The Piano Lesson Report One has been Released!

Hi everyone!
Make sure you print out your copy of the report so that you can follow along, by playing all the examples with your piano.

Once you're done, let me know what do you think . Feel free to ask any music questions, tells us which concepts you would like us expand, or just tell us if the report helped you and how.

I hope you truely enjoy it and that you agree that it was really worth the reading.

Let me know your feedback, and thanks so much everyone for your support!

Cheers,
Rod

Hello, I'm reading it now and I'm enjoying it a lot. I've been searching for this kind of lessons for a long time, and finally i found them here, thank you so much! I'm going to play my keyboard right now!! Byebye!

Sorry for my bad english

Thank you so much. This has been a great news and I can not wait until the report two.
Congratiolations!!!!!!!!!

Very useful lesson! Taugh me theory practical things that I found nowhere!! Now I feel more motivated
Thank you!

Hey, great job, I am a director of a Design Study oriented to the development of virtual training based on learning by doing. If we can help you somehow let me know.

info@learningway.com.ar
http://WWW.learningway.com.ar

Page 47:
- Major Third Interval: 5 Half Tones from the first to second note
- Minor Third Interval: 4 Half Tones from the first to second note

As far as I know, a Major Third consists of 4 half tones while a minor thirds has 3. You probably meant the number of keys including the first and the last one, right?

I never thought that this report was going to be so complete and easy to understand. If this is just the beggining, I can't wait for what is coming next.

Thank you very much.

P. S.: Oh, and I forgot to tell that some of my favourites songs are themes by Danny Elfman. Does anyone like his music? I love "Victor's piano solo" and the duet from the "Corpse Bride" sound track.

Estoy leyendo actualmente el material recibido, me faltan sólo unas pocas hojas para terminarlo. Me pareció excelente, ya que es muy didáctico y claro en sus conceptos.

Gracias.

Many Thanks, for your revolution, the mother Music bless you!!

It´s a altruistic event, really is exciting to know that at least thousands of people, maybe millions, could have some execution basis of the most romantic instrument of mankind.

This revolution began the first step very good, Piano for all!!!

Sincerely,
Have a good day everyone!!
Jassel Rojas

Dear Ron,
Great work, Still in the process of reading the report. Already, I believe it will be a useful reference.I am excited and awaiting your coverage on chord voicing. My experience in learning by ears and what I found out is that if u want to shortcut the learning process and really soung professional, learning the right chord voicing is critical.I found the Bill Evans style of chord voicing pretty awesome and cant wait to learn other chord voicing styles. One that does not requires to much memory power.

Hi Rod,

I have read through the whole thing twice, and I will soon sit down at the piano with it as well. Thank you so much for great work. It was a really great way not only to learn more about the piano, but also learn some music theory while we're at it

It contained information that we probably must have paid "rip-off" prices for at Amazon and places like that. A very balaned language as well, when it comes to the fact that you didn't know the experience level of your readers.

Again, thank you so much for this report and I can't hardly wait till the next one. My hands are itching after learing more about chord progression, harmonize scales and so on

Oh, and Pedro, I like Danny Elfman's music very much. I would not call him my favorite movie composers, but he's not so far away

Wow, really great for begginners, I am currently a piano student and this book is really helpful especially for the piano music theory charts.

Hi Rod

Congratulations for your excellent effort. it's a great contribution for the people who wants to play piano but understanding what they are doing. when I read your story I identificated me in it. It was the kind of course I was looking for.

tanks you so much and for your colaborators.

Dear Rod & friends,

It is a great service that you are providing to the piano community of this world. In this day and age, service for altruistic reasons is a rare virtue. I would like to congratulate you for the success of this project. I would also like to say sorry that I took so long to send a comment but I was busy and did not read your report until recently and I have found it to be quite useful. I am eagerly awaiting the complete reports as the first one only seems to be an appetizer. I wish you well for the future.

Best regards,

Babar Malik

Hey Rod and the team, thank you very much!!

I have been playing with the "chinese" scales, having lots of fun with that one. Is there a latin american scale?

Thank you, best regards.

Fran.

