Chords for Native American Flute Tutorial #1 - Your First Note
Tempo:
92.1 bpm
Chords used:
Bb
C
Eb
F
Em
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Bb] [F] [Am] I'm Kevin Village [C] Stone.
I'm a multi-instrumentalist and [Bb] was in the Native American Music Award in 2007 for the Native American Flute.
But [F] I'm not going to bore you with my background.
You want to know [Dm] how to play Native American Flute, and we're going to do [Eb] that right now.
[Gb]
[Em] [B] [Cm]
[N] Even the most prettiest of songs that you could ever come [Bb] up with with your flute is always going to start with the [E] very basics, which is your first note.
[N] Most people blow too hard.
That's usually going to be your problem.
You blow too hard and you get
and
you get squeaks and squeals.
So you want to adopt a breath with your lips like this, almost like a kiss, and you're going to puff the air very gently
like
a whisper.
[Bb] Just like you're blowing into [N] someone's ear.
You're not going to blow like a hurricane.
And the easiest note to hit is [C] actually not the bottom note, which is all the fingers [Em] closed.
I will talk [Eb] about fingering [Bb] in another video.
[N] So you want to start out either with [G] all the fingers down or raise the bottom one, because the lowest note takes the most [Bb] breath control to produce in most flutes, especially if you're playing a [N] deep flute.
Now this one here, let's take this finger off
[C] [N] and
just blow.
You don't have to do anything with your tongue, just [C] blow.
[F] [Bb]
And you notice when I play, there's a little [Gm] bit of vibrato.
You don't have to worry about that right now [Fm] either.
Let's just play a note and
[N] just get it to where your breath is nice and steady.
Otherwise [C] you're
[N] Nice and steady.
[C]
[N] And then, when you want to give a little bit of articulation to the note, just a very gentle two.
Just say that into the [Ab] flute.
Again,
[N] the amount of breath is the most important thing.
Some flutes are very bright and loud and will require more air pressure.
Whereas the deeper flutes actually require, believe it or not, less air but far more [Eb] control.
So the very first thing with whatever flute you [N] have is start out with the bottom note or the second to the bottom note.
And just practice playing just one note, and when you get it consistent, then you add the two to it so you can get some articulation.
And then we will talk about fingering patterns in a later video.
One thing I will say right now is as you're producing your note, make sure that all your fingers are correctly over the holes.
Now you don't want to white knuckle it.
You don't need pressure.
You don't have to grab it real tight.
You want to use precision.
So you want to just have your fingers over each hole so they seal.
And you should be able to feel the ring of the hole [Eb] on your finger.
So you just want to have a nice seal [N] on everything because if you have a partial leak, then it can squeal, it can make all kinds of weird noise.
So just start out with that real simple.
Seal the holes.
Blow.
And you've made your first note.
I will give you one little professional tip which is very funny.
Don't look at your fingers.
Learn to play without looking at your fingers.
You know why?
Because when you look at your fingers, this is what you look like to the audience.
Okay?
[E] Have fun.
We'll see you at the next tutorial.
[N] Thank you for watching this tutorial, one in a continuing series.
For more information about myself or my music, please visit www .kevinvillagestone.com Wado.
I'm a multi-instrumentalist and [Bb] was in the Native American Music Award in 2007 for the Native American Flute.
But [F] I'm not going to bore you with my background.
You want to know [Dm] how to play Native American Flute, and we're going to do [Eb] that right now.
[Gb]
[Em] [B] [Cm]
[N] Even the most prettiest of songs that you could ever come [Bb] up with with your flute is always going to start with the [E] very basics, which is your first note.
[N] Most people blow too hard.
That's usually going to be your problem.
You blow too hard and you get
and
you get squeaks and squeals.
So you want to adopt a breath with your lips like this, almost like a kiss, and you're going to puff the air very gently
like
a whisper.
[Bb] Just like you're blowing into [N] someone's ear.
You're not going to blow like a hurricane.
And the easiest note to hit is [C] actually not the bottom note, which is all the fingers [Em] closed.
I will talk [Eb] about fingering [Bb] in another video.
