Beginner Piano Songs - What Are The Basic Beginner Piano Chords to Hound Dog By Elvis Presley?

A very simple piano song for complete beginners to learn to play is Hound Dog by Elvis Presley.

It is written in a 12 bar blues sequence and perfect for a beginner to Piano. The good thing about learning a 12 bar blues is that it is the basis many different songs, so once you have learned the structure of one song, you will be able to play any other song that is written in a blues progression.

Quite a few of Elvis Presley's songs are based around a 12 bar blues, and even though they are quite simple they sound very effective. People across the world love the style of music, and it is what Elvis is renowned for.

Hound Dog was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, writing this song as just teenagers. The first artist to record this song was Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952, and it actually became a number one hit for her, and was by far her biggest success.

Elvis decided to cover the popular hit after hearing it at a concert in Las Vegas in 1956, and then recorded it at the same time as his single Don't Be Cruel. They were both released at the same time. It quickly rose to top spot all over the US, and was number one for 11 consecutive weeks.

In 1958 it became the only third record to sell more than 3 million copies, which was an amazing success. The song has featured in the Elvis Presley Biopic in 2005, in 1994 it was featured in the popular film Forest Gump, and most recently it was sung by Eddie Clendening, portraying Elvis Presley, in the Broadway musical "Million Dollar Quartet."

So what are the basic beginner chords to Hound Dog?

Hound Dog is written in a very simple key of C Major.

It contains the basic piano chords C Major, F Major and G Major, which are easy beginner piano chords and you can use a simple blues scale riff to start and end the song.

You can also add interest and put life into the song by using a glissando, which means gliding up and down the keyboard.

A nice way to start the song is by starting on C chord, 3 octaves above where you want to play the song, so one octave above middle C, and then do a glissando down to your starting note.

The rhythm uses fast chords in your right hand with a simple three note bass section in the left hand. It uses the chords mentioned above so when playing the C Section you would play C E G in the left hand using a blues rhythm.

To finish the song, you can play some notes around the C Blues scale - C Eb F G & Bb maybe, which will end it very nicely on the piano.

Why not have a go at learning some simple songs on piano that are perfect for beginners. You can also teach yourself a very easy song by watching these Beginner Piano Song Videos.

Don't just play piano - perform piano by learning a repertoire of 12 Easy Piano Sing Songs that are perfect for when they ask the question...'so what can you play?'

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Start With Easy Guitar Songs

With all the musical instruments we hear every day, one seems to stand out for the majority of people, and that is the guitar. This is one of the reasons why there are more and more people willing to learn to play the guitar. Some may have other reasons why they want to study the craft; they probably want to join a rock band or something. But whatever the reason is, the goal remains the same, and that is learning and improving their guitar playing skills. To be able to improve, you will need to put time and effort in practicing and to be able to do this you will need good guitar material and easy guitar songs to work with.

Performing solo performances for a live audience can be quite nerve wracking especially if you are still a beginner. But this is something that you really need to build your confidence. Once you hear the audience liking your music, it is a big motivator for you to improve on your skills and learn to play easy guitar songs. It is very important that you master playing your guitar alone first before you try joining a band. A solo performance is very different as every string you are playing is clearly heard by your audience, and as mentioned, you will build your confidence through playing solo. Unlike in a band, if you make a mistake it's not going to be too obvious.

So what should you do to be able to improve your solo guitar skills? The first thing is to get your basic skills locked down. You always need to start with the basics by studying and mastering the chords, strumming pattern and basic playing techniques. Don't quickly jump to playing easy guitar songs if you have not memorized your basic chords yet. Give time practicing finger position drills and switching chords, this way, you can get to memorize the chords and your finger will get use to the positions as they can be very stiff at first.

The next way to improve on your skills is to start practicing on easy guitar songs. With the help of easy guitar songs, your guitar skills will improve faster especially with your solo playing. With easy guitar songs, you will be able to practice switching chords, chord recognition and smooth progressions. You can now put everything that you've previously learned in application.

You can find hundreds of easy guitar songs in the Internet and you can choose something that is very familiar to you like an old classic. There are many websites out there that aims to help beginners get better in their solo playing guitar skills.

