Complaints about your piano

[chopin2015]

Hi there! I am certain that some of you would like to share what frustrates you currently, it could be the piano you have at home or a piano you have been working with. Perhaps the opposite: what you really like about a piano, your perfect mate(still talking piano) but most of all, maybe some things sound better than others, depending on the instrument's character?
 
I really like my teacher's piano.
My piano is beautiful and it is all I have, her or a keyboard(yuck). Ivory literally cuts hands if you try to play fast. SO rough. It feels very delicate under the fingers and in your hands, but it has a dark side! Right now I just want to go play on a yamaha upright with a practice mute.

you?

[zezhyrule]

It has an incredibly light touch. And a really bright sound. Good for some stuff I guess, not so much uh... most of the stuff I wanna play.

[outin]

I have already complained enough I guess, but the latest...for the past week my fingers are slipping all the time... I guess my skin just dries after the summer, I remember having the same problem last winter. There's really no room for error when playing the black keys (my fingertips are quite small so I have hit excatly the right spot and angle to avoid slipping).

Using hand cream before I play is out of the question, then the keys would be even more slippery from the grease. Those stupid plastic keys just drive me grazy

[hfmadopter]

I just want to go play on a yamaha upright with a practice mute.
you?

 I suggest you run that line by Outin again and see what the reply is or look up old posts about the Yamaha with pratice mute that are part of the Outin threads. Not happy it seems, least not about key tension and plastic feel of the keys.

I'm not complaining about my late 1800's Henry F Miller grand though !
David

[chopin2015]

I suggest you run that line by Outin again and see what the reply is or look up old posts about the Yamaha with pratice mute that are part of the Outin threads. Not happy it seems, least not about key tension and plastic feel of the keys.

I'm not complaining about my late 1800's Henry F Miller grand though !
David

WOW! Do you have pictures of it? My piano is 5'2 but it has ivory...i complain about it sometimes though because I just want to get rough with a piano. And I don't get to do that with her

[outin]

Right now I just want to go play on a yamaha upright with a practice mute.

I cannot deny that the mute function is handy. Without it my time on the piano would be really limited due to living in an apartment and working late often.

But I find I use it less and less lately and this has actually affected my practice time. I often just feel that if I cannot play "properly" then I don't want to play at all. It is good for learning the notes and fingerings, but I feel like I still need to relearn the passages with the "real" piano sound. Also the keys do feel a bit different when playing mute, so the touch changes as well.
 
I think this maybe be depending on what your focus is. I have learned things about myself lately. I really don't care whether I learn to play difficult pieces or learn to play fast. I am obsessed with the piano sound. I can spend ages with a piece just trying to get the perfect sound. Playing with the mute digital sound doesn't do anything for this, so somehow it feels like a waste of time.

If I lived without neighbours, I would never play with digital sound again. I have just decided to get a cheap used piano to my summer house. It's literally in the middle of the woods, so at least for a couple of weeks in the summer I could play as long as I wanted any time of the day (night) 

[ranniks]

The action in the beginning was a bit heavy, but my fingers have gotten a lot stronger now. Only when I remove the damepers does the action lighten and feel like my teachers yamaha baby grand/grand. But heavy action is a virtue; realism.

Thing is; when I remove the dampers I play even faster because the action lightens, hehe.

[hfmadopter]

WOW! Do you have pictures of it? My piano is 5'2 but it has ivory...i complain about it sometimes though because I just want to get rough with a piano. And I don't get to do that with her

Sorry I didn't notice your post here. I don't have photos of mine but it looks like this piano only in satin black and is or was advertised as 5'11" though I measure it as 5'9". So the piano shown is foot longer than mine. Mine has that same music rack and basically the same leg design though. And it sounds wonderful. I've owned it for more than 30 years now, doubt I'll ever part with it:      https://www.antiquepianoshop.com/product/36/henry-f-miller-victorian-parlor-grand-piano/

[49410enrique]

at one point i was having so many little recurring issues with my action it i would have gone on the rant of rants, a rant to end all rants...but my very patient and competent technician has since exorcised those demons and now i'm only slightly peturbed by the sounds that come from my lowest bass strings (more a function of the short length of my grand than anything but space is at a premium, so be it). I do need to get c# 2 voiced a bit, the hammer i believe is a little soft so there's a definate change in tone quality to just that single high note. hope to get it rectified this year sometime. other than that i love my gal. she's a little petite but oh so marvelous.

