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ShinAli
May 2, 2003

The Kid better watch his step.
Kind of a personal update.

So far my piano teacher says I'm pretty much way on top in class so she gave me two higher level pieces to play for my final. I got them both down in a week and now I'm bored of playing the same things over and over again, especially since the final is in a month. She gave me a couple more to practice with so it's cool. I'm gonna sign up for one-on-one classes with her next semester, she's cool.

I've got a problem, though. I don't want my YGP-625 anymore :gonk:

After I've spent more and more time on the upright in class, I felt the sound and key action allowed me to play much better than on my YGP. It kinda pisses me off because I bought it out of ignorance. I guess the salesman got the better of me than I thought I got out of him.

Right now I'm thinking about picking up an upright, but I can't really find any of the fabled around-a-1000-bucks pianos. Cheapest I found so far is 2,200 dollars. Honestly, with or without financing, it really isn't that big of a deal for me. The one I'm looking at is a Pearl River; are those any good?

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Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"

ShinAli posted:

Kind of a personal update.

So far my piano teacher says I'm pretty much way on top in class so she gave me two higher level pieces to play for my final. I got them both down in a week and now I'm bored of playing the same things over and over again, especially since the final is in a month. She gave me a couple more to practice with so it's cool. I'm gonna sign up for one-on-one classes with her next semester, she's cool.

I've got a problem, though. I don't want my YGP-625 anymore :gonk:

After I've spent more and more time on the upright in class, I felt the sound and key action allowed me to play much better than on my YGP. It kinda pisses me off because I bought it out of ignorance. I guess the salesman got the better of me than I thought I got out of him.

Right now I'm thinking about picking up an upright, but I can't really find any of the fabled around-a-1000-bucks pianos. Cheapest I found so far is 2,200 dollars. Honestly, with or without financing, it really isn't that big of a deal for me. The one I'm looking at is a Pearl River; are those any good?

I don't really like Pearl River's myself, they all seem really cheap to me. Since price isn't that big of a deal go with a Yamaha. :)

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
Well, I finally got my hands on my first keyboard. Its a used Casio 61-key keyboard, but as a broke college student its all I could afford and have room for. I realize its not a grand piano, but I'm hoping I can at least learn the basics on it and have it facilitate my learning of music theory. My short term goal is to really learn the theory behind the music, because I completely ignored that when I tried picking up the guitar.

Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"

Hughmoris posted:

Well, I finally got my hands on my first keyboard. Its a used Casio 61-key keyboard, but as a broke college student its all I could afford and have room for. I realize its not a grand piano, but I'm hoping I can at least learn the basics on it and have it facilitate my learning of music theory. My short term goal is to really learn the theory behind the music, because I completely ignored that when I tried picking up the guitar.

Good luck with that. The keyboard should work for your needs really. Keep us updated if you have an questions.

orly
Oct 2, 2005

I've been playing piano on and off for about 10 years, and am looking into getting serious about it again. I've seen some digital pianos like the Casio PX110 Privia at decent prices ($397?). It seems like an amazing deal, but what are other piano goons' experience with this piano?

orly fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Nov 23, 2007

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
Alright, I'm hitting my first music theory roadblock.

I am reading through the website that Fat Turkey posted for free piano lessons found here: http://www.free-online-piano-lessons.com/

I'm walking myself through the lessons, and am a tad confused on the Melodic Minor Piano Scales part. If I'm reading it right, it states that a melodic minor scale would be played in ascending order, while a natural minor would be played in a descending order. Does ascending and descending as described here physically mean moving from left to right (ascending) or right to left (descending) on the keyboard?

I thought it did, but when I looked here: http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/ at the C Melodic Minor (ascending & descending) they both start off on the left most C note and work to the right.

I realize I might not have phrased this question right, but I hope I got the gist across. Also, Fat Turkey, thanks for that site. I've learned more about theory in two days then I did in 6 months screwing around with my guitar.

pyknosis
Nov 23, 2007

Young Orc

Hughmoris posted:

If I'm reading it right, it states that a melodic minor scale would be played in ascending order, while a natural minor would be played in a descending order. Does ascending and descending as described here physically mean moving from left to right (ascending) or right to left (descending) on the keyboard?

