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STOP MAKING SENSE posted:Hey guys. Not really a new musician, nor exactly new to the piano. The problem is that for the past few years I've only been using it as a tool for theory homework, which was also a while ago, and writing. I just need some piano boot camp to get back into the swing of things. All my good sheet music and piano books are with my parents about 200 miles away along with the upright I learned on. I'm here with a a cheapo 88 key keyboard and a book of Haydn Sonatas, heavily scrawled in from classes. Don't be surprised if it comes back a LOT quicker than you'd expect. And I'm sure some of those Haydn sonatas are well within your reach, if you play them slow enough. Had you learned those before or just analyzed them? I'm in the opposite position, I can still play but have forgotten so much theory it's shameful. Pretty sad when you've been learning a piece for weeks and can't answer questions like "what key are you playing in" without thinking about it for a minute.
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Jun 6, 2009 04:39
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I'm looking for a nice digital piano for my apartment. Do I need to hire a piano mover for a digital piano or can I just stick it in the back of a pickup (assuming I am careful with it)? What is the sweet spot in terms of price for digital pianos? I'm on a moderately tight budget and don't want to spend more than $1000. Is there anything reasonable in that price range?
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Jun 12, 2009 01:13
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I'm looking for a nice digital piano for my apartment. Do I need to hire a piano mover for a digital piano or can I just stick it in the back of a pickup (assuming I am careful with it)? There's some nice options around the $1000USD mark. I use the Kawai MP5 stage piano and think it is quite rad, and you can probably pick one up for .. a touch over $1000USD. But you'd need to then have some decent speakers to hook it up to unless you want to use headphones all the time, and you'd have to buy a stand or have a table to put it on... so it ends up being a bit more. If you're looking for one with built in speakers and which comes with a stand... well there's a bunch of Kawai's and Yamahas in that range which are pretty decent. What you're essentially looking for is hammer-style weighted keys and a nice on-board piano sound. I tend to think those packaged speaker/stand digital pianos are less awesome, largely because the in-built speakers just aren't up to scratch. You don't need a piano mover, it should ship in a big ol' padded cardboard box. Quite safe to put in the back of a pickup... it would have arrived at the store in the back of a van or truck. Some assembly required, but screwing the stand together is pretty simple. If you read the last three or four pages of this thread there's quite a bit of discussion on this topic. I would say if you're at all a serious musician who intends to gig, or move your piano around in general at ANY point a digital stage piano is the way to go. They typically are that bit higher quality, but have the overhead of needing to buy your own stand/amp. If you just want to have a piano in the house one of those packaged digital pianos that come with a stand and on-board speakers can do a decent job, they just don't quite have the quality or flexibility.
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Jun 12, 2009 02:11
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Yeah what that guy said, I bought a Titon Extreme and never looked back.
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Jun 12, 2009 07:24
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So today I suddenly got a weird urge to try out keyboard. I'm quite limited in physical space and money (have more of the latter than the former but I'm just a tight arse, though I would be willing to splurge if it's really worth it) - would it be a stupid idea for me to just go out and try and find a keyboard that's less than a meter long for less than $150 and then try and teach myself with books and online resources?
Weatherproof fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Jun 12, 2009 |
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Jun 12, 2009 11:54
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Vanmani posted:There's some nice options around the $1000USD mark. I use the Kawai MP5 stage piano and think it is quite rad, and you can probably pick one up for .. a touch over $1000USD. But you'd need to then have some decent speakers to hook it up to unless you want to use headphones all the time, and you'd have to buy a stand or have a table to put it on... so it ends up being a bit more. Thanks! I went back and read the first few pages as well. It sounds like digital pianos have improved quite a bit since I last looked. I will probably head over to a piano store and try some out this weekend. What type of speakers should I be looking at? Would the same type I use for my tv or computer be fine or do I need a special type?
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Jun 12, 2009 16:03
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I used this thread for information (thanks Vanmani) and ended up buying an FP-4 after trying a bunch of different models, and I'm extremely happy with it.
