
Piano For Dummies
Description
Alles über E-Books | Antworten auf Fragen rund um E-Books, Kopierschutz und Dateiformate finden Sie in unserem Info- & Hilfebereich.
Whether you're a wannabe Mozart or are an experienced hand at tinkling the ivories, the latest edition of Piano For Dummies has what you need to take you to the next level in making beautiful music using this much-loved and versatile instrument. Working as an introductory course--or as a refresher to keep those fingers nimble--you'll find information on getting started, improving your technique and performance, and the best ways to practice until you hit finely tuned perfection. And, along the way, you'll pick up the techniques for different styles, including classical, blues, and rock.
In an easy-to-follow style, the book also helps you sharpen your sight-reading. You can also tune in to audio and video online to help you improve your creativity and discipline, as well as hear and see that you're hitting the right notes.
* Choose the right piano
* Know your keys
* Scale up for success
* Care for your instrument
Whatever you want from your love affair with the old "88," you'll find enough right here to keep you hammering happily--and even more proficiently--away for years to come!
P.S. If you think this book seems familiar, you're probably right. The Dummies team updated the cover and design to give the book a fresh feel, but the content is the same as the previous release of Piano For Dummies (9781118900055). The book you see here shouldn't be considered a new or updated product. But if you're in the mood to learn something new, check out some of our other books. We're always writing about new topics!
More details
Other editions
Additional editions

Persons
Adam Perlmutter is a freelance music writer, transcriber, and engraver.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1 Getting Started with Piano
- Chapter 1 Preparing to Play a Piano
- Knowing Why the Piano Is So Special
- Advantages to playing the piano
- Advantages to studying music at the piano
- A skill and an art
- Understanding Why People Take Piano Lessons(And Why They Often Quit)
- Getting to Know Your Instrument
- Comprehending the Language of Music
- Developing an ear for horizontal and vertical music
- Getting to know musical forms and styles
- Starting to Play the Best Way
- Being Aware of What You Already Know about Playing the Piano
- Chapter 2 Meeting the Keyboard Family
- Looking at the Acoustic Ones
- Pianos
- Harpsichords
- Pipe organs
- Identifying the Electric Ones
- The nuts and bolts of electronic sound
- Synthesizers
- Digital keyboards
- Chapter 3 Finding the Perfect Keyboard
- To Hum or Not to Hum: Electric or Acoustic (Or Both)?
- Buying an acoustic
- Buying a digital
- Buying a hybrid
- Picking the Perfect Acoustic Piano
- Taking location into account
- Getting all the pedals you deserve
- Finding good buys (and avoiding scams)
- If you've heard one, you haven't heard them all
- Looking at some specific piano brands
- Selecting a Digital Keyboard That Lasts
- Digital pianos and organs
- Arrangers
- Stage pianos
- Workstations
- Synthesizers
- Avoiding obsolescence
- Knowing the digital features you want
- Browsing some specific keyboard brands
- Other electric keyboards
- Before You Drive It Off the Lot: Sealing the Deal at the Store
- Taking it for a spin
- Loving and leaving it
- Refusing to pay the sticker price
- Shopping online
- The MIDI Places You Can Go
- A MIDI primer
- Keyboard to computer
- Keyboard to keyboard
- MIDI and music notation
- Chapter 4 Taking Good Care of Your Keyboard
- Providing a Good Place to Live
- Making It Shine: Cleaning Your Keyboard
- Calling In a Pro for General Checkups and Serious Repairs
- Tuning acoustic keyboards
- Keeping digital keyboards happy
- Dealing with serious keyboard problems
- Taking the Worry Out of Moving Your Acoustic Piano
- Chapter 5 Eighty-Eight Keys, Three Pedals, Ten Fingers, and Two Feet
- Finding the Keys, Easy Peasy
- The white keys
- The black keys
- Discovering What Your Parents Never Told You about Posture
