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I think I might be in the same boat as some other posters in the thread who played piano when they were younger (I started out pretty young because my parents pushed me to do it and got to around grade 5 of Australian Musicians Examinations Board tests for both piano and musicianship, stopped around year 9-10 of high school to focus more on school and other reasons) and i've been thinking of starting again; few questions though. 1. We still have the old piano I practiced on as a kid in the living room but it hasn't been tuned in ages (like, 10 years or something); would it still be playable if I found a tuner or would the cost of fixing it be more than buying a new piano? As it stands, the piano sounds pretty horrible, a lot of the keys are off and theres a high D which goes DOOONG like a bell. 2. Not sure where to find a good teacher; one of the reasons I didn't like doing piano as a kid was because i'd always get chewed out by my teachers and they weren't very patient. Should I just go to yellow pages or a tutoring listings website or something? 3. It's been years since I last played and i've forgotten a whole lot of stuff; I had books and stuff lying around before but most of it was destroyed by my niece. Is it difficult to relearn fingering, reading music, etc? Same with the musicianship stuff, i've forgotten most of it (and I wasn't very good to begin with at some exercises like melody writing). Would it be way more trouble than it's worth to get back into playing piano as a hobby?
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| # ? May 24, 2012 06:28 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 11:31 |
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I think if you have a connection with music you'll enjoy that process of being able to reconnect with such an expressive instrument. You are now an adult and will be approaching music with a new perspective and wealth of experiences. Just be sure to give yourself plenty of "me" time along with your practices. Surely you could choose from a diverse pool of tutors and the instrument itself could either be fixed or replaced. Worst case you buy a decent digital if you aren't in a position for a new acoustic. Plenty of recommendations in the thread for various budgets. Good luck!
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| # ? May 24, 2012 12:34 |
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Auto posted:I think I might be in the same boat as some other posters in the thread who played piano when they were younger (I started out pretty young because my parents pushed me to do it and got to around grade 5 of Australian Musicians Examinations Board tests for both piano and musicianship, stopped around year 9-10 of high school to focus more on school and other reasons) and i've been thinking of starting again; few questions though. Whether or not the piano will cost more to fix than to replace depends on a lot of different things, mainly the quality of the instrument in the first place and also what actually happened in the intervening years. It could just need a few small repairs and a couple of good tunings and pitch raises, or it could be total junk. I'd recommend finding a good quality tuner and telling them exactly what you told us, they'll probably charge a fee for taking a look at it and give you an estimate. There's probably a tuners guild or something along those lines, that would be a good place to start (there are a lot of crappy rear end piano tuners who will take your money for basically nothing, so be wary - treat it like you would a car mechanic, basically). As to the teacher relationship...it should be a good relationship for both parties. Don't be afraid to shop around like you would for a therapist. If you do find a good tuner, ask them to recommend some teachers as well, most of them know everyone in a ten mile radius who owns a piano.
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| # ? May 24, 2012 13:58 |
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Hey, could y'all make me a keyboard recommendation? I currently have a Studiologic SL-880 that I love, primarily using it as a dumb controller front end to my PC. I really like the weighted keys and the simplicity of it, but I'm considering moving overseas and it's just too goddamn big. Ideally what I would like would be something identical to the SL-880 but with something on the order or 61 keys. Onboard sounds are fine, but the weight and action of the keyboard are more important. Durability is also a plus, and the availability of hardshell (read: capable of international flights) cases is a must. Thanks!
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| # ? May 24, 2012 17:54 |
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So, I'm still learning piano, and it's been a slow road right now. A friend's got a band that he wants me to play in when I feel comfortable, and while I adore my Alesis, the thing is a heavy son of a bitch. I've been looking around off and on at lighter keyboards (also being aware that I probably won't need 88 keys on stage) and just stumbled on a pretty great deal on a new Roland Lucina AX-09. I think that, judging from completed ebay auctions, I could probably resell it at a profit even, but I don't really want the hassle of getting it home and finding out it's full of problems.
