Jim Atwood in Japan

HearandPlay GMTC Webinar Poll

Today I sat in on a two hour HearandPlay Webinar that basically did two things. First it outlined the material found in the “Foundations” section of the GMTC Gospel Music Training Center. Second it was a marketing concept to try and get new members to join GMTC which did in fact provide a nice overview of the system. Although most of the info provided I already knew, it was interesting from a technology standpoint to watch Mr. Griggs work through the Webinar software and learn how he skillfully presented the material. I must applaud Jermaine Griggs for being a very good speaker and presenter. In addition he is very good at embracing new technology and incorporating it into his product and marketing machine. If you are not into learning Gospel Keys, one could certainly pick up a think or two about marketing on the internet.

Posted above is a screenshot of a Poll question that was presented to viewers of the Webinar. Jermaine Griggs mentioned there were about 1,000 people attending the webinar. There is no way to verify that, but I’m sure there were quite a few people. In any event, one question that I thought was interesting was “Which of the 5 areas do you think you struggle with the most?”. These five areas correspond to the “Foundations” area within the GMTC learning center which I briefly spoke about in my previous post.

I selected “Pattern Proficiency” because it’s the one area that I both enjoy the most and feel I could learn more about. Pattern Proficiency is basically the idea of learning the ins and outs of patterns, progressions, circle of fifths, side stepping, and common movements. This is where you discuss everything about 2-5-1, 1-4-5, 7-3-6-2-5-1-4 movements and so on. Sincere there were many beginners listening to the Hearandplay webinar, many selected basic fundamentals or learning chords as their weakest point.

All in all, the webinar was pretty cool. It was also quite long at two hours which was a lot, but nice for Jermaine Griggs to dedicate such ample time for the show. Of course it had the typical HearandPlay marketing push, but because I am already a member of GMTC I could see right through it and understand from experience that the GMTC has been a great place to learn. I don’t think I would join a webinar of the same topic again, but Jermaine definitely understands how to run an online conference, so it was cool to watch him work the chalkboard, pen, and powerpoint screens..LOL.

GMTC Certified at Gospel Music Training Center

Recently I completed the “Foundations” section in the HearandPlay GMTC Gospel Music Training Center. It consisted of a five part, 9 hour video instruction series. The five parts were Fundamental Factory, Chord County, Pattern Paradise, Song Station, and Ear Elevator. In a nutshell that means learning your fundamentals, chord structures, pattern progressions, songs, and ear training. You take a quiz after each chapter and I believe there were over 200 questions by the end of the course. After completion of the “Foundations” course I was pleasantly surprised to see a big red “GMTC Certified” button at the top of my dashboard within GMTC.

Also, in case anybody wonders, I actually did in fact watch each and every video tutorial in the Foundations section. In addition, I completed each quiz with at least an 80 percentile score. In fact you can’t “unlock” the next video in the series until you pass the quiz on the video before it, so you kind of need to know your stuff to continue. Of course if you are an intermediate or advances keyboardist, you can perhaps try and skip the videos, but there are some trick questions which require you to either guess or simply watch the video. I recommend watching the videos though because obviously that’s what one is paying for..LOL.

Once you get the big red “GMTC Certified” button on your dashboard you can move on to learning songs, chatting with other members, and checking out the other areas of the site. You also don’t have to become GMTC Certified right away. Instead you can simply learn just the songs or meet other members. It’s up to you.

I thought the GMTC Certified section was great. It gets all members on an equal footing or understanding of the “Play by Ear” method that HearandPlay’s instruction and videos are based on. Other online instructional sites I know are very unorganized with no foundation. New members are left wondering where to start and I think it’s fantastic that GMTC offers a solution for those requiring some sort of structure or basis to begin their instructional journey with. I thought this concept was brilliant to tell you the truth. Well done GMTC!

