Best Practices

[BbAltered]

A thread about the best practice tips/methods you have learned:

 

- when I was a much younger pianist I took lessons with Dave Frank. He told me the goal of every practice should be relaxation of the muscles; whether I am playing Hanon, chord progressions, Charlie Parker solos, or improv or whatever, that my goal should be to be relaxed and to release tension in my body.

 

- learn classical piano pieces. My playing really grew it when I dedicated a portion of my piano day to classical piano music. Not only was I forced to move my fingers in ways my jazzing and rocking self would never demand, I was forced to play with dynamics, pay attention to staccato and legato, and consider phrasing. In addition, my ears was learning a host of new sounds and new application for old sounds (Gurlitt using lots of #11s, etc.). The improvements in my physical playing gave me a big boost of confidence that spread over all my playing.

 

- play it in all the keys. Peter Martin said in one of his 2-minute instructional videos that when you learn a new song, you should play it in all keys. I haven't yet met that goal, but I have been doing all my major, minor, and blues improv in all keys. This has been a good practice for me, helping to shrink the distance between the keys where I feel comfortable and the keys where I feel uncomfortable.

 

- your ideas?

[Outkaster]

Play in all keys....no exceptions.

[Delaware Dave]

Play in all keys....no exceptions.

.... by using the transpose button ....

 

[CEB]

Don"t s*** on the bus.

[Michael Wright]

Play in all keys....no exceptions.

.... by using the transpose button ....

[Stokely]

I really need to work on that "all keys" thing. I don't take a lot of solos (nor care to) in my cover band, but once in a while I get put on a spot. We had a few people "groove dancing" to Gimme One Reason (not a fast or slow song but they managed) so we extended. "Rick, go!"....except that song is in F# and my soloing skills in F# are measley indeed Actually because of that I probably did a concise and tasteful solo for once instead of my usual slop!

 

I've heard of at least one pro guy that only plays in C, transposes everything (?)

[16251]

I love the concept here. Now I just have to woodshed it.

 

[Docbop]

Practicing things in all 12 keys is very helpful, it help with technique by keep putting you in different fingering situations, it is helping the ears using them to transpose and listen for finger flops. The feel of the music or exercise changing with keys and register. If Jazz tunes or running cycles helps with voice leading chords and scales something necessary for improv.

 

Another good thing to practice for improv or playing in general is to take a one tune and working on it for weeks or month. In that time playing in all keys but also changing it in every way possible tempo, harmonization, styles, like playing modally or with a pedal and viewing the one tune in as many ways possible. Taking a tune like Stella and doing a deep deep dive on it you develop skills and insights that you can apply to any other tune you work on next. Kind of like how horn players can take a two bar pattern from a book and turning into a days worth of practice turning those two-bar apart rhythmically and harmonically, and stylistically. A deep dive into one thing can teach more than learning a lot of tunes.

[montunoman]

Play in all keys....no exceptions.

 

 

I do practice scales, arpeggios, Hanon, chords, chord progression and licks in all keys. I need to do that with the tunes I play too. I mean I could figure out any standard tune in any key, but I couldn"t do that without a little prep time. I"m amazed by guys that can play literally anything in any key in real time.

 

[lerxstwoodpark]

- learn classical piano pieces. My playing really grew it when I dedicated a portion of my piano day to classical piano music. Not only was I forced to move my fingers in ways my jazzing and rocking self would never demand, I was forced to play with dynamics, pay attention to staccato and legato, and consider phrasing. In addition, my ears was learning a host of new sounds and new application for old sounds (Gurlitt using lots of #11s, etc.). The improvements in my physical playing gave me a big boost of confidence that spread over all my playing.

 

Definitely this. When I started with my current teacher, we started working on classical pieces. I do believe it helped immensely with my overall fingering in playing other styles of music as well. Not just in loosening up my hands, but thinking of more efficient ways to play more complex chords and phrases.

 

Now that I type this, I realize it's been a long while since I pulled out any of those classical pieces. I should really get back on that.

[Jazz+]

Barry Harris "Basics"

[J_tour]

Yeah. All keys, but also know the constraints of all keys. Find something "to do" in any key, for sure, but know your limitations.

 

Play Bach. Play Czerny or made-up exercises. Play Mozart. Haydn. Debussy. Memorize some of it. Learn music at the sports bar, but keep it low by keeping bits of scores inside this month's Hustler or the local weekly rag or else you get the nickname "maestro"!

 

Play everything. Read everything you can manage, throw every trick in the book to keep it fresh and keep excited.

 

If you're watching the TV? Play the music from that!

 

If you don't feel like hobbling over to the keys, turn on the metronome and work out the groove by tapping your toenail clippers or Zippo against the desk. Write it down, or remember it!

 

Too tired to do that? Fire up MuseScore or a notebook+pencil and write out some lines from whatever.

 

Too tired for that? Fire up Youtube and check out Aretha.

 

That's my rules.

 

[Dnsmo]

... Fire up Youtube and check out Aretha.

No argument there. YT nicely documents Ms. Franklin's fabulous piano skills. For instance, check out Aretha's performance of "A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors 2015. Elton John called it one of the great performances of all time. And it's made all the better by her tasty piano licks.

[Outkaster]

A lot of this takes time and finding time is another story. When i went back in 2016 to take lessons again I was in my later forties. It can be a bitch to do.

[jazzpiano88]

Rehearse until the axiom "if you think you stink" applies.

[Baldwin Funster]

Alcohol. Usually a couple shots of vodka. Then relaxing isn't a problem.

 

Just kidding. That's only for gigs. And band rehearsal.

