Learning to Play the Keyboard

sdrawkcaB emaN

Hey, so I just bought a full 88 key Casio (with weighted keys) and I bought some books for learning how to play this contraption, but I was in a hurry and I realize now that while they have names with "Basic" and "Beginner" in them, they don't actually have stuff in there about, say, what keys correspond to what notes, and how your fingers should move. Stuff like that.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had some good internet resources (preferably free) that I could look up to get started with, or in lieu of that, some good book recommendations for the next time I hit up Borders.

Unfortunately, lessons (except from friends for free) are out because I am brooooke.

Fuzzywhale

before i started taking lessons full time, i taught myself with this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ANTIQUE-New-England-Conservatory-Course-PIANOFORTE-2_W0QQitemZ130278098891QQcmdZViewItem which i discovered in my piano bench. This book starts from scratch, talking about form etc. However the fingering system is outdated, as it uses an x for your thumb, then numbers your fingers 1 2 3 4 towards the pinky. Modern notation numbers your thumb with a 1 and then moves out towards the pinky.

After that, my first instructor used selections from with Gradus ad Parnassum by Celementi, which you can find for free here: http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page . Just search "gradus ad Parnassum"
As an alternative, my other piano playing friends were raised on hanon's excercises, The Virtuoso Pianist also found at the above site with the proper search.

These are both public domain in the US.

good luck, piano is a wonderful instrument!

edit: Site doesn't seem to like linking directly to pieces.

flatlinegraphics

fuzzywhale, your links! they do not work!
this thread is relevant to my interests and i would like to see these.

Spunkyjoe

Fuzzywhale wrote: »

raised on hanon's excercises, The Virtuoso Pianist also found at the above site with the proper search.

Quoted for truth, if you truly want to learn about proper mechanics, hand coordination and positioning, Hanon features some of the best exercises out there. (Tremolo exercises, arrpegiated chords, et al.) Here's a link I prescribe to my students from Amazon if your local music store (Guitar Center, Music and Arts) doesn't have it. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Pianist-60-Exercises-Technique/dp/0793525446

Also, the beginner books you picked up were probably child beginner, which often feature no actual musical notation for the first book, like Faber & Faber and Alfred series. (Although Alfred has been modernizing their course to better introduce notation it seems.) I'd recommend either perseverance through Alfred 1/2/3 to get to the meat of piano theory in the later books, especially 5 and 6, or skip to Alfred's Adult Piano Lessons. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Alfreds-Basic-Adult-Piano-Course/dp/0882846167/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231438411&sr=1-2 Or, though I've never really had much introduction to it, John Thompson's Curriculum for piano is one of the older courses and cuts straight to the music your probably interested in. Downside is that this course is HARD, the songs start out difficult and only gets more so, so it can be discouraging to new students. Link: http://www.amazon.com/John-Thompsons-Modern-Course-Piano/dp/0877180601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231438455&sr=1-1

Hope that helps get you started, piano really is a fantastic instrument.

Slagmire

In what seems to be another lifetime ago, I was a music education major and you had to know how to play the piano when it was all said and done, but the classes we had to learn it were excellent. There was a series of books that started you slowly, but were professional enough that you didn't feel like you were reading a children's book. Sadly, I don't remember the title of the series... I'll check it out when I'm back home and get you that information.

Feral

You could afford to buy a keyboard with weighted keys but you can't afford piano lessons?

Your finger technique is super important and you can really get into some bad habits early on if you don't have somebody watching you telling you how to move.

I strongly suggest trying to get lessons, even if it's only 30 minutes every other week.

Khavall

Yeah, I know you say you can't afford lessons.


But find a way. Somehow. Find a way.

Lessons lessons lessons lessons lessons lessons lessons.

There are two reasons for this.

First: If you go on, harder stuffs going to really mess you up if you don't have good technique. It's the same on any instrument. One of my friends is a music ed, and plays the trumpet. No lessons, pretty much self-taught. Well she got to college and apparently, her technique was completely gone, so in order to actually, like, play the instrument, she spent the first two years just learning the basics of how to play. Similar thing on piano, if you don't know how to play correctly, you'll probably be doing something wrong, and that's bad. Once you know the basics and have a solid base for technique, you can then self-teach a bit, but lessons are very important at the beginning.

Second: Again if you move on. Hands are very fragile things. It doesn't take all too much to mess them up. Again, it's all about establishing the right habits. And it's not as much something that you can make sure you're teaching yourself.


I would say if you're interested in learning really, see if you can find a way to make lessons work.

Demerdar

Get lessons. Learning piano without them will be ridiculously difficult. Your technique will suffer, and in piano, technique is absolutely key (no pun intended).

Seriously.. lessons.