Learning New Instrument
 

hey guys, im sort of new to this forum. But ive been playing the drums for almost 2 years, i love it. but lately ive been wanting a more expressive instrument, like the guitar or piano. I attempted the guitar, i just couldnt get into it. i would really like to learn to play the piano, but i dont have the attention span to sit down, and learn to read music/memorize notes.

i have a nice starter keyboard (yamaha). Give this music newbie some advice how i could get good at the piano, im hoping to get into recording.

Please and thanks :) :wavey:

When I was a kid (and I'm talking about 20 years ago here) I learned piano through the Suzuki Method, which is basically learning by ear. By the age of 8 I was winning awards and playing recitals, and never learned to read a note.

I'm not sure if the Suzuki method is still in use, or if you can find literature on it, but that may be a start.

*edit* Killer sig, btw. Dimebag was one HELL of a guitarist :(

The Suzuki method is surely not bad, but I've the opinion that you should have nevertheless some basic knowledge about notes and chords, you will find it useful later! Because if you know how chords are made, you can play then in every key you want and the free playing comes alone!

To make it really really simple, a chord is any combination of notes in the same key. Let's use Cmaj as an example, as it's the easiest.

The scale:
C D E F G A B C

Now let's label each letter with a number:
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1/8

If you'll notice, the numbers corrispond with the letter of the scale, meaning that A is the 6th note of the Cmaj scale.

As I said, a chord is any combination of notes in the same key. Let's make a chord.

If you play C E G at the same time, you get the Cmaj Chord. If you play C F G at the same time, you get a suspended chord.

If you play C E G B, you hvae a Cmaj7 chord, the seven meaning the 7th note of the scale.


Now when I was growing up, in '79 to be exact, I asked my mom to teach me piano. So she did, and keep in mind she was playing piano with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the time, so it wasn't too bad. She thought me how to read music, but over time (like 3 months) I learned how to play something by ear. But then again, I practiced 4 hours every day, haha. So now at this point in my life, if you play something for me, I can play back for with no trouble what so ever. If I know what the piece is supposed to sound like, I can play back the way you played it and the way it supposed to be played, and my own way of playing it.

You're welcome to PM me with your questions. :-)

Thanks for the advice, im going to deffinatly check out the suzuki method, eventually i hope to move onto reading music.
I will have to practise those scales :).

Thanks again, hopefully this will get me started on a new instrument that i can stick with :)

It's no problem. It's what I do! And I love doing it so...it's all good, haha

Cool. Good luck man :)

PS. I'm from Ontario as well. Where are you at?

haha, i live near kingcity - newmarket. if ever heard of :D

The best thing you can do is get a friend to show you how to play, you know teach you the basics. Its one thing to read something and another to do it.

Yeah, sure! you're not that far from me, I'm in Kitchener :)