Sophia (yeah yeah cue WieWaldi "you moan a lot" pffttt)

No, this is not true. I am not moaning a lot. I am just complaining that my progress is so slow. And I don't like, that I forget more than I learn. And I am jealous that you are learning so much faster than I do. And I am envy, you learn all the advanced stuff in Alfred's like diminished chords while I stick to the Blues stuff only. I mean, Christian only explained the half-diminished chord so far. You play Piano for several years less, but you know already how to diminish something fully. I can only half diminish a chord. And that you can play Chopin, and me not. You know, there is no easy Chopin. Not to mention this Ostinato Jazz. I use Blues as a vehicle to get into Jazz, but you step directly into Jazz playing. And then all this creativity - embedding cats into videos. Doing duets with a hand puppets and all the like. You have two professional musicians as parents giving you all the talent while my parents have trouble to spell music. Actually nobody of my friends play an instrument or is musical at all, and...

...you are right - I moan a lot! 🙀

Edit: 👆 this is not true!

      • Sophia

      • Post #626
      • Edited

      Wait, no no no noooooooo I didn't say YOU moan a lot. I said you can accuse ME of moaning a lot. Which of course would be totally true. I guess that means we BOTH moan a lot......... we should start a club. Ok, maybe not. I think that might give some wrong impression. 😱

      WieWaldi Actually nobody of my friends play an instrument or is musical at all, and...

      You have at least one! Annoying, yes, but talented. Or so she keeps hearing 😂😅🤣

          Sophia Of course - here in the forum you are right.
          No - I meant my face to face friends. Not the facebook-ish ones.

          ❤️ Friend! 😍

          👺 But annoyingly talented 😾

              Sophia Edit: Found it! In fact that was the exact same slide (without the C). And WieWie posted a video then too 😁

              Ok, then this is Christian's original video with that slide. Not that different from our beginners versions.

                • Sophia

                • Post #629

                WieWaldi But annoyingly talented

                I will agree with the annoying part 🥰

                ................................................. ^
                .................................................. |
                .................................................. |
                ............ annyong one is me! not you!
                Before we misunderstand each other again 😁

                  hebele WieWaldi

                  Thanks for the videos! Based on what I saw the F# is played first right before the beat, and the C-G-Bb are played together on the beat. And I learned a new technique for me!

                      WieWaldi The thing that makes me curious - why are you asking, Roger? I mean, if I really dared to ask this question, I would have asked you. Or @TC3 .

                      Hey @WieWaldi you and the other students of the blues here are way ahead of me on blues playing!

                      I have done a very small amount of blues playing. My latest was an attempt improvise using the blues scale in the right hand with I IV V chords in the left hand, but using more my style of playing than traditional blues. I quickly realized that to make this work I need to (1) study the blues scale and (2) if I want anything like the a blues progression I need to drill the left hand to make it automatic. Otherwise I quickly lose the blues progression and wander all over the place harmonically.

                      Basically I'm an absolute beginner (is that right?) when it comes to the blues!

                          WieWaldi I share your pain WieWie - it's NOT FAIR!!! From what I've seen though, you have some enviable playing skills too, it's just that you're progressing at normal speed, while Sophia is supersonic. 🙂

                          "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                            rogerch your playing skills are awesome. I don't think you can call yourself a beginner by any means. All you can say is: " Listen friends, I am beginning a new piece."

                                • Sophia

                                • Post #634

                                rogerch Basically I'm an absolute beginner (is that right?) when it comes to the blues!

                                WieWie's scales of proficiency are very fluid and argued over a lot, so you pick your own - all the way up to eternal beginner 😂 I am being teased about being at Ferrari speed, but just wait for the sonic jet boom sound once you unleash your powers 😄

                                    WieWaldi Awesome observation WieWie.

                                    Sophia Nice turn of phrase; "sonic jet boom". 😄 I'm looking forward to this - no pressure @rogerch !

                                    "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                          Nightowl Sophia Nice turn of phrase; "sonic jet boom". 😄 I'm looking forward to this - no pressure @rogerch !

                                          Well, I took another shot at it today with the same result.

                                          I think it would be really cool to be able to play blues improvs and I may do the work to make that happen at some point. Like everything else with piano it will take time! Lots of scales and drilling! I don't anticipate any sonic booms!

                                          I've been working on improvising waltzes for the next PW themed recital. It comes down to doing what I already do, but in 3/4 time rather than my current 4/4ish maybe random time. Even 3/4 time has proven to be much harder than I thought it would be. Blues will be orders of magnitude more work!

                                            Okay, I just recorded, edited and uploaded my recital piece (for the other forum):

                                            I practiced this without the pedal, but today I decided to bring the pedal in. And suddenly my fingering was different. No longer the need for some awkward hand position just in order to hold down some keys for legato playing.
                                            I've learned my lesson: start with the pedal right away, no matter if you think the piece is so easy that it doesn't need the pedal.

