How Music REALLY Works!, 2nd
Edition
Complete Guitar Chord Poster
Complete Keyboard Chord Poster
Guitar & Keyboard Scales Poster
Musical Instruments Poster
HOW
MUSIC
REALLY
WORKS!,
2ND
EDITION
-
"Without a doubt, this is
the most straightforward, easy-to-grasp material on the market. No double
talk, no confusion, and humor to boot!"
—Richard Fowler
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"A masterpiece ... can't put it down."
—Ken Park
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"An amazing book. I would never
have learned some of the topics in a hundred years of formal courses. The
chapter on rhythm and meter alone is worth the price of the book!"
—Tim Longo
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My songwriting benefited hugely
and immediately from your approach. I already had a reasonable knowledge of
theory and fairly good skills at writing and arranging but the way you have
presented these concepts is unique (in my experience) and very refreshing."
—Simon Williams
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It’s probably the best music tutorial I have
ever read! It’s about time someone spoke in plain English about music.
Though I've studied for years, I find your take on it refreshing and truly
helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
—Randy Alvarez
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"I have been playing the guitar professionally for over ten years. Music is
an enormous influence in my life and occupies much of my thought and energy
on a regular basis. Much of that thought and energy is spent on figuring out
how to become a better musician and what activities I can engage in to
derive a deeper understanding of music—outside of playing live of course! I
have always known that there are aspects of my musicianship that are lacking
and have always had an underlying suspicion that someone out there knows
what I'm going through and knows how to help me identify and fill the gaping
holes in my knowledge. My searches on the web have consisted of strings like
"what every guitar player MUST know" or "essential skills for musicians".
Most of the hits are fairly generic and are an overlap of my ever-growing
library of musical studies books. Many sites have wild claims about what
their material will do, yet offer no samples of that material—danger! One
day I entered "how music really works" into Google and the Roedy Black site
came up. For the next few hours I pored through the first six chapters of
your book and was floored by the breadth and comprehensive depth of what is
covered, how well presented the material is ... I have a
great affinity for well-written material; your book is incredibly
well-written. Finding your book was like finding gold. There are things that
you cover that I have never before encountered in my studies at school or in
other books. Maybe I have encountered them; if I have they were never
explained as fully, practically or as clearly. A perfect example of this is
your description of the harmonic cycle in comparison to what the cycle of
fifths is. Can you imagine that with two full years of music school and the
plethora of books on harmony and theory I have read, I feel like I never
understood the "why's" to harmonic resolution and why certain seemingly
unrelated chords work so well together? Practical knowledge is paramount to
me. You offer real tools in your book, not just how to's. You made the
proverb "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish
and he will eat for a lifetime" come alive for me with just this one
section of your book. Thank you again for ...
increasing my understanding of music."
—Mark Collins
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"How Music Really
Works" is one of the best books on applied music
theory I have read. I have taught guitar in N.
California for 15 years and have read many excellent pieces on theory—but
most were just that—pieces. I love the way you
have put all the parts together so that is understandable.
... Congratulations on a great work. I would
like all my students to own and read your book."
—Wayne Lazar
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"I love it. Clear, understandable, entertaining. The first book from which I
really understand why music is as it is, scales are as they are, and
so on."
—Joerg Toellner
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"I love your sense of humor."
—Lesley Graham, who took years of classical piano as a child and still sucks
as a keyboard player. But not for long, with people like you around!
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"The approach is absolutely excellent. I always appreciate getting to the
root of problems and understanding them at their fundamental level. I
believe this is the only way to really "know" what's going on. You have
achieved this in a very effective and enjoyable way."
—Alex Papasavas
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"I have yet to read any material that has as much
substance."
—Anthony Egizii
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"I am VERY impressed and fascinated with Wayne Chase's "How Music Really
Works." This is the best book on music theory I've ever seen."
—Peter Block
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"I'm 19 years old and I don't have the money or time
to invest in a "standard" university to study music, which will probably
just hint around what I'm trying to achieve anyway. So this is definitely a
big help to me."
—Brandon Battle
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"I love your writing style. It's so easy to digest and humorous at the same
time, while still educating in a deep manner. No other book has ever
explained these subjects to me like this before and I really want to thank
you for having written this, in so much clever detail too! I took piano
classes to get the hang of chords and chord progressions, but that was
NOTHING compared to your chapter 6... which is a real eye opener. I also
love the little details you provide, like how a note with
overtones/harmonics is already much like a chord itself and why an inverted
chord doesn't sound quite as resolved like the basic chord."
