teaching myself keyboard

[Laura]

Is it possible to teach yourself keyboard? I don't play piano and I read music like a first-grader.. I had a few basic lessons when I was a kid and I understand music theory. And I do play guitar & banjo (self taught) and I learn/play by ear.

Reading tabs or music notation just isn't my thing. It ties me down. I hope I can just start playing chords and progressions and maybe figure out a few songs. I don't aspire to play Beethoven... just enough to be able to record parts for my ambient/spacy original tracks.

Am I expecting too much?

 

[Skot]

Not at all. Some of the greatest musicians in the world never learned any of that stuff. The way I see it, there are 2 sides to music improvisation and reading. Culturally, jazz has taken the place of the improvisational, more free type of music. Classical takes the other side, where everything is done strictly and without much freedom. Neither is better than the other, they are just different ways of playing. (Of course, there is more than just jazz and classical).

However, you shouldn't say that reading just isn't your thing. You may think it will tie you down, but it might actually open some things up for you. I would recommend learning to read music even if you don't think you are into it. You will learn form it.

I was first taught to play classical piano, and did everything from reading music. I started taking lessons from a jazz musician about 6 years after i started playing piano. I was horrible! But after 3 or 4 years of that, I have a completely different view on music that i would have never known about. Now i can read music and play classical stuff, and also have fun just improvising and making things up as i go. Classical music also is great for making you a better player. I like to warm up with it, usually a Bach invention because they are difficult to play and work both hands. So don't rule it out just yet.

 

[Laura]

Not at all. Some of the greatest musicians in the world never learned any of that stuff. The way I see it, there are 2 sides to music improvisation and reading. Culturally, jazz has taken the place of the improvisational, more free type of music. Classical takes the other side, where everything is done strictly and without much freedom. Neither is better than the other, they are just different ways of playing. (Of course, there is more than just jazz and classical).

However, you shouldn't say that reading just isn't your thing. You may think it will tie you down, but it might actually open some things up for you. I would recommend learning to read music even if you don't think you are into it. You will learn form it.

I was first taught to play classical piano, and did everything from reading music. I started taking lessons from a jazz musician about 6 years after i started playing piano. I was horrible! But after 3 or 4 years of that, I have a completely different view on music that i would have never known about. Now i can read music and play classical stuff, and also have fun just improvising and making things up as i go. Classical music also is great for making you a better player. I like to warm up with it, usually a Bach invention because they are difficult to play and work both hands. So don't rule it out just yet.

My dad is a classical piano player. He is great but he doesn't have a clue about improvising or playing by ear. (he doesn't like anything newer than 1600.) If there's no sheet music, he can't play it.

My boys got inspired by him about 10 years ago and taught themselves stuff like Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. But they had to make some sort of big switch in their brain wiring to be able to play by ear instead of by eye (reading).

 

[letsel]

Well, when I took my music course in 2005, keyboards was compulsory because it was there to make us understand notation better and vica versa.

So yeah, sheet music and keyboards go hand in hand. But, just so you know, I'm not a big fan of sheet music .

I don't think you are expecting too much, you should be able to do fine and play/record what you want, assuming you go about it right. Atleast read a book or two that handles topics like technique. Teaching yourself is fine, teaching yourself wrong is not .

However, I don't think being able to read sheet music will tie you down. It will be very usefull infact. Just because you can learn a song of sheet music(you don't have to learn to sight read, that takes years), doesn't mean you can't do things on your own. It just opens up doors to learn new songs faster. Same reason why they started writing things down instead of passing down information orally.

But, if you have an ear good enough, then by all means use it! Personally, I lack a bit in the ear training department(hey, I started out playing drums), so sheet music is very handy for me, but I usually just use to memorize the peice I'm playing.

I just don't see much use in doing work which has already been done. Also take into account the fact that the vast majority of music for the keyboard will be on sheet music notation, if not all.

 

[Laura]

Also take into account the fact that the vast majority of music for the keyboard will be on sheet music notation, if not all.

But here's my problem-if I have never heard the song before, I can't "hear" how it's supposed to sound by laboriously searching for the notes from sheet music. So how do I know if I want to learn it in the first place! It just doesn't "come alive" for me.

 

[Skipp]

OK... lets try something...

Do you know ANYTHING about music chords, notation, and relations between chords and tones?

For example, if a song is in C major which chords could turn up in that key?
(F, G, am, + possible variations like dm and E)

Do you know which keys are played in which chord?

For example, D major - D, F# and A. Or d minor - D, F and A

If you know that stuff you're on a good way to start playing by ear with no notation cause you'll be able to "hear" which chord is coming up next.

