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I want to teach myself how to play an electronic keyboard so when I get drunk at home on a Friday night I can knot my work tie around me head and play glam rock like it was the 80's again. Another reason is that I want to increase my basic knowledge of musical theory. I have chosen the keyboard for this purpose. I do not have lofty goals, I just want to reach the level of experienced beginner, that is ok with me.

 

Now is when I mention that I am lazy: Are all piano lesson created equal? Are there some teaching techniques that bring rapid improvement whilst other bring slow progress but excellent technique (yuck).

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Txs for the link.

 

I do own Garageband.... but I also own Apple's more beefed up software called Soundtrack. It is great fun (as is Garageband).

 

I aways thought that a diatonic triad was a special drink for overweight Chinese organised criminals.

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The method I learned was listening. Listen to a real music untill you learn tones of a piano by heart and just copy it. This is good for developing kids music talents.

However you have to have basic skill before this.

 

I think HANON is very good practice for fingers.

 

What I want to learn now is latin piano. It sounds more passionate and fun to play! \:\)

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Slow, I really don't think you should recommend Hanon to db. Hanon is really for those who are really serious about developing finger techniques and it involves long and arduous repetitive exercises. I have never done any Hanon and probably never will. I prefer Czerny.

Anyway, db will not need to do any Hanon if he just wants to play some nice tunes.

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 Quote:
Originally posted by Markie:
Slow, I really don't think you should recommend Hanon to db.
Yeah slow, whats up with the Hanon stuff? ;\)

I have never heard of these finger things but Markie is quite right, I really do only want to learn the keyboard to a basic beginner level. I am more interested in knowing about music rather than knowing about the keyboard as a specific instrument.
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I preferred Hanon to Czerny (not a Czerny fan), but prefer Bach to both.

db - consider getting a cheap but good sounding KB that has accompaniment (ie - rhythm section and/or backing trax) - that way you can play to your heart's content with your own backing band without having to even turn on your computer.... Check out some of the Casios. And there's other brands too. I'm not up on the latest of those kinds of KBs but I'm sure there's a lot of very cool gear that's fun to play with.

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I always thought your handle said "weege off" but now I realise it says "wee geoff". I break new ground everyday.

 

Sunrise: I am actually slowly looking around for a MIDI keyboard. I almost bought a 25 key (or 24, cant remember) one the other day but held off as although they are good for one purpose, they are not any good for actually playing the keyboard. So now I am after a almost full sized (in key count) keyboard that also has weighted keys with velocity. I am getting a software synth and have another bit of software for the 'accompanying music'. I think I will just get a cheapo, I am sure it will meet my needs for at least 1 year or more.

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I suggest you think cheap first and then move on to better models once you have gotten started and are quite sure it isn't just a passing interest.

I started with a Yamaha clavinova, the most basic model with a full sized keyboard about five years ago. After nearly half a year, I decided I was pretty serious so I actually got a Grand. If I wasn't so serious I would probably have gotten an upright, but the low cost start-up left my options open.

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Indeed cheap I went, Markie. I could have gone even cheaper, but for teh price I get some minimum features:

 

I picked up a 49 key MIDI keyboard. being a MIDI controller it makes no noises on its own rather it plays through software on my computer. The keys are full sized and are velocity sensitive. It has 'advanced' programming capabilities... not really caring about that. Judging by the 4 buttons on it I doubt they are that advanced. It also has pitch bend and modulation wheels. Best of all it is plug and play compatible with Mac OSX.

 

All for 1.3man. Not bad at all for a 49 key velocity sensitive MIDI controller.

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That sounds like a good price and I think it was a good idea to choose a piano touch (velocity sensitive) type. That way you can control the volume of each note you play and that is very important when you want to put mood and feeling into the tunes you play.

Let us know when you have mastered a few tunes.

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I ordered my piano lesson kit today.

 

This reminds me of a rather disturbing image from my university days. We were all 18 yrs old, 1990-ish the times were pre-internet, at least in the way we know it today. We had pre-pre-pre windows 95 PC's and they were a joke. I would invoke a word processor by running the .exe in DOS. Apple computers were the size of a big tissue box with a small black and white screen. Does this have a point? yes! In those days, the only way for a young guy to get his hands on porn was via video. So a group of us in the university residential college in which I lived all chipped in and would buy porn video every now and then. We knew no better so we did not complain. How easy the undergrads of today have it! For the most we would rent banned porn from under the counter at the local 24hr service station. One of the guys got his hands on a huge porn catalogue magazine. It had the lot! During our at least 4 nights a week sit around in someone's room and get drunk sessions this magazine would usually get a viewing. There were so many video covers in there and some of them were classic and always gave a laugh. One that was classic but not what we wanted at all was the video named "Piano Lessons With Love" which had a picture on the cover of an old guy dressed in a 1980's leisure suit playing the piano by pressing the keys with the member of a young skinny naked guy. We thought this was as sick, yet funny, as hell. Now it has returned to haunt me as I myself set out for piano lessons.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just bought a secondhand upright.

 

I learned for 4 years when I was a kid and yet failed to learn to read music. Now my kid is learning, and I figure I should learn to read music at last. In the joanna shop, I hit a chord that reminded me of 'Amsterdam' by John Cale and handily embarrassed my family by singing it at full volume in the shop while hitting my 1 chord in the right places.

 

What are the three pedals for? They're not accelerator, brake and clutch, that's for sure.

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Did you know the 3 pedals are different for an upright and for a grand? The pedal on the right is the same for both. It keeps up the dampers/mufflers which normally go back down on the keys you press as soon as you release them.

The middle pedal on the upright is for muting the sound of the piano when you want to play quietly and not disturb others. On a grand, the middle pedal only keeps up the mufflers of the keys that are pressed at the time you step on the pedal. The other keys will continue as if no pedal was pressed.

The left pedal shifts all the keys and hammers to the right when they are pressed. This has the effect of making the strike subtly softer by making each strike a slightly indirect hit. On an upright, it moves the hammers closer to the strings, thus giving a similar effect of a subtly softer strike.

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Thanks Markie. 'Amsterdam' certainly sounded better with the accelerator floored. I can see that pedal getting some use.

 

The dob method of playing the piano with the male member won't be tolerated in the 11 household and anybody found attempting it will do serious time in the gomi storage.

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They don't really take up that much space. It cost 170,000 yen inclusive of chair, cover, delivery and first tuning. That's about half the price of a new one.

 

It's quite a lot of money to spend, but I reckon it'll be worth it.

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You can also rent them. I was renting a baby grand (in the days when I lived in a place I could fit it) for 5000 a month. Uprights were 3000 a month. You could try and rent a small parlour piano, not as high as an upright (if you can find one). My next move will hopefully give me enough space to have a real piano again. I currently have a 30 kilo yamaha digital with full grand action but it's just not the same as the real thing.

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