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"Playing Keyboard"

Yay, I have a keyboard again. And this time it's a decent one.


Okay, it's been years since I last played, and then I was really pretty dire.

It appears I have a little bit of... ability is too strong a word.
But I can fumble my way through basic tunes (the sheet music I was using had the letters in the middle of the notes, and my timing was pretty lame).

So basically I need to learn from almost the ground up, and I'd like to find an instructional book / series / whatever that isn't aimed at tiny children, since I'd like to preserve at least a pretence of dignity in this.

Any recommendations?



Actually, I quite enjoyed my first blast at it - fumbling through some tune with a name I didn't recognise, then actually recognising the tune as I played was an awesome, messed up, experience.

Heh, sounds like quite a challenge!
I have actually picked out one or two little strings of notes from music I know, but mainly because I stumble across it by mistake.

I was playing around with chords yesterday, checking for which settings on the keyboard I could actually hear a significant difference between pairs of similar sounding ones.

Also, I find that for about half the B notes I come across in sheet music, B flat sounds much better.

So it's entirely possible that I'm tone deaf :^D


There's so much to work on though - notes, timing, 'hearing' the note, reading sheet music.

I've committed to put in a minimum of 15 minutes a day - though so far whenever I sit down with it, I usually stay longer. But 15 minutes makes sure I at least keep my hand in.
I'm not too concerned if it takes me a little while to get to a decent level, so long as I keep making progress, and enjoy playing.

Been playing piano for 11 years now. Best advice for getting better is listenen to something random off the radio/TV and try to figure out how to play it by ear. Start by working out the first note then take it from there. Once you get to a decent standard you'll find technical rock/metal sounds suprisingly amazing on piano/keyboards; master of puppets, avenged sevenfold stuff, trivium, it all sounds like classical music, plus you can play all the lead/rhythm/vocal/bass parts at once. If you feel like something a bit more then adventurous you cant go wrong with Rachmaninoff :D

Actually, come to think of it there's midi support in the budget software now like Magix and ejay, so if you want to get a cheap sequencer to play about with you can probably get one of those for around 10 quid.

Ah, I know a couple of people who use fruityloops. I don't really know what I'm doing yet though!

Will give it a go, cheers.

Dr Duck The Stampede wrote:
> It is a midi keyboard, it's a pretty decent piece of kit, certainly
> for the price.
>
> Don't have any software yet though.
>
> Recommendations?

[URL]http://www.fruityloops.com/[/URL]

Try the demo. It's pretty electronica-based but you can use a midi keyboard with it.

Also Reason's one of the best all-rounders but that's rather pricey and complicated.

It is a midi keyboard, it's a pretty decent piece of kit, certainly for the price.

Don't have any software yet though.

Recommendations?


I'm happy to learn from an infant level, it'd just be nice if the books etc I used didn't actually treat me as an infant...



Ahh, Kenny G, Somewhere In Time has just popped up on my playlist.
Must learn this.

Might be a little while before I can do that though :^)

I wonder if this means I'll have to buy.. *sob* Kenny G albums.
(I swear, it's just this one track...)

Get a midi keyboard for your computer then you can bash away at loads of tunes/compositions and keep what you like.

Found my Keyboard the other day. Was trying to playing the intro to Inertiatic ESP the other day Son et Lumiere. Was just trying the little Keyboard bit in it.

Start off with a childrens one, seriously. If you don't know theory or notation learn that from a proper book, for actual playing start from an infant level.

I started learning piano when I was 17, used a book of primary school tunes and crap. Learnt it all in a week or two then went straight on to learning Ode to Joy, Moonlight Sonata and Feeling Good (Muse cover).

Fingers out ladies. Some of you must have musical talent.

Learning keyboards for someone who isn't a tiny child, any ideas?