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Duane – 52 Week Piano Lessons

“They laughed when I sat down at the piano…but when I started to play…” ?

I remember very well the first time I played piano for a group. They DID laugh. It was a disaster. I overheard the leader say “Let’s get somebody with some rhythm in there to play”.

Ouch!

That hurt. But I told myself right then and there that I would learn to play the piano so well that no one would ever laugh at me again.

Guess what?

Nobody laughs anymore. And they don’t laugh at my students, either.

Why?

Because I discovered…

The BACKDOOR to piano playing.

Piano chords and piano chord progresions

What in the world is the “backdoor to piano playing?

Chords.

Chords are a way in to the world of piano playing without having to go through the front door: years and years of scales, drills, rote practicing, etc. Chords are really a shortcut to understanding and playing music without all the formal training.

Formal training is fine if you have the time and money. But most adults don’t want to wait forever before they can play something enjoyable on the piano. I took lessons when I was a kid, but found it boring. Not only that, but all I could do was play the written music exactly as it was written. Without the sheet music in front of me, I didn’t have a clue what to do. So I lost interest in piano playing until the incident described above. But shortly after that, I had the opportunity to play in a school combo — but to do that, I had to learn chords, and learn them fast. So I sent for a $2. chord chart advertised in Popular Mechanics, and within hours after I got it I was playing the Dm7 chord and the C6 chord in my left hand while I played the tune with my right hand. Talk about excited! Within a few weeks I could play dozens of songs using chords. And I discovered that my sight-reading speed greatly improved at the same time, because now I understood what I was seeing on the printed page!

So I came in through the back door instead, and now I enjoy what I used to hate! Why? Because I understand what I’m doing because now I understand chords and chord progressions. I eventually went on to get my Masters Degree — and it was easy because of all I had learned about music theory and harmony due to playing and understanding chords.

So in this course I give you the best of both worlds: You get the understanding that comes from knowing chords, but you also learn how to sight-read printed music. And you can do it much easier and faster because you understand what you are seeing — chords and parts of chords and chords stretched out into a string of individual notes (called “arpeggios”) and chord progressions — one chord flowing into another.

Here’s an example from a piece of classical music that looks complicated:

Bach classical piano music

But as soon as you learn about broken chords, you will soon see that all this is is 3 chords broken up. When you learn the notes of those 3 chords, this music suddenly becomes as easy to read and understand as:

Broken piano chords – arpeggios

Here are just some of the things you’ll be learning within the next 52 weeks:

All 12 major chords. All 12 minor chords. All 12 diminished chords. All 12 augmented chords. How to form 6th chords — 7th chords — maj7th chords — m7th chords — m6th chords — 9th chords. Rhythm patterns in 3/4. Rhythm patterns in 4/4. How to “scout” a song. How to memorize music. Form & analysis. How to add runs and fills. How to get rhythm into your left hand. How arpeggios can help you read and play better. How to use an alternating bass to add variety to your left hand. How to find the key of a song. How to arrange a song with an intro and an ending. Adding octaves to the melody for a big sound. How to read chord symbols. Sight-reading with your eyes AND your brain. Polytonality — playing two chords at once. How to stand a chord on it’s head. How to add undernotes in your right hand. How to form and use dominant 7th chords. How to form and play 6/9 chords (ultra-modern). Undernotes and passing tones. Color tones. Transposing to another key. Modulation. How to use the written bass part as an “idea starter”. How to read musical roadsigns. How to use intervals to help you sight-read faster and play better. How to add broken chords in both hands. How to pick out a tune by ear. Absolute and relative chord symbols. How to combine and alter chords umpteen ways. How to always remember the sharps and flats. Country-Western styles. Swing bass. How to get started playing boogie-woogie. How to make up your own songs. And a zillion other things!

Every single week for a YEAR Duane will come right into your home and appear on your TV screen and teach you to play the piano using both sight-reading and chord techniques. With music DVD video piano lessons, you can watch them over and over again. Can do you that in “studio piano lessons”? Of course not. And Duane explains and demonstrates everything so thoroughly — plus you have the book he’s teaching from right there in front of you — that you would have to try hard not to learn!

