Imagine a course that could make piano playing easy, and be done in your own time from home.  One that, even if you don’t have a piano handy, can still teach you how to play, with fun, online games.  And yes, a piano learning course that’s cheap and easily affordable even during hard economic times, too (no matter what currency you use).  There are many ways to learn piano, but if learning the piano fast, effectively, and on your OWN schedule matters to you, read on.

I think everyone should have that opportunity, and that’s why I decided to review Rocket Piano.  It’s by some guys I know personally and really trust: the guys at Rock Star Recipes: real musicians who enjoy teaching you how to play instruments in a highly effective and highly affordable way.  Really.  They’re great, genuine people, and so I trust what Ruth Searle, the woman behind Rocket Piano, has put out.

Rocket Piano allows you to learn how to play with step-by-step piano lessons supported by video and audio files.  The course is organized into 3 high quality books taking you on a journey from beginner to advanced in your gospel piano playing.

These video lessons are actually pretty amazing; they have been professionally recorded and edited and are more stylish and useful than anything you will find on Youtube or other piano courses (see for yourself). There is no substitute for seeing and hearing how something is supposed to be played. You’ll discover the most effective ways to practice so that you master new material quickly, without developing bad habits.

So, in essence, with this course you get to learn how to play the piano smoothly and flawlessly, while cutting your learning time in half!  No need to wait for tutors or classes–sounds good to me.

Even more, you WILL NOT waste hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on expensive piano lessons. You will learn all of the tips and tricks. You even get sounds files (AND video) so you can play along. And, unlike a piano teacher, you can repeat each song or riff over and over again until you get it correct and professional sounding.  No feeling pressured or “not good enough”; you just play til you feel comfortable.

Some of the bonuses you get:

Learn with an advanced piano learning technique, developed by a university psychologist (originally for guitarists, and adapted successfully for pianists), for training your fingers to automatically remember all the chord shapes, in 1/3 the time! And, you’ll learn all about how your brain processes information, and how to maximise your piano practice time… (nine out of ten people are absolutely floored by this secret!)

Learn how to play with exceptional speed and timing by using our cutting edge Metronome. Find out how to decide whether you should learn to play piano on an actual piano, or whether you should use an electric keyboard.

If you like games and having fun online, you can also play “JaydeMusica,” a fun game included which is designed to help you learn how to read music, with Rocket Piano for your enjoyment.

Becoming Good at Piano – Next Step

So, if you’re serious about learning to play piano and/or getting better at it, Rocket Piano is the way to go.  Also, for those of you who are particularly interested in jazz piano, this book is the best place to start.

Good luck, and enjoy!

Drum sets are indispensable additions to any band. Every music band typically needs at least three members; a drummer, a bass player, and a guitarist. Especially rock and pop bands need drummers to keep the beat going while the vocalist belts out the words. In popular culture, drums signify energy and liveliness, and are known to have a positive effect on the player’s personal attitude in the long run.

Drums are of two types, such as, acoustic drums, and electronic drums. Acoustic drums are, as the name suggests, full manual. These have to be manually tuned prior to playing and depend on the drummer’s skill to create good music. Electronic drums, on the other hand, have amplifiers, speakers, or even auto-tuning mechanisms attached to them. This makes tuning these drums significantly easier than the acoustic ones.

There are some pros and cons of both acoustic and electronic drums. Acoustic drums allow a seasoned drummer to literally play around (pun intended) with his kit. The drummer can add overtones, remove overtones, muffle sound, magnify sound; all with the correct turn of some screws. These do not depend on any additional instruments, except maybe a microphone put in front of them at times. But an electronic drum set will depend on amplifiers, speakers or even additional electronic beat changers to produce the right kind of music. This makes carrying them around quite cumbersome.

Acoustic drums are full manual instruments, and thus require a lot of time and patience to master. The characteristic “crack” that drummers love to create cannot be produced unless the sweet spot is struck, which is located in a different spot for each drum. Locating it may take hours of strenuous practice. In an electronic drum set, the beats are electronically produced, so the “crack” can be produced at will. However, most veteran drummers insist that the electronic “crack” does not come anywhere close to its manual variant in terms of quality.

