To lear or not to learn ?

[web]

Hi !
I'm French (so, sorry for my English) and I would like to learn playing piano but  I don't dare because i wonder whether i will give up in 5 minutes or not..
I'm wondering if the good thing would be to buy a little "synthetiser" (?) or to buy what is called a numeric piano so that with a good instrument i could be more motivated to try again and again in order not to give up...
My question is: is it "easy" to lear playing piano or people have to have great abilities first ?
Thanks for you answers :-)

[Pianorak]

Welcome to the Piano Forum!

Ability certainly helps - but desire to learn is the first requisite. Hiring a piano to begin with might perhaps be the answer.  

[web]

yes ! i've looked and saw that indeed there are possibilities to hire a piano ;-) Thanks a lot !!

[ludwig]

hi web,

  I suppose buying a piano is an investment, and probably a piece of artwork for your home, i know i would like to just have a piano for my house if I had the money, that is the house and the piano I discussed the issue of naturally ability and interest/practice before. I agree with Pianorak that ability is pretty important, but more importantly, interest is great. The thing about the piano is that it ain't like many other instruments, there's hours and hours of entertainment without much natural ability and talent, also how will you know you don't or have the ability or not if you don't try to. It isn't like the violin or the trombone that you have to be pretty good to make great sounds out of....There are so many people I talk to say that they wish they knew how to play a musical instrument when they're older, or that they had continued their lessons on the piano, only if they had the time.

[MzrtMusic]

I must say that I think you should try playing the piano, even if you never have the "ability" to perform. Isn't music supposed to be fun? You don't have to be able to play Beethoven and Mozart and Rachmaninoff and Chopin to have fun. I have several adult piano students, and they really have very little "ability" but they have more fun trying then everyone else, because the desire is there. Because a piano isn't like a violin or trombone, if you want to badly enough, and work hard enough, I believe that you will attain a good level of proficency.

I say GO FOR IT!!!

Love,

Sarah

[web]

wow ! Thanks everybody for your support  

[dinosaurtales]

Just like sport, I suppose, a natural ability makes it easier to learn and probably easier to have fun right off the bat (so to speak), but anyone who has genuine interest and is determined to work hard will attain the skills anyway,  just means working at it a bit more.  I would NEVER discourage anyone who was interested in learning something new.  It means you are an interesting person (to me, at least).  Piano makes a great instrument to learn because it's "self supporting" - meaning you can play all the music by yourself and it sounds good -not like a clarinet or something where you need to find a band or ensemble to really have fun.  Let us know how it goes!

P.S.  what do you guys mean by "hiring" a piano?  Some of you guys talk funny.

[Diabolos]

Web, just go for it and hire that piano!

It is certainly important to have talent if you want to play at highlevel, maybe pieces by your homecountry's masters (Debussy, Ravel etc.), but there is so much music out there and a lot of it is very pretty and worth to play.
Therefore, if there's a will there's a way, as a German idiom states, and it is right: if you're ambitious, and you certainly are because you wouldn't have looked for that forum then, you should give it a try!

Rent a piano and hire a teacher.  

And welcome to our community.
Regards

[AterMelodius]

Hey , I'v ebeen playing piano about 2 years, with only a handful of lessons....mostly I've been teaching myself to improvise sort of like beethoven might have. I make up melodies attempting to imitate him and other romantic composers. of course my technique, if compared to a trained concert pianist, would seem coarse and knobbly.....but I sure am having a HELL OF A LOT OF FUN!!!!!  I just let go......let my heart pour out into the piano....and I feel it so strongly......everything I do....and if I dont say so myself it doesn't suck =D

you dont have to know the exact notes if you want to play beethoven's style =D  (thats the bottom line) just like, figure out some theory, like some weird key like C#...learn the important chords....mess around on it.....dilligently make up little melodies and things....build on them over a long period of time of doing this hours a day and you'll play like beethoven in no time..

LOL   I bet someone is going to reply to this with their nose protruding halfway into their message, saying that the way I've approached piano is childish or whatever.......AND THEY HAVENT HEARD ME PLAY! GYA HAH!

-AterMelodius

[Derek]

Hey , I'v ebeen playing piano about 2 years, with only a handful of lessons....mostly I've been teaching myself to improvise sort of like beethoven might have. I make up melodies attempting to imitate him and other romantic composers. of course my technique, if compared to a trained concert pianist, would seem coarse and knobbly.....but I sure am having a HELL OF A LOT OF FUN!!!!!  I just let go......let my heart pour out into the piano....and I feel it so strongly......everything I do....and if I dont say so myself it doesn't suck =D

you dont have to know the exact notes if you want to play beethoven's style =D  (thats the bottom line) just like, figure out some theory, like some weird key like C#...learn the important chords....mess around on it.....dilligently make up little melodies and things....build on them over a long period of time of doing this hours a day and you'll play like beethoven in no time..

LOL   I bet someone is going to reply to this with their nose protruding halfway into their message, saying that the way I've approached piano is childish or whatever.......AND THEY HAVENT HEARD ME PLAY! GYA HAH!

-AterMelodius

This was my first post ever on this website, before I got my permanent handle Derek.

I still don't play like beethoven. 

[beethovenfan01]

LOL you've been here awhile, it seems ...

[iancollett6]

I defiantly think you should go for it. Playing piano is one of the most beautiful things.
You have nothing to lose.
Maybe start off with a weighted digital keyboard, something like a Yamaha p45. Play around with it for a while and see if it's for you.
Go for it.