The Cross 3 Show

If you would like to learn how to play gospel piano by ear for free, visit www.cross3network.com.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/learn-fast

Every piano player wants to be great and every piano player wants to know how they can get better faster.

With the right strategy and focus, you can become a better piano player on a daily and weekly basis. Strategy and focus are critical because your growth won’t come at random. You could aimlessly practice all day without getting better because there is no direction or target to hit.

Have you every wondered how great musicians become so great? They did it by growing consistently. Practicing consistently and having a strategy for growth is going to allow you to grow and reach levels of music that you never thought possible.

Every great musician has their very own “sound”. A sound is a musician’s identity. Many well known musicians can be identified just by their sound even if someone can’t see their face.

It’s important for every musician to have their own sound because it represents who they are as a musician. Just like some actors and athletes have their own style of play and are an ideal fit for many situations because of their style, musicians are the same way.

The more a musician develops his or her sound and identity, the more they will get noticed and admired. The fact that they have a very distinct musical personality when they play will draw people and make people want to listen.

View the entire episode at https://www.cross3network.com/blog/developing sound

If you want to learn to play gospel piano for your church by ear and build a solid foundation, visit www.cross3network.com

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/small-budget  

Learn how to play gospel piano for free at www.cross3network.com  

 Everyone knows that music and sound equipment for your church can get really expensive really quick. You can easily create a wish list of $40,000 on the low without even thinking about it. Even if your church has $40,000 + in the treasury, you may not want to invest it all into your music department all at once. 

High-end music equipment is expensive for a good reason, and you can’t produce quality music and sound without it. This is not a matter of vanity, it’s a matter of quality.

If you want to learn how to play the piano by ear for free, visit www.cross3network.com/free

To view the entire episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/record-yourself

Music is all about listening. The better we are at listening to music and appreciating the details, the more enjoyable listening to music is.

One of the best ways to become a better musician is to listen to yourself. Listening to yourself on a recording can be tough, not so bad, or enjoyable depending on how good and experienced you are.

The truth is, just about every musician on the face of the earth has heard themselves on a recording and cringed. If they didn’t cringe then someone else cringed for them.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/future

Need a training resource for your church keyboard player, visit cross3network.com

Many musicians are leaving the church at an alarming rate, but the question is why? Before the 2000s, you could walk in any given church and see an abundance of musicians that were hungry for action and ready to play their instruments. Many churches had so many musicians that the musicians had to take turns playing.   

Things are definitely not like they used to be. The financial value of musicians has gone up significantly over the past few decades because they are not as abundant as they once were.   In some areas, musicians have become so scarce that they play 3 and 4 church services in one Sunday.   In the past, the church would organically breed its own musical talent.

But now a lot of this musical talent has either died off, went into show business, or is no longer in commission.   The future of musical talent in the church is at stake. The church at large has two options. 

The first option is to let things continue as they are and let the musical fire in church completely die or the second option is to put a system in place that will allow the church to breed it’s own talent each and every year.   The future of musicians and the church will be nothing like the past. There are 3 main elements that the church will need to incorporate in the future to have great musical success…

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/praise_break

Download my Piano CheatSheet for FREE at https://www.cross3network.com/chords

Playing praise breaks in church can be one of the most exciting things to play for many church musicians. Between playing with the high tempo and seeing people dance to your music with an extreme level of excitement and praise… It can be a real adrenaline rush. Especially for young musicians.

Playing a praise break is exciting but always best when it’s played the right way.

When the excitement is high and everyone is in the moment during the praise break, It’s easy to assume that the praise break music that’s being played is random and with a high tempo. But the truth is, there are 4 elements to playing most praise breaks.

To view  the full episode visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/do-you-suck

Download the FREE Piano Chord Cheatsheet at www.cross3network.com/chords 

Musicians come in all shapes and sizes. No two musicians are exactly alike because no two people are exactly alike.

If you put 100 professional keyboard players that play the same music genre in the same room at the same time with 100 keyboards for them to play, you’ll realize that all of the musicians are very different and have different abilities.

Some of the musicians in the room may have extremely fast fingers while others may have relatively slow fingers. Some musicians in the room might be absolute fundamental experts while others might be “power chord” players.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/chordlesson

Download my FREE Piano Chord Cheatsheet at www.cross3network.com/chords

Learning how to play gospel keys in the beginning can be super exciting, challenging, frustrating, and even overwhelming all at once.

Sometimes in the beginning it can be very tempting to go straight for all of the tricks and treats and start blazing right out of the gate. Even though we must crawl before we walk, most don’t really want to. Most people want to start running full speed right out the gate and instantly become this phenomenal musician.

The truth is, there is a process and we all have to go through it.