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| # ? May 28, 2012 18:37 |
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Whats a good beginner resource for learning scales/chords? The OP mentions a theory megathread but I can't find it.
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| # ? Jun 1, 2012 20:53 |
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http://www.musictheory.net/ is a great place to teach yourself the basics of scales and chord construction. Take some time and look up and memorize the circle of fifths as well if you like impressing your friends with your super quick scale learning abilities!
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| # ? Jun 1, 2012 21:01 |
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Could anyone recommend a keyboard/electric piano for a beginner? I will be having piano lessons and my aim is to be able to play a real piano to a decent standard. I've had a look online but i'm only seeing pretty pictures and walls of specifications that don't mean alot to me. I figure any store will just tell me the best model is whichever model they have in stock. So far i've narrowed down my requirements to: 88 weighted keys- I wan't to be able to play a real piano, from reading this thread the feel of the keys seems important. Built in speaker- Do i need this? I'm pretty tech savy and wouldn't mind rigging it up to my laptop and speakers. A built in speaker would be easier though. Portable- I'm a student and live at my parents house during holidays so i guess a keyboard on a folding stand is my best bet. Ideally i would spend under £500 ($770 USD) for the keyboard, stand and pedals. But i realize £500 isn't much to buy what i'm asking for so i wouldn't mind spending a bit more (<£600) if it's going to be worth it.
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| # ? Jun 8, 2012 15:14 |
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In my experience, "88 weighted keys" and "portable" are mutually exclusive. You can move them around, sure, but that weighting system adds a lot of, well, weight. I'm actually selling my 88 key Studiologic SL-880 right now, and it's going to be a bitch to ship because it's 55 pounds and almost 5 feet long. It's worth it, though; I love the feeling of a really nice weighted keyboard, and honestly doubt that I'll ever buy an unweighted one. BTW, if anyone wants the SL-880 I'm selling it with gig bag and stand for $400 + shipping.
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| # ? Jun 8, 2012 16:08 |
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Yeah 88 key weighted boards are not especially easy to lug around. A folding stand for such a keyboard is actually rather heavy too, you need a double x stand like this: One benefit of built in speakers which I only just realised today, is that you can feel the music through your fingers, a bit like if you were playing a real piano. At your budget you're looking at the Yamaha P95, Korg SP170S, and Casio Privia PX-130. I think they all come with a sustain pedal. Please heed my advice and TRY THEM IN THE SHOP. They all feel different, and even as a raw nub, the feel is important. I really don't like the Privia, the e-piano sounds are weedy and the action doesn't feel right to me. This is just me though! If you're spending fat monies on an instrument, it must feel right to you. TRY IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT! edit: I rented my P95 for a few months before I bought it, this is a really nice low risk way of seeing if you can live with your instrument of choice. Dr. Honked fucked around with this message at Jun 9, 2012 around 11:56 |
| # ? Jun 9, 2012 11:50 |
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Thanks for the replies. When i say portable what i really mean is that i would be able to fit it in the boot (trunk) or across the back seats of a car. I'll only be moving it a few times a year. I've had a look at the ones suggested and they are pretty much exactly what i'm looking for. So thanks for that. I'll do my best to try whatever i buy before i buy it. I'm planning to get my friend who has played piano since childhood to come along and try them with me. Do you think it's worth having a lesson before i even buy a keyboard? That way I would have a bit of an idea of what it should feel like.
