Piano players - your advice please

I’ve been musical for decades but only got a piano during lockdown. I think it is just learning chords as you go and bashing it out. I tend to decide I want to play something, then pigheadedly go at it until it’s right. Then I’ll start something else and once I’ve mastered that I’ve then forgotten the last thing I was playing…

So yeah, you pick up the chords gradually, I also tend to play inversions a lot, just because a certain inversion is more efficient movement wise, plus 7th chords cos they sound cool.

Good for you, keep at it. I did start a STW thread a while back but it didn’t attract much interest.

If you really want to just have the chords in your fingers then learning the theory behind their construction is almost a must.
I appreciate to some that also sucks the enjoyment out of it.
For online learning of the just play it (but also more read style included to) then Pianote is very good.

I'm in the process of learning, having spent most of my life playing brass instruments to a fairly high standard. I'm finding your grade 5 method of learning bar by bar ok for committing a few tunes to memory, but if you want to actually learn piano I don't think there's a way of avoiding learning your scales, chords and inversions.

Rick Beato has some great YouTube content around music theory, circle of fifths, chord progressions, modes, etc. as does Jacob Collier. Don't fall into the trap of consuming information rather than applying it though, it's way too easy to get sucked into a Beato rabbit hole and end up 2 hours later having not played a single note. I find it gets me in a good headspace to want to do the chords and scales donkey work though.

Also while I remember.
This book (used for teaching theory all over but also available digitally for free)

https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/

If you have an IOS device
https://www.musictheory.net/products/tenuto

https://sightreading.training/ (needs edge or chrome for music midi input)

Cheers all, I got grade 5 theory as well but it was decades ago so have forgotten nearly all of it.

Seems mad that with the guitar I can just play anything by looking at a chord chart, but I can't figure out a way of applying this to the piano.

Will dig around the links and knuckle down to my scales and arpeggios 😅

I was in the same position as you. I bought a nice Yamaha electric piano( a bargain at £400) and tried to learn. After a year of getting nowhere I found someone to give me lessons. He taught me about inversions and now I am getting somewhere. Also if you have regular lessons it gives you a reason to practice or you look a fool.

Seems mad that with the guitar I can just play anything by looking at a chord chart, but I can’t figure out a way of applying this to the piano.

TL;DR? I'm not sure there are any real shortcuts. You need to be able to read music to play the piano.

The thing about guitar is that you don't have to delve into the theory to play chords. They are all based on shapes and repeatable patterns. As a beginner it's easy to learn the CAGED chord shapes, and theoretically, once you've done that you can use a capo to transpose most of them around the fretboard into different keys. You don't even have to learn the notes on the fretboard because you're basically playing by numbers. Even if you progress into barre chords you only really need to learn the root notes of the chords you're playing, so the vast majority of guitar players will have some knowledge of the E and A strings. Once that's done you've pretty much done all you need to do to play rhythm guitar.

A pianist can't use the same repeatable patterns in quite the same way. You have to understand how triads work (and then more complicated chords) You're not just banging out chords, you've got to build them. Piano music doesn't come in chord charts, you have to read and interpret the notes on the stave. There aren't really any shortcuts to learning to read music, it takes time and patience. To play a piano piece you need to see which notes you're being told to play, but with time and effort you'll develop a sort of "mental muscle memory", recognising intervals quicker, interpreting (and understanding) key signatures, seeing more or less at a glance which chord you're supposed to play. How long that takes depends on how you learn, and how much practice you're willing to put into it. There's a logic to theory where the more you know, the more you'll be able to do, and so knowing which chords you should be playing in a given key for example will give you a head start.

I sing in a professional group where I'm required to pick up a piece of music, and sight read it on first run through. The last three concerts I've sung in we had at least one new piece (to me) that day, rehearsed in the afternoon and performed in the evening. It can be onerous, it can be stressful, but the more you do it the easier it gets. That mental muscle memory of seeing and singing intervals, understanding key signatures, and of course interpreting the rhythm improves with practice.

I also play bass guitar. A lot of the stuff I play is only available in musical notation, and again, only by understanding and recognising key signatures can you be sure of playing the right notes. It certainly forces you to learn the fretboard!

As an example, the guitarist in the group can play from a chord chart, where he's told to put his capo on fret two, then play A, D and E shapes, whereas I'm reading B major and playing the required five sharps.

I think that popular music as played on guitars is the modern incarnation of folk music. A lot of people learn by listening, watching and repeating, and the music you are playing was created like that by people who learned like that. Which is why TAB notation works, it's a written down version of that process.

Piano music is often not made in the same way, with a few genres excepted I suppse.

Here's my totally rubbish way of learning to play a piece of music (based on trying to learn guitar solos...):

Find a bar in the piece you can play easily. Then learn the bar before and after it. Play them until you can do them well, and from memory. Then add the bar before and after again... repeat.

Not the best way to learn, but it gets the hob done.

BTW if you want the piano as Tab style of learning then https://synthesiagame.com/
Is probably your best option. I must admit I use it for pieces which I find too challenging to read. I then go back with a better understanding of the rhythm.

You need to be able to read music to play the piano.

But but but… Stevie Wonder?

But but but… Stevie Wonder?

….or be a complete outlier, have an innate musical gift or an exquisitely tuned ear and an instinct for shapes and patterns.

…. but if you did would you be asking for piano tabs on a cycling forum?🤓

😁

Plenty of blind pianists out there, they must be doing something different. But as a sighted pianist you will be expected to read music I'm sure.

I think we're mixing up 'knowing the theory' with sight-reading.

I know the theory, and can read music, but not fast enough to play it as I read, not by a long way. So what I do to cheat, and to get going is to play the chords. Granted, I'll be playing the piece 'wrong' but I'm generally playing pop and rock classics rather than accurately faithful classical recitals. I'll then improvise using inversions and extensions to both make it easier and to add interest. Once I've got the bare bones of it I'll then go back to the music and start trying out the music as written. I'd love to be able to just open up a songbook and just start playing but one step at a time 🙂