Beginners blues/boogie/rock discussion
Haha yeah sorry TC, no C7 or C9 ending this round - but I watched your video again and WILL try it (some) next time 
Nightowl, yes I really love that little keyboard. For one thing the touch is ENTIRELY different from an "actual" (ok, digital, but, proper) piano. Well you probably can relate because you started on a Casio keyboard. I really love playing both but there is something really magical about adding a funky voice and groovy drumbeat. Lessons like these make learning piano worthwhile. I almost felt worthy of the craved fedora hat! 
Someone is really having fun! And I totally understand, I spent almost 2 months on this lesson. Didn't want to go away. Only thing you need to learn is how to press that spring-loaded keys, some notes were very silent, but others were at high volume and had this barking sound (Wurlitzer E piano?).
I am always thinking of getting a proper 2nd E-piano, a slab, something portable. Not so portable like my Casio, but a "real" piano. And after this, the Roland FP-E50 gained a lot of interest. This is maybe something I will treat on myself, when I become advanced.
btw, what happened at 2:21?
Haha yuppp, this lesson is so much fun! I will revisit it often... now with the lesson out of the way, I can try to come up with my own improvs. And yes, it's good to practise with spring-loaded keys! I did the barking sound on purpose (for the effect, though it was not ALWAYS intended) and you are absolutely correct that in other places, I played too soft. Sometimes the note even disappeared! I'm loving that keyboard though, best $199 ever spent 
The Roland sounds wonderful too, but a little too much $$$$$$ for me/us to spend right now, need some other stuffs first
What happened at 2:21: I cut out a glitch! You were not supposed to notice that! Told you you were too observant! I started the pweep! pweep! pweep! and then didn't move my hand fast enough to doodle-dee-dum. So I cut out the empty bar. It was the only cheat in this entire lesson and you caught me with my pants down! (if I had any pants)
I had a sneak peek at the next lesson: Nice! The first real song! (St. James Infirmary). I'm looking forward to that
Sophia St. James Infirmary lesson is not yet a real song, sorry. The St. Louis Blues is the first one in the list.
One thing: When cutting out something and you won't anyone know it: Change the camera angle! I do this all the time (I mean, changing the camera angle). Do a crop or a uncrop and nobody realizes that your hand jumped.
Another thing: The funny picture... What was in the barrels? And who drunk it?
Wait - you have two in a row, and I am still at the beginning of mine...
This feels like:
- Edited
Lol! Have to keep you on your toes! But, let's face it: this was a very easy lesson. The left hand has only 2, 3 notes and no chords. The right hand is easy too if you can count a little.
The hard part was learning all the lines 
I can't play anything from my Alfred book from memory, even after three weeks with the same piece I usually still need the sheet music.
It's one of those abilities I lost in the decades without a piano, because when I was Jerry size, my mom only had to play something for me once or twice and I could memorize it 
- Edited
Lesson 7 is still ongoing, and I am still stuck in the first line... yawn.
Just figured out why my chord progression sounds bloody beginner like, but Christian's doesn't. He is making clever use of pedal, but don't tell in the tutorial, nor are there any pedal markings on the sheet music.
I guess I can do it with pedal, but this needs some more days to run it on autopilot. Always pedaling too early, too late, or forgot about my right hand. The only thing that works is to pedal up right in time.
How is the St. James Infirmary lesson going? First time with a chord progression, is it?
Edit: I didn't pedal the 13th beginner lesson, but it might be a good place to do. Just don't ask me how.
- Edited
WieWaldi Lesson 7 is still ongoing, and I am still stuck in the first line... yawn.
Awwwww! Sorry to hear that. Some lessons are so much fun, others.... bwegh! Using the pedal is the highlight of all my playing though. When Alfred introduced it, it was the most exciting lesson of my entire life - because it was always such a mystery to me. But I haven't used it with Christian's lessons yet. You need more Alfred in your life 
WieWaldi How is the St. James Infirmary lesson going? First time with a chord progression, is it?
Well, the bad news (or good, depending on your viewpoint): I haven't actually started it yet 
I did look at the chords and the melody (very well known but I didn't know the name until now, quite depressing title really for such a lovely tune) and the blues scale that he has you play with those chords. But I haven't sat down yet and tried it. Hopefully from tomorrow onwards!
Yes, this is this is the the first lesson with a chord progression. I hope he will allow for more than just four times plonking down the chord later in the lesson... but I haven't watched further just yet. Still finalizing my Alfred lesson and then it's time for leisure 
I can't wait to go from 
back to my true self 
again!
