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I am having the hardest time with this trying to make sure i play the 4 notes in the four cords and then the melody has a lot of eight notes and a slurred half. I'm having a really tough time playing. I feel like I'm all too focused on making sure I get the 4 quarter notes in the harmony played steady for each measure and the melody is messed up. Or more like the melody sounds fine and I can't keep the proper beat with the harmony. I feel like I may play too many or too few notes to the measure. I'm so worried about the counts and everything matching up I can't play the darn thing and just get the beat. Any advice at all much appreciated. I hope you can even understand what I'm trying to say. Thanks!
Pam Essex EUP 123FL Started playing August 18, 2011
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Relax! We all struggle here Can you describe the right hand in more detail or post a picture of the measures in question? I'm assuming the left hand is a steady rhythm?
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I feel like I'm all too focused on making sure I get the 4 quarter notes in the harmony played steady for each measure and the melody is messed up. You are absolutely right. It sure is! Look at the very bottom of page 107. There is a note there for you. That should give you some rhythm. EDIT: I just looked at this again. You might be confused. You can also go: short, long, short, long,... In this case...the second long is very long. Remember girl... this ain't no Beethoven... it's da blues... EDIT2: Second bar... short, long, short, short, long....short, short... The point is you are free to improv on those four notes in da blues. It's got swing. It's got rhythm. Just make sure you keep da booty movin'.
Last edited by rnaple; 10/16/13 09:22 PM.
Ron Your brain is a sponge. Keep it wet. Mary Gae George The focus of your personal practice is discipline. Not numbers. Scott Sonnon
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the melody has a lot of eight notes and a slurred half. That's not a slur, it is a tie. It means that note gets ½ a count for the eighth note plus 2 counts for the half. You don't play the note twice, you play it once, but you hold it for 2½ counts. The thing is to take it slow. Tap your feet to the beat (and/or use a metronome) and know that the bass chords come on those taps or beats. Look to see which notes in the melody also come on the beat or tap, and realize which notes come halfway in between the beats or taps. If you count out loud these notes come on the "and's" as in "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and".
1978 Dittrich Acoustic Upright Alfred's 1 Graduate Currently on Alfred's 2
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This is what I'm trying to play and for the life of me I can't get it together. I have no rhythm. I'm so focused on counting the 4 beats I can't play the melody. Uggg [img:center] http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindframephotography/10320163046/[/img]
Pam Essex EUP 123FL Started playing August 18, 2011
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Thanks Johnny D. I meant tie. I was using the metronome and i swear for an hour I just keep trying to get it. I felt like I kept tripping over my two left feet or something. I would just practice the harmony to get the beat down and then when I added the melody I became so focused on trying to get the melody played in the that measure I just fell apart. I've been at it for days and wonder if I'm making it harder than it needs to be. I've been listening to other people play on youtube and it seems so simple.
Last edited by Eveewonder; 10/16/13 09:28 PM.
Pam Essex EUP 123FL Started playing August 18, 2011
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Take your time. Play the right hand by itself first. Then focus on what goes together. The first notes are a G chord in the left hand and a B note with the right hand. Play those. Then you see for the next notes, that you keep the G chord pressed down while you play the next note (D) in the treble clef with your right hand.
So just take it note by note and go slow. Once you get the hang of it, then pick up the speed.
And, it's not as easy as it seems. You have to get the independence in both hands. It's tricky at first but it should come.
1978 Dittrich Acoustic Upright Alfred's 1 Graduate Currently on Alfred's 2
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This is what I'm trying to play and for the life of me I can't get it together. I have no rhythm. I'm so focused on counting the 4 beats I can't play the melody. Uggg You can get this! This isn't exactly kosher counting, but one way to count is to break the measure into the tiniest bits instead of trying to count the 1-and or 1-e-and-a type of counting. So your shortest notes are eighth notes and this means that there are eight of them in the measure (in 4/4). So you can count notes thusly: * one eighth note is one beat. So "1" * one quarter note is two eighth notes. So "1-1" * one half note is four eighth notes. So "1-1-1-1" * your tied note in the treble of the first measure is one eighth note plus a half note... or 1 eighth note plus 4 eighth notes ... or 5 eighth notes. So "1-1-1-1-1" This means your melody in the first measure is "1" "1" "1" "1-1-1-1-1" and your harmony in the first measure (don't try to visually line it up because the forums don't work good for that!) is "1-1" "1-1" "1-1" "1-1" So you can play them hands separately. Use one hand to clap out your "1"s on your knee and play the music with the other line. When you can hear the way the individual lines sound, then you painstakingly line them up--don't get too frustrated... it takes a while!
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I know exactly what you mean, and had the exact same problem when I was learning this one. I don't think I ever got it to work right until I came back to it after finishing the book and starting to review. I would suggest learning the right hand melody until you don't have to think about it anymore, and then concentrating on the beat of the chords.
mom3gram
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The key is to practice very slowly even if that means you can no longer keep rhythm. You can also just practice the first measure until you get the hang of it and then progress onto the first two measures.