If you have NO idea what I've just said, dig up some literature about chords and their relationship, sit down on your keyboard/piano and start practicing

 

[Laura]

OK... lets try something...

Do you know ANYTHING about music chords, notation, and relations between chords and tones?

For example, if a song is in C major which chords could turn up in that key?
(F, G, am, + possible variations like dm and E)

Do you know which keys are played in which chord?

For example, D major - D, F# and A. Or d minor - D, F and A

If you know that stuff you're on a good way to start playing by ear with no notation cause you'll be able to "hear" which chord is coming up next.

If you have NO idea what I've just said, dig up some literature about chords and their relationship, sit down on your keyboard/piano and start practicing

Hmmm.... interesting test! As for chords, I know that a major is 1-3-5, a minor is 1, 3-flat, 5, and so forth. I know the relationships of notes in a scale & how they sound. (Because I play bass.) However, if it came to NAMING each note off the top of my head... I'd have to go to the guitar or piano & see what letter the notes were.

So I have 'ear' sense, but not that much 'letter' sense.

 

[radioyankee]

do some research on proper hand/wrist positioning and doing some warm- ups before each practice session . i have been playing for 30 years and started out with very poor technique which i have since corrected but i now suffer from some minor yet irritating symptoms. best wishes

 

[Skipp]

Hmmm.... interesting test! As for chords, I know that a major is 1-3-5, a minor is 1, 3-flat, 5, and so forth. I know the relationships of notes in a scale & how they sound. (Because I play bass.) However, if it came to NAMING each note off the top of my head... I'd have to go to the guitar or piano & see what letter the notes were.

So I have 'ear' sense, but not that much 'letter' sense.

OK, this is also good for a start. As it seems you know that in every major chord 1,3,5 notes are played. That means you DO know some note relationship...

Now, if you go up to 6 and play a minor chord of that note, you'll get a parallel minor chord to the major one you play in.

For example... If your song is played in E major - count up to 6 and you'll get to C# which means that c-minor is a parallel minor chord to E major.

The same rule applies for all the cords.

Now, this is why I asked if you knew note, and chord relationships... Many people learn those things by heart and don't understand it very well, so when it comes to playing by ear they can't "predict" which chord to play.

When you learn this with understanding you'll know that for example when playing a song i G major you play chords like: G (G B D), C (C E G), D (D F# A), and your parallel minor chord is e-minor (E G B)

If that same song would be played in A major you would play chords like: A (A D# E), D (D F# A), E (E G# B), and c# minor (C# E G#)

Once you get the hang of it... it's simple... NEXT step would be playing chord variations and arpeggios...

For example: C major can be played as: C E G, E G C, G C E etc. etc...
or through some simple and nice arpeggios: C, G, C2, G, E2, G, C2, G (one note played at a time of course...)

 

[elwoodblues1969]

I don't know if this will be of any help to you,but for the last 22 years,I have played by ear and in this time,I have written compositions from beggining to end,doing complete songs-all on the keyboard workstations I have owned over the years.
I don't understand music theory,tabliture,scales and never even bothered to figure out the concept of what a A-minor is.

I'm not against reading music,as it's very useful for the purpose of learning songs quickly if your in a cover band,for instance.

I have noticed though,that sheet music is just someone else's interpretation of music,as I've heard people playing from sheet music and I hear wrong notes,or notes that are missing,or that the timing is different and that annoys the snot out of me.

Sheet music can be a good thing to know if the person playing the song,also has a good enough ear to pick out the inaccuracies of some sheet music and correct it themselves.

I've always been a studio musician & I always enjoyed writing & performing everything myself and I've managed to write 9 albums without any hitches,so for what I do,teaching myself music by ear,has worked out well.

I knew someone years ago that I grew up with,that has been taught piano lessons from a very early age and he stuck with it all his life and he could play astoundingly complex classical pieces that I could never hope to play,but if you took the sheet music away from this person,he could not function as a musician.

Anyone that applies themself and puts the time into it,can learn to read music beautifully & play well,but to truly make soulful music,you have to have an ear for it as well.

 

[Laura]

I knew someone years ago that I grew up with,that has been taught piano lessons from a very early age and he stuck with it all his life and he could play astoundingly complex classical pieces that I could never hope to play,but if you took the sheet music away from this person,he could not function as a musician.

This is what my dad is like. He plays Bach & Beethoven, but he wouldn't have a clue how to improvise or jam with people.

Now, I can listen to a CD and play along, but then again I can't play Bach.