Great balls of fire!

[Pete]

I'm trying to learn to play the piano and am moving on from my first tune (Chariots of Fire) to Great Balls of Fire.

 

Maybe I'm being a little bit too ambitious as it's REEEALLY difficult. Great fun though.

 

Anyone else play? How did you learn?

[RedM]

I'm trying to learn to play the piano and am moving on from my first tune (Chariots of Fire) to Great Balls of Fire.

 

Maybe I'm being a little bit too ambitious as it's REEEALLY difficult. Great fun though.

 

Anyone else play? How did you learn?

 

I learnt from Bernard Manning's Play-In-A-Day guide. The first thing I had to do was take out all the black keys........

[AndrewOW]

I learnt from Bernard Manning's Play-In-A-Day guide. The first thing I had to do was take out all the black keys........

 

 

You racist honky

[Gaz Walker]

Looking to learn also. I love Piano music and have been wanting to do it for ages.

 

I'm going to buy a half decent keyboard and some music books and give it a go myself.

 

The local piano shop said to only play songs at first you can sing/hum to yourself as you'll know if you've gone wrong.

 

How long you been playing Pete?

 

Gaz.

[ClaireRZ-S]

i can play the entertainer thats about it

[Lukeyboy2k]

I had a lesson every week between the ages of 8 and 15. To start with I was enthusiastic and had a very good teacher. I achieved grade VII within about 5 years, but then my teacher had a stroke and I had to be taught by a witch who managed to kill any interest I had - I haven't played since.....

[tbourner]

I can play the alphabet song tune.

 

I might learn twinkle twinkle little star next.

[Jezz]

I cant read music, but have played the piano since I was 10. I developed a knack when I was younger, I can listen to something then play it straight away. I dont programme any synths / keyboards in my own tracks, I physically play everything on a dummy keyboard and record it in. I love playing big classical type stuff.

[caseys]

How you learn depends on what you want to play.

 

Do you want to play blues? Do you want to play classical?

 

Do you just want to play the occasional tune? Or something along the lines of Muse, Ben Folds Five, Jules Holland etc? Or more of an operatic or soothing piece like Brahms?

 

If you're after any of the above Gaz I'd recommend buying more than a half decent keyboard. Keyboards will ruin your sense of play as unless you spend a good amount the keys will not be weighted, nor will you have pedals. I agree though with the advice of playing small uncomplicated tunes you know first if going for a keyboard chords left hand, melody right hand approach. Again a local teacher I'm sure would be quite willing to help write out those pieces for you to learn.

 

If you want to give it a go try looking for a local teacher to try and play on a small upright piano to get the feel of things. Also be prepared for practicing keys and scales a lot.

 

Finger strength too is something you'll need to practice and check you can at least span an octave on a full sized piano with one hand. Check out buying a powerball to improve grip and finger strength Also helps out RSI etc http://www.powerballs.com/

 

I started when I was young, playing piano from about 8 and mainly doing classical. I now play things like Muse and Ben Folds and go for the blues as well as on my guitar. Just be prepared to have some patience and dedicate at least 3-4 hours a week at a set time each week if you want to get any good.

[caseys]

I'm trying to learn to play the piano and am moving on from my first tune (Chariots of Fire) to Great Balls of Fire.

 

Maybe I'm being a little bit too ambitious as it's REEEALLY difficult. Great fun though.

 

Anyone else play? How did you learn?

 

Heh I remember learning Chariots of Fire as well as one of my first pieces

 

*awaits someone telling you to learn Greensleeves*

 

Great Balls of Fire is a wicked piece, hope you have strong points on your fingers

[Gaz Walker]

How you learn depends on what you want to play.

 

Do you want to play blues? Do you want to play classical?

 

Do you just want to play the occasional tune?

