Welcome to Sacramento Music Group!
Download materials from Karen's YouTube video lessons
Are You Just Starting To Play?
If you think back to when you first started to play the piano, organ, or keyboard, you'll probably remember all the decisions that you had to make just to get started: "Should I get a piano, digital piano, or keyboard?", "Should I use a book or get a teacher?", "How do I find a piano (or keyboard or organ) teacher?" Maybe you, your child or grandchild, or one of your friends are just getting started; you're excited about learning how to play but you're just not sure how to begin.
Karen has written a book to help new piano, organ, and keyboard players make those first decisions and start playing. Everything You Need To Know Before You Start To Play The Piano gives friendly, simple answers which draw from her experience as a teacher and former retail sales manager. Karen has helped thousands of students choose their first piano, organ, or keyboard and, through her book, she can help you. See the book on the ''Karen's Lesson Books" page.
** KAREN'S NEW BOOK IS HERE! **
Karen's new book called "Playing With Attitude Without Much Aptitude" is now available as a printed book and PDF! This new book combines lesson content from her popular earlier books "So Much to Learn And Not Enough Years Left to Learn Them" and "Every Workshop I've Ever Done". Visit the ''Karen's Lesson Books" page to order.
Music Lesson DVD's!
Do you learn better by watching someone teach than by reading from a book? Karen has created two DVD sets so you can learn by watching her teach. See the ''Karen's Lesson Books" page for more details.
Welcome!
Sacramento Music Group is the home of Karen Ramirez and her unique music instructional method which teaches students how to easily understand music and play for their own enjoyment. Her online video classes have been viewed by thousands of students, with over 6.6 million total views on YouTube.
Karen describes her own musical journey by saying "I started taking piano lessons from a very respected teacher when I was 7 years old. My teacher used a particular well-known piano method and taught every student page by page through the levels. Consequently, I learned only the structured basics of music. I never learned to play songs by ear. I never learned chords and how they work together in a song. I never learned to be free of music and improvise on a melody. Even through college, playing the organ and taking sight singing, music appreciation and playing in the band, I never really put all of the pieces together."
"So, after college, I started teaching a music store and began teaching group classes for adults. I started attending artists workshops and learned the shortcuts they used to make their music more enjoyable. I learned that a note reader can become an ear player and the structured background that I had was the foundation to build on."
Karen says "Most people think music is complicated and they are too old to learn, so they never try it." However, she believes that anyone can learn to play the piano, keyboard, or organ regardless of experience or age. Karen's unique approach to teaching has helped many students who have learned to play with great satisfaction over the years.
Karen has written several books on short cuts to playing music; her fun, energetic approach using humor and entertainment will help anyone who desires to play a musical instrument. These popular books are now available on this web site.
About Karen
Karen Ramirez has been teaching piano, keyboard and organ lessons for over 40 years. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7 and eventually made the organ her main instrument. Karen started playing in church at age 13 and was teaching young students how to play while still in high school. In college, she studied classical music, but her real passion was to teach popular music to adults who just want to play and have fun.
After college, Karen began working in the retail piano industry and learned from a legendary teacher how to teach group keyboard classes. She was one of the first professionally trained group teachers on the west coast. Karen has travelled across the United States, showing other teachers how to make playing music fun and easy.
Watch Karen's online video classes on YouTube