Gospel Fingers DVD

Today I purchased the Gospel Fingers DVD download and I’m actually downloading it as I write this post. The download is about 324MB and in .mov format. The DVD is supposedly around 2 hours in length and I’m planning on checking it over the next few days hopefully if time permits. I bought the first DVD titled “Get it in all 12″ which has some tips and techniques that I rather liked. I mentioned in that review that I probably wouldn’t buy the “Gospel Fingers DVD” but thanks to Jay Toles contacting me and after find enjoyment from the first one, I thought I’d revisit and check out his latest video. As I progress through the DVD, I’ll be happy to write some thoughts about my experience which will be posted in as follow-ups to this entry.

Stay tuned for updates!

Kawai Q-80 Sequencer

Unbelievable! I went back to the store today where I recently purchased my Roland W-30 and Kawai K4r. I noticed in the junk area was a mint condition Kawai Q-80 which in my opinion is a great little sequencer. The price was $10 which included the Kawai Q-80, manual, and adapter. I went up to the counter to buy it and the guy told me he had another one he would give me since I was interested in the device. He told me I was a frequent customer so he would allow me to buy both for $5 each.

The Q-80 is a 32-track sequencer with 26,000-note capacity and a built-in 3.5″ disk drive. Extensive and complete editing, real-time and step recording and quantizing with up to 10 songs. A new “motif” function allows up to 100 stored musical phrases or “motifs” for use or insertion into a song at any time. The Q-80 works well in the studio and for live performances. The Q-80 can also store MIDI system exclusive data to disk from other synths. (1988)

Also the 32 tracks all have their own mute buttons (8 buttons across and 4 rows to toggle through). The beauty is that each track can be any length so no copying short sections out against other longer ones. Plus it holds 10 songs worth of tracks in memory when you power it off and it has a floppy drive for backup which doesn’t need to be used in order to run the sequencer.

With both units, the floppy drives work fantastic. Both sequencers were in mint condition without any sign of wear. Plus I got adapters for both along with manuals. The LCDs were in pristine condition and everything worked just great. Will I use these extensively? We’ll see, but with the price at $5 bucks each, I just couldn’t pass them up.

Kawai K4r 16bit Digital Synthesizer

Today I picked up a “like new” Kawai K4r 16bit Digital Synthesizer Module at a local second shop in Japan for an amazing price of $20. I couldn’t believe the price and they even had the module sitting over in the junk section. I think they either thought it sounded like junk, or they looked it up and couldn’t find any info. Whatever they thought, they basically let me walk out the door with an almost mint condition Kawai K4r Synth. Not only that, but the Kawai K4r came with a Ram Card, set of manuals, power adapter, and an extra Rom Card titled “Synthetic Productions – Masteram Series Voice Card for Kawai K4 Volume 1″.

Honestly I had never heard of the Kawai K4 or K4r until today but for $20 I had to give it a shot. The sounds are pretty good, but after reading about this synth module, there are quite a few cool sounds and editing capabilities under the hood. It will be fun to go through all the presets, card voices, and do some preliminary programming with it. I can say that a few of the pads, basses, and sfx sounds are fabulous that I quickly listened to. At the price I bought it for I feel it’s going to be a really fun synth to work with.

All in all, it was a pretty good week picking up a mint Roland W-30 and Kawai K4r for a total of $100 bucks. My thinking is that they must have come from the same person because they were both produced in 1989 if correct and the they were both in mint condition. It’s going to be a fun weekend jamming with these two machines.

Later I’ll write some additional comments and thoughts about the Kawai K4r synthesizer as I learn the ins and outs of how to program with it in addition to just playing around with the presets. Stay tuned!

Roland W-30 Sampler Workstation

Yesterday I picked up a “mint” condition Roland W-30 Sampler Workstation from a used audio shop here in Nagano City, Japan. The W30 was in mint condition with all the manuals, system disks, and sounds disks. Not only that but the manuals and disks were practically not even used as they were in pristine condition…amazing! Also included was the KW30 SCSI kit manual and floppy disk. Inside the chip was indeed installed. A case was also included. The entire package I bought for $80 which I thought was a great deal considering the KW30 chip was installed with all accessories. The manuals were in Japanese of course, but I can read Japanese so no problem there.

