Learning to play the piano

Junglist · 10 Apr 2017 at 19:31

So for the last few months I've been watching loads of people play the piano and I'm getting an itch to just buy a digital one and use various online guides to start learning.

Are there any pianists on here who could recommend a good place to start? I think I'll have a budget of about £300-400 so I'm not expecting anything amazing but just something which will allow me to start. Hopefully I can get one which works with headphones so I wont bother anyone.

I can't really read music so I know I'll have to start learning that and when it comes to instruments I've never been talented having only 'learning' violin and harmonica in school. I can mix music with turntables but that's a completely different beast.

It's not classical music I want to learn but more so the 8 or 12 bar strides and boogie blues, not sure how much of a difference that would make.

Just thought I'd ask here as this place seems to have people with all kinds of talents!

Vonhelmet · 10 Apr 2017 at 19:43

Get something with proper weighted keys. £400 gets you into second hand Yamaha/Roland territory on eBay, either of which is plenty good enough. I'm learning from the Alfred Teach Yourself books, which start with the absolute basics and go from there. There's quite a bit of variety in the pieces it teaches you. Once you get the hang of things you can get books more tailored to what you want to learn.

Link: http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/0...gclid=CLnRkbbFmtMCFUE_Gwod6moPww&gclsrc=aw.ds

Junglist · 10 Apr 2017 at 20:26

Oh thanks I might buy that soon then. Really I have no idea if I'll even enjoy it but figured I spend ages listening to pianists I might as well try and learn!

ShortWarning · 13 Apr 2017 at 12:54

I would really like to learn piano/keyboard along with music theory but I really don't know where to start.

Is it possible without a teacher? Are there any good online resources?

Vonhelmet · 14 Apr 2017 at 15:49

I'm teaching myself without a teacher at the moment, but I did have several years of lessons in my younger days, so I know the fundamentals. I'm sure I'm developing loads of bad habits that would make a teacher wince, but I'm never expecting to be a concert pianist and I'm enjoying myself anyway. In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure it's doable on your own.