Tips for a beginner!

[mr. classic]

Hi!

Instead of searching for and reading another topic, I'd rather create a new one so that I'll get more individual answers.

I've been trying to selfstudy the piano for about half a year but with little progress. I've read at this forum that a student in my position should get a teacher, instead of trying to self-learn and risk getting it wrong. I've also read about different self-learning methods, but I don't have a clue what they mean.

The purpose of this topic is to clarify what options I have. I don't have very much money and a teacher would be paid out of my own pocket. I also lack a regular piano, I use a keyboard instead.

Any advice? 

Also forgot to mention that I'm 16 years old and live in sweden, or possibly in the US next year (if I get the scholarship!)

[arumih]

First piece of advice: read everything you can on this forum! Every few months of advancement, come back and look at topics and you'll find solutions to the new problems you encounter. You're probably not gonna get many people responding to this because it's ridiculously easy to search these forums and find endless useful information. Hopefully someone more generous that I might provide some links to lead you in the right direction.

Second piece of advice: listen to A LOT of piano music. It will help improve your musicality and your musical knowledge while at the same time you'll find what type of music you like and what pieces you want to learn.

Other general things...yes, get a teacher. That will be of great help especially seein that you say you're not progressing. If you persist in learning on your own, go very very very slowly. As you continue to progress, things will get both easier, and harder (much harder). Learn patience and remember if you truly want to learn to play properly, you're gonna be in this for the long run.

Also big trap not to fall into, play through your mistakes ie don't stop and restart. This is one of the most difficult things to unlearn (2yrs later I'm still trying to correct it!) and even at this stage, play for whoever will listen so that you don't develop nervousness when having to play for other people.

Again, this is the tip of the iceberg, just read this everything on this forum...that is probably one of the best things you can do as a beginner lol. As a beginner (I'm speaking from own experience) you may think you know what piano playing is about, but really and truly the first few months/years will be spent undoing whatever preconceived notions you have and learning the reality of what piano playing is and what it takes to become proficient. Reading everything here will make that task so much easier, trust me!

Good luck!

[mlhf_michelle]

I actually wanted to make a similar topic forum like this but this one already been made earlier so I dont think I need to make one.

I also do self-study in piano. But at the mean time, I got college studies as well so I couldnt get a time for a piano lesson. So probably I would go for it after college.

Try to do some research about some famous composers like Beethoven or Chopin so you would understand the piece better.

[mad_max2024]

Always remain calm.

A teacher is very important, but I don't feel like starting another "you should get a teacher" rant right now, so I consider the warning as given. 

Pay attention to your body's movements, not only to what you are playing. The less you move, the more efficient your playing will be, especially at high speed. Try to avoid unecessary flourishes and keep movement to a minimum.

Always try to be aware and in control of what you are doing, never cheat or rush through a passage.

Keep a steady tempo, do not accelerate. That is a natural tendency that must be fought. The metronome is your friend, especially useful to build up speed while keeping clarity and regularity.

Do not be ashamed to begin slowly. Value accuracy and control over speed at all times.
I start most pieces at a very slow speed, only raise the tempo on the metronome when I'm sure everything is controlled.

Another beginner problem I usually notice is that they use the entire weight of the hand when using the pinky. It looks really painful to me and it ruins control and evenness. Bend your pinky and use it like any other finger. I think a good exercise is to keep your hand completely immobile while using the finger on the key, that should give you the picture of how to do it. It takes a while to get used to it.

Use your forearm in rotating motions when necessary, if you are playing something like C-G-C-G-C-G use your forearm to rotate your hand,not the fingers. The forearm muscle is a lot stronger and the movement willl be more efficient.

Try to keep a relaxed wrist.

Try to identify, isolate and solve your problems. Do not be contented in playing the piece over and over from beginning to end.

Be patient, there is no "end" to the study of a piece. I spent over a year in some and they are still not perfect. They actually never are, you can always do more.

