Teaching myself piano, without the piano.

SniperGuy

So I don't have regular access to a piano, but I'd really love to learn how to at least crank out sheet music or play a few basic things. I sing quite frequently, and auditions for things often require bringing sheet music, half impossible if I can't practice with them myself.

The problem is, while at college and over the summer, I won't have access to a piano or a keyboard, unless I buy one. So, any tips for a piano beginner, any resources I can practice with online perhaps? Or do I just need to bite the bullet and get a keyboard?

KalTorak

Well it's obviously best if you can get regular access to a keyboard - training your fingers sounds like it'll be the biggest part since you can already read music. If at all possible go for a real piano - it's nigh-impossible to get the same feel for the nuances of the instrument through a keyboard (unless you spend many thousands of dollars on one, and even then...), plus if you start practice on a keyboard your fingers won't be used to the usually stronger resistance of piano keys.

As far as not having access to any keyboard at all, about as far as you can go would be to work on memorizing the positions/layout of the notes on the keys. Maybe you could print out a section of a keyboard and work on some basic fingerings (scales, arpeggios are about all you can do here), but without an actual keyboard your options are going to be pretty limited.

SniperGuy

What sucks is that at home we have a baby grand piano, which is amazing, dating back from before the american civil war. It's gorgeous and we keep it well maintained. But it's now 7 hours away.

Blake T

KalTorak wrote: »

Well it's obviously best if you can get regular access to a keyboard - training your fingers sounds like it'll be the biggest part since you can already read music. If at all possible go for a real piano - it's nigh-impossible to get the same feel for the nuances of the instrument through a keyboard (unless you spend many thousands of dollars on one, and even then...), plus if you start practice on a keyboard your fingers won't be used to the usually stronger resistance of piano keys.

The expensive new keyboards have full tactive feedback allowing you to hit it hard for loud notes and soft for soft notes, but again too much money. Hit up the second hand stores though, you should be able to get your hands on a shitty keyboard for around a hundred bucks or so, it wont be tactile but you can work on finger dexterity.

The Cheese

I have a keyboard that is years and years old and was cheap and shitty when it was new and it has velocity control in the keys. The keys suck though.

Taximes

If you're really desperate, a lot of sound cards come with keyboard programs and I know mine can be mapped to keys on the keyboard. You can try digging around your PC and seeing if something like that has been sitting under your nose. Still not a very good substitute, though.

You might be able to find a cheap keyboard on Craigslist or in the local newspaper, and at least most keyboards have the advantage of a headphone jack so that you can practice whenever you want. :P

naporeon

Does your college not have a music department with pianos and practice rooms?

I have attended three different schools in two different countries, and all three had them.

Please check this out, if you haven't already.

SniperGuy

It might, but I never go over there. We do have a piano in public access in a lounge, although during the summer that'll be outta the question.

Assuming I can get access, any tips/resources to start out?

browneyedsquirrel

I've been struggling with this decision myself. There's no way I can afford an actual piano at this point, but I've really wanted to learn how to play for a long time now. I've looked around a bit and found this: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7834579&st=piano&type=product&id=1142296893376

Yeah it's still 600 smackaroos, but it feels pretty nice. I've played around in stores a bit on this model and a similiar Yamaha keyboard. I liked the Casio better, the keys were heavier, had more tension to them. It was the closest thing to a real piano I've touched in a price range I might actually be able to afford. Last christmas season Best Buy had it marked down about a $100 or more I think, I shoulda picked it up then but I hesitated. I may wait to see if they run a sale on them again though.

As far as learning without one.... yeah I don't know how that would work.

Fawkes

SniperGuy wrote: »

The problem is, while at college and over the summer, I won't have access to a piano or a keyboard, unless I buy one. So, any tips for a piano beginner, any resources I can practice with online perhaps? Or do I just need to bite the bullet and get a keyboard?

Also in this series: Teach Yourself Guitar (without strings), Teach Yourself Swimming (without water), Teach Yourself Cooking (without food)...

You get the idea. :P

At the very least you need a keyboard. However, for a keyboard to be any actual use (ie size / touch good enough), it will start being expensive. For BrownEyedSquirrel - you can actually get upright pianos at auction for about $600, not going to be much good, but better than a keyboard if you actually want to learn the piano rather than generic_keyboard_layout_instrument_003. For the OP, that probably isn't much use in college rooms. I would suggest that:

It might, but I never go over there.

...you, er, do go over there and use the music school pianos.

Fawkes

Fa la la, removal of editing when jailed is so intelligent, since it just clogs up threads for other people.

EDIT! Also I remember a thread a few months ago on the same thing which had some good info about keyboards / piano, in this forum, might be worth digging up. Fairly sure I posted in it if you need a search parameter.