Electronic drums can act as an easy way out for budding drummers who do not wish to stay glued to the kit for hours at a stretch. But, in order to fully master the art, one needs to practice with acoustic drums. Not only do these improve the player’s understanding of music, these also prepare their ears so that they can easily recognize one wrong tone among many correct ones. This helps them perfect their skills in the long run.

Drum sets are great instruments to have around. But, in order to master them, a budding drummer must endure hours of strenuous practice.

Probably the most versatile and coolest instrument that has ever been made is the guitar. It can be used in different genres of music; from alternative rock to country music. You can easily pack it, carry it and play anywhere. Plus just holding a guitar makes you feel cool.

So whether you’re looking to start a band, play for yourself or even just impress a few friends at parties, the reality is that we all have to start somewhere. However, there are two major hurdles when we learn to play guitar where most of us fail before we get started.

The first is knowing exactly where to start! What should you learn first? Do you start with an acoustic or electric guitar? Do you need to know how to read music? All of these are awesome questions but can also be frustrating because the difference in how to learn to play guitar varies from one source to another.

Back in the day the choices for those of us that really wanted to learn to play guitar were painfully boring music work books or expensive lessons from creepy dudes playing awful outdated songs. You were taught to practice forever before you could sneak away to play Zepplin’s “Stairway To Heaven” or something equally cool.

Now there are magazines, books, journals and free internet lessons that sometimes can help beginners like you learn to play the guitar properly. They may even have step by step procedures that you would strictly have to follow to be able to get results.

The problem with these resources to learn to play guitar can is that often they can be more complicated than calculus and frustrate most to the point they lose their passion to learn to play the guitar which is second the second hurdle that gets in your way from you learning to play guitar.

You obviously have a passion for music and know that it is such a social experience that by learning to play guitar will allow sharing in that experience more with others.

Yet learning to play the guitar does take practice, and some more practice. In the beginning this is not the fun stuff. In fact most of it is learning proper hand position, developing calluses on your fingers, learning chords and how to strum and keep rhythm. Not very exciting but even your favorite Guitar hero had to start somewhere. And how cool are they now?

Fortunately, there are also many online real resources that offer learn to play guitar for beginner’s lessons. These new resources can seriously help you to quickly and efficiently learn to play guitar. Aside from cutting down on your learning curve drastically they are fun, interactive and get you playing your favorite songs right way which is incredibly important to keep your passion.

At www.LearnToPlayGuitarEasily.com they review the top lessons and courses so you know which one is right for you to get started when you really want to learn to play guitar.

So, Are You Truly Ready to Learn to Play Guitar?

From the time when man was a savage, he learnt that by hitting an object sound could be generated. Drums are among the oldest musical instruments known. They have entertained and helped people over the ages. You may ask how helped? Well, the American Indians used drums as a means for communication. So did the Africans. Today, drums are used in all kinds of music starting from classical to extreme rock. Groups like Beatles, and now Linkin’ Park all use drum sets in their music. Drums are a part of the group of instruments known as percussions. Where you need to strike to create sound.

Examining the structure of the drum, we can see a membrane stretched over a shell. This is known as the drumhead. By striking the drumhead with a stick or part of a human body, sound is generated. Shapes of shell can be tubular or round. Other shapes have been used as well. In some drums, 2 membranes are used on either side of a tube with a small hole in between. The shell over which the skin or membrane is stretched, is the sound chamber. It is responsible for the noise emanating from the drum.

Musical groups today, use drum kits. These drum kits contain a base drum, cymbals, tom-toms and a snare drum on a stand. The base drum is often played with a foot pedal. Today, a wide range of accessories is available for drum sets starting out from simple cymbals to complex electronic pads. In the 1980’s, people assembled huge drum sets with many accessories. Today however, the sizes of drums have been reduced.

Towards the late 1970’s, Yamaha and Roland started producing electronic drum sets. These are operated by pads and are different from the normal drums. These drums were a direct effect of the development of the synthesizers.

Drums have been used not only for music but also for communication purposes in the passed. The Africans used this instrument to send out messages between villages or call the people to a war. These African drums were hollowed out trees that had a great power to cover distances.

