Instructional help request

[ManInTheBox]

I found saw this video on this forum, yesterday or the day before. I realized I don't play as well as I'd like. I've been dabbling off & on, teaching myself how to play. I can pound out basic chords & follow a tune. But what I'd like to be able to do, is play like this guy.

 

[video:youtube]

 

I can play what he's doing there on the left side of the keyboard, but once he goes past that third C, I'm assuming he's making all that up. Of course, the little bit I do play I don't play as well as he does, but what I'm asking...

 

If you had to describe what he's doing there, how would you describe it? What's he doing? What's his "mindset"? surely it's some variations on the same chords, is that all pentatonic, strictly chord tones?

 

Would you try to learn that note for note, or would you improvise that?

 

 

[MuzikTeechur]

He's not really "making it up" - he's following the chord progression from "I'm Easy" (or something) from Lionel Ritchie.

Then he's just "noodling" around with those chords. Lots of "add 2" and "sus" chords in there, so he's just using those to make little turns and such (that part he IS making up).

Also, playing the chords in inversions - you should learn ALL your chords in Root, 1st, and 2nd inversions - with added 7ths/9ths/2nds/sus4s which make all sorts of little clashes to be resolved. (i.e. if you played a Cmaj7 chord [C-E-G-B] in 1st inversion, you'd have the B/C clash which is very nice when surrounded by the rest of the chord and a nice open 5th in the bottom [or an open 5th on top of the piano ])

So, for instance, play the notes B and C, right next to each other. Notice how they clash badly. Then play: LH C G and RH G-B-C-E together and notice how that clash is diluted by the other notes. This is what he's doing - using those clashes, resolving them to other less-clashy notes, and noodling around with the chords.

To play this, it might be nice to find the original music to "Easy" - what he was playing was pretty much the original music. You can hear the intro here:

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCaLM8cm5c0

 

Then he's just doing more of the same.

 

[ManInTheBox]

Thank you

[Steve Nathan]

f you had to describe what he's doing there, how would you describe it?

 

He is playing a song he has heard, from memory. He's not trying to duplicate another players performance, nor is he attempting at all to re-create the part from the record with any strictness. He is just playing a song he's familiar with, by ear.

 

Some musicians need written music to play, and others play by ear. Neither is inherently superior (though you'll get plenty of argument here on the subject).

This guy is the latter. If you want to "play like him", you might have to learn like he did. Listen to recorded music, over and over and over and over.....

It's a lot like taking toasters apart.