How To Play Chord Symbols In Jazz And Popular Music [Plastic Comb] Review

When you read and play the chords described throughout this beautiful, spiral bound (!) book, a world of expressive and gorgeous chords will be heard. Incredible harmonic and jazzy sounds that are easy to play are covered. These are the meat and potatoes of all fake (improvisation) books. This is how those musicians create such wonderful expressive chords and tones in gigs. Everything is clearly written, absolutely clearly illustrated, and comprehensive in description. I am amazed that for under $12. I found such a music book treasure. Go ahead, become a much better piano/keyboard player with this easy to afford and learn book. Amaze yourself!

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Product Description:
The purpose of this book is to develop facility in reading alphabetical chord symbols at the keyboard, with the ultimate goals being the ability to play fakebook leadsheets and understand popular sheet music chord symbols.

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Jazz Improvisation: Tonal and Rhythmic Principles [Paperback] Review

This serious, authoritative book turned me on to jazz.The author presents the material inbite size chunks.He has a gift for pulling structure from the chaos. This is not Jazz-For-Dummies.The reader isexpected to be hard working, but needs no previous experience with jazz. The reader should have access to a piano to play the various chordsequences, but the lessons are invaluable to all instrumentalists.
Onedownside to this book it that you have to learn the author's unusualnotation (figured bass), but the power of this notation is also the book'sgreatest strength.The notation reveals the structure of jazz and thesimilarities between the songs.And, hey, Bach used the same notation, soit can't be all bad.
The author gives the chord changes to many commonjazz songs.Usually no particular artist or recording is referenced.So,the reader has to hunt around to find performances that resemble thechanges the author has given.
Once again, this is my favorite book on thesubject.It is never unnecessarily pedantic.It never waters downdifficult concepts.The way the book talks about music is how musiciansthink about music.If this book is not enough, other books in this seriesby John Mehegan pick up where this one leaves off.

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The fundamentals of jazz are here explained and systemized in 70 lessons based on 60 jazz standards. It covers the styles of musicians from Buddy Bolden to Dizzy Gillespie.

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Jazz Hanon (Private Lessons) [Paperback] Review

This book's major drawback is its lack of variety. The left hand voicings for the first 13 exercises I practiced over a period of eight months were the same, using the root, perfect fourth, and flatted seventh. The right hand involved variations on a minor pentatonic scale, moving chromatically through two octaves. Though I enjoyed the serious practice and development of certain fingerings, I have reservations about its improvisational value. In fact, I don't think it's always wise to practice exercises that have little practical applications. Technique is not an end in itself, and I would have preferred exercises and etudes based on real jazz progressions that incorporate more than just pentatonic ideas. The latter half of this volume seems a bit more inspired, but there's room for improvement. Overall, I give it four stars because some benefits may be derived from this inexpensive book, but what should have been a modern approach to Hanon's original exercises in a jazz context turned out to be stylistically limited and of questionable use. With some imagination, this could have been a far more versatile effort.

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This one-on-one lesson with Musicians Institute instructor Peter Deneff features 50 exercises for the beginning to professional jazz pianist, covering: angular lines, large intervals, pentatonic patterns, blues scales, irregular chromatic melodies, double-note patterns, suggested fingerings, suggestions for practice, and more. Also available by Peter Deneff - 695226 - Salsa Hanon.

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Pianist's Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature [Paperback] Review

This book would be particularly useful for piano teachers or for adult students of piano who are trying to expand their repertoire.It would be less useful for an advanced pianist (which I am not), as the rating scale is too simplistic and many well-known, but very difficult, works are not included.
There is a great selection of pieces from both well-known and very obscure composers, and includes virtually every significant teaching piece that one might think of.Each piece is graded in difficulty from 1-10.The grading is not as detailed as that used by Wolters, where each piece is given a separate grade for both technical and musical difficulty, but the grading is quite accurate and helpful in selecting pieces that you can actually play, if you're not a top-notch pianist.The biggest advantage of this book over other piano repertoire books is the very extensive coverage of twentieth-century music, including even some pieces for prepared piano, so it's a good place to look for some new stuff to play to annoy your friends and neighbors.
A minor weakness of the book is the lack of headings at the top of each page, which makes it sometimes irritating to use as a reference, since you may have to page forward or backwards several pages to figure out where you are in the alphabetical listing of composers.The typesetting and page layout make it look a bit amateurish, although it is carefully edited and doesn't contain a lot of typographical errors.

