need some advice....

[a3m0n]

hello everyone.

i would like to learn to play piano, but i need some advice. are there any books, or book/dvd combos or such that you would recommend? 

maybe it would help to give my musical background.  i grew up around it, both of my older sisters were in band, and so was i.  i played trumpet, french horn, and mellophone in high school.  i read treble clef, but i still haven't gotten around to learning how to read bass. 

i have played in a small jazz band or two since high school, but still want to stay in music.  this is mostly for myself, my own enjoyment.  i lead singing at my church from time to time (a cappella, we don't use instuments in our worship). 

so there ya go, i have a decent base in music, just want to learn piano.  so if you have any suggestions on books/materials... thanks!

later

[Kassaa]

Get a teacher.

[Daevren]

Get a love an knowledge for music.

[a3m0n]

i'd like to get a teacher, but between working full time and marriage and everything else, i dont have time for lessons.  i just want to learn on my own, at my own pace.

and thank you very much for the great advice Daevren, but i already have a love and knowledge of music.  now do you actually have any help to give? 

does anyone have any recommendations for a book or dvd?

thanks.

later

[Daevren]

Why don't you start practicing one of the easy pieces you know and love?

I think you missed my point. There aren't really methods and DVDs out there. Most teachers will start with easy real pieces first, instead of playing scales, arpeggios or doing other exercises. Especially when teaching a adult musician who is new to the piano.

Since you talked about jazz bands, trumpet, french horn etc I assumed you aren't very familiar with the piano literature out there. Hell, even I am not.

As for practical problems that you might run into, no one can help you with that over the internet.

So the first thing I would start with if I was you would be getting familiar with the bass clef:  https://www.emusictheory.com/drillSpeedReading.html

You can turn off the violin staff in 'settings'. There is also other version of that program on that site without moving notes. Maybe try that one first.

(The site is kind of crashing here too, it used to be ok, I think. Maybe it's my computer.)

There is a lot of information on this site. How to practice, easy nice pieces, how to play scales/arpeggios/chords, fingerings. There are also a lot of sites with free sheet music. there are lists with difficulty ratings.

There are also composers who wrote exersizes, both totally unmusical and barely musical. Two famous ones are Hanon and Czerny. There is a lot of discussion on their usefulness here too.

Since you haven't got a keyboard/digital piano at this moment yet I suggest you read around here a bit and start to listen to some typical piano repetoire.

It's hard to suggest pieces to you. I think it is important to listen en enjoy pieces you will never play(for any reason), so start listening anyway.
Maybe try and find the sheet music of Scarlatti sonata K030, K034 and K040. Those should be ok to learn as a first piece for an adult musician. Plus baroque has some advantages:
-It 'fits' in the range of a 61 key keyboard since they didn't use 88 key pianos back in those days.
-It is polyphonic music, so you have melodies in both hands. So no lazy left hand and overworked right hand (which something like Chopin has very often). (with the K. 32 being one of the exceptions).

look here: https://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/single_listing.cfm?composer_id=35

Or look here: https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,9717.0.html


Don't give up.

[latebloomer]

Adult Piano Adventures, Books 1 and 2

https://www.pianolane.com/v2/catalog/item.asp?itemnum=FF1302&pubnum=11


I worked through book 1 on my own and am in the middle of book 2.  Very helpful for someone without a teacher - like me.

Matt

[TheHammer]

You probably want to check out this:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,5767.0.html

and this:

https://members.aol.com/chang8828/contents.htm

and this for the bass:

https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,2713.msg23282.html#msg23282

and this for books:

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,4405.0.html

or do a search on Method Books.

So the best material I can think of right now is this forum. 
I agree with Daevren though...Method books are no guarantee to learn the piano, they may work well for one, but not for the other. So you should definitly get a teacher. You say you don't have time so you want to learn the piano on your own. what? It will in every case cost you more time to get to any level without a teacher than with one. Also, a 45 minute lesson (or even less) once in a week will fit into your timeplan I am very sure. If you had no teacher, you still had to PRACTICE some time EVERY DAY (some time may be between 15 minutes to, according to some on this forum, 12 hours...but well, 0.5-3 are quite ok).

Good luck.

[Daevren]

The only excuse not to get a teacher is that you cannot afford one.

Practicing 10 or 20 minutes every day is a good idea, with the emphasis on the last.

[Bouter Boogie]

i'd like to get a teacher, but between working full time and marriage and everything else, i dont have time for lessons.  i just want to learn on my own, at my own pace.

and thank you very much for the great advice Daevren, but i already have a love and knowledge of music.  now do you actually have any help to give? 

does anyone have any recommendations for a book or dvd?

thanks.

later

You don't have time to take lessons once a week for just about 30 minutes?  How do you wanna practice then?

