chiark

I'm 29, and have always harboured a desire to play the piano. I can tinker on a keyboard in a tuneless one-handed manner, but I want to learn and will find the time to do so.

Anyone done the same at this "later time of life" compared to when most people learn instruments? Any advice on what to do, or what not to do? How to learn?

Cheers,
Nick.

boxst

Hello

One of my friends has this http://www.prodikeys.com/ and that looked a good way to learn.

Steve.

Badger Stuffer

Chiark.......The best thing to do is to find a tutor. If you have the room then get yourself a real piano as opposed to a keyboard IMO.

Be prepared to play mostly excercises for a while and then classical music as you base for your music exams.

Practice is the key and if you already have an understanding on reading music then this would be a benefit.

A great instrument mate and you will get hours of enjoyment from it.

Good luck.....

beemerboy

i learned to pay the guitar quite late in life (22/23yrs old)
which may make you all laugh, but is late for instruments.

my advice would be to have lessons....

before you end up being able to do 30 seconds of each song, and getting disheartened, when you get to the hard bits.

good luck

BB

GaryK

Nick,

Well for learning piano you could get yourself a casio lighting keyboard, do a search for an LK-50, I got one of these and it lights up the keys you should play! Pretty cool it only has about 100 built in tunes but you can buy and FD-1 unit which reads MIDI files off a standard 3.5" floppy disk so your tunes are limitless. It also shows you which fingers of both left and right hand you should be using to play the notes.

As for learning well its just practice, you might find lessons help, Ive been doing guitar and singing for 2 1/2 years now and going to lessons keeps you interested and makes you practice in between otherwise you are wasting your money!!! But above all just enjoy it.

Good Luck

Gary

Badger Stuffer

I have been playing the guitar since I was 15 (Now 33) and I found the piano really easy to learn. Reading the music for piano took some getting used to due to the change in format but perserverance is the key.

chiark

Lessons sounds like a good idea... In the past, my tinkerings have got me playing 30 seconds of a song, then giving up on the hard bits, so BTDTGTTS. I want to learn for myself, and also to help out with a local amdram society that my wife is involved in.

My aim, and this is a good 'un that'll crack you up, is to be able to play Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag quite well...

A wife of a friend is a piano teacher. And they need their kitchen tiling. I sense a barter coming on.

We don't really have space for an acoustic, which is a shame in some ways but panders to technolust in others, plus an acoustic would have to go up a flight of stairs, which would be a "fun" challenge. It's how much I spend on something that I might get frustrated with that I really don't know.

chiark

I can read music after a fashion due to learning the violin when I was younger. I gave up on that after grade 2 due to the utter frustration of being unable to play tunes that I enjoyed. I'm annoyed that I did now... If only I'd listened to my parents

The problem that I've hit up until now with the keyboard has been getting the left hand to work independently and in time. (Stop tittering at the back ). I'll start seeing if there's any "self help" books, but I don't have any keyboard at the moment - wonder if a musical mate has a spare...

Cheers,
Nick.

ProperCharlie

chiark - i'm in exactly the same situ as you. weird innit? i'm even 29 as well. I bought a keyboard about a month ago and have made ok progress. you may have seen some of the *what keyboard* threads that are going on. I don't think it is necessary to get an acoustic instrument. a mate is giving me *lessons* (very loose description of going over to his place, drinking jim beam and then practicing scales on his bluthner grand). Anyway, I am really pleased that I am giving it a go. At first I thought i would never be able to play a chord with the left and melody with the right, but once you know what it's supposed to sound like it becomes natural. I bought "The Complete Keyboard Player" by Kenneth Baker. It takes you through reading music and so on in a simple to follow way, and it helps that the songs are onse you will probably know the tune to. Get hold of a keyboard and get stuck in.

chiark

Cheers mate - uncanny - are we twins?

I like the idea of those "practise sessions". Are you near Leeds?

I went to Foxes at lunchtime, and walked out utterly, utterly gobsmacked. I am soooooooo impressed by the Roland digital pianos it is untrue - I particularly liked the ability to play either the left or right hand part of the 65 in-built "tunes" at whatever speed you like. I can see that being useful, especially as the tunes are full blown pieces recorded with emotion and expression. The 1300 quid bit for the HP-2e model sorta put me off, but looking on the web around 800 seems right.

That's a lotta mods tho, but it is an "investment", as I keep telling myself.

Comparatively, the Yamaha sounded "tinnier", but on the other hand the action was firmer than the Roland.

I think I can find the time to do this and there's reasons for me to do so, including helping my wife's amdram society out admittedly a fair way in the future . It's whether I buy cheap and pay twice or just grimace and go the whole hog in the knowledge that if I don't use it I've wasted a lot of money, which might encourage me to actually use the thing

Although this is rather academic as I don't have the cash right now...

Cheers,
Nick.

Tiggs

i am also 29 and about to learn to play...ohhh freaky!

im going to have lessons with my 7 yr old so my incentive is that she isnt better than me!

T

ProperCharlie

Tiggs - is that 29 going on 59?

chiark

That's on the list too - there's one on ebay for 800 quid "buy it now."

chiark

Anyone know any online suppliers other than Turnkey?

GaryK

Nick,

Could try
www.digitalvillage.co.uk
www.soundslive.co.uk
www.creativetechnologies.co.uk

Also check out the reader ads on www.sospubs.co.uk

Tiggs

"Tiggs - is that 29 going on 59? "


??? do i type old?

ProperCharlie

unfortunately i'm in london, so not that handy for where you are. I was a bit unsure about shelling out a load of wedge but was persuaded by the argument that if you buy something cheap:
a) you won't enjoy playing it very much and
b) as soon as you get a bit better you'll want to buy something decent.
I felt a bit of a tw@t in the instrument shop that was full of very serious and pro looking people, and there's me pressing a key and going "err.. wha's this one do?" but I brought the piano/jim beam friend along and he gave them a bit more of a work out. ended up with this which I notice is already £50 less than when I bought it!

[Edited by ProperCharlie - 6/10/2003 4:04:59 PM]