 

Eventually I'd love to play so big classical pieces but at the mo just a few tunes, stuff like the music off House, covers from chart songs like Snow Patrol and Rihanna etc - I love this guys stuff: http://www.youtube.com/user/kemlye1

 

I thought about the teacher thing but don't know if it was a good idea at first. Was going to give a few things a try first and see how easy I pick it up

 

Gaz.

[Lbm]

I cant read music, but have played the piano since I was 10. I developed a knack when I was younger, I can listen to something then play it straight away. I dont programme any synths / keyboards in my own tracks, I physically play everything on a dummy keyboard and record it in. I love playing big classical type stuff.

 

That's great- playing by ear. I don't think McCartney can read music either, so you're in good company. Whilst I personally understand some of the benefits of reading music, (and I can't do it either ) if you can hear and/or feel what you need to do, then that's a good thing.

[Pete]

I'm going to buy a half decent keyboard and some music books and give it a go myself.

 

The local piano shop said to only play songs at first you can sing/hum to yourself as you'll know if you've gone wrong.

 

How long you been playing Pete?

 

Gaz.

I've always been into musical things but never seriously given it the time to play properly.

Since I had a Yamaha keyboard and drum machine as a 13 year old. I then messed about with Wham! The Music Box on the ZX Spectrum and later MED/OctaMED on the Amiga along with samplers etc.

I then moved onto a Yamaha DB50XG daughter board on an AWE32 with 8Mb Sample ram (about the same as the system ram I had at the time!) and a small MIDI XG controller keyboard. Using Cubase on the PC I played a little.

 

After that it's taken until now to start up again.

 

I bought an EMU XBoard 61 which was a bargain for fullsize, semi weighted keys and rigged it up to OSX and Logic. I want to learn Logic and Reason, but before I do I'm just playing with the Piano synth to learn to play first.

 

I've still got the old Play It Today bi-weeklies and tapes somewhere I might dig out. I remember the tunes were a bit boring though.

I cant read music, but have played the piano since I was 10. I developed a knack when I was younger, I can listen to something then play it straight away. I dont programme any synths / keyboards in my own tracks, I physically play everything on a dummy keyboard and record it in. I love playing big classical type stuff.

Show off!

I can partially do that. Somehow your fingers just know which direction to move in by the sound. It's much easier with your eyes closed I find.

 

How you learn depends on what you want to play.

 

Do you want to play blues? Do you want to play classical?

At the moment anything that's recognisable and I can enjoy - that'll keep me interested.

Do you just want to play the occasional tune? Or something along the lines of Muse, Ben Folds Five, Jules Holland etc? Or more of an operatic or soothing piece like Brahms?

One step at a time I think...

 

Finger strength too is something you'll need to practice and check you can at least span an octave on a full sized piano with one hand. Check out buying a powerball to improve grip and finger strength Also helps out RSI etc http://www.powerballs.com/

Mine were starting to ache a bit last night. Difficult to move my middle and third finger independently too. They'll loosen up. I think my nails need sorting too as they started to dig into the side of my fingers.

[Jezz]

I want to learn Logic and Reason, but before I do I'm just playing with the Piano synth to learn to play first.

 

Reason is a great piece of kit once you've got your head round it. The factory and Orkestra sound banks are great, you can put some real powerfull orchestral stuff together quite easily.

Logic is quite difficult to master, dont dismiss Ableton. Its the daddy at the moment.

[Pete]

Reason is a great piece of kit once you've got your head round it. The factory and Orkestra sound banks are great, you can put some real powerfull orchestral stuff together quite easily.

Logic is quite difficult to master, dont dismiss Ableton. Its the daddy at the moment.

I've got that here somewhere but never tried it. Designed as a live tool I believe?

 

I have video tutorials for Logic and Lynda.com tutorial DVD for Reason so they should give me a headstart (if I ever get around to watching them)

[Pete]

Another few hours of practice. Better than last night.

No where near as good as The Killer himself though....man he's slick http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbbp5xvsSOk&feature=related