Can some experienced players offer me feedback please

[coffee_guy]

Hi everyone. I am new to the site. Sorry in advance for the FRAT!

I am a beginner piano player.  Playing about 7-8 months. I am also age 30. I have been playing guitar for 16 years... so I do have some musical experience and knowledge of theory.

Learning piano (as opposed to guitar) is like night and day. I am really enjoying learning the piano/keyboard but I am not sure if I am going about it the correct way.

My reading ability is pretty poor. So basically, I cannot sight read anything, unless it is level 1 type material. However, my memory is pretty good. What I do is read each hand separate and practice each hand separate until i have both parts somewhat memorized. Then after I am comfortable playing both parts separate, I combine them. I keep the music in front of me as a reference, reminder, and guide only. I am playing level 2-3 songs for the most part.

Is this a normal approach to learning songs? Will I get better at reading by this method? Any tips or advice?

Thanks a lot everyone for taking the time to read and respond.

[the_duck]

https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,9159.0.html

Enjoy

[bbush]

I think it's great that you're starting to study the piano with a background that allows you to read music!  That's the thing that stops so many people in their tracks:  they have such a hard time getting from the paper to the keyboard!

Everybody here may give you different opinions/advice, but mine is to learn to play what music you like that's not at such a high level, you'll get discouraged.  What I'm saying is two things, really.  First, keep yourself motivated by actually liking the music you're learning. And, second, don't be intimidated by pieces that are beyond your current technique (as long as they're not ridiculously hard!) that you want to learn to play.

I make my fastest progress when I challenge myself with pieces I'd love to play that are a bit beyond my skill level.  But also, it's important to have some relatively easy pieces that you like hearing yourself play.  I recommend you look at Burgmuller's 25 Easy and Progressive Studies, which is his Op. 100.  Many of them are so musical, you hardly feel like you're practicing for technique, unlike LOTS of books for beginners.

You can find these pieces as well as SO many more by clicking on "piano music", above.  If you're paying member, you can download as much as you want.  And I think they still have a trial membership with some downloading privileges.

You didn't mention if you had a teacher, but if you can find one you relate to and like, that will help your progress immensely, too!

Good Luck!
Bruce   

[nyiregyhazi]

Is this a normal approach to learning songs? Will I get better at reading by this method? Any tips or advice?

Absolutely not. Stop memorising and concentrate on reading constantly for now. A good way to practise it is by looking at every note on the page as you play it and saying every letter name out loud (from what is on on the page- not by looking at your hand). If you basically stop reading at once, you're not going to develop the reading skill.

[keypeg]

In your guitar playing, did you do any form of reading?  For example, there are chord symbols (letters), and in classical guitar there is notation in the treble clef which doesn't look too different from the treble clef in piano music.  I.e. do you have any reading background that you could bring into piano?  You'll be relating the notes differently physically, because it's a different instrument, but the notes are still the same.

[coffee_guy]

In your guitar playing, did you do any form of reading?  For example, there are chord symbols (letters), and in classical guitar there is notation in the treble clef which doesn't look too different from the treble clef in piano music.  I.e. do you have any reading background that you could bring into piano?  You'll be relating the notes differently physically, because it's a different instrument, but the notes are still the same.

Yes, I have acquired some reading skills through guitar, but not sight reading skills nor bass clef skills. Basically I could analyze a piece (time signature, types of notes included, bpm, etc...) and get a feel for the song. I developed my ear at a young age and began playing most pieces by ear when my chops got strong enough. Plus guitar tab usually falls right under the notation, and can always be used as a crutch. Many guitar players fail to learn to sight read because of this. Guitar poses different challenges then piano in my experience so far.  I am seeing how important reading is to piano... but hey there has been plenty of blind people who learned to play amazing... there reading probably was not that great.

[coffee_guy]

Absolutely not. Stop memorising and concentrate on reading constantly for now. A good way to practise it is by looking at every note on the page as you play it and saying every letter name out loud (from what is on on the page- not by looking at your hand). If you basically stop reading at once, you're not going to develop the reading skill.

well... I do have an instructor actually... he is a pretty accomplished pianist too. When I told him my goals for piano, he basically told me he was not going to treat me like a normal student. I learned all my major chords (some minor and 7th chords as well) with all there inversions pretty quickly. I started by playing from fakebooks and building my own bass lines (which is not hard since I play bass guitar).

But now I am wanting to learn pieces that are more challenging and require me to read, this is where things have started changing. At my age I just find sitting in level 1 books and sight reading extremely boring and a waste of time for my actual goals (my teacher and I have butted heads about this, but he knows I do not have much interest in playing classical music).

I took a few months off from my lessons, but when I start back in September I cam going to talk to my instructor more about sight reading and possibly get another instructors opinion.