Learning the Piano

[fmr]

hit the black and white bits till you find something you like.

that's the method for a lot of electronic/idm music

Or just hit the black keys. It's probably better to get some results right away

[vurt]

hit the black and white bits till you find something you like.

that's the method for a lot of electronic/idm music

Or just hit the black keys. It's probably better to get some results right away

guitar is much easier for a beginner.
step 1: stand in front of mirror with tennis racket.
6 months later, play first stadium gig.

[jancivil]

piano is hard

[Jbravo]

piano is hard

I always thought it was the easiest, every note is easily playable unlike say a violin or trumpet

also I find the guitar quite baffling seeing as the same note can be played in lots of different places. Like how do you decide which is best?

[jancivil]

tone color, basically; then how accessible, where are your other fingers going to have to be.

G below middle C: open 3rd string; fret 5 on 4th string, bigger string; fret 10 on 5th, bigger string; fret 15 on 6th, bigger string.

Bigger string imparts a fatter tone.

[empphryio]

Where to start from if I'm a complete beginner?

Find a song you like and figure it out. Memorize it. At the same time spend some time sight reading really super easy stuff. A well rounded pianist is good at both memorization and sight reading. Most pianists are good at only one. When sight reading don't look at your hands.

You don't have to do scales. Some do, some don't. Learning songs in a given key can work just as well. There are tons of technique exercises you can do like Hanon but that stuff is very boring and you're not going to become Ling Ling or whoever. Sight reading Czerny keeps it somewhat fun at least.

For memorization fur elise or the slow movement if moonlight sonata are fine. My 5 year old can play those already (small hand arrangement for moonlight.)

[empphryio]

piano is hard

I always thought it was the easiest, every note is easily playable unlike say a violin or trumpet

also I find the guitar quite baffling seeing as the same note can be played in lots of different places. Like how do you decide which is best?

The learning curve is just different. I play cello and piano. Cello is mostly just one note at a time. In some ways that's way easier. Sight reading is certainly easier. Piano is a kind of multitasking that just doesn't cone natural. Otoh, given two weeks you can accomplish more on piano as cello is fretless and it takes quite a while to develop your ear.

[Stamped Records]

I'm learning the piano myself right now and I've done it pretty much my own way. I learned a certain amount of theory and then I started to put my hands on the chords and move the chords around a bit with basic inversions and voiceleading.

It depends whether you are learning to compose or learning to play.

For composing, once I had harmony kinda studied, I then went to put two hands on the piano and innevitably got stripped back to two finger playing.

I tend to think of it as using two hands to drum on a table - really easy to do, so I'm approaching it from that point of view with a view to edit the notes and the rhythm on the fly.

In terms of rhythm, I think simple 8th notes are good to begin with and 16ths can be added later.

Also, in terms of composition, I think it's fun to think of your left hand right hand simple drumming patterns as bass and melody. All you gotta do is alter the notes as the rhythm goes by - for simpler music.

Hope that helps.

Oh yeah, arpeggios.

[BertKoor]

Having to choose between the piano and the violin, I prefer the piano.










It burns much longer

[pascual]

Moved...

[pekbro]

I've never really viewed the piano and guitar as being tremendously different from each other in a play-ability or even a musical sense.

[jancivil]

Consider yourself fortunate

- pretty hard to bend a piano string, def not a major third or P4 bend like a Slinky string.
I did not grow up with a useable piano. I have no instinct for it anyway.

I can do very little with the left hand, it's upside down to begin with. I need both hands involved to play a one-hand bit.
Now I have the Sensel Morph with a piano overlay, there is no action at all, I can do some pretty hot licks with my off-the-wall fingerings and atrophied hands.
Not doing keyboard input at all got really tedious, I found something I could not pencil into the piano roll for shit the other day, hrs of unproductive struggle

[mladi]

Piano teachers doesn't exist without reason..

[lucid_iii]

I started learning piano on my own, then quickly decided to go with a teacher. I'm glad I did. I agree with the points here about needing to learn fundamentals correctly so that you don't have to unlearn bad habits later on. Even though we're in this pandemic and I can't go in person, I'm able to do it over Zoom. I have a computer set up behind the piano with a webcam that I can point down at my hands so the teacher can see what I'm doing, which is working out well.

[vurt]

I've never really viewed the piano and guitar as being tremendously different from each other in a play-ability or even a musical sense.

which is the one you blow? im not sure i have the lungs for that these days...