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Jun 12, 2009 16:27
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OctaviusBeaver posted:I'm looking for a nice digital piano for my apartment. Do I need to hire a piano mover for a digital piano or can I just stick it in the back of a pickup (assuming I am careful with it)? You don't need a mover for stage pianos or upright ones with compact stands. You'd only need one for those digital grands (like from Roland), but you aren't looking at those. There is no real sweet spot... i think there are decent options for every price range. At sub-$500, Casios are surprisingly decent for beginners. Yamaha makes decent ones when you get closer to $1K. Their descriptions are confusing, as they talk about "graded hammer standard" or "graded hammer effect", which are two descriptions for two different classes of weighted keys. The GHE (graded hammer effect) is much better and worth paying more for, and is where the Yamaha quality starts to become noticeable and worth the extra price over Casios. The Yamaha P-140 fits the bill (stage form digital piano with graded hammer effect keys) and is in your price range (right at $1K). If you can spend another $500 or more, the Rolands are excellent. Check out the FP-7 for stage form or DP-990 for piano with stand. You were also asking about speakers. It's tough finding ones that will sound good with the full range of the keyboard. The best solution is a quality set of headphones, imo, if you don't need others to hear. Computer speakers will sound like crap. A good set of studio monitors is what you'd want. A mini-PA system would work too, if you have a need to hook up microphones as well.
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Jun 12, 2009 16:41
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There might be good deals to be had on the yamaha P-140 now that the P-155 is out.
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Jun 12, 2009 20:32
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Beasticly posted:keyboard that's less than a meter long for less than $150 and then try and teach myself with books and online resources? You will find a 61 key keyboard (about 1m) for $150, but it'll be spectacularly average. You won't be happy with the sound or the feel or the size, but you will make do if you're motivated. Can't go too far with such a device though. Arishakage posted:Roland FP-4 Roland FP series are really good, everyone likes them. In the US they're well priced too, over here in Australia Roland stuff is well expensive, thus my fondness for the Japanese stuff. 80k posted:Studio monitors, headphones Dead right. A good digital piano sounds best through studio monitors, I love mine so much more since I got my pair of Rokit RP8G2s. A keyboard amp is fine, but they're just so MONO and aren't the most accurate reproducers of sound... definitely more enjoyable through monitors. A smaller Roland KC series keyboard amp is what most people will settle for, and will do a great job for the price. If you do happen to have PA system, just run through that, it'll sound good. A decent pair of headphones sounds pretty good too, but I hate wearing headphones for long periods. Good for late night practice though. If you have a nice home hi-fi system it will probably sound fine through that, but you may need to do a touch of EQ just to get rid of the boomy "MEGA BASS OOMPH OOMPH BOOMY" sound that most home audio systems have. Still, most decent home hi-fi systems sound better than the speakers they package with some digital pianos.
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Jun 13, 2009 02:50
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Vanmani posted:You will find a 61 key keyboard (about 1m) for $150, but it'll be spectacularly average. You won't be happy with the sound or the feel or the size, but you will make do if you're motivated. Can't go too far with such a device though. After listening to clips on youtube of the lower priced models I've decided to up my budget to ~$400 AUD (they sounded craptastic) which just allows me to get a WK110 which, from the clips I listened to on youtube, sounds decent for the price! Does anyone know if the WK stands from weighted keys? My googlefu is weak but I managed to extrapolate that it has 'semi weighted' keys. If I learn on this will the transition to a proper piano or digital keyboard be really difficult? Weatherproof fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Jun 14, 2009 |
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Jun 14, 2009 10:22
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Beasticly posted:After listening to clips on youtube of the lower priced models I've decided to up my budget to ~$400 AUD (they sounded craptastic) which just allows me to get a WK110 which, from the clips I listened to on youtube, sounds decent for the price! Does anyone know if the WK stands from weighted keys? My googlefu is weak but I managed to extrapolate that it has 'semi weighted' keys. If I learn on this will the transition to a proper piano or digital keyboard be really difficult? You'll manage. They won't really feel anything like a real piano keybed, but ... unless you're planning on becoming a proper virtuoso pianist it won't really matter. If you're over the age of 10 or so that boat has already sailed. You'll get by.
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Jun 14, 2009 11:31
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I have learned all of my scales and can play them without looking the keyboard. I'm not always sure how to apply scales (even if they do apply) in order to use proper fingering. Is there a general answer or guideline to this question?