[uhoh7]

I can't read nearly as well in G flat as C, what is my problem? But I still try.

 

"Playing in all keys" is not the same as "performing in any key". Given a choice, not that anyone would pay to hear me, I pick my most comfortable key in performance simply to deliver the best product possible. They don't sound the same I know, but that difference is small compared to a big mistake.

 

Just taking basic changes around the cycle is the most pleasant way to get better in other keys, or bass lines, or melodies.

 

I hated metronomes because of their sharp sound, but I do love my drum machine. I use it for about 1/3 my practice. Having played for thirty years without metronome by myself alone or in small gatherings, my expression is good and I can make quite a few songs recognisable from sheet music if I'm warmed up.

 

I've been playing quite a bit of anitque sheet music from the 20s thru the 50s, which I've inheritied or found in academic collections, just in the last 6 months. They usually pick very easy keys, but I can play them so much easier at a speed closer to or even on tempo. Many are more obsure TIn Pan Alley tunes, or one not in the 50 or so collections I've aquired over the years.

 

I started on Bach Chorales this fall, and it reminds me as I report, I gotta get back on those. Very easy to loose focus with lots of choice. For rhythum I'm doing easier cuban and Brazilian stuff, which is really fun, though I suck and of will indefinately. I go back to the ASB and am playing better after tryign to stay on the son clave.

 

It's a fight sometimes to play as much as I should because I'm learning various synths and EDM styles, sequencing etc. But I think I have my basic stable now, and eventually I will get my MIDI going as I want---tweaking JV1010 on the fly is my goal.

 

Hopefully my last new distraction for awhile is arriving shortly, a SL-1200mk2 tweaked by KAB to play 78s at varied speeds. About 2000 78s fell into my hands this fall. I want to play with sampling them on my recently aquired MPC 1000, and learning beat making basics. I only bought the MPC for it's legendary sequencer, but learned in the process what an inflential instrument it has been. My model is the last in the Roger Linn influenced OSs, greatly improved by "JJOS", which is still being improved.

 

So I better stop blabbing and get on it!

[Irena]

I find spending a good bit of time practicing hands-separate really uncovers the warts and speeds improvement, especially on classical pieces. Ditto with exercises like scales, Hanon-ish patterns, etc. Playing scales hands-together makes it too easy to miss technical glitches and weak fingering combinations. I maintain that hands-separate is where the rubber meets the road on finger technique.

 

Agreed on all keys for pretty much anything when time permits, and I'd add that the order matters when cycling quickly through the keys for things like scales and patterns. The circle of fifths is pleasing to the ear, but isn't as challenging as some other approaches given the small incremental changes needed to move from C to F to Bb, etc, I've found approaches like Adam Neely's routine of moving giant steps style in major thirds make my brain work harder and bakes it all in better,

 

If modal scale mastery is among one's priorities, I think it helps to do everything possible to stop one's brain from thinking that they are playing, say, the Ionian scale of another key starting on the nth scale degree. That's a great mnemonic when first learning modes, but I think can get in the way of internalizing the scales and integrating them into improvisation. Running one modal scale at a time in all 12 keys helps in that regard. One additional trick I've found that has helped me develop both my hands and my ears is hitting a low McCoy-style root-fifth pedal in my left hand, then hitting a tension chord with the left hand that grabs a few of the essential scale degrees from the mode I am practicing, and then running the model scale up and down 2-3 octaves with my right hand. I find a few minutes of cycling through the 12 keys like this really grounds me in a mode, and it sounds a little more musical than most of my exercises. Then of course moving beyond scales and running patterns in each mode.

 

I've also found mixing exercises up rhythmically increases bang for the buck on my practice time. There are the widely-prescribed simple modifications like playing scales/patterns in rhythmic variations (e.g., dotted rather than straight eighths, etc.) While those certainly help finger technique, I find it helps my brain and ear more (and is more fun) to think in terms of tuplet timing that differs from the number of notes in the pattern; in other words, if Jan Hammer and Hanon had a baby who was delivered by Vinnie Colaiuta. So if I am running a triad exercise up the C major scale (1-3-5 fingering in the RH, starting with C-E-G, then D-F-A, etc.), I'll turn on the metronome, and instead of playing the obvious triplets, I'll try to play four notes within the metronome beats and accent it as such. This element can be added to just about any exercise to up the challenge and the benefit, and can make even the most pedantic exercises sound kind of groovy.

[CEB]

First decide what you want to develop.

 

We have a monster Bach thread somewhere but ... we all played 2 part inventions as kids but they are still of value. And WTC.

 

Simple pieces like Hayden Adagio in F there are chords that don"t sound right if you don"t get the dynamics of each note right. There is one chord that would just kick my ass. If you want to develop 'sight reading" then sight read Bach Chorales. Play 1-3 every day. They are short and simple. Just play each one once and go to the next one. Remember it is SIGHT READING. There are over 360 of them.

 

Hanon doesn"t do much for me anymore. I"ll still run #5 at gigs during sound check. In ears are great. I don"t do Czerny anymore but these are great.

 

Essential Finger Exercises: Piano

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1480304883/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_JyDyEbTSSGESV

 

 

What is best depends on what results you want.

[Adan]

When you wake up in the morning, play for 10-15 minutes before you do anything else. Visit the bathroom first, but that's it. Your mind is at its freshest, most malleable point in the day. Not the optimal time for technical exercises, better for expanding your mind than your technique.

[Outkaster]

Try playing Hanon in different keys. Add a sharp first, do the exercises G. Then add a flat, play it them in F. Do it for the first 20 exercises.

[Doc Tonewheel]

Both volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Everything in one package.