Week 4 - Even More Chords and the End of a Song

If playing with both hands wasn't enough, and playing with three different chords wasn't enough, "The Piano Guy" made it that much harder. This week I focused my attention on the B Flat Diminished and B chord.
Before I get into that debacle, I bet you are wondering how exactly I am learning these songs.

Learning

Like I have said before, I'm using a program called the "ION Piano Apprentice." I have a selection of three songs to choose from, including "Ode to Joy," "Take Me Out to The Ball Game," and "The Birthday Song." Within these songs, I can choose to learn each hand individually, and then put them together. The reason that this app and keyboard pairing are so affective for me, is because whenever the online instructor (The Piano Guy) presses on a key, it lights up on my own keyboard. Also, along the way, he explains the chords, explains hand positions, and provides all that I would ever need to learn a song.

I have been reading my comments, and I see that everyone wants me to buy a piano book. I understand why this would be smart, but I simply don't need it. If not for the way I have learned these songs, I wouldn't have been able to play the melody blindfolded. Although this method is technically harder in practice, I have dedicated my time to it. With hours of grinding practice, I am almost to the level of playing the entire song (chords and all) blindfolded. Almost.

Another concern of my classmates has been that I have not learned to read notes. My answer to that is, look me in the FACE! Every Good Boy Does Fine! The app also has a section devoted to simply the sheet music of all the songs. I use that as I'm playing the songs. It does help if I forget exactly what chord to play, and in the beginning, the keys.

I did add yet another set of sticky notes onto the keys to help me remember the B Flat Diminished. Below, green is the D chord, and orange is the B Flat chord.

Progress

Back to the B Flat and B chords. In learning these two, I can play the second half of "Ode to Joy." As documented in last week's update, I have also learned to play the first half. One half plus one half equals one whole song. It was a challenge, learning these chords, which took all week to flow correctly. In adding these however, the song sounds a world better. I may not be perfect, but below is a video of "Ode to Joy" played by me, who four weeks ago could not have played a single key correctly. (Sorry I have hiccups)