- To sit or not to sit: That's the real question
- Sitting down: Chairs versus benches
- Using stands and racks
- Paying Attention to Hand Positioning
- Arch those hands and fingers
- Fingering
- Giving your hands and fingers a rest
- Pedal Power: Getting Your Feet in on the Action
- Piano pedals
- Digital keyboard pedals
- Part 2 Deciphering Squiggles on Paper to Create Sound
- Chapter 6 Reading Lines and Spaces
- Your Guide to a Piano Score
- Employing a staff of five lines
- Hanging from a clef
- Double Your Staff, Double Your Fun
- Grand staff and ledger lines
- Climbing up the staff and beyond
- An octave above, an octave below
- Punctuating Music: Bar Lines
- Continuing to Read: Don't Stop
- Chapter 7 Joining the Rhythm Nation
- Eyeing Tempo: The Beat Goes On
- Measuring the beat using tempo
- Grouping beats in measures
- Serving Some Musical Pie: Basic Note Values
- Quarter notes: One piece at a time
- Half notes: Half the pie
- Whole notes: The whole pie
- Counting all the pieces
- Faster Rhythms, Same Tempo
- Eighth notes
- Sixteenth notes and more
- Listening for the Sound of Silence: Rests
- Whole and half rests
- Quarter rests and more
- Counting Out Common Time Signatures
- Common time: 4/4 meter
- Waltz time: 3/4 meter
- March time: 2/4 meter
- 6/8 time
- Playing Songs in Familiar Time Signatures
- Chapter 8 Changing the Beaten Path
- Getting a Jump on the Start: Pickup Beats and Measures
- Adding Time to Your Notes with Ties and Dots
- Linking notes using ties
- Extending notes using dots
- Playing Offbeat Rhythms
- Triplets love chocolate
- Swing and shuffle time
- Syncopation
- Playing Songs with Challenging Rhythms
- Part 3 One Hand at a Time
- Chapter 9 Playing a Melody
- Let Your Fingers Do the Walking
- Getting into the Right Position
- C position
- G position
- Shifting your hand position as you play
- Crossing Your Fingers and Hoping It Works
- Crossing over your thumb
- Passing your thumb under
- Playing Melodies in the Right Hand
- Chapter 10 Scaling to New Heights
- Building a Scale, Step by Step
- Stepping Up to the Majors
- Understanding major scales
- Trying a major scale exercise
- Exploring Minor Variations
- Natural minor scales
- Harmonic minor scales
- Melodic minor scales
- Trying minor scale exercises
- Showing Your Rebellious Side with Blues Scales
- Playing Songs Made of Scales
- Chapter 11 Hey, Don't Forget Lefty!
- Exploring the Keyboard's West Side
- Moving into position
- Getting used to the new neighborhood
- Tackling Some Left-Hand Melodies
- Practicing Some South-Paw Scales
- C, G, and F major
- A, E, and D natural minor
- A harmonic and melodic minor
- Trying Accompaniment Patterns
- Three-note patterns
- Four-note patterns
- Adding the Left Hand to the Right Hand
- Sharing the melody in both hands
- Melody plus one note
- Melody plus three-note accompaniment pattern
- Melody in unison octaves
- Playing Songs with Both Hands
- Part 4 Living in Perfect Harmony
- Chapter 12 The Building Blocks of Harmony
- Measuring Melodic Intervals
- Interval shorthand
- Seconds
- Thirds
- Fourths and fifths
- Sixths and sevenths
- Octaves
- Combining Notes for Harmonic Intervals
- Playing two notes together
- Adding intervals to the melody
- Harmonizing with the left hand
- Playing Songs with More Harmony
- Chapter 13 Understanding Keys
- Homing In on Home Key
- A whole ring of keys
- Using keys to play music
- Reading key signatures
- Leaving and returning to the "home" key
- Playing Songs with Key Signatures
- Chapter 14 Filling Out Your Sound with Chords
- Tapping into the Power of Chords
- Dissecting the Anatomy of a Triad
- Starting Out with Major Chords
- Branching Out with Minor Chords
- Exploring Other Types of Chords
- Tweaking the fifth: Augmented and diminished chords
- Waiting for resolution: Suspended chords
- Adding the Seventh
- Reading Chord Symbols
- Playing with Chord Inversions
- Putting inversions to work
- Flipping the notes fantastic
- Playing Songs with Chords
- Part 5 Technique Counts for Everything
- Chapter 15 Dressing Up Your Music
- Playing Dynamically
- Starting with basic volume changes
