Awhile back I wrote a post on the chords to Mandolin Rain by Bruce and John Hornsby. Mencho Calloway has asked for the intro chords. So, here goes and thank you for asking, Mencho!
Mandolin Rain
Key: G
Time: 4/4
Moderately Slow
Intro
G / Am7, G / Em7, D, G /
Am7, G / Cadd9, G /
Am7, G / Em7, D, G /
Am7, G / Cadd9, G, D /
Chord Breakdown
G/DGBD = G
A/ACEA = Am7
E/EGBE = Em7
D/DF#AD = D
C/DEAG = Cadd9
First Measure:
G/DGBD, G/EGBE, GBDG
Second Measure:
A/ACEA, GCEG, GBDG, EGBE, DGBD
Third Measure:
E/EGBE, DGBD, EGBE
D/DF#AD
G/EGC, DGB, EGC, DGB
Fourth Measure
A/EGC, DGB, CDG
G/BDG, DG, EA, B/DGB, EA, DG
Fifth Measure
C/EGBE, DGBD
D/EGBE, D/DF#AD
G/EBE, DGBD
D/DGBD, EGBE, GBDG
Sixth Measure
A/ACEA, GCEGB
G/GBDG, G/BDGB, ADA, GBDG, F#DF#
Seventh Measure
E/ EGBE, DGBD
D/EGBD, DF#AD
G/EBE, DGBD
Eighth Measure
A/EACE, DGBD
G/DGBD, EGCE, DGBD, EGCE
D/GBD, AD,GD
Ninth Measure
C/AD, ED, GD
G/DGBD
D/DF#AD
Another favorite Bruce Hornsby song of mine, That's Just The Way It Is, has the chord progression to the song as well.
If you're looking for a resource that will make your fingers fly faster with more practice time, visit Hanon1 Finger Exercises.
All the best,
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King
I'm a firm believer in stretching before I do any work out exercises. The same is true with practicing the piano each day. Reach for Hanon 1 Finger Exercises or do these Five-Finger Patterns. I will be starting lessons right after Labor Day and will be handing out the following exercises for practice.
Starting with the above keys, play this five-finger scale with all five fingers. Start at C and play to G, then return to C. Do this one hand at a time. Then play the finger scale, slow and steady, with both hands at the same time.
Question: Do you have warm-up exercises for the thumb?
Answer: Thanks Roberta for this question and yes, I wrote a blog post for warm up exercises that you can take a look at if you want, but not specifically for our thumbs. Yes, that's lots of scale practice one can use with the "thumb under" approach. So, I got to thinking about your question and came up with one.
Here's a warm-up exercise that helps to develop and maintain flexibility of the thumb joint. Notice the chromatic scale (all half steps) in contrary motion (opposite directions) starting with D.
The beauty of starting here is that the two hands can work in mirror image to each other - the thumbs turn under at the same time and whenever a finger of the right hand is on a black key, the same is true for the left.
Practice this pattern at different tempos starting with the 1-3-1 fingering. Then try 1-4-1 and finally the 1-5-1. Strive for keeping your shoulders, arms and wrists down and relaxed, guarding against your elbows rising as you move out from the center. The goal here is not muscle building but comfort and naturalness of motion.
Musicians that play with speed and seem to do it
effortlessly have simply found an effective way to train their
fingers to think on their own. They've built up muscle memory,
strength, coordination, independence, and speed over time using
various techniques.
Pianists, Keyboardists, and Organists struggling to
play smoothly and accurately at fast tempos... and want a proven,
guaranteed way to improve their speed, coordination, and independence
NOW... You may be interested in Hanon Exercises
All the best,
"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King
Do you have an easy time playing the piano without looking at the notes? Some find it a bit challenging to play a song with no notes in front of them.
Here's a cool article I found online:
Tips on how to memorise your piece
"Playing
from memory could be essential while performing in concert, festival or
competition or even in exam. Knowing your piece by heart demonstrates
that the composition has been studied in depth.
There
are few ways to memorize music:
How to begin? Listen recorded version of
your piece first, so that you’ll have music in your ‘ear ‘already. Most
of the people, not necessary musicians are able to remember songs and
melodies quite easily by just listening it a couple of times. The same
with pianists, they can memorize piece quite quickly by playing it
through a few times. It is called aural memory, when musician knows how
the music sounds in his head and when he is able to sing the piece
through internally including dynamics and phrasing.The easiest way to
memorize piece is repeat the same phrase over and over again, until its
stays in your ear, then shift it to the succeeding phrase.Aural memory
is one of the strongest and most reliable memory motivators.
The
other step is to understand piece you are about to memorize
intellectually. First pianist should know the main key and all upcoming
modulating keys in the composition. Pupil should analyze the overall
structure and know the cadential parts. Recognize repeating phrases and
compare them with new material introduced in the piece. The whole
process requires conscious control. This type of method is called
intellectual or analytic memory.
The
whole memorizing process requires lots of repetition, it involves
constant finger action. Eventually fingers memorising patterns, this
process is called kinaesthetic memory. Without aural and intellectual
memory support finger memory wouldn’t be very reliable on its own.
The last method to memorise the music is visualy by remembering how the music looks on the page. All
the four: aural, analytic, kinaesthetic and visual methods should be
maintained and combined simultaneously for effective memorizing process." http://www.maestrolist.com/article/tips-on-how-to-memorise-your-piece.html
Here's an article I wrote awhile back on the subject of memorizing.
Ten Tips for Memorizing Music
Do you memorize sheet music by playing it over and over, hoping
it will somehow stick in your brain after playing a song many times
through? Sometimes this will work, especially if you are playing a short
piece.
If you have ever experienced forgetting where you are at a
lesson or recital, you might want to try these ten ideas to make
memorizing easier for you.