When I was a younger musician, all I wanted to do was learn the fancy chords and blaze but i couldn’t because I didn’t fully know the basics yet. (Even though some people can kind of get away with it because their musical ear is more developed)

Here’s a story about a time when I had the privilege to learn from one of the greatest gospel musicians in the state of Virginia and what he taught me about playing gospel piano chords.

Sitting down and learning from one of the greatest gospel musicians in the state of Virginia changed the way that I viewed the keyboard.

The thing that blew my mind was the fact that he didn’t teach me any new or blazing chords. In fact, the only chord that he taught me that I didn’t already know was the tritone.

To see the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/loyalty

Before we dive into it… I want you to know that this applies to you if you’re a musician and if you’re a Pastor.

Over the past few decades, the relationship between musician and church has changed. There was a day when the church had an abundance of musicians to the point of paying their musician very little if anything at all.

There was a time when musicians were not only loyal to churches, but churches were loyal to musicians.

Just like relationships, both parties have to bring something to the table. This is not to blame or point the finger at churches nor musicians, but the point of this is to help us move forward, mend relationships, and make life easier for both the musician and the church.

As a musician of 20 plus years, I want to share a portion of my story and why I’m a loyal musician to my church.

View the full episode at https://www.cross3network.com/blog/dominate

Major 7th and Major 9th chords are beautiful sounding chords that sound different depending on where you place them. The only difference between the Major 7th and Major 9th chords are one single note, and because of it, the Major 9th chord sounds more full and powerful.   

There are quite a few different places that you can play the Major 7th and Major 9th chords, and like most chords, there are many different situations that you can use these chords in.  

Like many other chords, you have to be careful not to overuse these chords because you don’t want to take away from how effective they can be in certain moments.   

In this FREE training, I want to demonstrate how to play these chords in the key of C and C#. It’s always best to learn all 12 versions of the chord so that you won’t lack in certain situations.  

 Download your FREE piano cheat sheet at www.cross3network.com/chords 

Download your FREE Piano Chord Cheat Sheet at https://www.cross3network.com/chords

After being a gospel musician in the church arena for the past 20 years, I’ve done a lot and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’ve gotten a few things right. One thing that I didn’t realize when I was a brand new keyboard player was that being a church musician is more than just being talented and skilled.

Some musicians are very fortunate to have a great mentor while some have to figure everything out on their own.

If I could go back in time tell myself 10 things to focus on to be a great musician… These are the 10 things that I would tell myself…

Download my Free Piano Cheat Sheet at https://www.cross3network.com/chords

To view the full episode visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/easy-ear

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Unless you are completely tone-deaf, we all have a musical ear to some degree. It’s not a matter of having a musical ear or not, it’s a matter of how developed your musical ear is.

Most people can sing a song in the correct key, while some can tell you every single note that’s being played without having a musical instrument in front of them.

A musical ear is like a muscle, you have to exercise it and build it up for it to get better.

There is a myth that you either have an ear for music or you don’t, and that’s not true.

There are also a few different ways to develop your ear, but the easiest and most convenient way to build your music ear is by transcribing.

Get INSTANT access to a FREE Piano Cheat Sheet at https://www.cross3network.com/chords 

 Learn how to play gospel keys at www.cross3network.com

Have you ever played a song on the piano whether at home, at a gig, or at church, and made a mistake? Did it embarrass you so bad that you couldn’t come back from it? It seemed to haunt you for days and even weeks if not longer?   

Me too… 

Years ago, when I was a teenager,  I had to play for my church’s national choir. We were invited to sing at another church’s national convention.   The choir that I was playing for started to sing their first song. The song was a slow worship song and the beginning of the song was soft piano which happened to be just me playing.   

Before the song could go any further I drew a blank and completely forgot what I was supposed to play. I fumbled around for about 3 or 4 seconds and those 3 or 4 seconds felt like 3 or 4 hours.   

Maybe you get it… Maybe you understand what it’s like to make an embarrassing mistake on stage, or you might be wondering what the big deal is.  Just in case you don’t know what the big deal is, I will break it down for you … Anytime there is  live event and you are the guest talent, you must know and understand that they didn’t just call anybody but they called you. 

You must know that they called you because you’re good and they trust you.  Back to the big mistake that I made…  Not only did I embarrass myself, but I embarrassed the band, the choir director, and the choir.   

I learned a very valuable lesson from this situation. The lesson was in my preparation. I realized that I had been preparing like an amateur and it was time to start preparing like a professional.    

Learn My 5 FREE Practice Tips That Will Instantly Change The Way You Practice Forever!