Another thing you can do is just sit and play your G chord in a steady rhythm and improvise with your right hand. With no need to think about what your right hand is playing it will start to feel a bit more natural.
For any technical difficulty I follow a well tested system. Slow it down even if it is preposterously slow (accuracy is more important), practice for no more than twenty minutes and once done don't go back until the following day. Amazing what a nights sleep can do but don't be surprised if a stubborn problem takes several days or more. You will however feel incremental progress quite quickly the trick is not to try to run before you can walk.
Surprisingly easy, barely an inconvenience. Kawai K8 & Kawai Novus NV10 13x
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Learning syncopation is hard for (just about) everybody. We're so used to hearing syncopation in modern music that we hardly notice it... yet when we try to *play* it, many of us discover, yet again, how our hands want to act in rhythmic unison. One place to start is to make sure you are able to play the RH melody along with the metronome (before even trying to put the hands together again). If your metronome can do different time signatures by emphasizing the first note of each measure, try playing just the melody with that also. Another thing to do before trying to play both handed on the piano, is to make sure you can tap both hand's rhythms together, reading the sheet music's rhythmic durations, but ignoring melody and harmony. Try it with and without the metronome. You may find one variation may be harder or easier, so master what's easiest first, then work up to challenging yourself to master the other. And don't feel bad: syncopation is a well known stumbling block to playing most 20th century and contemporary music, and there are whole books to help you learn to deal with it. My favorite is Dan Fox's The Rhythm Bible. First he gets you up to speed with standard rhythms, then gradually increases your familiarity with a number of different sorts of syncopation. It's one of those books (like Tim Richards' Improvising Blues PIano) in which each chapter starts out easy and gets progressively harder, so you evaluate when that chapter is getting to hard for you, them forward to the next one. Thus more advanced students can travel deeper into each chapter to find material to challenge them.
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Hey Evee, Think of it as getting both hands in sort of a dance together. I don't know if you're interested in playing New Orleans style particularly, but Allen Toussaint breaks it down using a popular blues bass line you'll recognize beginning at 0:35 of this tape. Great tape for getting those ears more into the game too, imo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q62qTlHfyWI&feature=related
Rerun "Seat of the pants piano player" DMD
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Thanks everyone. At least I know I'm not alone and others have trouble. I'll keep at it an use all your suggestions. Thank you!!1
Pam Essex EUP 123FL Started playing August 18, 2011
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[quote=Eveewonder]short, long, short, long,... I would go long short, not short long for a bluesy swung rhythm.
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Another thing you could try to learn this is to play the left hand slowly and lift your left hand about 5-6 inches (10-15cm) between beats so that you get an up and down motion. Count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and, playing so that you hit the chord on the beats 1, 2, 3, 4 and the "and's" come just as you lift your hand off the keys. Count it and try to get a steady beat. Then you'll know which notes in the melody come when you hit the chord/beat and the notes that come in between.
Edit: I am not saying you should eventually play the song lifting the hand so much, just to use it as a learning tool.
Last edited by Johnny D; 10/17/13 11:56 AM. Reason: edit
1978 Dittrich Acoustic Upright Alfred's 1 Graduate Currently on Alfred's 2
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I may have deceived you in referring to page 107. I just noticed Johnny had Why Am I Blue on page 73. My Why Am I Blue is on page 116. I am on Alfred's All in One Course. The page 107 I am referring to is Got Those Blues. Talks about the Blues. The note at the bottom of the page, to quote it is: "The eighth notes may be played a bit unevenly; long short long short ." My teacher explained this to me. We're not talking about turning eighth notes into 1/16th notes and quarter notes. If they wanted to add or take away like this, they would have done it. Like they did with the fourth note in the first bar. Thus the syncopated note. We're talking about shaving a bit or adding a bit simply for rhythm's sake. Which is maybe a 64th or a 32nd.
Ron Your brain is a sponge. Keep it wet. Mary Gae George The focus of your personal practice is discipline. Not numbers. Scott Sonnon
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Rather than as short as a 64th or 32nd, swung eighth notes are closer to triplet: two triplet eighth notes tied together for the ling, and one triplet eighth note for the short. The exact timing can vary in different pieces depending on the effect you want. Listen to some blues or jazz and listen for if you can hear this effect.
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Try tapping the beat with your hands on your lap counting eighth notes.
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and Tapping the Right hand on 1, and, 2, and Tapping the left hand on 1, 2, 3, 4
Do it enough times until you feel the rhythm.
Last edited by Ohio_Mark; 10/18/13 04:59 PM.
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I think I have to leave this song for a bit. I'm really frustrated. I keep getting 5 beats in the second measure instead of 4. I think maybe I have psyched myself out and need a long break.
Pam Essex EUP 123FL Started playing August 18, 2011
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Well, if worst comes to worst, let your ears get the job done, not by counting beats ...listen to when this guy is playing on and off the beat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_84glk-v_uQYou can do it!
Rerun "Seat of the pants piano player" DMD
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