PSR-OR700 - Yamaha PSR-OR700 » Music Lessons

Piano Chords A Chord Book And Forty Eight Popular Chords For Beginners

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:53:32 +0000

I am sure you have heard of Piano Chords. Well, that can be a little misleading because when you play chords, normally with you left hand, you would play chords on an electronic keyboard or electric organ rather than a piano.
When learning to play the piano you would normally learn, what I call a moving left hand rather than a three note or four-note chord. You can still use chords with a piano but you must put the bass note in first before playing the chord. So if you are playing a C chord you would play the C bass note first with your left hand then the C chord. With an electronic keyboard, you would just play the C chord and the auto-chord feature that most keyboards have will add the bass note for you.
So, for all you keyboard and organ beginners out there all you need to start with is some basic triad and seventh chords. There are hundreds of chords to learn, but guess what; you don’t need to learn them now.
Let me give you an example, if you are playing your favourite song on your keyboard and you come across a chord called C6 or C9 or even C11 what do you do, stop, and learn these chords or carry on playing and learn these chords later, if you want to. Sound confusing, it’s not really, what you do is play a simple C chord instead of the C6, C9 or C11.
When you see a number attached to a chord it means you are adding another note to that chord. So for example C6 means play a C chord and add a sixth to it, and if you don’t know what the sixth is just play the C chord and learn the sixth later.
Now I don’t want to bombard you with theory but there are certain rules when playing ninth and eleventh chords, the rule being you must include the seventh when playing these types of chords. Now, as a beginner you can substitute ninth and eleventh chords with seventh chords. So now, you have a choice, if you see a C9 chord, you can play either a C chord or a C7 chord, both are adequate and both will sound correct.
Here are the chords I recommend beginners learn first.
12 Major Chords
12 Seventh Chords
12 Minor Chords
12 Minor Seventh Chords
The 12 Major Chords are:
C, G, D, A, E, B, F#/Gb, C#/Db, Ab, Eb, Bb, F
The 12 Seventh Chords are:
C7, G7, D7, A7, E7, B7, F#7/Gb7, C#7/Db7, Ab7, Eb7, Bb7, F7
The 12 Minor Chords are:
Cm, Gm, Dm, Am, Em, Bm, F#m/Gbm, C#m/Dbm, Abm, Ebm, Bbm, Fm
The 12 Minor Seventh Chords are:
Cm7, Gm7, Dm7, Am7, Em7, Bm7, F#m7/Gbm7, C#m7/Dbm7, Abm7, Ebm7, Bbm7, Fm7
That’s 48 of the most popular chords used in modern music today. If you learn these chords, you will be able to play hundreds of songs that are widely available in songbooks and sheet music.

Eight Popular Guitars

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:42:50 +0000

There are literally dozens of guitar brands on the market, some good, some bad and some unbelievably excellent. If you want the best sound and quality, then it really does pay to choose a good brand name. You`ll pay more initially, but it`s worth it since you`ll just have to replace a cheap guitar pretty quickly.
Going with an established name will pretty much ensure you`re getting great quality. If you`re serious about playing, then you should definitely take a look at one of the following guitars.
Fender
This company is probably the best known when it comes to top of the line guitars. This is where the famous Stratocasters come from . . . the original guitars in this line are now worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fender also produces custom guitars, many of which can be seen in the hands of famous musicians like Santana.
Gibson
Another very popular guitar brand is Gibson, running almost neck in neck with Fender for quality. This brand has pretty much cornered the upper levels of the electric guitar market, though they also produce high quality acoustic instruments. Among musicians who use Gibson brand guitars are Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins and the Allman Brothers Band.
Yamaha
Well known as a musical company, Yamaha isn`t just a keyboard brand. They also turn out some great guitars that are sturdy and well suited to the life of a musician. Many of their designs are actually copies of more popular designs from the US, but they also have some original designs of their own that sell very well. It`s a brand name that is trusted, so many new musicians opt for this brand.
Ovation
These guitars are quite distinctive in how they look. With a rounded back and fibrglass body, Ovation guitars can`t be mistaken for any other brand. Besides the bowl-like back of the instrument, the sound holes are also different. Rather than one large hole, as other guitars have, these instruments tend to have groupings of smaller holes. Despite the odd looks, they are considered precision and provide great sound.
Martin
This brand is also known for its superiority in the world of guitars. Martins are usually more affordable than the top of the line guitars, but still produces excellent instruments. These guitars tend to be larger than the average acoustic guitar and are very popular among players who enjoy playing acoustic.
Alvarez
When it comes to acoustic guitars, Alvarez is certainly one of the first guitar brands that comes to mind. With over 60 years of experience in making precision instruments, Alvarez actually comes from a long Japanese line of well made classical instruments.
Jackson
Best known for the unique design of their guitars, Jackson instruments were originally meant to look like the Fender Strat, but quickly became a hardcore version made for rockers. The Jackson guitar line is usually associated with rock and metal music.
Guild
While perhaps not as well known as some of the above guitar brands, this is a good, solid company with years of excellent guitar making behind it. Guild is 100% American and has been around since the 1940`s. They are best known for making jazz guitars, but have since expanded into other areas, providing distinctive musical instruments and guitars.
There are plenty of different guitar brands to choose from, but if you want an instrument that will give you the quality of sound that you want and something that will last for a good long time, then it`s worth looking at the best in the business. The brands above are all top of the line and excellent guitars.
Music School offering Grand Pianos Toronto, voice, guitar and voice lessons Oakville and the GTA area. Visit our music store to find new and used pianos in Toronto.

