Learning the Piano

I do agree with what you feel about electronic keyboards, as someone who wants to play the piano despite only having a Yamaha PSR. Electronic keyboards are useful for those seeking to be a band keyboardist or choir accompanist. But yeah, they’re not the instrument for serious piano performing.

As for an electronic organ, I was a church choir accompanist at some point, so I have actually played an electronic organ. The one our town church have is a Yamaha Electone. They’re meant for totally different purposes compared to a piano. I can’t really compare them to an actual organ though.

I often hear just the three periods when it comes to discussions of Classical music, but I think Impressionism can reasonably be included. “Classical” is already a pretty loose term from the get go, and I’ve seen some people include Jazz music under that period (despite how wildly they differ in social contexts).

That or it’s just me being a pleb when it comes to Western music history. :yahaha:

(Oh holy crap Satie is an Impressionist composer omigad)


@BotanRugbyBall man there’s quite a lot of Classical musicians it’s kinda hard to keep up, so chances that I only know some mainstream stuff ;u; But thank you so much for the recommendations :))

Man I have a soft spot for Jazz music as well. I don’t think I know any easy Jazz pieces, though, unfortunately. :((

I have to agree with you there, every electronic keyboard I’ve used had no touch (pressing down on the keys doesn’t change the volume/sound of the note; the keys also have almost no weight to them which for me just feels strange) and that can make a huge difference when playing. It’s still good for beginning piano and if you want to practice while traveling though, plus I believe they’re the least expensive cost-wise. Personally I used a digital clavinova for the first five or six years I was learning, and only moved on to an upright when I got into advanced playing.

My Yamaha (EZ220) as mentioned is touch responsive but the keys aren’t weighted so it does feel a bit off. I did consider getting a digital piano but I like the flexibility of having other sounds ( as a long time ago Roland Juno synthesizer owner) even though most of them are not that great to listen to.

I did love the old analogue synths…the Juno 60 I had in the 90s had no memory so you had to make notes of the settings and program the sound each time which meant you could always find a good new surprise sound by accident. But I digress…and I shall be dreaming about ARP Odyssey, Oberheim and minimoogs all night

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Sure!

These are some songs that I had little difficult in learning.

*Rurouni Kenshin - Overture in Past
(really beautiful and easy song. Someone that never played piano before can get this with little practice)

*Mass Effect 3 - An End Once and for all
(Simple and beautiful song. Great for starters.)

*Rurouni Kenshin - Departure
(easy song, great to train motor coordenation)

*Clannad - Dango Daikazoku
(it’s a quite easy and fast song to learn. It sounds good even if you are not using chords.)
(Ushio is a nice option too)

*Chrono Trigger - At the Bottom of Night
(I really love this song. It sounds so good in a grand piano. Don’t worry if this looks hard at first look. You really don’t need ‘skills’ to play this. A bit of practice is probably enough.)

*Final Fantasy IX - Rose of May/Loss of Me
(It’s simple to understand its pattern, but it is much faster than previous songs. Easier alternatives are “Song of Memories” and “To Zanarkand”)

Now, if you prefer classical songs, then I would suggest simpler piano versions of “Fur Elise” and “Air on G String”. Even if you are playing these songs with one finger it would definitely sound good! =D

I put a few .mid files in a zip, in case anyone is interested to use them in Synthesia.

Have fun in playing!

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I was really interested in learning piano but I seems really difficult I had practiced some instruments that I considered easy in comparison. But yeah I’m not that good so it’s not my thing I guess. Nice guide though

Whoa you have an analog synth? I actually have been longing for one, but… pricey :frowning:

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.

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You can’t beat analogue synths for a deep and resonant bass, but sadly I don’t have it anymore - had to give it up for space.

@Mogaoscar Regarding synthesia, of course you are at the mercy of the skills/whims sometimes of whoever created the midi file, and yes often the fingering may not be correct. I’ve also seen some where they haven’t even separated into left and right hand so that it seems you have just one hand with a span of several octaves and 10 fingers!

