4 Practical Strategies To Take Your Piano Playing To The Next Level - By: Jermaine Griggs

So maybe you took piano lessons when you were young and still remember some chords --- or better yet, you sound really good right now because some friends or fellow musicians have showed you how to play some songs. Perhaps you play the songs by memory but have no idea what's really going on "under the hood."

Or maybe you do know what's going on but you're limited in how many songs you can learn on your own. You've reached this "glass ceiling" and it doesn't seem like you can get passed it.

Regardless of where you are, we all want to get to the next level in our music playing.

Here are some things you can master to take you there!

1) Pattern Recognition:

Regardless of what level you're at, this is a very important point. All songs follow various patterns. All songs.

"2-5-1" chord progressions, 6-2-5-1 turnarounds, opening progressions, and closing progressions are patterns that you eventually hear over and over in songs.

(Don't worry if you don't understand where the numbers come from, I'll talk more about this later).

But basically, certain patterns are used to begin songs... other patterns are used to close songs. If you're more on the beginner-intermediate side, then you probably struggle with determining patterns altogether. That is, being able to recognize them in songs.

If you're past this point, now it's a matter of what kind of patterns you're playing.

I heard this interesting saying once that said "you're the average of the 5 people you hang around the most." Now I certainly don't know if the specific number is spot on, but I do believe you're the average of the people you hang around the most.

I've found in the musician community... if you hang around professional-sounding musicians, eventually you'll catch on to their sound. Not only because you see the various chords, progressions, and "licks" and "tricks" they play, but because your ear gets used to hearing this enhanced way of playing.

See, most of the time... people can't get to the next level because they don't know personally what the next level sounds like. They don't have people around them playing that way, so it's hard to hear and pick out "next level" chords and progressions.

Trust me... there are tons of 2-5-1 progressions to end songs and you're probably only playing a good dozen of them. There are hundreds of ways to end songs. Some on the "1-2-3/A-B-C" side and others on the ultra-advanced/professional side.

Your ability to recognize and pick out these chords depends on how much you're exposed to them. Pick up as many albums and study them... until you're sick and tired of them. Pick up courses and learn bits and pieces from them. Become committed to a life time of learning.

If you do nothing else, study patterns. Identify which ones you hear the most. Where they appear. How they're used.

Patterns are important.

2) Number System:

Thinking in terms of numbers is very powerful. It's the universal music language.

I can say play "C major 11" but that only tells you one chord to play in a specific situation. But if I say, play the "1-chord of Ab," now we're talking about a systematic way to understand music.

Because every key has a 1-chord... (or the first tone/chord of the scale). Every key has a 2-chord, and so forth.

When you hear people say "2-5-1" progression, they are simply talking about a chord from the 2nd tone of the scale, "progressing" to a chord from the 5th tone of the scale... finally ending at a chord from the 1st tone of the scale.

So if you know your scales in a numerical way, you can play a "2-5-1" and any other pattern for that matter, in all 12 keys --- INSTANTLY!

3) Transposition:

"Transposition" basically means moving a song (or notes, scales, chords) to a different key. If you've messed around with any type of keyboard, you know that they feature a "transpose" function, which does this automatically for you.

Believe it or not, the keyboard "transpose" button is probably the #1 enemy to growth for a musician. Nowadays, a musician masters one good key like C major, and without ever having to think about another major key (or learn the chords of a new key), they simply hit the transpose button either up or down and it outputs their song in the new key. No effort. Automation at its best.

So you get a lot of musicians out there who are "pros" on a keyboard but when it comes time to improvise on an acoustic piano or B3 organ with no transpose button, they break down. Don't be this way!

It's very easy to master all 12 keys. In fact, the number system helps you to do it. By simply knowing every scale in its numerical form (i.e. - C major scale as "C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7"), you can easily transpose songs in your head. If you're playing a 2-5-1 progression in the key of C (Dmin, G7, Cmaj7), the endings of those chords will ALWAYS remain the same in new major keys. That is, you'll always be going from some minor chord to some 7th chord to some major 7th chord in this example. The only thing that would change above is the keynote in front of the quality. So if D, G, and C are the 2, 5, and 1 of C, respectively, then just simply find the 2,5,1 of another key... transfer over the chord qualities ("min," "7," and "maj7") and there you have it!

In G major, a 2-5-1 is: Amin, D7, Gmaj7. It's that simple.

4) Ear-Training:

Like any sport, hobby, or activity, you must "condition" or develop the inner and outer body part that allows you to excel in whatever you're doing. For music, it's the hands/fingers and ears. Of course, there's some things in between but this is mainly where the next level lies. Just like any thing else, you can build your ear.

Training your ear to recognize both melodic and harmonic intervals is important.

Intervals you need to master include:

* Major/Minor Seconds
* Major/Minor Thirds
* Perfect Fourths
* Diminished / Augmented Fourths
* Perfect Fifths
* Diminished / Augmented Fifths
* Major/Minor Sixths
* Major/Minor Sevenths

All music features intervals like this... distances between notes, basically. Intervals create scales. They also create chords and progressions.

Whether you're a beginner or experienced, focusing on these four areas can definitely take you to the next level. It's in your hands now!

About the Author

Jermaine Griggs is the founder of HearandPlay.com and the author of the best-selling, "Secrets to Playing Piano By Ear" home study course.

If you want to learn music in an easy-to-understand, 'no fancy words allowed' way, you'll love these piano lessons.

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