At home I was able to scrounge up an old 4.36GB SCSI hard disk which I was able to connect and sure enough, the Roland W-30 was able to communicate with the HD. I then was able to format the HD which took about 30 minutes and it indeed formatted to max capacity of 80MB. I then tested saving and loading various sounds and everything worked very well. I also tested an IOMEGA 250MB Zip drive with a 100MB zip disk and the Roland W-30 would not communicate with it at all. Some have had success with the Iomega Zip 250 drive, but from my experience it doesn’t work. I saw a Fujitsu 100MB SCSI Zip drive at the same used audio store for $5 bucks so I’ll probably pick that up for testing. I’ve heard that SCSI 100MB Zip drives will work fine.

The Roland W-30 boots fine with the Floppy Drive, but since I had the Hard Disk working I thought I would try to boot from the HD. This did not work despite following all sorts of instructions and trying different methods. After research and testing, it appears I need to find a different HD that can boot the W-30. Although my HD works for saving and loading sounds, it does not work as a boot drive.

I also was successfully able to tape the left hole of High Density Floppy Disks and format them as DD disks without any problems using Windows 7 Professional. I used the Sdiskw software to then load and create sound images from sources on the internet. I was able to establish a very simple workflow to transfer soundsets found on the internet to the Roland W-30 using the Sdiskw software. The only issue however is that I have yet to find a way to load and transfer WAV files. Most likely though I will simply sample directly using the inputs of the Roland W-30. The computer drives me crazy with regards to music and so far the Roland W-30 has been very simple to work with on it’s own.

Why did I buy it? The price was a bargain for this popular 1989 Keyboard Workstation. The sound is really ( I mean really ) good with the right samples and their is some functionality you can’t get on some of the newer samplers to date. For my purposes, the Roland W-30 is a real gem. For example I found a great Hammond Sample today and it was a blast playing that on the Roland W-30. Yes, the memory is limited, but honestly if I want backtracks I just use my SP-606, Roland X Series, or Korg Triton to do that. I basically wanted a keyboard that I could sample sound bites and then have fun editing and playing them expressively on the keys. There is so much you can do with the keyboard, sequencer, and editing functions.

The Roland W-30 is such a joy to play. Everything on my W30 works flawlessly and the condition is mind boggling. Somebody must have just locked this up in their closet for the past 20 years. Japan is such a great place to find used vintage gear I must say.

As I discover new uses and techniques for the Roland W-30, I’ll be sure to post comments to follow-up this article. Right now I would like to find a Hard Disk to book the Roland W-30. I would also like to have a Zip drive that works as well. With that said though I do have an HD that is saving and loading sounds. Plus my Floppy drive works great with the possibility that I might pick up a backup drive from Route66. I also would like to find a work flow for loading my own wav files from the computer, but for now I’ll just record direct. That should suffice for now and it might even be the best and fastest way to do things.

Stay tuned for more updates and feel free to comment or email if you have any specific questions about the Roland W-30 Music Sampler Workstation. I am so glad I bought it!

Does the SD Card HxC Floppy Emulator work on the Roland S-330 and W-30 Samplers?

Roland S-330 – YES!
Roland W-30 – YES!

Check out Synth Japan forums for more discussions.

Hot Gospel Chords and Progressions

Recently I picked up this DVD download entitled “Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions with Carlos Encarnacion!” from Gospelskillz. It was an 80 minute, 1.28GB Dvd for only 10 bucks that actually had some really good bits of information on it. I couldn’t pass up the price and I’m always interested in picking out interesting ideas, so this DVD did the trick. There are a couple of others titled “Keyboard Sessions With Paul Whitley” and “Vertical Worship Volume One” which I’m on the fence about. The first one with Paul Whitley looks cool and I may jump on that to get his viewpoint on Fourths and Tritones, plus the band sessions.

The Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions download was great because there is no way I’ll ever be buying a physical Dvd from Gospelskillz with their exorbitant shipping prices. For example the “Unlocking the Keys” DVD they had $30 shipping to Japan. Showmethat shipped it for $14, but charged me $20, while Hearandplay ships to Japan for $10 or less. I’ve lived in japan for almost 17 years now and I know shipping rules and rates rather well. Gospelskillz is a big rip off with regards to shipping internationally. So, I was happy to see a few DVDs were offered via download.

So what’s on the Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions DVD? Here is a rundown of what’s offered. With Hot Gospel Chords and Contemporary Progressions instructional video, you can learn to PLAY GOSPEL music by EAR. This DVD covers Jazz Chords, Preaching Chords, Shouting Chords, licks, and runs to add to your Piano, Organ, and Keyboard playing IMMEDIATELY! Play black gospel piano, organ, and keyboard the way you have always heard it. There’s also sections on re-harmonization, bass lines, recognizing patterns, and other tips.

Basically I found the DVD to be a good listen and I did find some pretty useful stuff on it. My expectations were low due to the price and the fact that I don’t know the contents, so when I was done watching, I was pleasantly surprised. With different players, there’s always something to learn and for the price of $10 for 80 minutes of keyboard instructional talk, I found it to be a real bargain.

FlavaChords Keyboard/Piano Skills

A month ago I picked up the FlavaChordz 2 hour Gospel keyboard dvd and it’s simply awesome. The DVD is very clear, concise, and above all easily applicable to your playing right away. In fact, I think this is definitely one of the better packages out there and I highly recommend it. My only hope is that there is a follow-up to Flavachordz and that this is not just the only DVD that will be available. Jessie has a very relaxed and smooth way of taking you through each chapter. His explanations and examples are very clear and easil to understand. I particularly liked his explanations of ditones and tritones. This is a 2+ hour DVD that costs $14.99 which is a no brainer in my book. There’s something definitely in this for everyone.

Note I am no affiliate as with all the products I review. I feel like anytime you are an affiliate it’s like “of course” you’re going to give a good review. This DVD is ten times better than the Gospel Fingers download I reviewed earlier by the way for the same price. Both are different I know, but the value for you money is huge with Flavachordz.

If Jessie at Flavachordz reads this, please consider a follow-up DVD and thanks for the excellent job on this keyboard tutorial. Although it’s titled a Gospel Keyboard / Gospel Piano DVD, I think anyone interested in Piano will find something of interest in this production.

Please feel free to comment and share your opinions or experiences with the Flavachordz DVD.

Chapter 1: Finger Drills
Chapter 2: Stacked Chords
Chapter 3: Ditones
Chapter 4: Tritones
Chapter 5: Inversions w/Flat 5′s
Chapter 6: Substitutions
Chapter 7: Grace Notes
Chapter 8: Runs, Extensions, Clusters
Chapter 9: Walking Bass
Chapter 10: Preaching And Shouting Chords
Chapter 11: Miscellaneous Chords
Chapter 12: Worship Chords

HearandPlay Monthly Music Mentor

Today I officially upgraded my GMTC Gospel Musician Training Center account to “Quarterly” status after progressing through the trial version and becoming GMTC certified. I upgraded a couple of weeks early because during some of the videos, I found some great songs that I wanted to learn, but they were stored in the training “Vault” for which you have to be a complete member to access. So after discovering a couple of fantastic songs, I had to finally get in there to check them out and learn them in all takes. I think the quarterly upgrade of 15% is a pretty good deal compared to the monthly original fee. As I mentioned previously, it’s the best online gospel ( jazz, rnb, and blues too ) music center I’ve seen.