—Hens Zimmerman
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"I LOVE this and it’s the only instructional book that actually helps you.
I’ve only read the first edition and half the new one, and it’s genius.
Thank you."
—Chris Willett
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"In twenty years, I have NEVER seen and read anything that comes close to
what you have achieved. I just wanted to give you this
simple opinion: you, Sir, can write. In my youth ( I’m forty seven, I
think), I spent five years as a local newspaper reporter, with the college
training that went with it. For the past six years or so, I’ve been helping
Polish people to learn English. Oh, yes, I know my present perfect from my
past participle, but that’s not the basis of my approach. Oh, no ! The basis
is that I make them laugh. This warms them up, and relaxes them so they can
listen to what I say without the stress most of them have at school or in
college. And you, Sir, you blow me away. And to be blown away by somebody
who, stereotypically, should be the North American equivalent of a crusty
Oxford don droning on and on about things plagal and cadential , was an
immense pleasure. Your skill is immeasurable. Fundamentals, overtones,
ratios. I understand the lot. At one read. And their importance to the
whole. No problem. Go on, ask me a question ! The movement of fifths,
seconds, thirds. Bloody obvious. When you know. And now I know. Phew !!!"
—Paul Drury
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"It's exactly what I've been looking for. It puts all that theory that I've
figured out the hard way into easy-to-understand language."
—Dwight Plett
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"I’ve had
years of vocal training, but never had any theory. It always sounded so
complicated. But the visual method you used to teach this has made it seem
so logical, and easy to utilize. I always thought it was just over my head,
but now I GET IT!"
—Nancy S. Smith
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"I love your writing style. About time somebody made music understandable to
the great unwashed."
—Jerry Haworth
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"I've learned an awful lot from the book "How Music REALLY Works." I really
like the style it’s written in. I find it light and breezy, yet concise and
easy to understand. I feel it contains a lot of insight, and rewards
repeated reading and study."
—Philip
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"Love the book. You make it so easy. I tell you, I went to school and they
were helpful but the language barrier got in my way. I needed to understand
music from the common man's perspective and your writing
speaks to me."
—Sandra Bell
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"Looking forward to purchasing this down-to-earth book!! I am a drummer
turned songwriter and I'm learning the craft little by little, and your free
excerpts of the book are helpful, fun and informative. Thank you!!.
"
—Scott Arrison
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"An excellent book from just reading the first six chapters; very interesting
and funny."
—Carmella DiForte
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"I've been reading the online version of "How Music Really Works", and I
think it's one of the best music books I've ever read. Finally, a nice
hearty chapter on chord progressions, that isn't afraid to come out and
discuss chord relationships. Curiously, nowhere in my music theory classes
or in anything I've read in my leisure have I ever come across the concept
of a "harmonic scale". And I'm sorry I haven't! This seems like such a great
idea. It all makes a LOT of sense. Which is nice, because there are some
days in which music DOESN'T make sense to me, you know? Some of the parts
about chord-to-chord movements and how semitone motions relieve tension etc.
are really in-depth and really great! This book really speaks to me--I'm
seeing explanations of harmonic phenomena that I always thought were the
case, but was still a little unsure. It's really great to see someone come
out and say what you've always suspected. Basically, I've never seen anything like your chord progression chapter.
Chord progressions to me are the most important elements of tonal
music--they are the fundamental building blocks—and yet so many books
neglect to discuss the properties of chord motion seriously. (My current
theory book has one line that says "bass motion by 4ths is the most
common.") And that's about it as far as why Bach used the progressions he
did. Kind of a let down, if you ask me. Your book is really a breath of
fresh air. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how awesome I think this
book is."
—Stedman Wilson
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"Thanks for making learning such an entertaining experience."
—Tony Hughes
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"Previously I was unable to get the why behind the why, as I like to call it.
Why the theory works. I really enjoyed how you broke it down the from the
beginning. Thanks for your insights."
—Joel
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"I have enjoyed the first 4 chapters...learned a lot... thanks. I am also a
trainer, so I can recognize good training because I am reading your stuff
and seem to "get it"...so kudos to you...I like the chunks, the building on
a foundation that now makes sense to me. I like the technical
background-instruction you provide, I guess because what
you say is "consonant" where a lot of instruction out there is "dissonant"
to me."
—Duane Hansen
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"Wonderful, wonderful stuff for visual learners like me who have been
musicians for years, but don't "get" the normal way of teaching/learning
music theory."
