Rick asks a great question about how to “capo” your keyboard.
Even if you aren’t a guitar player you will get something out of this email.
In it, I give away the secret to turning the skills to play one song instantly into the skill to play 100’s
Ricks question below:
“Hey Tim, Love the course, trying to practice everyday. Only been at it for 6 days and I can see this is going to lead to some real fun.
My question is how do I put a Capo on my keyboard?
When chord charts (those you find on guitar sites) start with “Capo 2nd Fret” how do I make this “adjustment” on the keyboard? I am thinking it is to “transpose” the key, but not sure if this would be up or down. My guess is up one half step for each fret.Thanks for your time and the PianoFool lessons. Rick”
Rick hasn’t got to the module where we go over this, but I will indulge him anyway.
Here’s how it works.
The capo on a guitar simply changes the key you are playing the guitar in.
So for example…
…if you are playing in the key of G, and it’s to low to sing, then you would put this little capo on the guitar neck and each fret you move up is another half step.
So fret one equals the key of G#, fret 2 equals the key of A and so on.
But what happens if you want to sing it lower in than the key of G.
Bad news…
…on the guitar you have to switch to playing different chords. (you can’t capo down on a guitar)
But this isn’t the case with the piano.
Which is another reason piano is the easiest instrument to play.
Most keyboards have, what is called, a transpose button.
This is the “capo” of the keyboard.
You can go up, down, whichever way you want and play the exact same chords.
So if somebody wants to sing in the Key of A and all you know at the time is how to play in the key of G…
…well
…push the little transpose button up 2 half steps to make it sound like A.
Piece of cake.
Each keyboard is different but there will be information on how to do this in the manual.
Now…
Rick will learn this as he goes through each module step by step.
But sometimes when you start playing, seeing the results, and envisioning the future you now see the Layer Method of Piano program then it’s hard not to want to jump ahead.
Is the transpose button cheating?
Maybe…
…does it matter?
No.
You can learn as much or as little as you want with my program.
It’s geared to let you decide.
I give you all the secrets, methods, and tricks to play songs you love without having to take years of lessons.
But you can’t learn to play keyboard or piano if you don’t decide to start.
Sign up here:
