Slides. Or whatever you call 'em when you zip your fingers across about an octave of keys. They used to do it a lot back in the boogie=woogie piano days.
Well I've discovered how much fun they are and it fools people into thinking you really know how to play. Find what key you're in, put your finger on the next highest octave of that key and slide down real quick. Someone suggested you put your finger close to the black keys rather than at the very edge of the keys because you don't have to press them as far down. I also think you have to do them as fast as possible. Also it seems to work better when your finger is sideways & flat.
There is an annoying sound of clicking keys, and I'm not sure how to avoid that.
Anyone have any other tips about this technique?
I do too many slides am I in danger of breaking my keys?
The technical musical term is "glissando", "gliss" for short.
According to wikipedia:
"
Glissando" (plural: glissandi, abbreviated gliss.) is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French
glisser, to glide.
Yes, they can be a lot of fun and very effective if not overused (see Jerry Lee Lewis among others). Rock organists sometimes call them "wipes" or "smears".
A couple of things I've learned:
1) Unless your keyboard has a light touch and you know it very well, avoid using the side of your finger. It's a much softer and more easily damaged surface than the keyboard. I did this once exactly as you describe on a grand piano I didn't know. Well, one of the keys was chipped, and I snagged the chip, inflicting a deep cut that took a month to heal. 33 years later I can still see a light scar. Never again.
2) The fingernails make a nice "glissing" surface. Right thumb
stiffened, pointing down and palm open facing down for high to low. Back of index and/or middle finger with palm up and thumb pointing away from you for low to high. If you watch the pros this is what most of them do, especially on pianos.
Another benefit of doing this instead of using the side of your finger is that I find it's easier to quickly get my hands back into playing position after a gliss. These positions also let me switch quickly when doing a lightning quick "up-down" (also a lot of fun). Incidentally, if you really get serious about your keyboarding, that and elegant, glamorous nails are mutually exclusive
. I gave up on having decent looking nails when I began gigging in a rock band.
3) As for speed, I find they don't always have to be executed as fast as possible. Depends on the feel of the song. If the rest of the song has an eighth or 16th note feel to it, then they should take up about half a beat or about the duration of an 8th note. (e.g. Jerry Lee Lewis'
Great Balls Of Fire). If the song's at a slower tempo but still moderately fast (like, say,
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting by Elton John) they can be appropriately slower, say 1/4 note duration. At least that's what seems to work for me.
Other aspects of execution -
I find they tend to sound better when I start three octaves above middle C and go down to about G above middle C. Going up, I usually start about an octave below middle C and go up to about 2-1/2 to 3 above. It's not an exact science, just what I tend to do. If you decide you want to do an up/down, try a slightly smaller range and by all means make
those as fast as you can with
no hesitation between the "up" and the "down". A
great example of this can be found on Lynyrd Skynyrd's
I Know A Little.
Also, since I play a stage piano with weighted hammer action keys, I actually tend to stay a bit further out from the black keys since the keys are essentially levers. Therefore I find I actually have to use
less pressure to sound the notes because I have more leverage.
4) Are you in danger of "breaking" keys? No, I don't think so unless you do your glisses with a ball peen hammer
. But you might, depending on the quality of finish on the keys and the hardness of your nails, create track marks on the shiny surfaces of the keys.
ONE disclaimer: This is mostly written
from a piano player's point of view. Many rock
organists actually play "smears" or "wipes" with the palm of one or both hands. This means they're actually playing several notes at a time; and on a good old fashioned B3 type organ that can be spectacularly dramatic and effective, but I think you just can't do that on a piano. It gets far too muddy. When the notes sound rapidly and individually in succession it's crisp and clean (oh, and for the most part, I suggest you
avoid the sustain pedal unless you're going for a specific effect).
As for the "clicking", if you play the gliss loudly enough, no one else will notice; and if you're having enough fun... you probably won't either
.
Enjoy!
