Nice read Mo, thank you for sharing
Jim

Mo, ditto! Bottom line, if you've got the desire, dedication, and drive to put in the work, you can achieve most any dream, within reason of course. It's never too late. Look how old Grandma Moses was (in her 70's) when she first began her career in painting . - Scott

[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 08-27-2007).]

Hi,
according to my first teacher, I was too old at the ripe old age of "20". First thing she asked was my age, even before I had a chance to sit down at the piano.
Did a lot for my confidence, I was nervous enough as it was.
Heck , I didn't want to become a concert pianist, I just wanted to learn to play some simple tunes for self amusement.
I learnt to read & play despite her
( albeit very poorly ) haa haa.

I found the Hanon exercises great. They really built up independant finger strength.
I think the book I had originally was the Hanon 101 exercises?? They were played over 4 octaves from memory. I found a more simplified version a few years back, it was based on 2 octaves, & didn't have the full set of exercises.

best wishes
Rikki

This brings up an interesting question for me. For years I have played right hand chord and melody with left hand bass (like Uncle Dave?). I am interested in learning how to voice chords effectively with left hand to take full advantage of the arranger section of the keyboard. I am always blown away by the players who can voice chords and make the changes in the left hand at blistering speed, keeping up with even the fastest tempos. Any suggestions as to how I might pick up that skill?

ykc: One thing I recommend is developing smooth voice leading technique when playing chord progressions . This involves learning moving as few voices as few 'steps' as possible and retaining common tones between voices when possible) between chords. I'd recommend starting to learn the voice leading pattern (in all 12 keys) for the basic I-VI-II-V7 and I-VI-IV-V7 progression. Good luck. - Scott

thank you guys for the readings and tips (well, except for sitting on my right hand...), and I found Mo's post very comforting. I think I will start by muting the bass track and gradually move from manual roots to more complex bass patterns.

good idea, and also the opposite is a good idea: use only the bass track or bass/drums only, and free yourself up to just play left
hand without thinking all that much about if
you are being absolutely correct or not. since
the bass line won't ever sound really bad without using a perfect voicing as the full arranger will, you can be free to just play freely with your left hand until it becomes part of what your body does naturally.

------------------
Miami Mo

How many times on a gig ( (job) - UD is watching )has someone come up to you and said "I've always wanted to play an instrument" ... my standard answer is "If you start today, five years from now you will have been playing for five years - if you don't start today, five years from now you will still be 'wanting' ...
Just DO it !!!.
t.

Hey ! Watch it, Tony !