Hi Rod,
I've just finished the report and your report has made learning so much simpler! Great job overall though for me an advanced beginner so as to say I have some difficulty in grasping the 7th and 9th interval at page 65 - 67 as the article states..."Seventh chords. This means that there is a fourth note that includes a Seventh interval from the root" which confuses me. Hence I'm now trying to figure out by myself >_<

Nevertheless other than these 2 pages the rest of the pages were great! I hope to hear news from your 2nd release soon!

=}

I have attempted to make music off and on for quite a number of years now. Problem is that I don't want to use sheet music, nor to follow someone else's compositions. I want to create my own, composing and improvising for me, myself, and I. Not too long ago I came across a site referred to as the Cypher system, which helped me learn about Intervals and 'half steps'. I really liked the simplicity as well as learning that all those scales and chords that books and sites list are based off of simple formulas that can be easily memorized and recreated for any key, scale, and/or chord.

But...I never knew what to do with that knowledge, nor that I was even 'allowed' to create my own chords, much less how I could do that. Thank you for that info!

I look forward to more info from this site, particularly about creating my own chord progressions and melodies.

Oh, and I especially appreciated the visual aspects of this project. It's much easier to grasp a concept while seeing it, over merely words. Good job with the graphics, they are clear, readable, and aesthetically pleasing.

(On a side note, I did notice a number of spelling and editing errors in this report as of 1/5/09, if you'd like, I could go back through and create an email listing where these errors are. I'm far from being a perfectionist in grammar, but there are certain common errors that seem to make an otherwise good product seem less professionally done.)

ann

Hi Rod,
I'm currently reading your report and I must admit it is fantastic! I've been studying piano for some years, giving up and starting again quite a lot of times. Your personal history is very similar to mine
The project is a great idea and it will help a lot of people. I've never found something similar in the internet!
By the way, my mother tongue is Spanish, but I have no problems reading the report in English; it is clear and easy to understand. That is an important property for the people of other countries. Congratulations again.
Cheers,
Desi

Just finished first lesson. My mother (who is a piano teacher) wasn't able to teach me this much in past oh, god knows how many years with her conventional approach (sorry, Mom). I'll definitely show her this website. Can't wait to start a second lesson. Thanks for doing this,guys

Hi Rod,

I just found your website a week ago and I can say that even though the report is free, it is the best 111 pages of music I have ever touched. I could not believe that there exist such logic to music playing. Maybe this is what differentiates average piano players and the exceptional ones.

I began to play piano again this past two months after 10 years of idling. I practice for more than two hours each day, and after I read the report, the music sheets suddenly become so much more clear than ever before. I have a dream of being able to play piano on stage, and with what's coming, I don't think it is impossible anymore.

Thank you for the amazing report, and it is such a perfect timing that the main product will be released soon.

Hi! I started printing out your fundamentals of music and I started reading it too. Thank you so much for sharing us what you know. I'm sure this copy will help me a lot.Again, thank you very much and God bless you.

Hello. I have looked on different websites to try and find something that would help me on chords, and this was the best and easiest approach. My husband and I go to church, where everyone has some type of music ability. I've never been cordinated or very consistant in anything I've tried to play. This has helped me, along with prayer. I am very thankful to have found such a wonderful way of teaching, thank you very much for that!

Excelente material
Muy claro y didactico, practico, va de inmediato a lo que se necesita sin cosas tediosas y explicaciones muy largas.
Me parecio entretenido de leer, escrito en una manera amena y cercana
Estoy esperando el fasiculo dos
Saludos
Hernan

I have learned a lot with your teachings.

Thank you very much, and I will be going on with your lessons.

Hola:
Soy estudiante de piano y coincido con las demás opiniones en que el material es muy bueno.
Me va a ayudar mucho.
Muchas gracias.
Os animo a seguir por este camino.

Hello,
I am music lover that wanted to do some of that I listened.I didn't know how to do it well, and now, I am far of being a profesional or something similar but I think I am nearly to the true meaning of music.

Thank you for the way of teaching,it seems very simple and familiar.

