Learning to play piano
Learning to play piano Posted on: 10.06.2009 by Leota Saniuk I learned a bit about the theory of music from this article., but now I want to take things further. I figure it will help me get a better sense of music if I learn how to play the piano. It will of course also give me one more tool in the box to create unique mixes.I believe I will try using the free GarageBand video's as a start. Depending on how well this works, I might buy additional lessons. Aside from this I am looking to buy a MIDI keyboard piano. So far it seems like the Korg microKontrol is a good fit, since it also seems to offer quite a bit of functionality for launching samples and controlling channels etc making it a good companion for a DJ. I have small hands so I might not be affected by the fact that the kes on this controller are supposedly very close together. I am not sure if the German version also includes Live 4 Korg Edition, which would obviously be nice to have as a start (wonder what the upgrade to Live 8 costs?). I am open to other suggestions for a MIDI controller or hints about how I can learn how to play the piano on my own. | |
| Graham Frazier 30.09.2009 |
Originally Posted by flulyzsu
Somebody take care of this please!!!!!! |
| Leota Saniuk 22.06.2009 |
Originally Posted by Str8upDrew
At any rate, I got a reply from M-Audio Germany, that they do not give gurantee's on whats inside the bundle, so I will just ask dealers what is included and hopefully I will find one on Germany/Switzerland that includes Ableton Live Lite. |
| Graham Frazier 21.06.2009 | The keystation pro is nice, i was believeing of picking one up and i tested it out pretty thoroughly. I personally liked it a lot, but decided that i've got enough keyboards.
Originally Posted by djhipnotikk
My best advice is, don't get discouraged when you're having trouble playing something. Be patient and just keep on practicing, and you'll eventually get it. |
| Xavier Emanuels 21.06.2009 |
Originally Posted by djhipnotikk
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| Paul Davison 01.03.2010 | Being a piano/theory teacher, I find the best way to learn to play is to find a teacher. A half hour of private lessons may save you several weeks of self-study. It's difficult to build proper piano chops without knowing what it is you need to do. The difficult part is finding a teacher who understands what your needs are as a dj/producer. It took me several years to develop a successful method with the dj/producer in mind. And remember, for the most part YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET. You'll probably learn a lot more from a teacher who charges $20 a half hour than from a teacher who charges $5. There are stories of self-taught musicians who are incredibly awesome performers but how of them are there in this world? Save yourself the time and find yourself a qualified teacher. With regards to picking the proper instrument, it all depends on what you want to do and what your budget is. If you want to build up chops to play an acoustic piano, then semi weighted keys are not for you. I'd try to look for a proper digital piano. I'd recommend picking up a used digital piano. Usually parents sell them after their kid quits the piano and they're mostly in good condition. I bought a fully weighted roland digital piano for $450 for a student of mine just a few weeks back. Using controllers are good options as well such as the Akai MPK88 (ooodles of knobs, pads and faders but pricey) or a Yamaha KX8 ($359ish). The KX8 has awesome actions for the price and offers a few knobs and buttons. The keystation pro88 is another option but I hate the feel of the keys. But above everything else, proper practice is what will make you better. If you want to learn to read music, I'd find scores from http://imslp.org/wiki/Main_Page. Pick up a few theory books from the library and start reading! I find that http://imslp.org/wiki/Practical_Exer...zerny,_Carl%29 helps the student to familiarize themselves with using all five fingers. Hope this helps. PM if you have further questions. And also just a bit of shameless self-promotion. I teach in the east end of Toronto and specialize in teaching adults and the musician. If anyone is interested, pm me. Best of luck! |
| Leota Saniuk 11.02.2010 | interesting .. the learning pack seems to also try to teach you sheet music .. |
| Mohammad Ganster 11.02.2010 | Hi guys, if you have a midi keyboard, Synthesia might be something for you. it is a free guitar-hero like game that uses midi files as songs, however, it might really help your playing techniques. it won't learn you to read sheet music, but it will get your fingers moving http://www.synthesiagame.com/ |
| Leota Saniuk 11.02.2010 | finally found a free app to view and author music scores: http://musescore.org/ |
| Graham Frazier 30.09.2009 |
Originally Posted by flulyzsu
Somebody take care of this please!!!!!! |
| Estela Follansbee 30.09.2009 | I started to learn to play the piano earlier this year. It can really provide a better understanding of music. Even after having played guitar for over 10 years, having all the notes laid out in front of you makes it easier to grasp. Get at least a 49-key keyboard. I started with an M-Audio Axiom 49. It's a nice piece of kit for the price. If you don't want the pads/knobs/faders, I imagine the M-Audio KeyRig 49 could be a good option for less money. I'm not affiliated or anything with this site, but I purchased the piano lessons from http://www.pianoforall.com/ to learn how to play. It seems its always sold at half-price ($40), and I can vouch it is worth it. I liked being able to read the pdfs, watch the videos, and play my keyboard all from my computer. Keeps the setup more simple. The way the lessons are set up get you playing quickly and don't bog you down with too much music theory. |
| Thuy Lederman 30.09.2009 | Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here? Thanks so much in deed. __________________ How to incorportate a small llc company? | Articles of incorporation services | Why incorporate business online yourself |
| Leota Saniuk 22.06.2009 |
Originally Posted by Str8upDrew
At any rate, I got a reply from M-Audio Germany, that they do not give gurantee's on whats inside the bundle, so I will just ask dealers what is included and hopefully I will find one on Germany/Switzerland that includes Ableton Live Lite. |
| Graham Frazier 21.06.2009 | The keystation pro is nice, i was believeing of picking one up and i tested it out pretty thoroughly. I personally liked it a lot, but decided that i've got enough keyboards.
