Chords for Melodica in Depth: Two Handed Playing
Tempo:
84.25 bpm
Chords used:
G
D
C
A
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[G]
[Cm] [D]
[C]
[A] [G]
[C]
[D] [G] [N]
Hi, I'm Andrew and welcome back to Melodica in Depth, where we do brief but deep dives
into this wonderful instrument.
Today we're going to be talking about some important techniques, tips, and tricks for
playing the melodica in the piano style.
Many players initially learn and prefer to play one-handed, holding the instrument up
against their face like a trumpet and playing the keys with one hand.
This has some benefits for sure.
It's a bit easier to be loud, and you can have better stage presence standing up, and
you can even dance around while you play.
But if you want to work on more technically complex music, learning how to play piano
style, that is, horizontally and with both hands, is invaluable.
When you first try playing with two hands, you'll probably want to do so on a table.
This is fine to start with, but tables get between you and your audience, especially
if you also have sheet music to read from, and they are not portable, so I recommend
trying to play with the instrument on your lap.
If you haven't done this before, the first thing you're likely to notice is that the
air tube may not comfortably reach your mouth.
It's very important that you can comfortably sit up straight and move your head around
without any tension on the mouthpiece.
If your tube is too short or stiff to do this, you'll need to stretch it out.
Before going any further, you should be warned, this can potentially reduce the lifespan of
your air tube or even break it.
Personally, I've broken a couple tubes doing this, but most I've tried can take it.
[Gb] Every day, before and after you practice, give the [E] tube a good stretch.
You can pull pretty hard, but you don't need to do that much.
With time, it's going to become more and more comfortable.
Also, if you're particularly tall, it's possible this might not work for you.
In that case, maybe some DIY tube extension might be necessary.
Another thing you'll quickly notice from playing on your lap is that [C] the instrument
tends to slide around as you play.
This will be especially annoying if your legs aren't flat due to the height of your chair.
[G]
[C] [N] A great solution I found for this is to get a small roll of non-slip rug pad and cut out
a strip to lay on your lap.
These pads are pretty cheap and you can use any leftovers around the house.
The strips have excellent grip and they're lightweight and compressible so they can easily
fit inside a gig bag.
Something I do a lot is play string music on the melodica.
This requires deciding what hands should play what material and with what fingers.
Fingering best practices on the melodica are generally quite similar to piano fingering,
so I won't discuss that so much.
But I do want to share some ideas about how to divide material between the hands.
In many situations, it is very clear what hand should play which notes if you're familiar
with piano fingering rules, or if the material is easy enough that you can get away with winging it.
But when working on more difficult material, one of the first things I do is get my pencil
out and start marking out hand divisions.
These days, I usually just draw a line around material with the open side indicating which
hand should play what.
Sometimes I'll also just mark fingering under notes to indicate left hand, and above
them for the right hand.
This is similar to the notation used to indicate hand assignments in piano music, which moves across staves.
[C] When a difficult passage can be played many different ways, I recommend just picking one
and sticking with it so you can build up muscle memory.
Just because you can play a passage with one hand doesn't mean you necessarily should.
Often you'll be able to play it more easily and confidently by incorporating both hands.
This helps if you're playing in the cold, or if you have stage nerves.
It's also really useful to keep both hands engaged so they both stay warmed up for when
you really need both of them later.
Lastly, using both hands will make it much easier to insert ornaments wherever you want.
If you're feeling stuck on a difficult passage, try new ideas with your fingering.
It can be hard to let go of what you thought was a solid fingering, but sometimes you just
don't know it's wrong until you've struggled with it for a while.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of a rut by starting over on a passage.
And that's going to be all we have time for today.
Learning how to play the melodica piano style has unlocked so much more in my music, and
I've had a ton of fun with it.
I really hope you give it a try, too.
If you found this video helpful, please give it a like and subscribe, and stay tuned for more.
Thanks for watching!
[A] [D] [A]
[Ab]
[D] [Gm] [G]
[Ab]
[Cm] [D] [G] [D]
[E]
[G] [Eb]
[E]
[Cm] [D]
[C]
[A] [G]
[C]
[D] [G] [N]
Hi, I'm Andrew and welcome back to Melodica in Depth, where we do brief but deep dives
into this wonderful instrument.
Today we're going to be talking about some important techniques, tips, and tricks for
playing the melodica in the piano style.
Many players initially learn and prefer to play one-handed, holding the instrument up
against their face like a trumpet and playing the keys with one hand.
This has some benefits for sure.
It's a bit easier to be loud, and you can have better stage presence standing up, and
you can even dance around while you play.
But if you want to work on more technically complex music, learning how to play piano
style, that is, horizontally and with both hands, is invaluable.
When you first try playing with two hands, you'll probably want to do so on a table.
This is fine to start with, but tables get between you and your audience, especially
if you also have sheet music to read from, and they are not portable, so I recommend
trying to play with the instrument on your lap.
If you haven't done this before, the first thing you're likely to notice is that the
air tube may not comfortably reach your mouth.
It's very important that you can comfortably sit up straight and move your head around
without any tension on the mouthpiece.