Expecting for next lessons

Hi Rod, Thank you for your lesson on chords, I read all your pages a whole 110 or so of them. I have been playing piano, keyboard and organ for many years, about 40 years or so, but I am always interested in learning more which would possibly be able to improve my playing to a higher level. I will be staying in touch and following you through.Cheers Aileen

Thanks to EVERYONE!!!!
These comments make every single second that everyone of us invested in creating Music Fundamentals well worth !

Your comments serve as a lot of encouragement for all our team members who have been working for many months in this project, and also help us to spread the word and get other people to know about us!

So really, THANK YOU! I am really happy that Music Fundamentals has has helped many of you see music from a whole new perspective, and that has these concepts that I have been sharing with you have helped everyone as much as they helped me when I first learned them.

If you liked Music Fundamentals, then stay tuned as we'll be having our next release very soon! We'll be releasing The Piano Encyclopedia's first Digital-Home Study Course named "The Logic Behind Music", which will continue the lessons from where Music Fundamentals left off, and show all the necessary techniques to master Music Composition and Improvisation, combining the experiences of all the musicians of our team. BUT with interactive graphics, animations, sounds, chord/scale/interval piano-charts, real world-examples, ... and much more!

To read more details and enjoy previews check the latest blog posts. The latest news, here:

http://pianoencyclopedia.com/blog/2009/04/08/the-logic-behind-music/

In the name of our team,
thanks everyone for your support!
Cheers!
Rod

Rod, thanks a lot.
I got some very interesting concepts that will help me for sure.
What about the next lessons?
I feel as if I´m about to get something even greater.

Muchas gracias. El esfuerzo que ustedes realizaron para elaborar "Music Fundamentals" lo pueden traducir en el gusto de quienes lo podemos analizar y poner en práctica sus consejos.
Gracias también por difundirlo gratuítamente.

Javier Rebollo

Hi Rod:
Thanks for your message. I could not download the Piano-Chart Booklet. When I try to do it, appears a message that indicates the following thing (in Spanish): Adobe Reader could not open “The Encyclopedia Piano Chart Booklet. 2 pdf” because it is not a type of files admitted or is damaged.

Please you can send it again? Thank you very much.

Hello Rod.
Thanks for your help. Now, I enjoy very much “Music Fundamentals” and also “The Encyclopedia´s Piano Charts Piano.” I consider that it is a great material for a person as I - 69 years old - like aid to learn piano and to understand what I am doing.
I have only one year with my studies in piano, and I have done it with my own means since I am distant to work and I have limited income.
Thanks to God that exist people like you, which they share his experience and knowledge. I am your admirer, who wishes that you have all the success that you deserve with “Encyclopedia's Piano.”
Thank for the fineness of your attention. Sorry for my English.
Javier Rebollo.

Hi Rod !

I have downloaded "Music Fundamentals" and I found it's very interesting and it will be very useful for me. The explanations are clear, and it exposes useful concepts.
Thanks for your effort!!

Yours faithfully,
Carlos García

MUCHAS GRACIAS ROD POR COMPARTIR TU HISTORIA CON LA CUAL LA MAYORIA DE NOSOTROS NOS IDENTIFICAMOS SIN EMBARGO POR MUCHAS RAZONES EN MI CASO NO HE PODIDO OBTENER EL NIVEL QUE SIEMPRE HE DESEADO EN PARTE POR NO DISPONER DE MUCHO TIEMPO PARA LA PRACTICA PERO MAS POR NO TENER UN MATERIAL ADECUADO QUE ME PUEDA MOTIVAR Y EXPLICAR DE UNA MANERA CENSILLA LOS TEMAS IMPORTANTES EN EL ESTUDIO DEL PIANO Y QUE POR ALGUNA RAZON EN OTROS LIBROS COMPLICAN AUN MAS LAS COSAS QUE TERMINAN DESANIMANDO AL ESTUDIANTE. ESTO NO OCURRE EN TU LIBRO POR LO QUE AGRADESCO INFINITAMENTE EL BUEN DESEO QUE TIENES DE COMPARTIR TODO TU CONOCIMIENTO. FELICITACIONES Y ESPERO QUE CONTINUES COMPARTIENDO MAS MATERIAL.
SALUDOS DESDE GUATEMALA.
ALFREDO

Hey great posting! I find a lot of what you say very helpful and informative, keep up the awesome work, I'll be sure to share this!