[N] So you want to start out either with [G] all the fingers down or raise the bottom one, because the lowest note takes the most [Bb] breath control to produce in most flutes, especially if you're playing a [N] deep flute.
Now this one here, let's take this finger off
[C] [N] and
just blow.
You don't have to do anything with your tongue, just [C] blow.
[F] [Bb]
And you notice when I play, there's a little [Gm] bit of vibrato.
You don't have to worry about that right now [Fm] either.
Let's just play a note and
[N] just get it to where your breath is nice and steady.
Otherwise [C] you're
[N] Nice and steady.
[C]
[N] And then, when you want to give a little bit of articulation to the note, just a very gentle two.
Just say that into the [Ab] flute.
Again,
[N] the amount of breath is the most important thing.
Some flutes are very bright and loud and will require more air pressure.
Whereas the deeper flutes actually require, believe it or not, less air but far more [Eb] control.
So the very first thing with whatever flute you [N] have is start out with the bottom note or the second to the bottom note.
And just practice playing just one note, and when you get it consistent, then you add the two to it so you can get some articulation.
And then we will talk about fingering patterns in a later video.
One thing I will say right now is as you're producing your note, make sure that all your fingers are correctly over the holes.
Now you don't want to white knuckle it.
You don't need pressure.
You don't have to grab it real tight.
You want to use precision.
So you want to just have your fingers over each hole so they seal.
And you should be able to feel the ring of the hole [Eb] on your finger.
So you just want to have a nice seal [N] on everything because if you have a partial leak, then it can squeal, it can make all kinds of weird noise.
So just start out with that real simple.
Seal the holes.
Blow.
And you've made your first note.
I will give you one little professional tip which is very funny.
Don't look at your fingers.
Learn to play without looking at your fingers.
You know why?
Because when you look at your fingers, this is what you look like to the audience.
Okay?
[E] Have fun.
We'll see you at the next tutorial.
[N] Thank you for watching this tutorial, one in a continuing series.
For more information about myself or my music, please visit www .kevinvillagestone.com Wado.
Key:
Bb
C
Eb
F
Em
Bb
C
Eb
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [F] _ [Am] I'm Kevin Village [C] Stone.
I'm a multi-instrumentalist and [Bb] was in the Native American Music Award in 2007 for the Native American Flute.
But [F] I'm not going to bore you with my background.
You want to know [Dm] how to play Native American Flute, and we're going to do [Eb] that right now.
[Gb] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [Cm] _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ Even _ _ _ _ _ the most prettiest of songs that you could ever come [Bb] up with with your flute is always going to start with the [E] very basics, which is your first note. _
[N] Most people blow too hard.
That's usually going to be your problem.
You blow too hard and you get_
_and
you get squeaks and squeals.
So you want to adopt a breath with your lips like this, almost like a kiss, and you're going to puff the air very gently_
_like
a whisper.
_ _ [Bb] Just like you're blowing into [N] someone's ear.
You're not going to blow like a hurricane.
_ _ _ _ And the easiest note to hit is [C] actually not the bottom note, which is all the fingers [Em] closed.
I will talk [Eb] about fingering [Bb] in another video.
_ [N] So you want to start out either with [G] all the fingers down or raise the bottom one, because the lowest note takes the most [Bb] breath control to produce in most flutes, especially if you're playing a [N] deep flute.
Now this one here, let's take this finger off_
[C] _ _ _ [N] _and
just blow.
You don't have to do anything with your tongue, just [C] blow.
_ [F] _ _ _ [Bb]
And you notice when I play, there's a little [Gm] bit of vibrato.
You don't have to worry about that right now [Fm] either.
Let's just play a note and _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] _ just get it to where your breath is nice and steady.
Otherwise _ _ [C] you're_ _
[N] Nice and steady.
[C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [N] _ And then, when you want to give a little bit of articulation to the note, just a very gentle two.
Just say that into the [Ab] flute.
_ _ _ Again, _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ the amount of breath is the most important thing.
Some flutes are very bright and loud and will require more air pressure.
Whereas the deeper flutes actually require, believe it or not, less air but far more [Eb] control.
So the very first thing with whatever flute you [N] have is start out with the bottom note or the second to the bottom note.
