Has anyone here taught themselves how to play the piano? - General

I've been thinking about it but it seems incredibly difficult and there's no teacher around here for miles

I actually know lots of people who have, but they have experience in music so its easier. I'm also thinking about teaching myself the piano.

Yea, it's not terribly difficult, if you know how to read music you are well on your way. I started off just playing by ear, then associating those sounds with the note names.

It's pretty easy. HWO TO PLAY THE PIANO 1. Play a note or maybe more 2. If it sounds good then play another note that sounds good. 3. Repeaet a bunch of times 4. You Have Song!

Me. Not that hard really. It's all about 3 things, first is experimentation, it takes a lot of experimentation to get good. Second is listening to lots of music that has piano in it, it gives you good ideas for your own music. The last and most important is lots of practice, lots and lots of practice.

I used YouTube to learn...it was pretty easy.

I used to take lessons since I was 5, and stopped playing like 7 years ago. Now I decided to re-teach myself again, and this is the result: [hd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMfu3POHXZY[/hd]

You know, you could just buy the same lesson books that teachers buy and read them yourself. It wouldn't be exciting, but I think you'd be able to accomplish what you want to, yeah?

[QUOTE=Xyrofen;17443215]You know, you could just buy the same lesson books that teachers buy and read them yourself. It wouldn't be exciting, but I think you'd be able to accomplish what you want to, yeah?[/QUOTE] Most good teachers don't use lesson books, they teach out of their own knowledge and experience.

If you know music theory then it's not too hard to learn some basic chords and scales, but to actually be able to play it well takes a lot of practice.

Just get a "piano for kids" book and go through it.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;17443512]Most good teachers don't use lesson books, they teach out of their own knowledge and experience.[/QUOTE] I always had a mixture of both where they used the books to illustrate things that really just help with pictures and so I had music to read.

It would be easier if you decide which musical style you'd want to play piano in.

[QUOTE=thisispain;17443923]It would be easier if you decide which musical style you'd want to play piano in.[/QUOTE] Not really, in order to be a good pianist you should be well versed in each musical style. Just like a good guitarist doesn't just focus on one style.

That would be hideously difficult though. Note how I said it would be easier if he decided what, I never said he shouldn't learn the others afterwards. If he's gonna play Jazz then he should learn progressions and feels first. If he's gonna play Classical he should learn chords and relative pitch.

I'm currently teaching myself by ear and reading up a bit about theory.Been doing it for 7 or 8 months now still pretty crap argh

As long as you know your theory, styles and have some experience, piano is easy to be proficient at. But there are very few really great pianists, wish I could be one of them :frown:. I've taught myself a bit. I started by learning Lullaby by Blackfield and Collapse The Light Into Earth by Porcupine Tree. Both great pretty easy songs if anyone is looking for somewhere to start.

If you've no prior instrumental experience you may be more prone to forming bad habits. That is the advantage of a teacher, they can correct your bad technique (everyone's got their own style but it's a fact that sometimes out of 2 ways to do something one of them will be more efficient).

I taught myself a few pieces on the piano. I had previous musical experience from playing saxophone for some years, so after mindlessly plinking away some tunes I knew by ear. I proceeded to teach myself reading notes, and not too long ago I ended up downloading a few music sheets to learn.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;17448401]I taught myself a few pieces on the piano. I had previous musical experience from playing saxophone for some years, so after mindlessly plinking away some tunes I knew by ear. I proceeded to teach myself reading notes, and not too long ago I ended up downloading a few music sheets to learn.[/QUOTE] me too dude. Played sax in band for 3 years, took the basic music theory that we learned, and taught myself how to play.

It's not as hard as people say, I started playing and I could play the intro to furelise in about 1 hour.

No i can't really say that, i've been taking lessons for 3 years. I stopped around 2 years ago cause i didn't feel like i was learning nothing anymore, so now i'm trying to learn by myself.

I taught my self how to play phonetically. I can't read sheet music, but as long as I hear and dissect the song for a while, it pretty much comes to me. Everyone tells me I'm amazing and I should get lessons to learn how to read, but that kinda seems like a waste of money.

I got basic instructions on how to read sheet music and what the notes are on the keyboard itself from a friend, this was 3 years ago, and now, without lessons, I'm pretty okay, and playing with two hands and stuff.

I'm mostly self-taught, but I've had a couple lessons. Reading music is very helpful, I mean yeah, you [i]can[/i] learn anything by ear, but if you want to play piano-specific pieces and not just some pop/rock/metal/jazz songs with a chord progression and a basic melody, it'll end up being easier in the long run to just learn to read music.

I did. However I am going to take lessons from a person who plays the organ in a church tomorrow, gonna be exciting.

[QUOTE=DeerBattler;17568191]I taught my self how to play phonetically. I can't read sheet music, but as long as I hear and dissect the song for a while, it pretty much comes to me. Everyone tells me I'm amazing and I should get lessons to learn how to read, but that kinda seems like a waste of money.[/QUOTE] Learning to read music was the best thing I did it reinforced my general music theory knowledge (The scales, Modes, Keys and suchlike. This coming from someone who swears by improvisation and ear playing.

I'm trying to learn by myself. It's not too hard as I have experience in music, however you do need to practice a lot. Also, some knowledge in music theory, and the ability to read music really helps. Try to read a good book about it.

I did, but I already had previous experience in guitar and computer production, so it made it a lot easier.

[QUOTE=DeerBattler;17568191]I taught my self how to play phonetically. I can't read sheet music, but as long as I hear and dissect the song for a while, it pretty much comes to me. Everyone tells me I'm amazing and I should get lessons to learn how to read, but that kinda seems like a waste of money.[/QUOTE] Don't pay for lessons, just download some sheet music, google "how to read sheet music", and go. It's not very complicated.