Learning piano.... advice on how to?

[extraT]

Hello

My six-year-old daughter is learning to play the piano… Apparently she has quite a talent for it as a result we are going to buy her a piano (something suitable of course) The teacher actually recommended a piano which we will get. It’s 88keys.

But this post isn’t about my daughter, it’s about me.

My question is I would like to be able to bust out a few tunes… The only problem is I can’t play!

There is a bit more to the story every skills that I’ve learnt I’ve been self taught I taught myself to draw by literally getting a book from WH Smiths and learning step-by-step… And the same with the guitar… However I think the piano would need something a bit more?

I’ve been looking at YouTube lessons and these things and they seem good and I will of course utilise them but my question is is there something out there that PistonHeads can recommend when you already have the piano at home? Programmable lights perhaps? Or stickers for the notes? Anything like that?

Thanks!

ET

[GetCarter]

A friend of mine has grade 8 piano, but when I asked her to play an E minor, she couldn't.

My top tip is don't become a 'copy typist' and as you probably have with guitar, learn your chords. It'll serve you well.

[extraT]

GetCarter said:

A friend of mine has grade 8 piano, but when I asked her to play an E minor, she couldn't.

My top tip is don't become a 'copy typist' and as you probably have with guitar, learn your chords. It'll serve you well.

That actually makes sense, Carter.

In the beginning with guitar I was a “copy typist” but then made an effort to learn chords and progressions. I’m still terrible!

[FredClogs]

I had piano lessons as a kid and can bang out a couple of favourites from muscle memory but trying to learn anything new seems impossible, whilst I can still learn new tunes on the guitar. My daughter has also just started lessons and I've decided to do her exercises after she's finished practicing, getting the two hands to work entirely independently is the key.

P. S check out that Brendan Kavanagh guy on youtube.

[thebraketester]

Nothing can replace one to one lessons IMO, there is bound to be someone local to you.

[57Ford]

I’d love to have even a fraction of this guy’s ability - not a single lesson either!

https://youtu.be/AnndwXAX4Y8

[GetCarter]

Indeed.

For balance I should add that reading musical notation (if you want to earn a living - re your daughter) is VERY important, though not essential.

I write a lot of piano music, which I could never play due to my hopeless incompetence, but I know people that can read, second nature. It always amazes me. This is a mate of mine, reading my dots:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVm-sECpppU

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 10th November 14:16

[Sebastian Tombs]

Practice all the time. Play as often as you can. Play chords all over the keyboard and your fingers will remember the shapes. It's muscle memory exactly like touch typing. I practiced doing arpeggios up and down the keyboard, and playing octaves with both hands to improve my accuracy and speed.

At some point I became reasonably good.

[cherryowen]

GetCarter said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVm-sECpppU

Edited by GetCarter on Sunday 10th November 14:16

See, what he's doing there is witchcraft and sorcery!

It's also very, very easy on the ear; I enjoyed that. Akin to a nocturne in style.

To the OP, maybe search out Rick Beato on YT. He's what I would call a musical polymath when it comes to music theory, and his piano and guitar workshops are eye opening.

[lockhart flawse]

One term's one-to-one lessons with a private teacher would be about £180 and would save a lot of messing around. You dont mention whether you can read music? Its far from essential but useful and its good to learn a new skill when you're a bit older.

Most people, including me, are not particularly talented but get there through practice and ultimately that's the only way to improve but I think it would help you to have someone who can assess your ability and point you in the right direction.

Or you could just use whatever instructional books your daughter is using. Not easy though the piano.

[GetCarter]

cherryowen said:

See, what he's doing there is witchcraft and sorcery!

I completely agree. Fact is he pays 4 hours a day every day and has done for the best part of 50 years. I guess he just got lucky

[Simes205]

thebraketester said:

Nothing can replace one to one lessons IMO, there is bound to be someone local to you.

As above, I’m a secondary Head of Music and the use of YouTube by kids is growing and staggering. But 1-1 is the most valuable. YouTube cannot give you feedback.

[Skyedriver]

GetCarter said:

A friend of mine has grade 8 piano, but when I asked her to play an E minor, she couldn't.

My top tip is don't become a 'copy typist' and as you probably have with guitar, learn your chords. It'll serve you well.

Hi Steve
Numpty Question

I know an E minor chord on the guitar, how do i transfer that to a piano, (6 strings guitar to 5 fingers on the keyboard)

[thebraketester]

In its simplest form you play E G B

[anonymous-user]

Been getting into piano recently after only playing strings. It's really great to play around with things like cluster chords and inversions, stuff that never really clicked sans piano.

