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Must learn piano
kathos
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Looking to learn piano. Anyone have any good resources? Just learning to play and read basic notes.
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What kind of piano are you looking to play? Classical? Pop? Have you played an instrument before? Do you have rhythm? Can you sing in tune, or tell when things are or aren't in tune?
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I'm looking to play some classical piano and I guess... ska piano (pop?) I played piano until about... 8 years ago so I'm guessing a refresher course (or a crash course) would be good. I'd check my library but it's closed today (damn you suburbs!).
As for ska piano (first I'm hearing of it, I must say) that's probably going to be mostly by ear instead.
The one tip I can give any pianist, particularly one who wants to play both classical and pop, is don't let the technique lock you in too much. Too many of the classical players I know paint themselves into the corner of being able to play any piece of music from sheet or from memory flawlessly, but can't compose and can't improvise. Develop your ear. Learn some theory, but learn it so that you can deliberately AVOID it when you compose later on, or so that you use it to augment the way you write so you know it's in key. Even if you don't plan on writing or improvising, it's just good to have that freedom.
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Cough. Lurn terminology.
Technique has absolutely nothing to do with limiting your ability, its entire purpose is to increase your ability to play anything. No real musician will tell people not to learn technique. Any who do are either stupid or young (I used to think much the same thing eons ago, but I changed my mind when I wanted to play things I couldn't through lack of technique). It may be dull, but technique centered learning is the fastest and perhaps best way to get good at an instrument, and both jazz & classical players will agree with that, jazz requiring as much, if not more, technical ability than classical.
Similarly, telling him to learn some theory only to avoid it is ridiculous. Jazz musicians focus pretty much everything they know around theory, whether it was gleaned from a book or from their ear. Theory is simply the language of music, it tells you what goes where and why; this is by far the most important in improvisation, where you have to do it in realtime. The translation from what you hear to what you want your hands to do is theory; your hands automatically finding the right notes even without you thinking what they are, is theory.
I think you mean not to let a particular style lock him in, ie classical and nothing else. Technique is vital, and theory isn't just a boring aside to be ignored (though most standard ways of teaching it are). Aside from that, yes, variety isn't a bad thing.
OP - I've said it before on these forums in more detail, but it was probably years ago. The best way to learn the piano is also the most mind-numbing way. Find a jazz book, and learn to play all the basic chords therein. Then start skipping between chords so your hands naturally find them without thinking. Learn the patterns that various chords make on the keyboard, learn which pattern sounds like what where (ie C major and A minor, same pattern, almost the same notes, different sound). Then do the same thing, breaking them up (ie arpeggios) and start developing finger mobility. Then start adding alternating rhythms in each hand (ie basic jazz patterns), and standard forms (ie walking base, boogie-woogie, classical arpeggios, sounding bass notes while playing the chord above). All the time doing it in every key possible.
After that, start reading sheet music or copying forms you hear in music, and begin to pick up the millions of extra techniques and oddities of the piano. If your hands know instinctively where the chords are, if you know how to make the right sound or recognise the patterns within 99% of music, you will from that point on progress like lightning. Your technique will be better than most people, your ear will be better, and you wil pick up new things more easily.
Only problem is, the first bit, getting there, can take an age ;-)
(ska piano is not really a thing, I'm guessing you mean rock piano, which is essentially simpler jazz piano. Also, the whole chords approach above + boogie-woogie / 8 bar blues is the easiest way to learn rock piano, since it's largely that plus hammering out various chords in the right hand a la Jerry Lee Lewis)
Find a teacher.
Take Lessons.
Do it now.
Now.
Why aren't you taking lessons yet?
Lessons do so much for you that you need to have happen. First, they will fix any problems in your technique, which is good for two reasons. First it'll help you play things that are increasingly difficult. Second it will stop you from getting injured, especially if you play a lot. Of course, even with good technique it's possible to over-extend yourself and hurt yourself, but that's only if we're talking 7+ hours of piano a day or something(Which, by the way, can hurt like a bitch if you've still got the rest of the week going the same way until you get to rest and recuperate). The other thing lessons do is provide a structured curriculum to help you learn well and correctly. You will learn faster with lessons, and you will get better with lessons, than you will just picking it up on your own. If you find a good teacher, they'll be able to teach you some specifics of style as well, though they'll of course focus on a curriculum of Baroque+Classical period music, because it is perfect for developing technique, until you have the basics down.
Basically, even if you're just going to play casually, take the lessons until you're happy with your skill, and then you can go on only playing for enjoyment, but lessons are a very important thing to do.
Also, don't really listen to DynamiteKid on the whole "technique is bad" thing or the "Learn theory to ignore it" thing. I'm a professional, working pianist, and a composer, and everything comes down to technique. If you can play piano correctly, you won't have any problem switching styles, because the technique and basics are all the same. It's the same thing with theory. If you can mentally dismantle a 12-tone row and identify a fragment of RI6 by looking at a piece, doing a Jazz solo is not going to be an overly daunting task. If you can identify chords quickly while glancing at music, your sightreading of a lot of styles is going to go through the roof.
Basically: The reason pianists take lessons and learn theory and do things by the book is because that's the best way to do things. No matter what you plan on doing with the skills, make sure you have the skills, and the best way to get them is by doing the same thing that everyone who wants to learn correctly does, and that's doing the whole lessons thing.
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