EDITED to add:

And you can’t do this with a digital piano :haha:

This is how I started playing piano, but as @Mogaoscar mentioned, it doesn’t help with more advanced pieces; around the time I got to an intermediate playing level, I used the alternative method he brings up. Although instead of using the book I just used that style of learning for learning the technique of whatever piece of music I wanted to play. (I was really into jazz for a while, and even though I had been playing for a long time, learning the basics of jazz music by playing very easy pieces made it really easy to quickly get to the advanced ones).

Talking about good piano pieces that are accessible enough for beginners alike, I wonder why I hadn’t come up with this earlier. It’s simple, but it’s powerful. And hey it’s Re:Zero; everyone knows Re:Zero.
And look, I know there are strings in it, but even if you take them away and leave only piano, it would still work in my opinion. Maybe just add minor adjustments and it would sound great.

Does anyone have any easy songs to suggest to a complete beginner like me?

What kind of tunes do you prefer? From anime or more general? It’s always a little easier if it’s a tune you are familiar to start with, I mean that Re: Zero one I don’t know at all! Many very easy songs for beginners can be a bit dull though.

I’m looking for something which can help me get familiar with the basics. It does not have to be a certain tune

Well you could try something like a basic version of Auld Land Syne; everyone knows it, right? It’s not an exciting tune but it’s not bad to get the right hand playing the melody and the left accompanying with simple chords

Or there’s this tutorial which has the left hand just playing single notes and the right playing the chords and shows where your fingers need to go

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I personally advise looking for course books geared for preparatory playing. I found a really good vlog discussing about good adult beginner books

Depending on your region, though, they might be quite hard to find.

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From the early part of the video:

“Alfred’s…” looks as if it’s widely available, check out Amazon (UK in my case) and you can do the look inside first

“Piano Adventures…” also looks fairly easy to find https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faber-Piano-Adventures-All-One/dp/1616773022/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1509283152&sr=1-1&keywords=adults+piano+adventure

They aren’t expensive and look like good starter books

I can confirm Alfred’s is great. Used it myself; a lot of the teachers I worked with also used it. Good material, both in the individual books and the larger compiled ones (the compiled ones include more theory and other stuff, so that is better for your ‘all-in-one’; otherwise, probably best to get a separate music theory reference to learn from).

I think these kind of books depend a lot on where you live. Here in Spain, the most recommended one by teachers is in French and about 40 years old, but I doubt that you’d be able to find it outside France and surroundings. So while google searches and recommendations from people in forums like here are to be noted, I’d always try to ask someone who teaches piano in your area. If there’s a music school nearby, you can go there and ask them if they recommend any book.

Ah, good old Alfred’s. I also used it back in the days. Can confirm, it’s an easily recommendable book if you want to get serious about learning the piano.

I found this topic really interesting, as to me, the music is by far the best aspect of Key’s work and had the most impact on me. Honestly, CLANNAD was instrumental (haha) in developing a love for the piano.

I’ve been playing piano for around 7-8 years (mainly due to CLANNAD), but I recently found I wasn’t progressing fast enough. Therefore, I could not agree enough with Part 4 about taking lessons. I put it off for so long (it is expensive and requires a big commitment) but it is near impossible to get things right without an expert watching and advising as you play. For example, originally I was just playing songs by using the sheet music with audio and memorising a piece 100%. Therefore, I wasn’t actually playing by sight-reading and understanding the timing and beats of a piece of music. As a result, learning a piece took ages.

One other thing I’d say is a £200 keyboard has lasted me 8 years no problem - just make sure you get a sustain pedal.

For reference, here is a list of Key songs I am can play fluently, hopefully with the correct key signatures if anyone is interested:

Ushio (F# Major)
Onaji Takami e (E Major)
Shionari (A Minor)
Hārī Sutāfisshu (D Major)
Shiryōshitsu no Ochakai (D Major)
Nagisa (F Minor)
Shirotsumekusa (G Major)
Chiisana Tenohira (F Major)
Sora ni Hikaru (F# Major)
Toki Wo Kizamuuta Piano Arrange (G Major)
2 steps toward (B Major)

All of the above are from CLANNAD except the last one, which is from Kanon.

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