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I want to learn a lot of good old Rag-time songs for the piano!
I want some influences, which song is the "basic" ones to know? I suppose "The entertainer" is one of them!

All the best!

I will stick bamboo shoots under my fingernails before I ever play The Entertainer. However, there are a lot of great Rag tunes in



It's 320 pages and has lots of tunes by Joplin as well as Handy and others. Check it out on Amazon or just about any good piano music site.

You could also try a google search under "Ragtime" to see what else the web has to offer, but THIS site

http://www.perfessorbill.com/

is very good and quite extensive.

Many recordings, a lot of history, and discussions of technique and the "philosophy of rag" are included.
Bob

An early published rag (1899), a national sensation, and definitely one of the greatest rags written, is the Maple Leaf Rag. You can download a copy for free from:

web page with free ragtime

Joplin's complete rags are available from Amazon for $10.00 US;

Amazon (USA) link to Joplin Complete Rags

Rather than starting with the Maple Leaf, you might wish to try something easier, like The Easy Winners or Stoptime Rag (this last one if you don't have any downstairs neighbors! ). Joplin also wrote, in 1908 the School of Ragtime, six exercises which are the very first item in the Jasen Collection, above. I'll post them shortly.

I started with Maple Leaf Rag. I love it, but it's brutal on your arms if you can't relax. I mostly learned it first because I LOVE octaves, the octave bass clef in the Chopin Polonaise Op. 53 looks like funs to me. If you don't like octaves, or if you're not very good at them, you should probobly improve on them before you try.
Anybody know of anywhere where I can find the music online for Original Rags? That is the most AWESOME ragtime piece I've ever heard.
BTW, for beginners, as an introducton to the syncopated rythms, maybe Solace?

Valarking:

You can download Original Rags as part of a collection of 7 rags for $2.99 for the bunch.

Downloadable Ragtime Collection

for the School of Ragtime I promised earlier, here's the first:



The others can be accessed by clicking:

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Hope that helps. And thanks, andybown, for the stimulus to start using Photoshop¨. (I know I'll never be as good as Brendan, but it is a neat, useful program. )