While buying a drum, one has to be careful to make a right choice. The material of the membrane has to be selected carefully and the service and repair for the instrument has to be assured. When you purchase a drum set, you don’t buy it for a few years. This is a long term investment and care is needed.

Drums are not only used in music and communication but also in the army and in schools. They are used to lead the cheer leading team and for marching during solemn occasions. In the army, the troops are thought to obey the signals given by drums.

Over all, drums have played a key and important role in our history. People have associated with this instrument from a long time, as it is one of the oldest instruments around. The drum has seen dances, blood shed and death. It has seen war and peace. Indeed, it is an instrument in its own class with its own status.

I’m sure there’s been times when you met up with someone who could play the piano, and wished that you could do the same. Well, now you can learn how to play piano just like they do.

The Versatility Of Playing The Piano

The thing to remember is that nobody was born knowing how to play the piano. They all had to learn from scratch and you can do the same. It doesn’t matter whether your young or old. It’s never to late to learn how to play the piano.

Pianos are used in all different types of music, from country, chamber music to even solo performances. Buying a piano can get a bit costly depending on the kind and size, but it is worth it. The good thing about pianos is they are versatile they can be used in whatever genre of music you are interested in playing.

A lot of famous piano players like Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Schuman play classical music on the piano, but it can be used for other forms of music like pop, country and jazz.

You don’t have to play the piano as well as the fore-mentioned composers in order to enjoy playing the piano. Learning to play the piano so you can entertain your friends and family is just as good a reason to learn. In order to successfully learn how to play the piano you have to be dedicated and have a positive attitude. You also need to know the basic techniques in order to properly play. Learning to play the piano is not impossible as long as you keep focused.

With all the resources available today there are many different ways to learn the piano. Many choose to hire a piano teacher to help them achieve their goal of playing the piano, while others choose to learn on their own. If you choose to teach yourself to play piano one thing you should get is a guide book to assist you with your learning.

If you are learning on your own you must remain focused and dedicated if you intend to actually learn everything you need to know. Something that you might want to look into getting is piano lesson software. This contains a lot of useful information. There are also DVDs and CDs that are available to help you with learning to play the piano.

Make sure that while you are learning the piano that you use your senses too. Listening to a song will actually help you be able to play it. Understand that learning to play piano can be difficult, but it is worth it in the end.

The first step in beginning piano lessons is you must have a good quality piano. If you don’t have a piano right now, don’t worry. You can save up for one. Once you have the piano then you can choose whether you want to teach yourself to play the piano or hire an instructor.

If you decide to teach yourself you can either learn one lesson at a time or combine lessons. Just stick to your schedule and stay dedicated and your effort will be rewarded.

It’s no secret that professional piano players use techniques that amateur piano players don’t. So what else is new? Professional golfers use techniques that amateur golfers don’t use (at least not very well), and pro ball players use techniques that sandlot and weekend athletes don’t use — or again, not very well.

So it’s not surprising that professional piano players have some tricks up their sleeves that the rest of us mortals don’t have. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try to emulate the great pianists. We may not pull it off as well as them, but we sure can have a lot of fun trying, and who knows? Maybe a few of us can actually learn these techniques well enough to win some admiration from our friends, join a group, play for our own enjoyment, or whatever.

Here is a list of just a few of the technique the pros use when they play piano. There are more, of course, but this is a pretty good estimate of the most important skills:

Pro Secret 1: Straddles. Leaving one of more notes out of a chord to create an open feeling.

2: 2/1 & 3/1 Breakups. Breaking a chord up by playing part of the chord & then the rest of the chord.

3: Waterfall Chords. Broken chords cascading down from the top of the keyboard similar to a waterfall.

4: Tremolo-Fired Runs. Rapid-fire runs made of chords, but starting with a tremolo.

5: Half-Step Slides. Approaching the next chord from 1/2 step above or below.

6: Suspensions. Using the 4th as a “hangover” instead of the 3rd.

7: Chord Substitutions. Harmonizing songs using different chords than the traditional ones.

8: Voicing in 4ths. Stacking chords in intervals of 4ths instead of 3rds.

9: Turn-Arounds. A chord progression that turns you around, like a cul-de-sac.

10: Introductions. Creating a front door for the song.