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Product Description:
This reference book is an invaluable resource for teachers, students and performers for evaluating and selecting piano solo literature. Concise and thoroughly researched, thousands of works, from the Baroque through the Contemporary periods, have been graded and evaluated in detail. Includes an alphabetical list of composers, explanations of works and much more.

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The Ultimate Beginner Series: Blues Keyboard Basics, Steps One & Two Combined [Paperback] Review

I am a beginning piano player, but this book had me playing the blues within hours. First listen to the CD while following along in the book and I'll bet you'll be so stoked you will stop and try the exercises! This is a winner!

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Take the first step towards experiencing the fun of playing blues keyboards. This book/CD will guide you through everything you need to knowto begin playing blues keyboards: the 12-bar progression, shuffle patterns, triplet feels, inversions, and much more!

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Simply Elegant Piano, Vol. 1 (The Steinway Library of Piano Music) [Paperback] Review

The book is delightful, easy enough to sit down and immediatly enjoy.The chords are beautiful.

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Arranged for Piano. It takes a special talent to write piano arrangements that are easy to play, yet sound elegant and sophisticated. For this new series in the Steinway Library of Piano Music, we have tapped the abilities of two outstanding arrangers, Preston Keys and Noreen Lienhard, to create beautiful, unique and playable settings of some of our favorite songs!
Sound Elegant... Sound Professional
This is a collection players of all levels can love, with gorgeous (and painless) piano renditions of such perennials as: Misty, Star Dust,The Shadow Of Your Smile, On A Clear Day, Somebody Loves Me, Sweet Lorraine,At Last,What A Wonderful World, Memories Of You, Bewitched, I Can't Get Started, On Green Dolphin Street, I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, Shenandoah, and How Sensitive (based on a Chopin melody).You'll be thrilled at how these 15 arrangements make you sound... how much fun they are to play... and how quickly you'll get them under your fingers!

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Post-Bop Jazz Piano - The Complete Guide with CD!: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series [Paperback] Review

As a jazz enthusiast, this book was something new that went beyond all other jazz teaching books that I have come across.It has given me a new outlook on the jazz of the 1950's.Left-hand voicings, two-hand voicings, scales, tonality, modality are just some of the main ideas that this book goes through.One thing that really caught my eye, is the in depth look at the impression Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett use in their music.The book is a great option for those looking to expand their jazz knowledge and incorporate their own style.The book moves quickly but provides the information that is important for those of us looking to play.It comes with a very handy CD which allows to hear what it's supposed to sound like. I highly recommend this book.

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This comprehensive book and CD package will teach you the basic skills you need to play post bop jazz piano. From comping to soloing, you'll learn the theory, the tools, and the tricks used by the pros. The accompanying CD features many of the examples in the book performed either solo or with a full band. THE HAL LEONARD KEYBOARD STYLE SERIES provides focused lessons that contain valuable how-to insight, essential playing tips, and beneficial information for all players. Comprehensive treatment is given to each subject, complete with a companion CD.

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Improvising Blues Piano [Paperback] Review

This is a great book! I'm a beginning/intermediate piano player, I went through the first two Alfred's All-in-One Adult piano books and really enjoyed them (and recommend them!). But I found myself at a fork in the road: I was happy to continue memorizing "pieces", and practicing "technique", but I found myself wanting to know more about improvising. I play drums in a blues band, and I've had some music theory for keyboard percussion, so I'm not a total musical-novice. I tried out some other books (Mark Harrison's "Blues Piano: Hal Leonard Keyboard Style Series", but it's still a little over my head, perhaps in a year or so it'll be good for me. Also "David Bennett Cohen Teaches Blues Piano: A Hands-On Course in Traditional Blues Piano", but it really didn't light my fire either, and if I recall correctly, didn't have finger markings which I still find helpful.)This book pulls it all together for me: some blues music theory, some blues history, clearly-marked "assignments", a CD included, (a spiral binding that lays flat on the stand!) ... I'm hooked!

