I want to learn the Piano

Community General Discussion
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I didn’t mean to blow it out of proportion, and I apologize if I offended you. I simply don’t appreciate when asking for help to do something one way to then be told I’m doing it wrong and should be doing it another way.

I even stated that I’m going to learn the theory over time as I get better with how the piano works, and how I should be playing, and how different songs are played. For now, I just want to have a party trick. Something that I can fall back on if I get demotivated. “Hey, at least I can play this song…”

Your comment almost came off kind of like:
Me - “I like pulling boxes around.”
You - “Well, that’s wrong, you should be pushing them instead.”
Me - “But I like my way. It feels better to me, and still gets the job done, even if it’s a little slower.”

You know? It’s just context. Again, I apologize if I offended you.

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Nowhere did I say that you were doing something wrong. I offered my suggestion based on my own experience, which is why I mentioned the 25years. I’m not classically trained, I only play for fun.

You didn’t offend me but you came across as extremely defensive. I know that tone can be hard to interpret across the Internet so I’m glad we hashed this out like adults :slight_smile:

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Here’s some more and I just realized that just about all the piano based songs I like are depressing af lol. They all sound good though. Some are easy but have difficult parts, you can sus that out yourself. I’m assuming you have a decent ear.

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“Colour My World” by Chicago.

It simply moves up and down basic chords for the most part but is one of the most awesome songs on the keys.

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If you start from scratch, I would recommend a teacher, if you can afford it. There is a lot of nuance in physics of hand movement that is hard to train yourself objectively.

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No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley

The chords are just C G Am F for the most part, if you play bass you’ll understand the bass riff (the g-a-b-g) going into the C chord.

Then you can combine the chords and melody to do a pretty basic but impressive arrangement

Another would be Still the Same by Bob Seger

Bass/chords on left hand and just triads with the right hand to form the melody, it’s more of a rhythmic thing being rock anyway

PS: learning to play scales and arpeggios like everyone suggests isn’t theory, it’s technique you could train a monkey to do. The most technically advanced pianists I know know NOTHING about theory while claiming to be experts. They don’t even know what chords are in what major key.

You learn theory by doing. Sit down, learn to play songs that sound cool to you, and you learn the theory of the style you like through learning them. If you like rock and roll like I do, you learn a hell of a lot more from just learning a Meat Loaf song and going “ohhhh, I can do THAT chord to give it that sound” or “whoa so that’s how they make that sound the way it does, with that weird note” and you learn 1000x faster and better than people who can play their scales up and down and nothing else

EDIT 2:

I saw you saying something about a party trick. I wanted to learn that too when I was a novice pianist. Great songs for that that sound good…

Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s easy as hell. The crossover with the hands impresses everyone. One of the first songs I learned in 2013 when I wanted to learn it seriously
Somebody to Love too, although that one’s a little more complex.

Also, you don’t have to play perfectly to make it sound good, case in point:


This song is one I learned how to play (more or less, I eared it out) It was in a movie called Palo Alto, and a drunk teenager was playing it at a party and I thought it seemed rock and roll as hell in attitude. Anyway, whether or not you like the music, it certainly has a sloppy drunk ballsy feel to it, and it can be applied to other songs to make them sound more impressive
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watching this guy play on Youtube makes me wish i took piano lessons

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start from feral druid. Feels like one.

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Back when I was 4 years old i always want to learn piano. Totally gave up after i engage violin, it been 22 years of playing violin to me.

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Because you didn’t really need those fingers:

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I clicked to suggest Für Elise, easy to learn to play, sounds impressive if you don’t play.

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Face the reality. Real songs that sound good are beyond the scope of a beginner. Knuckle down and practice, practice, practice.

When you get discouraged, watch these guys for musical insights and laughs

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Elton John. Just comp triads all day long like you wished you were actually playing a guitar.

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Also, practice Heart and Soul on every piano you ever see anywhere.

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Hyrule Market from Zelda: Ocarina of Time x)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wey2gkKJ--Y

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You’ll never get much further than playing (relatively) easy songs by rote memorisation without a lot of theory behind you.

This is because the theory dictates the rules, and once you know the rules, things that look “hard” aren’t hard anymore because they are built on the foundation of rules and they make sense from that perspective. This is true for a lot of things m, not just music. I’m a programmer, and it’s exactly the same in my domain. Complexity falls away when you have a framework.

I do understand where you’re coming from. I struggle to learn my bass guitar because it’s hard. The fingerwork is hard, the theory is time consuming, I just wanna play some easy songs and lay down a groove and to hell with it, but that’s not learning, it’s just doing something pretty half assed.

All said and done, there’s a guy I watch on YouTube who plays boogie woogie jams on public pianos in British train stations and he has a few tutorials. When I get a piano and have some free time I’m gonna play boogie woogie like it ain’t no thang!

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I don’t play piano, (but have wanted to all my life since I was a child and piano teachers would hand my mother their business cards because I have freakishly long fingers/ballet hands, saying, “Your daughter has amazing hands. Please call me.”) and was going to suggest Für Elise. I feel smart!

Ballet and horses won over piano lessons.

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What theory is there? Playing in 7/8 time combined with 9/8 after? The only band that did that stuff and made it sound good wash Rush. I’ve played bass and guitar for 10 years, learning what a diminished chord is on your own through actual examples or fiddling around on the guitar is infinitely more useful and applicable than learning a D diminished chord is comprised of the notes d, f, and a flat

Outside of basic rhythm, chords in a major key (major minor minor major major minor), and how to form a basic chord, everything else is just feel. Learning to play songs is the fundamental of everything, and the people who actually care and are invested will analyze those examples and learn instead of abstracts. The rest of the people will be happy just playing something :slight_smile:

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That’s a D diminished TRIAD. A D diminished chord is D, F, Ab, and Cb(B).

Learn theory.

If you’re sticking to Justin Bieber, that’s true.