"Ascending" and "descending" are always used with respect to pitch - ascending means "moving towards higher pitches," and descending is just the opposite.

It might help to know why the melodic minor mode was made in the first place: that 7th degree of the major scale, the "leading tone," is very important for building up tension and resolution in a piece - the way it wants to resolve to the tonic helps to make your finales more final, for example. The flat 7th scale degree of the natural minor doesn't do that as well, so composers just started using the un-flatted 7, right along with the other notes of the minor scale.

But they ran into a problem with their melodies - the jump from the flat 6th to the un-flatted 7th is a tone-and-a-half, which they considered to be big and ugly and unmelodic. So, when they wrote ascending melodies that made use of that un-flattened seventh, they stated using the un-flattened sixth as well. That's the ascending melodic minor mode.

Now, you could conceivably use the same notes for the descending parts of your melodies. You just don't NEED to: there's no need to un-flatten the 7th when you're descending, because that 7th can only ever resolve UP to the tonic. Since you don't need to un-flat the 7th, there's also no necessity to un-flat the 6th.

That's why we say that the "proper" melodic minor is 1-2-b3-4-5-6-7-1 ascending, and 1-b7-b6-5-4-b3-2-1 descending. It's really just a convention.

EDIT: durr, I didn't actually answer your question. Physically speaking: moving right on the piano, you'd play the distinct intervals of the melodic minor mode; moving left, you play the ordinary, natural minor intervals. That site you linked to has a certain format for the way they describe scales - they always list the intervals in ascending order, even though you could normally play them ascending or descending, no? Well, for the melodic minor they put (ascending) and (descending) in the title to say "Hey, these are the intervals you're using, but only the (ascending) or (descending) direction."

Ok, I hope this big huge chunk of text for such a simple, simple question helped... :eng101:

pyknosis fucked around with this message at 05:55 on Nov 24, 2007

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!

el Trentoro posted:

Words on scales...

Yes Trentoro, that answered my question, thanks.

Another question, regarding reading music. I'm trying to learn some very simple Christmas songs to get into the holiday mood, such as Silent Night and We Wish You A Merry Christmas etc... My question is, whats the best way to go about reading music? After my initial hand placement, I'm thinking "ok, next is a full note lower, next is two notes higher, one note lower", instead of seeing it as "ok its going to be G, C, D, D, E".

Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"

Hughmoris posted:

Yes Trentoro, that answered my question, thanks.

Another question, regarding reading music. I'm trying to learn some very simple Christmas songs to get into the holiday mood, such as Silent Night and We Wish You A Merry Christmas etc... My question is, whats the best way to go about reading music? After my initial hand placement, I'm thinking "ok, next is a full note lower, next is two notes higher, one note lower", instead of seeing it as "ok its going to be G, C, D, D, E".

That works out just fine. Obviously when your notes leap you have to think the opposite way though.

Also when it comes to chords it's very handy to just look at the top note of the chord and read the shape.

Learning inversions makes it a lot easier to sight read chords because you're used to seeing the inversions and used to see the tonic. When you see that a chord has C on the top and it has two spaces filled underneath it you don't have to look at all the notes you just immediately know that the other two are A and F.

:)

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!

Alizee posted:

That works out just fine. Obviously when your notes leap you have to think the opposite way though...

Thanks! That way seemed easier, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't committing some major technique faux pas.

Also, I found a good source of lessons covering popular songs on YouTube:
http://uk.youtube.com/user/shawncheekeasy
The guy has about 140 videos covering various parts of popular songs, and makes it extremely easy to understand what is being played. I have no affiliation with the user, I just thought it was a nice additional resource.

Cuddly Dan
Jul 6, 2005
Hugs are kewl! <3
I'm in a weird position for learning. I took lessons when I was young for a whole three months or so. I didn't stop playing, though, and ended up self-teaching myself a number of pieces. Fur Elise was one of the first, actually. It took me a long time to learn how to play it just due to my poor sight-reading ability, but the actual finger work didn't bother me much. Now, over a decade later, I can still play it (as well as most of the others I taught myself), but I learn new pieces at the same glacial pace.

