Chord Fingering - Most Efficient Method

[travlin-easy]

My dad obtained on old, upright piano in 1945 - I was just 5 years old and it took up most of the living room hallway, which upset my mother. He refinished the outside, but it was horribly out of tune. He contacted a neighbor who tuned it up for just $5, which was a lot of money back then. When he finished tuning, I sat down on the piano bench and began picking out the notes of Tennessee Waltz, which I heard on the radio a few minutes earlier. My parents were amazed, and immediately enrolled me in piano lessons with a music teacher who was married to the guy who tuned the piano - the cost was $.25 cents an hour.

After a few weeks, I felt pretty comfortable with the piano, and I could pretty much play most of the songs I heard on the radio. However, after six months, the piano teacher came to my home and offered to return all her lessons that mom shelled out on lessons. Though I was only 5, I can still vividly recall her saying "You're wasting your money - he will never learn how to play properly." My mother replied, he plays beautiful, and can play nearly ever song he hears on the radio. To which the teacher replied "Yes, but he cannot read a note - he only plays the chords and notes he hears on the radio - therefore, he plays be ear." My mother refused to accept her refund offer, and the teacher worked hard to teach me what I had learned.

Now, after  75 years of playing, performing on stage over a 35 year period, 450 jobs a year for the past 15 years, I still cannot connect the dots. However, using the multi-finger mode, I can still pick out the chords that come out of the cobwebs of my aging brain, send the information to my aging fingers, and perform just about any song that I hear more then once. Granted, there are some transition chords that I might miss, but I usually manage to cover for this with my vocals.

Bottom line, no matter which chording method you select, they will all work just fine as long as you are having fun. If you are not having fun, maybe it's time to take up golf or basket weaving.

Gary

[Toril S]

Amen Gary!!!

[alanclare]

Bottom line, no matter which chording method you select, they will all work just fine as long as you are having fun. If you are not having fun, maybe it's time to take up golf or basket weaving.

Gary

...and so say all of us, Gary.

Alan