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Jun 23, 2009 05:48
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Eli Cash posted:I have learned all of my scales and can play them without looking the keyboard. I'm not always sure how to apply scales (even if they do apply) in order to use proper fingering. Is there a general answer or guideline to this question? Proper fingering in terms of playing a scale for a music exam is not necessarily the same as proper fingering in the context of a piece of music. Essentially the proper fingering is relative to what the next few notes are. Whatever fingering allows you to best play the required note and the coming notes optimally is the "proper fingering". That being said there are rules which will work well. If you're playing a run up/down the keyboard you typically wrap your thumb under at the middle or fourth finger, for example. Practicing your scales will teach you this, and drill it into muscle memory so it's smooth and natural. Don't be too paranoid about it, just make sure you can play what you are intending to play smoothly, gracefully and with minimal pain and effort and preferably with maximum versatility (don't unnecessarily close down playing options... like playing a triad with your three middle fingers makes it senselessly hard to move to a sus2 or sus4). If you are doing this then your fingering is 'correct'. As you gain more and more finger dexterity and skill there will be increasing numbers of 'correct' ways to play.
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Jun 23, 2009 06:36
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Eli Cash posted:I have learned all of my scales and can play them without looking the keyboard. I'm not always sure how to apply scales (even if they do apply) in order to use proper fingering. Is there a general answer or guideline to this question? In general fingering doesn't matter too much as long as it's somewhat logical. The major thing is figuring out a fingering and then sticking with it, if you don't figure out fingerings and just continuously play it how you feel like it each time it'll dramatically decrease your progression through it and mess up your muscle memory.
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Jun 23, 2009 11:03
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I like this advice. I like to figure out the most logical fingering, though it is time consuming. I usually write in numbers corresponding to fingers so my time isn't wasted (like in beginner pieces). Is this common among advanced players? Also, sometimes I feel like there's no great way to finger a sequence and have to bite the bullet and just slide my hand or have an akward move. Is this common?
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Jun 24, 2009 19:56
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Eli Cash posted:I like this advice. I like to figure out the most logical fingering, though it is time consuming. I usually write in numbers corresponding to fingers so my time isn't wasted (like in beginner pieces). Is this common among advanced players? Also, sometimes I feel like there's no great way to finger a sequence and have to bite the bullet and just slide my hand or have an akward move. Is this common? Writing in fingering is necessary, and imo, you can never write too many. I write them in even if it's obvious. Sliding fingers is extremely common... like off a sharp and onto a natural. It's comfortable and totally acceptable practice to do that when it makes sense. Fingering should also match the passage so that your hand is not lifted in an area that needs a smooth legato. Don't be afraid to repeat the same finger in consecutive notes, particularly the thumb. A good thumb should be accustomed to moving around very fast, and there is no reason why you can't play a note with your thumb and then play the next note (which is an interval up or down) with the same thumb and then come right back to the original note. Sometimes thumb-thumb-thumb is surprisingly easier and more natural than other fingerings. Fingerings should hardly ever feel awkward with most standard repertoire, even for those with smaller hands. If it is awkward, chances are you can improve it with a little creativity.
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Jun 24, 2009 20:03
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Eli Cash posted:I like this advice. I like to figure out the most logical fingering, though it is time consuming. I usually write in numbers corresponding to fingers so my time isn't wasted (like in beginner pieces). Is this common among advanced players? Also, sometimes I feel like there's no great way to finger a sequence and have to bite the bullet and just slide my hand or have an akward move. Is this common? advanced players write in fingering.
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Jun 25, 2009 23:49
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Hi everyone, I was given a keyboard on sunday and thanks to this thread, the links posted in it and some youtube videos I played a whole song straight off the sheet music for the first time in my life last night (at the same time the news of MJ broke). I don't mean I sight read it all on my first attempt, but after a couple of nights of practice I can play it and I worked it all out from just the sheet music. Thanks something awful piano guys.