Thank's for this ebook
Help me a lot to understand the scales,
I just begin yesterday 29/06/09 with a electric keyboard..
Is a little creepy..xD.. but sounds ¬¬U

Really is very helpful and free T^T
thank's again, read you later!! ^-^

Pd: sorry for my english xP

I've studied Piano a long time, a long time ago. But even I love the piano, I quit because my lessons were too boring for a 7 years old kid, and all the songs they gave me to learn, were boring too.
While I was looking for some way to start again and I found this amazing encyclopedia. And all I have to say is THANKS!!

The work you share is incredible and it helped a lot to remember some old things, and learn new ones. And I'm very glad you're including and cheering people to compose their own music, that's a very important part that at least the teachers I had always forgot.

Greetings from Argentina

Cecilia

realmente no tengo palabras par agradecer este magnifco material al igual que muchos de los colegas que aqui comentan a mi me ha servido mucho como principiante ,ya que otros libros complican mucho las explicaciones,,,ahora puedo comprender mejor por ejemplo los intervalos y su relacion con la formacion d acordes,,,,,,ya que aqui se muestran de una manera clara y sencilla..realmente muchas gracias y espero que sigas compartiendo este magnifico material.....

Sorry i dont speak very well English,but i can say you this :really thanks very much for share this work...
congratulations...from Mexico
bye...

Perfect, thanks to everybody who did it
I started to play piano 11 years ago, but i never try to make my own music, thanks to that i can do it (FINALLY!!! )

THANKS (again

Saludos!!

Sara

Hola.

Muchísimas gracias por permitirme particiar en el conocimiento y aprendizaje del piano. Acabo de recibir en mi correo este valioso material y estoy muy entusiasmada en empezarlo. Soy Colombiana y como pueden ver no hablo el inglés, pero pienso que cuando se quiere algo, en este caso la música no hay barreras.

Gracias por apoyar e incentivar la difución de la música en el mundo.
Espero que continúen con esta excelente labor.

Muchos éxitos.

Yazmín Llanos
Cali - Colombia

this course of music fundamental for piano is really very useful
as im not saying it as such but i ve experienced it
its very legible and must for biggners
even i was a biggner..
i wud suggest any one who aspire for playing piano not just playing but even knowing wat the chords and intervals mean physically
tnz rod a lot

hi rod muchas gracias por enviarme tu libro no entiendo mucho el ingles I am sorry es por eso que no te puedo decir mas palabras amigo muchas gracias esta muy excelente

con la ayuda de un amigo que sabe ingles estoy estudiando tu libro soy de mexico muchas gracias

thank you very much for your gift; I think it is very useful and very clear; I am a beginner piano student by myself, so with this book it will be easier. Your book is a good work. I am not from USA so I apologize for my english. Thank you.

This is a very informative post and look forward to sharing this with our local music educators

Hi Rod,
I had during my childhood a very similar bad experience with music lessons as you described. The only difference was that I was trying to learn guitar and that finally I left those lessons for ever. Now my kid is learning music with a more better learning methodology. And I think that your lessons should allowed me, as a music student, to understand easily many things which seems cryptic to me in the past and thus enjoy music learning. It´s a pity that many music teachers make their pupils bore (and hate) music performance or musical theory. Congratulations, I hope you publish soon next lessons.

querido rod
estoy muy agradecido por tus libros , yo estoy aprendiendo piano hace poco , y quede sorprendido por tus libros . son espectaculares , grandiosas ilustraciones , estoy viendolos de a poco , ya que hablo poco ingles
sincerely yours
MARCELO

Soy de Venezuela, y me ha parecido un grandicimo aporte por que me trae dos cosas aprendo a tocar teclado y apredo ingles, lo hago para Dios, Gracias por permitirme este privilegio

Just Thank you very much.
I love you
When are you going to write a "second part" teaching about inverse chord and seven chords etc..
Thanks againg.dani.

am honoured to have your book its nice i love it and promise to use it well God bless you

Thank you... your e-book is really helpful for guiding me in a basic level of music

Hello. I started my music path as a house DJ, and provided vocals for small bands wherever I stayed as I traveled the globe. When I returned home to continue school, I thought about giving production a try. I knew/felt that I had a good ear for music, and after digging through my basement and asking around for good deals on sound equipment, I finally built a small music station in my basement. The biggest problem I have is that I have no training in music theory, and I can't play the piano.