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| # ? Jun 9, 2012 13:12 |
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Lots of discussions of purchasing new pianos, so I thought I'd jump in. Because my classes are over I need a good piano to practice on at home during the summer. Since '92 our family has owned a Yamaha CP-35 Clavinova and now the action is pretty messed up. A lot of dust and dirt has gotten into the mechanism and it's drat near impossible to get a reliable and consistent sound out of it. So I am looking for a replacement. I'm currently an intermediate/advanced piano student and I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a high quality digital piano? My knowledge of the market and current products available is almost non-existent. Acoustic pianos are out of the question because cost, space, and maintenance are deal-breakers. I am willing to invest in something of moderate to high quality, with a soft & damper pedal, and maybe bundled with an adjustable bench. 88 weighted keys with very good action are extremely important, and features to make recording easier (good on-board electronics, memory, USB MIDI in/out etc.) would be great also. I'm a firm believer in word of mouth so if anyone has a really awesome high quality digital piano to recommend I would be grateful.
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| # ? Jun 10, 2012 05:08 |
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Digital keyboards can only go so far as far as replicating the feel of a real piano. If you can make it work, I'd recommend getting an acoustic if possible. That said, it can be really difficult to make it work. I currently have a digital in my house and it's been my favorite digital to date, the Kawaii ES3. It's (in my opinion) one of the better weighed solutions and suitable for most pianists. I don't think they make the ES3 anymore, but I think there are newer versions available. It will set you back about a grand.
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| # ? Jun 10, 2012 18:51 |
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I don't know how to edit with the awful phone app, so I'll resort to a double post. It seems like the modern version of the ES3 is the ES6. It seems to retail for around $1,500.
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| # ? Jun 10, 2012 18:55 |
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I just successfully repaired a broken key and spring on my SV1. Today I am a man.
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| # ? Jun 16, 2012 14:57 |
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I wish this thread had some other title. But I can't think of anything. 'How to start out' is so limited. And boring.
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| # ? Jun 17, 2012 10:47 |
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I've seen the Korg SP170, Casio PX-130, and Yamaha P95 recommended as the best entry level digital pianos. My girlfriend and I are going to be going to Guitar Center to try all of them out before choosing a favorite, but we wanted to know if there are any other entry level weighted keyboards that are worth looking at. I'm a complete raw beginner wanting to learn, and she is someone who has played casually for many years, but always had acoustic pianos around either in the dorm at school or at her parents' house. We care way more about a passable key weighting than any sort of sound reproduction, as you can always use the thing as a midi controller if its built in piano sounds are terrible. Onboard speakers are all not a concern, as I'll be using either headphones, bookshelves with a small home theater amp, or a bass amp. Edit: Went to guitar center, spent time feeling a ton of weighted keyboards, got a Yamaha P95B out the door for under $500 including tax. Thank you, Father's Day promo! The P95 felt way better than most keyboards under $1000. Edit again: I mean felt better to our hands, I'm not trying to start a fight here. 
Weinertron fucked around with this message at Jun 17, 2012 around 20:04 |
| # ? Jun 17, 2012 17:08 |
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Hi Guys! I want this thing: http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Keyst...=m+audio+88+key I have some very silly questions so please bear with me, but if you could help me out I'd really appreciate it. It says it comes with "Ableton Live Lite." Anyone have any sense of what the "lite" version of Ableton encompasses? Let's assume I'm a moron who knows nothing about any of this (I am and I don't). Is Ableton even what I want to be messing with? Price of keyboard aside, and assuming that I don't really want a lot of fancy sound packages (a solid, noncheesy piano sound, some retro synths, something vaguely approximating wurlitzer stuff), how much should I be looking to lay out to play? My interest is purely recreational, I don't compose well enough to plan on doing anything beyond noodling in my living room. I'm also interested in hearing if I'm making a mistake with regard to my choice in keyboards. I need 88 keys or I'll go nuts, I don't need it to be too portable, semi-weighted is fine, and I don't need bells and whistles. Is this the way to go? Thanks in advance for putting up with dumb questions. 
