Absolute Begginer

[garmeth]

 I heard liebestraum the other day on youtube and I really enjoyed the piece so that it inspired me to learn how to play the piano. I play the trumpet so I can read rhythms and the treble clef, and my dad taught me a little bit to play the piano like 8 years ago so I can read bass clef too. However, I have no idea what pianists play in order to improve fundamentals. Are there some basic exercises for chords and stuff, or am I just supposed to play scales for fundamental practice?

Its taken me ages just to play the first 3 lines of liebestraum ( yes I know its too hard for me atm but I like the melody ) and I would like to know what I should start off playing.

Thanks

[outin]

If your goal is to play this piece you must learn to play easier pieces first. It's easy to find information in the internet about grades/levels (basically a system where pieces are ordered by their general difficulty level). Playing scales and chords won't be enough to develope the musical language skills you need to play advanced pieces, although they help in the process of learning to play and understanding how music is constructed. You don't have to play everything graded 1 to go to grade 2 and so on, but you will need to learn quite a few easier pieces before you have enough experience to play pieces like liebestraume (which is something like grade properly. A skill like playing the piano usually takes years to develope, so be prepared to enjoy the process. Trying difficult pieces too early and without assistance may even cause damage to your playing tools (hands).
And if you really want to learn to play it to high standard, best to get a teacher.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

One word...

Get a teacher!!!

Well that's actually three words...

And now eight.

[nolohagonica]

Practise this first: Hanon and F. Beyer

[j_menz]

Practise this first: Hanon and F. Beyer

No.

Get a teacher and start with the basics. It will get you to where you want to be faster than anything else.

If you can't, for whatever reason, get a teacher, get a set of course books and work through them.