I am one that does want to learn to play better and yes I am over 65...count me in.

Just remembered, one of mt Thomas organs, the Celebrity Royale had 2 61 not keybeds, a 32 note radial arced pedal board AND in between the keybeds...a Arpeggio/Glissando strip...worked superb. All you had to do is hold a chord and run your thumb across the bar (it had 61 little rollers) OR just flip the switch and run your thumb across for full Gliss.
You could change chords on the fly, use sustain pedal etc.

You could vary the speed, go slow/fast it was so cool!

Yes me too. I want both, learn to play better and to sound better.

Unfortunately don’t have the luxury of time to spend a couple of hours a day on scales and exercises like I did 20 to 30 years ago.

After the heartache of having to sell my pianos 20 years ago, I gave up playing except for learning the occasional arranger song to audition the styles I liked creating on my keyboards . That was now my hobby instead of playing.

Actually learning more from my current online piano course than I ever did in the years I actually played. Took some lessons when I first started learning, learnt to read what was on the paper in front of me , nothing more. Doggedly had to learn a piece of music ,note for note.
With keyboards I had to at least learn what a chord was .
Current course has taught me about chord progressions, how the chords relate to scales, how to get the most out of the practice time I have, and better still how to play some basic patterns with left hand, without have the notes written down in front of me.
Not 100% reliant on reading.

A lot of my prior piano music, didn’t even have chord symbols, how much easier to learn the left hand on a piece of sheet music , be it arpeggios or chords when there’s a chord symbol above.

Wish the type of lessons available online nowadays, had been available 30 /40 years ago. Haha

P.s Lee , how are you going with your Somewhere in Time, did you find a style, I’m working on one. Take me time to learn the piano version, so thought I’d learn keyboard version first. Haha

Chords are the foundation of a song. You can fake and find a melody, but chords need to be understood. Studying chords, chord progressions and chord extensions add color to a song. This does not apply to most of the 50’s and rock music, and some country songs. It is very effective with Ballads, Jazz, Swing, Latin, and more.

Rock improvising is mostly based on scales. All other improvising is based on scales and chords. All that I am saying is NOT gospel, only my opinion.

Idea #1: Scales are numbered 1 to 8 --
I II III IV V VI VII VIII

I is C -- II is D -- III is E – right up to VIII which is C again.
The strongest movement/progression in music is V to I G to C, it becomes stronger when you use a V7 G7 instead if V G chord. The 7th is a chord that wants to move, you can feel it. Try ending a song on a G7 chord.

A substitution for a V7 chord is IIn7 V7 – Dm7 G7, both leading to the C chord.

That’s a lot of stuff, but I need it to go to the next step. What you have to do is substitute Dm7 G7 for a G7 chord. IIm7 G7. Instead of playing G7 for 4 beats, you play 2 beats of Dm7, and 2 beats of G7. Playing the two chords give you movement. Repeat this whenever you see a 7th chord.

Example: For C7 play Gm7 C7 --- for F7 play Cm7 F7.
I have made this as simple as can so all will understand –
the next post will be short. Please questions.

John C.

Remember some people use the one finger chord method makes conversions difficult...
Others just dont care, ...
you never stop learning till you die....

Carry on

If it's a blues inthe key of G it will work ...

Good stuff, John ...

Thanks John , got it.

3 months ago I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about.

What amazed me also, the amount of songs that can be played with something as simple as 4 chords.

One of the paks as part of the course is 500 songs in 5 days.
She teaches the 4 chords, how they’re created so that the can be transposed. Each of the 5 days one learns new things. Basic rhythm, adding fill ins to trick them up, last day how to add melody, basically by ear..
All one gets is 500 songs , chords and lyrics. Not a single written note in sight.
Never thought I’d be able to do it, as I was so obsessed with reading notes.

Goes to show , never too old to learn. ( can teach an old dog new tricks ,haha)

Sorry, I forgot about One Finger Chords. I play full chords with my right hand; it guides everything I do. This what I know about full left-hand chords – once you learned them, they come automatically, I think of the name of the chord and my hand just goes there. Without looking. They help take the boredom from the style.

When I hold a C7 chord, C E G Bb with my left hand, my right hand knows what notes to impro on.

Tony ya got me, you’re right G7.
John C.

Interesting info and stuff I use all time John. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Next step in chord progressions
The flat two, seventh chord. IIb7
C Major scale, 2nd note D down ½ tone Db add a 7th = IIb7
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The V7- I progression (G7- C) becomes
IIm7- V7 - I progression. Dm7 G7 C

Add the IIb7 (Db7) -- IIm7 – V7 – IIb7 – I Dm7 – G7 – Db7 – C You can also drop the G7 --- IIm7 – IIIb7 – C
Good for endings and intro, and a lot more.

ADDING EXTENTIONS TO A MAJOR CHORD.

C major scale
C D E F G A B C D E F G
Major is built with thirds—C to E -- E to G
I III V of the C major scale

C6- CEGA Cmaj7th- CEGB Cmaj9th- CEGBD
Cmaj11th – CEGADF Cmaj13th – CEGADFA Careful with the Cmaj11th

And no, you do not add all the notes to your C major chord, just the ones that sound good to you.

Stay with me, this is going to get very interesting
John C.