Blackthorn

I caught a bit of this guy's schpeel on Public TV here earlier today. He's got a good story that goes along with this but my rectal smoke detector went off like a herd of cop cars when I heard him say something like "play like me in hours or days....not weeks months or years". Yup...smoke was being blown up my ass according to the detector. Anyway -- if you have ever heard anything about this I'd be appreciative of your insight.

Linky

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K-Wise

From the looks of that pic piano ain't the only thing he plays..

Asta!!

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indigochild111

That is bull. There are VERY few people who can just play piano in a *flash*.

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skier

skin flute?

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amonkie

There's a reason i get paid to play - he's not it.

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OFKU0

Well I've been teaching private guitar lessons for half my life (where does the time go) and I would really like to hear or see his teaching techniques. Personally, all my students with no guitar knowledge whatsoever, after one 1/2 hour lesson know 4 chords and a song like Yellow Submarine, no problem. Guaranteed. If he does it, more power to him.

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MacGuyver

I'll kick his head in "in a flash". If you cant take the time to dedicate yourself to practice longer than "a flash", you will never be a good musician.

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WillyPete

Within 1/2 an hour I can knock out most 'tunes' using single keys. (Think "Mary had a little lamb" a'la beginner's music classes)
Using chords to play my favourite tunes is, however, an altogether impossibility.

I can't see any other way he's doing it.

MooseMan3000

It depends a lot on what you mean by "play the piano."

In my opinion, it's a load of crap.

On the other hand, if you just want to be able to play (very) basic songs, and to entertain musically illiterate people, then I'm sure the book works. You'll be playing Elton John in no time. You won't, however, learn anything more from that book than you would from any other, so long as you put a little effort into it. Don't expect to be improvising solos or playing conciertos any time soon.

flamingdog

I picked up drums and bass guitar in a 'flash', but it's taken me years to get anywhere close to mastering the skins, and I haven't even started getting beyond the basics of bass.

Fly

hey.........i watched this guy on tv once or twice...........went and got the keyboard brought it infront of the tube.....and i now know many chords that i never knew before.

he really does lay it out for you rather easily......

he gives you the goods in simplistic form but,.....it's up to you too use them and practice.

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JStrider

Please define "in a flash"


i think im gonna buy this... and then i can show up my sisters years of practicing...

haha...

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Blackthorn

Outstanding!


amonkie I took lessons as a kid...I know the uphill climb you have made to be getting paid to play. I have a great appreciation for your talent and wish I had that ability.


Thanks for the replies. I figured this was more marketecture than substance and I almost got sucked in by his ability to effortlessly play the simplest of tunes and make them sound pretty good. That's good enough for me in my living room as I have no desire to be compensated for my limited playing ability but I think I'll avoid this methodology.

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vox_rox

Absolutely agree with all that has been said in this thread. The truth is, a really great music teacher can get you playing simple tunes and inspired to practice, ofen quite quickly. But I'll tell you, there's no way you're going to be playing anything complicated "in a flash." My brother was visiting this weekend from out of town, and sat down at my parents' keyboard and played a most beautiful version of Fur Elise, and it took him 7 years to get to the point where he could do that.

If you want to learn basic stuff so you can impress your friends, buy an iPod. If you want to learn ot play a musical instrument, dedicate some time to it, and expect it to be a lifelong journey, not a masturbatory event.

Peace,

Pierre

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warrrreagl

First, it's impossible to learn any instrument well in a flash. Anything quick and easy will not be of any quality.

Second, I've seen this guy on PBS and he actually does have some ideas that I already use with my piano students. So, some of his techniques are pretty good.

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MichaelFarker

I've got a friend who learned from one of these programs. He learned to play something like 4 songs in 4 hours on the piano. He practices for about 20 minutes every week or two to remember them. I guess that's enough playing ability for most people.

roachboy

i guess what matters is that people might find that this guy provides a way to start interacting with the instrument and have fun with it. that could well be an end in itself. if i hadnt found something parallel early on, i doubt seriously that i would still be playing 30 years later and still finding new/strange possibilities in/on the piano.

what i do not understand is why anyone would promote producing flinstone covers as the access to playing an instrument at all...unless you link this to other things (like learning how to organize sound autonomously) it seems a pathway to servility. which it too often in fact is.

nor do i understand how pecking out tonics for poptune basslines is playing the piano.

but whatever: there are lots of people out there who could do really interesting things on an instrument like the piano, but who feel shut out of the possibility for stupid reasons (piano lessons shoved down your throat as a kid, for example): if this helps to give even a few of them access to the instrument and a reason to develop as a player, then why not?

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ObieX

Well there's a difference between playing music and READING music. One could sit down at a piano and learn how to play songs in no time. They can learn what happens when you push certain keys, and get a feel for the way/order you can do it to produce a good sound or to mimic a tune. It is MUCH more difficult to sit down and read from a sheet of music and try to play it correctly. THAT takes time.

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roachboy

there is no particular value in using conventional notation--it is little more than a heuristic in some forms of music--not all--your relation to it should be a function of what you want to do, to my mind. in the kind of music i do, graphic scores or verbal prompts operate as or more effectively than conventional notation--if you were inclined toward blurring the line that otherwise would seperate performing from "composing", it makes as much sense to start with graphic scores as it would to worry about sightreading straight notation.

i am not saying that it is useless--just that there is no reason to assume it necessary, in the same way, for every form of music.

what matters is your ability to think organization of sound, not the medium through which particular conceptions of organization are expressed.

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quadro2000

roachboy has it right, as usual.

I've watched this guy on television a number of times before - I get sucked in by his approach (and his friendly, albeit flamboyant, style). What he's teaching you is not going to make you a virtuoso or a piano whiz. But that's not what he's trying to do. He's trying to teach you how to simply play the piano.

When someone who's never played a piano looks at a piano, they see 88 keys. That's a pretty intimidating instrument to have in front of you. That, combined with music theory (which I still have a hard time wrapping my head around, and I've been trying since I was six years old) makes the piano look like this huge MONSTER that cannot be conquered. The first thing you learn in piano lessons is generally something like "Mary Had A Little Lamb." Well, when you're above the age of 8, nobody's going to be impressed to hear you play that one. So why would any adult, who doesn't have the time, money or - most importantly - passion to spend years of their lives delving into the instrument - ever want to start, if all you're going to get are theoretical ideas and "Mary Had A Little Lamb?"

Some of this guy's examples (that he plays) are a bit deceiving - not everybody is going to play the things that he's playing so quickly. But if his overall goal is to remove the "fear factor" from the instrument and get people to start playing music, listening to music differently, becoming music, perhaps when they never have before, then I'd say his work is noble.

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Holo

this book is available on certain P2P nets named after non human living things.

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