What I've been looking for is a collection of sheet music that will let me work on my sight-reading. Something that starts pretty easy and ramps up to fairly complex work. It's just really frustrating knowing that my fingers are capable of a lot more than I can read, and I'd like to get the two skills to an equilibrium. I don't need to learn fingerings or arpeggios or time signatures or how to invert chords (there's plenty of technique I do need to learn, but I don't want to focus on it). I just need to improve my reading. Any suggestions?

Realjones
May 16, 2004

orly posted:

I've been playing piano on and off for about 10 years, and am looking into getting serious about it again. I've seen some digital pianos like the Casio PX110 Privia at decent prices ($397?). It seems like an amazing deal, but what are other piano goons' experience with this piano?

On the Piano World Forums, which from what I can tell are the largest piano forums on the internet, the PX110 is the most commonly suggested starter digital piano. It is the "cheapest" digital piano available that has fully weighted hammer action keys. The PX310 is the same thing, but with more keyboard bells and whistles. The PX700 and PX800 are the same respective keyboards, but come with stands.

If you have a guitar center or something like that near you go check it out. Obviously some of the more expensive keyboards had better action (for ex the keys were quieter), but it was not worth the extra $350+ more over the PX110 to get something similar from Yamaha or Roland.

PerOlus
Jan 26, 2003

We'r even, seņor!

Cuddly Dan posted:

I just need to improve my reading. Any suggestions?

Keyboard reductions of Bach's chorales is apparently something of a standard thing to go through to improve in sight-reading. I've been doing that anyway, and it has worked well for me, I guess it helps if you like the music, which I do. :)

You should play them slow enough to sight-read, once, and then go to the next one. There are over 300 or something chorales, so there's should be no risk of memorizing getting in the way.

edit: Also, get used to playing without looking at your hands, without looking at the keys at all.

PerOlus fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Nov 30, 2007

Keefaz
Jun 24, 2005

I'd love to learn. I have a cheap keyboard here that I use to mess around on--I'm a guitarist, but I tend to come up with lines and progressions that work better on piano every now and then. So, I have a reasonable knowledge of music theory, can read (slowly), but no technical skill whatsoever and, really, not very much money at all. Ideally, I'd like to able to play pop tunes, some easy classical pieces, although I would obviously not object if I were to become the nexxt Dave Brubeck or whatever. =D

Anyway. It seems I could use a teacher, but I can't afford a teacher. Are video/book lessons worthwhile or just a waste of time? I know I picked up a lot of bad guitar habits by self-teaching, but now (15 years later), I don't really care about those bad habits.

Matlock, BRB
Jun 23, 2004

by T. Finn
How do pianists play those long scales so fast? I just can't seem to get the hang of it, I'm guessing choosing the right fingers is very important. How would you play a C# diminished scale?

Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"

bald nanna posted:

How do pianists play those long scales so fast? I just can't seem to get the hang of it, I'm guessing choosing the right fingers is very important. How would you play a C# diminished scale?

I'm not quite sure such a thing exists. Do you mean maybe c#- harmonic or melodic? There are diminished chords. But I've never heard of diminished scales.

Anyways, it's through lots of practice. You build up your technique and with that your speed, and you always use the same fingers.

Wabbit
Aug 22, 2002

Have you any figs, Sir?
You have two kinds of diminished scales: half-whole and whole-half. They are really basically the same thing and there are only 3 distinct diminished scales because they are symmetrical, just like there are only 2 whole tone scales.

With #C, if you are talking about the half-whole scale it is
#C D E F G #G bB B #C
(or however you want to write those pitches). The scale is comprised of the #C and D fully diminished chord tones.

The #C whole-half scale is
#C bE E #F G A bB C #C

So the #C whole-half diminished scale is really the same thing as the C half-whole diminished scale, and the C half-whole diminished scale is the same as the bE, #F, and bA half-whole diminished scales and etc etc. The half-whole is just the mode of the whole-half and vice versa. It was really kind of hard to conceptualize it at first to me.

On piano, and I am not much of a pianist, I find these scales really cool because there are only really 3 of them, but they go over a lot of different chords.

Matlock, BRB
Jun 23, 2004

by T. Finn

Wabbit posted:

The #C whole-half scale is
#C bE E #F G A bB C #C


This is the one I meant :shobon: I didn't realize there was half-whole scale.

