Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Rock piano lessons of Chuck Leavell - anyone tried?

When we sat down and created the original song list, it included a wide variety of artists and songs but we were not able to get copyrights for every song we requested. So we sat down and came up with a list of songs that would provide a wide variety of progressions, techniques, scales, and rhythms that we could clear through Chuck's direct relationships with the artists. We know that our current list isn't exhaustive but if you master the songs on this list you will have covered a lifetime of material for most people.

You will note that we have weighted our selection heavily on New Orleans style rock. That's because for most rock pianists, New Orleans piano is the cornerstone of rock piano- particularly the Professor Longhair stuff.

We have a list of about 50 songs that are already in with the publishers but it often takes 6 months to a year to clear so we'll roll new songs out as they become available. Believe it or not, we still don't have clearance on the Clapton Unplugged Album which Chuck played on.

Thanks for the reply, Howard. I know a little bit about the musical heritage of New Orleans. My parents went there for about 30 years ago and my mother used to talk about their visit, quite frequently. She always said it was amazing to see those 80 and 90 year old blues musicians, probably been playing most of their lifes.

I've also read how Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts, drew their inspiration from the musicians of that great big city, to become the greatest rock band in history. If I ever get the change to go to New Orleans, I will.

Plus, I'm sure those songs on your list will give a solid foundation.

I took a look a couple of days ago but did not proceed.

I'm a self taught oldie beginner and know a little theory and can play about a dozen pieces from memory now, including some classical (even Bach) and some modern but not pop/rock. I can read, but not sight read anything other than children's pieces.

I now want to start to learn about and to play piano, if that makes any sense. I struggle here to know what I want, but not just learning to play pieces.

The reason I did not proceed was I got the impression I would just be learning to play some songs. It was not clear to me what I would learn along the journey to completing a song.

This is OT and I have no skin in it, but I nearly signed up for a different course provided by one of the other posters on this thread. He describes a chord based method.

So I think the description to Chuck's course could be better. I know there's a free set of lessons, but life's clock is ticking.

I totally understand. You need to find what's right for you. With irocku, our goal is to teach the fundamentals through a set of songs. Not unlike how a martial artist learns the complete art through a few dozen forms. Each of our lessons includes a groove chart which teaches the chords and progressions of a song, the song itself, a technical exercise that hones in on a rock ( or classical technique) based on the song, and an improvisation exercise.

You might want to check out the 'read more' under "Here's the rap" on the right side of our website. There's some feedback there from students who have been using irocku. That might better help you decide.

The important thing is - don't stop playing!!!!

Yeah- we've been working with students and teachers for years on the developing the methodology. The feedback from our members has been overwhelmingly positive. Haven't heard any negative feedback on the fingering.

I saw this thread and decided to give Irocku a try. I bought the Intermediate level of the song "Dark Blue". I play mostly classical music but was impressed with what I can learn from these lessons. I like the format with groove chart, lesson, exercise, and improv. It seems to make learning the song possible for me. And the fingering is awesome and takes the work out of writing them in. I'll be following other comments on this topic.

Irocku:

I checked out the website and, while I have not yet tried the free sample lesson, I did view each of the sample levels of "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I am a complete beginner, self-teaching using adult method books (Alfred's) and so far, I am enjoying it. At the same time, I think I will stick with it if I have more variety than the music in the method books so the irocku course is intriguing to me. That said, from my limited review, I am not sure that the "variety" will be there, so I have some questions.

1. From watching the videos, it doesn't seem that the change from Level 1 to Level 3 is that big a leap. Level 1 seemed extremely basic and, while that might be good for me now, I am not sure that the leap to Level 3 seems like a full year's journey. (Of course, this is two-week's worth of teaching myself that is driving this cocky attitude and my crash to Earth might prove the prior statement to be dead wrong.) Moving from Level 3 to the next set of levels requires a full additional member payment. Is there any thought to discounting the fee for people who advance through each level of the course? I realize that a "live" piano teacher doesn't typically discount as you continue with them but you are competing with other teaching programs which are usually sold as full courses, beginner to pro.

2. It appears that a course is a set of 24 songs, at various degrees of difficulty, accessible up to the maximum level of the level set you purchased (i.e., Levels 1-3, or 4-6, etc.). But as you add songs to your song-list, will you be able to access any songs within your level set or just the original 24? (Or any songs up to 24 from the full song-list?) So, if you have a total of 50 songs available, could I access all 50 up to Level 3 as a beginner, or only 24 of them and then pay for individual songs as I want them? And will you have different songs for the different levels or would I have to stick with the original 24 all the way through Level 7? (I would like to continue learning the songs I started with all the way through the end but would also find it useful to learn other songs as I advance.)

3. There was a mention on the site about uploading videos for comment by the irocku staff. Is there an additional charge for this?

4. This may have been addressed in the FAQs section of the site, but the cost is labelled as an annual membership. Is this just because the expected time to complete a set of levels is one year? Can you continue to access the lessons (up to the level you purchased) forever?

I probably have other questions but this post is running long. The course interests me, more than some of the "chord-learning" courses out there. That may be because of the quality of the name attached to the course and also because I am familiar with every song on the song-list. (And I am old enough to have played some of them on an 8-track player.) My wife can't understand why I keep spending money on piano books but I really do want to learn to play this wonderful instrument. Any help you can provide in explaining the value for the money in the irocku course would go a long way to helping me justify the expense if I decide to purchase it.