1. Learn the song first before you begin to memorize it.
2. Use the proper fingering.
3. Practice slowly and steadily at first.
4. Watch your hands as you play.
5. Memorize your hands separately.
6. Memorize small sections, maybe one or two measures of music. Don't try to memorize the whole song in a day.
7.
Divide the piece into sections and plan to learn some each day. Then
review all the sections. Start anywhere and play through the A and B
section of a song. Focus on the ending to the song, so with the knowing
the last measure, you can end strong.
8. Analyze the music. Notice
notes and sections that repeat. Pay attention to where the music
changes. Memorize the dynamics and other markings in the song.
9. Practice mentally away from the piano, tapping your fingers on the table or visualizing the music in front of you.
10. Repetition.
Many
teachers consider memorization one of the most important aspects of
piano playing. Most books, which discuss the how-to of memorization,
stress the importance of understanding the details of musical form. So,
start an opening phrase of music and learn it without the music.
Then
consider the physical demands the piece of music is making. Look for
tricky fingering that comes up at a certain point. Play it many times
over and over, remember the feeling. Are your hands playing together or
separately? Are they moving in opposite directions? On which notes does
the thumb go?
Each time you hit a blind spot, you need to refer to
the printed music. Remember that when you hit your first blank moment,
open your music book and find the place in the music you couldn't
remember. Play through it a few times. Now you've begun to deepen your
understanding of the song.
Most importantly, every now and then
play the song you memorized because some memorization is only
short-term. The advantages to following these points are many. By
memorizing, the music is unfolding in a new way.
Musicians that play with speed and seem to do it effortlessly have simply found an effective way to train their fingers to think on their own. They've built up muscle memory, strength, coordination, independence, and speed over time using various techniques.
Here are some sites that I have found that answer and review piano hand coordination.
* Does the left hand in piano gets less attention since it usually plays chords?
"If you’re looking for a perfect way to keep your mind sharp, piano playing is the solution. It exercises several different parts of the mind and body, while providing you with years of musical enjoyment. Whether you play piano currently or are thinking about starting, playing piano is great brain food." http://www.playpiano.com/wordpress/tag/hand-coordination
"Learning scales (don't groan). Double octave parallel motion scales are excellent for getting your hands to do different things at different times and when you start to get confident with them you can try a different tempo with each hand. Don't expect to do this overnight." http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=32;t=005292;p=0
"Watch our free video clips to learn and practice piano finger exercises to improve the coordination of your hands and fingers, which is essential for solid and fluent piano playing." http://www.doremifasoft.com/frvipiex.html
Piano exercise that develops your coordination and musical ear. Hanon#1.
Here we continue to sight-read 15-note number sequences directly from our online fingering charts. So be sure to place your piano keyboard next to your computer screen so you can follow along with these fun piano exercises that will strengthen your hand-eye coordination skills. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGBW2TcG9tQ
What are Hanon Exercises?
"They are exercises specifically designed to train the pianist in speed, precision, agility, independence, dexterity, and strength of all of the fingers (and wrist too!).
They were created in the late 1800s by Charles-Louis Hanon, thus the short name "Hanon exercises."
They may come across as scales at first glance but are strategically designed to focus on certain fingers, depending on what exercise you're on. Some focus on several fingers at once (like the pinky and ring finger, which are known to be the "weakest links"). And other exercises focus on other areas.
One thing is for sure... Once you've mastered each exercise at the maximum speed suggested, you'll feel it and your piano playing will DEFINITELY show it!
Why they are so important to YOU...
Often times, when people practice, they are working on chords and progressions, and that is totally fine.
And outside of classical music, unless an "ear-musician" (someone who ONLY plays by ear) is exposed to exercises like this, they have no systematic way to get their fingers strong, independent and faster (...so they can play runs, licks, and scales with speed and precision).
Maybe they'll practice scales but these can get boring and repetitive over time. The end result is that ear-musicians will usually warm up with a few scales but the bulk of the attention will be put elsewhere.
And this isn't our fault!
1) Most ear-musicians have no idea what or who Hanon is... or his exercises!
2) Even if one is recommended Hanon by a friend (like I was several years ago), they must know how to read sheet music to play the exercises (or find a way to get them written out in letter format).
3) Then, if they find out how to play the exercises, they often times do them incorrectly and learn bad habits that have to be reversed later on (or worse, ignored).
By learning Hanon from a professional who is classically-trained but also understands the need for other types of musicians to be exposed to it, you get the best of both worlds!
Play faster and cleaner than you've ever played before...
It's not JUST what you play, it's how you play it! A "major scale" played slow may sound basic and elementary sure enough. But do you know if you speed up a major scale by 3 or 4 times, that it will sound amazingly beautiful and can pass as "fancy?" ... Trust me, I've seen them played like this time and time again.
Improve both finger coordination and hand control in virtually minutes after the first exercise!
Perfect tons of finger movements and improve your hand positioning so you never feel out of place or out of bounds when you're playing!
Play with the best of them and never feel intimidated again because you'll have the speed, coordination, and strength to hold up!
Quickly and easily digest these one-of-a-kind techniques that have been slowed down so you can implement them right away and start seeing instant results!
Learn how to seamlessly adjust to different tempos and gradually improve your speed playing, one exercise at a time.
Never run out of gas! Intensify your playing speed and control to a level that'll even make the pros jealous!
I love teaching beginners, young children, and adults. I offer piano lessons for ages 3-103 and all levels from primer to advanced. We have a blast with piano games, playing duets, learning songs and theory.
I offer private and group lessons. I am a WunderKeys piano teacher for preschoolers, 3-years-old to Kindergarten. We have 2 recitals, Fall and Spring.
Thank You!
I've Been Mentioned!
Billie
“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.” – Billie Holiday
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