Question:
“Jermaine, I’m enjoying your material immensely. I have a fun question for you that I’m just curious about. If you had to start all over, what one thing would you learn first to make you excel the fastest?”
Answer:
This is a unique question… and a very good one. Read more »
Tip #1: Understand how music works.
One of the biggest myths is that you don’t have to understand music to play by ear. You just play. That is the furthest from the truth. While there are a lot of “gifted” and talented musicians out there that have no idea what they are playing (…they just play by listening), this is not the way you want to be. At least if you can help it. Believe it or not, understanding how scales are formed and how they create chords and progressions is one of the most important things you can learn. Read more »
For the last week or so, we’ve gotten deeper and deeper into minor scales. From the natural minor scale to the harmonic and melodic minor scales, we’ve covered a lot. We even delved into the corresponding chords that come from these scales (I’ll continue with the triads and sevenths of the melodic minor shortly).
Today, though, I want to slow down and go the other direction. Read more »
Tips To Improve Your Piano Playing
1. Practice Everyday.
2. Learn theory and how chords and scales are built instead of just knowing them!
3. Find patterns to help you learn chords and how they change relations and roles in other keys.
4. Learn all major, natural minor, melodic minor, harmonic minor, blues, and pentatonic scales.
5. Take the scales and learn all major, minor, diminished, augmented, and seventh chords. Once you know your scales, you will find it quite easy to convert them into chords. Read more »
In this lesson you will learn to play the melody to a popular Christmas song without the use of sheet music. You will also learn to play three easy chords together with the melody. Let us start! Read more »
I often have people ask me about playing a piano “by ear”. What they are referring to of course is learning and being able to play songs just by listening to them. Read more »
The first thing to do to look after you piano is make sure its stored in a suitable place. This means finding somewhere that isn’t too damp. Keep your piano away from heaters, air conditioners and fire places. Also try and keep your piano (if it’s an upright) away from an outside wall of the house. Keep the piano out of long periods of direct sunlight too, as this can damage the finish and also affect the tuning. This all sounds very particular but anything to do with heat and moisture will put your piano at risk of going out of tune and have other long term negative side effects. Ideally you want the piano somewhere that the humidity and heat levels are at a nice constant level. The contracting and expanding of the wooden parts will affect the quality of the piano. Read more »
There are many different questions when it comes to buying a keyboard. How much should I pay, how many keys it needs and so on. A lot of it really depends on the buyer and your own personal preference. The best way to tell if the keyboard is right for you is if it “feels” right. But, in saying that, there are a few simple guidelines that can help you out come purchase time. Read more »
Hi Jermaine,
Dude, you are incredible. Your knowledge of theory is on another planet. Thanks for what you do man, for real.
I’m trying to learn all 12 keys and I happen to be a member of the Gospel Music Training Center where you talked about using the circle of fifths to learn every key. Read more »
The Question:
Hi Jermaine,
This number system stuff is quite new to me but you’ve totally made it plain. You certainly have a knack for breaking stuff down and I want to thank you for taking the time to do this. On one of your blog posts, you talked about primary and secondary chords. You also talked about how each tone of the scale has its own chord that is usually played. I’m having a hard time remember all these chords and where they go. Let’s not even talk about all 12 keys because I can’t remember even one key. Please help! Read more »