You’ll have a permanent library of all your piano lessons on DVD videos, plus all the books Duane sends along (at least 8 books). And all you pay figures to just $25. per week for everything — Duane’s expertise, the music DVD’s, the books — everything!
“As I got older I decided I wanted to follow up on a life long dream to learn and play the piano. But as an adult with work and family responsibilities, I knew that taking lessons with a teacher may not be workable. After researching many different companies and websites that claim to teach piano, I kept coming back to Duane Shinn’s material. It was more expensive than others but the reviews I had read gave me the confidence to try it. Let me tell you, it’s the best decision I could have made. Duane really wants to teach you and he has a such a good presence and demeanor on tape that you really want to learn. Each lesson is jam packed with good information and having made it to lesson 18 thus far (out of 52), I’m doing quite well. Recently I played a song I had learned for my nephew and he was blown away at how well I was playing and he had been taking lessons for over 3 years (but I was further along that he!) This is because Duane teaches you so many things other than just what you’ll find in the course books that come with it — it’s priceless!

“Not too long ago, I realized what a gold mine I had stumbled onto with Duane and his material that I went ahead and ordered several other “graduate” level courses so I’ll have them when I’m ready. I can’t recommend this data enough. It’s hard work on your part, but well with the effort if you’re serious about getting from here to there, with flair, in a relatively short period of time. Thanks, Duane!”

Lucas Balberchak, Virginia – email August 14, 2012 on file

Duane starts right from square one — how to sit at the keyboard, the finger positions, the chords you will use, how to read the melody while playing chords in your left hand — everything. So if you are a beginner, or a rusty intermediate, or you took piano lessons as a kid but want to make sure you don’t miss anything, this is the course for you. All Duane’s other courses specialize in this or that, but this is THE BASIC COURSE — the CRASH COURSE — you’ll get a complete, correct start at the piano. And if you watch these piano lesson videos week after week for a solid year, you will be astounded at how much you can learn in a year and how many different songs and styles and chords you can play!
“I just finished your “One Year Crash Course in Exciting Piano Playing”. The instruction will last a lifetime. Thank you so much for being the greatest teacher alive.” Margaret from Cape Cod (e-mail on file)

Learn piano from the man who wrote the book! – If you take lessons from someone who plays well but hasn’t mastered teaching, you run the risk of missing lots of important stuff you need to know. You KNOW what you’re getting when you study with the author of over 100 piano books and video courses!

Learn at your own pace! – If you want to go slower than one lesson per week, we can adjust that to fit your schedule after the first month. If you want to go FASTER, that’s fine too — we can do that.

Learn music theory & harmony as you go! – You won’t just learn HOW to play piano — you’ll learn WHY chords move they way they do, and WHY certain patterns repeat over and over. You’ll learn musical form, transposition, modulation, improvisation, and a host of other musical truths!

Low cost! Costs NOTHING in comparison to college or conservatory classes! – You can study with Duane on video for LESS than taking from an unknown teacher!

Doctors & professionals love it! – Doctors can’t take a regular piano lesson at a studio at the same time every week, and neither can most working adults. With video lessons, you learn at YOUR convenience in YOUR home.

You get a whole library of DVD lessons! – You will refer to these lessons over and over again. The more you learn, the more you will understand, and the more you’ll want to review something that was taught earlier!

Duane comes to your home every week for 52 weeks — stashed away in a DVD! – No transportation. No driving. No cancellations. No waiting. No rescheduling. It’s at your convenience!

Become a master of chords & chord progressions! – You will learn over ONE THOUSAND chords by the end of the year! And you will understand chord families and why chords progress the way they do.

“Hello, and thanks again for your wonderful set of teaching lessons in the 52 week crash course. I am a Veterinarian who has only limited time to practice and a weekly personal lesson would never work in my busy professional life but your crash course is just simply great. I bought the package a few months ago and I’m taking it slow because I do not have enough time to get a lesson in each week but man have I really learned a lot in a few lessons.”
Jerry Magee DVM (email on file)

Like music? Always wanted to play the piano? Here’s your chance!