Songs tuned down 1/2 step harder to learn? (November Rain)

[ttttrigg3r]

Hi. I've been learning piano for 1 year now and November Rain is one of my favorite song. The song is written in C major chord, but it is played with instruments tuned down 1/2 step,s o the song is played in B major, am I correct?  Because there are 5 sharps in B major, would this make it harder to learn/play the song?  I'm already familiar with the key of C, so I imagine it would not be as hard to learn the song in C. What key should I start learning this song in?

[indianajo]

A pro band keyboard player can play a song in any key, to suit the rest of the band.  It is not something you learn in your first year.  I can play in five sharps, or seven sharps, but usually only the way I learned the piece.  I haven't learned to "transpose" freely yet, which is what the pros do.  They learn to hear chords as number, five or four or six or dim6alt3, and then they can play that chord in any key.  "Lead sheets" have songs published as lyrics, and a melody line, and the chords by name or in tab form.  Pros can look at the names, change to numbers and play the chords in any other key, just like that. 

When I bought my piano, when I tried to play songs from the record, they were always in C# or Eb or some difficult key, and usually a quarter tone off.  It wasn't until I bought a tuning fork for my guitar, that I discovered the tuner was tuning my piano flat to "save me money".  The piano was only 2 or 3 years old, there was no excuse for him to start doing that except to charge me the minimum and get out.  Tuning it myself, I've got the piano back up to pitch, and songs on records are usually in F or C or D or G or A, or rarely, B. 
Good luck. 

[ttttrigg3r]

Yeah I understand.  Luckily I have a DP that can transpose, but I was just wondering if it would be better to learn the song in B instead of C.  I know a lot of rock songs I would like to learn in the future are played 1/2 step down, especially rock songs.  I supposed it'd be better to learn it in B because then you can play it at any piano.

[indianajo]

B is a pretty common key if you are going to play with guitars.  B is advanced for a first year student, but if you learn that way you are better suited to playing in groups. Rock bands do not play in C much.