If your tube is too short or stiff to do this, you'll need to stretch it out.
Before going any further, you should be warned, this can potentially reduce the lifespan of
your air tube or even break it.
Personally, I've broken a couple tubes doing this, but most I've tried can take it.
[Gb] Every day, before and after you practice, give the [E] tube a good stretch.
You can pull pretty hard, but you don't need to do that much.
With time, it's going to become more and more comfortable.
Also, if you're particularly tall, it's possible this might not work for you.
In that case, maybe some DIY tube extension might be necessary.
Another thing you'll quickly notice from playing on your lap is that [C] the instrument
tends to slide around as you play.
This will be especially annoying if your legs aren't flat due to the height of your chair.
[G]
[C] [N] A great solution I found for this is to get a small roll of non-slip rug pad and cut out
a strip to lay on your lap.
These pads are pretty cheap and you can use any leftovers around the house.
The strips have excellent grip and they're lightweight and compressible so they can easily
fit inside a gig bag.
Something I do a lot is play string music on the melodica.
This requires deciding what hands should play what material and with what fingers.
Fingering best practices on the melodica are generally quite similar to piano fingering,
so I won't discuss that so much.
But I do want to share some ideas about how to divide material between the hands.
In many situations, it is very clear what hand should play which notes if you're familiar
with piano fingering rules, or if the material is easy enough that you can get away with winging it.
But when working on more difficult material, one of the first things I do is get my pencil
out and start marking out hand divisions.
These days, I usually just draw a line around material with the open side indicating which
hand should play what.
Sometimes I'll also just mark fingering under notes to indicate left hand, and above
them for the right hand.
This is similar to the notation used to indicate hand assignments in piano music, which moves across staves.
[C] When a difficult passage can be played many different ways, I recommend just picking one
and sticking with it so you can build up muscle memory.
Just because you can play a passage with one hand doesn't mean you necessarily should.
Often you'll be able to play it more easily and confidently by incorporating both hands.
This helps if you're playing in the cold, or if you have stage nerves.
It's also really useful to keep both hands engaged so they both stay warmed up for when
you really need both of them later.
Lastly, using both hands will make it much easier to insert ornaments wherever you want.
If you're feeling stuck on a difficult passage, try new ideas with your fingering.
It can be hard to let go of what you thought was a solid fingering, but sometimes you just
don't know it's wrong until you've struggled with it for a while.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of a rut by starting over on a passage.
And that's going to be all we have time for today.
Learning how to play the melodica piano style has unlocked so much more in my music, and
I've had a ton of fun with it.
I really hope you give it a try, too.
If you found this video helpful, please give it a like and subscribe, and stay tuned for more.
Thanks for watching!
[A] [D] [A]
[Ab]
[D] [Gm] [G]
[Ab]
[Cm] [D] [G] [D]
[E]
[G] [Eb]
[E]
Key:
G
D
C
A
E
G
D
C
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [N] _
Hi, I'm Andrew and welcome back to Melodica in Depth, where we do brief but deep dives
into this wonderful instrument.
Today we're going to be talking about some important techniques, tips, and tricks for
playing the melodica in the piano style.
Many players initially learn and prefer to play one-handed, holding the instrument up
against their face like a trumpet and playing the keys with one hand.
This has some benefits for sure.
It's a bit easier to be loud, and you can have better stage presence standing up, and
you can even dance around while you play.
But if you want to work on more technically complex music, learning how to play piano
style, that is, horizontally and with both hands, is invaluable.
When you first try playing with two hands, you'll probably want to do so on a table.
This is fine to start with, but tables get between you and your audience, especially
if you also have sheet music to read from, and they are not portable, so I recommend
trying to play with the instrument on your lap.
If you haven't done this before, the first thing you're likely to notice is that the
air tube may not comfortably reach your mouth.
It's very important that you can comfortably sit up straight and move your head around
without any tension on the mouthpiece.
If your tube is too short or stiff to do this, you'll need to stretch it out.
Before going any further, you should be warned, this can potentially reduce the lifespan of
your air tube or even break it.
Personally, I've broken a couple tubes doing this, but most I've tried can take it. _
[Gb] Every day, before and after you practice, give the [E] tube a good stretch.
You can pull pretty hard, but you don't need to do that much.
With time, it's going to become more and more comfortable.
Also, if you're particularly tall, it's possible this might not work for you.
In that case, maybe some DIY tube extension might be necessary.
_ Another thing you'll quickly notice from playing on your lap is that [C] the instrument
tends to slide around as you play.
This will be especially annoying if your legs aren't flat due to the height of your chair.
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ A great solution I found for this is to get a small roll of non-slip rug pad and cut out
a strip to lay on your lap.
These pads are pretty cheap and you can use any leftovers around the house.
The strips have excellent grip and they're lightweight and compressible so they can easily
fit inside a gig bag. _ _
_ _ _ Something I do a lot is play string music on the melodica.
This requires deciding what hands should play what material and with what fingers.
Fingering best practices on the melodica are generally quite similar to piano fingering,
so I won't discuss that so much.
But I do want to share some ideas about how to divide material between the hands. _
In many situations, it is very clear what hand should play which notes if you're familiar
with piano fingering rules, or if the material is easy enough that you can get away with winging it.
