I love Lana Del Rey, and her music. Her album Born to Die is so beautiful, so here is my rendition of both 'Video Games' and 'Off to the Races' below, with the tutorials. I have always imagined Lana Del Rey in a red dress, so for this artist I did a photoshoot with my favourite red dress to recreate the vision... These images are taken in Auckland city, and I felt like the classy buildings spoke for themselves, and added to the sophisticated ambience. (I'm not usually this sophisticated).
Enjoy the class while it lasts!
Lana Del Rey ♥
All images copyright Katherine Ann-Marie Tuenter, The Undefined Photography, 2014
I am in love with "Off to the Races" in fact, it is probably my favourite song on the album. Kanye West thinks so too cause he did a cover of it too. (Apparently). The chords and harmonies are mine, it sounds pretty this way! So much attitude. So much class. Lana Del Rey ♥
Yay! So it's finally done. Here is the cover for 'One More Night' by Maroon 5. I freaking love this song! but OMG the practice for this song totally made me sick of it by the end. I still like listening to it though. Just not playing it. It's intense!
Anyway here it is, and the tutorial is linked within the description of the video clip, and just in case you were feeling lazy I have added it here too. Hope you like it, a lot of love went into this arrangement. Although it may be played a tad fast. Sorry about that, was rushing to get to work on time!
So I have finally finished the tutorials for 'Buy the Stars' and 'Zero Gravity'
Check out my playlist 'Song Tutorials' to see them. 'Buy the Stars' is in two parts because it's such a long and complicated song and I wanted to make sure I explained it simply enough.
Now I am behind two weeks on our 'Acoustic' genre, namely John Mayer & a surprise artist. I was very sick! But more on that soon, I intend to do a few songs and a few tutorials this week, hopefully! On Thursday which is the usual day I record. Anyway got an awesome song for you that I'm into at the moment, and of which I have an AWESOME arrangement and tutorial coming very soon....
'Maroon 5 - One More Night'
I love this song! Damn it's so catchy. Anyway talk soon and hopefully I'll be up to date by the end of this week. More details coming soon.
Hello everyone, I am excited to announce that I will be doing a LIVE TUTORIAL via SKYPE for a group of 3 people maximum on the first week of September! I will be teaching piano tips, tricks and you can join in the conversation, asking as many questions as you like throughout that hour. This includes song chords, whatever you want to know.
If you would like to register for this lesson (Time will be decided according to your timezones) then email me before the 29th of August at: katherineannmarie@gmail.com. Cost is $25 US per person.
A PDF covering all the topics and notes that I will cover on the day will also be sent out for you to follow along with.
Places are limited to ONLY three people so register now if you would like to have a spot reserved.
So here it is! Bam, simple. Easy to learn, beautiful song here you go.
I only JUST looked on YouTube and noticed that 'I Don't Want to be a Bride' is probably the only other song on Rabbits on the Run that has tutorials up already... so sorry about that. I need to do some that don't have tutorials up!
I'm thinking about London, Get Good, & The Marching Line for ya.
'I Don't Want to be a Bride' by Vanessa Carlton - Tutorial
Also I have updated most of the old tutorials that were missing: Laughing With, and I Don't Want to be a Bride with the rest coming this weekend. Shall I also do one for 'On the Radio' too?
Got my surprise for you too! I uploaded it last night but accidentally got the wrong video haha
So it's week #2 for our genre which is "Acoustic" and our artist this week is Vanessa Carlton!
So all you Nessa fans will be happy because I am doing a lovely arrangement of 'I Don't Want to be a Bride'
'I Don't Want to be a Bride' by Vanessa Carlton
This song is one of my favs, and it's very personal for her (and for me). The chord progression is really easy to follow and so you'll all be able to learn it no problem! It's lots of fun to play and I hope you love watching it as much as I will love playing it tomorrow!
Tutorial will follow as usual, and I'll do a little album review for ya of her 'Rabbits on the Run' recent release.
Hey everyone! So we have covered the pop genre last month, and this week is the first week of the acoustic genre! Which means we will be covering and looking at artists that tend to be strongest when playing live or with minimal backing. Some of my favorite artists fit in this category, and they are often the best ones to cover as live music tends to work well with piano.
So here's a list of artists I will be covering this month:
John Mayer. My first love! Haha no this guy is seriously talented at guitar. Interesting fact- he says happily how he 'steals' Eric Clatpton's ideas for his music. Eric Clapton was his idol and inspiration growing up and there is even YouTube videos of them playing together:
'Crossroads' (From Mayer's album Battle Studies) with Eric Clapton.
John Mayer has released a number of albums now, but if you haven't already heard his stuff I suggest you listen to his album Continuum or recent release 'Born and Raised'. I have been a devoted fan since his first album release in early 2000's. He was best known for his song 'Your Body is a Wonderland'.