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Jun 26, 2009 16:20
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super awesome =)
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Jun 26, 2009 18:17
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Hey guys  So I just got a free piano given to me by some old couple. This is the same exact piano as far as I can tell http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/msg/1241496936.html I played trumpet through school for about 8 years so I can read sheet music and have a pretty good ear. I've been playing it for the last couple weeks or so, have used the "free-piano-lessons" website (that site is great) and downloaded the "learn and master piano" dvd set to keep going since the piano lesson website only goes to lesson 10. A friend of mine is going to give me piano lessons in the fall for on the cheap, and I'm also going to take a piano class at my community college since I go there anyway. So far I loving love this thing. After weeks of playing it I've developed an affinity for piano music of all types, and have moved my computer next to it so I can play along as the dvds play. I have a question though... It doesn't seem like its TERRIBLY out of tune. It's just a little bit through some keys. I'm going to buy the adjusting tools anyway but then I noticed that the top opens up and has a little support thing to keep it open. Am I supposed to play with it open? It sounds more in tune when it is, so I'm attributing some its "out of tuneness" due to the fact that it's sitting on carpet, and next to a wall, and possibly because of the relatively cheap materials it's made out of. Not the ideal place but whatever - it's there now and too heavy to move.
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Jun 28, 2009 20:08
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Seconding the "Learn and Master Piano" DVD set. My parents just bought a new Kawai RX-2 grand, and since I have the summer free, I decided to learn to play it! (No one in my family has any musical ability) I started off with absolutely no prior knowledge, and the DVDs were excellent. What I like is that the guy teaches you a bit of music theory along with how to play the songs. Definitely worth a buy for anyone trying to learn piano by themselves. BTW, I'd like to continue learning piano when I start school in the fall. I'll be living in a small apartment, and I'm looking for a digital keyboard to play on. My budget is probably going to be around $200-300. Now I realize there's going to be a few differences in quality from a $15k grand to a $300 keyboard. As long as it has 88 keys and sounds like a piano I'd be happy. I'd also like something portable, with a folding stand. Sound quality isn't too important, but I want built-in speakers and an option for headphones. Any recommendations? INTJ Mastermind fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Jun 28, 2009 |
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Jun 28, 2009 21:01
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I'm visiting my mom over the summer vacation, and I started playing a couple of weeks ago after digging up the ~15 year old keyboard I got as a kid. It was still working just fine, though I'm definitely limited by the number of keys. So far I've gone through every lesson by Lypur on youtube, which taught me a fair bit (the later ones were admittedly beyond my skill level). I also grabbed a bunch of sheet music from http://www.gamemusicthemes.com/pcsheetmusic.html and the more traditional tunes like when the saints go marching in from some other site. I've done a fair bit of amazon browsing as well, and already seem to have 10 or so books I wouldn't mind ordering. So far I'm progressing fast, and I've been looking at teachers where I normally live. Most seem to charge about $30 / hour, but this is Norway. About a week ago I tried the Roland and really, really liked how it played. It was a pretty small store though, so I'll spend some time in other shops trying ones that are cheaper and less expensive. Obviously going for 88 fully weighted keys, and at this point I've been really itching for the Roland FP-7. The features look pretty awesome, and I don't like buying something "decent" only to upgrade it later, so I might just save up longer and go for broke.
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Jun 28, 2009 22:10
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Hot Dog Hotline posted:I have a question though... It doesn't seem like its TERRIBLY out of tune. It's just a little bit through some keys. I'm going to buy the adjusting tools anyway but then I noticed that the top opens up and has a little support thing to keep it open. Am I supposed to play with it open? It sounds more in tune when it is, so I'm attributing some its "out of tuneness" due to the fact that it's sitting on carpet, and next to a wall, and possibly because of the relatively cheap materials it's made out of. Not the ideal place but whatever - it's there now and too heavy to move. If some old couple gave it to you for free, you chucked it in a truck and moved it to your place I would almost guarantee it is not in tune. Pianos do not like being moved, and are theoretically meant to be tuned twice a year (with the seasons), while many people will let them sit for years and years without tuning. Playing with the lid open gives it a different tone, but has absolutely no impact on the tuning. The notes are not generated in the air space in the piano, they are entirely from the strings vibrating. The human brain plays tricks on you, it perceives "louder" = "better" with music to a point. Your piano will typically sound louder with the top ajar. All that being said, tuning a piano is horrendously more tricky than almost any other instrument. I suggest you get a decent quality digital tuner with a microphone, tune the middle octave up with that and then use your ear to tune the surrounding octaves to the appropriate reference notes in the middle, as pianos aren't usually tuned to perfection, they are tuned to themselves. If the piano is at all old, or hasn't been tuned for a while, you may have to take things very very slowly, or the strings may snap which is a moderately expensive repair. If the piano is very out of tune then you may have to tune it, then tune it again the next day after it has settled. Even a skilled tuner who is well practiced will probably take at least an hour on a piano that has been left untuned for more than a year or so, I believe... and unless you have a gifted or well practiced ear for tuning you will find it very difficult. INTJ Mastermind posted:$200-300 88 weighted key digital keyboard that sounds like a piano If you want just a decent 88 weighted key digital piano that is cheap and acceptable you can look at the higher end Casio Privia's as the absolute bottom end, but you'll probably be happier with a Yamaha P85 or similar. These devices can range from around $400-500USD if you find a good deal (last time I looked anyway) and they more or less match your requirements. They're commonly recommended to piano students who cannot afford the real thing for whatever reason.
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Jun 29, 2009 01:09
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Vanmani posted:If you want just a decent 88 weighted key digital piano that is cheap and acceptable you can look at the higher end Casio Privia's as the absolute bottom end, but you'll probably be happier with a Yamaha P85 or similar. Thanks! But what if I don't need something with weighted keys? Will that drop the price without compromising sound quality? Or are the only decent sounding digital pianos the ones with weighted keys also?
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Jun 29, 2009 02:03
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INTJ Mastermind posted:Thanks! But what if I don't need something with weighted keys? Will that drop the price without compromising sound quality? Or are the only decent sounding digital pianos the ones with weighted keys also? In terms of having 88 keys and having a decent piano sound I can't think of any off the top of my head that aren't weighted. You can definitely get some nifty little 61 key keyboards/synths for that price range, particularly if you are willing to do some research and go second hand, but they are generally very unlikely to have a GOOD piano sound. Good piano sounds are almost universally sampled, and samples take up lots of space, so you need lots of ROM to store the samples in. Until very recently it was far too expensive to really meet this criteria, even on quite expensive keyboards. What you might try though is hitting up craigslist/ebay/whatever and seeing if you can find someone selling a Yamaha P80 or similar second hand for cheap. A lot of parents buy these things for their kids and then offload them when the kid takes no interest, so you might get lucky... now that I think about it a "wanted to buy" ad might be quite effective.
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Jun 29, 2009 05:07
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I'm learning Yiruma's "River Flows in You." Like all of the music I play, it's above my level and I can learn it but can't perfect it. I was wondering if anybody could rate this piece's difficulty. I'm curious on how difficult it is relative to other stuff. Here's a link: http://www.pianomusicsheet.net/yiruma-river-flows-in-you/
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Jun 29, 2009 05:50
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Eli Cash posted:I'm learning Yiruma's "River Flows in You." Like all of the music I play, it's above my level and I can learn it but can't perfect it. I was wondering if anybody could rate this piece's difficulty. I'm curious on how difficult it is relative to other stuff. Here's a link: It definitely doesn't look particularly challenging. At a guess I'd probably imagine it would rank maybe at about grade 3 in the AMEB, but that's unlikely to mean much to you. Essentially it has a fairly predictable low difficulty left hand which just rolls through some arpeggios, and a fairly cruisy right hand which runs around in key 99% of the time. There's no challenging chords or big stretches or even anything particularly unusual here, so it's certainly suitable for a very intermediate player, but it's got too many parts and the right hand is probably a touch too fast for absolute beginners or young children with weak, untrained fingers. Just practice each section over and over at as slow a pace as necessary to get it right until it sinks into memory. Once you've memorised the whole piece, which may take as little as a few days or up to about a month depending on your skill level/practice regime keep playing it once or twice every day for another couple of weeks with an emphasis on getting your dynamics perfect. Everyone should do this with a piece they really enjoy occasionally, as it's the best way to learn how to pump a song full of the right feeling/emotion through your dynamics. Sometimes it takes a couple of months or more to really nail even easy pieces, doesn't mean you are incapable of doing it though. All about perseverence. Edit: on closer inspection, I would imagine a lot of grade 3 players would have a lot of difficulty with some of the more awkward timings and short trills. Perhaps bump it up to 4. Also, these are all just guesses based on a quick glance at the sheet and listen on youtube. I've never played it so I don't really know for sure. Vanmani fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Jun 29, 2009 |
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Jun 29, 2009 07:58
