Jonny’s Top 5 Tips for Piano Success
I strongly believe that anything can be accomplished with dedication and practice. Here are my best tips to help you make the most of your piano piano practice practice.. Remember, how well you practice practi ce determines determines how how quickly you can improve!
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Piano Tip #1 – Know what to practice There are millions of songs out there and hundreds of different styles of music. So where do you begin? A wise man once said “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” - R. Emerson Find a song you are passionate about, or a performer who plays piano the way you want to play and start there! In my online lessons, I teach styles such as Blues, Boogie, Jazz, Ragtime, and Pop to pianists of all levels –beginner, intermediate and advanced. The focus is on having fun, and making music right away! I show you exactly what to practice in 3 steps: the left hand, the right hand, and hands together. 1
It is very important to set a small and specific goal for yourself during your piano practice time.
2 Try to master one thing at a time, even as the goals change from one practice session to the next. 3 If you cover too much material at a shallow level, you won’t retain it very well.
If you do your part by gradually learning one thing at a time, you will quickly improve and build confidence! 4
Piano Tip #2 – Learn to love repetition You learn the piano the same way you learned to walk, talk or ride a bike—by repeating the skill enough times until it becomes easy! Researchers use the term “muscle memory” to describe how we can perform challenging skills without much conscious effort. To be a great musician, you need to love repetition The best way to learn more efciently is to repeat each section of music until you notice that your ngers can
play the notes without you needing to think much about it. They say that it takes about 21 days to form a habit. If you apply that to the piano by repeating each passage of music 21 times, I guarantee you’ll see the difference. Repetition doesn’t mean you become a robot! The secret is to repeat the music mindfully. Make it interesting and fun by paying attention to different things while you play. 1 Focus on the patterns of the notes and chords. 2 Listen to the sound of the notes played together. 3 Find the most comfortable nger and hand positions. In my video lessons, I show all the notes and ngerings,
as well as the best way to practice so that you can learn any style of music you want to learn. If you embrace the process of repetition, you won’t waste any of your valuable practice time because you know what gets results.
It’s all about quality over quantity. You can get more out of 15 minutes of focused practice, than an hour of unfocused practice.
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Piano Tip #3 – Get into a positive mindset How you think while you practice is what I call your ‘mindset.’ Your thoughts are your greatest hindrance or greatest help! If you are impatient or afraid to make mistakes, you can’t reach your potential. To get into a positive mindset, think about these things: 1
Learn to be curious instead of critical. This way you won’t get frustrated. You’ll be eager to try again. 2 Realize that you need to make mistakes to learn. As the painter Bob Ross said, “We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” 3 Trust that over time, you will get where you want to be if you put in the effort.
Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results. While Thomas Edison was working on inventing the light bulb, he famously said, “I haven’t failed, I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” So keep challenging yourself to grow. Practice things you enjoy and balance that with working on your weak points. Celebrate your successes along the way, and continue to set new goals to keep your motivation high. You can even put an inspirational quote or picture on your wall as a reminder! 6
Piano Tip #4 – Measure your progress There is a famous saying that says, “what gets measured gets managed” This applies to as much to music training as it does to athletic performance, business or budgeting. … and it’s fun to do! The idea is that if you keep track of your practice goals in a journal, you will make better progress and your motivation will stay high. Why? Because you can look back at your goals and insights to notice your improvements over time. The act of writing down your goals and breaking it into small pieces with a practice journal helps you stay on track. Here’s a tip—write down what you want to practice before you start the session so you don’t fall into the habit of repeating what you already know. Save that for the end of a session. Start with the new challenge rst.
Make your piano practice goals SMART S Specic M Measurable A Attainable R Relevant T Time-bound
The truth is that people overestimate what they can do in a week, but they underestimate what they can do in a year! See our attached practice log to get started (on page 20) 7
Piano Tip #5 – Find a community and supportive environment Call it a community, a network, a tribe, a family… whatever you call it, and whoever you are—you need one. It not only makes the journey more fun, but it also gives you accountability and a whole network of people to get advice from and ask questions to. At PianoWithJonny, our members get access to our private facebook group where hundreds of members share their goals and progress. Nowadays it’s easier than ever to upload videos and share feedback. You are the average of the ve people you spend the most time with -Jim Rohn
You can greatly put the odds of success in your favor if you share your goals with a small group of like-minded people who will give you support and encouragement. In addition to our social environment, our physical environment can also inuence us.
