Steps to be a good player?

[Aaron Lee]

Piano is something I've always wanted to play, and used to learn songs on my little keyboard for years when I was younger. Only recently have I decided to take the desire into full motion. I can't help but wonder if I have what it takes to play as well as I'd like. I don't think passion is an issue, and despite memory problems I seem to be learning sheet music decently well.

I've been involved in music for a decade now, having played guitar initially and playing bass in a band for 4 years. I feel pretty confident in my grasp of music, timing, and rhythm, but I'm unsure how my musical talents will translate onto the piano. I have no clue what to do as far as lessons to start with and stuff like that. I find that I have a keen ability to listen to a piece of music and learn how to play it in a very short time, and while this helped me become fairly proficiant in my guitar/bass learning, I don't think it'll apply the same way onto piano.

So does being 26 make any difference in learning? Will it be difficult to catch on, or will my music experience lend in this learning process? I know many of you would say that it's never too late to learn, but I aspire to play pieces from Chopin, Joplin, Pachelbel, and so on.  Is it really essential to find a teacher to guide you, or is it possible to become proficient on your own?

Thanks for any advice, and hopefully I'll become a familiar face in these parts.

[Mycroft]

Geesh!  26 is over the hill?!?!  I'm 44 and just started piano a year ago with NO other musical background and I think I'm progressing quite nicely.  You have a huge advantage with the knowledge you've already picked up.  Just as you learned to improvise with the guitar, you'll learn the same thing with the piano.  A guitar has chords, so does a piano.

[cysoto]

I guess that you will have to accept the fact that there are not many concert pianists that began their piano instruction at their 26 YOA but SO WHAT!!  There are many who play the piano for their own pleasure and a love of this instrument that may have been born later in life.

Is it really essential to find a teacher to guide you, or is it possible to become proficient on your own?

You could, in theory, learn to play a musical instrument without the help from an instructor and become quite proficient at it but having a teacher to give you guidance will make things a lot easier. 

Consider finding an experienced piano teacher who has worked (or is currently) working with other adult students.   I am sure that you will find many good piano instructors who work mostly with children but you’ll soon find out that the interests of an adult student are somewhat different from that of a young child. 

Understand that it might take a couple of lessons to find your current level of musicianship (if that’s even a word  ) before you can embark on the more complex musical pieces that you may be thinking about playing right now.  With dedication and the help of a good teacher you will be playing songs from Chopin, Joplin, Pachelbel, and many other in a short time.

[MarkAllison]

Hi,

I'm fairly new here myself, 26 is not too old to start at all! I'm 33 and started learning a couple of years ago and making progress. One piece of literature that would benefit you greatly is Fundamentals of Piano Practice by C Chang. If you follow the advice in there carefully, you will find your progress to be surprisingly rapid. This should be complemented by a good teacher, preferably one familiar with Chang's methods.

FUNDAMENTALS OF PIANO PRACTICE
https://members.aol.com/cc88m/PianoBook.html

[Aaron Lee]

Thanks for the tips guys. I might check the college here and see if I can find any ads for teachers (phone book didn't yield much).

Also, are there any good books on learning sheet music? I've just begun delving into that while I'm waiting on getting my piano. It's easier than I thought it'd be, since I already have a good grasp on chord progression and such, but there's definately still a learning curve that I'd like to ease.

[mound]

Aaron - my situation is very similar..  I played bass in jazz/rock bands for 10 years. I played piano (suzuki method) when I was very young, for a few years, but gave it up.  Most of what you said in your first post rang a bell for me, I was 26 years old, tired of dealing with pretending to be a rockstar, had good solid time and foundation in musical concepts, but knew there was more to the piano, and wasn't quite sure how to go about it.

Yes, absolutely, get yourself a classically trained teacher.  This shouldn't even be a consideration. I "got away" on Bass for many years w/o any formal instruction. I firmly believe with every bit of my soul that kind of approach will not work with classical piano.  Having a good teacher  is the single most important thing to helping you achieve what you are hoping to achieve.  The next most important thing of course being your passion, your drive and your willingness to work hard.

I don't think being 26 will impede your ability to "catch on" - you are already musically inclined..  I caught on very quickly, my teacher had me playing Chopin preludes and waltzes after something like 3 months.. He consistently tells me how amazing he thinks my rate of progress is.. It's all because I work very hard, apply myself, practice every single day, and have not let go of lessons, as he always keeps me in check and re-grounds me.

