Product Description

This book digs into the authentic gospel stylings associated with great artists such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. The first part of the book deals with the 3/4 or Slow Gospel style (used in the song "Amazing Grace," for example), showing the harmonic techniques needed to create the real gospel sound on the piano. The second part focuses on the 4/4 or Fast Gospel style, where gospel harmonies are combined with up-tempo rhythms and syncopations to create exciting results (such as in Paul Simon's song "Gone at Last"). The techniques covered in this book will help you lead your congregation at the piano, and will inject new ideas into your rock, RandB and funk playing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #302125 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 120 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780634037351
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Great Book and Value
I was a classical pianist for most of my life and have recently gotten more acquainted with jazz, blues, rock and now gospel. This book gets you started with gospel patterns that will make you sound like a gospel pianist who has been playing for many years!

This book gets you started on different patterns, which shows you how to incorporate them into gospel chord progressions and pieces with melodies such as hymns. They provide examples on how to incorporate what you learn in the book in chord progressions and hymns and provide exercises which you can practice. It also gives you information on pentatonic scales, chords, mixolydian mode, grace notes ect.

The book gets you familiar with patterns used for slow gospel in 3/4 time and fast gospel in 4/4 time. This book is really good for those who can already read music and have a basic understanding of keyboard harmony. This book has some great sounding material but unfortunately does not come with a CD but if you can sight read the material, you really don't need a CD.

This has got to be among the best if not the best book on gospel piano.

Great Basics and Practical Techniques
I play quite a bit, so my standards for what a book might be able to teach me are pretty high. I was pleased with this book because it doesn't keep everything so simple that even a seasoned player can't get something out of it. At the same time, it stays basic enough that someone who plays moderately well could play the examples and understand the theory with a little effort.

One feature I liked was that Mr. Harrison would provide a very basic example with a chord structure and then proceed to "realize" it a couple of different ways so that you could read the notes that he might recommend you play. Because he gives you a few options of how he might play it, you really have the ability to pick up riffs and patterns that you might not otherwise.

This is a well written and concieved book.

Gospel Keyboard Styles
Though I have played piano for years, I don't know much about theory. This book is written for someone who knows a lot about theory, and is really too advanced for me, an "average" piano player. I got SOME help from this book, but have since ordered a book called "Gospel for Beginners".