Music On My Mind

Being able to entertain 'ourselves' is one of the great pleasures of being a musician. When the mood strikes us, we can make our own music - work on a new tune, practice, experiment, or run through our repertoire. Some of us can play for hours and for others, well. only a short time.

For those of you with a limited repertoire, consider learning songs from songbooks or the Real Book. There is no shame in learning covers. You don't have to play them well, nor do you have to play them for anyone else. The point is to just play, instead of watching television because you're tired of practicing the one song you do know. Some benefits you may gain are: discovering new chords and progressions and improving your sight-reading. After time, you will be able to open most any songbook and entertain yourself without ever really committing a song to memory.

Other than my web-site, finding music that is written for The Stick® is problematic. Your best bet is to find a songbook (or sheet-music) that is arranged for piano/guitar/voice and contains music that interests you. I suggest this type of book, because most songbooks are arranged this way. What you're looking for is a book that has the melody (the voice) notated on a different staff than the piano and the chords spelled out above the melody. The Real Book is just that - melody lines and chord progressions, but for jazz standards.

The rest is just academic. You find a song, play the chords with the left-hand, and tap out the melody with the right. Refer to The Sticktionary or Free Hands if your chord vocabulary is small. And if you have absolutely no clue how to read music, choose songs with melodies that are familiar to you. By singing the melody, you should be able to find the right notes on your instrument.

I've recorded a few bars of Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind". To get you started, I have supplied chord diagrams and a note reference diagram.

Notation: georgia.pdf
Audio: georgia.mp3

Now go entertain yourself.

Chris
www.ChrisCrain.com