| How to play keyboard
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How to play keyboard
Go back centuries or two, and it seemed that many people (especially girls) learnt piano. It was one of those skills that rounded out an education. Today, however, very few play, and the idea of sitting down at a keyboard (usually electronic, which takes up far less space than a real piano) can seem daunting. Let us now go for how to play keyboard.
The Basics
Before getting into how to play keyboard, learn basics. A full piano keyboard had 88 keys in total (a little over seven octaves) - electronic keyboards will have less. The while keys are whole notes (e.g. C,D,E etc.), the black keys the sharps or flats you\'ll encounter.
Each octave consists of twelve keys - C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B (not that a sharp can also be a flat, so D sharp can also be E flat, for example). The octave is grouped two black keys then three black keys, making it easy to find C. As a first exercise, play an octave on the white keys, eight keys going up from C to C, starting with the thumb. Hold your arm horizontal above the keys, fingers at 90 degrees. When you\'ve played the first five notes, pass your thumb under to start on the remainder smoothly. Now try it going down, beginning with the little finger, and then passing that over after you\'ve used your thumb. You must learn this before going for how to play keyboard.
After you\'ve mastered that, playing smoothly, try it with your left hand on the bass keys. Once you have easy movement up and down the scale in both hands, trying playing an octave using both hands together, your right hand in the treble (above the middle of the keyboard) and your left hand in the bass (below the middle of the keyboard).
1. When first positioning your fingers, please be aware that some sheet music has little numbers, which represent each finger placement next to some black dot notes on the sheet music stave. These are 1 = thumb, 2 = index finger, 3 = middle finger, 4 = ring finger, and 5 = little/pinky finger. This sheet music shows you, by placement of these numbers, which fingers play either the white or the black keys. –learn this much basics for how to play keyboard first.
2. Learn how to read sheet music.
3. Play a tune on the keyboard in 1 of 2 ways: either plays a song you remember "by ear," or follow the sheet music.
4. Learn to play "by ear." Remembering the sound of a song and finding which notes on the keyboard to press is not easy to do. Here is how you can start.
- Sound Colors. Particular songs are closest to one of 12 "sound colors." If you know DO RE ME FAH SOH LA TI DOH or the song "Doe a deer a female deer," then press a C to begin (again see the fingering exercise linked below to find out where this is.) Now sing the next note UP while pressing each WHITE note to the RIGHT of the C on the keyboard. Play the following notes: C= doh D=re E=Me F=Fah G=Sol A=Lah B=Ti C= DOh again. You have just sung or played one of those 12 colors! – you really now enjoy for how to play keyboard.
- Key of C: The entire combination of notes is called the key of C. When your ear is good and practiced, you then begin to recognize some songs on the radio as "fitting" into the Key of C. You will need to know that there are another 12 quite different keys to recognize and that some songs might "fit".
5. Think of the keyboard as having 3 kinds of "brains," each of which is a type of memory. The first type of brain is called a sound brain, or more commonly known as a tone. This works by storing all the sounds like pianos, strings, flute, and even combines some of these tones to make new ones like "fantasy" or "synthesized” keyboard sounds. A 2nd sound brain is known as the "rhythm brain," called "rhythms" on some keyboards or "styles” on others. Here the keyboard sets off a whole little band of drums, bass guitar, piano and other combinations and allows you to play a right hand melody along with it. If you are on the way for how to play keyboard, understand that the other kind of keyboard brain or memory records what you play. For instance, if you played a left hand Bass guitar part, you could later play accompaniment with that. You could then play something entirely new, like a piano or voice melody, to "fit together" with what you originally recorded.
6. Decide between keyboards versus digital pianos. Consider the following:
- Learning to play the keyboard seems easier than learning to play the piano in some ways. Some beginners find playing a keyboard easier to learn because they can play a larger variety of music, like pop, rock, country and jazz.
- Don\'t confuse a keyboard with a synthesizer or a digital piano. These instruments have different abilities and it should not interrupt or alter your curiosity in how to play keyboard.
- Classical music sounds far better played on a piano than a keyboard. A digital piano is comparable to a piano, but doesn\'t operate like a keyboard. A keyboard is more like a one-man band, and a fun way to learn music as a beginner.
7. Try taking it up a notch, play in a band. Get a couple of friends who can play drums and another one who plays guitar. With the instruments, the guitar does chords in C major, the keyboard does the C major scale, and the drums outlines the rhythm patterns.
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