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comment by zonk
zonk  ·  3449 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Does it make sense to learn playing the piano on your own?

Alright everyone, thanks for telling me to do it :)

mike mentioned the Casio PX-130 and just for interest I looked on the German ebay, ad there was a very good deal, so I had to get it after looking through some reviews online and only reading praise about it. If anyone has any useful resources for me, be it some music theory, some recommendable children's books with songs or anything similar, feel free to hand em out to me!





user-inactivated  ·  3449 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I'd recommend Lypur's Youtube channel for both theory and basic lessons. He's a goofy and awkward guy but is pretty clear and concise in his teaching.

I started teaching myself a few months ago, and went on to take a music theory class at a local community college, which helped immensely in understanding what's going on (and to be able to play around with chords and melodies - even the most banal improvisation seems to impress non-musical people :) ).

Don't do what I did and try to play scales/lullaby melodies for a few hours the first day you get your piano. The next day, my hands and wrists were sore, and I thought it was normal so I played on it a bit more. After a few days, I had to stop for a few weeks because of pain. Definitely spend some time working on technique and resist the temptation to play for long spats as you begin.

zonk  ·  3449 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey, thanks for the YT link, that'll be something for me to dive right in :)

Do you have any keywords for the music theory topic? What should I learn or what topics should I cover? I'm working and there's not a class available to me and I'm not familiar with the topic, so I don't even know what to look for despite "music theory". For example like you mentioned 'Chords and melodies'. That's something I can specifically search for in the context of music theory.

Alright, good tip! Gonna get the piano later today and it'll be late already, so I won't get to play that much, which seems to be a rather good thing for the first few days :D

user-inactivated  ·  3449 days ago  ·  link  ·  

- Learning to read music (bass and treble clef note positions: FACE/ACEG/ACE)

- Accidentals

- Tone/Semitone (Step/Halfstep) and what that means in relation to the keys on your keyboard

- Major scale "formula"

- Intervals

These things should occupy you for a while and will allow you to read, play, and have a decent understanding of most music. Then look into circle of fifths (more easily understood after you've learned to play some the different major scales), triads(chords), etc.

zonk  ·  3449 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hey there,

thanks for the topic list, it will help me a lot :)

I found all these in this free course on Udemy: Music Theory Classes

I think I will go with that for now, it's free and seems to be aiming for beginners and got all the topics you listed! :)

user-inactivated  ·  3448 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Have fun!