Wabbit
Aug 22, 2002

Have you any figs, Sir?
Well, they're the same really. Like I say I'm not much on piano but it seems like the fingerings are sort of odd and the scale does have 8 notes, but you can just drill on the 3 distinct scales until you can finger them smoothly. They do sound rather exotic when you just play the scale up and down. The C/bE/#F/bA half-whole is pretty easy since it is kind of symmetrical - play it and you'll see what I mean. The other 2 are weirder to finger but it can be done.

I use the half-whole a lot because it has some very nice harmonic implications - it has the major AND minor third, the fifth, the flat fifth, the flat seventh, and the flat ninth. That's a nice collection of tones over a dominant chord in a blues or jazz setting. The whole-half is sort of strange to me. It has the minor third and natural seventh, and then it has the 2nd, 4th, 6th. Then it has flat and sharp 5ths. I don't know quite what to do with it honestly.

edit: This might seem like a funny discussion to have in the "just starting out on piano" thread, but I am actually a beginning on piano and I'm trying to tackle stuff like this from the beginning so that it's just a part of everything I learn rather than an advanced topic. I think that's a good thing to do.

Here's what I have been trying to keep in mind as a beginner:

1. Develop the left hand and always be able to drive the playing with the left hand. (seen too many players with wicked right hands and nothing coming from the left)

2. Play without looking at the keyboard. (If Ray Charles could do it...)

3. Don't emphasize any key, be comfortable with all keys.

Wabbit fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Dec 3, 2007

Cragz
Jun 16, 2005
Too orangey for crows!
Bit of a progress update, the lessons are going well and after a month I'm hammering out basic Christmas carols and playing as well as [an average child] who's been learning a year, apparently. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but it's better than a child who's been learning a month, so I'll take it!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to ABRSM graded exams and, after looking at the syllabi I don't think it's too much of a stretch for me to be ready for grade 2 early next year. My question to UK piano goons is: Do I have to get the certification for grade 1 under ABRSM before I try something higher? Failing that, is it possible to sit through multiple exams in one session?

Ta!

Kerro
Nov 3, 2002

Did you marry a man who married the sea? He looks right through you to the distant grey - calling, calling..

Cragz posted:

Bit of a progress update, the lessons are going well and after a month I'm hammering out basic Christmas carols and playing as well as [an average child] who's been learning a year, apparently. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, but it's better than a child who's been learning a month, so I'll take it!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to ABRSM graded exams and, after looking at the syllabi I don't think it's too much of a stretch for me to be ready for grade 2 early next year. My question to UK piano goons is: Do I have to get the certification for grade 1 under ABRSM before I try something higher? Failing that, is it possible to sit through multiple exams in one session?

Ta!

Unless they've changed things, no, you can start at any level since there's relatively little point for most people sitting exams until they have a bit of practice done. I can't recall, but I think the first exam I did was grade 3 or 4 after a year or two of lessons.

I've just started learning again after a break of 10 years and am pleased to see that I remember more than I thought I would, but I was wondering if someone can recommend a book I could buy on chord theory, including scales, arpeggios, various exercises for learning and remembering different chord types and transitions etc. I don't really remember my exercises very well, and once I've got back into the swing of things I'm eventually hoping to sit the grade 8 exams since I previously stopped at grade 7 so I'll need to remember all the theory side of things.

Edit: Just read the previous page of the thread and now I'm confused about grades - has it always gone to grade 10? Admittedly I sat my exams with Trinity College rather than RCM but I thought it only went to grade 8, then Associate or something after that.

Kerro fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Dec 5, 2007

Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"
^ It depends on where you are located.

Insensitive
Aug 7, 2007

Lipstick Apathy

Kerro posted:

Edit: Just read the previous page of the thread and now I'm confused about grades - has it always gone to grade 10? Admittedly I sat my exams with Trinity College rather than RCM but I thought it only went to grade 8, then Associate or something after that.

For RCM the "normal" grades go up to 10, then it branches into ARCT performer's and Teacher's. For ABRSM (the British conservatory), it goes up to 8, and that's all I know about it. I have heard of Trinity's but I don't know anything about that either.

Also to answer the skipping grades for ABRSM question, yes you can skip grades. But if I remember correctly, you have to take grade 5 practical and theory in order to do the higher grades, but I'm not so sure so better check their website.

