In the piano lesson Reflections in Water, you learn how to use a few chords and the C Major scale to make music with. But how is this accomplished? Through the power of limits!

You see, when you know that you’ll be playing only 4 chords, and you know how to play those chords, it frees you up to focus on making music. You’re no longer focusing on the technical aspects of playing the piano. On the contrary, the technical aspects have been taken care of. Now you are free to explore the tones under your fingers and to experience the joy of music making.

In the beginning, when you first start playing the piano and trying to improvise, you may be overwhelmed with the amount of choices you have. In fact, the choices you have are astronomical! That’s why limiting choice is so powerful.

The first thing to remember is you don’t need a lot of material to make music with. A few chords, a way to play them and a Key to play in are all that is required.

Many students fight the idea of limitations thinking that it constricts creativity. Nothing could be further from the truth! All artists work within either prescribed or self-imposed limits and you can save much time by working with them, not against them.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/pianolessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

If you are a piano player and or looking for piano study tips to improve your piano playing read these tips here below.

Are you playing the piano? Its a great and rich instrument but before you can really start playing the great masters or that great jazz tune lots of practicing needs to be done… For this article I want to mention 5 ways to improve your piano playing.

1. Find a Qualified Piano Teacher

Dont fall into this trapp from other people saying you dont need a piano teacher. I highly recommend you grab your local paper or phone and find a qualified piano teacher. Why? Most importantly, you will learn much faster and eventually play much better then if you have to do this all by yourself.

2. Practice Regularly Never practice when you are tired you cannot focus and concentrate well enough to make good progress.

Practice Regularly Piano playing requires good coordination and music reading skills. To get best results with your piano playing practice daily for at least 20-30 minutes a day.

3. Set Realistic Goals

When studying your song, set realistic goals. Find a song that is right, and fits your musical knowledge and skills. For example if you are studying a Czerny etude make a goal to learn a new page every day or even a few measures depending on your level and skills.

4. Improve Your Sight Reading

If you have no trouble reading music notes you learn a new song much faster. Keep working on your sight reading skills by making it a routine to start your daily practice with playing a few bars of a totally new piano piece.

5. Read Music literature of the Composer

When you are playing a Mozart sonate and you dont know anything about his life its more difficult to play with a good character. Learn all about your favorite composer and try to find a good approach to play his/her songs.

Take these few tips or read more on my website to to improve your piano playing. Enjoy music!

Rene Knops makes it easy for musicians to find music lessons, sheet music and music resources. visit this link for details: sheet music site

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Whether you are using a book, video, a real live human, or online lessons, keep these pointers in mind in order to get the most out our your studies.

1. Complete and master each section before moving on to the next: As you work through your studies make sure you have each new technique or idea conquered before moving on to the next. Lessons are planned to build upon each other and trying to rush through without fully understanding one will just lead to frustration and wasted efforts.

2. Study as if you were in school. Do some homework every night. If all you have is 15 minutes then use those 15 minutes. If you dont have time to read/watch and apply then do the application of your last lesson or drills such as scales and chords. Reading/watching and not having the opportunity to apply immediately will usually mean you have to relearn your lesson. Take notes. Especially if youre watching a video or working with a human. Also dont be afraid to write all over your workbooks and sheet music.

3. Apply what youve learned: Play for others. Your church, your family, that spare piano sitting in your favorite department store (ask first). Nothing drives a music lesson home better than a recital. It will also magnify what you need to work on.

These tips work whether your a child or an adult. Learning to play an instrument is a wonderful activity.

K Quinn has been playing the piano for 10 years. She picked up the guitar 5 years ago and both for her church. Visit her website at http://www.strugglingchurchmusician.us for more church musician tools and tips.

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Taking guitar lessons is so much easier when you can see and hear examples of what you are learning. The going rate now for private guitar lessons is around $20-$25 per 1/2 hour or $40-50 per hour. Learning your guitar lessons from video is the fastest way to increase your guitar playing abilities. The beauty of computer-based guitar lessons is that the lesson can contain all forms of media, from text and pictures to tablature files to audio and video.