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Discover 10 Popular Songs to Learn On the Piano As a Beginner

Here are 10 popular songs to learn on piano, especially for beginners

1. Pachelbel's Canon - This is a famous song, originally written on strings, but also very famous and popular to play on the piano. It comes in a variety of arrangements for beginners up to advanced players, so it is a great one to learn as a beginner then a lovely piece to come back to at a later stage when you are more advanced.

2. Imagine by John Lennon - This is one of those songs that most people know, and would go down well at a party, or a sing-song! It has a great chord accompaniment, and is a good one to improve your playing technique and to incorporate the use of chords in your playing.

3. Drunken Sailor - This classic folk song is a great piano song to put a smile on people's faces, and it only requires a simple bass line as the right hand is the leading section with two simple chord patterns.

4. Let it Be by The Beatles - This is another classic song, written and made famous by The Beatles. It is in a simple key signature, has a nice piano arrangement which will suit a beginner perfectly.

5. Annie's Song by John Denver - This is a popular song with a lovely melody in which its lyrics fit perfectly. It is in a simple key signature, has a beautiful melody to be able to play as a beginner and one song that you will continue to play through your piano years. As you become more advanced it allows you the freedom to bring more into it with a variety of arrangements produced for piano.

6. Fur Elise by Beethoven - This ever popular classical piece written by Beethoven, has a great sound and feeling to it. For a beginner listening to it, you could misjudge it and think it is difficult to play, but in fact it is the opposite. It is in a simple key signature, is repetitive with only a couple of different sections to master and is available in a variety of levels. It also sounds great too, so is a way to impress your audience.

7. Amazing Grace originally written by John Newton is a classic popular Gospel song. It has a lot of feeling and emotion to it which is portrayed well when played on the piano. It suits all levels of pianists but is particularly a good one to start with as a beginner, as it is in a simple key & time signature. You can even download this for free of some music websites on the internet.

8. Clocks by rock band Coldplay. This is a modern song made famous by international rock band Coldplay. It features lovely simple chords. These are played in the right hand to take a lead, with a simple but effective bass line, which complements this song well. This will put playing chords into practice, and show you how it is all linked into music.

9. Piano Man by Billy Joel - The title says it all with this song. It is a very popular song and written originally for the Piano. This is a great song to add to your repertoire as a beginner. It is in a simple key, and is in a waltz time signature, so it will develop your timing skills by introducing a waltz rhythm into your playing. It is also a song that most people will know, and sounds terrific when played on the piano.

10. Candle in the Wind by Elton John - This is one of Elton John's most famous hits, and arranged for Piano. It was originally written in the key of E Major, but there are some easy piano arrangements produced which are in a simpler key. This makes it a perfect song choice to learn as a beginner. It is a simple melody to pick up, but sounds fantastic.

There are some great free courses to teach anyone from complete beginners to advanced pianists to Learn How to Play Piano. A great way for beginners to learn is to start off with some really Easy Piano Songs which will get you started and help build that all important confidence.

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How to Learn Beginner Guitar Songs

Beginner guitar songs are usually written out in tabs rather than music notes. This is simply because the tabs are the easiest way to learn how to play guitar and are secretly the way that many of the greatest musicians play their instruments. However, something that some guitar books do not go through is how to read the tablature music.

You will notice on a guitar that it is full of frets. This is the part that will state the letters that you need to play. You will need to know what string is tuned to the letter and then go onto learning the 24 different frets that are available. You will also need to learn about devices that you can add to your guitar to change the sound.

You have six strings on the guitar and each of them is a different letter. The first one is the biggest and this plays a low E. This would be shown as E:--0-- when it comes to the music that you will be reading. 0 means that nothing is being held down.

However, holding onto the first fret is actually written with a 1. So, if you were playing the next string, the A string, you would see A:--1--. This would mean that you are holding down the first fret and actually playing the note A sharp - also known as B flat depending on the key that you are playing in. The numbers go up and the notes increase in half steps so when you hold the second fret of the A string down, you will be playing the note B.

You will usually see other types of notes appearing, such as 6p5 or 5h6. These have different meanings. These make different sounds and can be very difficult to learn about. It is usually best to learn the basics before you start worrying about what these notes mean. The H means Hammer-on, P means Pulling off and you will also see a B, means bend.

