syco722
01.16.13 | Fantastic idea man, piano really is a beautiful instrument and a great joy to play. Let me know if you get to writing anything! |
mifzal
01.16.13 | i already got some in my mind but i just have to wait until i learn how to let it out on a keyboard |
Conorman11
01.16.13 | Yeah man I'm planning to get into keyboard/piano (more so keyboard) myself. I already play a couple instruments fluently and it's always good to know more. |
mifzal
01.16.13 | Piano and cello duet is the best! |
angrypittsburghdad1
01.16.13 | piano taking lessons from a human taking piano lessons [hmm] |
mifzal
01.16.13 | piano should learn how to drink from humans |
Hyperion1001
01.16.13 | better practice
i never did |
FromDaHood
01.16.13 | I miss piano lessons. I wish I had practiced. |
North0House2
01.16.13 | I've been playing piano for... well I guess 12 years now. I can tell you man, it is a glorious thing to have under your belt. Not only does it impress the women, but it's extremely valuable knowledge if you want to learn another instrument. It took my brother a few years to get really anywhere with guitar when he started. But, since I'd been playing piano and used to the notes for so long, it only took me a couple of months to really get into it... I'm finding the same principal applies with my dulcimer and mandolin as well.
Enjoy, it's a fantastic instrument. |
Conorman11
01.16.13 | *cough* are you sure guitar isn't better? *cough* *cough* |
Hyperion1001
01.16.13 | guitar sucks its like the worst instrument |
mifzal
01.16.13 | are you sure guitar isn't better?
depend on the type of music! |
Conorman11
01.16.13 | it'll get your more ladies, that's for sure.
It's portable too! |
mifzal
01.16.13 | but acoustic guitars are great with classical/romantic music!
electric guitar with more symphonic metal |
kwill15
01.16.13 | Awesome man, I just took my first piano lesson last Sunday |
manosg
01.16.13 | "guitar sucks its like the worst instrument"
No instrument is bad by itself. Even the most obscure ones like the hurdy gurdy. It always depends on the player. |
Conorman11
01.17.13 | lol wtf is a hurdy gurdy? |
LifeAsAChipmunk
01.17.13 | "hurdy gurdy?" an instrument.
a damn cool one. |
taylormemer
01.17.13 | "Not only does it impress the women" My girl hates it. Haha. Could be me, could be what I play though. |
toxin.
01.17.13 | good luck bro
I played piano for about 10 years, it sucks I can't play in college though I play when I go home. Thinking about buying a keyboard.
here are my four bits of advice:
1. Practice daily! (about 30 minutes is minimum if you wanna get "good")
2. Focus on keeping your hands relaxed & arched. Think of your fingers as tiny hammers---using your wrist stops you from getting a good expression.
3. You have "mastered" a song when you can do all three of these: Play looking only at the sheet music, play without the sheet music but looking at your hands, and then play without sheet music & without looking at your hands. It's hard to really get "into" the music if you're busy wondering "Am I going to land on the right notes for the next chord?"
4. (This is more of a corollary on 3) If you want to be able to do difficult motions (like let's say move your left hand down two octaves and land on an F without looking at it), repeatedly practice the motion. So let's say you wanna practice landing into C Major (C-E-G) on middle C from F Major below middle C (F-A-C). Repeatedly go from F Major to C Major and eventually muscle memory will kick in. I still can play my pieces I played in 2011 (two full years in about a month) because of the muscle memory |
toxin.
01.17.13 | using your wrists to play a note***
sorry, you definitely use your wrists while playing piano (generally my wrist follows the "flow" of a given phrase)
also my last bit of advice:
piano theory is super helpful in understanding how things work. It's pretty neat as well and provides a nice analytical counterpart to the expressive nature of playing an instrument |
taylormemer
01.17.13 | Don't forget Hanon. |
Conorman11
01.17.13 | haha taylor you have to play something like stairway to heaven and she'll love it! |
taylormemer
01.17.13 | lol, yeah maybe. I think she's at the point where even a note is enraging. It's probably because half of what I play is Hanon exercises which are indeed maddening, but no less crucial. |
Conorman11
01.17.13 | haha, I have no idea what a hanon exercise is... |
taylormemer
01.17.13 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises |
toxin.