Go for it my friend, you, having a musical background are many steps ahead of any other 26 year old, and I don't see age as an issue. Could you be a virtuosic concert pianist? Sure.. Will you be? I have no idea.. Probably not, but is that really your goal or do you simply want to excel at a deeper kind of musical persuit?

-Paul

[Aaron Lee]

Thanks for the reply Paul, and it's good to hear some input from soneone in a similar position. I'll definately look into teachers in the area, as I can perfectly understand that that would make the learning progress much smoother.

I don't think passion will be an issue, because I have an incredible passion for learning, playing, and creating music. And piano just seems to be the epitomy of soloist instrumentation. So my drive isn't to play concerts, but just to help satiate my inert desire for music. Whenever I'm at a place with a piano (wedding reception hall, family events), I always tinker with the piano, but can't really do anything. It'd be great to sit and actually be able to play stuff, and hopefully entertain those around me.

[coathangerwings]

Thank you for starting this thread, Aaron, and to everyone for the responses which are very reassuring. I'm also 26 and just starting to learn how to play and I've also been wondering if my age would hinder the progress as everyone else I know IRL already knew how to play when they were 8. 

[chopin2256]

Thank you for starting this thread, Aaron, and to everyone for the responses which are very reassuring. I'm also 26 and just starting to learn how to play and I've also been wondering if my age would hinder the progress as everyone else I know IRL already knew how to play when they were 8.

Age really has nothing to do with it.  It depends on your motivation and dedication to play.  Most likely, these people that start out at 8 already have motivation and dedication, that is why they are very good now.  However not everyone will enjoy piano at a young age, and there are people who will begin to like it as they get older.  So theres no harm in starting out late.  It is possible to become an expert pianist if you really wanted to even if you start that late.

[Stolzing]

I was almost exactly where you are about 8 months ago.  I was/am also 26.  I've been playing/practicing about 2-3 hours a day since then without a teacher (unless you count this forum ), and can play at an intermediate level.  If you start thinking that you can't do something, then you wont be able to do it.  The first step is to believe that you can do it.

[ronatello]

I'm also rather new to the piano. I'm 34 and have returned to practicing on the piano. I aquired a Yamaha P-90 stage piano back in late November, 2003 and a "Play piano now" book (which I didn't like that much and is now collecting dust). Then in 2004, I had to work crazy hours and the piano practicing got shelved and I lost interest. Then when I least expected it, I began to practice again early this year. In hindsight, I wish I found this site earlier and I at least would have been playing some songs out of the church hymnbooks by now .
I have had some experience in music by playing guitar in the past (still noodle around with the guitar from time to time). My problem in that past was that I was very impatient and expected instant sucess and when I didn't meet that lofty and unobtainable expectation, I got discouraged. But I'm coaching myself now to stay at it and not get down if I can't play it right.
Prior to the piano, I could recongnize different key signatures by pitch, well, the major ones anyway
With that being said, my music sightreading is still rather poor, but that's improving slowly. And thanks to this board, it has saved me from making rather poor choices in practice habits. And for my long-term goals, I don't plan on being a concert pianist but playing out of the church hymbooks well, along with some special pieces thrown in for good measure.
So in effect... IMHO,
1. Search for (and read) Bernhard's posts; they are good.
2. Read the C Chang book, fundamentals of piano practice
3. E-bay that Hanon book! I'm getting rid of mine...

[chopinfan_22]

I'm relatively new, I guess. I started the piano three years ago, when I was 14. Already, I'm learning things like Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C#, Chopins' Raindrop, and some of his Nocturnes.

[archneko]

I never liked teachers to teach me songs since they never let me go on my own pace. Thanks to teachers, I quit piano for about a year before I started to play again. It would be nice, in my opinion, if you play by yourself if you can read the notes fairly well. If not, then sustain teacher long enough until you are a "fledgling out of the nest".


I like budgies, do you? They perch on you when you play piano<offtopic   

[bearzinthehood]

Your chances of success are minimal if you insist on being self taught.

[gyzzzmo]

i absolutly dont agree with bearzinthehood.
The succes depends on your personality, and the ability to critizise yourself.
Though, if you want to play pieces of bach or mozart, or advanced pieces of chopin like Fantasy Impromptu you'll definitly need a teacher to learn them correctly.

gyzzzmo

[casparma]

I just wonder why...

what's the initiative of learning piano at a range of ages that's usually not the starting age for study?

