Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Question about PM

Is it about chording & how to make/find those chords, while figuring out the melody line & lil fills on the right?
And of course the forums for getting help, discussing theory & whatnot!
S.

The reason I ask is that this is the method of playing I have adopted lately so I thought membership may help, but I am just going to go it on my own for now
S.

Hey sharp21. I can't believe no one replied to your question. Must be the week end.

I'm sure you will get responses today....

PM is a method for playing songs you can sing or hum. It has proven to be effective for most who try it out. It was not for me, but it was a choice I made to learn the "classical" method first.

If the ability to play something you have heard, and can sing/hum the melody, then PM will give you this skill. It teaches you how to "figure it out", and then how to fill it out.

Do a search for Seaside_Lee and you can listen to some of his stuff, after 4 years of PM (and check out his blog). There are many members that post here regularly, but for the life of me I am drawing a blank this AM....

I am a member of PM although I have not done much for a few weeks now. The reason for this was that I discovered that I did not need to develop my ear but simply find the method of piano playing that suited me best. I finally found the method that I identified with and I have since been playing many songs by various artists.

I discovered that I learned so much quicker with video tutorials (ie. pianojohn, youTube and nowplayit.com)

Furthermore, I discovered that I was able to assume correct chord progressions and arrangemenmts in advance of demonstrations. This really boosted my playing confidence.

I enjoyed the things I did at PM up to a point but it did not suit my style, and that is a personal opinion. We all have different learning styles.

Hi Sharp 21

yes pianomagic is all about chords and how they relate to melody in the songs we play and love...but, its primary focus is learning to play piano by ear

and yes the forums are used exactly as you say


Lee

Gilbert, I'm curious because I think we share some similar goals. Is your issue with PM that the styles of music you're interested in -- e.g. blues, rock--not covered or perhaps not as suitable to the PM method, or is it the method itself.
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Note: When I say "method itself", I start from the premise that the best method in the world will not work for some people, who may need another method. An example I use is the "Hear and Play" method for playing gospel. I learned almost nothing from it. Is that because it is a rip-off?

NO! The Gospelkeys 201 course, which I own, is a great value measured by cost vs amount of information, personability and patient explanation of the star/founder. It's several DVDs jam-packed with clear demonstrations of chord progressions, substitutions, harmonic tricks etc, etc.

I watch it and I see what Jermaine Griggs is trying to teach and I want to learn it, but it just doesn't take! I don't get it. I'm missing something that maybe experience will teach me. I think I need tons more theory and experience. It's like quantum physics or something.

But many people love the course and attribute incredible jumps in their playing ability to the HearandPlay system...

So I'm guessing Piano Magic is like that: if it fits you, you'll learn lots.

Hi pastafarian

I feel exactly the same as you about "hear and play"...even though it doesn't fit with me, I still keep on buying the next super duper mega fantastic offer?

I don't think it a rip off either because there is a ton of stuff in the hear and play videos - I just can't connect with it.

I have found some value in it though and I could say the same for every course and DVD I've bought the only one that really felt like a rip off to me was rocket piano and yet loads of people love that?

regards


Lee

Pastafarian, when I play piano I also love to sing. I sit down and play songs like 'Moon River', 'Martha My Dear', 'Imagine', 'Let it Be' and many others. I play it either with the aid of sheet music (mainly the Hal Leonard material which is very accurate) or I can pick up the youTube tutorials that demonstrate the songs very well. These tutorials are in effect what the original artist I playing on the recording and you can if you wish add your own flair to them.

I don't need to 'hunt and peck' to learn the melody because the original artist didn't and this is one of my drawbacks with PM. There is so much focus on melody. However, if you were a soloist like 'Seaside Lee' who doesn't sing, as he has stated, the melody would therefore be a vital part of his arrangements of many tunes.

That doesn't mean that PM is any less a method - in fact it's harder to play the PM as the student is encouraged to develop his/her own interpretation of the tune in many instances.

I'm a firm believer in playing the song - as it was recorded, as accurately as possible, and yes with a bit of your own flair. But hey, some if the stuff I've heard is 'over the top'!

I want to play blues, boogie-woogie and rock n' roll in the same way as it has always ben played. Pasta, we both have played tunes the Tim Richards books, and enjoyed it. The traditional way is best, I think.

I'm gonna jump in here although I'm not involved with PM. I'm doing the IBP book and I'm learning a great deal of new stuff. But I've always struggled with reading music, going back to my days as a wee lad when mama tried to teach me.

I use tablature or "ear" to play bass. It works for me and I think I'm a fairly good bassist. I like to play new music and see how quickly I can pick up on the bass line. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I've been able to use the same technique with piano (or the keyboard in "organ mode.") I can find a base line and then play chords or a vestige of a melody with my right hand....I'm still working on that and improving as I go, but there's a catch to it.

As I work with the IBP book, I'm doing my best to read the music...and learn to play "by the book." Well, I sure pick things up faster "by ear" than I do by reading (or attempting to read) music. I guess I'm saying that I can fake it fairly quickly, but it's real hard work to learn to play it with precision. Since I play blues and rock, it's not nearly the problem it might be if I were attempting to play classical pieces.

As a result, I have to work harder to stay with the book method and not just "play at playing."

Right now, I'm in what seems to be a plateau phase. My instincts want to say "the heck with the book," but I believe that I need to stay with my game plan and learn sight reading (the ultimate irony is that neither of my sons who are very skilled musicians can play without music in front of them and I can't play WITH it,) theory, technique and any other stuff so I can become a better overall musician. Right at the moment, it's a bit of a struggle to keep focused, especially when I practice one instrument (at least try to) the "traditional way" and the other by ear.

I'm not sure that this post has much of a point other than to say that I'm also trying to find a happy medium (or maybe decide to use one method exclusively) and I can relate to others who are in the same place.

Ratman,

I use the IBP for six months with my teacher as part of my structured piano lessons. I found that it gave me very good reading skills, and I learned some very nice blues numbers.

The problem I found was that some of the exercises at the beginning of the book were a little too advanced for the early stages of the book and we skipped to other pieces to keep the momentum going.

However, after six months I was totally burned out on blues that I moved into building a repetoire of songs of my own from various sources.

Still a brilliant book!

Thanks for that info, Gilbert. I may do some skipping ahead, myself...if for no other reason that it's occurred to me that I haven't listened to all the tracks of the CD that came with the book. I think it might be a good idea to find out what I'm in for.

Ratman, speak to the man himself!

http://www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk/

I have emailed Tim Richards and got some sound advice in the past, in particular with songs that were giving me grief.

Thank you, good sir. That's very helpful. It's bookmarked and it just might serve to bail me out if needed.

I'm (as I type) listening to the tracks from the IBP CD. There's a LOTTA stuff there! Well, I got the rest of my life. A don't have anything like a degree in nuclear physics planned for the near future (although it'd be nice to get my rat rod on the road and my race car on the track) so I can take as long as I want. If I make it through to the end if the book and can play with that degree of proficiency....well...I don't know what I'd do. I suppose I might even consider rentin' myself out like Seaside Lee.

Thanks again,