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Learn to play piano

HamHam 872 Posts
edited October 2007 in Strut Central
I'm going to try to learn how to play piano(synth), can anyone who've done this recommend a good book on the subject? I know there was a thread a while back on this but I couldn't find it. Maybe there's even some good free online stuff? Otherwise a book is fine. Eventually I want to play soul/funk, is there anything that goes in that direction even from the extreme beginner stadium?thanks

  Comments

  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    I guess it depends on how you want to go about it.

    I'd suggest visiting a local music shop and asking them for a book/CD that'll guide you through basic scales and from there learn how to build chords out of those notes (I wouldn't say that one beginner book is necessarily better than another, but I try to step away from the computer when working on music). That's how I started out and because I had a fundamental understanding of how to read music, I moved onto buying sheet music of my favorite songs/artists and learned to play those one note/bar at a time.

    "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by Cannonball Adderely
    "Going in Circles" by The Friends of Distinction
    "Easy Like Sunday Morning" by the Commodores

    Or the other day I just had fun rocking with the bassline to "She's a Bad Mamma Jamma" while it was on the platter, yeeeeeeeeuh.

    Getting a nice keyboard is my #1 priority by the end of the yuur.

    Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!
  • inVrsinVrs 687 Posts
    I guess it depends on how you want to go about it.

    I'd suggest visiting a local music shop and asking them for a book/CD that'll guide you through basic scales and from there learn how to build chords out of those notes (I wouldn't say that one beginner book is necessarily better than another). That's how I started out and because I had a fundamental understanding of how to read music, I moved onto buying sheet music of my favorite songs/artists and learned to play those one note/bar at a time.

    "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by Cannonball Adderely
    "Going in Circles" by The Friends of Distinction
    "Easy Like Sunday Morning" by the Commodores

    Or the other day I just had fun rocking with the bassline to "She's a Bad Mamma Jamma" while it was on the platter, yeeeeeeeeuh.

    Getting a nice keyboard is my #1 priority by the end of the yuur.

    Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!

    very offtopic, but your avatar is really nice.
  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    very offtopic

    OK... Do YOU have any suggestions for the lady?
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    You really just want to get some of those beginning theory books and learn easy simple dumb stuff until you get used to playing and reading. Various scales, The Entertainer, Chopsticks, boogie woogie licks. It's dull but you have to crawl before you can walk. Any old fashion music store full of pianos can help you out. It might be worth a lesson or 2 as well and they can hook you up there.
  • wooshiewooshie 490 Posts
    learn all your scales and modes. learn how to read sheet music, just enough so you can read and play some tunes. learn all the basic chords and progressions. as said above, the basic books will get you as far as you need and then you can stumble upon the rest (with the help of others) yourself

    if you want to play jazz and funk, improvise? well, shit. you don't need to worry about key signatures. once you know the root chord and a few others and the basic melody of the tune, you're away. ha!
  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    http://www.ravenspiral.com/ravenspiralguide.pdf


    its a pdf. its free. its the best, most easy to understand music theory book you'l ever encounter, and its great with piano. you dont have to read any musical notation for it. really enlightening

    print it and keep it forever, its a spectacular resource.
  • HamHam 872 Posts
    thanks for the tips everyone
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