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EKS Songbook Level One  Introduction

Keyboards Songbook Index – Level 1

Gigajam Songbook introduction

The Gigajam Songbook for Level 1 Keyboards contains five pieces of music. These have been written specifically to enable students to practise the skills they have learned through their study of Level 1 Keyboards.

Each of the songs represents a genre within contemporary popular music, and begins to demonstrate how widely the skills learned can be applied to music of varying styles.

Developing your skills

Working with the written music, and the music played by the KeyboardXtractor, you will develop your ability to:

  1. Read a keyboard chart.
  2. Play consistently in time.
  3. Play using the knowledge and many skills learned through the course.
  4. Add some variations to your learned skills.

By playing with the KeyboardXtractor, you can record your performance and compare it to the keyboard part in the KeyboardXtractor, using Analyser. You should be listening to your performance and comparing the sound you create to that of the recorded Keyboard part. You should use Analyser to identify areas of your playing where you feel you are not quite getting it right or, perhaps, where you are unsure as to why you are going wrong.

Playing live

The songs have been written for guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. So, when you have become familiar with your part in the band, you can play the songs with friends and colleagues in a live band situation — with or without the keyboardXtractor.

If you have a drummer and keyboard player, for example, you could play together — muting the drum and keyboard parts on the KeyboardXtractor — and use the KeyboardXtractor parts for the bass and guitar, so that you have ‘virtual’ players in your band.

How to use the Songbook

In the Keyboards Songbook Index — Level 1 panel (at the top right hand side of this page) is the list of songs you can learn to play. Choose a song and then use the notes that accompany the song. These will help you to understand the structure of the piece and they contain many tips to help you get started.

As always, play along to the KeyboardXtractor whilst reading the part. Feel free to cycle tricky parts of the tune, using the looping function on the KeyboardXtractor. You can also slow the tune down to help you learn small sections. When comfortable, record and analyse your own performance and see how you are getting on.

We hope that you enjoy the pieces and that you have lots of fun playing along.