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Hang a picture of your favorite musicians on the wall by your piano to stay motivated 2 Keep your music practice space organized and inviting so you want to spend time there! 3 Watch live performances to stay inspired as much as possible Our environment and the people we surround ourselves with have a huge inuence on our success in any goal!
Lastly, remember that music is meant to be shared. It is wonderful to play the music you’re learning with family and friends. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give -Churchill
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At Piano With Jonny, we know that it takes steady encouragment and coaching to become a great piano player. We give our PWJ members goals and practice challenges each month to grow. Members also get awarded for sharing videos of their progress in our Facebook Group! As students progress they can achieve 5 levels and claim bonus rewards:
Piano Pupil
Piano Knight
Piano Apprentice
Piano King Piano Legend
Each Month we celebrate student successes by featuring members in the Monthly Member Highlight. Student who work hard even get the chance to get their name on PWJ Wall Of Fame
We take the success of our students very seriously. Whether you’re just starting or you’re an intermediate to advanced player, we guarantee that our coaching will get real results. 9
If you are serious about your goals as a musician, you will learn to set goals, love repetition, and keep a positive mindset. You will measure your progress and nd a
community of like-minded people to share your goals with. At PianoWithJonny, we provide our students with all the tools they need to succeed, and we have a great community of people who are sharing their musical goals with each other. I guarantee that if you put in the work, you’ll see great results. You may even surpass your own expectations! Now you have the tools, but these tips are only useful if you apply them! Make a commitment, and don’t be afraid if you hit some setbacks or a plateau. Keep your eyes on the goal and remember why you love this instrument. You’ll realize that the reward of learning the piano is not in the destination, but the journey itself. Good luck on the journey Jonny & Yannick Y&JMusic www.pianowithjonny.com
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Inspirational Quotes If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction. A river cuts through a rock not because of its power but because of its persistence. Fall seven times, stand up eight. If plan A doesn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters. Victory is in having done your best. If you’ve done your best, you’ve won. Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm - W. Churchill It’s never too late to be who you may have been - T.S. Eliot
Recommended Books Here are some of the authors and book titles that we highly recommend if you’d like to learn more about the psychology of learning and music. Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner The Practicing Mind by Michael Sterner Mastery by George Leonard The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green
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- More Piano Playing TipsLearning Piano technique: 1 Keep the arms and shoulders relaxed while at the same time feeling grounded and connected to the torso. 2 Keep the hands even, and avoid pulling the wrists down. 3 Avoid collapsing the ngers when striking the piano keys. Keep each nger sturdy, but not tense. 4 Keep your ngers close to keys and limit unnecessary movement of the ngers you aren’t using.
Practice tips on learning scales & chords: Study scales and chords from multiple angles: understand the theoretical construction, listen to the sound, and focus on the shape and feel of each chord or scale.
Learning sheet music: 1 Figure out the notes. 2 Figure out the best ngers to use to play the notes (it
depends on what feels most comfortable to you). 3 Practice hands separately (left hand bass clef/ right hand treble clef) before trying hands together. 4 Break the song into small pieces and practice one measure at a time. Practice accurately and repeat each section at different speeds until you have mastered it.
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-Fingering for Piano1
Learning to use all your ngers in the most effective
way is very important in piano playing. 2 Throughout our video lessons, try using the suggested ngerings. You can always come up with your own alternate ngering if it feels better than what is
demonstrated. You need to experiment and go with what works. The goal is for it to feel easy and natural over time.
