finding your place in all that ivory
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 4:17 pm
I'm in the intermediate bootcamp and the chords are a challenge. I'd been going over and over them trying to get a feel for where to place my fingers when I realized that the person who came up with the exercises is trying to make it as easy as possible to move through chords by keeping at least one key on the keyboard the same in any chord change. This comes through clearly in "Chords on the Keyboard 3: 1st and 2nd Inversions"
For example, I started to keep in mind that my pinky would move to where my thumb just was, or the other way around, giving me 1 key as an anchor to help me know where to place all my fingers. This has removed lots of frustration. Figuring that each white key is only 1 inch wide it's a chore to sit before so many of them and come down on exactly the right one. By keeping in mind the way one finger can take the place of another when moving through chords provides a physical "touch path" to follow.
For me the move from E flat root to C minor root seemed huge, but two of the three keys in these chords are the same, only different fingers play them.
Of course with practice, people do get the very fine sense of position that allows free play. I'm sure Elton John isn't thinking about where to put his fingers on the keyboard, but getting there takes time. It's when things get challenging that you realize whether you really do have the motivation to play any instrument. Let's all hang in there!
For example, I started to keep in mind that my pinky would move to where my thumb just was, or the other way around, giving me 1 key as an anchor to help me know where to place all my fingers. This has removed lots of frustration. Figuring that each white key is only 1 inch wide it's a chore to sit before so many of them and come down on exactly the right one. By keeping in mind the way one finger can take the place of another when moving through chords provides a physical "touch path" to follow.
For me the move from E flat root to C minor root seemed huge, but two of the three keys in these chords are the same, only different fingers play them.
Of course with practice, people do get the very fine sense of position that allows free play. I'm sure Elton John isn't thinking about where to put his fingers on the keyboard, but getting there takes time. It's when things get challenging that you realize whether you really do have the motivation to play any instrument. Let's all hang in there!