Learning to play piano

Lessons are always good.

I got interested in piano some years back and took lessons for about five years from 3 different teachers. The first couple liked method books, the last one worked strictly from musical examples he dug up for me.

There's a huge difference between piano and organ, and it has to do with how the sound is produced. Organs are 'powered' - the sound just keeps on coming at a constant rate as long as you hold a key down. Pianos work by getting a string to vibrate percussively - just like a guitar does - so there's a different shape to the sound's 'envelope'... there's an attack, then a decay to the sound.

Picture the opening of Moonlight Sonata. Left hand hits and holds octaves in the bass, while the right hand plays arpeggios. The score says 'una corda', so you're pedaling - the right hand has a bit more sustain, and it blends nicely together. The organ lacks the una corda pedal, so the right hand notes are cutting off as soon as the key lets up, while the bass notes keep going full bore through the measure.

Oh, and many organs also have foot pedals for more voices just to keep things complicated :)

I think the biggest factor is whether you can read standard notation. If yes, then there is a lot you can do on your own. If not, then get lessons. Your existing musical knowledge as a guitarist will go a long way on the piano, but reading music is a separate skill.

Side note: unless you already own a piano, consider any of the electronic keyboards that have 88 weighted keys. They cost as "little" as $1500, they never go out of tune, and most will give you a few extra voices, including organ and strings. You can spend more for features and cosmetics. Korg and Yamaha make some nice models, some of which actually look like a spinet piano.

Have Fun!

Laz

There's also many different styles of piano playing. It you're interested in playing popular music, your guitar knowledge will go far, since it's off the cuff, and more based on music theory. However, if you're interested in playing classical pieces from sheet music the exact same way every time, you have a lot more learning to do, since this style relies much more heavily on reading standard notation.

Well, I have a keyboard right now... I just need to find the power adaptor (anyone know if I can buy a replacement power adaptor for the time being?). Also, it's definitely not of the best quality, i would consider it entry-level quality at best.

Basically I'm mostly interested in using it for composing, I want to be able to write a song and maybe arrange a string part on the keyboard or something among those lines.

I know my musical notation in treble clef since i've been studying classical guitar for a bit but i'm a bit rusty when it comes to bass clef, but i don't consider it a huge issue since i plan on playing mostly popular songs or blues style playing, and not really classical piano.

If you have a computer with midi software, a cheaper alternative might be to consider a midi controller like the M-Audio Keystation. 88 fully weighted keys will run you $500. The disadvantage of this, is of course, your keyboard must be connected to your computer (or laptop) to generate any kind of sound.

But $500 is not a bad price to pay for that. $250 will get you semi-weighted, 88 keys, also from M-Audio.

I'd have to really strongly vote for fully weighted keys. It will make a difference.

Also compare a few models and check out the key stroke length. A few companies out there are shaving costs by making shorter keys. You can tell the difference when you play.

In order of importance for most keyboard players:

1. 88 keys
2. fully weighted
3. key length