11: Endings. Creating a back door for the song.

12: Transposing. Playing a song in a key different than it was written in.

13: Modulating. Getting from key to key smoothly.

14: Altering a Melody to Create a New Melody. Using neighboring tones to craft a new tune.

15: Inversions. Instead of always playing chords in root position, using a variety of “upside down” chords.

16: Creating Original Chord Progressions. Linking chords together creatively.

17: Echoes – Rhythmic, Melodic, Harmonic. The easiest way to begin the arranging process.

18: Touch. The difference between a sledge hammer and a pillow.

19: II7 to V7 Progression. One of the most common chord progressions.

20: Latin-American Rhythms. Using various rhythm patterns such as Samba, Bossa Nova, Cha Cha, etc.

There are other techniques the pros use, and new techniques are always being invented. But for a list of worthy goals for an aspiring piano player, this list will keep us busy for a long time.

www.drumstheword.com This is part 6 of a series of beginner videos in which I demonstrate for you the first few drum beats every drummer learns when they start out as a beginner. This beat uses quarter notes on the Hi-Hat. It’s a really simple, easy and fun drum groove to learn and will start you on your way to greater things! By the end of this video you will have learned how to play this beat and would have seen the beat played at three different tempos – slow, medium and fast. This clip is taken from a video series I intend to complete some time in the near future. I couldn’t resist sharing it with you right now though as I think it will be really useful for a lot of drummrs just starting out now. Hope you enjoy the video and please feel to email me at rob@drumstheword.com if you have any questions at all. Happy Drumming! For many other FREE drum lessons, videos, articles, drum charts, ideas and lots of drumming inspiration please visit… http

It takes a lot of practice and self control for beginners to play the guitar and sing at the same time. Beginners can play guitar and sing by choosing the right song. Choose easy and simple songs for practice. You must first listen to the song before trying to play it on your own.

Listen to the song two or three times or until you have memorized the whole song. Start playing slowly on your own. You can try singing and playing stanza by stanza before trying the whole song. If you don’t get it on your first try, don’t get frustrated. All beginners make mistakes.

It’s not as if you can play the guitar perfectly in just 15 minutes. This is another valuable learn to play guitar for beginners lesson you must burn into your memory: Don’t expect perfection every single time out of yourself.

Even the professional guitar players you worship started by making the same mistakes beginners do. You won’t learn if you don’t commit mistakes, right? Giving up is the last thing beginners should do while trying to play the guitar.

If you are fed up with learning on your own, there are magazines, books and journals that can help beginners like you to play the guitar properly. They have step by step procedures that you should strictly follow to be able to get the results that you want.

There are also many online resources that offer learn to play guitar for beginners lessons. These resources can also help you to quickly and efficiently learn how to play the guitar. These types of lessons will help cut down on your learning curve drastically.

One more thing; never force yourself to learn to play the guitar. If your hands are tired, go take a rest. If you get frustrated, walk away. You can practice again on the next day. Learning to play the guitar is never ending. Even when you outgrow the learn to play guitar for beginners lessons, you’ll still have to practice and learn new techniques.

A lot of drummers don’t really sit down to practice their instrument, but rather just sit down to “play.” Just sitting down to play what you already know is fun and can be great for maintaining certain techniques, but little progress will be made.

If you are into drumming only for a hobby, then making progress is probably not really a great priority for you. If that’s the case keep doing what you are doing, and enjoy it.

On the other hand, if you want to progress as a great drummer, you will have to focus. You just can’t expect to sit down at your drum kit every once in a while and just beat around the skins. You need to be clear what it is you need work on, and then apply it.

Each one of your drum practice sessions should create a challenge for you to accomplish something never previously mastered.

When you sit down at your drum set do you know what you should be practicing? Many drummers don’t have a clue what they need to be practicing to become better. This lack of information can kill your potential to really excel at your instrument.

Sometimes, even if we know what to practice, our drum practice sessions can still be weak simply because of a lack of focus.

If you have ever caught yourself saying, “I don’t know what to practice” or, “What did I forget to practice” when you get on your drums, this cheat sheet will do you good. Hang it up on your wall and pick which exercises you want to work on before you begin your practice session.

