Few question from a complete newbie

[Jo-DaNe]

First off, sorry for having my first post asking questions.

Now, I am thinking of getting into keyboard. A lot of bands that I like use them, and I find the instrument really fun. My problem is, when you want to learn a song on guitar, you just look up the tabs. I try to learn songs on keyboard, and I get some youtube video. Now I have to guess where he is playing these notes, + hope I can actually see what hes doing, + guess the right effect. How am I ever supposed to do all that!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[PianoMan]

It's almost like you have to learn to read music... or transcribe the music using your ear... it's almost like... dare I say it... it requires WORK and PRACTICE rather than being LAZY!

 

[Mourndark]

It depends what bands you're trying to emulate, but the best thing for you to start with is to learn how to read chords, as there are plenty of internet sites that give you keyboard chords for songs instead of guitar tabs. Once you've got that down, you can start on reading music and basic improvisation, but as PianoMan says, it's not easy, and you will have to work at it!

 

[Jo-DaNe]

It's almost like you have to learn to read music... or transcribe the music using your ear... it's almost like... dare I say it... it requires WORK and PRACTICE rather than being LAZY!

Thanks for the warm reception...

Anyways its been like 3 days now, Ive gone on websites to learn about major chords, minor chords, scales and learned a few songs. I got Hot Cross Buns, Mary had a little lamb, and Row row your boat down pat!! (dont laugh!). Im now learning how to read tabs for some songs and am working on the beginning part of the Super Mario theme.

 

[kanthos]

No one's laughing! Seriously, everyone has to start somewhere, and songs like those are usually the starting place of choice. You have an advantage in that you've already played guitar so you're not a complete beginner to music.

You can sometimes find sheet music for piano pieces online; learning to read that will be a big asset. You could also go to a music store and buy some books of sheet music targeted at your level (well, don't buy something with "Mary Had A Little Lamb", but don't buy extremely difficult classical music either at this point).

One thing I'd suggest is that, for now, don't even think about particular sounds or effects. If your keyboard has something close to what you're trying to recreate, great, but if not, don't bother. Focus on the notes and learning the techniques. As a guitarist, you possibly have some knowledge of effects already. Keyboard programming and synthesis are complicated topics, and while you could try to learn them in parallel with improving your skill, I think you'd be better served by waiting on that for a while, since it'll still take you a while to accurately play more complicated pieces anyway. That said, once you start playing around with effects and synthesis, you'll start to be able to hear other pieces and have a good guess at what the effects might be, which waveforms are used for a synth lead, and so on. It does take a lot of time though, so good luck!

 

[jpscoey]

'

Good for you! - no matter where you're starting from I always love to see
anyone showing a keen interest in playing music... Kanthos is right (again!) -
anyone who were to laugh at your honest attempts to learn is not worth the
time of day.

My advice is this - don't try to run before you can walk... I started off picking out
simple melodies just like 'Mary had a little Lamb' - ok it's basic, but the basics are
the foundation of everything built upon them.

If you set your sights too high, then you are asking for frustration and, ultimately,
dissapointment.

What you find with tunes such as 'Mary had...' is that they start you off with
your first major-key scales.

You will then move on to minor-key scales, then the chords which are associated
with those scales - and the snowball, before you know it, starts to roll & get bigger.

Always keep in mind - one step at a time. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

I would also add that learning scales is probably the most boring part of learning
how to play, but if you do that then you will definitely reap the rewards in time.

Aside from learning the actual notes etc you should also be very aware of technique.

The wrong posture, hand/finger position may not be a problem at first, but if you
become accustomed to bad habits it will find you out when you progress to more
demanding pieces of music.

So - start from the beginning, put in the hours and look forward to a lifetime of
enjoyment!

Good luck.

PS: regarding the guitar tabs you mentioned - once you've learned the scales & chords
you will be able to knock off any song by following the guitar tabs only - I do it all the
time... rather than having pages & pages of 'dots' a whole song can be notated on the
back of a cigarette packet!

PPS: I don't mean trying to follow the fret position of the guitarists fingers - all you will have
to do is read the name of the chord being used - ie: Cmaj, Fmaj, Gmaj, Am, Em7
(ok I'll elaborate for those reading who aren't familiar with this) -

Cmaj= C major chord, likewise Fmaj & Gmaj. Am= A minor, Em7= E minor seventh.

All of these are just abbreviations & obvious once you know what's what.

There are many popular songs which only use a limited number of chord changes -
hence my reasoning with the cigarette packet thing!

Hope this is of some use.

.