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| # ? Jun 21, 2012 03:33 |
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Having been on my personal keyboard journey, I would never buy a keyboard that I have not physically played. I'm not a picky person by any means but when I was choosing my keyboard, I was really shocked by the range of feel even at the bottom end of the market. I'm a hobby player with no loftier aspirations and I really really think you should go to a music store and feel the difference between semi weighted and hammer action. The two can't be compared. Please Ozma. Please go to a store and play some keybs. Be prepared to spend a few more hundred dollars than you first imagined. Get a proper hammer action keyb. DO IT
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| # ? Jun 22, 2012 01:17 |
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Oh, I know there's definitely a big difference- I definitely appreciate your advice on that level. But given the range of keyboards I've played all my life, I know already that I'm OK with semi-weighted. That I can compromise on, I definitely won't compromise on number of keys obviously!
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| # ? Jun 22, 2012 03:19 |
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I love my P-85. It's not too fancy, but it works well and I think the action feels a lot like a real piano. They run between 400-500 bucks. Even if you think you are ok with semi-weighted keys, you should still go to a guitar center or something and just play what they have on display. When I bought my keyboard I was going to get a cheaper casio, because I thought that the action didn't matter all that much. After trying out a few different models though I really didn't like playing the one I was originally looking at. The lower end keyboards just felt clicky to me, rather than weighted.
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| # ? Jun 22, 2012 03:33 |
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I've just started to practice the Hanon exercises again, do you guys figure a 1 hour a day schedule can/will help improve my performance significantly? For the record, I have infinite free time since uni is on strike, so 4 hours a day is not far fetched, but I fear that might be asking for tendinitis.
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| # ? Jul 13, 2012 05:21 |
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I'd figure one hour is probably more than enough. If you have that much time, you might as well work on some actual pieces. Technical exercises are great, but are kinda limited. Maybe take a piece that's giving you technical troubles and just work on those sections until you've totally mastered them, or go back to pieces you've already learned and try playing them normally/legato/staccato/slow/fast etc. As far as tendonitis, I'd say just be really conscious of playing in a relaxed manner, and not pushing too hard or forcing it. Don't sacrifice hand position just to play at faster speeds. Take this advice with a grain of salt tho as I'm neither a doctor nor a Hanon fan v v
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| # ? Jul 13, 2012 06:03 |
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Blog Free or Die posted:I'd figure one hour is probably more than enough. If you have that much time, you might as well work on some actual pieces. Technical exercises are great, but are kinda limited. Maybe take a piece that's giving you technical troubles and just work on those sections until you've totally mastered them, or go back to pieces you've already learned and try playing them normally/legato/staccato/slow/fast etc. Oh yeah absolutely, the Hanon practice is just one more thing in my normal playing routine. I'll try varying my pieces in other play modes, never thought of that before, oddly. I was just asking about tendinitis because after trying to play Hanon #1 at 108 speed a for about 15 minutes my pinky and ring finger were... kinda snappy, like losing the flow of play, you know what I mean?
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| # ? Jul 13, 2012 21:17 |
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A friend of mine told me that I should play the right hand notes louder than the left hand ones. He's definitely a more experienced piano player than me, should I listen to what he says?
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| # ? Jul 14, 2012 16:14 |
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Y Kant Ozma Post posted:
Ableton Lite is kind of what it sounds like. It's basically only the sequencer with a sampler. There's a couple of effects for your keyboard so it's ok if all you want to do is play and not much more.
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| # ? Jul 14, 2012 17:36 |
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Shrinkage posted:A friend of mine told me that I should play the right hand notes louder than the left hand ones. He's definitely a more experienced piano player than me, should I listen to what he says? That's true for much piano music, but it's far from universal. Generally speaking, you'll want to bring out the melody of a given piece, and again generally it's in the right hand. If your right hand's playing more than one note, the melody's often in the highest given note. However, there's a lot of pieces where the melody is in the bass, so you'd probably be playing the left hand notes louder, like here. In Baroque music, especially Fugues, the 'melody' can switch between hands quite often. In this piece, the theme given at the very beginning is brought out in the right hand, then the left. Sometime's it's split between the two hands, which can be tricky to voice well. There's no one rule for which hand to play louder, but again on average your friend is correct. The best solution, though, is to either listen to recordings of what you're learning, or really study the piece itself and decide which notes you think are more important, and which ones support those.