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I looked around the thread and saw no mentions of this book which is surprising, so I'll tell you guys all about it. http://www.pianofundamentals.com/book/en/chapter_1 Fundamentals of Piano Practice by Chuan C Chang This is probably the only book you'll ever really need if you want to become excellent at piano. I've been playing for about 11 years, and it's safe to say that the methods in this (free) book will put you miles above most players. From everything to practicing to picking the right piano, this book has it all. Once you consciously apply his ideas diligently your playing will sky rocket. Please, if none of you have read this, make sure to read it from front to back. 3 times. Absorb it as much as possible. The most important idea here to learn is mental play. He emphasizes it a lot and for good reason. Most accomplished musicians have either consciously or unconsciously come across the ability to be able to practice in their heads. It's not as hard as it actually sounds. Once you've gotten a good grip on this technique, you can practice pieces before you ever even play them. I've always been told I'm an excellent sight reader, but that's partly because I have time to go over the piece mentally by looking at the sheet music for a few moments before hand. Learn most of what this book preaches and you'll be playing Prokofiev before you know it. Also, another thing I recommend, which is what I did but I'm not sure if it would work for other people, is to attempt to sight read as much as possible. I spent 2 years of my life going through tons of classical repertoire and (attempting to) sight read it. Balance this with learning pieces to the best of your ability (which I should have done in hindsight) and you'll have not only excellent piano abilities but incredible musicianship skills in general.
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Jun 29, 2009 08:38
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interman posted:So far I'm progressing fast, and I've been looking at teachers where I normally live. Most seem to charge about $30 / hour, but this is Norway. 200 kr/time sounds very reasonable if the teacher is good. I tried a lot of different models before settling for the Roland FP-4, but the FP-7 was my definite favorite in the stage piano category, just a little too expensive.
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Jun 29, 2009 14:54
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Yeah I'm sure I'd be perfectly happy with the FP-4, but we'll see. There's a used FP-7 going for about $300 more, so I guess I'll be doing more shifts in the near future.
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Jun 29, 2009 21:06
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A quick question about the P85. I've read that it doesn't sit well on some stands. I'd prefer not to have to get the official stand, but use a decent x or z stand. Is this a feasible option for the P85? Does anyone use such without problems? I'm almost at a position where I can drop the cash for this, but I don't want to get it and not be able to put it anywhere if it's not stable enough on a double x stand or whatever (which I'd have to buy too, I know the x stand I've got for my old keyboard is no where near good enough). Also I just want a quick moan about the price of things in this country (UK). I should just stop looking at the prices of things I want to buy in the US.
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Jun 29, 2009 21:37
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Kash posted:A quick question about the P85. I've read that it doesn't sit well on some stands. I'd prefer not to have to get the official stand, but use a decent x or z stand. Is this a feasible option for the P85? Does anyone use such without problems? You will find that the piano sways around a bit on X stands, they're a pretty poo poo design really... their legs go where your legs go, for a start. I have a platform stand for my Kawai MP5 (which I think weighs about twice as much as a P85). It's onstage brand, product KS7150. Was about $100AUD. It's width and height adjustable, so you should be able to put more or less anything on it.
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Jun 30, 2009 01:29
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interman posted:Yeah I'm sure I'd be perfectly happy with the FP-4, but we'll see. There's a used FP-7 going for about $300 more, so I guess I'll be doing more shifts in the near future. The only reason I didn't buy the FP-7 was budget constraints, it was a superb piano.