Piano Software Courses Vs Piano Tuition Books (Part 1)

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:52:30 +0000

If you want to learn to play the piano, you can go to a piano teacher or teach yourself. If you’re going to teach yourself how to play the piano then you have to decide whether to use piano software courses or tuition books. Whichever method you choose you should be aware that there is no magic solution to learning to play the piano, whether you choose piano software or tuition books there is going to be a certain amount of study and self-discipline on your part to succeed.
Let’s look at the benefits and drawbacks of both methods of teaching yourself to play the piano. Both methods will help you to learn to play the piano or keyboard. Both will provide you with songs to play on the piano and both will include the necessary music theory required to play the piano. So which method is best?
The benefits of tuition books
The obvious benefit of using tuition books is the cost. When you buy a beginners tuition book for example “The Complete Piano Player” or if you’re using a Yamaha keyboard “The Complete Keyboard Player”. They are normally sold as part of a series, for example, book 1 to book 4 and each book costs about six to ten pounds. You just buy the book you need, which means it’s incredibly cheap to get started. Each book contains about twelve songs and each song will introduce something new to learn.
When first starting to play a keyboard instrument its normal practice to learn a simple piece of music that just uses five notes, typically C, D, E, F, G. This is always a good start because it immediately teaches you to use all your fingers on your very first piece of music. Tuition books and software will use this method of teaching.
The drawbacks of tuition books
The main drawback of these books are not the books themselves but the fact that they are designed to be used with a piano teacher. If there is something you can’t quite grasp then a piano teacher would have many ways to explain things. Without that help, your task can become overwhelming and many people will give up within the first three months.
The other main drawback is that tuition books dont teach you what you need to know before you start using the books. That is, the basics, what the notes are called on a keyboard, what are the notes called on sheet music, time signatures and time values. These are the basics that apply to all musical instruments and you must learn this first.

The Advantages Of Electronic Pianos Over Acoustic Upright Pianos

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:12:09 +0000

Many years ago, almost every household used to have an upright piano. People took music lessons with a piano teacher. These pianos took a lot of space and had to be tuned from time to time, otherwise they would sound horrible. Today there are a lots of electronic pianos, which do not have this kind of problem and are also quite cost effective. A big advantage of choosing an electronic piano is that they are not expensive. They also do not require tuning and as they weigh less they can be moved easily from place to place. You can even buy a piano that will match your furniture at home.Before you buy one, you need to consider a few thing things. The first thing you need to check is whether it actually sounds like a piano. Also, check out the other sounds other than the piano sound. Many of these keyboards include sounds of different musical instruments as well so check them out. There are some models that will also provide drum sounds. The next thing you need to look for is that whether the piano has weighted keys. These weighted keys will make your electronic piano sound and feel real. If your child is learning to play then the option of weighted keys is a really a necessary one.Most electronic pianos have a midi sequencer onboard. The sequencer will help you record whatever you play. This will help you when you are composing and playing back music pieces. You can play tracks you have recorded later whenever you need it. The next thing to look for is whether the instrument has a built in sound system or whether you have to connect speakers to it to hear the sound. The final thing you need to look for is whether it as an 88 note keyboard. Acoustic upright pianos always have 88 notes. Sometimes, low priced instruments have fewer notes. Popular sizes are 49 note, 61 note and 76 note keyboards.

Yamaha Education Suite Explained!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:04:26 +0000

Have you got your new Yamaha musical keyboard? If yes, you should try out the keyboard lessons in the Yamaha education suite. So what is the Yamaha education suite? As the name suggests every Yamaha keyboard provides a set of keyboard lessons, across various topics and graded as per difficulty, to help you with your keyboard learning. If you are taking private lessons from a piano teacher, you can use the Yamaha keyboard lessons to reinforce important topics and concepts. The Yamaha education pack will help you to learn important musical concepts like note and chord recognition, timing, and much more. It has exercises for playing left and right hand part separately as well as together at various levels of complexity. You can even set Repeat Points within the song so that you can practice a difficult section within the song repeatedly. To help you improve on your learning, the education suite has a grading mechanism as well to grade your performance on the various exercises. Yamaha assigns version numbers to the education suite. Depending on your Yamaha keyboard model, you may have version 1, 2, 3 or version 4. Version 4 being the latest version and has a higher number of exercises compared to version 1, which was something that Yamaha had introduced many years back. Irrespective of what version number you have, you should still explore the Yamaha Education suite. It is a convenient way of grasping important musical concepts. Even though the exercises are quite exhaustive, the Yamaha Education suite is not meant to replace your music teacher, and it should be seen as a supplement to your music lessons.

