|
|
| Free Music Downloads Information |
|
|
|
|
How To Dress Up Naked Music On The Piano
What in the world is "naked music?" You know it when you hear it, but the words that describe it sound strange, don't they? We've all heard of popular music and rock music and gospel music and jazz music, but naked music? Naked music is simply the notes on a piece of sheet music. It's "naked" - not dressed up or arranged at all. No fills, no slurs, none of the ingredients that make a song come to life. Not a single professional musician plays the music exactly as it appears on a piece of sheet music. Instead, they use the written music as a map, or an outline, and then proceed to do their own thing with it. They twist it, bend it, add to it, subtract from it, put fills in it, change the key, change the words, change some of the melody notes, and on and on. So when you hear your favorite artist perform a piece of music, if you look at the written sheet music while they are performing it, you will see it is MUCH different and MUCH better than the plain old "naked music!" So how can the average musician dress up naked music? There are many ways, but here are seven of my favorites: 1. Change the chords slightly by adding color tones. What are color tones? Color tones are notes added to the basic chord, usually expressed as 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, etc. For example, instead of playing just a straight C chord as it is written - C, E, G - try adding a color tone to it, such as a 6th (A) or a 7th (Bb) or a major 7th (B) or a 9th (D). In fact, try adding a couple together, like a 6th and a 9th. So instead of being a plain vanilla chord made up of C, E, and G, you've made it a tasty variation adding A and D to the equation. 2. During the pause between phrases, add a counter melody. How? Take the given melody notes and turn them upside down or inside out, or change the rhythm slightly so the tune is still recognizable, but different. 3. Add chord substitutions. Instead of always using the chords that are written, ask yourself this question: "Into what other chord will this melody note fit?" For example, if the melody is G and the chord is C, what other chords contain the note G in them? There are several answers to that question. G is not only in the C chord, but it is also in the Em chord, the Eb major chord, the G chord, the Gm chord, etc. Try one of those alternate chords until you like the sound combination, then use it instead of the C chord. It will add an originality and freshness to your playing almost immediately. 4. Add fills and runs between phrases. How do you do that? Simply break up the chord that is in force at the moment, and run it up the keyboard as a broken chord - one note at a time. Or start at the top of the keyboard and come down. Or play with the chord a bit by playing 2 of the 3 notes instead of the entire 3 note chord. 5. Use melodic echos. After you have played the melody, echo it by playing it an octave higher, or two octaves higher, or an octave lower. 6. Use half-step slides. If the chord progression is from D7 to G7, instead of going to G7 directly, "slide into it" by playing the chord that is one-half step above - namely, Ab7, then quickly sliding off Ab7 to G7. 7. Use "blue notes." Blue notes are created by sliding off a black key onto a white key quickly. For example, if the melody is E, slide off Eb to E quickly using the same finger. This is just a tiny sampling of what you can do to dress up your music. There are literally hundreds of other techniques, from pseudo-modulations to inside blues moves to deceptive cadences to tremelos to twangs to crunches to straddles to 3-1 breakups to walk-downs and walk-ups and on and on. By simply adding a few of these techniques to your playing you can easily double and triple the excitement created by your piano playing as you "dress up naked music!" Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books, CD's & DVD's including http://www.pianoplaying.com/ - "How To Dress Up Naked Music On The Piano!" He also is the editor of the free email newsletter http://www.playpiano.com/ - "Piano Lessons Online: Piano Chords & Progressions!" which has over 61,000 current subscribers worldwide.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Beauchamp Brings Diversity to Music Everyone has a talent. For Miami, Okla. What Works Best in New Age Piano Improvisation Many students want to know how to improvise. What they really want to know is how to be able to keep an improvisation going. How Many Guitar Chords Do I Need To Know? Guitar chords, (chords played specifically on a guitar,) differ only from other types of chords by virtue of instrument; they're simply a series of three or more notes played together. These notes don't necessarily have to be played simultaneously, however. Music Licensing Music licensing can be a very confusing subject. My intent with this article is to give you enough details on what music licensing is and what are your rights to use music in advertising and / or video productions. Benatar and Geraldo - Still Rockin on a High Note Most people look forward to the summer months because they bring warmer temperatures, vacations, outdoor gatherings, and longer days. Those are all fine and dandy, but what really gets my fires stoked for the warm season is when the Queen of Rock (a. Mp3s - The Future of Music? Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller without compromising the overall sound quality. It's a revolutionary technique with incredibly good results; mp3 music is frequently indistinguishable from music found on a CD (though some audiophiles with very sensitive ears dispute that statement). Music For Self Improvement Would you like to pop in a CD and have a better quality of life, and even self improvement? There are three ways you can use music to accomplish this.Music For MotivationPut on energetic music, and even doing housework seems less like work. Writing Hit Songs There are a lot of factors to writing a hit song. First, you should focus on writing a good song. Interview With Josh Epstein of Vision Music USA Vision Music USA is a proactive and progressive music service firm with the interest of their clients the driving force that makes them successful. President Josh Epstein and CEO Nick Stamoulis are focused on helping the Independent artists to maintain control of their career by saving them time and their hard-earned dollars. Killer Piano Playing Secrets of a Chord Addict! I wish you could have seen me play the piano when I was just learning. I was the nearest thing to "hopeless" that you could imagine. Piano Lessons and Perfectionism Are you a perfectionist? Does every note have to sound right before it comes out of your piano? If so, you might be cheating yourself out of the joy of music making. Most of us learned how to be perfectionists as children, trying to please Mommy or Daddy. How to Stop Thinking and Start Playing Learning how to improvise is confusing for most. The sheer number of choices becomes a burden. Lori Nuic Sparkles A soulful vibe along with an amazing voice is what Lori Nuic is gifted with, she got the crowd grooving as she performed at Launch Pad at the Cameron House for the first time.This young starlet started out by playing a big part in a high school musical, Leader of the Pack, bringing her to the stage today and playing songs that any crowd would love. How to Get Past Creative Blocks When I first began playing the piano and improvising, there were times when the music just wouldn't flow. No matter what I did, I couldn't make it go any further. What is Guitar Tablature and Can I Find It Online? The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments and the online guitar community probably the most popular of its kind. There are thousands of guitarists connected via online communities sharing guitar tabs, tips and stories and there are many of websites dedicated to sharing guitar music, tablature and even guitar lessons. The Top 10 Reasons Why You Suck At Playing Guitar You don't 'need' to play guitar enough.If you desire to become a great guitarist, you have to want it badly enough to sacrifice other parts of your life to devote to practice. 50 Cent More so than any other music since the blues, hip-hop is all about stories. And its stories are both criminal minded and grand, making them enthralling and unbelievable, but also making them only as interesting and convincing as the teller. Right-Hand Techniques for New Age Piano Recently, I had a student ask me to offer some techniques for using the right hand. Usually, it's the left hand that causes the most difficulty but I had to think about it because up till then, I really did not have any "techniques" for the right hand. Piano Playing is Easier than You Think When You Understand Musical Form Form is the key that unlocks the musical map of a song or a musical compostition. Like a house has rooms, so a song has rooms or sections. How to Use the Entire Piano Keyboard There are 88 keys on the piano keyboard. Most pianists use about 1/3 of this number most of the time.
|
| Free Music Download Sites (Home Page) | Free MP3 Downloads | RSS Feed | Artists | Music Resources | Music Downloads |
