Instrument Players - Come and chat (Part II)

[CoteDAzur]

Previous thread is here.

We filled one thread, so here’s another

Wow, Never that's pretty hardcore! You must be rather a good pianist! Are you learning it for fun, or do you have a performance/exam in mind?

Haha. Just because one attempts something doesn't mean one gets to actually play up to scratch ...

No exams/performance. Everything is for fun.

I'm working on a Mozart piano sonata that will probably take me another year to play even half decently.

OTOH the Bach prelude and fugue that I learnt last year (prob the easiest pair: book 1, c minor) now feels relatively easy (I did say relatively) and the Scarlatti sonata I did before that feels like child's play. It's about grade 6 and it was one of my first pieces after a 40 year break. A year ago it felt quite hard! Now I look at the page of music and think "there are hardly any notes"

Which Mozart piano sonata Misti?

The same one as 6 months ago Never lol. Bb major, K333. At this rate I'll be able to play it in 2020 (that's fine).

I can play most of the first movement - bits quite well, other bits quite badly (it's long).

I can kind of play the second movement, but not very well. Haven't really started the third movement.

Oh I know this one. Not an easy one!

I ever made it beyond grade 1 piano, so I’m super impressed with you guys!

I submitted my cover version for my forum competition and it’s actually had some votes and nice comments (it’s all anonymous until the voting’s over) so it’s give me a big confidence boost. Was on the verge of messaging the organiser and asking her to withdraw mine just before the deadline, so I’m glad I didn’t now.

*never, not ever

raider well done - you're very brave!
At least I can walk properly though tendonitis still there. Might try pedalling soon. Upside is playing baroque pieces that don't need it!

Clearly on the road to recovery - managed to pedal all the way through the Satie and not too many mistakes (mind you, it's a slow piece!)
As everyone else in this house can play guitar I have also started to try. Also because a while back I accidentally bought a beginners Rockschool book for DS2 and forgot to return it (I think he was G3 at the time!). For me this is a bigger challenge than piano but I'm surrounded by string savants, so help is at hand.

Ooh I love the starting of new instruments! What style are you going to do Loose?

Also well done Raider! Great to have a confidence boost. I think it's tempting just to hide away but helpful to perform too. Although saying that, the extent of my performing right now is unplugging the headphones on the digital piano so other people in the house can actually hear me. But at least I do that a lot more now than I used to. Small steps.

Loose justinguitar.com is your friend.

Rock guitar is very easy compared with piano, especially if you are not too ambitious.

Mistigri thanks! I'd forgotten about justinguitar!
I'll be happy if I manage a couple of pop songs!

You'll definitely be able to do that.

My experience was that progress was slow at first but tbh once you can play barre chords comfortably, and as long as you know how to move your F-shape and A-shape barre chords up and down the neck, you can play any rhythm guitar part in any key.

I don't have any ambitions to play guitar solos, one Jimmy Hendrix in the house is enough.

I've just figured out how to slur the chords in the Bach fugue I'm learning, hurrah! Now it is getting a bit of shape to it. Very satisfying!

I'm doing serious research into buying an intermediate level flute now, which is very exciting. Need to save up a bit more first though...

I'm currently working through G5 'music theory in practise' as it's a very long time since I did the G5 exam. I do love music theory! I've got the g6 book to take on holiday for a spot of light reading...

I remember liking music theory when I was doing it too!

Fluke - What do you mean by "how to slur the chords"? I'm curious.

"Now I look at the page of music and think "there are hardly any notes" "

I do that!

Cote I was struggling with the articulation for the right hand triads - I couldn't get all three notes of the triads legato where the editorial slurs are marked. I read some guidance which suggested playing the lower two notes slightly detached, while playing the upper notes legato. Does that make sense? How would you play it?

It says to play both upper and lower notes of the triad legato. I don't know why the advice Gould be different from the score says.

Is this score Urtext?

It's the abrsm exam score, the slurs are editorial. The guidance to just play the top note legato is in the abrsm teaching notes. I'm struggling to play the lowest note legato too as I'm running out of fingers! I'll ask my teacher next week, I must be doing something wrong.

I’m slowly working my way through the beginners course on justinguitar. I thought about going straight to the intermediate one, but I’ve picked up some good tips and just skip past the stuff I’m confident with. E.g. I don’t see the need to practise 1 min chord changes with D, A and E, but I’ve used the technique to practise other chord changes that I’ve struggled with and noticed an improvement pretty quickly (C-Dm9, I’m looking at you!). Would recommend!

They’re planning to make the covers contest a regular thing. Feeling motivated to up my game now I’ve heard the competition, lol!

Sounds good Raider. Out of interest, in the beginner course does he cover the 3-chord (or 4-chord) trick of just playing any basic song by ear? It's only since I came back to music in the last few months that I learned that. I only know a few chords on guitar and ukulele but I have a few beginner books and have been to a few sing-along-y beginner workshops and none of them even mention this which seems odd to me! It's easy and with it you can play so much. Instead the books I have all teach you a few chords and then you read the chord progression from the page for each song rather than encouraging you to hear what it should be and work it out for yourself. I don't get it.

Fluke - Which Bach fugue are you working on? I'm not home now but when I go back, I can take a photo of the Urtext score (i.e. as it was originally written during Bach's time) and post it here for comparison.