And just practice playing just one note, and when you get it consistent, then you add the two to it so you can get some articulation.
And then we will talk about fingering patterns in a later video.
One thing I will say right now is as you're producing your note, make sure that all your fingers are correctly over the holes.
Now you don't want to white knuckle it.
You don't need pressure.
You don't have to grab it real tight.
You want to use precision.
So you want to just have your fingers over each hole so they seal.
And you should be able to feel the ring of the hole [Eb] on your finger.
So you just want to have a nice seal [N] on everything because if you have a partial leak, then it can squeal, it can make all kinds of weird noise.
So just start out with that real simple.
Seal the holes.
Blow. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And you've made your first note.
I will give you one little professional tip which is very funny.
Don't look at your fingers.
Learn to play without looking at your fingers.
You know why?
Because when you look at your fingers, this is what you look like to the audience.
_ Okay?
[E] Have fun.
We'll see you at the next tutorial.
[N] _ Thank you for watching this tutorial, one in a continuing series.
For more information about myself or my music, please visit www _ _ .kevinvillagestone.com Wado. _
I'm a multi-instrumentalist and [Bb] was in the Native American Music Award in 2007 for the Native American Flute.
But [F] I'm not going to bore you with my background.
You want to know [Dm] how to play Native American Flute, and we're going to do [Eb] that right now.
[Gb] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [Cm] _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ Even _ _ _ _ _ the most prettiest of songs that you could ever come [Bb] up with with your flute is always going to start with the [E] very basics, which is your first note. _
[N] Most people blow too hard.
That's usually going to be your problem.
You blow too hard and you get_
_and
you get squeaks and squeals.
So you want to adopt a breath with your lips like this, almost like a kiss, and you're going to puff the air very gently_
_like
a whisper.
_ _ [Bb] Just like you're blowing into [N] someone's ear.
You're not going to blow like a hurricane.
_ _ _ _ And the easiest note to hit is [C] actually not the bottom note, which is all the fingers [Em] closed.
I will talk [Eb] about fingering [Bb] in another video.
_ [N] So you want to start out either with [G] all the fingers down or raise the bottom one, because the lowest note takes the most [Bb] breath control to produce in most flutes, especially if you're playing a [N] deep flute.
Now this one here, let's take this finger off_
[C] _ _ _ [N] _and
just blow.
You don't have to do anything with your tongue, just [C] blow.
_ [F] _ _ _ [Bb]
And you notice when I play, there's a little [Gm] bit of vibrato.
You don't have to worry about that right now [Fm] either.
Let's just play a note and _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [N] _ just get it to where your breath is nice and steady.
Otherwise _ _ [C] you're_ _
[N] Nice and steady.
[C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [N] _ And then, when you want to give a little bit of articulation to the note, just a very gentle two.
Just say that into the [Ab] flute.
_ _ _ Again, _ _
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _ the amount of breath is the most important thing.
Some flutes are very bright and loud and will require more air pressure.
Whereas the deeper flutes actually require, believe it or not, less air but far more [Eb] control.
So the very first thing with whatever flute you [N] have is start out with the bottom note or the second to the bottom note.
And just practice playing just one note, and when you get it consistent, then you add the two to it so you can get some articulation.
And then we will talk about fingering patterns in a later video.
One thing I will say right now is as you're producing your note, make sure that all your fingers are correctly over the holes.
Now you don't want to white knuckle it.
You don't need pressure.
You don't have to grab it real tight.
You want to use precision.
So you want to just have your fingers over each hole so they seal.
And you should be able to feel the ring of the hole [Eb] on your finger.
So you just want to have a nice seal [N] on everything because if you have a partial leak, then it can squeal, it can make all kinds of weird noise.
So just start out with that real simple.
Seal the holes.
Blow. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And you've made your first note.
I will give you one little professional tip which is very funny.
Don't look at your fingers.
Learn to play without looking at your fingers.
You know why?
Because when you look at your fingers, this is what you look like to the audience.
_ Okay?
[E] Have fun.
We'll see you at the next tutorial.
[N] _ Thank you for watching this tutorial, one in a continuing series.
For more information about myself or my music, please visit www _ _ .kevinvillagestone.com Wado. _