The newest beginner is here and needs some help

[guille6]

Hello, I just discovered this site and It's amazing! I want to learn to play the piano, I'm 16 and I have no idea about playing it.
Do you think It's too late for me?
To start, I've thought about self-teaching but I don't know whether I should buy a digital piano or a keyboard!? (Keyboard are cheapers and would be better in case I give up (I don't think I'll give up, but I need that back-up. On the other hand digital pianos are so much better but more expensive! I'm so confused)

I'd also like you to tell me how many hours should I spend per day to learn, according to your experience!

And to end, could you send me some good books or material to start studying?
P.S.: I studied musical theory, but I need to refresh my knowledge

Thank you so much and I hope I stay in this forum for ages!

[evitaevita]

Hello!

Do you think It's too late for me?

Of course not! It's never too late to start playing the piano. Why not to start learning how to play the piano if you like it?!? What matters is to feel good with it. If you want to be a concert pianist, then maybe it will be a little bit difficult for you! Otherwise, you don't have to worry about your age at all.

To start, I've thought about self-teaching but I don't know whether I should buy a digital piano or a keyboard!? (Keyboard are cheapers and would be better in case I give up (I don't think I'll give up, but I need that back-up. On the other hand digital pianos are so much better but more expensive! I'm so confused)

Digital pianos have better sound and touch than keyboards. But, you are a beginner and this means that nothing is certain yet about the future of your piano playing. I recommend you to start with a good keyboard. After some months of playing, you can buy digital piano which will sound better and have more beautiful and "pianistic" touch.

And to end, could you send me some good books or material to start studying?

I'm not sure about what I should recommend. I think it's better other more experienced piano teachers to tell tou what they think.

Finally, I strongly believe that you should find a teacher in order to learn properly all the basic and avoid any misconceptions.

All in all, I'm so glad that you like piano and want to start learning how to play it!
I hope you'll have a very good time!

Best regards,
Evitaevita

[iansinclair]

In general I agree with Evita.  Certainly it is never too late to learn to play piano; true, you won't be a teen-aged prodigy playing Liszt -- but if you wanted to badly enough, by the time you were 40 you could be as good as you could possibly be, and a virtuoso!

An inexpensive keyboard is probably the best way to go right at the moment -- but with one very important warning: it absolutely must be touch sensitive; that is, the volume of the note played must, absolutely must, vary with how hard the key is depressed.  If that isn't true, while the keyboard might possibly be useful for learning to play harpsichord, it is useless for playing piano.  A related comment is that if you find you enjoy piano, you will outgrow a simple keyboard very very fast; you should be prepared for that.

As to how long per day to practice?  A trivial seeming answer would be "as long as you want".  I would expect a casual piano student would probably play an hour or so; a more serious player might well play several hours -- perhaps even as much as eight.  But they would divide the practice up into say two hour blocks, and so something else in between.  At least that is what I recall from the dim recesses of the past...

I heartily second the idea of finding a teacher as soon as you find that you enjoy it.  It is very easy to develope some rather bad habits -- and amazingly hard to break them once they are ingrained.  And a teacher can help a lot.

[guille6]

Thank you so much!
I have already found a teach who has a career as a pianist and we're starting the lessons very soon. He has also said that he'll help me with the keyboard/digital piano thing.
I'll visit this forum and talk to you about my progress!
Thank you again!

[mahlermaniac]

It's definitely not too late, some people don't learn until after they've retired! And if you're the newest beginner, I am probably second. I just started learning on a keyboard two and a half months ago, and I just received a piano as an early Christmas present. I would recommend a teacher. I don't have one myself yet, just due to my schedule (I have a young baby at home), and want to catch up on bills for a couple of months. But by spring I intend to have a teacher. I recommend learning to read sheet music. There's the "Alfred" course of books that I'll probably get myself soon that may be helpful for you.