Had my first ever piano lesson

TimmyO · May 2017

... yesterday. It was fun.

I am rubbish.

I spent an hour this afternoon trying to read and hack out the melody to 'Home on the Range.

Anyone else learned as an adult?

Drew_TNBD · May 2017

I had lessons as a kid and it kind of gave me a fundamental understanding of music theory and composition. I'm not a very good piano or keyboarder though!! Keep at it!

Bidley · May 2017

I'd love to have a crack at it, for the reasons Drew mentioned. But I always get the nagging feeling that I shouldn't spread myself too thinly (I already play guitar, mandolin, tenor guitar and sing regularly).

Woodandwires · May 2017

I have knee surgery on Friday, a friend of mine has "lent" me a huge Technics keyboard/electric piano to have a dabble on while I am recuperating, it looks quite daunting, I may have start lessons as well.

thecolourbox · May 2017

Good on you mate, piano is my primary instrument and it's such a challenging but rewarding thing. Your guitar knowledge will help as it's also a visual instrument, ie move to the left to go lower, right to go higher.

Depending on what style of playing you want to do and how good you intend to get, it's possible to sound OK relatively quickly, but it is pretty difficult to sound genuinely brilliant on it. I know they aren't comparable really but if you play what would be difficult guitar riffs or solos on a piano they sound very basic indeed. But your musical feel for stuff you will have learnt on guitar will come in very useful

Are you learning on a digital piano, keyboard, or real piano? Not a snobbery based question, just interesting to know

TimmyO · May 2017

Cheers folks.

thecolourbox said:
Are you learning on a digital piano, keyboard, or real piano? Not a snobbery based question, just interesting to know

The teacher I went to (who seemed very good, but pricey) teaches on a Grand Piano (!) in a big piano studio extension on the side of his house.

My son (11) has a decent Yamaha weighted hammer action digital piano in his room that we bought him a year or so ago (he's had lessons for quite a while and loves it) so today I did my practice on that (among the man-child-mess lol)

I'd love to have my own weighted keyboard but it'd need to be in our bedroom, and there's not really the room, plus with me no longer earning it's a bit skintsville. If using the lad's proves problematic I may just get a shitty keyboard as 'better than nowt' but for now it's lesson on Grand and hopefully practice on the lad's weighted keyboard.

thecolourbox · May 2017

That's probably a good combination really as then you'll learn the different feel between a mechanical and a digital one, if that makes sense. You'll learn the muscle memory and spatial awareness just as well on the Yamaha as a mechanical, but when at your lessons definitely make a point of focussing on the variety of touch you can do to vary the tone.

scalino65 · May 2017

I got a digital keboard thingy with the idea of teaching myself off youtube. Needless to say, I couldnt be bothered so reverted to how I "leartn" the guitar by playing along with CDs. I am learning very slowly but gradually sounding better/fuller/more fluent. Trying to coordinate left and right hands is really tricky though.

goldtop · May 2017

scalino65 said:

Trying to coordinate left and right hands is really tricky though.

Ain't that the truth. I can do the right notes or the right rhythmn, but not at the same time. It's sort of that reason why I don't do lessons.

Thankfully, piano is very rewarding for improvising with little playing talent. I find that being freed from synth/amp tweaking means that I find it easier to play and find the melodies. Also, somehow, a weighted keyboard makes it feel like you're working to get the notes.

Nomad · May 2017

goldtop said:

Also, somehow, a weighted keyboard makes it feel like you're working to get the notes.

Proper keys feel right. When I started, I had a semi-weighted MIDI controller keyboard into a sound module, and there was no feel. Getting a real piano was night and day. Even though it's different from varying the attack on a guitar, there's something about weighted keys that makes it easy to add dynamic range.

octatonic · May 2017

I had to learn piano at music school.
It is a good skill to have but I don't work on it often enough to be considered good.

goldtop · May 2017

Forget being considered good - just make music that moves you!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Had my first ever piano lesson

Comments