~ Stick control

~ Playing with a metronome (playing with, behind, and ahead)

~ Odd timing

~ Finger control

~ Left hand lead

~ Double bass drumming

~ Fast tempos

~ Slow tempos

~ Odd groupings (3’s, 5’s 7’s and 9’s etc.)

~ Polyrhythms

~ Beat displacement and/or metric modulation

~ Shuffles

~ Showmanship (stick twirling, etc)

~ Creating your own patterns and ideas

~ Filling around accent patterns

~ Triplets around the set

~ 16th’s around the set

~ Left hand and foot isolation

~ Brush technique on the snare drum

~ Crash cymbal technique (which one to hit, when, how hard, etc.)

~ Two handed cymbal rides

~ Soloing

~ Recording yourself and listening back

~ All 40 drum rudiments

There are probably many more things you can practice, particularly your own technique and signatures. But, just remember, you want to be working on something new at all times.

The main thing is, keep challenging yourself by never being satisfied. Strive to constantly improve during each practice session. Just never say again, “I don’t know what to practice.”

As a professional concert pianist I often have people ask me, “I’m in my 50’s is it too late to learn piano?” Well, there is no simple answer to this question since everyone’s capacity to learn and everyone’s passion to learn is different.

But, based on my experience it is never too late. However, it is absolutely imperative that you Start Learning Now! Why? Because, a very wise man once told me, if you’re not learning you’re dying. You see, life is all about learning. It’s what gives us reason to live. Can you think of anything better about life than the new experiences, relationships and wisdom that comes from learning? So, if you have any passion at all for learning to play piano music then I highly reccommend that you start right away.

The most important question you should be asking youself is; “How can I learn faster and retain more information?”

Do you know what most people don’t understand about the learning process? It’s not how much information can you cram into your head at one time but, how much information you can actually retain that causes you to learn faster and more efficiently. What happens is; people inevitably try to tackle all at once the incredible amount of work that it takes to play the piano. Not only is that impossible to do, but it’s not much fun either. And, that’s why most people give up after only trying for a short period of time.

Let’s talk about the way most people were taught to learn. Think back for a moment to when you were in school. Do you remember cramming for an exam? Most people certainly remember the anxiety associated with it. You cram as much information as you can into your head in a very short period of time, hoping to get a good grade on your exam. So, what would happen 2 weeks after taking the exam if you had to take it again? How much would you remember? Not much at all I’m sure! That’s why learning this way is so painful because you’re never able to show consistent long term retention.

Now, imagine for a moment that you applied this technique of learning to the piano. You cram for 2 weeks as much information as you can get into your brain about a piece of piano music. Then, you stop practicing for 2 weeks. Then, you go back and try to play what you learned. How much do you think you could get right? Based on my experience, “Almost Nothing!”

In my line of work I am responsible for not only remembering a minimum of 1.5 hours of piano music for every concert I perform but, I have to perform it flawlessly. Is this possible? Yes it is! But, not by learning the way most people learn. You see, there is a formula that works best for learning to play piano music and it’s the same formula that works for learning anything worthwhile. And, here it is….

10-24-7

What does this mean? Well, 10 stands for the amount of energy you put into learning what it is you’re learning. How many things can you learn at once? One! So get rid of that big pile of music sitting on the piano because that just represents stress! You can’t possibly learn all that anyway. So, just learn one thing at a time and do it at a level 10 which is; giving 100% of your energy until you can play it without thinking.

Then, do the same thing again in 24 hours. At a level 10 (100% of your energy), learn the same single thing you just learned the day before. Then, in 7 days do it again and I promise you that your retention rate for that one thing you learned will go up by 85%. Is this possible? Yes! That’s how I’m able to perform as many concerts as I do and never take a sheet of music with me on stage. I learn one thing at a time. But, once I learn it, I don’t forget it…ever!

There’s a term we use for this type of learning and it’s called “accelerated learning techniques” or “advanced learning techniques.” It’s what I teach in my seminars because it’s what works best for me and for the hundreds of people I’ve taught it to. So, if you want to learn piano music, even if it’s for the first time, follow my example. Use the 10-24-7 approach, you won’t regret it.