Unveiling The Secret To Playing Gospel Music By Ear, Alice Wilson [nonfiction book recommendations TXT] 📗

Unveiling The Secret To Playing Gospel Music by Ear

(Lessons For Beginners)


Alice Wilson


Copyright © 2009 by Alice Wilson
Miami, Florida 33056


No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage or retrieval system—except for brief quotations in printed reviews—without permission in writing from the author.


For booking, ordering, questions,
or permission contact:

Alice Wilson
Email: Mollyhair@gmail.com
Phone: 305-623-6845


Cover design: Howard L. Wilson


Printing by: Changing Lives Publishing
www.print2publish.com
(321)-637-1128


All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America


PREFACE


The purpose of this book is to help beginners learn the different techniques used when playing gospel music by ear. Playing by ear is not easy but if you listen to the chords as they are played and follow the simple directions given in this book, you’ll be able to play with confidence in a short time.
This book includes different techniques for praise and worship songs. I have included some licks which a lot of musicians use and much more. God has impressed upon me to help those that really want to learn how to play gospel music by ear. If you’re not gifted to play music by ear, this task may be challenging for you.
However if you’re still optimistic about learning this task, by all means let’s continue. Enjoy and be blessed of the Lord.


III

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Dedication ………………………………………………………………

Alice N. Wilson’s Testimony ………………………………………….

Techniques In Playing …………………………………………………

Getting To Know The Piano/Portable Keyboard (Part I) …………

Getting To Know Scales (Part II) ……………………………………

Learning More About Your Scales (Part III) ………………………

Learning How Different Chords Are Formed (Part IV) ………….

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………


IV

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my Pastor Joy E.L. Jackson. New Year’s Eve 2006 our pastor said that she was going to let God put whom he wanted on the portable piano keyboard. The first Sunday of the New Year 2007 she asked me, “Alice would you like to play,” of course I said, “yes.”
For years I had been trying to learn how to put chords together, but I went in confidence, and during that service God anointed me on the portable piano keyboard and everyone including pastor began to encourage me and they said “yes that’s it, play Al,” (which is my nick name at the church). Then our pastor began to minister. While she was ministering she said in her message, “God is doing a new thing now, don’t go back to the old, but go the way God wants you to go.”
Right then I knew that God was speaking to me through my Pastor. The next Sunday as I began to play I noticed that a new thing began to happen. Every time I played God was putting everything together. God began to let me realize it’s not how many chords you use but it’s in how you let him (God) do the work.
The more we let God do what he wants to do in our lives, the better we will become but we must keep our eyes on him. We must stay focused on what God has already planned for our lives. Enduring that, I found my pastor to be a true woman of God and that God through her encouraged me not to give up but to continue.
Without the push from my pastor to continue on, I guess I would have stopped. I love her dearly. May God continue to strengthen her and give her the wisdom and knowledge to feed God’s people, wherever she may go. I know that God is real in her and I thank God for her and her family. God is not through with me yet and I will always treasure the things which God has allowed me to learn through my leader Pastor Joy E.L. Jackson.

V
My Testimony
IF YOU ONLY KNEW WHAT I’VE BEEN THROUGH

In the year 1997, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which took me over to the place where I didn’t want to do anything. I was afraid to bathe, eat, sleep, touch metal, and go to the bathroom; the whole nine yards. I was afraid of my husband and thought that he was trying to kill me.
All of this was an illusion. The paranoia was so strong in me, that I believed that ants were going to hurt me. What can an ant do? I thought that I was going to die. At the time I just couldn’t remember that God had everything in control. Through the encouraging words of my Pastor I realized that “God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2Tim. 1:7).”
I had to continue to say this to myself. God loves us even in our weakest moment. I was hearing all kinds of voices and I thought that my family was going to be injured. I was at the place where I didn’t know what to do. “When you don’t know what to do, you just say the name of Jesus.”
My pastor Joy E.L. Jackson and others in and outside the church were praying for me. My pastor knew something was wrong with me at the time and personally admitted me into a mental institution. I was so ashamed because as a minister of the Gospel of Christ, I shouldn’t have been in a place like this.
Many years before this happened to me I had the experience of meeting a young man and wondered why was he in his predicament at such a young age, not knowing that the same would happen to me much later. When I experienced this thing I saw people that I ministered to looking at me as if I were crazy. I felt lower than dirt.
Through the prayers of my pastor and the church, God has delivered me to the place where I am able to do things for myself. I am a living example of what God can do. My mind is restored and I am doing work as I had done before. I have a lot to be grateful for and I give God the praise. If you only knew what I’ve been through for the half has not been told.
“When you don’t know what to do just say the name of Jesus, just say the name.” If God can do it for me, he can also do it for you. May God bless you all and remember God is the answer to every problem.


VI

TECHNIQUES IN PLAYING

For those who want to learn the techniques in playing gospel music by ear the answer is here. God has inspired me to share some of the hidden secrets about playing by ear. I searched to find the techniques to playing gospel music by ear that I may edify God in my music ministry. I knew God had given me a gift but I didn’t know how to put what I was hearing together.
For days I cried because I wanted to be a good musician. I watched different musicians come in and charged an arm and a leg just for one service. I told God if you anoint me and give me what you have blessed them to have I would write a book to help others who desire to be a musician but just didn’t know how to put it together.
I searched and searched, by asking different musicians’ questions about playing different songs by ear. Some musicians I asked said there is a pattern to every song. Then I asked, “What are the patterns?” They couldn’t really explain. Later, I continued my search. I began taking piano lessons here and there but still didn’t know the real skill behind playing gospel music by ear.
Even though I was taking piano lessons I was not completely satisfied but I continued my search. One day my pastor Joy E.L. Jackson had an engagement at one of the churches we fellowship with, I knew the musician at church played gospel music the way I enjoyed it, with jazz sounds, licks and more. After church I began to speak with the musician and asked him if he would be teaching piano/keyboard lessons. He responded with a yes. Well, at that time I was just overwhelmed with excitement but I had a problem, I did not know where the money was going to come from. He began to share with me when registration would begin and how much it was going to cost.
I know God answers prayer for he heard me when I prayed. When it was time to register I had the money. God is good. I told my husband that I was going to enroll in his class. I began taking the classes and it was a repeat of what I had been through but I refused to give up. One day the teacher began to show me different chords and how to put them together and I said, “This is for me.” There were about eight of us in the class every Saturday faithfully learning how to put things together. VII

Well, somewhere along the way I became frustrated and I stopped going because the funds were not available. One day my husband brought home a flyer from one of the colleges which said: “Piano 1 class”, for an amount I could afford. I told my husband that I had to enroll in that class. Still trying to find the answer, I went to pursue my dream. I learned how to go up and down the piano/keyboard. But I still didn’t find what I was looking for.
After going for a year I said to God, it just looked like I am not going find the answer. When you ask God for something he will always answer. One day, I was not even thinking about what I had asked God, but there was an individual at my daughter’s house and she mentioned to me that he was a musician. “Well,” I began to think, “just maybe.”
The musician said to me: “I remember when I was in the same shoes and no one would help me. He said, “I am going to help you.” Then he began to show me some things which I needed to know. I believed we practiced for over two to three hours. I began to practice and said: “I believe this is it.” Then another musician came and helped me also. After that, God began to anoint me. Now I can say God is a good God. He revealed some things to me that I didn’t feel I would ever get.
Now as God has blessed me, I want to be a blessing to others so they won’t have to go through what I’ve been through. Everyone doesn’t