The subject of this post is about the HearandPlay “Monthly Music Mentor” program that is advertised as an “upsell” to individuals who purchase any of the HearandPlay products. Everytime I get a video, membership, or audio CD, I get this Gospel “Monthly Music Mentor” program popup on my screen. As usual, I like to research and find out more info about it and as usual with HearandPlay, you’ll be very hard pressed to find any additional information other that the “canned” advertisements found all over the internet.

In a nutshell, the HearandPlay “Monthly Music Mentor” ships a lesson CD each month for $15.95. When you initially sign-up, you are given three bonuses as follows: A “Piano By Ear For Starters” 2-hour course, “How To Find The Key To Any Song” 80-minute course, and the first Monthly Music Mentor introductory CD (80-minute “Getting Started” program).

The million dollar question thus becomes, “What exactly do you get on these Monthly Music Mentor CDs? Who is the instructor and are you learning songs? theory? both?” Again, there is no mention of what is on these monthly lesson CDs or even an idea. It really makes you want to sign up just to see what it’s all about which is the brilliance of Mr. Griggs and HearandPlay’s marketing campaign.

If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say the “Monthly Mentor” CD contains a video lesson taken from the GMTC each month. That would make sense, although redundant of course. Am I correct?

Although the GMTC marketing ploy worked for me and I’m very happy to be a member I must say, it unfortunately doesn’t do anything to get me to sign up for the HearandPlay “Monthly Music Mentor” program. I would love to write a review and express my thoughts, but it seems I’ll have to wait until I get some feedback from users on the internet about their experiences with the Monthly Mentor system.

Thus my question to HearandPlay members, customers, and enthusiasts…. Have you signed up for the HearandPlay “Monthly Music Mentor” program yet? If so, what are your thoughts about it? What kind of info is on the monthly lesson CD? Is it worth it?

All comments would be greatly appreciated. I’m sure other people on the fence will appreciate any feedback as well. Thank you in advance!

UPDATE: Below I have listed the CDs I have received thus far from the HearandPlay Monthly Mentor Program.

Hear and Play – Now that’s music from you ears! Disc 1 includes:
Piano Player Plus v1.0
Sound Library v1.0
Chord Power v1.0

Gospel Music Training Center – Mystery Bonus Lesson Disc 1

Monthly Music Mentor Bonus Audio Training CDs
Hear & Play 702 Series – Piano by Ear for Starters Disks 1 & 2
Hear & Play 705 Series – How to find the Major Key of any song” Disc 1

Monthly Music Mentor Audio Training System CDs ( Order you receive them may vary ). I have received 8 Cds so far.
1. Mapquest.com, Freeway signs, The 3 little pigs, and they they all have to do with learning literally every chord
in music … quickly!
2. The “No Time To Waste” guide to getting started o nthe piano right away!
3. The coveted shortcuts no one will ever tell you about learning scales and other boring stuff!
4. What the “6th degrees of separation” concept has to do with learning all 12 keys in music!
5. How to Close your music theory book for good and play 6 months worth of chord in just a few minutes.
6. Introducing The Fantastic Four of Music and Why they will save you from years of Unneccessary Learning.
7. Secrets Most Musicians Will Never Know About Playing Real Chord Progressions in any key!
8. ALL CHORDS ARE NOTE CREATED EQUAL: How To Know Which Ones You’ll Play The Most!
9. The Art of Mixing and Matching And How To Free Yourself From Playing The Same Thing Every Time!
10. What You Could Learn From The Number Charles Barkley Wore On His Jersey… And How you Can Apply It To Playing REAL Songs!
11. A Quick & Easy 13-Minute Way To Put Real Chords Under Any Melody You Want!
12. Ear-Training Secrets That Even The Top Musicians Don’t Want You To Know!
13. The ‘Split Personality’ Concept of Music Any Why Every Major Key Has a Counterpart No One Talks About.

