Anybody here play?
Did you play and stop? (Shame on you).
Do you have a keyboard or piano? What type? What music do you like playing? Did you teach yourself or get lessons? Did you take grades?
I have a yamaha psr-e233 keyboard I picked up on Black Friday for 25 bucks…I’m trying the self-taught thing. Fun plinking around on it, learning stuff…until my cat decides she wants to join in.
That’s a cool keyboard, you cant really go wrong with a Yamaha. I have a Yamaha myself. And my cat does the same thing. She sits on it and wont move. What motivated you to buy the keyboard? Do you have an idea on the type of music you’d like to play?
I’ve been hearing a lot of awesome yet simple-sounding piano pieces lately like Jeanne Newhall’s Theme From The Year Of Living Dangerously (seriously, that shit is beautiful) in addition to my decades of appreciation of Enya’s piano instrumentals, not to mention creating something (art, music, whatever) instead of destroying or repressing as an outlet for frustration was strongly suggested by my therapist.
I’d love to learn how to play the piano. I thought about learning the violin, but the piano seems more in my alley. I should save up for a keyboard and try to teach myself how to use one.
I have seriously wanted to learn for about 3-4 years, I just never had the funds to actually make that happen. I really would love a big daddy grand piano at some point but will be getting a casio 4200 next month with my tax refund. Has anyone noticed their fighting game prowess benefit them when it comes to playing?
I’ve been playing for about 13-ish years. I’ve had the same teacher pretty much since when I began. I completed the tenth level/grade for technique and theory. I never really participated in piano competitions/tests because I got really busy in jr. high/high school plus I didn’t like playing a from an arbitrary list of pieces. I’ve somewhat plateaued since my senior year in high school and I’m considering quitting my regular lessons with my teacher as soon as I finish a couple of pieces that I’ve been learning for a while.
As a kid I loved playing pieces out of the Piano Collections from various Final Fantasy games. Right now I’m a sucker for music from the Romantic era (Chopin, Liszt, etc), but I also enjoy playing a few pop songs from groups like Queen or The Beatles.
My mom bought me a Baldwin Howard baby grand and I mainly play on that for guests and daytime practicing. I also have a Wurlitzer vertical grand and it’s kept in the guest room. I mainly use that for early morning/nighttime practicing.
I was learning when I was in college. I didn’t take it as seriously as I should’ve, as a result, I only remember three chords.
I would love to pick it up again, now that I’m no longer as irresponsible as I once was.
저는 론 버건디 입니까?
Started playing when I was 13 (oh god, 16 years ago) … 100% self-taught. Was in a band for a while, did a couple albums, then sort of fizzled out in 2009. I still have a Nord Electro 2 and Yamaha P120 that I play now and then. I try to keep my chops up, but I’m not as decent as I was 4-5 years ago. I really need to learn how to read music and get back into it.
That’s good stuff, I like that song. Piano will definitely do that, personally I find playing very relaxing. Any creative hobby is good for the soul. I quit playing for a long time, coming back to the piano brought me a lot of peace through some hectic times
Haha, a grand piano is the dream. I hope I have one someday. I learnt classically from age 3 always playing on a Yamaha grand, I think I owe most of my fighting game execution to those early days. I never learnt to play well on a stick, but I can roll cancel easily on a ps2 pad, I hardly drop combos. I don’t have problems with execution really. My biggest problems come in terms of general play, things that playing piano wouldn’t be likely to help with. I really believe piano helped with the execution tho, I think you are on to something there. Make sure you buy that keyboard!
Hah, we have some things in common. Unfortunately I lost my first teacher after 10 or so years and could never find the same level of comfort or appreciation for any teacher I had afterwards. My first teacher taught me classically and put me through nationwide competitions. My new teachers tried to tell me certain classical ways of playing were wrong but I knew they were wrong. They had beef with classical hand postures, the arch of the hand etc. I ended up arguing with 2 of them and decided to stop lessons. I quit playing when I was about 16. I’m 30 now and have only just come back to the piano over the last 6-7 months.
I have the Final Fantasy books too. Those are what I am in to at the moment. I wanted to get back in to playing with music that would be fun and recognisable. I’m just learning Fishermans Horizon from the FF8 book 
I have to say, when I stopped lessons I slowly stopped playing over the course of a couple of years. I was always told I would regret it. If you stop lessons, just hit the piano or keyboard once in a while to refresh the memory, especially with reading music. Hand postures, positioning, ease of playing, they all come back. But reading music for me has vanished and it is infuriating. I have it back a little bit, but I’ve had to learn again. It was simply gone from my brain. There is nothing more annoying than feeling more than adequate with your hands but reading the music at a snails pace. Not that you’ve said you will stop playing completely, but it is horrible if you do and you lose the core of what you used to have.
I love the fact you have 88 key keyboards. I bought a PSR S650 to get back in to playing, I miss the extra keys massively. I’m considering selling to buy anything with a full 88keys. In fact, I know I HAVE to. I did research before buying, but in retrospect it was probably a little biased. That and I wasn’t completely sure what type of music I might take to. It turns out a fair portion of what I want to play hits those higher and lower octaves. I’m exactly in your boat with reading music.
When I first went back to piano almost everything was gone as far as reading music is concerned. I bought this book http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Back-Piano-Glover/dp/091095755X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358604102&sr=8-1&keywords=lets+go+back+to+the+piano
Its been a great help. It has so much information and starts things off very simply. I did have to skip a few parts. But overall I would say this is a great book for anybody looking to learn from scratch or start over with. It is all encompassing, it has everything you would want to or need to know. So I throw that out there to those also looking to learn, it’s a quality product and you wouldn’t likely need much else to get a grasp on reading and playing piano music. Lessons are ideal, but if you are teaching yourself, this book is awesome.
Played from like 4th grade up until senior year of high school, then went off to college and just stopped. No easy access to a piano will do that to you…but recently bought a full 88-key electric piano and trying to learn stuff again. At least I can still read music…
So pissed I stopped. It’s a really fun instrument…
What did you buy? I love my PSR but I need those 88 keys for sanity. 
Edit.
This is what gave me the inspiration to get back in to playing.
[media=youtube]dGPVMl6IbSc[/media]
Of all music instruments I feel like piano is the one I will be most comfortable with.
Never owned one or studied it seriously but currently planning to buy an electric Yamaha from the P or YDP series.
Still hesitating whether I should go the self-taught route though and if I do I wonder how do you measure your learning progress and should you be concerned (and when) for rating of skill. Maybe it is best to have yourself recorded during exercise and then play it back later to observe your mistakes. I am already convinced this helps much in FGs so why not in music?
I really wish I had taken lessons sooner. I watch even moderately trained pianists play and their technique is just so much cleaner than mine. Nearly all my learning was done by playing along to songs, by ear … so what I can do is more than adequate for a pop/rock band but anything more challenging is lost on me.
I’d like to learn playing Impromptu’s and other classical solo piano compositions. Seems like I definitely should consider finding a teacher or ‘mentor’.
Thanks for the answer.