Song Recommendations?

A place to discuss songs you're learning, difficulty levels, genres and more!
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LTChance
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:27 pm

Song Recommendations?

Post by LTChance » Wed Jul 05, 2017 1:40 pm

So I got playground sessions last week, and I'm wrapping up the rookie lessons and almost have Lean on Me down. What song should I get next?

I'm thinking:
1) Superman (rookie/easy with videos)
2) Always on my Mind (rookie/moderate with videos)
3) Beauty and the Beast (rookie/moderate no videos, but I have 6 and 10 year old daughters!)

Maybe in that order?

I'm looking for songs that are "fun to play," have slowish tempos with few hand position transitions, and sound recognizably like the originals.

What songs have you enjoyed learning the most? (particularly on the easier difficulties) Thanks!

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sw1tch73ch
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Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2016 1:23 pm

Re: Song Recommendations?

Post by sw1tch73ch » Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:29 pm

Get them all!

OK, Just kidding.

Even with the currently somewhat limited selection, there are too many to choose from. So far I've only completely "Lean On Me" - but I also have "Day Dream Believer," "O Holy Night," "Primavera," and "Viva La Vida." "O Holy Night" is my next project so I can have it ready by Christmas. It might take me that long, too.

The three you list are all excellent songs, though. Who says "Beauty and the Beast" is only for 6 and 10 year olds? It's a lovely song.

One challenge at the Rookie levels for getting songs that sound like the originals is that compromises sometimes have to be made to keep them at a Rookie Level. Just expect them to sound simpler and you'll be good.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

davidsides
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Re: Song Recommendations?

Post by davidsides » Fri Jul 07, 2017 4:17 pm

Have you seen the movie "Inception"? One of my personal favorites in our Rookie catalog is "Time" from Inception's soundtrack. It's really easy to play and sounds amazing! (I recommend playing it with headphones).

http://playgroundsessions.com/store/vie ... sic-rookie

LTChance
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:27 pm

Re: Song Recommendations?

Post by LTChance » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:10 am

Thanks, David! I did see the inception song (great movie!) and was interested by the preview, although I stayed away because it's not one of the songs I instantly recognized. I'll check it out again. So far, I've done these songs and have some notes for folks looking for their next beginner song:

1) Lean On Me (3 stars) - I think its a good one to start with and not just because its included as the starter song! It has well spaced out and clear hand position changes, only one extension, and the base line is very simple. It's a bit too high to give it that rich piano sound, though, so I'm probably going to knock it out of my practice sessions pretty soon.

2) Superman (3 stars) - This one is a bit more difficult because there are several big extensions and some synchopation. The base line is still nice and simple, but a little lower so it sounds richer, and the arrangement sounds more like the original to me than Lean on Me. Also, it just repeats several times without any changes, so that makes it easier to learn the whole song (if a little boring to practice).

3) Let It Be (3 stars) - I might actually recommend this one as a second song. I thought it was a little easier than superman (but maybe that's just because I'm getting better!). It has a deeper base line than Lean on Me, too, which makes it sound better (IMO). The base line position is very similar to Superman, so that makes transfering between the two easier as well. It has a little more variety than Superman with an outro that has a big left hand position change which I still have to look down for.

4) Always On My Mind (no stars yet) - I tried this one third. Despite the difficulty ratings (especially the new ones that made all of these 'moderate' except Lean on Me), this song is much more difficult than the others in my opinion. It requires constant left hand position changes with more frequent beats, and even a couple of simultaneous hand position changes! (brain... hurts). There is a lot of variety compared to the other songs with several sections that are quite different in character. I've hit 100% at full speed on each sub section, but haven't broken 80% on the whole song at the slow tempo because of missing the transitions between the sections.

I think I might try Let It Be at the intermediate level next. The songs sound so much better with chords in the base line, and it's not that much more difficult to play a chord prgression than a one note progression.

Interested in any thoughts you guys have on your favorite arrangements!

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