Great videos. Im about to replace butt & catcher leather on my 243. Curious what size felt you used and if this problem developed after you installed the somewhat thicker leather than original on the hammer butts. Thank you!
Hi Greg. I used the felt available from howard piano industries. Medium Butt Felt (.164" thick) Thick Butt Felt (.195" thick) The problem developed after I installed the new hammer butt leather and adjusted the let-off to spec (or close to it). Previously the let-off was wildly out of spec to allow for play-ability since those felts had compressed so much. I would recommend replacing felts (including the under-felt) while you have everything apart. Cheers and good luck!
I love this improvisation on the Tetris theme song ! I wish one day I can play piano like this. Do you have any advice on how to practice ? (I took lessons when I was a kid, like 15 years ago, then never played again (oh how I regret this...); but got my hands on a nice electric piano for 2 months now, and learned a few easy songs, from Olafur Arnalds' songs to Bach's Prelude in C major. But now I'm kind of stuck and afraid I might get some bad habits... do you recommend taking lessons with a teacher ? Do you know any channel to learn and practice music theory to be able to understand differents scales, modes etc. ? Also, do you have any idea it would take a beginner to be able to play something like what you improvised in this video ? If I could play like this as "naturally", I'd have soooo much fun (I played gutiar in a band for much longer than I played piano, but I must say guitar alone is not as pleasant as piano. And since I quit my band, I miss something that I never felt again so I almost completely dropped guitar)
Hi Mr Nobody. Improvisation: just like any large task you start by breaking it down into smaller problems and tackle those. I like to think in terms of chords first, so for the Tetris theme I played it in Am. Starts with E7, then goes to Am. There's also a part Dm, C, Bdim to E7. You can also grab sheet music from online to help out. I'll take the chords and start playing around with scales that will work within those chords. Over Am you can play any white note. Or you can start altering/sharping/flatting notes to change the sound. I like to hum something in my head over the chords, then try to play that. I'll also have some "licks" that I have practiced that I can throw in at certain spots. I would start by analyzing the chords to the piece you want to improvise over and finding what scales/notes work well. Everybody learns at different rates and sometime you will work for a long time on a certain concept while not seeming to make any headway... and then suddenly it clicks for you. I always recommend taking lessons to avoid bad technique issues. If you are on your own try working on scales in all 12 keys: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, altered, be-bop... check online to get proper fingering and always practice with relaxed arms/fingers. I like Kent Hewitt's channel for information on improvisation. He has a range of videos from beginner to advanced. Hope some of that helped! Thanks for listening. -j
Wow, thank you for this comprehensive answer ! :D I definitely don't have the skill yet to be able to improvise like this (I lack dexterity, but also musical knowledge of scales, chords etc (I know the basics from guitar, but barely enough to be able to play along the most basic chords... by trying notes and hearing if they sound well xD)). But than you for this explanation of the process you goes through generally. It might come in handy at any time ! And I should most certainly consider taking lessons. These can be very expensive with personnal teachers here, but hey... if I could find one that would fit me well, I could progress much faster I guess. (and stop playing with a "flat" hand - but my nails on my right hand from the habit of playing fingerpicking guitar do not help... I can't really curve my fingers correctly or else the nails hit the keys and it's annoying). I'll try finding online lessons, on a website or maybe a UA-cam channel with lessons, to practice scales, then :) Than you again for the detailed information. It's always a pleasure to listen to your improvisations, covers, medleys etc :) (I'm the person who asked if you had sheet music for your "Mozart / Radiohead's I will" mix, that I really love !
Thanks for the video. Good to know that you can get the hammers out without taking the whole action out.
Great videos. Im about to replace butt & catcher leather on my 243. Curious what size felt you used and if this problem developed after you installed the somewhat thicker leather than original on the hammer butts. Thank you!
Hi Greg. I used the felt available from howard piano industries. Medium Butt Felt (.164" thick) Thick Butt Felt (.195" thick) The problem developed after I installed the new hammer butt leather and adjusted the let-off to spec (or close to it). Previously the let-off was wildly out of spec to allow for play-ability since those felts had compressed so much. I would recommend replacing felts (including the under-felt) while you have everything apart. Cheers and good luck!
That was amazing but, first, I absolutely need a sheet for that jazzy korobeiniki, I loved it.
Thanks dofosus, just improvised over the tune though. Sorry I don't have sheet music.
Damn! Still great though!
Where’d you buy the felt cutting jig you have in the video?
From Howard Piano Industries www.howardpianoindustries.com/piano-felt-cutting-tool/
I love this improvisation on the Tetris theme song !
I wish one day I can play piano like this. Do you have any advice on how to practice ? (I took lessons when I was a kid, like 15 years ago, then never played again (oh how I regret this...); but got my hands on a nice electric piano for 2 months now, and learned a few easy songs, from Olafur Arnalds' songs to Bach's Prelude in C major. But now I'm kind of stuck and afraid I might get some bad habits... do you recommend taking lessons with a teacher ? Do you know any channel to learn and practice music theory to be able to understand differents scales, modes etc. ?
Also, do you have any idea it would take a beginner to be able to play something like what you improvised in this video ? If I could play like this as "naturally", I'd have soooo much fun (I played gutiar in a band for much longer than I played piano, but I must say guitar alone is not as pleasant as piano. And since I quit my band, I miss something that I never felt again so I almost completely dropped guitar)
Hi Mr Nobody. Improvisation: just like any large task you start by breaking it down into smaller problems and tackle those. I like to think in terms of chords first, so for the Tetris theme I played it in Am. Starts with E7, then goes to Am. There's also a part Dm, C, Bdim to E7. You can also grab sheet music from online to help out. I'll take the chords and start playing around with scales that will work within those chords. Over Am you can play any white note. Or you can start altering/sharping/flatting notes to change the sound. I like to hum something in my head over the chords, then try to play that. I'll also have some "licks" that I have practiced that I can throw in at certain spots. I would start by analyzing the chords to the piece you want to improvise over and finding what scales/notes work well. Everybody learns at different rates and sometime you will work for a long time on a certain concept while not seeming to make any headway... and then suddenly it clicks for you.
I always recommend taking lessons to avoid bad technique issues. If you are on your own try working on scales in all 12 keys: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, altered, be-bop... check online to get proper fingering and always practice with relaxed arms/fingers.
I like Kent Hewitt's channel for information on improvisation. He has a range of videos from beginner to advanced.
Hope some of that helped! Thanks for listening. -j
Wow, thank you for this comprehensive answer ! :D
I definitely don't have the skill yet to be able to improvise like this (I lack dexterity, but also musical knowledge of scales, chords etc (I know the basics from guitar, but barely enough to be able to play along the most basic chords... by trying notes and hearing if they sound well xD)).
But than you for this explanation of the process you goes through generally. It might come in handy at any time !
And I should most certainly consider taking lessons. These can be very expensive with personnal teachers here, but hey... if I could find one that would fit me well, I could progress much faster I guess. (and stop playing with a "flat" hand - but my nails on my right hand from the habit of playing fingerpicking guitar do not help... I can't really curve my fingers correctly or else the nails hit the keys and it's annoying). I'll try finding online lessons, on a website or maybe a UA-cam channel with lessons, to practice scales, then :)
Than you again for the detailed information.
It's always a pleasure to listen to your improvisations, covers, medleys etc :) (I'm the person who asked if you had sheet music for your "Mozart / Radiohead's I will" mix, that I really love !