[chopin2015]

My piano cut me again today when I was practicing winter wind. More like bit me and said "perhaps you could play slower for a little bit more, and then speed up later or I will do it again." :`(

[starstruck5]

My piano cut me again today when I was practicing winter wind. More like bit me and said "perhaps you could play slower for a little bit more, and then speed up later or I will do it again." :`(

Never mind -think of it as an excuse to get plastered.

[chopin2015]

Haha, I don't drink much...but I did have a rough day and am having an O'doul's.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I don't have a real piano.

I just have a shitty digital where only 83 keys work and is barely weighted.

[chopin2015]

((((((

[pytheamateur]

I really like my teacher's piano.

Lucky you.  For me, it's the complete opposite.  I have to keep telling myself that my playing is not that good and therefore does not really deserve playing on a better piano.  Or reflecting on the fact that my teacher is miles better than me yet he has to make do with that substandard instrument.

[chopin2015]

Oh, I know what you mean. The transitions between the pianos in my life are intense! Keeps things interesting though. How is your etude coming along?

[pytheamateur]

Oh, I know what you mean. The transitions between the pianos in my life are intense! Keeps things interesting though. How is your etude coming along?

I suppose you mean the Chopin Etude?  It's getting rusty as I've moved on to something else (I'm having trouble updating my signature).  Mind you I was never satisfied with it in the first place because wrong notes keep cropping up.  For an etude of this nature, if I can't play cleanly, then for me it only means that my technique is not good enough.

I mentioned this to my teacher hoping to get some practical tips from a performer on how to play cleanly.  However, none is forthcoming.  I have been told not to worry about mistakes; Gilels apparently couldn't play cleanly.  This is quite frustrating.  I thought the whole point about learning Chopin Etudes is to improve one's technique.  I don't understand why he lets mistakes like that go, so I'm not keen on learning another Chopin Etude at the moment.

[chopin2015]

Well the best thing to do in this case is just concentrate on the music. Can you sing along to a recording of it? Just know how the piece is supposed to sound and that sometimes helps. Or maybe you need to choreograph the piece...my teacher and I talked about this. It is important to know, for example, which hand are you going to look at, because it is hard to keep up with both. So the hand you are not looking at, make sure you can hear what you are doing.

[j_menz]

Mine lacks an autocorrect function. 

[outin]

Mine lacks an autocorrect function. 

I'd be happy with a backspace key...

[lloyd_cdb]

I have small hands and a light touch, my Yamaha C3 has a touchweight of almost 70 grams.  My arms hurt.

[crownrib]

I have small hands and a light touch, my Yamaha C3 has a touchweight of almost 70 grams.  My arms hurt.

All the Yamaha Cs I have played have stiff actions as well.  I wonder why Yamaha releases them on the market like that? 

[tdawe]

I'm in a pretty good situation right now...

At university we have access to some really nice pianos. There is a brand new Steinway concert grand, and many other nice grands with beautiful actions and tones. Back at my room I have a Clavinova CV-300 which is pretty nice, not in the same league as the real thing but overall I'm pleased with it.

At home I have a Kemble upright. Not the most high end of pianos but still can get a surprising amount of mileage out of it. The tone and action is pleasant, but you must be careful as it's easy to play jarring notes especially in the bass.

[mahlermaniac]

The fact that it is just a possibility so far, and not in fact my piano yet 

[iansinclair]

Mine lacks an autocorrect function. 

Oh dear -- that would be lovely!  It would be working all the time, though... either that or Outin's backspace key... !

[patrickd]

No serious complaints aside from the fact that it's not an acoustic piano.

[the89thkey]

It's just a little out of tune now...I'm getting it tuned for the first time in 3 or 4 months, in 2 days

[liug_2012]

I see that I have found the First World Pianists Problems' forum...

[chopin2015]

I see that I have found the First World Pianists Problems' forum...

You mean pianist with first-world problems?