How about we don’t use the right hand to play a Rajmáninov interval. That D sharp should be played with the left hand, and I recommend putting it an octave down to make it easier. After all, we’re looking at songs for beginners.
I’ll definitely try learning Rose of May/Loss of Me. I like the harmony plus it’s a nice practice song for left hand chords and left hand runs.
There’s a lot of controversy about this. The most widespread system to practice is: scales --> drills --> sheet music you’re working on (playing slowly and upping the tempo as you get better) --> free time to play whatever you want at the pace you want.
However, many people claim that it’s a bad practice method since it’ll take you only to intermediate level. I don’t know, I’m not an expert. The alternative method is a book with over 200 pages that details how to train. You don’t have to read it completely; just reading the chapters that grab you eye the most will probably improve the way you practice. Anyway, its way of learning is wihtout exercises, but rather through technique-oriented music pieces. For instance, if you want to practice I-IV-vi-V-I chord progressions, almost any pop song will do the job since they rely quite a lot on that structure. If you want to practice sight-reading notes that are off-scale, romanticism-period pieces will probably be best, etc.
Anyway, the link to the book is here.
On the topic of electronic keyboard, digital piano, synthesizer, etc. It’ll ultimately come down to what you want to play. The only real advantage about synths and keyboards over digital pianos is that you can modify it’s sound to a lot of different instrumental voices. Modern digital pianos also offer this, although they are more limited.
In any case, if you wish to learn how to play the piano, a digital piano is the way to go. I got probably the shittiest of them, a Yamaha p45, but I can’t see myself going to an electronic keyboard. The Keys on the P45 are said to be weighted as in an acoustic piano. Well, that’s not true, they feel like butter when compared to a Yamaha upright. Even then, I have access to a sustain pedal and the touch-responsiveness is pretty good.
For 400$ it’s probably the best bet for someone who wants an 88-key digital piano to start practicing, I can’t recommend it enough.
It has around 10 or 15 instrumental voices (organ, grand pianos, electronic pianos, strings, harpsichords, and vibraphones, but if you have a music editing software on your computer, you can connect it via USB and pretty much play any instrument you want thanks to the virtual synthesizers of the software.