—Lance Zechinato
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"The chord progression chapter seems to be just what I've been looking for! I
haven't seen this information compiled so well anywhere else. Thanks!"
—Dave Watson
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"This is the most realistic approach to music I have ever seen."
—Jay Daer
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"I love the concept of what you are doing re deconstructing chord
progressions!"
—Andy Bulka
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"I'm from Russia ... I know that the delivery will cost a lot, but I think
THIS book is really worth it."
—Anastasia Makarevitch
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"After many attempts to find something, it's the first time I've ever read
anything that actually explained music theory with clarity. I've tried
Bernstein, Surnami and others without success."
—Bob Dean
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"What a score ... surfing the net and discovering this book!"
—Sandy Bergmann
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"It’s written in a clear, down-to-earth manner, and I find I understand
certain areas of music theory that I found extremely difficult before."
—Damien Forbes
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"Very well presented material—also VERY useful material, thanks!"
—Mark
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"I just wanted to thank you for all the
valuable information you make
available to everyone on that great site. Thank you so much, and it has
really helped me musically! Great work!! Cant wait till the second edition!"
—Ann
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"I stumbled upon your site quite by accident while searching for the chord
progressions for a particular song, and what a happy find it was."
—Jean Glaudé
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"I’ve probably learnt more in the last hour than I did reading hours upon
hours of other music books. Great work."
—Eddie Machaalani
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"You are the bomb and my musical mentor."
—Brent Klemstein
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"The information you present seems uniquely understandable and comprehendable,"
—Bart Bradley
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"I have downloaded and read the free chapters and I just think they are
fantastic. I must get a copy of your book which I’ll guard for dear life as
I think it is so rich with content and truly explains a lot of the mysteries
of music."
—Audley Ffolkes
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"I live in Australia and had been asking these questions about chord progs
for years ... never any light. Now after checking out your *Harmonic Scale”
device I can see this is THE tool for a songwriter."
—John Bliss
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"Hey, I've studied theory for awhile but somehow I never learned about the
harmonic scale ... and certainly nothing like your Chase charts. Everything
emphasized C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bdim, corresponding 7th chords and nothing beyond
that. No one explained why many songs for instance incorporated E7, and why
it worked. I knew only of Harmonic Minor with the included G#, but nothing
of its songwriting use or thinking beyond the minor key. Thanks again. I've
been doing Chase charts for all kinds of songs"
—W. A.
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"I read the first chapters on the internet and thought they were excellent,
explaining lots of things I was wondering about. I'm learning to play the
piano and I don't want to be a slave to sheet music all my life so I thought
I'd try and make some sense out of chords."
—Eva Hovelsrod
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"I would like to thank you for the effort you made to gather all this
information together and bring it in this clear and comprehensive form. The
free part contains exactly what I've been looking for. It's like having the
author answering my questions and even more !!"
—Ghassane Hajji
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"All I can say is Wow! Thanks! And thanks for helping out piano players like
myself who want to improve."
—Dale Regazzi
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"Thank you very much for your effort to bring music to everyone. You are one
of a kind."
—Brian M.
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"I have found your online information very informative. It is exactly what I
wanted to know. It contains all the technical information that I wanted to
know."
—Tom Jennings
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"I am blown away. What a great site! Thank you so much for your wisdom.
Thanks for your incredible generosity."
—Andy Gremminger
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"I decided that having listened to so much music I really ought to understand
what's going on behind the scenes. I've bought and read through a pile of
Music Theory books in the last few months. Your work is head and shoulders
above any of them. Some of them never quite take on the complexities (they
seem not to really appreciate them), while others are unreadably pompous and
over-intellectualized. Yours is the only one that comes across as a
confident adult addressing an intelligent, motivated student. Thanks to you,
I've been able to raise my level of understanding enormously."
—Andy Schriever
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"I learned more in the last hour from your site than I have in 6 months using
traditional methods. Thanks!"
—Floyd Goddard
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"Music makes a lot more sense to me than it ever has before. Thank you."
—Benjamin Davis
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"I’ve learned more about music in the last few days than in my entire life.
Thanks for all your insight and knowledge."
—Ozzie Bostic
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"Thanks for offering what you have on the website—it is just fabulous!"
—Denise Vrana
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"I like your style of writing. You are positioning musical concepts in a
clear and understandable framework. The order of introducing new concepts is
also very consistent."