Originally Posted by djhipnotikk
My best advice is, don't get discouraged when you're having trouble playing something. Be patient and just keep on practicing, and you'll eventually get it. |
| Xavier Emanuels 21.06.2009 |
Originally Posted by djhipnotikk
|
| Harold Jaras 21.06.2009 | lots of time, lots of practice. |
| Leota Saniuk 21.06.2009 | Ok, after asking around and not finding any one among my friends who has a keyboard and also not really finding much of anything used online, I have decided that I am going to get the M-Audio Pro 88 if I can indeed confirm that it comes with Ableton Live Lite here in Europe also. Its listed at $499 on the m-audio US site including Live Lite and at 549 Euros with no mentioning of Live Lite on the German site. Street prices are at $399 in the US and 440 Euros in Germany. I can probably get it cheaper in Switzerland, since the sales tax is over 10% lower here. Its 88 keys, hammer action weighted, works as a full MIDI controller and has plenty of knobs, buttons and faders to play with. The main weakness seems to be its not so sturdy build. While its not super heavy but its obviously quite big, so I do not see myself taking this keyboard anywhere anyways. |
| Graham Frazier 11.06.2009 | Definitely get something with at least 49 keys, but the more the better, a full 88 i awesome. I would pick up a learn to play book, and go to a music store that offers piano lessons, and ask what books the teachers are using with there beginner students. Or just take lessons, they are usually pretty cheep, i used to charge 15$ / 45min.- 1hr. lessons. But i'm not i very patient person when it comes to dealing with people, so i don't do that anymore. |
| robert chanda 10.06.2009 | Start with something simple and cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwMVTgLS7RM |
| Roberto Viccione 10.06.2009 | exactly |
| Leota Saniuk 10.06.2009 |
Originally Posted by DvlsAdvct
Amazingly ebay seems to be void of good deals here in Germany/Switzerland. But I will shop around, though generally I really hate buying used, because I hate all this dealing with faulty stuff. Maybe one of my friends has one flying around that I can just borrow. So it seems the key recommendation at this point is to get a 61 or even 88 note keyboard. Doesnt need to be great, but this way I learn how to play with 2 hands and I can practice learning various popular songs. Once I got that more or less decently working I should see about getting a more portable keyboard to potentially integrate into live playing. |
| Kayleen Positano 11.06.2009 | I learned to play on a grand piano, but thats because I was 5 years old, my parents are both trained musicians, and I took piano lessons for a long time. I still regret not keeping up with them. My two cents: the best way to learn to play piano is, well, on an actual piano. Chances are good you don't have one lying around, but if there's a university near you, it would probably be easy to venture over there, sit in a practice room, and plunk out on keys for a while, or even sit in on a keyboarding or theory class. (talking to the prof's first would be a good idea. In my experience, they're usually ok with it.) |
| Hertha Fang 10.06.2009 | Last evening I was playing around with some videos on youtube, trying to learn heart and soul and also New York, New York (not the moby one lol, the FS original). Most of the keys sounded pretty good using the garageband classical piano synth in logic, but when I would hit certain notes they sounded quite off, even though I am hitting them correctly. Is this just a weakness of the synth to emulate combined keys' frequency addition? |
| Roberto Viccione 10.06.2009 | I know I couldn't get any of the Korg synths that had the little keys cause my fingers weren't accurate enough and it just ended poorly. If you want to learn to play piano just get a cheap 49 or 67 key MIDI controller for $80 new, or cheaper used, and learn to play. If you then decide to move on to something bigger then sell it used and go from there. |
| Leota Saniuk 10.06.2009 | @Stryng: I will be using the ones from GarageBand for now. Might be worth checking out in case you have access to a Mac. @kidfromkibbly: What do you mean with "single octave"? Like I said the microKontrol has 3 octaves (or 37 notes). I will ponder this a bit. Getting a dedicated 5 octave keyboard obviously changes the investment a bit. |
| Gerda Hanzl 10.06.2009 | I'm also want to start learning to play the piano/keyboard. My idea is to just buy a oxygen 8 v2 to start with, just play a bit. After I practiced some more I can maybe buy a bigger keyboard with 5 octaves, that's how I will do it. The only thing I'm looking for right now is good lessons, most likely videolessons. Any suggestions? Or good sites, thanks |
| Dj Gjaka 10.06.2009 | I would also suggest getting large range keyboard. I use the Yamaha NP-30 at the moment. It's a great, simple keyboard for playing VSTis, and for practising scales on. Using a single octave keyboard would make learning music theory difficult because you wouldn't be able to see the different scales in relation to one another. |
| Leota Saniuk 10.06.2009 | I dont know yet how far I really want to take this piano playing. For now the main target is to get a better sense of rhythms and beats and maybe doing very short intro's while DJing. Also if I get things right, this is 3 octaves, still limited of course. |
| Xavier Emanuels 10.06.2009 | i wouldnt recommend microkontrol the keys are tiiiiny, and its only 2 octaves. If you really want to learn to play piano i would highly highly recommend going with a 5 octave dedicated keyboard. That way your learning on real sized keys and have enough octaves to play most songs and very imporantly enough room to learn to play with 2 hands properly. Only after you have the hang playing piano a bit with that would i even bother getting a 2 octave keyboard for gigging. Thats how i see it anyway. |
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