ShinAli
May 2, 2003

The Kid better watch his step.
I just finished my recital and going on one-on-one lessons next semester. Meanwhile, I'm going to check out http://www.pianofundamentals.com/ . People said pretty good things about it, and I like it's purpose as a textbook that teaches you how to practice instead of how to play on the piano. It's free, too.

Right now I think I'm doing pretty decent, and wonder if I should've start playing at a younger age in retrospect. I've learnt a lot in the past three months, and according to my teacher, progressed a lot further than most would in her classes. I'm hoping the Piano Fundamentals site works and hopefully develop even further than I've done so far.

If there was one thing I should've done, is to mess around with real pianos before diving in. I could've avoided spending almost 800 dollars in a digital piano set up where the hammer action feels completely different from an actual piano. I should've looked to the Clavinovas with the GH3 tech yamaha uses. A GH3 Clavinova with a Yamaha upright would've been a perfect combination :smith:

Fat Turkey
Aug 1, 2004

Gobble Gobble Gobble!
Not much has changed since my last update. After initial fast progress with the theory, been hitting a brick wall recently. This is mostly in the form of being quite happy with my right hand but very poor with my left hand. As I said last time, i'm probably going to try and get a piano teacher for a few lessons and see how it goes from there.

Until then I wanted more info on how often people practice and what do they practice. I imagine people do it every day, but for how long? And how much do you concentrate on which issues? Basically, what is a typical practice routine?

Insensitive
Aug 7, 2007

Lipstick Apathy

Fat Turkey posted:

Until then I wanted more info on how often people practice and what do they practice. I imagine people do it every day, but for how long? And how much do you concentrate on which issues? Basically, what is a typical practice routine?

I'm in university now and I rarely have time to practice during weekdays. But during summer holidays I practiced an average of 2 hours everyday (depends on the day, sometimes I get lazy or tired). I usually start off with some easier study pieces to warm up my fingers, you could substitute that with scales but I can't be bothered with them anymore. Then I would practice the pieces one at a time, first by going through the whole piece once at a normal tempo, then play it slowly and correct wrong stuff like wrong notes, dynamics, and speed. I usually play the shortest pieces in the beginning, and save the longest for the end, but it all comes to one's preference.

nyro
Jul 15, 2005

your face looks like the fairy tale explosion
When playing and just doodling around with major and minor chords, do people actually memorize every chord possible or is it just finger/hand memory on root notes? Ive gotten to the point where I can figure all the maj/min/inversions out but it takes time, and I would like to get to the point where I could just play them on queue

Kerro
Nov 3, 2002

Did you marry a man who married the sea? He looks right through you to the distant grey - calling, calling..

Fat Turkey posted:

Not much has changed since my last update. After initial fast progress with the theory, been hitting a brick wall recently. This is mostly in the form of being quite happy with my right hand but very poor with my left hand. As I said last time, i'm probably going to try and get a piano teacher for a few lessons and see how it goes from there.

Until then I wanted more info on how often people practice and what do they practice. I imagine people do it every day, but for how long? And how much do you concentrate on which issues? Basically, what is a typical practice routine?

I've been practicing every day for 1-2 hours. I normally warm up with practice exercises, scales and arpeggios. When I'm leaning a piece, I usually start out playing it once through slowly then start practicing over and over the areas that are giving me difficulty at a slow speed until I start to feel more comfortable with them. If I'm becoming more confident with a piece then I'll play it through at full speed to try and find any areas that are still causing problems.

Once I can play the piece comfortably and at full speed, I start working on refining my interpretation of it, and this is when I'd start to add more subtle dynamics. I try to have one piece at this stage at any given point of time and another 1-2 pieces that I'm still learning to play correctly.

I have a question about practice though - I often get to the stage with a piece where I can play all the sections of it comfortably, but when I try to play the whole thing simply because of the length of the piece I'm inclined to screw up once or twice. What's the best way to practice at this stage? Just repetition at a slow speed? It's not that I screw up in the same place or anything, just that I'll occasionally mis-hit a key or get the timing slightly off and find it really hard to iron out the last few issues like that.

ShinAli
May 2, 2003

The Kid better watch his step.

Fat Turkey posted:

Until then I wanted more info on how often people practice and what do they practice. I imagine people do it every day, but for how long? And how much do you concentrate on which issues? Basically, what is a typical practice routine?