The main advantage of video based guitar lessons is being able to see how the instructor is actually playing the material. Another valid tip is when taking guitar lessons is to not over play. One problem with guitar lessons is that a lot of great instruction and nuances are soon forgotten. However, taking guitar lessons is very much like taking traditional guitar lessons at a music store. The soul purpose of taking guitar lessons is to help you become a better guitar player. Another big thing with guitar lessons is just making somebody feel comfortable enough to play. This can be accomplished with DVD’s.

Video guitar lessons are the most convenient, efficient, inexpensive method for learning guitar ever created. There are plenty of free guitar lessons if you are looking to learn the guitar, but you get what you pay for. Try to find interactive guitar lessons with tab and music playback. You may have looked into guitar lessons, but couldn’t find any instructors to fit your schedule. Specially commissioned video, audio and graphics integrated to provide enjoyable and effective guitar lessons is the way to go.

Believe me with this method you’ll learn to play guitar while saving hundreds of dollars in guitar lessons. Learn to play the guitar online using free guitar lessons and chord charts is not a bad way to go when you first start out. There are a number of guitar lessons online that are available now. A Search Engine for finding guitar lessons and other guitarist related resources is a good place to start.

You can begin playing right now by simply going through the free guitar lessons offered on Internet. There are blogs containing facts about guitars, famous guitar brands, guitar tabs, famous guitarists, guitar lessons and other useful guitar information. There are many guitar lessons online that help guitar enthusiasts to at least get some of the basic and intermediate know-how in guitar playing.

Choosing a guitar can be an extremely complicated task. Choosing a guitar based on price alone is not the best bet. There are many possibilities when comes to choosing a guitar, you will find that there are many options for guitar players when choosing a guitar.

Taking guitar lessons is so much easier when you can hear and see examples of what you are learning. In fact, a mix of online and offline guitar lessons is probably going to yield the best results for your guitar playing skills. DVD Guitar Lessons is most beneficial for beginner to intermediate guitarists although advanced guitarists may also find something new to consider. One of the major problems with private guitar lessons is that students go back the next week forgetting what they have been taught the previous week.

Taking guitar lessons is one of those things that everyone seems to give a shot at least once in their lives, so give it a try. Look for Guitar Lessons that provides all the tools you need to begin learning to play guitar right away. If you have ever wanted to play then getting guitar lessons is definitely something you should consider. Another big thing with guitar lessons is just making somebody feel comfortable enough to play.

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This lesson can open for you a secret of high-speed guitar playing. If take the given technique for 2-3 weeks you’ll feel progress in high-speed playing of complex passages.

The given principle of development of techniques was tested not by one generation of guitarists and not only guitarists…

In this lesson we shall concern high-speed technics. Skilled guitarists alredy know that the basic brake in development of guitar high-speed technics is the right hand. Therefore when playing the most ultra-high-speed passages for simplification guitarists play legato (i.e. the right hand does not take some notes, it is done with fingers of the left hand by receptions pull-off, hammer-on).

How to achieve speed?

For this purpose it is necessary for guitarist to develop technics of the right hand – fast alternation of pick stroke upwards-downwards (a variable stroke). The more quickly the right hand will make alternating strokes, the quicker the playing will be.

It is necessary to begin from the most usual tremolo (fast recurrence of one note).

Triplets are the most effective way of learning to play a tremolo. Try to begin each of your lessons with a tremolo. It develops (and well warms up) the right hand. The tremolo notes must sound dynamically equal (all sounding notes of equal loudness) and with equal tempo.

For example, you wish to learn a high-speed passage. I offer the following simple blues phrase in A as an example:

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First you need to learn in slow tempo and in convenient key with rational pick strokes.

After you’ve done it, play a tremolo of each note, i.e. each note in a passage it is necessary to take three times (if it is the eighth) like this:

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The tremolo should be loud (a silent tremolo does not make effect). Play thus 10 – 15 minutes (with small breaks) up to feeling of weariness in your right hand. The weariness speaks that muscles work as they must do. In my experience each student playing given technique, develops his own nuances. The right hand as though itself finds the most convenient position while playing, – it is only necessary to force it to work. When you are good at playing this passage with tremolo, try to play it in the original.