01.17.13 | LOL taylor yea holy shit Hanon
I forgot about that since it's been years since I did it.
Try playing some etudes, they sound nicer and are really still just exercises.
Don't start with Chopin of course lol but here's a great example of one of my personal favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPcy2h-H9E
It sounds nice but it's obvious how great of an exercise this is too.
Hanon is definitely necessary for beginners! Don't neglect playing scales too, Major/Harmonic Minor/Natural Minor/Melodic Minor/Chromatic, especially as you get more advanced. One of the biggest helps to me was playing a scale (I think it was G# Major?) triplets on the right vs. simple 8th notes on the left. |
toxin.
01.17.13 | Worth noting that after a certain point I quit Hanon exercises. Probably because spoiled 5th grader me never practiced them :( I had to be inspired to play something interesting (read: melodic) for me to invest my effort. |
taylormemer
01.17.13 | Not even for beginners, just as general warmups, Hanon is great for. And, yeah, changeups like that are very helpful. Other good combos include the simpler loud/soft between the hands, staccato vs legato and playing contrary in accented groups of 3 and 5. Don't forget the arpeggios either. E flat minor is insane, but still fun. |
toxin.
01.17.13 | The problem of preparing for a test... some of these sound like great ideas (staccato vs legato and accenting) that I never did because I was too busy learning arppeggios and scales and pieces and stuff. Come to think of it my articulation is pretty bad for the level I'm at so these are some great ideas, haha. thanks, now I'm itching to play piano and I gotta wait til I return home on Friday |
toxin.
01.17.13 | No because exams give you a clear goal of skill you have to aim for. By level 6 I was like you and hated exams and I was at the bottom of the "passing" group. I consistently got "weak" for my different performance checks (sight reading, performance on my pieces, etc.). But I'm glad because they told me "hey toxin, you've been playing for fucking 5 years now and honestly you're awful" and I really stepped my game up.
Also, you really push yourself if you have something to aim for. It definitely has drawbacks though. I learned an additional variation of "Les Folies D'Espagne" (super popular melody, if you've played FFIX you know this piece!) for my Level 10 exam through a shitton of effort (it was goddamn hard). I found out I had to learn another variation (and my exam was in two months!) or stop earlier the way it was structured. So even though I was pushed to learn something difficult by the test, at the same time I had to cut my performance early and so the piece ended up way too easy, probably like level 7-8. |
toxin.
01.17.13 | yea that's the thing me neither
I thought the test was an embodiment of my dislike for piano
Idk around 7th grade I had a realization of how awesome the piano is and how awesome the stuff I have the opportunity to play is. The test gave me a bar to aim for so i appreciate it. |
toxin.
01.17.13 | Yeah the pressure's on and it makes me way too uncomfortable. And these people are uptight fuckers.
Level 10 I played a tango for my contemporary piece flawlessly (in like the literal definition of the
word---I made no mistakes) and my dynamic changes were spot on, I thought I was expressive, etc. etc.
and all my reviewer writes is "Needs a bigger contrast in rhythm to feel more like a tango." Goddamn
lol |
toxin.
01.17.13 | lol I used to do that
like I said it didn't turn out well
and idk when I started liking the pieces it turned out well. I'm still proud of how hard I nailed (lol) Glinka's La Separation, goddamn I love that piece
did you just have your teacher pick your pieces for you? cuz when I put my own input things turned out much better and I actually wanted to practice lol |
toxin.
01.17.13 | wait what were your exams like?
we weren't even restricted to anything beyond it being originally composed for piano (or harpischord?? i guess). our exams didn't offer anything beyond whatever we wanted lol |
toxin.
01.17.13 | wow that's fucking retarded
no wonder you hated it
we got to pick like anything ever
as long as it was level-appropriate and intended for piano |