Always remain calm. That's important enough to be said twice. The more relaxed you are the better you play.

And the golden rule:
If it hurts, STOP playing.

Try to figure out what you are doing wrong then start only when it stops hurting. That will avoid all sorts of nasty injuries.

This is what comes to mind at the moment.
I'm not a teacher so if any of you wise people wish to correct any misconception I have feel free to do it. 

[csharp_minor]

I’m a beginner too; I have been learning for 10 months now and have only just started taking lessons I have had only four so far. I had to cope without having a piano teacher for 9 months, but I felt like I was progressing. I was also was practicing on a keyboard for a while – I strongly suggest you get yourself a keyboard or digital piano with ‘hammer action’ keys or better still a real piano! So from my own experience I would say:

Decide what you want to get out of your piano playing. What is it you want to achieve in the future? What music do you want to play? Once you know then start listening to it as much as you can.

When you have made your mind up, then I think a good start is to get yourself a piano method book for a beginner that covers the genres of music you really want to learn. For me, I really wanted to have a book that coved classical and more traditional piano music as opposed to more modern stuff. The book I ended up buying was John Thomson Adult Preparatory Piano Book, as it also covered technique, and had very useful finger drills, and Hanon exercises to get your finger used to moving.

Do the finger drills / Hanon  in the early stages everyday, they help to develop finger speed and accuracy.

Go through the book slowly and surely. Don’t skip the pages because you think the piece is boring. In the early stages you need to stick with these simple pieces even if they sound too simple or boring. It’s the ONLY way you can ever progress on to playing more complicated music. So have patience!

Don’t ignore the finger number suggestions; they are there to help you play the music in the easiest way. You can only start changing the finger numbers a bit when you play harder music, as you might need to adapt the fingerings to suit your own hand. Eventually paying attention to these numbers will help you to get a feel for what fingers should be used in music that has no finger numbers.

After learning a piece and moving on to another one to learn don’t neglect the piece you have already learned. Always play the pieces you have learned, that way you can see your achievements.

Have a little review every week or every two weeks and play everything you have learned in the book. Go through all of the stuff you have learned including any drills, you will notice the very easy music at the start of the book will become very easy to play.

Everyday familiarise yourself with the staff and the position of the notes on it, learn a few at a time not the whole lot in one go.  When you have learned the positions of a few notes get an easy piece of music from your method book that covers the notes you have become familiar with; and recite the name of the notes in that piece. The more note positions you learn the more complicated music you can recite, eventually you will need to also familiarise yourself with notes that appear on the legger lines, so recite the names of the notes in a pieces of music that uses leggers lines. I actually still do this even now. Everyday I pick up a piece of music and recite the names of the notes.

Get a scale chart or a scale book and start learning the scales arpeggios and chords, slowly and surely hands separately. Learn a new scale after you are comfortable with the one you learned.

Also another thing thats important apart from all this practice that some beginners forget to do is... have fun! Set aside some time for yourself to have fun making sounds and experimenting or trying to play something by ear. Get yourself a book that has some easy piece you want to learn! Having fun and experimenting with sounds builds up your ability to I identify chords and other important things you will need later, and forms the basis for learning improvisation.

When you have some money do get a teacher!  But do be expected to unlearn your bad habits that you will inevitably form when teaching yourself. Just don’t be too hard on yourself you will progress if you keep at it!

Hope this helps ( sorry if its too long ) its exactly what I have been doing. I’m now preparing for my grade 1 and have moved from my beginner book on to learning proper classical music.

[mr. classic]

Thank you very much, you've all given me very useful advice. As I read what you wrote I saw how much I've been doing wrong during my self-study, and what was holding me back. Luckily Christmas is coming up soon, so I'll probably get a few of the books I could need.

I have no questions about your statements, since I understood most and googled the rest.

Someone should create a sticky for Piano beginners. :p

[javacisnotrecognized]

Rhythm is the most important element in music. Without it you are making noise!

