Hammond Music

Posts Tagged ‘piano keyboard’

Learning to play an instrument like piano, keyboard, guitar, or drums. Let’s go

A few points on what to expect when getting going learning about music and any instrument.  The basics are important – too quickly. Trust me -been there-done that.

Instruments come in all sizes and shapes. Some have strings that are pucked. Some have keys to press. Some you hit with sticks. But not to worry, most instruments are ready to play when first turned on. You will learn more details as you go along. When all else fails, read the instruction book-if there is one.

Understanding the instrument is important..It’s OK to skip the history lesson, and most of the ‘how it works’ details.

If you want to play skip the printed music, it’s still beneficial to understand the fundamentals of reading music.  Knowing what and where a given note is, both on the instrument and on the printed music is important.

There’s a lot that’s helpful to learn before actually playing any music. The instrument layout and the note sounds that it makes have relationships that our brains can easily learn.  Not to worry. A very important basic skill is learning the note’s names and locations. It’s very simple to learn where they are on the instrument. However, being able to name the printed notes instantly is NOT as simple because of the bass and treble clefs. The design and naming of the notes on the printed music has evolved over time. And probably won’t change much anytime soon.  So – just learn it.

In case you didn’t know, the name of a note on the printed music depends on whether it is in the treble clef (right hand – but not always) or bass clef (left hand – usually). Sound confusing? It is, until it gets explained to you – then it all makes perfect sense. You can’t change it.

If you are anything like me, until you get fairly good at reading the note names, you will be using all sorts of mental games, etc. to figure this out. Trying to do this while playing a piece is frustrating. I’m still working on it.

All these topics are discussed in more detail on my Learning to Play blog

Several excellent learn to play courses are available online to teach you enough to start enjoying your new instrument.

For details, reviews, customer testimonials, and recommendations about courses for learning to play an instrument, go to this learn to play product side by side comparison page.

If you have ever thought about trying to learn how to play the piano, I would recommend that you give it more thought. My own experience, learning how to play, was that it was not as easy as I was thinking it would be. There are many more things that you need to learn in order to play the piano that most novices don't recognize. It’s not a matter of just learning the right keys is to play but you also have to learn to read music.

So if you’re thinking about learning how to play the piano, I have some helpful tips that I think will make a difference. First go online and see what resources you have available on the Internet. Recently piano playing has become more convenient with the Roll Up Electric Piano keyboards. There are a lot of free information items that will help you both to read sheet music, and also learn what keys to be used when playing the piano. There an unlimited amount of free resources online that will assist you to get started learning how to play.

If you are still interested in learning how to play piano, I recommend that you either buy a piano or rent one. I would recommend the latter choice. When you’re just beginning to learn to play the piano, I think it’s best to rent your equipment because you never know how long you will stick with it. If the rental becomes more expensive than buying it, then go ahead and buy the equipment that you need. It would also be a good idea to look into getting the more convenient version like buying or renting a electronic piano keyboards. They are simple to setup, move around and don’t take up too much room.

These days, as I said above, there are a lot of resources available to you for free that will help you learn to play the piano. If you don’t find what you need online you can also go down to your public library and find plenty of information available to you that will help you learn to play. Finding a good instructor is also very critical to your enjoyment of playing and to the speed at which you will learn. A good teacher would be someone who enjoys playing the piano themselves and has a long history of teaching other people to play. You can usually get recommendations from other people on who is the best teacher or teachers available in your area.

As you can see there are a lot of things to consider before you start your journey forward on learning how to play the piano. The best news is that there is a lot of free information online that can help you and there are some great instructors out there that love to play the piano and will show you how. Really consider getting a roll up piano first for the lower cost and convenience. I really didn’t find it so simple and I’m still trying to learn to play to this day. So go find some good resources on learning to play the piano, rent an inexpensive piano, and find a good instructor. You’ll be well on your way to mastering and learning this beautiful art.