- Widening the range
- Making gradual shifts in volume
- Articulating the Positive
- Interpreting articulation symbols
- The power of articulation
- Controlling the Tempo
- Putting the Pedal to the Metal
- Using the damper pedal
- Getting the hard facts on soft-pedaling
- Eyeing the middle pedal
- Touching on Grace Notes
- Tackling Trilling
- Dazzling Your Audience: Gliss
- Trembling Tremolos
- Dressing Up Your Songs
- Chapter 16 Great Grooves
- Great Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns
- Fixed and broken chords
- Chord picking
- Octave hammering
- Bouncy rock patterns
- Melodic bass lines
- Applying Great Intros and Finales
- The big entrance
- Exit, stage left
- Playing Songs with Left-Hand Grooves
- Chapter 17 Perusing the Aisle of Style
- Taking Aim at Classical Music
- Playing the Blues
- Clues for the blues
- 12-bar ditties
- Changing it up
- Rockin' around the Keys
- Rocking ingredients
- Slamming and jamming
- You're a Little Bit Country
- Country-style cooking
- Finger-pickin' good
- Pop! Goes the Piano
- Popular picks
- Topping the charts
- Soul Searching
- Saving your soul
- Motown sounds
- Funky sounds goin' round
- All That Jazz
- Jazzing it up
- It's up to you
- Substituting chords
- Playing Songs in Favorite Styles
- Part 6 The Part of Tens
- Chapter 18 Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice and Performance
- Be Comfortable at All Times
- Shut Off the Distractions
- Make a Schedule and a List
- Get into Deconstruction
- Use a Metronome
- Rehearse Your Dress Rehearsals
- Know Your Performance Piano
- If You Memorize . . .
- Preempt Post-Performance Syndrome
- Smile and Take a Bow
- Chapter 19 Ten Ways to Supplement This Book
- Working through Method Books
- Using Reference Books
- Buying Music to Play
- Types of printed music
- Arrangements and transcriptions
- Fake books
- Where to buy printed music
- Gigging with Others
- Piano duets
- Chamber groups
- Bands
- Checking Out the Masters
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Johannes Brahms
- Frederic Chopin
- Franz Liszt
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Attending Live Concerts
- Listening to Recordings
- Perusing record stores
- Shopping online
- Visiting the library
- Exchanging music with friends
- Exploring Piano Sites on the Web
- Enjoying Pianos on the Big Screen
- Realizing You're Not Alone
- Chapter 20 Ten Questions to Ask Prospective Teachers
- Whom Else Have You Taught?
- How Long Have You Been Teaching and Playing?
- How Much Do You Expect Me to Practice?
- Would You Mind Playing Something for Me?
- What Repertoire Do You Teach?
- How Do You Feel about Wrong Notes, Mistakes, and Slow Learners?
- What Methods Do You Use to Teach Piano?
- Where Will the Lessons Take Place?
- How Much Do You Charge?
- Do You Have Student Recitals?
- Appendix About the Website: Audio Tracks and Video Clips
- Index
- EULA
System requirements
File format: PDF
Copy-Protection: Adobe-DRM (Digital Rights Management)
System requirements:
- Computer (Windows; MacOS X; Linux): Install the free reader Adobe Digital Editions prior to download (see eBook Help).
- Tablet/smartphone (Android; iOS): Install the free app Adobe Digital Editions or the app PocketBook before downloading (see eBook Help).
- E-reader: Bookeen, Kobo, Pocketbook, Sony, Tolino and many more (only limited: Kindle).
The file format PDF always displays a book page identically on any hardware. This makes PDF suitable for complex layouts such as those used in textbooks and reference books (images, tables, columns, footnotes). Unfortunately, on the small screens of e-readers or smartphones, PDFs are rather annoying, requiring too much scrolling.
This eBook uses Adobe-DRM, a „hard” copy protection. If the necessary requirements are not met, unfortunately you will not be able to open the eBook. You will therefore need to prepare your reading hardware before downloading.
Please note: We strongly recommend that you authorise using your personal Adobe ID after installation of any reading software.
For more information, see our eBook Help page.