When you are reading the music, you will read it from left to right, like you would usually read. You will flow through the music and see the note and then the fret that you are supposed to hold down. This may take some time to get used to, so you should practice frequently and take your time with the basic steps. The more you practice, the better you will get at the music; start off slow and build up the pace so that you can listen to the music that you are making.

You should start with a song that you know well; this will help you get started with the music and will also help you because you will know how it should sound. However, it is important not to get frustrated and take your time with it. Nobody gets it right on their first try unless you are an expert at playing the guitar songs and being able to play the beginner guitar songs.

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Circle of 4ths and 5ths - Writing Songs Part 2

This article will show you further ways in which you can use the circle of 4ths and 5ths to help you write songs. You'll be introduced to the Roman numeral system which is used by musicians to show the relationship between chords and that will help you in choosing chords that sound good together.

The Roman numerals that are used in music are: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°. As you can see the I, IV and V (1, 4 and 5) are in capitals because they are Major chords while ii, iii, vi and vii° (2, 3, 6) are minor chords, the vii° is a half-diminished seventh chord.

These Roman numerals help you figure out which chords feature in each key. For example, say you want to write a song in the key of C. Find a diagram of the circle of 4ths and 5ths and imagine a I above it. To find the ii and iii you need to move clock-wise around the circle, but skipping a letter each time.

The letters clockwise around the circle of 4ths and 5ths are C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, A# and F. So the ii and iii chord will be D minor (remember Roman numerals in lower case indicate a minor chord) and E minor. To find the IV, V, vi and vii° you have to move to the letter before the C which is F then move around the circle clockwise again but using all the letters between the I, ii and iii. So for IV, V, vi and vii° we'll get F Major, G Major, A minor and a B half-diminished seventh. You can find the chords for any key in the same way as they all follow the same pattern.

Now pick a couple of the chords from the key and start playing them in any order you wish, you'll be guaranteed they sound good together. If you want some suggestions try the following chord progressions.

I - IV - V
I - ii - IV
I - vi - ii - V
vi - IV - I - V

This should give you an idea of what kind of chord progressions are possible when writing songs.

Another way to write your own songs using this information is by taking a song that you like the sound of and then analysing the chord progression with the help of the circle of 4ths and 5ths and the Roman numerals. Then change the key by shifting the pattern to a different starting point. For example, say there is a song with the chord progressions G, C, D. This first chord is a G so it's in the key of G (this isn't always the case, but often enough). This means the G is the I chord, the C is IV and the D is V. So the Roman numerals for this progression are I - IV - V. If you want to change the song to the key of C you shift the pattern to centre around the C. This gives you C - F - G.

Maybe you'll want to change things up even more so you add an A minor chord, because that is vi chord in the key of C and now you have something a bit more original. This is one of the easiest ways to write a song, but in the next article we'll look at writing a song that shifts between a Major and minor key as well as other tips for song writing.

To see what the circle of 4ths and 5ths looks like check out this diagram: circle of 4ths and 5ths. If you want to see just what else you can do with it then download the free e-book "Hit Song Secrets" in which I show you some amazing tricks that will help you write better songs, figure out music by ear and know how to become better at soloing.

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The Self Taught Guitarist: Transitioning and Learning Songs

Today, when most people talk of being self taught, it rarely ever refers to someone who just picks up a guitar and is able to figure it all out on their own. At least when I speak of self taught it refers to someone who is learning to play the guitar without an instructor. Instead they use instruction manuals, the internet and possibly videos to help them to learn. It's self teaching because no one is showing them how to use all that information.

Now there's not a thing wrong with being taught by an instructor. It's probably the fastest way to learn because you have someone there who watches you play and can immediately assist you in doing it right. But for those of us who for whatever reasons have chosen to go at it alone, learning to play the guitar can become a long and arduous road where many give up before they are able to experience the joys of playing. What I hope to accomplish with this article is a pathway full of ideas and motivations that will hopefully help those who not only struggle with the physical aspect of learning to play but also the psychological side. In other words if you can't play very well, and you see no improvement, you will soon give up. Let me see if I can help.