But when working on more difficult material, one of the first things I do is get my pencil
out and start marking out hand divisions. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ These days, I usually just draw a line around material with the open side indicating which
hand should play what.
Sometimes I'll also just mark fingering under notes to indicate left hand, and above
them for the right hand.
This is similar to the notation used to indicate hand assignments in piano music, which moves across staves. _
[C] When a difficult passage can be played many different ways, I recommend just picking one
and sticking with it so you can build up muscle memory.
Just because you can play a passage with one hand doesn't mean you necessarily should.
Often you'll be able to play it more easily and confidently by incorporating both hands.
This helps if you're playing in the cold, or if you have stage nerves.
It's also really useful to keep both hands engaged so they both stay warmed up for when
you really need both of them later.
Lastly, using both hands will make it much easier to insert ornaments wherever you want.
_ If you're feeling stuck on a difficult passage, try new ideas with your fingering.
It can be hard to let go of what you thought was a solid fingering, but sometimes you just
don't know it's wrong until you've struggled with it for a while.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of a rut by starting over on a passage.
_ And that's going to be all we have time for today.
Learning how to play the melodica piano style has unlocked so much more in my music, and
I've had a ton of fun with it.
I really hope you give it a try, too.
If you found this video helpful, please give it a like and subscribe, and stay tuned for more.
Thanks for watching!
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [N] _
Hi, I'm Andrew and welcome back to Melodica in Depth, where we do brief but deep dives
into this wonderful instrument.
Today we're going to be talking about some important techniques, tips, and tricks for
playing the melodica in the piano style.
Many players initially learn and prefer to play one-handed, holding the instrument up
against their face like a trumpet and playing the keys with one hand.
This has some benefits for sure.
It's a bit easier to be loud, and you can have better stage presence standing up, and
you can even dance around while you play.
But if you want to work on more technically complex music, learning how to play piano
style, that is, horizontally and with both hands, is invaluable.
When you first try playing with two hands, you'll probably want to do so on a table.
This is fine to start with, but tables get between you and your audience, especially
if you also have sheet music to read from, and they are not portable, so I recommend
trying to play with the instrument on your lap.
If you haven't done this before, the first thing you're likely to notice is that the
air tube may not comfortably reach your mouth.
It's very important that you can comfortably sit up straight and move your head around
without any tension on the mouthpiece.
If your tube is too short or stiff to do this, you'll need to stretch it out.
Before going any further, you should be warned, this can potentially reduce the lifespan of
your air tube or even break it.
Personally, I've broken a couple tubes doing this, but most I've tried can take it. _
[Gb] Every day, before and after you practice, give the [E] tube a good stretch.
You can pull pretty hard, but you don't need to do that much.
With time, it's going to become more and more comfortable.
Also, if you're particularly tall, it's possible this might not work for you.
In that case, maybe some DIY tube extension might be necessary.
_ Another thing you'll quickly notice from playing on your lap is that [C] the instrument
tends to slide around as you play.
This will be especially annoying if your legs aren't flat due to the height of your chair.
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ A great solution I found for this is to get a small roll of non-slip rug pad and cut out
a strip to lay on your lap.
These pads are pretty cheap and you can use any leftovers around the house.
The strips have excellent grip and they're lightweight and compressible so they can easily
fit inside a gig bag. _ _
_ _ _ Something I do a lot is play string music on the melodica.
This requires deciding what hands should play what material and with what fingers.
Fingering best practices on the melodica are generally quite similar to piano fingering,
so I won't discuss that so much.
But I do want to share some ideas about how to divide material between the hands. _
In many situations, it is very clear what hand should play which notes if you're familiar
with piano fingering rules, or if the material is easy enough that you can get away with winging it.
But when working on more difficult material, one of the first things I do is get my pencil
out and start marking out hand divisions. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ These days, I usually just draw a line around material with the open side indicating which
hand should play what.
Sometimes I'll also just mark fingering under notes to indicate left hand, and above
them for the right hand.
This is similar to the notation used to indicate hand assignments in piano music, which moves across staves. _
[C] When a difficult passage can be played many different ways, I recommend just picking one
and sticking with it so you can build up muscle memory.
Just because you can play a passage with one hand doesn't mean you necessarily should.
Often you'll be able to play it more easily and confidently by incorporating both hands.
This helps if you're playing in the cold, or if you have stage nerves.
It's also really useful to keep both hands engaged so they both stay warmed up for when
you really need both of them later.
Lastly, using both hands will make it much easier to insert ornaments wherever you want.
_ If you're feeling stuck on a difficult passage, try new ideas with your fingering.
It can be hard to let go of what you thought was a solid fingering, but sometimes you just
don't know it's wrong until you've struggled with it for a while.
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten out of a rut by starting over on a passage.
_ And that's going to be all we have time for today.
Learning how to play the melodica piano style has unlocked so much more in my music, and
I've had a ton of fun with it.
I really hope you give it a try, too.
If you found this video helpful, please give it a like and subscribe, and stay tuned for more.
Thanks for watching!
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _
[D] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _