Most important things to know for piano?

Dave! · 07-12-2009 3:26pm #1

Hey folks,

I'm teaching myself piano at the mo. I've been playing guitar for about 8 years, so I've taught myself piano from that.

I'm fairly comfortable on piano at the moment, can play chord progressions, arpeggiate, etc.

But I guess I feel like I'm stuck in a rut slightly ! I end up playing the same stuff all the time, messing around with the C major scale, and sticking with the chords in that for the most part ! It gets kind of dull after a while, so I'm hoping to work on some more interesting chord progressions.

Any tips regarding 'breaking free' from the mundane??? I guess I feel comfortable improvising a melody in C major/A minor, and G major too (only 1 black key

).

What's the best way to get comfortable in different keys?

I should probably just practise going up and down all the scales, right?

Just looking for general tips on how to progress, cos there's only so many times I can play C F G before I lose my reason

To gauge my skill level, some of the things I can play:
-Tiny Dancer
-Desperado
-Opening few bars to Sonata Facile... no matter how hard I try I can't get past the fast part

-'Lick My Love Pump' from This Is Spinal Tap

I'm thinking I could benefit from getting a teacher and trying some disciplined learning, but I can't afford that at the moment so that's something for the future

Cheeeeeeeers

ball ox · 07-12-2009 3:41pm

I've learned the same way as yourself and one thing that I found really helped my understanding of the piano was to try and not play chords in their first inversion. Play whatever inversion will allow you to change chord with minimum hand movment. I hope that makes sense

Dave! · 07-12-2009 4:12pm

ball ox wrote: »

I've learned the same way as yourself and one thing that I found really helped my understanding of the piano was to try and not play chords in their first inversion. Play whatever inversion will allow you to change chord with minimum hand movment. I hope that makes sense

I know what you mean actually yeah

I found that helpful too !

eg. If I'm playing C and F chords, I'll often play it like:

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

I'd like to be able to play instrumental piano versions of songs, using chord inversions to play the melody rather than just pressing 1/2 notes at a time... Another thing to work on ! Just gotta get familiar with all the inversions of the chords.

Kenny_D · 07-12-2009 4:34pm

I'm pretty much the same. Have branched out a bit by picking certain songs I like (David Gray, Regina Spektor etc) and just learning from youtube.

For example,

David Gray - This Years Love

Nice song, mostly played on sharp keys and not too hard

jimi_t · 07-12-2009 5:02pm

Suck in a rut? Need some stuff to shake up your writing?

Rachmaninoff. Guaranteed to give you the foundations of about 10 new songs by virtue of the mistakes you make just trying to play it

ball ox · 07-12-2009 7:36pm

Dave! wrote: »

I know what you mean actually yeah I found that helpful too !

eg. If I'm playing C and F chords, I'll often play it like:

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

I'd like to be able to play instrumental piano versions of songs, using chord inversions to play the melody rather than just pressing 1/2 notes at a time... Another thing to work on ! Just gotta get familiar with all the inversions of the chords.

Yeah exactly, I find that playing around with chord inversions opens up a lot more options and helps you learn the relationships between different keys very well, especially when writing music.
If you're looking for a bit of a challenge I'd strongly recommend buying a Ben Folds Five piano book and trying your hand at a few of their songs. Some of them are quite difficult, and in horrible keys, but playing Ben Folds has improved my piano playing infinitely. Same goes for a lot of Elton John songs.

rcaz · 07-12-2009 8:48pm

Would you be into classical stuff? I'd recommend getting some sheet music and learning a few pieces that way. I taught myself (well, almost, I had a little help) Satie's 1ere Gymnopedie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSxDjW9bLCQ

Lovely piece (though really overplayed!!), and pretty easy.

I think the best way to learn is to try anything that gets you outside your comfort zone. If you don't like the results, try a different thing, but when it starts to get easy, try something new

[Edit: Just realised my suggestion is really similar to ball ox's one. Sorry 'bout that!]

Kenny_D · 07-12-2009 11:10pm

Good suggestion by ball ox. Ben folds stuff sounds fantastic but is pretty hard to play. I really want to learn Landed. I can just about play Gracie. A lot of his piano work sounds like Elton who is another obvious suggestion. Maybe try Your Song. Very recognisable and a great song too