Glee music songbook with 17 songs from hit show Glee. The music features piano arrangements with vocal and guitar aswell.

Songs included in volume 1:

Alone                    Heart
Bust A Move               Young MC
Bust Your Windows          Jazmine Sullivan
Can’t Fight This Feeling     REO Speedwagon
Dancing With Myself          Billy Idol
Defying Gravity               Stephen Schwartz
Don’t Stop Believin’          Journey
Gold Digger                    Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx
Hate On Me               Jill Scott
Keep Holding On               Avril Lavigne
Maybe This Time               Kander & Ebb
No Air                    Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown
Somebody To Love          Queen
Sweet Caroline               Neil Diamond
Take A Bow               Rihanna
Taking Chances               Platinum Weird
You Keep Me Hangin’ On     The Supremes

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As a beginner, it can be hard to decide what kind of keyboard to buy. You may not want to spend too much but at the same time you want something that will last past the first 6 months. Today there is such a wide variety of instruments that it can be a confusing process.
Here are a few tips to help you decide:
• The keyboard should have full sized keys. Even if you have a young child who is starting, they will soon grow out of smaller keys, and the chances are the keyboard they use in their lessons will have full size keys.
• Ideally if you want the keyboard to last longer than the first 6 months it should be touch sensitive.
• 61 keys minimum, this will be enough to last a couple of years, but anything less will be out of date almost as soon as you start

Some sight reading tips:
- look at the time signature
- look at the key signature
- check the starting note and finger number for each hand
- check for dynamics
- check any other performance directions
- don’t start too fast! A steady speed is always better

Buy piano exam books from Amazon,

Below is a link to where you can find great prices for online sheet music.

Also for all the organists out there here is a video that features some nice playing. Enjoy.

Now that takes practice and skill. I am on the hunt for even more impressive solo’s.

Here is a quick list of artists to inspire your keyboard playing.

Little Boots

Her name is Victoria Hesketh but goes by the name Little Boots. She has cited Britney Spears and The Human League as influences, and was also kicked out of Pop Idol. She tried a couple of bands but decided to go solo and has just broke with a debut album that critics love. Her style is electropop and plays with a band using mainly synths and a drummer.

La Roux

A duo performing synth pop songs that mainly use keyboard sounds. Ben Langmaid plays the keys in this group and they have had big success with their song Bullet Proof which reached number 1.

Florence + the Machine

More of an alterative band than a synth pop band but still in the same vein as the two more keyboard based bands above. Florence Welch is the main singer and musician who uses a varity of instruments to create an often alternative sound. Getting critics respect and also a load of radio play Florence are proving a popular hit at the festivals this year.

An affordable new keyboard from Roland. The ‘Prelude’ keyboard has built in amplification, quality sounds and is made for the home keyboard enthusiast.

Competing with the new ranges from Yamaha the Roland Prelude is more in the same vein as the Tyros and the PSR’s than other rolands and aims to be an all in one package for the serious keyboard player.

The keyboard is packed with features such as the famous D-Beam that is on the more expensive keyboards, being able to play songs from USB such as .wav and .mp3 and even it boast to be able to do sing along tracks.

Have a look for yourself with a demonstration video:

Links

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=985

Buy Roland Prelude

“To be honest, we’re all still pinching ourselves. It has been a real whirlwind already, but we were always going to do this.” Roy said in an interview.

There lineup is:

Roy Stride – Vocals/Piano
Greg Churchouse – Bass
Peter Ellard – Drums

Roy plays pianos and fronts the band the gear used is a Casio Privia keyboard and Casio PX-310 piano.

First 2 demonstration videos Yamaha TYROS 3 – Martin Harris part 1 & 2 

Yamaha Tyros 3 Swanlake “Playing With Styles”

Tyros 3 Demonstration Movie

Viva la vida on the keyboard

For more information about the Tyros 3 Keyboard and where to buy it visit our post here

Tim Rice-Oxley band: Keane

Tim Oxley formed Keane with vocalist Tom Chaplin and drummer Richard Hughes. They have gone on to sell millions of records and are one of the top UK bands at the moment. With many awards to their name including BRIT Awards, Best Breakthrough Act.

The piano playing and keyboard playing in Keane can sometimes be almost like the way a guitarist would approach a song, with riffs and effects and this is what seperates him out a top keyboard playing. Experimenting with the different styles and effects he can get out of his keyboards.

Equipment list:

Yamaha CP70 (Main Piano)
Nord Lead 3 Synth (Synthesizer)