# Arranger's piano



## vinnie2k (Mar 6, 2021)

I want to play the piano like Guy Michelmore, or Adam Neely.

But I can't find anything online.

Heeeelp


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## vinnie2k (Mar 7, 2021)

OK people, I shouldn't have put the smiley in - my request is a serious one.
I know my chords, some inversions, but I need to be faster in playing my ideas.
Most online courses focus on learning to play the piano for its own sake, which I do not need.

Ideas?


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## milford59 (Mar 7, 2021)

If the only thing stopping you achieving your objective is the physical speed with which your brain transmits the ideas to your hands, and your hands obey, then you could simply slow down the tempo of your track whilst you record, and then change the tempo back afterwards - I’m not sure that’s what you want to hear, but it will work..... I have seen Guy do exactly that.


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## vinnie2k (Mar 7, 2021)

Not only that, I need to know / find chords faster, practice chord progressions, etc.


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## boinzy (Mar 7, 2021)

A little more info would be helpful...

There are many online piano lessons / courses available. What have you looked at online? Why did you reject the ones you came across?


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## gyprock (Mar 7, 2021)

In the jazz world arranger’s piano usually refers to a style of voicing 7th chords where the LH pinky plays the root, the LH thumb plays either the 7 (or 3), the RH thumb plays the other 3 (or 7) and the remaining RH fingers play the melody.

For more triadic playing, search for books and courses on pop playing rather than classical. The latter is too technique oriented as it is oriented towards playing the classical repertoire.


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## PaulieDC (Mar 7, 2021)

I get it... Guy thinks up stuff and plays it out. That's what it sounds like you're after. You don't need piano lessons, you need to learn the positions of each chord in one octave of the piano. The other 7 octaves are all the same. That's the easy part. Next, you want music theory, knowing that if you start on a C chord, where do we go from there to assemble parts and songs and such, starting with the easiest, the 4 and 5 chord. If you hit a C octave in the bass, what two notes would complete an awesome C Minor chord? That's what learning theory will give you, plus some ear training. BTW, the two notes you'll want up above the C octave are Eb and G. Why do those two, added to a C, make up a C Minor chord? Ta da! You want music theory in your life. This is the other end of the musical barn from writing and reading notation and it's how people who don't read notation still manage to bang out a tune.

*Start Here:*
I'd start with Guy's excellent 16- minute video:



*Next:*
Spend 35 bucks on Guy's FULL Music Theory Course:
ThinkSpace Learn Music Theory


*Then:*
Follow that up with Guy's $35 full course on writing music where you take what you learned and actually do something with it:
ThinkSpace How To Write Music

70 bucks and two weeks later, you life will be changed.


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## vinnie2k (Mar 10, 2021)

Thanks for the answers.
I know Music Theory well enough; my issue is more with the speed at which I can make ideas come to life.

@PaulieDC I'll see what the GM courses are about.

@boinzy Those classes I saw on udemy (for example) are all about playing tunes, or learning basic music theory which I don't need. I know what a C#min7b11 is, but it's gonna take me 10 minutes to play it. I know what a ii V I is but it's going to take me 20 minutes to find it in Eb.

See what I mean? I need exercises to make the whole process faster.

And learn other progressions, chords, etc.


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## vinnie2k (Mar 10, 2021)

About the Music Theory course from GM: just looked it up and I could maybe learn something about parts 9 and 10, I know the rest (in my head). I need to learn it in my fingers.


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## vinnie2k (Mar 10, 2021)

About the Music Composition course from GM: looked it up as well and it might be interesting at some point, but not now. Right now, I have ideas (I don't know how to compose but I get by) but I can't play them quickly enough to develop them, the whole note-finding-on-the-keyboard thing makes thr whole process tedious.


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## brek (Mar 10, 2021)

You need to build up some muscle memory and brain-hand connections to note names and intervals. 

Playing a MIDI controller for decades while you write music is one way to do it.

To get there faster, here are some suggestions from a non-pianist:

Learn scales and arpeggios - with "proper" fingering, and in all keys.

Exercises: Hanon, jazz Hanon, Czerny. 

Beginner friendly pieces from the likes of Bach and Burgmuller. 

Rule of the Octave in all keys

Play along with pop songs (or solo), playing chords in the left hand and melody in the right. Aim for smooth voice leading in the left hand. 

Pop songs, but two hands "jamming" on chords. 

Jazz standards: play all chords with the root in the LH, 3rd and 7th in right hand (use smooth voicing leading in RH). 

Jazz standards but root, 3rd, and 7th in LH (or just one of 3rd or 7th) and melody in RH. 

Jazz standards, two handed chords freely voiced with upper extensions. 

___________________

These are just a few ideas that might help you get started, but there are many things you could practice instead. 

I took the first approach for many years, only making a concerted effort to learn a few years ago using most of the above ideas (some things I was already doing).

I'm still pretty clumsy at it, but have made a lot of progress.


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## brek (Mar 10, 2021)

One more thing, with nearly everything you practice try to work in some form of improvisation/composition. So, don't just mechanically play arpeggios up and down to a metronome - but try creating short phrases or melodies out of them, extending the idea by connecting to a different arpeggio, and so on.


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## vinnie2k (Mar 12, 2021)

@brek Excellent stuff. Now I need someone to walk me through some of this stuff and make me a study program


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