Well, at the age of 26, most people have graduated from university with a field that's normally their interest dated back to high school, and started to work in the society.

It's kind of rare that people find a passion in something at such age.

Even like me, 16 years old, find no "physical" benefits in piano playing, because I can foresee that I will stop learning piano in the music school when I go to university for totally different thing, because most importantly, I started very late (at the age of late 14), and it's a real disadvantage compared to someone who started at seven (and that's what I have really regreted that I couldn't have piano lessons when I was 7 due to financial reason and find how world is unfair unnerving) And, at such stage, I will very unlikely to attend a formal music school for formal piano education, because in reality, it's time to face the society with application of knowledge you really learn at university for economic purpose. After all, piano playing will simply be a hobby and enthusiatic sort of thing.

So, I dont understand why you people have the time+money for learning piano. Besides, is it simply for the reason of just discovering a second passionate study? Well, I dont say it's bad, but it doesn't look realistic to me.

*sigh* how life is short and how time flies 

[abell88]

At the age of 16 I had no clue as to how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.  As you get older you will find many people who discover their passions later in life.

[bearzinthehood]

i absolutly dont agree with bearzinthehood.
The succes depends on your personality, and the ability to critizise yourself.
Though, if you want to play pieces of bach or mozart, or advanced pieces of chopin like Fantasy Impromptu you'll definitly need a teacher to learn them correctly.

gyzzzmo

If your definition of success is being a terrible pianist then yes, I do suppose you are nearly guaranteed success if you are self taught. 

[lostinidlewonder]

So does being 26 make any difference in learning? Will it be difficult to catch on, or will my music experience lend in this learning process? I know many of you would say that it's never too late to learn, but I aspire to play pieces from Chopin, Joplin, Pachelbel, and so on.  Is it really essential to find a teacher to guide you, or is it possible to become proficient on your own?

Yes 26 is very old, you should give up and retire, OLD MAN.   

Your musical experience will help for you to know when you do something wrong or not and pin point which note is causing the error. This fact will make ur learning progress faster than pure beginners who have had no musical experience. Often they do not have a developed ear for music to identify what sounds wrong and how to correct it.

It is very possible to learn any music by yourself, but there are a few issues you must take into mind. We should always strive for efficiency in our study especially in music, what might take you 2 months of work actually could take you 2 weeks if you work on it correctly. This correct method of practice is developed through your own initiative, monitoring HOW you learn and WHY  things take you longer absorb than others. This is sometimes beyond our understanding and methods transfered from a GOOD teacher should be very useful tool to break that stalemate. But you have to realise how to use a teachers knoweldge to aid your musical progress. They should specifically improve your memorisation rate and physical technique and you should be understand to apply what they say when sitting alone. Otherwise there is no point to have a teacher.

Start modestly, Chopin Preludes instead of his Etudes, the etudes might waste a lot of your time if you practice inefficiently. Definatly absorb some Bach 48 Preludes and Fugues very essential keyboard knowledge there. If you are really into Joplin you should practice Chopin Waltzes as well since the LH jumps highlight a similar theme.

Practice every day, then you will see most progress. Don't just sit down and play without thinking, make intelligent decisions as to how you are going to learn, set yourself a rate of learning (bars memorised per day) and work out ways to increase it. Search for pattern in scores and pattern in hands, particular fingering possibilities, general procedure like chords, arpeggios, scales, note combinations, riffs etc. Improve your sightreading skills, listen to lots of music, work out ways to highlight pattern in your sheet music too with colors.

Write/Think a lot of your own ways to understand what it means to play relaxed and what it means to play with tension since Balance and Relaxation are what commands good technique for any instrument. Learn to listen to yourself and forget about your fingers while they play, something you would have experienced while playing the bass. Tonns of more little things I could list, it just goes on and on that is why to study with someone who is better in explaining and understanding the instrument you play is always good. Stand on the shoulders of giants!

[pianoperfmajor]

1) start makin that paper
2) make lots of lady friends
3) get a nice car
4) have s*x with lots of those lady friends
5) go to the club a lot.

YOU ARE A CERTIFIED PLAYER!!

[tac-tics]

1) start makin that paper
2) make lots of lady friends
3) get a nice car
4) have s*x with lots of those lady friends
5) go to the club a lot.

YOU ARE A CERTIFIED PLAYER!!

Don't forget drugs. For Jazz and contemporary music, nothing beats drugs X-D

(I do not condone the use of illegal drugs)