learning piano to learn bass

[ZMech]

So in the Rufus Reid book, he mentions that most of the great players regardless of instrument (except maybe drummers ) would spend time playing around with chords and such on a piano. So I'm gonna rescue my dad's neglected keyboard from the loft when I next head home, and heed Reid's advice.

The question then, is does anyone have any ideas of how best to use this new found tool? I guess learning how to actually play scales might help, and then just try accompanying myself for different standards. There's probably a way to be productive about it all, but I just can't think how.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Zach

[Bilbo]

Look for Mark Levine's 'The Piano Book' as a starter...

[Doddy]

Learning chords and scales on keys is great because you can't rely on patterns and shapes like you can on guitar and bass. It forces you to focus more on the notes.

[timtoomany]

I completely agree with this sentiment. Playing a second instruments informs your playing of the first in all kinds of useful and unexpected ways. I always found I could visualise music theory on the keyboard far more easily than the fretboard, and experimenting with chords and scales started to unlock some of the musical concepts that had previously been a mystery to me. This can then be fed back in to your bass playing, which I found far more satisfying and intuitive once I had a handle on the harmony and structure of the music I was playing.

I think playing through the standards is a good approach. For what it's worth, I like to convert the chords from a fake book into the Roman numeral system (eg vi - ii - V - I - etc.) because it is much more easy then to pick out the relationships between the different chords in a progression; also to try and use 'efficient' voicing when moving from one chord to another--good voice leading. It was only by noodling around on the piano that all of a sudden I realised - hey, the 9th in one chord is the 13th in the next chord, and so on, and the music theory started dropping in to place.

Apologies for a rambling response. Hope it helps.

Tim

[ZMech]

Sweet, glad to hear it backed up as a good idea. I'll probably steal some of my dad's piano books to go with it

being forced to think outside of fret jumps sounds like a good change, will let you know how it goes.

p.s. wasn't any more or less of a ramble than most of my answers

[ZMech]

Just had a quick look at The Jazz Piano Book, doesn't look that beginner friendly. I was hoping more for something about basic technique, with some exercises for chords and scales to get me started.

[RhysP]

See if you can find a book called "The Complete Keyboard Tutor" by Terry Burrows.
I found it really useful as a complete beginner to keyboards.

It can usually be found quite cheaply in Bargain Book type shops.