General Discussion

So I've always loved the piano because it really is a beautiful instrument, however I never learned how to play it. I really want to learn now and I'm really determined to eventually become pretty good at it, but I don't even know where to start. I have an old 61 key electronic keyboard I've had since I was little and taking lessons (but at the time I had to quit in order to go into cross country and soccer) and I played clarinet for 4 years so I'm familiar with reading sheet music, although it's been a few years since I last played. I found a really nice 88 key digital piano on sale and I really would like to buy it, and my parents agreed to get it for me if I show I really want to play piano.

Does anyone have any advice on where I should start? Is it okay to start teaching myself some songs I really like but aren't really "beginner" difficulty? (I've been thinking I want to learn how to play the song "For River" from the To the Moon soundtrack). Is there a good way to familiarize myself with the keys and the notes and be able to remember them? Is there anything you wish you had learned early on that you think I should learn as soon as I can? Any advice at all is greatly appreciated :D

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Heya there! I've been playing the piano for a while, might be able to give you some advice. [b]First tip: just practice. Practice makes good.[/b] When learning a song, try doing the right and left hands individually and practice them until you feel that you don't have to squint at the sheet music to play them fluidly anymore. Then, play them together slowly until you've reached full speed. Congrats, you've just learned that segment of the song! Here are the most important notes to know. If you can read these on sheet music, you can count them to any other note on the board without too much trouble. Flash cards can help if you're really worried about learning them. I just learned through practice! [img]http://orig03.deviantart.net/8fa3/f/2016/335/b/5/c_by_mythception-daqa352.png[/img] (C is the most important note, followed by G on a treble clef and F on a bass clef) [img]http://img15.deviantart.net/388c/i/2016/335/8/9/keys_by_mythception-daqa35b.png[/img] (Just realized that the lowest C on the bass clef in this picture isn't labeled. It's the closest C to the left of the last labeled C) The pictures are small. Whoops. Hopefully, they're still relatively easy to see. The best way to practice is through songs you like. Go online, find some sheet music of a song you enjoy, print it out, and practice playing it. I like to learn it page-by-page. If a song seems too difficult, they can be easily simplified by chopping off notes. Take the highest or lowest note off of a 3-note chord to turn it into a 2-note one. Learn to play notes in octaves (bottom finger on the lower octave note and higher finger on the higher octave note), since it'll probably help you greatly depending on the songs you would like to play. If a transcription is asking you to do some sort of scale (typically 3 or 4 notes up and down in this scenario) and the highest and lowest notes are not more than an octave away from one another, it's easy to play without much practice. Anything else requires moving your hand around in painful ways and can be a lot more difficult. Of course, you can practice scales if you'd like. (I don't just because I don't really like scales that big and long.) Those are my main advisory tips. Let me know if you've got any questions!

@Luthyx
Thank you so much for the advice! Just a quick question, is there a certain way you're supposed to move your hands, and are there certain fingers you should use for certain keys?

@Luminositea

I don't think there's any super-specific fingers you should use for certain notes. It all depends on what you're playing, so that can vary greatly - use what is most comfortable! Some beginner songs have finger numbers written down over notes (For the right hand, the thumb is 1 and the pinkie is 5, I think) to help you get a hang of how things should be played. Just keep practicing and develop your own style!

Oh, and a couple other tips I just remembered!

The biggest learning curve in piano is learning to get your right and left hands to do different things at the same time. They want to play notes and chords and scales the very same time, which can be a bit of a struggle if they're not supposed to be synced up like that. Play it slow, learn how to do it, and gradually pick up pace.

If you're learning a song that originally comes from elsewhere, listen to the original and mimic its tempo instead of trying to read the notes on the sheet music beat-by-beat. It's less struggle and often comes out sounding more like the original song than whatever tempo the sheet music has transcribed. Of course, if you're going with beginner sheet music that doesn't come from elsewhere, you'll have to do it beat-by-beat.

@Luminositea I've been playing for a long time so I'm happy to help you out a bit! Luthyx's advice was really thorough so I don't have too much to say here, but I would recommend finding sheet music for songs you like and learning to play them bit by bit, go bar by bar if you have to. If you hear something you think would be fun to play, see if you can find some sheet music for it!

Being able to listen to what you're trying to learn while you're practicing helps too, then you can hear what the bar/section you're playing is meant to sound like. I find it's great if it just sounds like you're playing random notes, and it's also good for learning the phrasing.

Fingering is a hard one, but the general idea is that you want to move your whole hand as little as possible when playing. The longer you can keep your hand in one place while you're playing, the easier it will be, especially for faster pieces since you won't have to jump around the keys as much. If it helps, mark out fingering on the sheet music so you can remember which finger to use where.

The biggest thing is having fun with what you're playing, if you're not enjoying the piece it will feel like much more of a struggle. And remember that you can learn to play anything given enough time, no matter how difficult it may seem (provided it's actually playable, of course)!

Oh, and remember to watch your key signatures! If something doesn't sound right, you might need to play a sharp or a flat instead.