OurWorshipSound

Keyboardists should learn this guitar rhythm skill

By

Guitar players have a particular rhythm skill that keyboard players should learn and use to their advantage. That skill has to do with subdivision.  When a rhythm guitar player does rhythm, he/she doesn't just play random ticks within a measure.  The correct approach to rhythm guitar means playing all the subdivisions of the measure - usually 8th notes or 16th notes - and emphasizing select … [Read more...]

Expressive piano playing: volume

By

Playing music with an expressive approach can be difficult to grasp.  How do we put emotion and feeling into our playing? I would suggest there are two roads toward more expressive playing: tempo and volume. In the video below, I talk about the latter: how you can use changes in volume to communicate expression.   Expressive playing through volume In the video, I talk about developing … [Read more...]

Cornerstone + Mainstage – All Access this month

By

Part of the beauty of the All Access format is that I can show you some ideas, then point you exactly where you need to go for my best instruction on the specific skills you need. In addition to access to all three keyboard courses - Fluent Piano Chords, Fluent Piano Melodic, and The Mainstage Keyboard Course - you also get a monthly piano technique video and a selection of premium Mainstage … [Read more...]

Gospel chord – dominant flat-9 for piano

By

 Some chords look a lot scarier than they really are.  One example is the flat-9 dominant chord.  This gospel chord can add a lot of flavor to your piano progressions without being complicated. In this post, we'll look at a simple way to approach this chord  and how you can change a chart to work it in. Dominant chords The flat-9 chord typically belongs in the dominant chord category. … [Read more...]

Yamaha CP40 – new keyboard purchase

By

A new Yamaha CP40 concluded a recent search for a keyboard at our church.  Our second keyboard - a Roland A90 - was in need of replacement.  Although it was a really good keyboard - top of the class controller keyboard for its time - the keys kept breaking. Here is what was most important to me in a new keyboard: MIDI connectivity for Mainstage.  Any keyboard in the given price … [Read more...]