I go on about an hour or so. The only exercise I bother with is harmonic scales with just fingers 1, 2 and 3. Other than that I just play a song or two I already know, then try to learn a new song. I play it with hands separately first, switching off whenever the hand I'm practicing with is feeling tired or my other hand is cooling down. When I'm learning a new piece, I usually try to learn all measures once as an exploratory thing, then practice the hardest measures. Once I got a measure down, I go on to the easier measures until there isn't any left.

After I got all measures down with hand separate practice, I try to go through the entire piece with hands together, noting any mistakes. For the measures I made a mistake in, I play them again at the same pace to see if I can replicate it, then evaluate. I practice all the necessary measures I need practice until I can go slightly faster than the intended tempo. Once I got that down, I play the piece at a slower tempo that I know I would make almost no mistakes in, then play it up until I can get it down at the slightly faster than intended tempo. I finish it off by playing the entire piece again at the same slow tempo I've been doing before. I do this because I'm sure I would make very little mistakes in that tempo, and I want to get myself used to that when I play it next time at regular tempo.

I don't really bother with exercises since I feel like they're just wasting my time. I guess it's because they're just not music to me. Only times I use exercises is when there is a technique I haven't got down.

I've been using a practice routine that was similar to this before I've been reading http://www.pianofundamentals.com/ . After I read some things, I've modified it a little and felt it has been working better for me. It's a real good book, I believe. It's even amazing since it's free.

pyknosis
Nov 23, 2007

Young Orc
Anyone remember this thread? It's been dead for a little while.

So, I just got a nice new keyboard for christmas, and I'm taking the university's basic piano class next semester, and I'll probably end up taking lessons over the summer. I'm starting my music major, and I'll most likely focus on bass and/or classical guitar, but I want to get to know the piano pretty well too.

That leads me to my question - can anyone recommend a good method book for piano? I have plenty of theory background and whatnot, but I need something that will help me build up my sight-reading and technique from a very basic level.

Also, wow, everyone in this thread seems to be making awesome progress, congrats. Any more recent updates?

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
I'm still here, hammering away at my cheap Casio keyboard. I've had it for about a month now, maybe a little longer. In that month, I've learned more about music theory than I ever did in the 8 months I was plucking away on a guitar.

As far as progress, I'm moving a little slow. My goal when I first started out was not to go into classical music, but rather try and get a good grip on theory and play some popular tunes. The main problem that I'm encountering is similar to what I was facing on the guitar...lack of practice, and not learning songs all the way through. I have a habit of learning only the riffs, instead of the complete song.

Currently I am working on learning "Auld Lang Syne", in light of the New Years coming up. Its an easy enough melody, but I still can't play through the entire song without messing up 2 or 3 times.

Also, I'm curious as to how other people finger a G7 chord, with the left hand. I stutter on that chord every time, can't seem to make the fingering feel comfortable.

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
Wow, this thread definitely needs more love. The "New To Guitar" thread is pushing 1100+ replies, and we are struggling to make page three. I refuse to believe that there aren't more people out there playing the piano. :colbert:

As far as personal progress, I have Auld Lang Syne completely down now for the upcoming New Year celebration. I know its considered an extremely basic song, but its my first one that I've learned all the way through with both melody and filler(?) so I'm kind of proud about it.

I'm trying to decide what song to tackle next. I don't have much in the way of printed sheet music...I found my dad's old "The Ultimate Country Fake Book!" but there aren't very many tunes I even recognize in it. I'm leaning towards learning something for the ladies next.

Any others making progress? What song(s) are you currently trying to learn?

Zigmidge
May 12, 2002

Exsqueeze me, why the sour face? I'm here to lemon aid you. Let's juice it.
I played classical piano through the RCM program for 12 years (I would have done it in 10 but I had to do grades 6 and 7 for two years each) and quit just before taking the exam for grade 10 (which is like a grueling two hours of song recital, written theory and aural testing). I was recommended to take the ARCT by my teacher but because I dropped I never did finish and do that.

My girlfriend's parents bought me a fun 76-key casio that I hooked into my PC and I've been practicing with it here and there never really having a serious sit-down session in the past two weeks I've had this thing.

