Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Hello everyone

Hello everyone on this great site! I've been lurking around for a few weeks now, and decided it was time to come out of the shadows. I'm 33 and decided it was time to stop wanting, and start learning. I am thankful enough to have an understanding wife that is being so accepting of my new quest. I just wish I would have started way earlier in life, and had the talent like this kid:

http://rickjonespianos.com/grandgalimages/JordanAdams.age.10.WMV

I searched forever to find the “right” piano. By right, I mean affordable and nice looking enough that my wife wouldn’t mind looking at it all the time in our living room . I was lucky enough to find this:

<img src="http://i161.photo...;0" alt="Photobucket">

It does need some work, but the sound is wonderful… and you can’t beat the looks of an older piece. It has an added benefit of a pedal that when engaged, it makes the piano sound like a harpsichord. I will be removing this, and making a copy of it… but with felt in place of the metal… this will give me a mute, which my 1 year old son will appreciate when sleeping (as this is my only free time).

I’m self-taught on the guitar, and as our finances don’t allow for lessons, I will be setting out to learn piano on my own. So far, it is coming pretty easy… though I know I am probably making tons of form mistakes. I’ve ordered Alfred’s Adult Level one course, as I see a lot of people on this site are involved with it. I do have two questions:

A muscle in the palm of my left hand tires easy… when playing the same note an octave apart… now I know if I don’t play my guitar for a long while, when I come back to it… my hands tire fast until I’ve built my strength back… is this normal for piano too? Or is my form wrong? I do have small hands and the reach is at about max for them.

Though I like classical, it is not really my love. My wife and I went to Austin and went out to a piano bar… where they had dueling pianos…. well, I my long-term goal is to be able to play piano like that… popular music. That is how I play guitar, by ear and winging it mostly… Does anyone have an opinion on a learning process to reach this goal?

Thanks to all the help on this site already and I will be surely coming back often. Thanks again!!

Chris

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the beautiful upright! Stay with it and good luck on your studies.

Personally, I wouldn't mute that piano. Music isn't noise to a sleeping baby and I would bet it would have a calming effect.

Thanks for the incouragement! But you're assuming that when I pratice it will sound like music?? :p

Hello,billyshears66,

Welcome to the forums and to the world of piano! It looks like you have that piano polished up and ready to go.

If you would like some FREE help, please visit my site. You can take advantage of the free lessons--they are ALL free and even ask questions if you need to.

Best Wishes,
Lynne

Thanks Lynne, free is the right price for me at this time in my life... so I will check it out!

Welcome to the forum billyshears66! With a login name like that, may I humbly suggest that you'll get by just fine with a little help from your friends at AB forum?

Your piano is gorgeous, btw.

Playing lots of octaves in succession is difficult, so it's not surprising you'd feel some pain. But pain is a sign that you're playing with too much tension, and you don't want to ignore the pain. Concentrate on keeping your hand as relaxed as possible, and if you start feeling discomfort, stop what you're doing and work on something else.

Thanks Monica. It seems that most of the songs I'm starting with use octaves in succession, like: Moonlight Sonata, Love Song(Sara Bareilles), etc... Maybe I should start easier

Thanks for the complement on the piano. It was a long search for the "right" one. It needs some work inside, but I would too at 103 years old! I'm willing to be patient.

And thanks to this website, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends...

Billy--
That is a beautiful piano! I just love the look of those old uprights. I didn't have the guts to buy one because I was afraid of maintenance cost, but that one looks like it was built to last. LOL and welcome to the forum!

Congratulations on the beautiful piano!

May I ask, what is the fourth pedal for?

Hi Chris!

Welcome aboard "the one and only Billy Shears!"

Are youa Beatles fan??

I don't know about that question regarding your hand fatigue issue, but....

If playing popular songs will be your thing and possibly playing by ear, check out pianomagic.com or thepianobyear.com

This forum is full of stuff about Piano Magic.

The book "How to Play From a Fake Book" by Blake Neely may also be helpful as might be
the book "How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons."

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Ang

Welcome Chris,

Glad you come out from the shadows! Nice looking piano too.

Yes, playing octaves can be tiring for the hands. Don't overdo it. But with time, your muscles will build up and the fatigue will noticeably diminish.

Angelof is right about lots of PianoMagic talk around here. I joined this January and am 200% happy I did that. I also tried pianobyear, but it didn't suit me much. Check out the sites and see what your gut tells you.

Good to have you.

Thanks everyone! I have been reading the crazy amount of forums about pianomagic, and can say it looks like the road for me... once a birthday or Christmas comes For now, I will have use the books I have, and will start will Alfred's (being I already ordered it with a gift card I had sitting around).

Ferdinand, I'm not sure which is the fourth pedal, so I will list them all starting with the far right: The far right, is the sustain (which is the only one I knew), the next is a Silent pedal... it makes the hammers not hit the strings, the next is a rag-time honky-tonk pedal... when pressed, it puts these strips of metal down in front of the hammers... which makes the piano sound like a harpsicord (really fun), and the last pedal, on the left is a soft pedal... moves hammers closer to the strings to make the sound softer... don't feel it does a really good job though. I will be taking the rag time part out, and make a copy of it... but with felt. So on the days I work, I can pratice with a greatly reduced sound as to not wait my 13 month old, and also to not annoy my lovely wife too much (as the piano is in the same room as the TV, which we only have one of).

Thanks everyone on the nice comments on the piano. I was grateful to the lady that gave it to me. She wanted to make sure it went to a house where it would be used, and not torn apart for the incrediable wood it is made from (all birdseye inside).

And yes, I'm a Beatles fan... how did you know?

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum. That is one gorgeous piano, I love the music desk. My Kawai has one as well and it holds a lot of books and music.

If you want to quiet your piano without compromising your pedal you might want to look at this.

http://www.pppkeys.com/howqkwks.html

I saw that on my research, but would rather spend the 100 bucks on piano lessons/pianomagic or something... I have to be cheap(I like frugal, or thrifty) with our money. We took the road of having one of us stay home with our son when he was born... and one income in New England is not easy! (but worth every penny when I see how much our boy loves it!).

When I do make a mute, I will post pics...

Hi Chris,

Fabulous looking piece of piano architecture you've scored there. It looks positively 'monumental' in style - does it expect to have an occasional goat to be sacrificed to it?....

Plenty of other learners here who aren't primarily studying classical style or repertoire, so I'm sure you'll fit in well. Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures with the mighty machine.

Cheers,

Chris

Welcome to the forum!!

What a beautiful looking piano!!

Chris, you asked about how to learn to play popular music. My opinion is that you should start learning theory now along with the technical things. Playing popular music like you heard in the piano bar is based on an understanding of theory that most pianists never obtain--largely because they had classical training with little emphasis on theory.

Learn the scales--not just how to play them but the notes of each scale. Learn the basic chords in each scale. One way to do this is to play this progression in every key:
I - IV - vii (half diminished) - iii - vi - ii - V7 - I

You might also start ear training. EarMaster Pro is a good tool to help you develop your ear.

Thanks! That is kind of the road I'm thinking of taking. I'm starting Alfred's series to get some basics... and I am thinking of moving to Pianomagic soon after that. I have a pretty good ear when I play guitar, so I hope that will transfer over to picking up songs on my own... and scales and cords are a large part of that. So I think that on the theory part, it will be relearning what I know (or should know :p ) on a flat key board instead of a guitar neck.