Duane Shinn (that would be me) has good news for you if you want to play the piano. He (me) has little fat hands & stubby little fingers - not at all suited for playing the piano - more suited to making mud pies or some such. I am also fairly uncoordinated with just average musical ability - certainly not a great piano player. But I've learned a ton about music over the years and people tell me I'm pretty decent at explaining how music works & how to progress more rapidly on the piano. Over the years I have developed about 150 techniques for conquering the piano. Most professional pianists can do these techniques, but very few can explain them in a way people can understand. I specialize in making complex techniques simple. I invite you to watch a few of my free videos and see some of these for yourself before making any decision about taking any of my courses.
Here’s a bluesy little chord progression you can use in quite a few musical situations. It involves playing the IV chord of the key and then playing the IV chord of that IV chord to create a chord progression that … Continue reading →
There are scads of ways to add fillers to your songs, from counter-melodies to passing tones to unusual chord sequences to quartal voicings to…and on and on. Three of the easiest ways to take the chords of a song and … Continue reading →
Among the ways to reharmonize a melody is a technique I call the “half-step slide”. As you progress from one chord to another, look for a way to “slide in” to the target chord — like a runner stealing 2nd … Continue reading →
Why do I need to learn scales and chords and music theory? Well, if you have the talent of a Mozart or Bach or Erroll Garner or Oscar Peterson or Dave Brubeck, you probably don’t. But if you’re like the … Continue reading →
A piano has 88 keys, 36 are black and 52 are white. When depressing the keys, you trigger hammers inside the piano to hit strings, which is what produces the sound. The keyboard has white keys that are tuned to … Continue reading →
If you love old hymns and gospel songs, take a look at this 7-minute video. It is a preview of a course I have in arranging hymns and gospel songs — making them more interesting and exciting using chord techniques … Continue reading →
Here are some ideas for improvising on the blues scale. I picked the key of F, but of course you can play it in any key you choose as well. Notice that in the blues scale we use a flat … Continue reading →
There is a style in music called “new age”, and while I don’t care for the title, it is a beautiful style that is so nice for relaxation and meditation, that I thought I would make a short video showing … Continue reading →
Chords, as you well know, are based on scales, and the most basic form of chord is a triad — a three note chord consisting of the root, 3rd, and 5th of a major scale. The most usual way to … Continue reading →
Have you noticed that any music that uses orchestral instruments is often referred to as classical music? If you have any doubt that this is true, take a look at ITunes, the most popular music download site in the world. Anything that would be performed in a concert hall is lumped in to the “classical” genre. Is this accurate?
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