About a decade ago, I decided that I want to learn an instrument in the future. I've never been very musical (despite listening to it) nor what I'd call gifted. I know how to read basic sheet music and that's about it.
I've always been impressed by the piano because it's so powerful, versatile and I think you can play from very, very easy stuff to insane stuff that only a couple of people on earth can play properly.
Since I currently can't afford a piano teacher neither financially nor time-wise (I'd probably would have a medium commute to get to the next one), I thought about teaching myself playing the piano. That's a method not unheard of for many things, for example language learning. My plan would be as follows: Buy a somewhat decent portable keyboard for a beginner for about 160 bucks, look for some beginner sheets for starters and pick the stuff I like and start practicing it. Maybe buy one or two basic/beginner books and study and practice, practice, practice. I think the internet would be a very helpful and rich resource to help me on my journey.
I know here are a lot of very talented musicians, so I want to ask you: what do you think about my plan? Does it make sense to you? Is it a bad idea? If yes, why so? Should I only start when I will be able to get a proper teacher? Will it be not enough for me to read enough about the basics to be smart about them and then just practice over and over again? Or would my style get polluted by too many bad habits and possible shortcuts that will cost me a lot of extra time at a later stage? My goal is not to play in a band or even on stage or anything, I simply enjoy piano music and I think if I could play a couple of songs here and there it would be relaxing and beautiful (and I'm sure my girlfriend would appreciate it, if I could play her some songs ;) ). I don't want to master Chopin (although that would be awesome), but if I'd brag that I can play piano, I want to be proficient enough to be able to sit down on a piano and play a nice and enjoyable piece on it where normal people would think "well, seems like he wasn't lying".
Let's go: destroy my dreams or make spend a bunch of money for a keyboard I might rarely use :)