like strumming guitar chords.
Global Tips
Don’t move on to the next thing without getting the current thing 100%
Stay in C for a year. Make easy whatever you can make easy. You cannot spend too much time in the major scale, so find out how to transpose. This is your capo.
Regarding gear, don’t worry about hammer action etc. Just get something. You won't really know what you want until after a year of playing anyway. But if you must, see below for high and low options.
Gear Etc.
Nord Piano 5
Cheap and Cheerful Options
Side Note: My current interest in all of this comes from a live solo show idea to play songs that people actually like but don’t remember they like. (Instead of a bunch of obscure gems lost to time that no one but me cares about.)
A bit meme-ish, but if you know and were there, Secret Love was a commercial we all saw 1,000,00 times back in ’91. The songs mostly held up, are very well written, and are very smooth. They sounds bit corny now, and it’s hard to explain to hipsters that they were not being ironic at the time. We did not live parody lives etc.
All this being said, could there be a better base for learning how to play some piano/ keys?
updated 2024_06_07