need to pick up piano again, anyone know of a pretty piece to play that's somewhere between the difficulty of Ravel's Pavane and Brahms's Op. 118 No. 2? the more unabashedly Romantic the better
Daniel Lopez
How does one start getting into playing piano? I've had a cheap electronic piano sitting around the house and it's a shame to let it collect dust. Should I just start tapping away at the board?
Joshua Morgan
pick up a level 1 method book!
Julian Mitchell
try and figure out the melody for a movie or TV show theme related was the first thing I figured out on a keyboard youtube.com/watch?v=-tll8ioM4rY
Ryan Thompson
How do I do improvisation? I have a couple of years of experience playing piano, but it is mostly "play a learn a piece, then learn another more difficult piece, then another..."
What do I need to be learning? I want to be able to compose and play with pieces with a deeper understanding of what is going on.
Nathaniel Kelly
Theory and some ear training. Start with intervals, then major/minor scales and triads, then 7th chords and other scales, then key signatures, circle of 4ths, and Roman numeral analysis.
Liam Clark
>he hasn't taught himself absolute pitch explain yourself user
Levi Campbell
extracurricular theory study/learning songs by ear/practice improvisation
you need to
1. understand music theory. how chords are built, how harmony works, scales, etc.
2. know the genre you want to improvise. start listening and analyzing the piano lines from songs you like. learn how licks in your genre generally go, where they are used, and what they accomplish in a song. for example: rock n roll piano often follows a 12 barre blues pattern, so most of the improvisation/lead licks will happen during the turnaround, and you have to complete a segue from the 5 chord to the 1 chord - this is often done by doing a descending line of two-note harmonies at a straight-eighth rhythm (classic jerry lee lewis style), usually inversions of the root/5th and root/third for the 5 chord and 4 chord, then ending on the 1 chord. etc etc for different genres
3. start learning songs by ear. improvisation is hearing something in your head and making it come alive on the instrument. to do that you need to learn to express what you hear by playing, which is done by learning songs by ear.
4. practice shadow-improv. ever hear of shadow boxing? this is the musical equivalent. you listen to a song, and without playing just imagine how you would improvise over the song. you can do this on the bus, in the car, walking down the street, whatever.
5. start improvising. keep it simple to begin with and work your way toward more difficult arrangements. you can play a chord pattern on the left and improvise on the right + vice versa, or you can branch chords and melodies across both hands.
6. play with others. playing with others will keep you on your toes and force you to stay fresh.
ALTERNATIVE METHOD:
Skip straight to step 3: learn songs by ear. memorize licks you hear in those songs and learn to play them across all the keys you regularly use. keep adding licks to your repertoire and it will always appear as if you're 'improvising'
Aaron Lopez
just let your heart press the keys bro. do it for a while and your heart will form a strong connection to your hands. and then you will truly im-pro-vise
Liam Anderson
i've been playing piano for 13 years and i highly recommend the alfred piano library books, once you work through those either get the real book if you want to do jazz or the blue/red library of piano classics books.
Elijah Myers
also take lessons if you can afford it, they help a lot
Ethan Wood
you guys recommend any good resource for learning piano? i need a site that show exercises for hand and stuf. i'm learning theory with this site thejazzresource.com/, because i want to be able to play jazz. also watching lots of piano videos on yt, like aimee nolte, i love her channel.
Levi Gutierrez
Transcribe and learn to play the transcriptions. That's the best way to learn to play jazz.
Carson Williams
Anyone have tips or suggestions for someone trying to learn blues? I'm working through Tim Richard's Improvising Blues Piano, which I've really enjoyed so far
Dylan Nguyen
i want to learn how to improv properly...
Benjamin Cook
read
Jackson Jenkins
do people actually use the other two pedals besides the sustain or no
Levi Garcia
I've been watching a youtube channel called Walk That Bass that explains stuff about jazz improvisation, its been helping me pretty well.
Jonathan Nguyen
violin player here
i like piano players
Matthew Cox
Jazz Improvisation just takes time and a lot of musical theory knowledge, but mostly building chemistry with other Jazz musicians and knowing the same Jazz Language cause any other way it might not work out as you expect.
Learn everything you can from books and listen to a lot of music, learn a lot of Musical Theory, Scales, Chords and Learn to read music, while you're at this, jam out with friends, learn to play with other people, not just by yourself. That's the best i can really say about learning Jazz.
I recorded a very Jazz Influenced EP with a Trio with some musician friends, you guys can check it out if you please youtube.com/watch?v=Ut5-yYss-UY&t
Pic unrelated
Jack Cooper
I've been playing classical guitar for 10 years and picked up the piano for a couple of months now. What would you guys recommend for someone who is not a complete beginner?
Julian Lewis
I'm gonna start taking lessons later this year, but I want to learn what I can meanwhile.
Caleb Sullivan
who the fuck wants to date a guy who smokes and listens to mac demarco
Camden White
professional pianist/teacher here. I'll answer any specific questions people have about improv/theory. General questions like "how do I improvise" seem to have already been answered pretty well.
Here's a recording of me playing over a bossa thing
My drummer in my band is insanely loud, how do I convince him to either use brushes or get better at playing softer.
Matthew Rivera
I started playing a couple of weeks ago and i'm learning some songs from Pokemon vidya but i'd like to get more into the theory side of things, any book suggestions for a beginner?
Isaiah Wood
this is the only piece I've ever needed the middle pedal for (points for identifying, there's more obvious passages I could have picked)
left pedal I use occasionally, its obviously for when you need a super ppp, there's a subtle timbre change as well
Josiah Ortiz
rach prelude in c
Parker Edwards
I've yet to come across a piano teacher/instructor who wants to teach a young adult. All I've come across want to teach children and teenagers. Would you happen to have an idea of why that is???