5/29/2007

So yesterday I decided to revisit the material in my book "How to Read Musical Rhythm like a Genius" and made a cool little video that covers 20 basic rhythms. To see it, visit my video blog.

5/18/2007

Thanks again for all your nice letters. I will try to create exercises to fill all your piano skills needs. Also, if you are new to the site and you would like me to write an exercise to work on a specific skill. feel free to write. Today's piano sight reading exercise addresses the need to read notes written way above the staff. The exercise is 15 pages long. The first nine show the examples with the notes written below the staff. The next seven pages are the same material, but without the notes written in, so that you can practice.

Notes Way above the Staff in the Treble Clef

5/14/2007

Happy mothers day! I've created the mother of all exercises for you piano players today. This free exercise covers stride piano with seventh chords. It uses the II > V pattern with the first five notes of the major scale in the melody. I set it up so that you have the notes written in below the staff on the first two measures of each key, then you have to read (or memorize) for the next two measures. This will help your stride and sight-reading skills at the piano a lot!

Stride and Sight-Reading Exercise

5/09/2007

OK, I've been on a roll lately with the free exercises. I've been very interested in taking the chord voicings I teach in "How to Speed Read Piano Chord Symbols" and dividing them between the two hands. Often this allows for easier fingering. If you play the root and seventh in the left hand, and then the 3rd and the melody note in the right it is much easier than simply playing the Root in the left hand and the remaining notes in the right. I don't teach it this way in "How to Speed Read Piano Chord Symbols" because I think it is much harder to visualize the hcords when they are divided between the two hands. It may be easier on the hands, but it is not easier on the mind. It has something to do with the whole left-brain, right-brain connection. So at first, I would recommend learning the chords with the essential elements in the right hand. But once you have mastered that, you can divide them. This exercise shows nice easy ways to play the chords with the notes divided between the two hands.

Dividing chords between the two hands exercise

5/08/2007

Thanks again for visiting PianoChordFinder.Org. If you keep coming, I'll be able to keep making cool free tools and exercises supported through advertising and donations and book sales. This latest free exercise teaches note reading in all the major keys. For further practice, check out my book, "The Secrets of Sight Reading Piano Music." I have free downloadable chapters to get you started.

Six page exercise to practice note reading in all 12 major keys -- This exercise covers all twelve keys, with the note names written in below the staff. This is like the Rosetta stone for those of you who need work on your note reading. People always ask me, “Isn’t it cheating to have the note names written underneath the staff?” But the truth is, just like learning a language, the key to learning to sight-read is exposure and quick comprehension. By running through exercises such as this, you are opening yourself up to reading quickly. And in a few years, after your piano sight-reading ability has improved dramatically, it won’t matter how you approached it today. Suffering by struggling through music only makes the learning process slower and more tedious. By helping yourself out, you open yourself up to playing more complex music that allows common musical patterns to start to become like old friends to you. In my books, “The Secrets of Sight-Reading Piano Music” and “How to Play from a Fake Book Without Gettin’ the Blues”, I have pages of beautiful music that will teach you chords and chord theory and teach you note reading at the same time. I remember when I was trying to learn chord theory, and I would go check out all the jazz theory books, and I couldn’t use the books because my note reading was not yet up-to-snuff. In this exercise, as in my books, I try to make real chord theory and chord changes accessible to the beginner as well as the more advanced players.

Another free piano sight-reading study -- After you have mastered the previous exercise, see if you can work throug this one. It uses the same chords, but doesn't put the note names underneath. added 5/09/2007

4/27/2007

I have a new treat for you. I wrote up this exercise for one of my piano students to practice reading simple chords in all the keys. There videos of the first several keys in my video blog page.

Exercise to practice chords and keys

1/08/2007

Free Instructional Videos added

Happy New Year, and may your piano learning be cheetah-like in its speed! I'm going to be adding instructional videos on a weekly basis, so come back regularly! Visit my blog to see the latest videos.

Free Piano Chord Finder

FIND ANY CHORD QUICKLY RIGHT HERE

There are many chord finder tools out there written in javascript, but I haven't seen too many written in Flash, so I decided to write one. I also added a fun little feature in which you can move the chords around the circle of fifths. This chord finder is not as extensive as some of the others on the web, but I think it's better because it focuses on the most important information. If you have any questions or recommendations, feel free to contact me at jederengel@hotmail.com. Click here to go to the Free Chord Finder page.

Piano Chord Finder with Treble Clef Notes

Here's another version of the September piano chord finder, only this time, it teaches the right hand in the treble clef as well. (posted 9/20/2006)

P.S. If you would like to add any of these chord finder tools to your website, you can, just e-mail me, and I'll send you the appropriate files. -- Nate

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Starting the ii > V Pattern on voicing 2

Posted 9/28/06

I altered yesterday's chord finder, so that now you can start the pattern on either voicing 1 or voicing 2. Just click on the the "Voicing II" button, and the third note down becomes the top note).

Adding 5ths and 9ths to the ii > V Pattern

Posted 9/27/06

After you have studied the ii > V pattern (see below), you will want to start adding on fifths and extra notes, such the 9th or the 13th. In this free tutorial, you'll study the fifth > 9th variation on the ii > V pattern. What this means, is that the 5th of your ii chord, will become the 9th of your V chord. To see what I'm talking about, check out the Flat Fifths and Flath Ninths study tool. NOTE: Only the right hand is shown, to make the shapes easier ot memorize.

The ii > V Pattern

Posted 9/26/06

Every piano player needs to study and master the "two five pattern". This pattern starts with a minor seventh chord, and then moves to a dominant seventh chord. If you study the movement for each finger, you'll see there are easy patterns to memorize as it moves around the circle of fifths. In this free tutorial, you can highlight either the top note, the middle note or the bottom note.

If the top note of your ii chord is the 3rd, it will become the seventh of your V chord.

If the top note of your ii chord is the seventh, it will move down a half-step to the third of the V chord. Ready to see it in action? Click here for the ii > V pattern study tool.

FIRST AND SECOND INVERSION CHORDS AROUND THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS

Posted 9/26/06

I altered this piano chord inversions study tool, so that now it plays minor chords as well. I also added a pause functionality, so that you can look at a chord, and then resume the chord generator. Click here to visit the Inversions Study Tool.

INVERSIONS TOOL

Posted 9/22/06

Thanks again for visiting my site. New today: A tool fo studying inversions. It shows you a eihter the I chord, the IV chord, or the V chord in either root position, first inversion or second inversion. Ideally, you could play your piano while looking at this tool, so that you could practice these inversions. Anyway, I'll probably revise it in the next couple of days. Le tme know if you have suggestions for further tools. Inversions Tool page.