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Hey Bill, I took piano lessons a growing up and loved it. I fell in love with music but, eventually there was alot of family and other stuff that happened and I no longer could afford lessons and had a piano or keyboard. I also eventually never had time to practice as things got crazier. Over time, I saw my friends who picked up music the same time I did, get better and better, majored it in college, while I wasn't able to progress. I eventually kind of just gave up on music and art and focused on developing practical skills. I still really really loved music and long story short, thanks to you, and other youtubers, I'm coming back to piano and I'm amazed at how much everything is clicking and how fast I'm learning. Watching your videos I've learned so much more then those expensive hour long piano classes I took back in the day, and which I thought was necessary, and which I thought I would never have time and money for again in my life. Thanks so much for what you do!
You're welcome, Chandler - I'm really glad to have been of help! I hope you continue to make progress and, if at any stage you run into problems or feel you need some suggestions for moving forward, please don't hesitate to give me a shout!
oh man, this tutorial is great.. can you plz make a video about broken chords, arpeggios and all those stuff which allows you to play chords not in regular manner.. thanks
You are occasionally a little fast to follow, particularly when it comes to trying to follow the keys you are playing, but man, you are SUCH a good articulator! Subscribed! I have seen some piano teachers online use a tool that shows which keys are being pressed and it seems to be quite effective so maybe something to consider for your videos, but overall, I am so utterly impressed.
Great explanation of an infinate subject, thanks Bill. Whenever I can't understand chords in an unfamiliar key, transcribing them to C at helps me understand their construction easier.
Glad it was helpful Stephen. Yes, decades on from first learning this stuff I still figure things out in C/Am when I get confused. I think it's a pianist thing...!
Merci beaucoup for this. A good friend gave a concert last night and I met some of his pupils, who are now his colleagues. They were talking about piano injuries, so I'm really hoping my video will be out soon.
Thank you BH. Very timely as I work through a first rather ambitious piece honoring a family member. The tune is essentially a I IV II V I in Gflat and I was just now working on a second section where I am looking to revoice the chords to provide more space to accompany a trumpet solo. This was a big help. TY as always. Michael in Pittsburgh
You're very welcome, Michael - I'm glad to hear it's helped you. Don't hesitate to give me a yell if you come up against any technical questions/problems as you compose.
Thank you so much Bill for your all lessons ... Really appreciat it .. just I would like to let you know that your voice is higher than the piano sound ... All the best
You are very welcome, Sam! Yes, I deliberately turned the piano down a little here because, rather than playing continuous bits of music I'm just demonstrating chords, and to my ear it was starting to sound jangly and grating. I may have turned the dial a bit too far though - hopefully it's not too noticeable!
@@BillHilton Dear Bill , We are really happy that we have an amazing teacher on RU-vid indoctrinate us magnificent academic methods in PIANO ... ALL THE BEST
This was a very good tutorial. I wonder if you could do a follow up video to this which deals with playing arpeggios in a smooth and flowing way. Obviously chord inversions will be a part of that but I think there is more to it than that.
@@BillHilton Thanks Bill. I am having a very frustrating time trying to write arpeggios against a melody on Keyboards. The arpeggios keep clashing with the melody instead of blending into the background as a nice harmonic filler.
@@Stevethesearcher Right, I may be able to help you there, then: I've got a few slightly different but related requests for left-hand stuff, so I'll get planning. BTW, one problem you might be having is playing an arpeggio against single-note melody can make the harmony sound ambiguous, especially if there's little or no sustain on the arpeggio. Could be worth trying to fill out the chords in the right underneath the melody.
Thanks David! It’s certainly something I’d like to discuss, but the whole field of chord voicings and voice leading can be a very deep, dark rabbit hole that might cause more confusion than it clears up for some people, so I’m going to have to plan it fairly carefully. Watch this space, though, because I might come up with something soon!
Another really interesting video, thanks Bill.....and thanks Adam! :) P.S. For anyone that hasn't listened to any Derek Trucks give him a listen, he's very good indeed :)
Love your videos. I like to break the rules though. Lol. Sometimes I like that muddy sound. Especially when adding in a SUS 2 arpeggio. Great stuff though Bill. ❤❤
❤Merci pour toutes ces informations. Je débute chant et piano et j’aimerais savoir comment choisir les accords meilleures accords pour m’accompagner. Dois-je prendre l’accord en position dont la note la plus haute colle au chant? Ou si je dois inverser ex: Ma chanson est en Do. La syllabe de ma chanson est sur la note sol…dois-je jouer l’accord de Do en position fondamentale pour que mon sol colle avec mon chant? Merci 🤩
Is there something wrong to use root position closed voicing? Of course not on every chord, but lately I became so obsessed with inversions and open voicing that using root position chords make me feel ashamed.
I have some trouble figuring out what notes to omit while playing extentions. Are there notes in a chord that are aways removable and some that are aways necessary?
The number one rule is to play around and use your ears to judge, Vitor. In most jazz contexts you can omit the root (though you might want to be a little more careful doing it on the tonic chord), and you'll often find that as long as the third and the seventh are there - and the right hand is filling in some context further up the piano keyboard) you'll get a good sound. Like I said, though, the best thing is to trust your ears. It can also be handy to watch what others do!
@@BillHilton That's very helpful, thank you a lot!!! Love your channel, i've been learning by myself for now and your channel is awesome, thanks again!
How do you improvise on the piano? I can mess around and play nice, but how do I make it what I want. For example I want to play jazz, I can grab a scale and play something but it doesn't sound jazzy?
It's about choosing the right scale, and playing it in the right way, with the right chords, Oliver. Improvisation isn't really that difficult to get started with, but it's useful to know a few bits and pieces to get going with. One place you could start is my jazz piano for beginners' series. Here's the playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLpOuhygfD7QmN-lQYtSAULCvdomKraZ1S --- yell if you have any questions :)
Sorry for the delayed reply, Elena! Difficult question between the Nord and the Roland, because they're both excellent. The only thing I can suggest is that you try playing both and see which you prefer. That's what I did, and it was still a tough decision. I haven't played the Korg, so I couldn't tell you about that.
Fantastic lesson. Bill always has the best information and theory explanations. Great stuff. Well done. Thanks very much. But you gotta get a better piano, Bill. That annoying up action keyboard noise on that piano is irritating, really interferes with your presentation. Sounds like you're plunging a toilet. Treat yourself to a Christmas present and get a new one, with quieter keyboard action.
Thanks Don! The basic problem isn't exactly that I need a better piano - the Nord is about the best on the market - but that it's a stage piano built for robustness rather than for home use, hence the noisiness. It's so good in so many other ways I'm extremely reluctant to change it. I'm pretty sure I can solve the problem by changing my mic-ing arrangement, and doing just that is high on the list of this year's projects, so you may start to notice improvements soon...!
@@BillHilton NBD Bill. Not trying to be a smart ass. I love your vids. Great music theory. I just wanted to mention it. For whatever reason, your Nord sounds noticeably louder than other pianos I see on other sites.
@@donlessnau3983 No problem! The Nord probably sounds louder because I don't apply any compression at the production stage: it sometimes makes the sound a bit grating, but I think it's important all the louds and softs really come through!