As stated above, these are the nger numbers. Commit this
to memory: • • • • •
Thumbs are always nger 1 The pointer ngers are called nger 2 The middle ngers are called nger 3 The ring ngers are called nger 4 The pinky is called nger 5
Visit http://www.pianopractice.org/ to read “The Fundamentals of Piano Practice” by Chuan Chang for a useful guide on piano practice and all technical challenges encompassed in piano playing.
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-Chord ChartFormulas: Major M 135
Minor m 1 b3 5
Dominant 7 7 1 3 5 b7
Diminished dim 1 b3 b5
Minor 7 m7/-7 1 b3 5 b7
Augmented Major 7 + M7/Δ7 1 3 #5 1357
Half Dim 7 Ø7 1 b3 b5 b7
Fully Dim 7 ⁰7 1 b3 b5 bb7
-This chart lists the most commonly used chords// -(Enharmonic) notes are used for sake of clarity (ex. E# is same as F)
C chords C Cm Cdim CΔ7 C7 C-7
C# or Db chords C-E-G C-Eb-G C-Eb-Gb C-E-G-B C-E-G-Bb C-Eb-G-Bb
C# C#m C#dim C#Δ7 C#7 C#-7
D chords D Dm Ddim DΔ7 D7 Dm7
D# or Eb chords D-F#-A D-F-A D-F-Ab D-F#-A-C# D-F#-A-C D-F-A-C
Eb Ebm Ebdim EbΔ7 Eb7 Eb-7
E chords E Em Edim EΔ7 E7 E-7
C#-F-G# C#-E-G# C#-E-G C#-F-G#-C C#-F-G#-B C#-E-G#-B
Eb-G-Bb Eb-Gb-Bb Eb-Gb-A Eb-G-Bb-D Eb-G-Bb-Db Eb-Gb-Bb-Db
F chords E-G#-B E-G-B E-G-Bb E-G#-B-D# E-G#-B-D E-G-B-D
F Fm Fdim FΔ7 F7 F-7 14
F-A-C F-Ab-C F-Ab-B F-A-C-E F-A-C-Eb F-Ab-C-Eb
F# or Gb chords
G chords
F# F#m F#dim F#Δ7 F#7 F#-7
G Gm Gdim GΔ7 G7 G-7
F#-A#-C# F#-A-C# F#-A-C F#-A#-C#-F F#-A#-C#-E F#-A-C#-E
G# or Ab chords
A chords
Ab Abm Abdim AbΔ7 Ab7 Ab-7
A Am Adim AΔ7 A7 A-7
Ab-C-Eb Ab-B-Eb Ab-B-D Ab-C-Eb-G Ab-C-Eb-Gb Ab-B-Eb-Gb
A# or Bb chords
B chords
Bb Bbm Bbdim BbΔ7 Bb7 Bb-7
B Bm Bdim BΔ7 B7 B-7
Bb-D-F Bb-Db-F Bb-Db-E Bb-D-F-A Bb-D-F-Ab Bb-Db-F-Ab
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G-B-D G-Bb-D G-Bb-Db G-B-D-F# G-B-D-F G-Bb-D-F
A-C#-E A-C-E A-C-Eb A-C#-E-G# A-C#-E-G A-C-E-G
B-D#-F# B-D-F# B-D-F B-D#F#-A# B-D#-F#-A B-D-F#-A
Chord inversions: -A 3 note chords can be in- Root position- 1 3 5 (C-E-G), 1st inversion- 3 5 1 (E-G-C), 2nd inversion- 5 1 3 (G-C-E) -A 7th chord (4 notes) can be in- Root position- 1 3 5 7 (C-E-G-B), 1st inversion- 3 5 7 1 (E-G-B-C), 2nd inversion- 5 7 1 3 (G-B-C-E), 3rd inversion- 7 1 3 5 (B-C-E-G)
Major Scales C: Db/C#: D: Eb/D#: E: F: Gb/F#: G: Ab/G#: A: Bb/A#: B:
C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, Bb, C, Db D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, Eb E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F Gb, Ab, Bb, Cb, Db, Eb, F, Gb G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, Bb B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B
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-Music TerminologyThis is an overview of some basic musical terminology which may be used in the videos.