I can read sheet music 100% and although I'm finding that I'm a little slow reading left hand bass clef, I can spot play right hand no problem. I've gone through 4 years of theory and done a lot of ear training.

My problem is that after 10 years of video games my hands are about as nimble on the ivory as a 50-ton semi running the Nurburgring. I've forgotten all fingering, my theory is rusty and half-forgotten and I can't pick out keys and notes through listening anymore.

I'm not sure if I should put the money down for an expensive teacher (I refuse to take a class, it's 1 on 1 or bust for me) to help train myself with all of those aspects again or work on them by myself with the idiom of falling off bikes ever present in my mind. Kind of a hard thing to get oneself to go back to lessons after you swore off twelve years of learning because you were too cool for it, back in the day, you know?

*edit* As for a song I'm learning right now? Chopin's Opus 64 Number 2 (Waltz 7 in C# Minor) - probably my favourite chopin song ever.

Zigmidge fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Dec 29, 2007

Alizee
Mar 2, 2006

"Heaven"

nyro posted:

When playing and just doodling around with major and minor chords, do people actually memorize every chord possible or is it just finger/hand memory on root notes? Ive gotten to the point where I can figure all the maj/min/inversions out but it takes time, and I would like to get to the point where I could just play them on queue

It completely depends. It helps out a lot in the long run. Do you need to know every possible dimished, augmented, 7th with certain tensions. No, not really.

But, it's definitely a good thing to know all major and minors and play them quickly in inversions and arpeggios. Diminished and Dominant 7ths are not as important .

Zigmidge posted:

I played classical piano through the RCM program for 12 years (I would have done it in 10 but I had to do grades 6 and 7 for two years each) and quit just before taking the exam for grade 10 (which is like a grueling two hours of song recital, written theory and aural testing). I was recommended to take the ARCT by my teacher but because I dropped I never did finish and do that.

My girlfriend's parents bought me a fun 76-key casio that I hooked into my PC and I've been practicing with it here and there never really having a serious sit-down session in the past two weeks I've had this thing.

I can read sheet music 100% and although I'm finding that I'm a little slow reading left hand bass clef, I can spot play right hand no problem. I've gone through 4 years of theory and done a lot of ear training.

My problem is that after 10 years of video games my hands are about as nimble on the ivory as a 50-ton semi running the Nurburgring. I've forgotten all fingering, my theory is rusty and half-forgotten and I can't pick out keys and notes through listening anymore.

I'm not sure if I should put the money down for an expensive teacher (I refuse to take a class, it's 1 on 1 or bust for me) to help train myself with all of those aspects again or work on them by myself with the idiom of falling off bikes ever present in my mind. Kind of a hard thing to get oneself to go back to lessons after you swore off twelve years of learning because you were too cool for it, back in the day, you know?

*edit* As for a song I'm learning right now? Chopin's Opus 64 Number 2 (Waltz 7 in C# Minor) - probably my favourite chopin song ever.

Quite a pretty choice, check out some nocturnes too! It depends what you want to do. If you're just going to be playing for your own enjoyment you can just continue to teach yourself. But I'm doing grade 9 right now and prepping for my University auditions and I could never fathom not having a teacher for the quality of interpretations I'd like to produce.

I think the biggest things in advanced teaching is that you notice the small things that can make music wonderful. You really take control of the keyboard and learn how to manipulate it's sound to the highest degree. Also, with a good teacher, you can't get away with mistakes and working through a piece but not perfecting it. I think learning how to perfect music and when it's perfected is also a great skill.

Hughmoris posted:

Wow, this thread definitely needs more love. The "New To Guitar" thread is pushing 1100+ replies, and we are struggling to make page three. I refuse to believe that there aren't more people out there playing the piano. :colbert:

This man speaks the truth! (Don't be shy fellows).

Anyways like many other are doing I'll state my progress etc.

Right now I'm working on three songs for my University auditions.

Chopin's Nocturne in C#- post op.

It's completely learned, I'm just working on giving it my own stylistic touches with tempo rubato.

