Hiring a gigging musician to teach you licks

[LiveMusic]

Okay, so I'm moving along well at this keyboard. Making some pretty good music due to the wonders of auto-accompaniment. BUT, since I'm a new hack at this, I really don't know what I'm doing. But chords, yep, I can do those pretty good now. Easily passable. And I can pick out simple riffs and melodic fills. But every once in awhile, I'll hear a song and think "Man, I _gotta_ learn that one." It just happened. A country tune by Johnny Paycheck that Alan Jackson put on his tribute album "Under The Influence." This is just a killer country song -- "She Just Started Liking Cheatin' Songs."

 

Anyway, it's easy, the chords. But about halfway, the piano player hits some right hand licks that even though they don't sound complicated, it's gonna be hard for me to figure it out. So...

 

What do you think of this, since this happens quite often with me. Since my biggest need is to just get tunes under my belt on piano... since I'm wanting to do private parties asap... I have plenty of guitar songs but I need more piano tunes. What about hiring a professional musician to teach me some of these licks? Not a "piano teacher" but a gigging keys guy. I do know a couple I can think of that, who knows, they might do it. If so, how much should I pay him? Piano lessons cost $60 a month for four lessons. Would $15 an hour be right? How 'bout two hours for $20 cash?

 

If I went to the trouble of meeting up and he did, too, I might wanna be there two hours instead of one hour. Heaven forbid, not just 30 minutes.

 

Hey, maybe one of them wants to learn to play golf. I could barter golf lessons for piano lessons. Now, there's another thread for discussion right there.

[LiveMusic]

Hey, I just figured out the first one! He throws in these riffs about halfway into the song, after the first chorus.

 

The chords in the verse:

 

C - G - C - G - C - G - Am - D

 

Right there at the second chord -- G -- there's a little riff. If it were a simple one note at time riff, the notes would be:

 

G-B-C-B-G-E-D

 

Except that the second note is more than just a B note. It's got a Bb grace note and that grace note leads to B, together with a D. And then the rest of the riff is just single notes as depicted.

 

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. A good player could show me in no time some of this stuff.

 

EDIT: It's slightly more than that. The second B is treated the same way, with the same grace note and the D with the B. AND... I can't grasp what else is different. It's like something else is happening around that second G in that riff. I can't quite get it. Close.

[Slowly]

Originally posted by LiveMusic:

Hey, I just figured out the first one! He throws in these riffs about halfway into the song, after the first chorus.

 

The chords in the verse:

 

C - G - C - G - C - G - Am - D

 

Right there at the second chord -- G -- there's a little riff. If it were a simple one note at time riff, the notes would be:

 

G-B-C-B-G-E-D

 

Except that the second note is more than just a B note. It's got a Bb grace note and that grace note leads to B, together with a D. And then the rest of the riff is just single notes as depicted.

 

This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. A good player could show me in no time some of this stuff.

 

EDIT: It's slightly more than that. The second B is treated the same way, with the same grace note and the D with the B. AND... I can't grasp what else is different. It's like something else is happening around that second G in that riff. I can't quite get it. Close.

Hey man, If you are that good at it, why don`t you just get one of those riff recorders? This woould be a one time investment for something you might use the rest of your life. They have hardware and software versions. With it you can record the riff, and then play it back at 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 speed, etc. Then you should be able to pick out the notes for yourself. Casey

[LiveMusic]

Originally posted by kcbass:

Hey man, If you are that good at it, why don`t you just get one of those riff recorders? This woould be a one time investment for something you might use the rest of your life. They have hardware and software versions. With it you can record the riff, and then play it back at 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 speed, etc. Then you should be able to pick out the notes for yourself. Casey

Well, that's actually good idea! How do these work? I mean, how can I play a CD or tape and have it isolate the riff? I still might consider the teacher thing, too. No telling what a good player could show me in no time. I just gotta get a lot of songs under my belt. I think that will make everything come so much easier. Most songs are very repetitive.

 

I just thought of something else. The Harrison Pop Piano book I have has a country section in it. But I don't have the CDs that go with it. I like to hear music I see written, as well as "try" to read it.

 

My problem is I am all over the friggin' map with my playing... rock, country, blues, boogie (attempt). And I have loads of instruction material but I jump around. I'm in too big a hurry. But I don't have much choice, as far as learning songs. If I learned 30-50 songs on piano, that'd solve a lot. And I'm talking more than just playing chords and letting auto-accompaniment do all the rest. I need to learn riffs and stuff.

[RABid]

Consider one of the sources of purchased midi files for popular songs. If you have a computer and sequencer you can see what is being played, here what is being played, and choose which part you want to play and what parts you want auto-acc to cover. Think of the midi files as a song book that can play the parts.

 

Robert