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The basic principles of blues piano explained for the intermediate-level pianist in an easy-to-grasp fashion.

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Dan Coates Complete / Advanced Piano Solos (The Professional Touch Series) [Paperback] Review

This book contains some of the most beautiful arrangements of popular music I have ever heard. Many of the pieces were unfamiliar to me when I bought the book, and others were songs I didn't particularly like. But Coates's arrangements are so beautiful that I love almost all of these songs now. This book is honestly titled: it is for advanced players. This does not mean that it is Rachmaninoff, but most pianists will find it challenging. Determined intermediate pianists can reasonably expect to memorize, play, and enjoy many of these pieces...but it will take some serious practice. Many of the arrangements make extensive use of the keyboard's higher registers -- where many pianists have limited experience.And some songs contain multi-measure passages where 3 are played against 2. Large leaps are common (including in some arpeggiated chords), as are chords with 6 or more notes.The book is well bound (so that it lays fairly flat), and the printing is generally clear and well formatted.Most of the pieces are 3 to 5 pages long.These pieces are worth the extra effort they require, and once the skills are learned, they'll be available forever.

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Product Description:
Arranged by Dan Coates for solo piano.Intermediate to advanced arrangements. A collection of great songs for all occasions, Includes:love and wedding favorites, Broadway standards, pop and country ballads, movie and TV hits. 79 Songs!

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Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course: Lesson Book, Level One [Paperback] Review

Having studied piano minimally as a child (six months?), I decided at the age of 49, while at my daughter's recital, that I'd like to learn, but perhaps without the cost (at least at first) of lessons.So after looking through several books at the local music store, I bought this one, with CD (very important, but seems not to be the version sold on Amazon).It was just the ticket.
In four months I have completed the book, and now can play moderately complex beginning pieces (for variety, I've supplemented it with a few pieces from getsheetmusic.com, and can play level 3 and occasional level 4 pieces from there).Each page teaches just the a little bit more, and gives you the practice pieces to master it before going on.A very steady, satisfying rate of progress.You also learn notation, musical terms, intervals, and a smattering of music theory, such as keys, although this is not real strong.I found it useful near the end of the book to go back and review just the theory pages in one sitting; they then came together much better for me than when I ran across them one by one through the course.
The musical selections are uneven, but most are fine.They are all public domain, in a wide range of styles from jazz to folk to spiritual, and some are quite beautiful (a haunting arrangement of "Scarborough Fair," the rousing gospel "Standing in the Need of Prayer" -- and I'm Jewish ).You end with the first part of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" (somewhat simplified arrangement, although they don't say that, but still quite nice) and "Amazing Grace."
I think it's very important to get the book with CD.The CD contains all the practice pieces, and helps you realize if you have the notes or rhythm wrong (like a teacher stopping you and saying, "no, like this.")
Alfred is a major musical instruction publisher, and they offer many companion books at all levels, from theory to technique ("Finger Aerobics") to music in all styles (and for all instruments).
A few nits:
(1) the CD is midi; it would be nicer if it were a real piano
(2) they teach three methods of chord notation -- full notation on the staff, names (i.e., G, D7), and primary chords (I, IV, and V7), but are uneven in providing the name and primary chords for the pieces throughout, so you can't always practice that
But those are minor nits.My playing continues to steadily improve, and what I'm learning makes me a much more educated listener, too.
It's time to move on to book two.

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Product Description:
A beginning course for adults who prefer a chord approach. It teaches chords for both hands so that the student can play more than single note melodies. It contains outstanding songs such as "The Entertainer," "Scarborough Fair," "Greensleeves" and "Amazing Grace."

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