Piano is hard

thecolourbox · May 2020

Hmm I'll have a think, don't let it force you to stop though mate, as you'll still progress with practice.

Could you try tilting it a bit? Like prop it up on the far side so the keys are lower at the front that the back? Not sure it'll work but could try. Definitely try the booster seat cushion!

icu81b4 · May 2020

I'm really glad I found this thread, I'm also learning to play and passed grade 1 with a teacher - but moved house and decided to continue with a cassette course I purchased in the 70's and never got around to doing it - yep I'm retired now. - The course is called Play it Today - and has 40 cassettes and associated sheet music .. and I'm now on book 13 - and finding it really difficult, and as mentioned above, I thought as I can play fingerstyle guitar I thought this would be similar. - it's much harder.

TheOtherDennis · May 2020

thecolourbox said:

Hmm I'll have a think, don't let it force you to stop though mate, as you'll still progress with practice.

Could you try tilting it a bit? Like prop it up on the far side so the keys are lower at the front that the back? Not sure it'll work but could try. Definitely try the booster seat cushion!

@thecolourbox I'll definitely find a way to keep going, but I'll keep looking at a way of getting it at the right height.

@icu81b4 Oh I didn't imagine it would be similar to fingerstyle guitar, I knew it would be harder than that, I just wasn't ready for how hard

icu81b4 · May 2020

@TheOtherDennis Well I'm glad it's not just me that finds it hard. I keep thinking why am I putting myself through this, I've no intention of playing in front of anyone, but once I have completed a piece it gives me some satisfaction.

Dominic · June 2020

I played piano since age 4 and still find it hard 55 years later although I'm a reasonable player.
but I find it a lot easier than guitar and more logical when you look at a keyboard or at a stave .If you imagine a stave chord notation being vertical on the page rather than horizontal you can almost copy the shape with your hand -the note spaces are a clue starting with the lowest......you become instinctively aware of sharps and flats if you know what key you are in / what the chord shape looks like .
Arps are very logical but to get them rolling smoothly is simply a question of fingering and muscle memory....just keep practicing them.Don't expect to start with the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata !

TheOtherDennis · June 2020

3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata? Pah! 2nd movement of Rachmaninov's 3rd, I think you'll find. Hmmph.

;-) Aaaaaaaaaasssssss if.

thecolourbox · June 2020

Dominic said:

I played piano since age 4 and still find it hard 55 years later although I'm a reasonable player.
but I find it a lot easier than guitar and more logical when you look at a keyboard or at a stave .If you imagine a stave chord notation being vertical on the page rather than horizontal you can almost copy the shape with your hand -the note spaces are a clue starting with the lowest......you become instinctively aware of sharps and flats if you know what key you are in / what the chord shape looks like .
Arps are very logical but to get them rolling smoothly is simply a question of fingering and muscle memory....just keep practicing them.Don't expect to start with the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata !

On the flipside, if you played that movement (or the 1st movement) slowly you'd be practising your arpeggios quite comprehensibly!

Nyquist · June 2020

Same here. I make an attempt every few years to learn how to play properly and it's always painfully slow going. I am focusing on hammond organ this time around. Trying to learn Green Onions but even something as simple as Louie Louie is hard work (and it's only 3 chords).

Can anyone recommend any good resources, Youtube teachers etc? Most sheet music and a lot of lessons I can find seem designed to play whole arrangement and vocal melody on the piano rather than what the keyboard player in a band would actually play.

thanks

djspecialist · June 2020

I'm going to learn to play.

My kids have been taking lessons for a couple of years. I sit in with them, and help them with their practice. Based on that I reckon my current standard is that, given a week or two of work, I could pass grade 1.

I'm going to speak to the teacher and ask whether he'd take me on as well - I think I definitely need the rigour of 1-to-1 tuition in order to progress. He lives in the next street, but right now we're doing lessons via Zoom.

There's a long road ahead - wish me luck!

paulmapp8306 · June 2020

Based on the "syllabus" I wouldnt even pass grade 1. why - the sight reading bit. Never learned, never want to. I play by ear - totally. As its a requirement for grades Id be wasting time and money.

pintspiller · June 2020

Piano is hard and so is my dad. He could beat up your dad. Easy.

Benm39 · August 2020

An interesting thread! Like @thecolourbox I've been a long time piano student. I taught myself a little bit of guitar over the years but being so used to piano there are things I find really difficult about the guitar... not least that the same pitch note might appear in 6 places on the fretboard hehe... on a piano middle c is middle c, ain't but the one of them, so learning to visualise scales in boxes and different positions is quite alien, even coming from playing scales in thirds or sixths... it's just a question of what you're used to I suppose but it's also amazing just what you can get your head and hands around with some regular practice and taking time to do things slowly. Enjoy the journey as much as the destinations etc.

TheOtherDennis · August 2020

What I'm struggling with is the two hands thing. Not so much playing different things, but playing them at different times. There's a piece I can play with my right hand, and my left hand, and I can just about play the two lines at the same time - but only if I ignore the timing. It's designed to improve my understanding of syncopation, but I'm really struggling to time it right.

Having said all of that, I can't help feeling that more practice time would make a huge difference...

thegummy · September 2020

The actual physicality is just as hard to learn as when one first lessens guitar.

But the way the notes are arranged and not repeated like they are on guitar is so natural for me. Might just be the way my particular brain works but I just find the piano keyboard to make so much sense. I always use it as a mental reference.

Even when singing, I mentally picture piano keys to remind me what note I'm trying to sing; I remember my singing teacher finding that a really cool quirk.

TheOtherDennis · September 2020

That is a very good technique if you can pull it off, I'm impressed.

I actually find the separation of left and right hand actions to be so much more difficult than it was on the guitar. The rhythm is the same on the guitar - you change chords/left hand fingering in fingerstyle at the same time as you move the the right hand fingers. Whereas on the piano, the two can often be completely different, and that's what's stymying me at the moment.

thecolourbox · September 2020

It's just practice the same way it became instinctive on guitar. One line at s time, one hand at a time (your left will require more than your right if you're right handed). Keep going over the left hand bit and you'll do it from muscle memory and build up the strength and flexibility.

If you watch the chap from the Doors you'll see his left hand playing is almost trance like because that's the only way he could free up both hands to do their bit. Jools Holland even does to a certain extent when playing boogie woogie. Really concentrate on the left hand part by itself until you can do it in that kind of trance like state then the right will be a lot easier over the top

TheOtherDennis · September 2020

There's no question you're right, it's almost all down to practice, the trouble is trying to find enough time (just like everything else, really :-S)

greejn · September 2020

Keep it simple, play like Carole King!

TheOtherDennis · September 2020

Well yes, but will I still love it tomorrow?

Springywheel · September 2020

I’ve been playing a few months....what I’m finding difficult is internalising all scales, triads and arpeggios in every key. C, G, D, A, E and B are relatively straight forward as they more or less share the same fingering, but the keys starting on black keys are pretty inconsistent in how they’re fingered. triad inversions are a bit awkward too... roots are fine, but jumbling them up so either the third or the fifth is in the bass is a bit of a mind bender. I feel that actually learning all the 3rd and 5th intervals in every key would help here, as much of a pain in the ass that will be.

Danny1969 · September 2020

Springywheel said:

I’ve been playing a few months....what I’m finding difficult is internalising all scales, triads and arpeggios in every key. C, G, D, A, E and B are relatively straight forward as they more or less share the same fingering, but the keys starting on black keys are pretty inconsistent in how they’re fingered. triad inversions are a bit awkward too... roots are fine, but jumbling them up so either the third or the fifth is in the bass is a bit of a mind bender. I feel that actually learning all the 3rd and 5th intervals in every key would help here, as much of a pain in the ass that will be.

This is where being a guitarist actually comes in handy as so many guitar centric things are root and fifth .... so as a guitarist you know the 5th of A is E because you have played that a million times in power chords.

Likewise a guitarist should instantly know the 4th of anything, because it's the same fret on the next higher string (G to B string aside)

I think it really helps to see the notes while your playing them rather than thinking of the fingering positions like you might on a guitar.

HAL9000 · September 2020

rolls1392 said:

I'm also dabbling with learning piano.
I think doing different things with both hands is the hardest bit.
Just gotta keep bashing away I think.

Surely if you play guitar you’re already doing different things with both hands?

rolls1392 · October 2020

HAL9000 said:

rolls1392 said:

I'm also dabbling with learning piano.
I think doing different things with both hands is the hardest bit.
Just gotta keep bashing away I think.

Surely if you play guitar you’re already doing different things with both hands?

Yes I thought that too, but on piano I get flustered.
With practice it's becoming easier.

thecolourbox · October 2020

rolls1392 said:

HAL9000 said:

rolls1392 said:

I'm also dabbling with learning piano.
I think doing different things with both hands is the hardest bit.
Just gotta keep bashing away I think.

Surely if you play guitar you’re already doing different things with both hands?

Yes I thought that too, but on piano I get flustered.
With practice it's becoming easier.

Just as it did on guitar I'm guessing

keep going with it, it's such a rewarding instrument once you battle through and it clicks

TheOtherDennis · October 2020

I've not even tried for months, now. It's not the piano that's the issue, it's me. I haven't even played the guitar for a few weeks. Just been constantly busy. I must do something about that tho, I've always wanted to learn to play it, and I feel like I was actually starting to get some somewhere, so I'm annoyed with myself about that. I'll need to get back to it.

Jaycee · October 2020

Nyquist said:

Same here. I make an attempt every few years to learn how to play properly and it's always painfully slow going. I am focusing on hammond organ this time around. Trying to learn Green Onions but even something as simple as Louie Louie is hard work (and it's only 3 chords).

Can anyone recommend any good resources, Youtube teachers etc? Most sheet music and a lot of lessons I can find seem designed to play whole arrangement and vocal melody on the piano rather than what the keyboard player in a band would actually play.

thanks

"The Online Piano & Violin Tutor" Alison Sparrow I found her vids on violin good, altjough I never kept up with playing,

djspecialist · November 2020

djspecialist said:

I'm going to learn to play.

I just got my grade 2 result - distinction! I'm well chuffed

VimFuego · November 2020

djspecialist said:

djspecialist said:

I'm going to learn to play.

I just got my grade 2 result - distinction! I'm well chuffed

result! I've just started, literally yesterday. It was kinda on a whim, but mrs f always spoke about wanting to learn, so I thought I might give it a try. Got a yamaha keyboard and the Alison Sparrow book, so far so good, it's a lot easier than fiddle. Like, a million times easier, but I've yet to get to playing both hands at once, so that should be interesting.

TheOtherDennis · November 2020

djspecialist said:

djspecialist said:

I'm going to learn to play.

I just got my grade 2 result - distinction! I'm well chuffed

Wow, in just 4 months??? Well done, I'm impressed.

But it also shows just how far behind I've allowed myself to become.

djspecialist · November 2020

In my lessons, I'm playing only classical pieces, but I'd like to try a few simple (arrangements of) pop / rock songs. Does anyone have any suggestions of either songs to try, or places to get sheet music? On the latter, I signed up for a trial on Musescore. I found the quality of the scores pretty variable though.

As for songs, here are a few I've been thinking about tackling:

* Fall at your Feet - Crowded House
* Nightswimming - R.E.M.
* Ice Cream Man - Tom Waits
* Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
* One of these things first - Nick Drake
* Everything in its right place - Radiohead
* Bella Ciao - trad (from Money Heist)
* Mad World - Gary Jules

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Piano is hard

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