                                            Unfortunately, at the very end, one note was played so silent that it is almost muted. This muted note is a result of the changed fingering. Nah - nobody can expect a total beginner to play flawlessly.

                                              • Sophia

                                              • Post #638

                                              Oh that was absolutely LOVELY WieWaldi... I thoroughly enjoyed it and played it again right away. And then again. Then my husband came in and asked what are you doing? So I told him I was listening to your piece... and right now we're BOTH listening at high volume. And I will play it quite a few more times... this is my type of music! Gentle, melodious, pretty harmonies, and very well played. So very smooth and suave too. How dare you call yourself a beginner

                                              I am really enjoying my current lesson, but now I just can't wait to learn this Country blues too!

                                              And I agree, the pedal is a necessity... it changes everything from meh to wow!

                                                Sophia Thank you for your kind words. But you know why we call ourselves beginners. The hurdles to become an intermediate player are just too big. You know, sightreading, repetoire of 500++ pieces and you know what else we have forgotten. So much more stuff that is a must have for an intermediate. I guess, I will get 20% of that in the next 10 years.

                                                Unfortunately I am half through the Eight Easy Blues pieces. Only four more to go. 😪 I wish Christian had 40 pieces with that easy beginner level. So far, every piece was a joy learning and also a joy playing it.

                                                Btw, Christian made this ad-video. Playing a small bit of every piece inside this collection. But this video was unlisted in YouTube. Only very few views, no comments, no upvotes.
                                                I asked him why it is unlisted and he told me... nope - you can read everything in the comment section of the vid. Short story - I am his best promoter!

                                                    WieWaldi Haha yes, you promote him pretty well... you need to, he is too modest! I have the sheet music too of course, so maybe I should learn the first one after my current lesson. I listened to the trailer and I agree, every single piece is equally beautiful. Whereas I remember a "Hanon" lesson and a "Gospel" one and.... yeah. I am not sure if I'm looking forward to those (but I will of course... just maybe not as polished as Hit the Road).

                                                    I have decided to stay a beginner until Eternal Beginner, then I can stay there, well, eternally, lol. I too don't want to spend my leisure time brainlessly looping scales, or arpeggios, learning theory, do exams or adding Fur Elise to my repertoire just because everybody else does. My time to get super serious passed 40 years ago. I wasn't serious about learning music then, so I see no reason to suddenly change that now 🤡

                                                    Though it sure is fun to be your ankle biter every now and then

                                                      WieWaldi that sounds great, very enjoyable to listen.

                                                      I feel so betrayed when the notes at the very end goes wrong 😅. I know it is irrational but the feeling doesn't care.

                                                        WieWaldi That was beautifully played WieWie, and the last note being slightly muted gave a nice fade out effect which fitted well with the character of this gentle piece. It's so relaxing watching you play the blues, your hands were made to play them. 🙂

                                                        "Don't let's ask for the moon, we have the stars." (Final line from Now,Voyager, 1942)

                                                          WieWaldi I practiced this without the pedal, but today I decided to bring the pedal in. And suddenly my fingering was different. No longer the need for some awkward hand position just in order to hold down some keys for legato playing.
                                                          I've learned my lesson: start with the pedal right away, no matter if you think the piece is so easy that it doesn't need the pedal.

                                                          Great playing @WieWaldi! What a lovely piece and I really like your delicate expressive playing!

                                                          Regarding pedal: I was taught to hold notes for the full duration even with the pedal present and I think it has served me well.

                                                          When I learn a new piece I learn to play without pedal first, holding notes for their full durations, and add the pedal later. It sounds like this is exactly what you did, and then you switched fingering once you added the pedal. Makes perfect sense!

                                                          Having picked fingerings that allow me to hold notes for the full duration, I have flexibility in how I'm going to pedal without having to change fingerings. Last year I played Bach/Marcello Adagio BWV 974 in one of the recitals. After I learned to play without pedal I tried all kinds of different pedaling approaches to get a resonant sound without blurring the melody and I didn't have to change fingerings depending on my approach.

                                                          Of course if you learn with pedal first and decide later to use less you can always change the fingering. 😀

                                                          Anyway, thought I'd mention it, take it for what it's worth. And thanks for sharing your great playing!

                                                              Thank you Roger, for you insight

                                                              rogerch Regarding pedal: I was taught to hold notes for the full duration even with the pedal present and I think it has served me well.

                                                              Well, this happened to be my play style by accident. I always thought, pedaling is for later. Pealing is an addon, after my fingers are good. But this needs to have a clumsy fingering from time to time. With the use of the pedal, I can release my fingers earlier and going for an entirely new hand position. A more relaxed hand position.

                                                              Funny thing is, the pedal timing starts to be kind of automatic:

                                                              • rule 1: release pedal when fingers go down
                                                              • rule 2: press pedal shortly before a chord change, or another harmonic change happens

                                                              The most tricky pedal situation is to have a grace note right before a harmonic change. The grace note must not be pedaled, making the pedal-down window very small.