View Full Version : Help me help my friend...

06-19-2006, 11:29 PM
I also posted in the Guitar forum with a similar problem myself...

OK, I have a friend who plays the Keyboard. He is currently at, i would say is an intermediate level, in technical skill. He doesn't know much theory, or even chords, however, he is interested in learning these things. His current goal is to be a "good" keyboard player, so, High level of technical skills, as well as a good grasp of the theory behind it. my main questions are...

1) How can he/Where can he find information on: building Speed and accuracy?

2) Where are good places to learn the VERY BASICS of Music Theory? I'm talking, he doesn't know scales or chords. I have explained to him the "2212221" principle of notes within a key, but that's about the extent of his music theory knowledge.

3) Improvisation, Like i said, i have explained the "2212221" system of finding the notes in a key, but i'm sure there must be more to it than that, maybe other patterns? linking keys together?

If you can, try to avoid suggesting books, as he can't spare a lot of money at the moment, However, if you have no other ides, suggest it anyway, we can always try to get them at a later date.

Finally, he understands that this isn't going to happen overnight, but is "Practice, Practice, Practice" the only thing that can be done to speed up this learning/development? The main reason for this "need for speed" is that, essentially, we are in a band, and want to improve as much as possible in as little time as we have in the summer holidays (though they haven't nearly started yet :P)

We're pretty serious about music as a lifetime commitment, whether it be to 3 drunks in a bar in the middle of nowhere, or to however many thousands at the Download Festival...it doesn't really matter to us :)

Thanks for your time :)


(Apologies for any "Identicalities" between this and the Guitar post, it's late, and we have similar problems, and Windows has a copy function...:P)

06-20-2006, 12:10 AM
A very thorough book is "The Jazz Piano Book" by Mark Levine. It starts out pretty simple, but has a lot of advanced material in it, so it will require some work to read through. Also, don't let the "Jazz" part of the title put you off, as the theory involved can be used in any style of music.

I'm sure there are other books out there though that are less jazz oriented, or deal mainly with basics and simple things for someone who is more of a beginner, but this is a good book for an intermediate player to work on.

06-20-2006, 04:27 PM
Thanks man, I'll be sure to reccommend it to him. :)