Regina Spektor. This girl is pure magic, she is actually a lot older than she looks too! 30-something. But she looks only 25. Regina has mostly got recognized from her song 'Fidelity'
'Fidelity' by Regina Spektor.
Anyway she plays piano like nobody's business, she started off her career playing in bars, and she is beautiful live! Very quirky and full of personality there is no one else quite like her. When I first heard 'Apres Moi' I couldn't help but cry, she is a beautiful composer, singer, and all round instrumentalist. She also is Russian and speaks multiple languages... very talented! Regina has recently released a new album 'What we saw from the cheap seats'. Every album just gets better and better. Look her up, well worth the listen.
Vanessa Carlton. Well anyone who has followed me knows how close Vanessa Carlton is to my heart as a musician. I followed her very closely in my early days and I will always be in love with both her first two albums. After that she went and experimented a bit, with hip-hop producer Irv Gotti to finally releasing her own indie album last year called 'Rabbits on the Run'. Which is very beautiful in both prose, style, production and musically.
'Carousel' by Vanessa Carlton
This is her most recent release, and was entirely self produced so good on her. I have a lot of respect for her doing her own thing despite commercial pressures. With 'A Thousand Miles' creating a lot of expectation , it's understandable she has always been searching for that one 'something' with her music since then. She is a true artist.
The final fourth artist I haven't yet entirely decided on, I'll keep it a surprise ^_^
Anyway these are just some of my influences, in the acoustic genre at least and there are plenty more to come! As usual I will feature a couple of covers and tutorials too for you lucky lucky people.
Gotta get back to writing more music for you. Love you all! Talk soon
Got some new Regina coming up plus I am happy to let you know that I will definitely be doing 'I don't want to be a Bride' by Vanessa Carlton, and 'The Marching Line' in a few weeks from now... she's one of our artists from the acoustic genre.
Exciting stuff! I'll post more details soon, in the mean time enjoy xo
So I had to show you guys this song, it's awesome and I am in love with it. It has about a million chords though (which I listed on the description) in case you would like to play it, but it's totally worth it. It's my favorite song on her album. Anyway here it is and the tutorial will be up shortly, looking forward to showing you Kerli's song later this week plus some of my own stuff soon too!
So here it is! The new cover for Pop Artist #3 - Ruby Frost. Moonlight is a really pretty song on piano, so I hope you like it. Tutorial is coming very soon my lovelies ^_^
Go check out her album - 'Volition' especially Porcupine & Water to Ice!
Ruby Frost - Volition
Here you go! Tutorial is coming soon plus a little video on Ruby's album.
Okay, so I have been listening to J.M's album now for about a week on repeat... I have played through a couple of songs that I really like, and at this stage I'm not sure which song to cover!
At first 'Something like Olivia' was the song I really fell in love with, the beat is awesome, and the lyrics are so very John. In terms of the 'country' feel to his new music, I can understand the many objections to it, as I don't really think it's him either. Most likely the pressures of the commercial record industry and their expectations has led him to try different things and adopt different 'vibes' for his music over time. But underneath the random layers of harmonica and organ synth, the songs have a soul that is uniquely and genuinely his, and that's what still makes his music beautiful. Songs like 'Face to Call Home' resonated with me so much, likewise 'Born and Raised' was very profound, reminded me very much of 'Don't Stop this Train' and 'The Heart of Life'.
His song, 'The Age of Worry' also has echoes of his song 'Belief' from Continuum, it has a lovely lull, and this album he has really refined his craft. Lyrics are succinct, and cohesive, all sections of the song have a lot of thought and unlike his first two albums, every song has a unique vibe with a strong sense of clarity. Each song is different from the next, and like a great smorgasbord of thoughts and feelings he captures many elements within this album. It really is like a life narrative and it deserves a number of listens to appreciate all his songs.
I am still working on 'Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey' 'Speak for Me' and 'Shadow Days' as I feel they are a little diluted in terms of 'Soul' but I think it is just lost in translation. I don't approve of the production (although the vocals are superb in this album) but you can still hear John shine through, and who knows- the country theme might grow on me! ^_^
COMPETITION! Okay so I was thinking of doing a competition but then I realized most of you live overseas :\
So, I will have a think about this and get back to you when I have an idea!
Hope you all are liking the new songs/covers/vlog/ideas!
Definitely gonna do a cover of one of this soon. Listen. To. John. Mayer's. Album.
As part of this vlog, every week I'll suggest a tip to help with your piano playing, song writing and arranging skills. This week's tip #1 is for piano players.
When playing difficult pieces, separate the hands! Learn each part separately and thoroughly, then once you have mastered each hand bring them together and play the section slowly from beginning to end, gradually speeding up which will maintain fluidity and detail. Do this on all sections of music that you are unsure of or are finding the rhythm difficult. Works every time!