So the simple way on piano is 135 EGB. But if that sounds odd coming from guitar, try playing E B lower down, then play the G higher up somewhere. So 15 then a 3 . And you get a very different sounding chord. The G is forced up on the guitar normally. I think if you cluster the notes too deeply in the bass, they can get a bit muddled on the piano, more than the guitar. If you want to get more of a guitar feel, mimic the top E string with a high E to top off the chrord. But really once you have the base chord you can add any extra E or B or G a bit higher up to add a bit of brightness without changing things too much.

I'm only grade 2 piano so happy to be corrected!

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 23 November 22:27

[Simes205]

brickwall said:

GetCarter said:

A friend of mine has grade 8 piano, but when I asked her to play an E minor, she couldn't.

Hard to see how you pass grade 8 without being able to play an E minor chord.

Last time I checked, the scales and arpeggios section requires you to learn, for any key:
- Major and minor (melodic and harmonic) scales, played 4 octaves in parallel motion, at speed, legato and staccato...
- ...With hands an octave apart, a sixth apart, and a third apart
- A sub-set of the above played in contrary motion
- Major and minor arpeggios, again 4 octaves, hands an octave apart
- Diminished 7th arpeggios
- Single handed scales in 3rds
- A few other random ones

When I last checked it was something like ~160 scales, chords and arpeggios.

That’s of course on top of the sight-singing and aural tests, and the sight reading....

...And a requirement to learn 3 fairly hard pieces; one of which will be a classical sonata....

...And a requirement to have Grade 5 theory before you can even sit the exam.

I’m not saying having grade 8 makes you a great musician, or even a good one. But it is unlikely you’ll get through it without being able to play an E minor chord.

Plausible, grade 8 doesn’t teach us about harmony.
I’ve just had a grade 8 flautist come to me to study A level music who found it difficult to tell me what the time signature was of a piece we were listening to.
You can get to grade 8 without doing gd.5 theory.
It’s only a requirement if you go via Abrsm. Trinity Guildhall has different methods.

Edited by Simes205 on Saturday 23 November 23:41

[Whatsmyname]

Do you know boogie woogie?

[LeadFarmer]

Bought my lad a Yamaha keyboard for Xmas last year when he was 12. One year on and he's taught himself to play quite a few tunes, including Bohemian Rhapsody by following Youtube guides. He can't read music and he's probably just done it by remembering which keys to press, but I do love to here him practice.

I'd like to get him lessons but he's not too interested, he just loves playing around on it. But i'm getting him a digital 88 key piano for Xmas, probably the Casio Privia PX770, and maybe he'll eventually agree to some lessons.

[GetCarter]

Skyedriver said:

Hi Steve
Numpty Question

I know an E minor chord on the guitar, how do i transfer that to a piano, (6 strings guitar to 5 fingers on the keyboard)

If you can sing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do (many can't), then you are on your way. If you can't, you're fked.

This is easy to teach but bloody hard to type by the way!

Go back to the guitar and sing Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do and play the notes on the guitar as you sing - on ONE string (any string will do)

You'll notice that from the open string you move 2 frets up for Re, then 2 frets for Mi then 1 fret, then 2 frets then 2 frets then 2 frets then 1 fret

so... starting note then 2,2,1,2,2,2,1

This is the most important bit of musical theory you'll ever learn.

Call the starting note (Do) 1 Re = 2 Mi = 3 etc

You get 12345678 - the major scale. To play ANY major chord you just need notes 1, 3 and 5 (try it on piano starting anywhere - just remember to move your finger: starting note then 2,2,1,2,2,2,1)

To play ANY MINOR chord you just have to 'flatten' the 3rd (flatten just means one note down). So on piano or guitar it'll be 2,1,2,2,2,2,1.

If that made sense to you, you can now play any major or minor chord on piano. (Not bad for one paragraph).

To answer your question: To play E major or minor on piano you just need to google where E is on the piano keyboard and follow the instructions above.

Sorted!

[Skyedriver]

Thanks Steve
I've got a little red book (not written by any Chairman) called Rudiments of Music.
Think in your short text you have explained that better!

As well as beginner guitar tuition a while ago (before I relocated) I did piano for a few years in the 1980's. Just as you describe, copy typist style.
(Was a gentle little old lady in her 70's or 80's who played in the Methodist church along the street. Some of the stuff was churchy or classical but she asked if there were any tunes I wanted to try. I was into Elton John at the time. She used to sing along to the hymns and tried singing the words to EJ.
Hard to stop laughing when she got to

Laughing like children, living like lovers
Rolling like thunder under the covers

Also tried Northumbrian Pipes for a while but my fat little fingers kept fighting for space on the chanter....