—Robert Schuurmans
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"Incredibly informative and interesting. Keep up the good work!!"
—L. Anderson
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"I really like your Chase chart method. It's very original and very visual.
You also focus on the key center which is very good, I think. By placing
non-diatonic chords outside the circle it is very clear to see these
chromatic embellishments. Also linking the circles with dotted lines and
thus connecting the pivot chords is very clear."
—Alain Benbassat
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"Kick butt book! Filled in many holes in my rather Spartan musical theory!"
—Mike Singleton
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"This is the best and most helpful information I have ever read, and I have
read a lot. I feel that I might actually (eventually) understand music at
its "core" or get close to it. This is pretty exciting. I've always known
and felt that something was missing in my journey of trying to understand
music and specifically how to play music on the guitar. The pieces are
starting to come together now. Thanks for all your hard work in compiling
all this great info."
—David James
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"I am blown away--this is what I have been seeking for a very long time."
—Mark A. Blier
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"I like what you've done
... especially on modulation and the patience
that you use explaining things."
—Steve Meiers
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"Finally the pieces of the "musical" puzzle are coming together for me. I
have been wanting to REALLY understand how music works for a long long time,
but no one book or person has been able explain it to me. Thank you so much."
—Joel Stewart
~ • ~ • ~ •
~ COMPLETE GUITAR CHORD POSTER
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"If your guitar-player friend or lover
or relative needs to class up a practice space, here's a colorful...useful item for the
wall. It's a large, full-color poster that contains—yes, you heard it here—a
chart of every chord on the guitar....This clever poster is beautiful, plus it does
things like color-coding the chords in a particular key, so it can be used for
transposition....It's useful in place of looking up a chord in a chord dictionary, and I
don't doubt it will be useful in instructional settings...as a way to see the forest and
the individual trees. This tubed color poster will nag you into learning and experimenting
with chords."
—Dan Crary, Frets Magazine ("Recommended Gifts for Guitar
Players"), www.dancrary.com.
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"Over the years, I have received
numerous music-related gifts of one kind or another, but this great chart ranks right up
there at the top. It's simply wonderful."
—Christie Slavin, Portland, OR
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"For me, I like being able to skip from
playing a pretty easy chord like a minor 7th, than zipping over to an 11th or 13th without
losing track of what I'm doing. You can't do that with a chord book, but you sure can with
the [Complete Guitar Chord] chart!"
—Francine Perreault, Montreal, PQ
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"These charts are fantastic. I don't
read music, so I use the [Complete Guitar Chord] poster like it's my guitar 'Bible.' Good
thing it's laminated ... I even roll it up and take it to band practices."
—C. L. Hunt, Paterson, NJ
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"I used to use a chord book but could
never make much sense of how chords work. So this poster is a godsend, it's magnificent.
Thanks!"
—C. Matthewson, Ogdensburg, NY
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"When I first saw this [Complete Guitar
Chord] poster, I just burst out laughing. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. All
those chords, all together like that, and so ingeniously organized, it's just stunning. I
bought three of them ... for me and the others in the band. Somebody came up with a truly
brilliant idea here."
—Alexis Hill, London, England
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"I've made incredible breakthroughs
with my playing—for me at least—since my girlfriend got me the Complete Guitar
Chord Poster ... I play with way more confidence now."
—E. Doug Harris, Dartmouth, NS
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"My Dad got me your guitar chord poster
for Christmas. When I first saw it, I kind of thought, wow! it's kind of overwhelming,
because I was just a beginner. But now that I've been using it for almost six months, I'm
making so much progress that I've started writing my own songs. I showed [the poster] to
my guitar teacher and she got one for herself."
—Marnie McCallum, Jackson, TN
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"I've played guitar for 10 years and
didn't realize how the chords I was playing relate to each other. Well, this [Complete
Guitar Chord] poster makes the whole thing clear as a bell."
—P. H. Schroeder, Stockton, CA
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"It's nice to see some theory here. I
know you people probably aim your charts at players that don't read much music, but
there's stuff here that I can use. I'm getting more interested in the whole music-reading
thing."
—Barry C. O'Connor, Manchester, England
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"I've never wanted anything to do with
reading music. I can't be bothered. This [Complete Guitar Chord] poster is all I need ...
You can play anything with it, even the impossible chords."
—W. Lei, Vancouver, BC
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"I've never had a guitar lesson,
completely self-taught. With this chart, I don't think I'll need any lessons, either. It
has pretty much everything you need."