I'm 20 pages in and this packet is already doing a lot for me. Huge help. If I make it famous, it's because of this packet.

mae he estado siguiendo sus textos y son muy interesantes y de facil manejo y aprendizaje, man only good, really enjoy your material I learn too much from the piano to transcribe to my guitar, cefaleasrock.blogspot.com, see you next time

hi this is the best lesson book really its amazing and guides step by step
Thank you verey much and hope you to be the best always thnks.
amir from egypt

thanks for the teaching which has been a question on my mind recently where in music is the place for diminished and 7th chords etc. i was a bit confused, but now i have grasped that it is for tension and release to make music more listenable> thanks

Hi,

I play on a keyboard just a bit and I was always using chords table.
Now I don't need it anymore.
Thank you.

Hi Rod,
Thank you for the Free eBook - Music Fundamental. The book is easy to understand. I like it very much.

Thanks again.
Coba

Hm, I get an error when I try to download it. So I don't know for sure how good the eBook is.

Estoy estudiando piano, por algun tiempo, y esta es la primera vez que me encuentro con un enfoque tan interesante. El libro esta bien escrito, facil de entender incluso para alguien que su primer idioma no es el ingles. Relamente me esta gustando mucho.

Enhorabuena.

Hi Rod, I downloaded and read your e-book.The contents are very interesting,lucid and nice.It was very useful for me to learn the basics of Composing and Improvising.But my kind request is that,please prepare your next report on how to harmonize a melody,how to accompany any song at instant time and how to improve the sight-reading and ear training.

Hi Rod,

I just wanted to say thank you! I have been playing piano for years but only from sheet music and I knew I didn't really understand what was happening with the music. I have been talking about learning to play piano in this way for a long time now as but couldn't find anywhere that would teach it in such a clear way and informative way. I bought a chord book recently but just didn't know where to start with it. I stumbled across your site by accident and I am very happy I did so! I can't wait for the rest of the lessons. Thank you!!

Anna

hi Rod , i'v been trying to find a better way to learn more how to play to keyboard and wow i already found it . it has been so useful for me. and i am really thankful with you . thanks for use your time to share your knowledge with us.

Hi Rod, thank you very much for your interest in others understand the piano, the truth I only speak Spanish. but I think I will be very useful to the electronic book. I tell you then as it is the experience.

As an "old" stager who went through the same stages as you it was very interesting to see your journey and mine were similar. Unfortunately for me I never found that good teacher but I did manage to develop beyond the stages in your e book. It is a very good, illustrative journey you have developed, congratulations!

Thank you so much Rod for release this ebook, easy and friendly to learn piano.
I enjoy it every day!!

By by

I loved the fundamentals. I am a beginner so this is extremely helpful. I want to say thanks for such a great piece of learning for free! I will pay you back by playing beautiful music and telling everyone where I learned.

Hi, i have just downloaded and printed out the music chart to start practising piano. I thought it was great and truly blessed we have this information freely given to us to achieve our goals. I am a beginner piano player, and have just signed up to start piano lessons once a week for 45mins. My goal is now a reality as this booklet will help me to practise confidently, to one day ''LIVE MY DREAM" to be a PIANO PLAYER, with the desire to be a MUSIC/SONG WRITER. I believe that i can do all things in Christ who strengthens me. I have based my END OF YEAR PROJECT on my goal and desire to pursue my career in one day becoming a pianist to compose my very own piece of music. So far, i have just written lyrics to a song i am yet to put a tune to. My family, my music, my culture inspire me to be who I am, and they are the reason why music plays a huge part in my life. The fundamentals booklet is a bonus!