Notes -Scale- a collection of notes/pitches that follows a certain pattern of whole and half steps -Scale degree- the individual notes belonging to a scale, usually labeled by numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). These numbers can also be related to chords. -Major scale- one of the most common types of scales which has the interval pattern of WWHWWWH (whole and half steps). -Minor scale- the second most common type of scale in western music, which relative to the major scale has the 3rd, 6th, and 7th scale degrees lowered. -Key- a key is related to a particular major or minor scale and is named by the rst note of that scale.
-Half step- any two notes directly next to each other. -Whole step- any two notes separated by a half step. The distance of two half steps. -Sharp- raising a note by a half step. -Flat- lowering a note by a half step. -Interval- the distance between any two notes, described by numbers such as 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th (octave) etc. Intervals can be major or minor (depending on the specic distance).
-Chord- at least 3 notes played at the same time. There are many variations of chords, but most chords are made up of intervals of a third. -Triad- a chord made up of 3 notes. There are four possibilities- major, minor, diminished, and augmented (depending on the type of thirds). 17
-Seventh chord- a chord made up of 4 notes. The most common ones are- major, dominant, minor, half diminished and fully diminished. These chords are used frequently in jazz music. -Inversion- a different ‘version’ of the chord, made by rearranging the order of the notes. -Chord symbol- a shorthand abbreviation or symbol which stands for a specic chord
-Chord progression- a sequence of chords. Chord progressions can be long or short, simple or complex, and there are many variations and common patterns. -Chord voicing- the different ways in which a chord can be played, through arranging the notes, using inversions, and doubling or adding notes. -Enharmonic- referring to the same note by more than one possible name due to sharps and ats (ex. E# = F).
Rhythm -Beats- the pulse in music, or the basic unit of keeping time. -Note values- there are different note values in music of shorter or longer durations. The most common types of notes are whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second notes. -Tempo- the speed of a piece- fast or slow. Italian terms are used in music to describe tempo. Metronome markings are marked in BPM or beats per minute. -Meter- the meter describes how many beats are in a measure and what type of note gets one beat. -Measures/ Bars- music is divided into measures, which are dened by the meter (the number of beats per measure).
This makes the music easier to follow. -Downbeat- the rst beat of a measure. -Pick-up note- a note (or notes) which precede the downbeat of a measure.
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-Triplet- a type of rhythm which divides the beat by three. -Swing- a lilting feel created in the music by using triplets, leaving out the middle note of the triplet group.
Techniques -Arrangement- the way a songwriter or player creates his or her version of a song. It refers to a how the chords and melody are interpreted -Melody- the notes in the foreground of a song which combine pitch and rhythm. Melody is usually played in the right hand on the piano. -Bass- the foundation of music, or the low notes which generally indicate the root of a chord. -Harmony- Notes played at the same time, which create chords. They are dened by the intervals between the
notes. -Solo- refers to improvisation or playing by oneself. In soloing one creates musical ideas out of the notes from different scales and chords. -Ornamentation- a technique of adding notes to decorate or embellish a melody or accompaniment. -Sliding notes- a technique common in blues and other styles of piano in which the player slides quickly from one note to another, which replicates the effect of a guitar or voice. -Riff/ lick- a musical idea which can be the basis of an improvisation or solo. -Accompaniment- music that supports the melody. Piano is often used to accompany a singer or other instrument because it can provide the harmonic foundation (chords) and bass notes. -Shufe- a
type of accompaniment used in blues piano playing which features swung notes, using the triplet rhythm. 19
-Practice Log1 Goals are Dreams with Deadlines 2 Keeping a practice log is a great way to track your progress and stay motivated. 3 Just enter the date, amount of time practiced, what you focused on, and any ideas and reections. This could
include any challenges you encountered, new things you tried, questions that came up, or anything else you can think of.
Date
Duration: What practiced
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Ideas & Reections:
Date
Duration: What practiced
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Ideas & Reections:
