Starting from scratch, and need advice on everything

[leboer]

Hello Pianostreeters!

I am soon finished with my engineering degree, and have gotten an urge to take up piano once my masters is done. I played for a year or two when I was a kid (my mom sent me), and my teacher told me I had potential. She might say that to every student, so I don't know how true it actually was. Anyway, I had no desire to learn to play, and spent about 0 hours a week practicing. Ok, maybe 1. This was more than 15 years ago (I am now 26). My "musical ear", I believe, is ok, and my sense of rythm is good.

My plan is to buy the Yamaha CLP-320, and to learn by myself (no teacher). I don't plan to be a fantastic pianist, but enough to enjoy myself. I'll probably practice an hour a day.

What do you think about the clp-320?
What books should I start out with?
Any tips in general?

[emill]

I am not a pianist .... but have a good number of friends
who are engineers, teachers and physicians mostly in their late 40s
and 50s who have taken up playing a musical instrument or voice lessons.
They seem to be more stable and happy.. .... less drinking and hehheee
I have 2 doctor friends, brilliant guys who fully gave up on their practice ...
one took his masteral in voice at Peabody.  He is much happier than when he was
a physician.

GO FOR IT!!!!

[john90]

I started learning something I liked. Something just a little harder than what I last did all those years ago. Practise/learn/revise whatever you need to accomplish this piece. It should be a joy. Then move on to something a bit harder... Always something you really want to play.

Instrument wise, I am happier with a more portable, used stage piano, and Garageband for sounds. Look at the instruments thread and see Jimbo's advice. Save your cash in case you play a lot, in which case you will likely be wanting an acoustic when space allows.

[egyptsgoddessx]

I have never tried the Yamaha CLP 320, but I've played on many different yamahas, and they're generally pretty good, especially for beginners who don't have the room/desire for a real piano. I'd usually suggest one of the ypgs (yamaha portable grands) because they usually have a pretty good and realistic feel, but once again, I've never tried the CLP 320. Definitely make sure you try it out first to see if it feels like an actual piano with touch sensitivity and WEIGHTED KEYS (not spring).

As far as books to start out with, I'd try to pick up any of the Alfred's adult beginner books or another adult lesson book... That would definitely be the way to go if you do not already know how to read sheet music. Once you get used to it just try branching out into some other beginners books at your local music store. Once you get used to reading a bit, I'd definitely pick up the Hannon and Czerni books to help develop technique. Also, just ask around at the music store - the staff can also be very helpful in finding the right material for where you are at.

A couple other tips I would recommend are: Use a real piano bench (I know it doesn't seem important, but it does help with posture), make sure to keep correct posture and arm/hand position, take time to make sure what you're doing is correct so that you don't learn something wrong - since you won't have a teacher to watch out for any errors, and most of all: HAVE FUN!

[leboer]

Thank you for all the tips. The on the clp-320, all the keys are weighted. I will also pick up some of the Alfred's adult beginner books. I see they are quite cheap on amazon.com. I can't read sheet music anymore, except that I can locate the C on both the sheet and the piano, but that is probably something I can pick up from the books. I will get a real piano bench.

[rchang]

Just signed up and saw your post.  In a similar position -- I'm in the midst of a major writing project and have also turned to picking up the piano during my writing breaks. I ended up getting a Casio Previa PX-130 -- it's been pretty good, weighted keys and all... 

I played the violin for 2 years as a kid.. never got into it and picked up the alfred book for learning with.  It's pretty satisfying! once i learned to read i started messing about with bartok's first term at the piano... also, i'm playing more from "An Introduction to Classics to Moderns 40 very easy original pieces."

it's fun!

Hello Pianostreeters!

I am soon finished with my engineering degree, and have gotten an urge to take up piano once my masters is done. I played for a year or two when I was a kid (my mom sent me), and my teacher told me I had potential. She might say that to every student, so I don't know how true it actually was. Anyway, I had no desire to learn to play, and spent about 0 hours a week practicing. Ok, maybe 1. This was more than 15 years ago (I am now 26). My "musical ear", I believe, is ok, and my sense of rythm is good.

My plan is to buy the Yamaha CLP-320, and to learn by myself (no teacher). I don't plan to be a fantastic pianist, but enough to enjoy myself. I'll probably practice an hour a day.