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| # ? Jul 14, 2012 20:50 |
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Blog Free or Die posted:That's true for much piano music, but it's far from universal. Generally speaking, you'll want to bring out the melody of a given piece, and again generally it's in the right hand. If your right hand's playing more than one note, the melody's often in the highest given note. I see, thanks for the clarification. This is a pretty difficult thing to do for me, I concentrate too much on playing with less strength on the left hand that I lose concentration on the music itself and play with a lot of mistakes. Just need more training I guess.
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| # ? Jul 16, 2012 04:01 |
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Just bought some easy jazz/blues piano books and started practicing a lot more Can't wait to get them and start practicing my rear end off. I've also been thinking of getting a Fatar Numa instead of my current M-Audio Oxygen but I don't have enough money for now  maybe if I see one used online!
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| # ? Jul 16, 2012 10:30 |
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I've been playing piano for a couple years but I'm still really awful at playing scales. I read some of the online "Piano Fundamentals" book by Chang, and he keeps referring to the Thumb Over method. I keep looking for some kind of demonstration of this but I can't find any. I worry that maybe there's a more efficient method of playing quickly that I'm just not understanding? Or maybe it's all just repetition?
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| # ? Jul 17, 2012 05:00 |
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i must compose posted:I've been playing piano for a couple years but I'm still really awful at playing scales. I read some of the online "Piano Fundamentals" book by Chang, and he keeps referring to the Thumb Over method. I keep looking for some kind of demonstration of this but I can't find any. I worry that maybe there's a more efficient method of playing quickly that I'm just not understanding? Or maybe it's all just repetition? Well, when you normally play a scale at some point you run out of fingers and you stick your thumb under the hand to grab the next note. I had the same issue when I was reading that book, I'd never heard of putting the thumb "over" the other fingers. I'm actually not really convinced it's a thing you can do. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do it. The thumb is too short to go over the other fingers. What you CAN do when playing fast is basically move the whole hand up without constricting it and putting the thumb under. You can't really play legato that way obviously but if you're playing really fast it basically becomes a moot point, no one can actually hear it's not perfectly legato. That's my take on it anyway. I could easily be wrong. Would love to see video of someone doing it.
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| # ? Jul 17, 2012 12:47 |
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I don't really play anymore, but was curious so I googled it and apparently thumb over just means moving the entire hand: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubb...ics/359953.html quote:"Thumb over" is a very misleading term. It does not mean to move your thumb over the rest of the hand -- that would indeed be very awkward. Rather, it means to shift the entire hand "over" to the next position.
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| # ? Jul 17, 2012 13:05 |
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Oh, well then. That makes sense! They really ought not to call it thumb over then, it's extremely misleading.
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| # ? Jul 17, 2012 13:14 |
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Y Kant Ozma Post posted:Anyone have any sense of what the "lite" version of Ableton encompasses? Let's assume I'm a moron who knows nothing about any of this (I am and I don't). Is Ableton even what I want to be messing with? What do you want to do with the keyboard? If you just want to run a piano-sounding synthesizer program on your computer so that you can practice with your new keyboard, it's way more than you need. It's designed for producing tracks and playing shows and so on. On an unrelated note, I have a question of my own: I'd like to learn how to play the piano, but I really only care about it because a big keyboard is a convenient way to get music from my brain into a computer. I don't have any interest in ever owning or playing a real piano. Does that change what I ought to do to learn, or should I follow the same path as regular piano students starting out?
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| # ? Jul 19, 2012 23:17 |
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ejstheman posted:What do you want to do with the keyboard? If you just want to run a piano-sounding synthesizer program on your computer so that you can practice with your new keyboard, it's way more than you need. It's designed for producing tracks and playing shows and so on. I have a fair few friends that are using keyboards as midi controllers to just produce tracks. You can literally get by with well one finger hunt and peck. Yes I know someone that does that. But assuming you know nothing, the ones that do a little bit of scale work (mainly for technical skills on the keyboard) and who start working on the theory side of things appear to have a much easier (and quicker) time of it. If you're thinking more as actually playing bits of music and using the computer to record them. Follow the same advice for anyone who wants to actually play that music on a real piano as you'd be doing the same thing.