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Jun 30, 2009 05:18
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Kash posted:A quick question about the P85. I've read that it doesn't sit well on some stands. I'd prefer not to have to get the official stand, but use a decent x or z stand. Is this a feasible option for the P85? Does anyone use such without problems? The official stand is the best bet but it's an over priced sauder concoction. You could build a stand using as little as 4 wooden legs an a plywood platform or maybe even buy a used sofa table somewhere and cut the legs to the correct height. This is a sofa table: 
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Jun 30, 2009 19:58
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Eli Cash posted:The official stand is the best bet but it's an over priced sauder concoction. You could build a stand using as little as 4 wooden legs an a plywood platform or maybe even buy a used sofa table somewhere and cut the legs to the correct height. This is a sofa table: A lot of the reason I didn't want the official stand is that it's not particularly portable. And while I don't intend to move it a lot, I'd like to be able to with some ease. Also I'm not a fan of the look.
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Jun 30, 2009 21:42
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I very very very much recommend the stand I have. I use it for my Korg Titon Extreme and it's awesome, it's super duper portable but the awesome thing is it's sturdy as gently caress.
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Jun 30, 2009 22:52
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I discovered https://www.synthesiagame.com/ this morning and I'm quite interested in trying out a keyboard. I've always liked piano, but I have 0 knowledge in music at all; never had a music course or played any instrument. What should I buy to get a feeling of it? Considering that I don't know if I'll enjoy it or not, I don't want to spend more than 200$. Do I buy a cheap random model and go from there?
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Jul 12, 2009 23:21
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Hey, posted in this thread in its infancy and I'm still kicking around with the piano, although I've not gotten anywhere decent. I just really like trying to play popular songs I know (usually Muse or Killers) and practicing the theory, with little patience to sit down and learn a piece. Going to try a bit harder now that classes and all are over. A page or so ago someone was explaining a way of learning improvisation, so going to give that a go. I'm also printing out the e-book previously posted. Good stuff in this thread. But now I have a question: I was mucking around playing chords of a song I was trying to inject some life into, and alternating between G and Em, and G and C. I accidentally hit F#/B/D for the last G into an Em and to my delight I found it bled nicely into the next chord. I tried the same thing with a transition into C and found that it works as well, although I get the feeling one of these is correct and the other is a little off. I know that in music in general this transition thing is commonly used but I never knew what the rule to find it was. I have one progression I made up but no doubt have copied from somewhere as it is very simple, playing F#M->D->B->D with the right hand and using the left hand to play the base note of each chord an octave lower four times per chord, and one day found that I could make it sound better by making the last base note rise/fall by a tone to lead into the next note. Finding stuff out on your own is fun! But I want to know how to spot them in future, and make my chords more satisfying. So I'm trying to work out why those seemed to work. F#/B/D is playing a Bm chord, so why does it segue well into C or Em? Is there a rule for each chord? Is there no actual rule and what I found just seems to work in my head but isn't really there?
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Jul 13, 2009 22:24
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| # ? May 16, 2024 05:55 |
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Fat Turkey posted:Hey, posted in this thread in its infancy and I'm still kicking around with the piano, although I've not gotten anywhere decent. I just really like trying to play popular songs I know (usually Muse or Killers) and practicing the theory, with little patience to sit down and learn a piece. Going to try a bit harder now that classes and all are over. A page or so ago someone was explaining a way of learning improvisation, so going to give that a go. I'm also printing out the e-book previously posted. Good stuff in this thread. Good question. The chord progression you are playing fits very neatly into the key and scale of G major. A G major scale has the notes: G A B C D E F#. This is rad. Notice that all the chord tones of the chords you were playing fall within those constraints, and that the root you revisit regularly is the G... thus very clearly in the key of G major. For whatever reason the human ear tends to follow the root you play (the lowest note of the chord) for .. "direction" in the music. So when you played G (F#/B/D) Em (or C) you were presenting a walking downward bassline, G, F#, E. The use of the F# as the root of the Bm chord is what's called a chord inversion. Similarly if you played (D/F#/B) it would be another inversion of the Bm chord. By playing this inversion though you've given the progression this nice little walking bassline, which is very comfortable to the ear. Some people write music by writing bass lines then matching chords to fit the bassline. Some people write music by writing chord progressions and then figuring out a nice bassline to suit it. Some people write music in their head and then try to match what they're hearing in their vivid imagination. I doubt there's any hard and fast rule you might apply to this... but what I do know is that if you polished up your knowledge of scales, particularly your simple major and minor scales, you will have a far greater scope to see what is worth trying, and what should be avoided. That'll do for now.
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Jul 14, 2009 01:01
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