Thanks.

SolidG: All great questions thx. I encourage you to check out the 'read more' under "Here's the rap" on the right side of the site. This will give you a good sense of what others think of the site.

Let me give your questions a try:

1) In the case of the lower levels, for a younger student, it would most likely take a year or more to get to level 3. For an adult you might get there sooner. But you could be surprised. At level 3 we introduce eighth note syncopations and some basic rock grooves that could trip you up and take awhile to master. We will offer a 30% discount for renewing members. When the time comes, send me an email to ensure that happens. Once you get to level 4 and above expect to spend at least 6 months to a year per level. For level 7, it could take a lifetime depending on how much time you have to invest.

2) The membership includes the 26 songs listed on the site. As we add more songs they will be available for individual purchase. We haven't decided if we will roll them into the annual membership. If we do, we will allow the members to pick and choose which songs they would like to include in their membership so you can rest assured that the original 26 will always be available to you.

3) There is no charge for the comments by the irocku staff on your uploaded videos.

4) Members will have access to the videos and sheet music streamed from our server for a one year period. BUT you can download them directly onto your computer and have access to them forever.

I hear you about the books. Too much music, too little time. That's one of the reasons we created irocku.

Good luck and keep rockin!!

Thanks for the information. I will definitely check out the 'read more' section.

irocku

I downloaded the free sample lesson. I took a look at all levels. I think level 3 is my level to work with and build on.

The sample is based on chords F and C and F major scale. Level 3 uses root and first inversion chords and adding a few extra notes like sevenths.

If I purchased the course which chords, inversions and scales would that journey take me on? (Might be a dumb question!) Is that documented so that I can pick the next lesson song to do by perhaps moving around the circle of fifths?

I bought both "Dark Blue" and "Little Martha" Intermediate Level. I like how the pieces advance through Lessons 3, 4 and 5.

I listen to MP3 recordings of all my piano pieces and find that easier than watching a video. Are there any plans for including an audio MP3 to the program options.

Since some keys are much more difficult to play than others, we introduce the more difficult keys as the student progresses. Here is our sequence:

Level One: C, G, F
Level Two: C, G, F, Bb, D
Level Three: C, G, F, Bb, D, Eb
Level Four: C, G, F, Bb, D, Eb, A
Level Five: C, G, F, Bb, D, Eb, A, E, Ab
Level Six: C, G, F, Bb, D, Eb, A, E, Ab, B, Db

Per your suggestion, we'll go through each song and level and post the corresponding key. Great suggestion. Thx!

We have discussed adding the MP3s but believe it or not that would require a different publishing license and increase the cost of the lessons. We do know that many students use software packages, such as Wiretap, to rip the audio from the video to make mP3s.

If anyone has suggestions for ripping MP3s from videos, please share. Thx!

It's not too hard to rip mp3s from video, in the VLC media player. I don't know how popular this player is, but it can play almost any audio/video format, and convert lots of them. Not to mention it's entirely free.

I had not seen this before, but it's very timely. I recently heard, and somehow noticed really for the first time despite having heard the song countless times in my life, the Allman Brothers' Jessica and its amazing piano solo. Simply stunning playing.

These lessons look great, and I'm going to give them a try. I've been playing for 30 years, but never really learned these kinds of techniques, and I think it's long overdue!

I now have levels 3,4,5,6, and 7 of Dark Blue from the IRocku lessons. I'm enjoying learning how they teach this song with additions to each level.

I'm confused as to how this is priced. There is a membership of about $60 a year and then you can purchase additional levels after level 3. How much? I spoke with my teacher about it and she asked if you could look at a page of each level for a song. She was hesitant to make any judgement without being able to see, at least, some of it. You get per song pricing? My teacher likes the concept and thinks it may be good supplemental material for me, but wants more information. The site has not covered all this, but maybe I did not look hard enough. I will go thru it again. If anyone can help, Thanks!

david

David,
Sorry for the confusion! We provide a sample lesson for free where you can check out the quality of our lessons for each of the 7 levels. All lessons follow a similar format. Plus you can preview the video lesson for every level and song we provide. We do have quite a few teachers who are using the irocku material. They particularly like how the different facets of instruction are integrated into a single lesson- groove, technique, scales, improv.

In terms of pricing you should check out our FAQs, here is a snapshot from the FAQs:

An annual membership includes 26 lessons for the instrument you select. Each membership provides you with access to three levels of lessons so you will not need to purchase a new membership each time you advance, only when you advance from Beginner to Intermediate and from Intermediate to Advanced.

A ‘Beginner’ membership provides access to 26 Level 1 through Level 3 lessons.

An ‘Intermediate’ membership provides access to 26 Level 3 through Level 5 lessons.

An ‘Advanced’ membership provides access to 26 Level 5 through level 7 lessons.

Keep rockin'!!

David, I recommend you buy one song and try it out. For $5 (including 3 levels of a song) it is an incredible deal. There is a vast amount of sheet music that comes with it and with the groove chart, lesson, exercises, and improv sheets for every level its a vast amount of music. You need to try playing the sheet music first before you decide how difficult it is. I'm enjoying it.

Thanks guys! I'll check out the samples and a song with my teacher and see if its for me.

david