What do you think about the clp-320?
What books should I start out with?
Any tips in general?

[alars19]

General tip #1: Make sure you have fun every time you play, or almost every time. Obviously if you do something that you dont really like but you have the gut feeling that it will help you grow, do it.

General tip #2: From what I found out (it might not be true for everyone) but it sure is for me, a little bit of practice every day is MUCH MUCH better than a lot of practice every other day or a few times a week. When I started playing (I was 22, Im now 25) I used to practice an hour or two before I went to sleep, and it really did work well for me.

And about the keyboard, IMO, as long as you have weight in the keys it should be OK. However, if you can, it's always a good thing to practice on an actual accoustic piano , at least every now and then.

Best of luck and have fun learning piano.

[mediumwell]

My advice:

Play what you like and only what you like.  It doesn't matter the difficulty, learning to read the music is the hardest part.  I personally believe anyone can learn anything with enough practice.  It will obviously take dedication though...  You may listen to the pieces you want to learn and think "holy $&#@! i can't learn that!" but it's not true... you just play it slowly at first and continue on... learning pieces takes time and patience which i believe is where most people fail. 

I dont really think you necessarily NEED to start with easy stuff either, in my opinion it just wastes time.  By jumping into the harder stuff, it will be a pain at first but you'll come to realize you've learned a hell of a lot more in the time you've practiced than you would have spending all that time trying to learn the simple stuff...

A good recommendation though would be to start with something like claire de lune... i know it's not really a hard piece or that technical either, but there are sections in it that will train your hands to recognize certain movements and become familiar with the keys.  plus it is a nice sounding piece that most everyone recognizes.  After that, it's up to you where to go.

It's a great skill though, and very fun to just bust out in public if you see a piano open.  Good luck!

[leboer]

Thank you. I think I will have to refresh my memory on reading sheet music before I tackle Clair de Lune, but it will be at the top of my list.

How long would it take me to be able to play something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBGVXTWgmg ? And how would I go about finding the sheet music for pieces like this? (no, I'm not a major Star Wars fan, but this is too cool).

[leboer]

Also, I love Vivaldi. Is there anything from the four seasons that are transcribed (that's the word, right?) for piano?

[mediumwell]

Thank you. I think I will have to refresh my memory on reading sheet music before I tackle Clair de Lune, but it will be at the top of my list.

How long would it take me to be able to play something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvBGVXTWgmg ? And how would I go about finding the sheet music for pieces like this? (no, I'm not a major Star Wars fan, but this is too cool).

assuming you practice a min. of 1 hour a day... for that song, i'd say starting from scratch, probably a few months (it's a decently long arrangement and i'm not sure how well you can memorize quite yet)... but it would also take finger training, his arrangement involves a lot of fast chords... not sure how to describe it, playing the same chord very fast multiple times in a row.. that you have to really practice.. takes a lot of wrist and finger control.  overall though, it's not a terribly difficult piece... i think you'll find.  once you get back into the swing of things playing and reading sheet music-wise, you'll realize and it'll come very fast.  but it takes a while to get back into it.

as for the sheet music, you could send him a message on youtube and ask for it, because i think thats his own personal arrangement. 

also, claire de lune really isnt that hard!  what i recommend for first starting any piece, so you're accustomed to the key signature, is play the scale and its main chords a few times (3-6) before continuing on learning or reading further into the piece.  it'll help you get comfortable with the key signature and make learning the piece easier because you'll remember which keys are sharp/flat etc.  and also do that when/if a piece changes signatures, like in claire de lune, (was first song i learned after 6 year break) when it changed key signatures, i would learn up to that part, then play scale a few times, and start on that section.  just my advice

hope it helps!

[leboer]

Hi again. I was back home, and tried the piano again for the first time in maybe 15 years, and I realized that I remember how to read sheet music, even though it is extremely slow (couldn't possibly be slower).

I want to learn this song, and I was wondering if you think I should just start to plow through it, or wait untill I get more practice? Is it possible to start with a piece like this?

[amie_de_chopin]

Go for it! 26 is not late at all.
For a start, try to set yourself a goal for the first year and how you want to get there.
Record yourself when you play. You'll notice things you had not noticed before and you will then be able to concentrate on them and improve.

The piece you have posted doesn't seem to be difficult. If it gives you joy, go for it, but do some practice too (scales etc.)

Good luck!