Psychological things to help you succeed

1. Know that it is possible to become a good guitarist. Even a great one. Others have done it and so can you.
2. Some learn faster than others. The fact that it takes you longer to learn will mean absolutely nothing after you have successfully taught yourself the guitar. It'll just take you a little longer to get there.
3. Getting upset while trying to learn something new will be absolutely no help to you. Keep cool and keep working at it until you get it right.
4. To keep yourself motivated remember back to what first got you interested in playing the guitar. Listen to a piece of music or guitar solo that makes you say to yourself, "I've just got to learn to play that!".

Physical things to help you succeed

1. Very important. Your fingers do what your mind tells them to do. With your eyes you see how your finger(s) should move from one fret to another. And when you have that movement right you then record it to you your brain with thousands of repetitions until it is perfect.
2. And with all things go slow. If you can't do something slow then there is no way you can do it at tempo.
3. Develop a good technique. A technique is the manner in which you move up and down the fretboard, and the positioning of your hand and fingers while fretting notes and chords.
4. A metronome to help you to develop a perfect tempo
5. An organized, daily guitar practice routine that incorporates exercises that help in the development of a good technique. Practice scale patterns for the type of music you like to play. And a song book with your type of music to not only gauge your progress but to give some enjoyment to your exercise regimen.

The above are ideas that will help you with your self-teaching journey. Now lets focus next on some things that will help make your progress go a little smoother, possibly a little faster, and hopefully with a sense of accomplishment.

Problem: You encounter problems when transitioning from one position on the fretboard to another. Instead of the movement being smooth and flowing, you lose tempo along with taking a considerable amount of time getting it right.

Solution: First of all focus on the transition notes.That would be the last note you play in a certain position, and the first note of the new position. For instance you are playing on the first through fourth frets. Then from there you need to come down and play a couple of measures on the seventh and ninth frets. Make sure the first note you fret will be with the finger that will allow you to best play the notes within those measures. If the first note of that new position is the ninth fret third string, and the next note is on the seventh fret first string you would not want to use your first finger for the first note. Rather it would be more beneficial to use your third finger first which would then allow you to fret that second note with your first finger.

Daily Routine: Do dry runs to see which finger would be the best one to use for the first note of the transition. And to make for a smooth transition; look ahead! Be looking at the first note of the new position the same time you are picking the previous note. Your finger will automatically go to the fret you are looking at. Practice this very slowly until you can do it without error eventually working up to tempo.

Problem: You find yourself having trouble learning any songs. You can learn bits and pieces but you become tired of the song before you're able to play the entire piece even fairly well.

Solution: It's great to play the parts of the song that we know well, but the focus should be on the little parts that we can't play. First of all pick music that is within your skill level, but still has some level of difficulty that will help you to advance your playing skills. Focus primarily on the parts that are giving you the most problem while hardly giving a notice to the rest of the piece. By doing this you will not tire of the song so easily. Once you have become fairly competent over the difficult movements, then you can put it all together. Start off very slow, far below tempo which will allow you to perfect each movement. I recommend a guitar trainer to do this. This will slow the tempo down to a crawl while keeping the proper beat. You can also loop the difficult parts so you can continue to play it over and over again until you get it right.

Daily Routine: Incorporate practice exercises that coincide with the difficult parts of a song you are trying to learn. Take a very easy, simplistic song even if it's a single note version of "Mary Had A Little Lamb." And for a few minutes during your practice session each day play it over and over for weeks on end until it is as perfect as it can be played by anyone. This will help you develop an ear for what your version of perfect sounds like. With this awakening of your creative mind it will give you a goal to obtaining perfection for the music you really like to play.

These are a few basic ideas that should help you to not only improve your playing skills, but help you develop a library of completed songs in your mind that can be played at will any time you want. And with the ability to play other musicians music, to venture on to develop your own music.

Article By Jerry Lunsford The Self Taught Guitarist A website dedicated to the self-taught guitarist. With guitar tips, articles, helps, free lessons, and suggested gear to help you to succeed in teaching yourself to play the guitar. http://www.theselftaughtguitarist.com/ or to see my new "Guitar Practice Techniques" manual if you are looking for a practice routine that will help you develop a good technique. http://www.guitarpracticetechniques.com/

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