Learn piano chords galore -- how they are formed and what to do with them. Learn to link chords together into chord progressions. Illustrations of each chord on a piano keyboard make it easy to understand and use. Learn to play piano using these piano lessons in a music book! Learn music chords including major, minor, diminished, augmented, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th chords, plus suspensions and alterations. Read music faster and understand music theory!
Duane Shinn took a rather unusual path to becoming a pianist and then a teacher who has created well over 200 books, DVD's and CD's about piano playing and music in general. Even though he started piano lessons when he was 7, he was much more interested in baseball, and even brought his glove and ball to his piano lessons, much to the displeasure of poor Mrs. Graham. He learned to read music, but he would much rather read the sports page about batting averages and the exploits of his favorite baseball players.
Then when he was 14 and a freshman at Placer High School in Auburn California, something happened that launched his career in music. The piano player in the school dance band had just graduated from high school, and no one else was available to take his place. The head of the band heard that Duane had taken piano lessons, and asked him reluctantly to join the band on the condition that he learn the chords in the songs that the band often played. At that point, Duane didn't know a chord from a foul ball, but the prospect of playing in the high school dance band excited him, so he found an ad in a magazine that offered a chord chart for $2., and he sent off for it. When it arrived he learned what the C chord was and then the Dm7 chord, and suddenly discovered he could play "Frankie & Johnie" without having to read the music!
He loved it! And it even sounded good enough to impress some of his friends the next day. That simple chord chart that cost him two bucks has been worth a fortune over the course of his lifetime. And much more than that, has been worth quadrillions in pleasure and satisfaction and relaxation and lots more.
Even though he came in the back door as far as piano playing was concerned, he learned fast because of what he knew about chords, so college was a snap, and so was his post-graduate Masters Degree at Southern Oregon University. After high school he studied with several of the finest private teachers on the West Coast, including a year with THE finest teacher; his name was Dave; and his studio was on Cauhenga Blvd. in Hollywood. As he would come for my piano lesson, he would often pass a big name recording artist coming to their lesson; and anyone who was anyone in Hollywood in those days took lessons from Dave.
Dave taught him 2 fundamental principles about piano playing:
1. The piano is NOT played with the hands; it is played with the brain. The hands are just tools.
2. If you master chord relationships, you can master music.
Duane has little fat hands with short fingers. Hardly the ideal hands for piano playing.
He also has a relatively lousy sense of rhythm.
But you know what? Because of those two principles Dave taught him, he can play "above" his fat hands and his weak rhythm.
Above?
Yes.
Above.
Once a person "gets into the flow" of understanding chord relationships and then letting the brain knowledge flow into the hands, that person plays "above" his ability.
And the great thing about it is this: It's not some secret formula hidden in the archives of some dusty music conservatory in Prague. Instead it's an open book; there are courses galore on the internet you can take for peanuts compared to a traditional music conservatory. The internet age has provided a way for the average person to become an above-average musician!