(This is doubly important if you learn piece by listening to people play them)

[mad_max2024]

Rhythm is the most important element in music. Without it you are making noise!

(This is doubly important if you learn piece by listening to people play them)

And triply important if you are playing with other people. 

[mad_max2024]

Oh, and another thing. When performing always be practical.

When you are studying aim for perfection. Be very picky and demanding and try to get everything the way you want, no matter how subtle.

When performing, do the opposite. Lie, cheat and steal all you must to get the piece played.
You will make mistakes, you are playing under stressful conditions which makes it a lot harder (everyone plays better at home). Personally I shake all over when I have to play in public, sometimes my hands shake so much it's even hard to hit the keys. It usually gets better once I'm started.

Don't stop or double back at mistakes, don't mumble or curse or do anything that shows you made a mistake. Try to ignore it and push forward like nothing happened. Unless there are musically educated people in the audience, most people won't notice the mistakes you make unless you do something that shows them. And those who do don't usually care.

Try to keep the show going on smoothly. And yes, this is not an easy thing to do (at least for me). 

[camstrings]

Learning chords is a great way to develop sound & pedalling on piano. It can point you to where you will be headed when you approach more complex pieces.
Try to know your major & minor chords perhaps in the right hand supported by root octave in left hand.
Then practice simple ! IV V sequence such as A  D  E with different dynamics.

[csharp_minor]

Oh yes pedalling! I'm no expert but you should NEVER keep the damper pedal held down the whole time you play a piece! Its someing some beginners do, do with out relising its bad.

You will realise as you get more used to using the pedal that doing it that way the wrong way, makes the sound of the piece very 'muddy' or reverby and all the sounds merge toghether causing unnecessary dissonance.

[G.W.K]

I've been trying to selfstudy the piano for about half a year but with little progress. I've read at this forum that a student in my position should get a teacher, instead of trying to self-learn and risk getting it wrong. I've also read about different self-learning methods, but I don't have a clue what they mean.

The purpose of this topic is to clarify what options I have. I don't have very much money and a teacher would be paid out of my own pocket. I also lack a regular piano, I use a keyboard instead.

That is basically the same posistion I am in. It's basically trial-and-error. I try to learn by watching YouTube clips, playing by ear and reading excerpts from books. However, it can be very frustrating. You have got a lot of advice here: so just keep on trying until better options become avaliable!

G.W.K

[a1]

Hi!

Instead of searching for and reading another topic, I'd rather create a new one so that I'll get more individual answers.

I've been trying to selfstudy the piano for about half a year but with little progress. I've read at this forum that a student in my position should get a teacher, instead of trying to self-learn and risk getting it wrong. I've also read about different self-learning methods, but I don't have a clue what they mean.

The purpose of this topic is to clarify what options I have. I don't have very much money and a teacher would be paid out of my own pocket. I also lack a regular piano, I use a keyboard instead.

Any advice? 

Also forgot to mention that I'm 16 years old and live in sweden, or possibly in the US next year (if I get the scholarship!)

I know you are very interested in piano especially classical.BUT I strongly advise you to GIVE UP your piano dream first.as you know,piano is a game or hobby for rich !!! Focus on study , then you will possibly became rich and hire LANG LANG AND YUNDI LI to teach you !!!

debussy's son..........................................

[a1]

That is basically the same posistion I am in. It's basically trial-and-error. I try to learn by watching YouTube clips, playing by ear and reading excerpts from books. However, it can be very frustrating. You have got a lot of advice here: so just keep on trying until better options become avaliable!

G.W.K

What music need is the techniques !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[nhi1605]

Hi what does it mean to "express a piece of music"?
I'm also a beginner self-study and I've been reading around the posts on this forum and others and people often commentted others on their "expressions of music". But if you express it in a unique way wouldn't that be changing the music that the composer originally meant it to be? I'm sorry if this sounds stupid or ignorant but I just want to know. >.<