Two things I feel are crucial to learning music from a teacher.
#1 The teacher must be a great TEACHER! He or she must have very strong communication skills and see the whole picture of the instrument as such. This enables lessons to be given in the correct order, simplifying the whole process by building on previous material. Not some hotch-potch of lessons that do not support each other. That's why some people can play an instrument AND teach others how to do it, in a short time. Some of my best musician friends are fantastic players, but they will not give lessons because they don't feel that it would be their "cup of tea". You need to be "cut out" for it they say. For example they feel that they might not have the necessary patience needed to teach a student and so on.
#2 The teacher must be an accomplished player IN THE STYLE of music that you YOU want to play. It's amazing how many musicians make the mistake of trying to learn an instrument from a teacher who plays or even excels in styles of music the student does not want to play. This can be for reasons such "he's handy 'cos he only lives around the corner" or "teacher is a local Blues hero, ok I don't want to play the Blues but hey!" and so on. This can add years to a players learning curve until he or she eventually finds the method themselves or finds the correct teacher.
With the above criteria in mind here are some resources below which pass the above test with flying colors in many cases (if they exist, it's not easy to find quality programs for each style). Some purported "courses or lesson packs" out there do not pass the criteria. Indeed some fail miserably, no names mentioned.
Gospel Keyboards and Piano Truly excellent courses and free material (60 free lessons) for players wishing to learn Jazzy, Bluesy, Gospel material. Products on DVD. High quality. Email support/forums/strong community
Rock Keyboards / coming soon, the search is on. *** LATEST JUST IN *** >>> At last I found a Keyboards and Piano course that covers Rock and matches the criteria! Not easy, there doesn't seem to be a big selection of Rock style programs and courses for this style of Piano and Keyboard. The Musician University is an absolute goldmine of music courses for players of many different styles. Great support (you can drop them an email with any questions or enquiries you may have). I found them to be extremely prompt and helpful when I needed it, and that was on a Saturday. I was even offered personal email help if needed over the weekend in question. Not all online services come up to this standard. They cover many styles including Rock, Metal, Punk, Blues, Country, Jazz, Hip Hop/R&B, Dance, Rap. Instruments covered are also a wide range including Guitar, Bass, Keyboard, Piano, Singing, Drums, Percussion, Banjo, Mandolin, Harmonica, Organ, Violin, Cello even Ukelele. Excellent! Here's their homepage address - well worth a look. Musician University.com
Basic Keyboard Families - for beginners up to "intermediate" players. This is not just a random collection of chords, but shows you the key to playing tons of songs with LESS than 60 chords. Author David Ø - Bellaonline Musician Editor. Email support. Experienced teacher/over 25 years. Also available for standard guitar, lefthand guitar, and upsidedown guitar.
Power Piano Chords Covers Majors, Minors, Diminished, Augmented Triads, Major 6th, 7ths, in fact almost every chord you will need for all types of songs. Pro teacher, charges "one buck a lesson". Members have access to a web site where you can hear the author explain and illustrate each chord and progression. Each chord is accompanied by visual and audio. Experienced teacher.
Rocket Piano is a multi style learning course (jazz, pop, rock, classical, blues etc), with audio and visual learning aids. Teacher has 14 years playing experience including 5 years study at Otago University and a Contemporary Music Certificate at The Christchurch Jazz School. Also comes with 4 exclusive computer games - Jayde Musica Pro, Chordinator, Keycelerator, Perfect Your Pitch and song files. These games are designed to show how to read music, learn the various piano chord key arrangements, how to transcribe music.
