Sheet music and alternatives.

[gregzyme3]

Just to say, I have little to no experience with piano. The tiny amount I've played was done during school in music class.

Anyway, my question: Do I need to learn to read music or is there an alternative.
I play guitar and I use tabs, and was wondering if there is something like that for piano. I mean music with the actual key letters on them. I've used them in school, but I can only find it for basic music, which is fine for me when I start, but I want to eventually be able to play music that I like. I don't intend on ever using my piano for anything other than casual playing.

[chopinlover01]

Not really.
Even if you're just a casual player, sheet music is really the best way to go. Of course, you could learn whatever by ear (which is probably the next best option, since you'll be developing aural harmony skills), but in terms of speed of learning whatever strikes the mood, sheet music will be the best way to go once you invest the time to learn how to read. You can also write your own arrangements of songs/pieces, too.

[quantum]

Would you learn to speak a new language without learning how to read and write it?  Sure, you just want to do some traveling and have basic conversation with the locals.  How will that help you to read street signs, directions, navigate, order food from a menu, etc.?

Choosing not to learn how to read music will very likely cause more frustration and time spent later on.  If you want to learn specific music you like it will be far easier to locate it with standard notation. 

[avanchnzel]

A truly inspiring message.

[pianoplunker]

Just to say, I have little to no experience with piano. The tiny amount I've played was done during school in music class.

Anyway, my question: Do I need to learn to read music or is there an alternative.
I play guitar and I use tabs, and was wondering if there is something like that for piano. I mean music with the actual key letters on them. I've used them in school, but I can only find it for basic music, which is fine for me when I start, but I want to eventually be able to play music that I like. I don't intend on ever using my piano for anything other than casual playing.

I have used midi software to download midi files and display the notes in a linear format where the notes are listed to the left in a column and you read which row a symbol is placed. The symbol can be anything like a little box or colon, semi-colin, or whatever the software uses . Almost like a spreadsheet. That is as close to tab that I have seen for piano. Of course you can also display real music notation too but you need to know how to read music to do that.

[chechig]

If I were you definitely I will learn to read the scores. It will not take you that long and a great world will open for you.