Gospel Fingers Get it in all 12

Today I bought the DVD download for Gospel Fingers “Get it in all 12″ which was $15 bucks via paypal. I bought the DVD because the price was reasonable, but more importantly I like to watch different points of view or “tricks” on how musicians construct their chords over the scale using the number system. In this area Gospel Fingers “Get it in all 12″ doesn’t disappoint. It definitely delivers as advertised on giving you the tools to play effectively in all 12 keys and what to play on each scale degree. I found it very fascinating on how “Jay Toles” comes up with the first chord for every scale degree quickly and easily. He also goes over the minor key which most other musicians do not and gives a rather simple trick on how to find the chords very fast.

Later in the DVD, Mr. Toles explains some licks, progressions, and other interesting musical (but sometimes unorganized) tidbits of info that are very useful for beginner and even intermediate levels. Everything is explained very clearly and is repeated throughout the DVD in various keys (sometimes too much I must say) . By the end of the DVD, you will have a very good understanding of how to find the most basic chord for every scale degree quickly.

I have no regrets on paying $15 for the 167MB DVD download and found it very useful for “reviewing” and “adding a different perspective” on learning the number system, scale chords, and above all a nice trick on how to find them in their most basic form.

My only complaint about the DVD is that the chords are ONLY explained via the number system. Mr. Toles does not tell you the name of the chords he is playing. You will have to do your own homework to find out the names of the chords and determine which note exactly is the Root, 3rd, 5th, and so on. In addition, only the basic chord is given and no extensions, upper structures, two-hand chords, or other variations. It is up to you to find other chords to substitute for each chord he gives for each scale degree. While I get the concept of easily transposing chords and progressions via the number system, understanding the “quality” (R,3,5,7,6 ect. and maj,min,dom,dim etc.) of the chord for altering or substitutions is also important. Perhaps that’s just me and how I learn best.

Personally (Just my humble opinion), I find this odd and would have liked him to simply call out the name of the chord and give an alternative other than the triad during the second half of the DVD. Perhaps a simple supplemental PDF file would have sufficed. I suppose many people will not like this aspect and if you are looking for that, I recommend HearandPlay.com Gospel Keys 600 or 625 for variations. Jonathan Powell does a great job of giving you variations along with names, numbers, and everything else. If you are a member of GMTC Gospel Musician Training Center you can get the 180min audio set for the same price as Gospel fingers and you get a ton of more info. GospelKeys Urban Pro 625 is awesome!!! You definitely must have that on your iPod. ( I’ll be doing an GospelKeys Urban Pro 600 versus GospelKeys Urban Pro 625 in an upcoming blog post. They are different contrary to what some people say!!.. stay tuned! )

With that said, the main point I bought the Gospel Fingers “Get it in all 12″ DVD download was to gain insight on a different perspective from a different musician. Would I buy this again knowing what I know now? Sure, absolutely. Would I buy the newer DVD called “Gospel Fingers DVD” for $30 download? I don’t think so. While I like the playing and info presented in the first “Get it in all 12 keys” DVD, I don’t particularly like the teaching style with no chord names, visual chord information, etc. On a personal side, I also don’t really dig all the Classical influence in the music. I much prefer the blues, jazzy, and funky influences more and by the looks of the Youtube clips, I can’t tell if they exist much in the new Gospel Fingers DVD.

There is absolutely no information, reviews, or anything to be found on the Internet with regards to the Gospel Fingers DVDs except from the Gospel Finger website itself. If anyone has any experiences to share, please feel free to comment. Perhaps this info will help others in making an informed decision about whether to purchase DVDs for shipping or download from Gospel Fingers. The first DVD “Get it in all 12″ was Ok, and the second one “Gospel Fingers” I am really not sure about. In conclusion, you might say my experience with Gospel Fingers products is rather luke warm with something left to be desired. I’m very curious to hear from others about these two Gospel Fingers DVDs.

Finally, as the Gospel Fingers DVD mentions, you have to “practice, practice, practice” to get this stuff down and that is as always great advice. Happy playing everyone!