Piano World Home Page Forums General Discussions Musicians Welcome! trying out guitar?

Any of you pianist also decide to learn guitar? I've been playing piano for about 18 years now (took about 4 years of formal lessons in college, and just kept at it on my own after that). I still enjoy it, but I think I've become a little bored with it lately. I have very minimal experience with guitar, but think I'm going to take a stab at it. One thing I found that I really enjoy with piano is playing along with some of my favorite songs (mostly modern music...pop, rock, movies), so I'm sure I'd enjoy doing that with guitar as well.

For those how play both, did you enjoy learning another instrument? Another thing I think I will like about guitar is that I can tune it myself whenever I want. Sometimes my piano drives me nuts because I have to deal with varying amounts of wonkiness for extended periods of time.

I did the opposite, I began with guitar for 13 years then moved to the piano. I find that a lot of the finger dexterity of piano is very similar to guitar, so the process of moving from one to the other is a lot less taxing than you might think. Let us know how it goes! Best of luck!

Lot of the finger dexterity of piano is very similar to guitar.

Guitar probably has more self-taught players than any other instrument.

I think it’s the easiest instrument to take up because it doesn’t require a teacher to learn to make the sound (unlike violin), the fingering for chords is very natural and easy to form from day one (unlike piano), it’s very forgiving of mistakes because of all the simultaneous sounds (unlike single note instruments like flute), and you don’t even need to learn to read notes for it because so many guitarists are note-illiterate so they transcribe just about everything into visual tabs (6 lines representing the 6 strings; a number on the line shows which fret to play).

You can also get by on a cheap guitar to start off, so if you give up it’s no big loss.

I personally hate steel string guitars because the strings are uncomfortable to press and I don’t like the sound they produce or styles of music they’re for. Nylon strings are soft on the skin and are for classical acoustic guitars.

[quote]the fingering for chords is very natural and easy to form from day one (unlike piano)[/quote]
My experience is the exact opposite. And tabs are illegible to me! Horses for courses as they say.

Weird, quotes didn’t work and post is instantly uneditable.

Hi

I started Piano at about the age of 8 and 50 years later am still playing. I took up guitar when I was in my 20s and went the classical route and took a few grades, then got bored with it and stopped playing. 2 years ago I started again, and intermittently I now dabble with some blues and reading (both tableture and the notes).

Contrary to a previous poster I don't find the basic chords at all easy. Sure some are, and it obviously depends on the type of guitar you have, but switching between say a G and a C isn't easy at all (for me). For that reason, and because I can't sing I've avoided the learning to strum the basic chords route.

The other issue with learning a 2nd instrument is finding the time to practise. It's hard enough to reach a decent standard on one instrument let alone 2! But if you enjoy it, do it!

Cheers

I guess I'm wrong :) I did not like the guitar, not my instrument, although I made many attempts to play it.
 
As the second instrument, I chose the drums but did not immediately come to this decision.

I tried playing the guitar a little, not too much though.


I like guitar, but still i prefer piano by alot, so that's what i play.

I taught guitar for about five-years. One thing I always showed my students was selecting the correct strings and most importantly, the value in having their guitars properly 'set-up' by a certified luthier. On some guitars, a 'set-up' can make a world of difference. Even a cheaper guitar (not a toy) can be improved and easier to play by the skillful workmanship of a luthier. Changing chords is muscle memory. One technique is to not look at your hands. Try playing C to G in the dark. Who cares if you slightly miss the chord? Do it again and again until you get it. It will suddenly happen and you will smile.

[quote=Radio.Octave]
For those how play both, did you enjoy learning another instrument? Another thing I think I will like about guitar is that I can tune it myself whenever I want. Sometimes my piano drives me nuts because I have to deal with varying amounts of wonkiness for extended periods of time.[/quote]
I play the piano accordion and not the guitar. One can really use a lot of piano experience in order to learn how the LH works. One really can really use piano experience when learning a new instrument.
The difficulty with the guitar is that you often are taught how to play eg D, G and Am but never what notes you play. At school I was forced to try the "weird" guitar. I learned how to play a D chord but I never understood anything about the guitar "keyboard" aka fretboard. The piano keyboard system is way easier to understand theoretically.

Guitar was my second instrument after long time with piano. I didnt have a piano at the time, I practiced eletronic keyboard.