5 Reasons To Get The Yamaha Electronic Keyboard

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:32:19 +0000

Are you interested in buying a new electronic keyboard? You will get many brands of keyboards from which you can choose the right one for yourself. You just need to ask yourself a question or two. Ask yourself which keyboard will be the best for you and why and secondly, do you need all the bells and whistles that come with higher end keyboards. If you really want to choose the best deal for you when it comes to buying a keyboard then you can opt for the Yamaha electronic keyboard. You can have many reasons to choose the Yamaha electronic keyboard. Five of those reasons are given below. Firstly, when you have decided to buy a keyboard make sure about what features you want. If you do not know your exact needs then you might end up spending more than you need.Yamaha electronic keyboard offers some very great features that are absolutely perfect for those who are using a keyboard for the first time. Secondly, the Yamaha electronic keyboard offers some on board music lessons and this will work very well for those who are just starting keyboard lessons. There is also a feature called, Learn how to play now, which can teach you to play songs. It also has some built in songs that you can play along with. With the Yamaha electronic keyboard, you will also get 7 different levels of lessons to help you play the instrument. Thirdly, the keyboards on the Yamaha keyboard are very much user friendly and they do have any complicated buttons like other keyboards.The Yamaha electronic keyboard also has an easy user guide. Fourthly, you do not need to pay thousand dollars to get an extra ordinary timbre or rich sound. You can select the style of music you want from a variety of models, which have built in music styles. You can even try out different genres of music on the Yamaha electronic keyboard. Finally, you will get a variety of easy play options which have made the Yamaha electronic keyboard a popular choice for beginners.

Yamaha Keyboards: The Right Choice For You

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:31:36 +0000

Are you in search of Yamaha keyboards to meet your purpose? Are you thinking whether the Yamaha keyboards will be good for you or not? If you really go for Yamaha keyboards you will save both your time as well as your money. You will save time because you do not have to search very far for a Yamaha keyboard because they are available in almost every musical instrument store as well as widely over the internet. On the other hand, you will save money because these keyboards are priced quite reasonably and you will find them very reasonably priced. Before you decide on a particular model of keyboard, you can just visit a review website and read the review of the various models of the Yamaha keyboards.Either you can be a beginner in the field of playing the keyboard, or you can be one of those professionals in the music industry that play the keyboard regularly. For both of you the ideal choice of keyboard will be the Yamaha keyboard. On internet forums, you can also discuss which keyboard you should buy. There are lots of experts who can give you good advice about which keyboard you should go with. The features of the Yamaha keyboard are unique and you will get everything you require to play good music. Yamaha keyboards are designed for all ages of piano and keyboard players. The basic features of keyboards are almost the same and hence you will get what is required for you.Yamaha keyboards also have the feature of composing and storing music and you can listen to it whenever required. There are many models of Yamaha keyboards that will give you a number of music lessons. You will get manuals as well as guides with these keyboards, which you can use to the fullest and learn some of the greatest music pieces ever written. Yamaha keyboards are very much user friendly and they do not have to many complicated buttons and systems, which can confuse a beginner.

A To Z Information On Digital Keyboards

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:31:34 +0000

Digital keyboards that feature full 88 touch sensitive keys will perhaps be the best choice for you if you wish to capture the feel of an acoustic piano. A damper pedal attached to it would be even better. However, you have to keep in mind that keyboards of this variety will set you back by $1000 more.These kinds of digital keyboards are ideal for beginners or those who are into their 1st year music lessons. The starting price for cheap acoustic pianos is around $2000. So you can naturally guess how much an expensive electric keyboard will cost you. When you purchase a keyboard, you must check to see that it has USB connectivity and PC connectivity. Such features will raise the price bar higher, but ultimately you will be the gainer in the long run. Don’t think of digital keyboards as substitute for an acoustic piano, rather it should complement or be an adjunct to the latter.If you are a complete novice who wants to test the piano learning waters or wants to gift your children a piano to encourage him or her to take up piano lessons or if you are not sure about the student’s interest levels and don’t want to waste a lot of money on something super expensive. Then the cheaper varieties of smaller keyboards will be ideal for you and they cost less than $200 and are therefore, extremely pocket friendly. You can make do with these types of keyboards for quite a few months. These types of digital keyboards have a rudimentary type of damper pedal, the keys might often turn out to be not so touch sensitive and there will be no more than 4/5 octaves. A full keyboard usually features around 8 to 9 octaves. Another feature that you must check while purchasing a digital keyboard is whether the instrument is MIDI compatible or not.Nowadays, you can avail yourself of different models featuring both complex and simple kinds of keyboards, which are sold with piano training software, and the makers nowadays make available different varieties of software and hardware combinations.