[nsvppp]

I used to play the violin and wanted to learn to play the piano myself.
But after 3 months in Alfreds' books, my hands started to ache because of the chords I played too forced.
So Alfred's makes it possible for you to start, but you need guidance to do it well technically.

When I took lessons I was amazed at how much there is to learn. I really couldn't have found all this on my own.

But perhaps it is good to start on your self. When you gather enough questions (and frustration) you can find yourself a teacher.

[mound]

I agree - get a teacher. If you love music and want to learn piano, do yourself a favor and do it right. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for much frustration and possibly failure.

"I don't have time because of work and marriage" is just an excuse, an excuse which is likely not even true! (it may be true, but in most cases it is not) Saying such things does nothing but set yourself up for failure. You're already ahead of the game with your musical background, so keep taking the right steps.

You'd be amazed, as I was, as most are, if you took some time and actually "took inventory" of how you actually spend your time (just as you can track and budget how you are spending your money) .  Keep a log for a couple weeks of everything you do from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. I mean everything, especially the things that seem trivial.  Then gather your logs together and start looking at ways you can do the things you have to do more efficiently, and look for things you get rid of all together.  Hell, all you have to do is get up an hour earlier and you have a built in practice time.  Schedule your practice time and weekly lesson in just as you would schedule a business meeting. Make a plan and stick to it.

As they say "where there is a will, there is a way".

-Paul

[a3m0n]

man, you people sure are judgemental when a person says they have no time.  i work 50+ hours per week, that doesn't leave much time to spend with one's wife, and i do that every chance i get.   and i am also the youth director at my church,  that takes up much time also.  i have had to give up other things i like to do because of this.  i no longer take martial arts, its only 2 hours a week, but i cant fit it in.  i hardly surf anymore.  i work at home, so i can take breaks in the day and practice piano a few minutes at a time, but there is no room for lessons in my schedule.  i still play trumpet somtimes during the day (although the 3rd valve  sticks too much, need to get that fixed). 

it is not an excuse, its a reality.  i'm stoked for you that you all have time to do this, i don't have that luxury.  thank you to those who have helped in recommending a book or series.  and i understand that a teacher would be the best way, maybe later i'll be able to get one.  but for now, my only option is to learn as much as i can on my own.

later

[whodat]

Hi,  Long time reader but newly registered.

It has been difficult for me to find regular time to practice, since I often travel for work. But, I want to learn so I decided to buy a piano tutor software.  After doing some research, the following link seems to have some good reviews of popular software.
https://www.musiconmypc.co.uk/art_what_keyboard_tutor.php

I will be making my purchase this week and I'm probably going to buy the advantus one. (other sites seems to rate that software fairly high)  I still need to buy a keyboard or midi board though.  I agree that having a teacher is a good idea.  Hopefully, in the near future when my schedule is regualr, I can find one.  Until then, I think interactive type of software seems to be the next best thing. 

Good luck. 
http://

[mound]

I'm not being judgemental. Your schedule is what it is. But "no time for lessons" is an excuse. It might be a perfectly valid and real excuse, but it is an excuse none-the-less.  If you feel "judged" by my use of that word, perhaps it's because deep down you know that you could find the time. Perhaps not, I don't know you personally, so I can only make generalizations.  But if you can find some time to practice, and time is really so limited, then that time will be better spent with a teacher, and thus will allow you to more effectively use the other time you have to yourself.

As I said about the excuses, "it may be true, but in most cases it is not" - I have personally known several people whom have said the same thing. All of whom have very full lives (who doesn't these days!    and when I was actually able to convince them to keep a log of how they are spending their time, after a couple weeks they were, as I said, amazed at how much time was wasted, in spite of schedules that couldn't seem any fuller.

A friend recently emailed me this story. I had seen it before, maybe on this forum, I'm not sure. I'll post it again though, for what its worth:

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty Space between the sand.

The students laughed.
 

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things -your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favourite passions-things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else-the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical check-ups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand." One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers...!!" 

[a3m0n]

now that is a good story.  kinda inspires you to reorganize your priorities.

later

[mound]

exactly!

 

[a3m0n]

but this still leaves the problem of affording a keyboard/digi piano to practice on.  oh, and convincing my wife to fork over some cash for lessons.  this will be harder than actually learning the piano!  (i really hope she doesn't read this!! )

but really, thank you all for your help. 

later

[mound]

oh, and convincing my wife to fork over some cash for lessons.  this will be harder than actually learning the piano!

Oh now you're skrewed! Forget everything I said. Grab a beer, put the kids in your lap and forget about piano