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Greetings to matt and all!
I am a new keyboard player. I have some very limited musical background playing percussion, including playing some xylophone and stuff like that.
As I practice keyboard reggae style, a question comes up about practicing in different keys. My issue is this: Let’s say I’m a good little piano student and I master playing two octaves of the C major scale with proper fingering, then I take the time master all the voicings of all the triads typically used in C and practice switching between them, then master the C pentatonic scale with proper fingering, etc. etc.
After all that, am I supposed to go straght to starting that whole process over with the key of G? then Bb??? When do I get to jam??????
My question, I think, is:
Should my learning steps be like this:
1) C major scale, all the voicings of triads used in C major, alternative C major scales (pentatonic, blues, etc.), THEN
2) G major scale, all the voicings of triads used in G major, alternative G major scales … , THEN
3) Bb major scale, all the voicings of triads used in Bb major, alternative Bb major scales …
4) …OR should my learning steps be like this:
1) C major, G major, Bb major scales, THEN
2) all the voicings triads in C major, G major, Bb Major, THEN
3) Alternative C, G, and Bb scales (pentatonic, etc.)
4) …Many thanks,
ariHi Ari,
Sorry for the late reply. To get to the point of jamming….so you get to some fun stuff and not just drilling learning the new keys you are working on I’d suggest working with the “Full Up” riddim that is used with Piano Course 1 (basic theory). You can learn the C and D minor chords and use the C major scale and the C major pentatonic scale to jam with. By jamming I mean to do some improvisation in the right hand….while you hold down the chords in your left hand. It might be too hard to play the chop in the left hand while improvising so you can just hold down the chords in the left hand as half notes or whole notes. So…there you’ll be learning the key of C.
Then try working out on the “Above the Bass Line” song on Piano Course 2. That’s in the key of F. So here, you’ll be learning to jam using the F major and F major pentatonic scales.
I think that’s how you can approach it – just focusing on whatever tune you are encountering on a particular lesson video.
Eventually, if you were going for being a pro you would do the work it takes to learn all 12 keys in major and minor tonalities and that’s a heck of a lot of work.
Does this help?
Keep on workin!
Matt
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