Music Tweak Blog

Free piano lessons

Here is an excellent music tutorial for beginners wanting to learn how to play piano. It's also good for those that don't have the money to pay for lessons and want to learn for free. It starts from the very beginning explaining the keyboard and what fingers to use when playing. The lesson also shows you how to hold your fingers and hands when pressing the keys.

Other useful tips include:

The difference between black and white keys.

How to find different notes on the keyboard quickly including A B C D E F and G keys.

He explains how everything in piano music revolves around middle C. When playing keys to the right of middle C you should use your right hand. When playing keys to the left of middle C you should use your left hand. Makes sense doesn't it?

It then goes on to show you how to play a C major scale and finishes off teaching you how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The tutorial goes for 9 1/2 minutes and is well worth your time. Sequels to this piano lesson will be posted over the next few weeks. To start the video below press the go arrow.

The next lesson is piano tones and the difference between semi tones and whole tones.

The difference between semi tones and whole tones on the piano

This piano lesson is part of a series called how to play piano. This lesson lesson is useful for beginners to music as it starts off showing you the difference between a whole tone and a semi tone. Basically whole tones and semi tones refers to going from the white keys to the black keys. If you only ever hit the white keys on your piano then your skipping a length. However, if there is no black key between any two white ones, then the next length in the chain of tones is the next white one. I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it really is, so I recommend watching the piano lesson below and seeing for yourself how easy it can be to understand tones.

This piano lesson also explains Intervals and shows you how to play G major scale before finishing with teaching you the song Mary had a little lamb.

Free piano lesson on playing triads

Now you know the basic techniques for keyboard notes and the difference between semi tones and whole tones, its time to learn about playing triad piano chords. This 2 part lesson will teach you about 3 note solid, broken triad, how to play D major scale on piano before finishing with how to play the song Jingle bells.

These free lessons are useful for beginners as they also let you hear how triads sound on the piano before you try playing them yourself. You can also see how you should position your hands and fingers and have someone to copy visually. This is something that obviously can't be shown in a book.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Now is the time to start learning the basics of how to read sheet music.

Basics of reading sheet music for beginners

This music lesson will visually show you how to read sheet music. The first part shows you what a treble clef and base clef is and how they are displayed in sheet music. The treble clef is played with the right hand while the base clef is played with your left hand. It then shows you how middle C is shared by both the treble and base clef and how they are played on the keyboard.

The second part continues on from the lessons above explaining how to read sheet music. It also shows you the contrary motion scale as well as how to play Happy Birthday with what you have learnt in these lessons.

As seen in the tutorials this is the symbol for treble clef:

And this is how a base clef looks on a piece of sheet music:

FL Studio, Fruity Loops virtual studio and music mixer

FL Studio or as its also known Fruity Loops studio is a complete virtual studio that lets you make wav files, mp3's, midi songs and music loops on your home computer. This sequencer has MIDI, VST/VSTi and DXi support.

I won't go into what else it supports here cause you can get that from their website. However I do want to demonstrate what FL Studio does and how useful it can be to musicians.

This first video will show you exactly what Fruity Loops does and how the software looks on your computer:

If you like the look of it so far, you can download a free demo of FL Studio. The only difference between the full version and the demo is that with the demo you can't re-edit the song you've made after you've saved it.

The next tutorial will introduce you to the basics of using FL Studio. It goes through the different effects and tools and what they do.

This next one carries on from the one above and explains how to compose a song using the step sequencer and patterns. It makes simple beats but is good for beginners to follow so they can learn how to use the program quickly. You can't really hear the music he is creating but you still get the idea.

Well thats probably enough for you to play with for starters. Next I will be adding tutorials explaining how to use automation clips, so keep an eye out for them.

Vocals just like any other instrument require allot of training and practice, the best vocalist for all types of music have exercises they do through to make sure there voice sounds great. This video give you some good exercises to practice and will defiantly be worth watching if your a vocalist yourself.

Breathing technique is a big part in singing, this exercise your learning helps free your diaphragm than will help you breathe allot more natural when you sing.

Freeing and expandings your vocal range is important in making your voice more versatile and will also give you more options melody wise. This lessonss gunna show you a very common exercise called a lip roll.

This exercise helps your vocals chords stop straining, sends the rite amount of air to your vocal chords and after your done lip rolling your body remembers the support. Your voice will gain more boost and feel more free.

Piano sheet music

I recently came across one of the best places to download piano sheet music for free.

Gilbert DeBenedetti has put together useful sheet music for pianists. His piano sheet music are downloadable in pdf files, ready to print out. Whether your a beginner musician who needs easy sheet music or more advanced, you can find something to download. Also what makes this site useful is that you can listen to the audio file of how it should hear before having a go at playing it yourself.

Beginners can start with Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Rain, Rain, Go Away and many others. Once you have a good grasp on the easy music tabs you can continue on to primer one that includes London Bridge, twinkle twinkle little star and old MacDonald amongst others. Level 4 is for advanced piano players and includes Danny Boy, Amazing Grace and Greensleeves. Then if your really up to it you can try out the keyboard classics. Sheet music for keyboard classics include Sonatina and Minuet.

What makes this piano sheet music useful?

1. It's free
2. You don't need to sign up for membership to download it.
3. You can hear the audio of how it sounds before playing it yourself.
4. It's been separated into sections so you can easily find sheet music depending on your skill level.

By relaxing the throat, we can improve the resonance and freedom of the voice. The exercises will bring tone and richness, and will help to free your vibrato. Practise this exercise dayly to improve it.

The main purpose for this video lesson is to learn to project the voice outward without hurting the throat and using much effort. The lesson will also tell you a bit about how to use your consonance and vouls.

This singing lesson will teach you how to use your tongue. It is a very important when singing, It gives the most definition in the words you sing.

Resonance is import to develop your voice to its full potential. Better resonance should give you better amplification of your voice and will also project it better. This singing lesson will give you a bit more knowledge about resonance and hopefully help you understand how important it is.