I recently bought a piano. I can do C major scale with two hands. I want to be a composer but Idk exactly what to learn. I dont want to learn twinkle twinkle little star and shit. Theirs a lot of good videos on youtube but everyone has different set of exercises and etc. What's best to learn or for me to focus on first?
Any pianist on Sup Forums?
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Bump
Bumping also for help. I've been tinkering away at piano for a while, and I need some real tips to improve my skill.
My advice as someone closer to your level than most proficient players is to
Learn more scales, start at C or whatever and move all the way up an octave in each respective scale.
Find some simple songs you like that you can learn to play. I spent 2 weeks learning Wet Hands from the Minecraft soundtrack cus it's simple but seemed like a good start for introducing the left and right hand independence, after grinding at it for long enough and being able to play it 'well' it dramatically improved my confidence and opened up more songs I could try to jam to.
Jazz pianist / composer here. I would highly highly recommend getting a fake book (of any kind) and just start trying to play through songs. The Real Book is probably the most popular fake book, and the one I would recommend, but buying a fake book of charts you're familiar with would also be beneficial. If you don't know what a fake book is, it contains famous song melodies and the corresponding chords, notated by pop chord symbols. Learning pop chord symbols is another thing that's extremely important. Learning basic improvisational skills and becoming familiar with the melody and accompaniment structure will greatly benefit your composing. Glad to answer any other questions.
Another thing - All great melodies are hummable. Make sure you sing along with your melodies to avoid any phrasing problems. I have the problem of writing long-winded melodies and allowing little room for breaths, even though it's on piano.
PPS - Try to learn some basic music theory. I'm sure there's millions of entry level theory videos on YouTube. It'll suck at first, but it helps SO much in the long run. You have to know the rules in order to break them ;)
Keep giving all the tips you can. Thank you btw
Alfred's Self Teaching Piano Course is a book I've been using and it's honestly been helping me a good bit. For now if you can't read sheet music, look up synthesia videos of basic songs and practice trying to play them. As you do that use the book to help you look how to read sheet music and you'll see yourself start to improve. Within a month of practice I was able to perform an abridged version of Clocks by Coldplay in front of a bunch of people.
Almost forgot 2 very important things.
Set goals, that's the best way to improve. Every day set a goal whether it's to improve at something or learn something entirely new.
Practice almost daily if not daily. 20 mins daily is more beneficial than 5 hours every Saturday.
I use the same books. I play through each tune until I can sight read it perfectly with the metronome set to 110 bpm. This has helped me a lot.
Learning to sight read on the grand staff really helps you in the long run if you ever want to play from sheet music.
bumping probably the only good thread on this board right now
Thank you very much
If anybody has more wisdom. Feel free to chip in. Thanks in advance.
I can't read music
& I am not an accomplished pianist in the traditional sense...
In terms of transposing & composing original music I use a guitar capo and play what sounds like what I have going on in my head
Try to find other musicians who will put up with you improvising live over their songs (preferably ones that change keys often)
Piano is an amazing instrument I wish I could read music and took music classes seriously in my youth
Play with your heart
Why do you a guitar capo? Acoustic or electric?
> I wish I could read music and took music classes seriously in my youth
YouTube or Udemy (wheter it's the site or app) is your friend here.
>and play what sounds like what I have going on in my head
I never have anything playing in my head but Im always listening new music after I digest an album. Is that bad?
learn all the scales, all the chords, listen to the music you like and learn the riffs, rinse and repeat until you're happy with your skill level
MAJOR SCALES
root, whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step
MINOR (harmonic)
root, w, h, w, w, h, 1.5 steps, h
Guitar capo helps you easily change keys and octaves anywhere you want easily (if you know guitar chords, easier than piano in my opinion)
This will help adjust songs to the appropriate intonation for singing as well
Remember, it's all just variation of resonant frequencies - an acoustic instrument will help you find the harmonics by ear (they ring out even when they aren't struck)
Eat all the music in the entire world
It's a shame we live such short lives we will never get to hear it all
I agree with almost everything in this thread especially melodies being "whistled or hummed"
The rests fundamentally are more important than what you actually play
There are no wrong turns
Play what you love and record as much as you can
I recently revisited some EPs we made 10 years ago and was heartbroken
A song you forgot how to play is like the ghost of an old friend
Music is one of the very few things worth a shit in this world & I commend you for wanting to create it
I'd say to practice everyday but I'd be a liar
My piano is covered in dust and often buried by mail & clutter
I probably play once a month
Half the battle is getting enough confidence to "pretend" you're actually good
Most people live in fear
Thank you very much for your post. Screenshotted it.
>
I recently revisited some EPs we made 10 years ago and was heartbroken
A song you forgot how to play is like the ghost of an old friend
Wow, I'll make sure to learn notation and transcribe my future creations.
this is probably one of the most important things fundementally that you can learn in music theory and I can't stress that enough
I have to learn notation first. Circle of fifths
Satie's Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes were the first pieces I ever learnt to play, they're pretty easy
you don't need to learn notation, just learn the notes on your piano
Bach, just learn Bach. its basically the Bible for music.