—Klaus Dietrich, Bonn, Germany
~ • ~ • ~ •
~
COMPLETE
KEYBOARD CHORD POSTER
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"Never seen anything like it. I used to
look up chords at web sites, but that was always a pain. If you don't happen to be in a
room with a computer connected to the web, you're screwed. So this chart is practical. It
looks great too, by the way."
—B. Kucheran, Madison, WI
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"I've paid a lot of money for chord
books, and none of them have half the stuff that this chart has."
—Rick G. Fenske, Winnipeg, MB
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"I teach piano and organ, and I can
tell you, these Roedy Black charts are indispensable ... I use them every day in my
teaching, and I urge my students to get their own copies."
—K. Maharaj, Detroit, MI
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"Intervals used to stump me. Thanks to
your [Complete Keyboard Chord] chart, I understand how they pertain to the structure of
chords ... Altered chords intrigue me, so I'm working my way through them ... This poster
is head and shoulders above any other music reference I've come across."
—Chris W. Lawson, Los Angeles, CA
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"I'm going through my fake books and
transposing the chords to keys I can sing with. I'm usually pretty lazy about musical
chores like this, but the [Complete Keyboard Chord] chart makes it so easy!"
—Clair Wang, Peterborough, ON
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"Although I'm good at reading music, I
still find your keyboard poster really useful. I use it to take shortcuts to find and
learn the notes to complicated chords. This is a real treasure ... I had no idea that some
of these chords were even possible, but to see the structure of them laid out so clear,
that's what I find so good about it."
—Sherry Yates, Saskatoon, SK
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"I'm not a musician, but when I saw
your Keyboard Chord Poster at a friend's place, I thought it was so beautiful and
interesting to look at that I bought one for myself and framed it and put it up in the
lobby of our motel. It always draws a crowd!"
—Betty Sander, Mississauga, ON
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"I'm playing chords on the piano [that
are] way ahead of what I thought I could play, considering I'm just learning ... It's just
a wonderful chart. I'm addicted to it. I like seeing the whole layout at once so I never
get lost."
—George Wilson, Swindon, England
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"The 'rainbow' design, it's beautiful.
You don't often see something that's both useful and so beautiful."
—N. L. Critchley, Mansfield, OH
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"My theory teacher has this chord
formula wheel gizmo that I've never liked because I couldn't make heads or tails of it ...
Your [Keyboard Chord Chart] showed me that chords can be intelligible after all."
—David Nakano, Seattle, WA
~ • ~ • ~ •
~
GUITAR
& KEYBOARD
SCALES POSTER
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"What I appreciate having [on the
Guitar & Keyboard Scales Poster] is the guitar and piano scales right next to each
other. This has made it a breeze to teach my band members new arrangements ... So I can go
to the piano and pick out the same melodies I used to know only on guitar, and have a
pretty good idea of what I'm doing on the piano, even though I'm a guitar player."
—Dan Eldridge, Ottawa, ON
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"My wife bought me the Guitar and
Keyboard Scales Poster, and now I can't stay away from it for long. It got me out of a rut
in my guitar playing, and I'm moving over to try out [playing scales] on her piano."
—Jack Lazic, Chicago, IL
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As a bass player, I have found this chart
[Guitar & Keyboard Scales Poster] very helpful. Thanks!
—Henry Priddle, Jacksonville, Fl
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"How scales are associated and
connected, that's what I've always wondered. With your Guitar and Keyboard Scales Poster,
it's making sense at last."
—D. Redman, Port Hope, ON
~ • ~ • ~ •
~
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS POSTER
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"Once you have a close look at the
clever way it's structured, the Musical Instruments Poster has a lot more practical
information on it than first meets the eye. You have done a superb job of displaying
intelligent and instructive material ... yet the whole effect is entertaining."
—Bill Tully, Preston, ID
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"You have picked all the right
information to put on these posters ... I find all of them very practical, both for me and
the music classes I teach at night school. Especially the Musical Instruments Poster. Way
to go!"
—Charles Noga, Scarborough, ON
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"The members of my choir find the
Musical Instruments Poster most helpful. They have a better understanding of where their
individual voices fit into the sound of the whole choir."
—Jose Amado, Fresno, CA
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"The Musical Instruments Poster is a
particularly effective in inspiring the imagination of my students, some of whom thought
they had no music in them. It has sparked many lively discussions about different aspects
of music."
—L. Vanderhoek, Toronto, ON
~ • ~ • ~ •
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