Hey guys,
I have recently started teaching myself how to play piano because it seems like a very useful and generally awesome skill to have.
I come here to ask any of you who remember your days as a new piano player and would be willing to give any general advice or specific pieces of music that were helpful in expanding your skill set as a player.
I can say for now that I am much more comfortable reading the treble clef (Thanks Middle School Band!) than I am reading the bass clef. In fact, I would go as far as saying I have literally no idea what I am doing in bass clef and just play off of what sounds right.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Reading bass clef without experience takes time to just get used to. Once you begin to practice more music, it'll just get more natural. Try getting one of those beginner piano books from a music store around you. Once you've practiced some songs out of there and you get more used to the feel of the piano; technique, music theory, and scales are something you want to constantly practice. You've always got to keep in mind that songs are always made up of scales, chords, etc. This is especially important for a piano player since you will begin to play songs that have a lot of notes and have high speeds. You can't think of reading music note-by-note, but by the direction of the line and in scales/chords. Technique is also huge; if you are self-teaching and don't have a teacher, you might want to invest in a piano technique book to make sure you don't develop any bad habits. Just remember that beginning is always the hardest step, but once you begin to become more confident in recognizing chords in music and develop good technique, playing music will become a lot easier.
Some tips from an advanced piano player ?
- Don't raise your fingers above the keys before hitting them : as when you give a punch, the shorter way is the faster . Just lay your finger on the key and press it. You can still adjust the speed of the pressure this way.
- Raise your back
- Breath while playing
- Don't raise your wrists while playing. . And the top of your hands are to be quite horizontal (one of my teacher had me play with a coin on top of the hand as an exercise)
- If you have a real piano, open it and have a look at the hammers while you play, you will get more instinct of what you are really doing :)
- When you are playing A B C D E (e.g.) from the thumb to the pinky, you can go on F with your thumb going under the other fingers, repositionning your hand to the next tunes and going on that way.
- Sometimes, practice each hand seperately. Getting your left hand as soft as the right one is not that easy.
- Play with you whole body, it's a percussion instrument.
- Play your own style.
The line between the two point of the bass clef is a F.
[url]http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Music[/url] ----> i didn't read the whole thing but it seems good.
A well-known waltz you may work on : Waltz Nr.2 from Suite Nr.2 for Jazz Orchestra (Dmitri Shostakovich)
If you really want to hurt yourself there is a book commonly used for practicing technical : Le pianiste Virtuose (C.L. Hanon) (i don't know the title in english, just type Hanon and u'll find it i guess).
Hope that helps. If you have any questions, feel free to ask . I'm an amateur player, been from classical, to jazz to improvisations, to film music, to video game music, ska, reggea, things.
:dance:
Some classical pieces, just to improve your technique. And also for your enjoyment preferably (I fucking love Bach & Beethoven).
Music theory will greatly help understanding pieces and memorizing them.
As a sax player, I had lots of trouble with bass clef too, but just keep reading it and you'll improve.
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