So, a big difficult I had with guitar was comprehending that music can sound good or bad depending on lot of small details of the instrument... Guitar was for many years a weird instrument for me, that sometimes sounded great sometimes awful.
This, cause it was somewhat hard to me to pay attention to tuning, frets issues, nails, position of the instrument, quality of the strings, acoustic of where you are playing etc etc.
Guitar is a very delicated instrument that depends on lot of small factors to sound good - factors that pianists often dont deal themselves with, and that digital players ignore - grasping the relevance of those differences took quite a time for me being able to.

You know Playing guitar is a form of therapy?
The benefits of music therapy are becoming ever more apparent, with schools, charities and health organisations using playing the guitar to manage a person's stress, enhance their memory, improve their communication and motor skills, and to help them feel more able to cope with life

[quote=gustavo woltmann]You know Playing guitar is a form of therapy?
The benefits of music therapy are becoming ever more apparent, with schools, charities and health organisations using playing the guitar to manage a person's stress, enhance their memory, improve their communication and motor skills, and to help them feel more able to cope with life[/quote]
This sounds like an ad! :) Anyway, I think that all therapeutical benefits of playing guitar are the same as the ones of playing piano.

We see playing guitar as a form of mindful escapism, a way to create space between an individual and their busy mind. Guitar-playing is beneficial to your overall well-being and mental health in other ways, too, including helping you develop a greater sense of personal achievement.

I am learning Piano/keyboard after playing guitar.
I’ve been having Guitar lessons for 3 1/2 years
and got a keyboard initially to help me with theory and singing. Then a better piano style keyboard when I got hooked and I wanted to learn properly.
I am aiming to treat myself to a nice full size digital piano with hammer keys soon!
Probably the casio px s1000 as I want the ivory feel

I’m no great shakes as a guitar player, only did up to grade 3 with RSL, nearly did 4 but I’m not great with all the ear tests, scales etc etc.
I can play and change the common chords and some barre chords.
My strumming is average, my solo technique with bends and slides is ok but I’ve kind of plateaued.
My musicality, rhythm and stuff like are rather lacking, I don’t have any childhood experience with music or performing as a base.
I just want to concentrate on playing full songs now within my level when it comes to guitar.

Learning two instruments means I have to split the practice time but I think it’s worth it.

I was going to make a thread about experiences of learning two instruments at once when I saw this.

Personally I think the keys are easier to dive straight into than guitar as learning to strum, use the fretboard it’s a lot more physically demanding and unnatural that placing your hands on the piano.
Well in my experience anyway.
I’ve heard people that guitar is harder at the start
but easier to ‘master’ and the opposite with piano.
I suspect this may be true for a lot of people.

I want my Piano education to be a bit more fuller and formal than my guitar journey.
That’s why I’ve got the alfred book 1 and am planning to switch to Piano Marvel and ditch Simply Piano (still got a couple of months subscription tho so not going to waste it).

Theory, scales and that kind stuff seem to make so much sense to me on piano than guitar because the arrangement of where notes are, i.e in a line.
On the strings it really messes with my little brain
trying to move down strings and find correct notes.

So hopefully that will be another benefit of learning piano.

Keep in mind that it's easier to learn chords on a piano, since the same hand shape (with slight adjustments for sharps and flats) is used in a C-major chord as in a chord for any other major, and the same for minor and whatever other chords you learn. The problem with piano, however, is that you are usually not just playing the chord progression. You are including the bass, the rhythm, the harmony, the chord progression and the melody. You are, in effect, a one man band. I've been playing guitar since I was 14 and piano since I was 19 (I'm 34). For me piano was much easier, but they say the second instrument is the easier one. A decent instrument also is very important, [url=https://bestelectricguitars.reviews/best-electric-guitars-under-1000/]view url[/url] to find out more on guitars.

I've had formal training on 5 instruments: Piano, electric guitar, drums, trumpet, french horn.

Learning and playing more than one instrument at a time is no problem at all. I didn't think anything of it and for a few years I actually preferred it that way. I played trumpet, drums and electric guitar at the same time for 6 years. Then I decided to just play electric guitar so I could give it exclusive focus. That lasted for several years. Now I am doing the same with piano: I dropped playing electric guitar so I can progress quicker on piano.

I progressed on electric guitar quicker than on piano. However, since piano is a better visual tool than guitar, learning theory on piano was easier.

Never worry about playing more than one instrument at once - provided you have the time and can dedicate proper time to each instrument. Just think long term and plan accordingly.

This is an older thread but I wanted to add my .02 cents in case someone is wondering about the thread topic.

2 instruments at once is double the enjoyment!

Stormbringer