Hi Rod

I am a beginner pianist, but I have studied music before and the concepts presented in the ebook were familiar to me already. Even so, I found it extremely helpful, as I was able to apply them with ease to the piano - everything is explained simply and effectively.
Im curious to know where the following lessons are headed to.

One thing I should say tho is that I find it easier to build chords thinking in terms of major and minor scales and their degrees rather than pure interval relations. I dont know if you will cover that on the next lessons, but I think its a worthwhile approach to the whole scale - chord relationship. Anyway, keep up the great work!

Regards

HI Rod,

I haven't gone through all of it yet, how ever what I have studied has been great.
AS an older beginner piano student: I find your "Piano Lesson Report " very easy to understand, and follow.

Thank you so much for allowing me to get it.

Peace.

Very helpful. Simple explanations and clear illustrations. Congratulations!

Hey Rod,
I am going through your music fundamentals book for the third time. It's amazing how much information you have packed into 111 pages. I really like the way you use intervals to explain music. I think that it transforms my piano from an instrument that plays sounds to an instrument that speaks and expresses a language in which I determine the message through understanding intervals. I think one of the other great qualities to this understanding is that the intervals are the same for every scale so I don't have to memorize every note and chord, I only have to have the understanding of intervals expressed in your teaching. I'm looking forward to the release of your full course. Thanks much!

Joe

Hi Rod
Have just finished your wonderful first lesson on intervals and chords,and found it very easy to follow and very enlightening.Having just passed my Grade 1 piano,I am still quite a novice,but this will help me vastly in my progress.Thank you so much.

Gracias Rod, muchas gracias por ese gran libro, siempre a sido una pasión tocar el Piano para mi, desde pequeño me a llamado siempre la atención, pero por falta de tiempo nunca pude asistir a clases de Piano, asi que solo toco de oido, y este libro me esta enseñando mucho aunque me cuesta por la sencilla razón de que desconozco muchas cosas, espero que me sirva de ayuda y poder avanzar todo lo que no he podido en estos años gracias a tu libro, de nuevo te doy las gracias, un saludo. Txema.

Hi Rod. Thanks for your valuable 111page report. Its a must for the beginers like me, where you can learn about the chords and the tension they build.
May God bless you and your entire team.
looking forward for your next report.
Best regards
Evangelisto

Rod, I like it...can't wait for the next part.
God Bless,
Dalyce

Loved it! Helpful review for advanced students, and great introduction for beginners! Keep up the good work!

Very good for beginners though I'm a little more advanced..But,I love the way you teach

yes ! thanks and I am very pleased to find this sight.
I appriciate the great job. It feels like finding a compus in the middle of jungle. It is fundamentals,but exciting and promissing. I have to confess the first book of fundamental music I bought in the university class scared me off. i tried the best I could and finally droped the music course. With this fudamentals,So far I have learned and would like to see more...
Thanks sudabeh

I've been playing music for 7 years, but have only been playing piano self taught for about a year, so I thought that this book would probably be helpful.
I never thought to look at scales and chords as being made up of intervals. It's starting to change the way that I think about playing. I can't wait for the next lesson!
Thanks so much!
Lauren

I really did enjoy studying lesson I that was sent to me. I just finished it today. It has helped me to understand the importants of how the cords & Intervals relate to each other. I am looking forward to the next lesson.
Thanks,
Linda

I completed your well- put- together material in a day and a half. I have played piano for most of my life through self-instruction and whatever I could pick up from anyone else. I believe by following your suggestions in 'how to practice' will enable me to accomplish my long dreamed hope. Thanks for all your hard work and I really look forward to seeing more material from you. God bless. Weems

Hi Rod. I really enjoyed the lesson and i can't wait until the next one,i am excited about taking my playing to the next level. I really love playing piano and i really would like to know what iam doing when i play. I love music and my wife is a great singer and i would love to be able to play for her when she sing.So thanks for all your help and i will be looking forward to hearing from you soon (God Bless you for all you do to help all of us).