Paul Clancy Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Hi all, Im really looking to learn lots of new riffs and licks and tricks but cant find any decent info or tutorials online? i often just sit with a keyboard plugged into the PC and play along with some stuff to try and pick up bits but id love to find a quicker way. I really need to improve my knowladge of jazz keys, modulations, modal stuff etc too. How did u guys learn over the years? The Big Spoon-Irish Funky Soul www.bigspoon.ie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIDIdiot Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Originally posted by Paul Clancy: Hi all, Im really looking to learn lots of new riffs and licks and tricks but cant find any decent info or tutorials online? i often just sit with a keyboard plugged into the PC and play along with some stuff to try and pick up bits but id love to find a quicker way. I really need to improve my knowladge of jazz keys, modulations, modal stuff etc too. How did u guys learn over the years? If I may... This question is probably the most popular one that has been asked in a variety of different ways. There are never any shortcuts, even in this day of age. GOod luck, we all need it. Dark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Paul, I took piano lessons as a kid. It totally ruined my career in professional sports, but that's the breaks. I found jazz at an early age and started listening to that as well as jazz/rock which was all over the radio when I was growing up. Before that, I grew up with the sweet soul music that you listed in your repertoire. My brothers and sister all listened to that music. All the local musicians played that music. You couldn't get away from it if you tried. So I listened. And I listened some more. With a basic knowledge of piano and theory, I was able to learn how to quickly pull off the changes from these recordings. One occassion I would buy the sheet music. But the sheet music was often incomplete or just wrong. The best way to learn the tunes and the groove they are couched in is to listen and play with the recordings. Try writing charts. Even if they are elementary-school-simple. Find lyrics on the web. Print them out. Listen to the bass line & write the bass notes and/or the chord changes over the words. Don't worry too much about filling in all the gaps. It will come as you start practicing the song and finding the voicings that sound best. You will find a reoccuring theme on the forum today. And that is to LISTEN. In the thread about sitting out and not playing keys on all the songs in the set list, that's a no-brainer. If you LISTEN you can begin to understand what should be there to support the other players and what shouldn't be there & when to lay out completely. It sounds simple... almost too simple. The key is to stop talking about it and just get to work doing as much transcription as you can. When you get hung up on a particular tune, come back here and ask the pros. We're all in this together. "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Golly Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Originally posted by Paul Clancy: Im really looking to learn lots of new riffs and licks and tricks but cant find any decent info or tutorials online? i often just sit with a keyboard plugged into the PC and play along with some stuff to try and pick up bits but id love to find a quicker way. I really need to improve my knowladge of jazz keys, modulations, modal stuff etc too. How did u guys learn over the years? Hey Paul... welcome aboard. The answer to your question is in the last line you wrote: 'over the years'. There's no miracle cure, no silver bullet, no fairy godmother in all this. It takes hard work (or a loooooong period of light work ), patience, practice, and something to work towards. Of course, a lot of this becomes significantly easier with a good teacher; this is likely a theme you'll see a lot as forum members reply to your post. Without a good teacher, you're likely to develop habits that will prevent you from reaching your potential, and quite possibly prevent you from developing the technical facility to play a lot of what you want to play. As others have stated before me, part of the solution is to absolutely IMMERSE yourself in the music you're wanting to play... live, eat, sleep, and breathe it. The more familiar you are with it, the easier it will be to pick it up on your instrument (again, with the caveat that a good instructor will open the door for you). Good luck, and again, welcome to the forum. Cheers, SG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningbusch Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 I use a program called the Amazing Slow Downer. I use it on the Mac but I believe it's available on PC. I pull a lot of stuff off by ear. You can have it loop sections and then slow it down till you get it. I essentially learned how to play music by just listening to records and slowing down the fast parts. Some record players used to have a 16 rpm setting in addition to the normal 33/45. The 16 would drop it down an octave but cut the speed in half. I learned all my original greasy fast organ blues licks by listening to Al Kooper "Live at the Fillmore/Super Session" stuff. The problem with popular music is that only a tiny fraction of it has been transcribed. Busch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Loving Posted October 27, 2005 Share Posted October 27, 2005 Welcome. I cannot say it better than 'Gas' did, and the rest of the advice is true. This kind of thing is something you can't depend on someone else having done it right. You just have to do it yourself by listening. Good luck with it; it's fun! "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soultwist Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Here ye go: http://www.creativekeyboard.com/articles.html http://www.learnjazzpiano.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moj Posted October 28, 2005 Share Posted October 28, 2005 Paul Check out these sites: http://www.homespuntapes.com/catagory/default.asp?catID=21&ctype=i Homespun Tapes: Instructional DVD's of different musical styles from the likes of Dr. John and Donald Fagen. http://www.pgmusic.com/ Band-in-a-Box is your *virtual band* to jam with. Wanna learn how to play some cool jazz *riffs*? PG Music has several *stylist* add-ons available. http://www.learnjazzpiano.com A comprehensive website that IMO is the most informative jazz piano and jazz studies website around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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