A Tremolo In Piano Playing Can Add Excitement To Your Songs!

Click on this link to watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMiCRRovx88&feature=youtu.be

Today in our video we are going to cover the difference between a trill and a tremolo.

Good morning. This is Duane and we’ve been doing a series called “Good Stuff You Really Ought to Know About the Piano and About Music Theory.”

One thing you ought to know is what a tremolo is.  A tremolo is a little different than a trill. A trill is where you take two notes and alternate them like that. A tremolo is where you take a group of notes, like four notes, and you alternate them like that.

Out of that tremolo, you can start to form some runs. For example, if I’m playing that tremolo … This is a G ninth tremolo, by the way … I have G in the left hand, maybe a G octave, or a G root fifth. In the right hand I play the seventh of the chord, the ninth of the chord, the third of the chord, and the fifth of the chord. G ninth, in other words. I make that tremolo.

Notice I’m … It’s not individual finger action so much. It is some of that, but it’s also kind of a rolling of the hands. My hand is revolving, and that makes those notes go like that. You can push your damper pedal down to make it more effective, too. See, because that sustains the sound. Once you get that going, then you can take that … Break it up from the bottom up and tuck your thumb under like that. You can come down if you want to.

If you’re playing F major seven … You can go to all kinds of chords but it all starts with the tremolo, and then breaking out of that tremolo. You can start out slow, of course, if you’re new to that. Play up to four notes. Kind of revolve your hand and bring your thumb under the next four. You don’t want your hand to jump. You want your hand to jump as little as possible, in other words. It has to move. It has to jump, but do it as little as possible. That’s what a tremolo is.

So, if you enjoy these little, short videos, come on over to PlayPiano.com and sign up for our series of video tips. I hope to see you there. Until then, I’ll say goodbye.

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