I often hear a question: How many it is necessary to be engaged so that to come to high speed? – It’s individually. For someone it’s necessary 2 hours, for another 2 days, and for someone it is not necessary at all (i’m kidding . Here introspection is necessary, that is you should feel improvement of technics. Clearly one, that the most effective way – gold exercise for the right hand.

Play your own passages by this principle, solos, improvizations, rock, jazz and blues phrases… If you have great patience, you will see huge advantage of this technique and feel the results. If you do not see any result most likely you were engaged either incorrectly or insufficiently long. Though it is possible to play legato or tapping, but it sounds less brightly and energetically.

Yuri Nikitin guitar instructor, music writer and webmaster. Find more free guitar lessons in varios styles at http://www.guitar-lesson-online.net

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When I tell people I play the piano, the most common reply I hear is Oh Ive always wanted to play but Heres are the top-ten reasons that adults give for not becoming a musician- even though its their secret ambition. Read on for how to overcome these barriers and achieve your dream.

Im just too busy

Most people assume that you will need hours of free time every week set aside for lengthy practicing to get any good. This idea is a complete fiction- in fact I would say about 5 minutes each day is fine at first (and if you dont have 5 minutes per day to spare, I dont believe you!). If you book lessons with a teacher, you will be committing some time at least each week to concentrate on learning, which may even be enough at first.. Dont kid yourself youll be less busy in three months time because if you dont start learning now you probably never will.

I work shifts/ long hours so I cant fit time for lessons in

Many teachers will offer lessons in the daytime, evenings and weekends- so you should be able to find something that suits you- just call up some local teachers and ask when they have spaces in their schedule. There are also a good number of online courses for most instruments. Or you could buy a Teach Yourself Book and take it from there.

Lessons are too expensive

Again, you could start off teaching yourself from a book- but not all lessons are as expensive as you might think. I teach in groups, which keeps the cost down for the individual, and also turns lessons into a social activity. Find out if there are any teachers in your area who do this.

Im too old

Your definitely never too old to learn a musical instrument! In fact Ive found adults of all ages learn much faster than young children initially. Learning new cognitive skills has even been found to have great health benefits.

I wont be able to learn

Well, Ive never met anyone incapable of learning to play yet! Obviously people have different standards and natural abilities, theyll learn at different rates. But everyone will be able to play to some degree. The best thing is to ask yourself what you want to achieve and then just go for it.

Ill never be any good, so whats the point in starting now

This depends what you mean by good. OK, I admit if your 57 and never played a note in your life theirs no chance of you becoming a virtuoso after ten lessons. But is that really why you secretly want to learn your chosen instrument? How about learning just for the sheer achievement of acquiring a new skill. Or being able to pick out a few carols at Christmas. Or finally write down and record that song thats been going round in your head your whole life. These are all achievable goals you could reach after learning an instrument for just a short time. And does it even matter if your any good if you really enjoy playing?

Ive been told Im tone-deaf and so I cant learn

The short answer to this is, your almost certainly not. Tone deafness is a very rare and specific condition, and music lessons should help improve your listening skills.

I dont think any teachers will be interested in taking on an older learner

Most teachers I know (including myself) really enjoy teaching adults because they have made the decision to have lessons themselves and appreciate lessons so much more than children who are learning all the time. Maybe your children are having lessons, why not ask their teacher if they could teach you as well? Im sure they would be pleased to, or at least recommend another teacher with vacancies.

Id love to learn again- but I hated my lessons when I was younger

A lot of adults have horror stories about severe piano teachers rapping their knuckles with rulers for making mistakes, and punishing them for not practicing 30 minutes a day. Luckily, there arent many (any?) people like that around anymore. Please dont let a bad experience from the past stop you from achieving what you want today. Find a teacher, let them know what you want to achieve and Im sure they will be pleased to help. If you dont enjoy their lessons, let them know why- music lessons should be enjoyable, and as an adult you will be the one in control, with your teacher there to help you.

Ive heard learning to read music is really hard

Learning to read music is really very straightforward. And some teachers might be happy for you to play by ear. Theres a lot of advice on reading music, on the web which can get you started.

I hope none of these excuses are holding you back from becoming a musician! Good luck in learning to play your chosen instrument.

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