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| # ? Jul 20, 2012 11:07 |
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I've been trying my hand at learning music theory through the piano, since composing music is fascinating to me. I've been using the Musictheory.net site, are there any further recommendations for learning to use music theory in your composing?
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| # ? Jul 23, 2012 16:41 |
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Kikka posted:I've been trying my hand at learning music theory through the piano, since composing music is fascinating to me. I've been using the Musictheory.net site, are there any further recommendations for learning to use music theory in your composing? If you are working on your own, there are lots of good books on theory out there. Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kotska is one of the best textbooks and most complete, but very expensive and difficult to work with in absence of a teacher. The series "Fundamentals of Piano Theory" by Keith Snell and Martha Ashleigh has 11 levels of books, with each book costing around $8, and you can work on them at your own pace and get the next book when needed. I've worked through these to level 6 on my own. I find these to be much easier for 'self-teaching' although you will have to apply yourself. The nice things about these books is that the most important fundamentals are taught in the first few levels, and from that you are all set except for a few more optional advanced concepts. Learning this early foundation is by far the hardest part, but after the 5th book the end of all music theory is clearly in sight.
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| # ? Jul 23, 2012 22:09 |
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Oh noes! This thread is going long periods without posts. I think maybe everyone should share what they are working on? I am thrilled to announce that I got a new piano, and it's just excellent. The sound sample is superb and the action is very high quality. It's also easy as cake to record - just plug in a USB drive and record audio directly on it using the piano's awesome sample! I spent this afternoon recording a lot of my repertoire. I will share some of it here. Any feedback / praise / criticism is greatly appreciated. http://tindeck.com/album/itysx edit: obsolete links replaced with entire ablum CowOnCrack fucked around with this message at Aug 14, 2012 around 01:40 |
| # ? Aug 9, 2012 05:07 |
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CowOnCrack posted:Oh noes! This thread is going long periods without posts. Okay! I got a keyboard(yamaha YGP 535) about 2-3 weeks ago and learning it is killing me. I can play what Synthesia(http://synthesiagame.com/) is telling me are "hard" songs pretty easily. The problem comes from any song where the left hand is playing with the right hand, and the left hand is doing anything other than playing chords. I figure getting hands to start working separately is the big hurdle for all beginners, but the main issue i'm having with it is following any structured learning program is boring as hell. I can play scales(with each hand individually, at least) at 200+ bpm, I can read sheet music and know rhythm(I play Guitar quite well). So I have to slog through a lot of poo poo that is telling me things I already know, or pick up instantly, to get to the part i'm having trouble with. Can anyone suggest a lesson, or series of lessons, for achieving this or maybe some exercises to break them apart? A lot sites were suggesting to play each hand separately, then together, but honestly they just go retarded the moment I start playing them together and I have had way more success just diving into songs with both hands out of the gate. I've been working on playing scales with both hands simultaneously and that seems to be helping, but since I don't know what the gently caress i'm doing I wanted to make sure i'm not wasting my time. edit: I should emphasize that I really enjoy the instrument, and really, really want to improve. It's just that every time I start struggling, I get really discouraged not because it's hard, but because I will have to sit through another boring lesson and I would rather eat dirt. Vincent Valentine fucked around with this message at Aug 9, 2012 around 12:57 |
| # ? Aug 9, 2012 12:48 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 11:31 |
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Vincent Valentine posted:Okay! When you start putting hands together after practicing them separately, how fast are you playing? It should be much slower than hands separate (at first) while still being in the correct rhythm. That way you can focus on what your hands are doing.
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| # ? Aug 9, 2012 13:27 |
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