Bach's Prelude and Fugue in c minor

What a bitch this piece is. The prelude's notes are done and under the fingers. I'm working on tempo and keeping the drat hands together. The fugue is another matter all itself. It's ultimately going to payoff and sound wonderful but working through it at like 1/4 tempo sounds so robotic and choppy I could kill myself. It doesn't help I haven't been practicing on it Christmas Break. Status: Worried I won't get it done well for the auditions. :S

Mozart's Fantasie in d minor

This piece is going along quite well and I'm excited to further get it under my belt. Should be polished by my auditions.

Overall status: worried.

EDIT: Also if you can record stuff. Record your progress! It's always fun :D

Alizee fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Dec 30, 2007

Hughmoris
Apr 21, 2007
Let's go to the abyss!
I'm trying to learn the more popular tunes such as Coldplay "The Scientist", and I'd like to sing along as I play. However, I have a deep voice so I feel like I'm singing way below whatever tune I'm playing. Here lies my question...

If I want to change a song to a lower pitch so that I may sing along more easily, do I bump it down an octave or do I change keys? Why would I do one over the other?

Thanks!

Insensitive
Aug 7, 2007

Lipstick Apathy
During the Christmas holidays I was learning two new pieces, Rachmaninoff's prelude op 3 no. 2, and Brahm's Hungarian Dance no. 2. For the prelude I still need to up the tempo in the middle section and bring out the melody even more (my pinky :smith: ), but other than that the rest is fine. For the Brahm's I also need to up the tempo in the middle section and try not to play so many wrong notes.

I'm going to start learning Rachmaninoff's Moment Musicaux no. 1. It will be slow progress since I can't find a piano to play on campus because they will only allow students enrolled in the Music program to play them. So I will have to wait till I get home on the weekends to practice.

quote:


Anyways like many other are doing I'll state my progress etc.

Right now I'm working on three songs for my University auditions.

Good luck on your progress, especially on the fugue. It is a big pain in the rear end to learn and an even bigger pain to memorize it. I needed to play one for my piano exam and it made me go :bang:.

dingolord
Sep 26, 2004

I'm a guitarist with extensive theory and jazz knowledge looking to pick up piano partly for kicks, to increase my knowledge, do some recording and perhaps someday to play in a band setting. I'm looking at the Yamaha YPG-625 which seems to have everything people here are recommending, but has one glaring problem: no audio output. It seems bizarre to me to spend nearly a grand for an instrument I couldn't plug into an amp someday if I so desired.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a sub-$1000 88 weighted key keyboard with an audio out?

dingolord fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Jan 10, 2008

Splashy Gravy
Dec 21, 2004

I HAVE FURY!
Slippery Tilde

dingolord posted:

I'm a guitarist with extensive theory and jazz knowledge looking to pick up piano partly for kicks, to increase my knowledge, do some recording and perhaps someday to play in a band setting. I'm looking at the Yamaha YPG-625 which seems to have everything people here are recommending, but has one glaring problem: no audio output. It seems bizarre to me to spend nearly a grand for an instrument I couldn't plug into an amp someday if I so desired.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a sub-$1000 88 weighted key keyboard with an audio out?

You may have known this, but you can you the headphone jack for audio out.

TheChipmunk
Sep 29, 2003

Eschew Obfuscation
I'm currently working on a Prelude in Fugue by the great Bachmiester (...Bach) in D Minor. I always have a hell of a time with his Well Tempered Clavier... Nonetheless, I hear its 'good for all pianists'.

Good luck with your audition Alizee, unless its already happened long ago. I just recently auditioned with success. Thank goodness.

I'm working on Beethoven Sonata (Pastoral), the Bach Prelude and Fugue, and a Chopin Polonaise (no 2 in E flat minor).

Its a shame to see this thread with so few replies. The Piano needs a strong resurgent, somehow. Its a shame everyone wants to "zomg shredding ftw".

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Sandeep
Mar 27, 2002

I should be working on Summoner 3 instead of engaging in political discussions

dingolord posted:

I'm a guitarist with extensive theory and jazz knowledge looking to pick up piano partly for kicks, to increase my knowledge, do some recording and perhaps someday to play in a band setting. I'm looking at the Yamaha YPG-625 which seems to have everything people here are recommending, but has one glaring problem: no audio output. It seems bizarre to me to spend nearly a grand for an instrument I couldn't plug into an amp someday if I so desired.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a sub-$1000 88 weighted key keyboard with an audio out?

I have the YPG-625 and I use the headphone jack for audio out.

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