To view the full episode visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/chord-progressions  

Learn  how to gospel piano by ear with on $10 per month at www.cross3network.com

Learning new chord progressions as a beginner is very exciting because it feels like each new progression that you learn takes your playing to a whole new level. When you first start learning how to play the piano in the gospel world and for your church, it’s critical that you learn the most common chord progression first.

As time goes on, and you continue to learn and get better, you will find that one day you will have more chord progressions in your repertoire than you could have ever imagined.

The sole purpose of chord progressions are to get you from one point in a song to another. With experience, you’ll learn a lot of chord progressions just from transcribing new songs. You’ll also realize that chord progressions repeat a lot.

I wanted to quickly share with you 1 chord progression that every beginner must know.

To learn more about chord progressions in great detail and how to use them simply click here www.cross3network.com.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/you-dont-suck

To learn how to play gospel piano for only $10 per month, visit www.cross3network.com 

Stop telling yourself that you suck! Putting yourself down and telling yourself things like “I suck”, “I’m no good”, “I’ll never be good enough”, is never going to help you and is definitely not gong to make you feel better about your situation.

There is always a better way to look at a situation that’s not perfect. Instead of saying “I suck”, you can ask yourself… “how do I get unstuck?”. You can even ask yourself “Who do I need to talk to or where do I need to go to figure this out?”.

My point is, there is always a better way than having negative thinking and using negative words.

It may be true that you’re not the best musician in the world, but who is?… I mean really…

It may be true that you are not where you want to be in your musicianship and that’s actually a good thing. This simply means that you haven’t settled and you still want to learn and grow.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/big-chords

Learning how to play big chords/advanced chords can be intimidating at first, but once you learn the right strategy behind playing more advanced chords, you’ll realize that it’s actually simple.

Playing big chords is actually very simple, but the key is to have a solid foundation first. The more solid your foundation is, the more you can build on it.

I would be lying to you if I told you that you can’t just jump to the advanced chords. I would however be telling you the truth if I told you that jumping to the advanced chords first can hurt you in the future and limit your growth. Building a solid foundation today will make you limitless tomorrow.

Building a solid foundation and learning the basics today will ensure a very promising future. One day you’ll be able to play any and everything that you could possibly hear and think of.

If you would like more information on how to learn to play the piano keyboard by ear, visit www.cross3network.com.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/tritones-secrets

The tritone is a two note chord (any two notes) with five notes in-between. The tritone is an odd sounding chord and some would say it sounds dirty, but it’s typically played in the left hand to add more fullness and flare to your chords.

You can use the tritone in many different ways for many different situations, but it all depends on your intuition and your style of play. You can use the tritone to add flare to a gospel worship or praise song, you can use it to sound more full and give your chords more life, and you can also use the tritone to sound more churchy.

Learn more about how to play gospel piano by ear at www.cross3network.com.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/number-system

Learning the number system as a musician is one of the best things that you could ever learn musically. It will change your life and make things a lot easier.

One of the keys to learning the number system is not to over complicate it.

Has it ever seemed like learning the number system was complicated or just taking too long for you to grasp? Have you ever asked yourself “why can’t I understand the number system?”?

If you feel this way, then you are not alone. I’ve felt this way before and almost every musician that you listen to today has felt this way at one point in their lives.

Here’s the good news… there is nothing wrong with you and it’s not your fault that you haven’t learned the number system yet. The secret to truly learning the number system is to fully experience the number system.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/instantly-churchy

Being that we are in the year 2020, most musicians and churches these days don’t use the churchy sound like they did decades ago. However, every gospel musician must know and understand their roots and how to play gospel music in it’s original state. I can’t stress to you enough how important it is for gospel musicians to understand the origin of gospel music.

Even though gospel music has evolved through the decades, gospel music as a genre could suffer a major identity crisis. If gospel musicians of today and the future never learn the origin of gospel music, this genre could become extinction.

Many new gospel musicians struggle to learn how to play “churchy” these days due to one reason....the origin of gospel music isn’t being passed down from generation to generation like it use to.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/the-fastest-way-to-learn-your-basic-piano-chords

When you first start playing the piano, learning the piano chords can be quite intimidating. Once you realize how simple learning your basic piano chords can be, you’ll have the confidence to learn them and learn them fast.

It’s easy to look at a piano chord chart and get overwhelmed because it seems like you have to learn and memorize so many chords. After you learn this simple technique to learning your basic piano chords, you’ll realize that it’s a lot easier than it looks.

Many piano teachers like to take their time and drag out the process of teaching you how to play the piano. My goal is help you to start playing the piano as fast as you possibly can.

Here is the fastest way to learn your basic piano chords.

If you would like to learn the rest of the major, minor, and diminished chords for free, then you can download my FREE Piano Cheat Sheet at https://www.cross3network.com/pl/151497