- Edited
Sophia Sorry - your lesson stays with this chord progression all the time. Anyway, this is probably just for getting into playing slow chords instead of humptee-dumptee LH patterns. I am happy, I had this lesson before getting into a longer and more complicated LH.
I remember how long it took to position 3 fingers on the keyboard. With every lesson later on, this became easier and easier and somehow the brain got used to recall a weird LH finger shape.
Currently I feel as well like and not like .
Playing gospels chords makes this church feeling all the time. Guess I have to go through it. Even with a quite easy RH, the LH + pedal makes it quite difficult. Seems like Christian has to provide some more serious lessons, too. (But without explaining how to pedal. 
) Who cares, the theory behind the pedal is very easy and a no-brainer to figure out. Still, it needs practice.
WieWaldi I remember how long it took to position 3 fingers on the keyboard.
Interesting! I guess that is because you started your musical journey with this course - you did, right? And I started with "traditional lesson" material. Placing three fingers is almost too easy and I was already expecting him to say okay, after the scale exercise, the left hand goes too boogie style...
Mind you, I shouldn't assume the lesson to be easy just yet, because he usually puts some pretty evil tricks in midway 
Sophia Interesting! I guess that is because you started your musical journey with this course - you did, right?
Well, I had accordion as little child. Not very successful and a long long long time ago. Forgot about everything except I didn't like it very much. Only thing I remember is note values, this seemed natural from the beginning. And maybe this gave me a small advantage in hand independence. Especially if LH plays a humta-dumpta ryhthm pattern. Still, finding the keys is very different from the 4 buttons I used as a child on the accordion all the time.
Piano I started with 2 pieces way way way too difficult for me and quit again because of the frustration of how long it takes to learn something new.
So, you might be right with your assumption, this course was the real start of my musical journey. Never thought about it... interesting. 
Sophia And I started with "traditional lesson" material. Placing three fingers is almost too easy and I was already expecting him to say okay, after the scale exercise, the left hand goes too boogie style...
Good to know. This way I don't feel like a bloody total unmusical with knots in the fingers.
Haha yeah these things take time - you have to go through the learning process no matter what. Either through this course of boring Alfred type books. For me the real challenge was the steady left hand pattern repeats combined with a right hand that's moving all over the place. You don't get that in Alfred/Thompson books! But I'm getting a little better at that now too
WieWaldi I didn't pedal the 13th beginner lesson, but it might be a good place to do. Just don't ask me how.
I started the lesson yesterday and you are right. I sounded like a bloody plonk plonk plonk plonk beginner. When Christian plays it, it sounds smooth and suave. He definitely sneaks in the pedal there - because I played it with the pedal and it was... ok... not smooth and suave. But instead of bloody beginner, it was lovely beginner level 
I don't think this is going to be a hard lesson, but... it involves notes, and I'm finding out that I'm getting to be pretty much hardwired to READ those notes, instead of playing from memory. I am having a really hard time convincing my brain that it needs to store this information instead of just reading it. I can play the first page (melody first run, blues scale second run) without any issues when I read it... but as soon as I take my eyes off the sheet, I forget when I have to change and to what chord.
But it's only the second day - I moaned about this before and always managed to learn it after a while 
Side note: I just realized that this is now the longest thread in this forum!
- Edited
Sophia
Oops - I realise I misread your earlier post so I've edited my reply.
I can see your difficulty when a lesson "involves notes"... pesky things, they are! 
You could always download one of those piano playing apps with pretty flashing colours over the notes - apparently they teach people to play Rachmaninoff in less than 10 minutes!
"Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)
Sophia It is a good sign, you are used to reading the notes while playing. I had the same with both of upcoming retical pieces: take away my notes and I play something plain wrong after a few bars. Give me the notes back and all is good again.
I can now play the 1st line (out of 7) with pedal and make it sound so-so-ish. (~70% percent chance to make no mistake) But not today and not tomorrow as I am at my parents place with the Casio and its small pedal is workable, but not enjoyable.
About the longest thread in the forum... Really, I have no clue, how this could happen. 
But I am happy, it is longer than the Alfred's thread with a lot more people involved. 
Nightowl You could always download one of those piano playing apps with pretty flashing colours over the notes - apparently they teach people to play Rachmaninoff in less than 10 minutes!
Haha - same with so many YouTube videos. "Play Boogie in 10 minutes":
1 minute LH pattern, 5 minutes RH licks, 2 minutes intro, 2 minutes ending and done. You have everything you need to know for Boogie in 10 minutes. But for playing it, you must practice every minute for many hours.
