I just became a member after spending a lot of time reading the boards as a guest. I think I want to learn piano but I don't have one. I was looking at picking up a Roland Digital Upright piano but this post is not about equipment.

I took lessons for a few years when I was maybe 10 years old and I'm 30 now. I don't rember techniques at all but back then I was pretty good at sitting down and fiddling my way to essentailly playing songs I'd heard by ear.

Anyway - from looking through this forum I see there are some internet courses out there like Piano Magic, Sudnow which might be helpful as I'm not inclined to get a teacher. I'm thinking I can do maybe an hour a day of practice 4-5 days a week with my other obligations.

So with this type of practice time and one of these courses, my question before I go spend money on a piano, is whether this is enough teaching and practicing to get anywhere on my own? I know it will depend some on how quick I pick it up and my level of dedication, but fundamentally is this enough time and are the courses online complete enough to get decent, all else being equal?

Hope you understand my question. Guess if I can't learn it my daughter at almost two would love to bang on a keyboard...

Absolutely! An hour a day is plenty of time to become proficient regardless of the style you want to learn to play.

As for the courses, you can find a lot from searches of these forums, but as a thumbnail:

PianoMagic teaches how to play popular music by ear. Playing by ear means to be able to play a song without sheet music and without having to memorize it from sheet music. Some downsides: to play a tune by ear, you have to be able to hum or whistle the tune. Also, it can take some time before you develop enough techniques to make your music sound "professional".

Sudnow teaches how to play music standards like Misty, As Time Goes By, Bewitched, etc. from fakebooks. Sudnow gets you up to playing fully voiced music nearly from the beginning. The downside is that you need to memorize each song and if you don't play your repertoire frequently, until you become more expert, you run the risk of forgetting how to play a song you already learned.

Veeter, you are definitely in the position of making good progress if you can set aside 4-5 hours a week. It's up to you whether you go along the route of playing Piano Magic style, or classical, or by ear, or all of these. You just have to get that keyboard (make sure it has weighted keys), and decide what sort of music you'd like to end up playing. I am sure you will get lots of help and encouragement from the people here.

Good luck!

Edit: whoops, I didn't realise that Piano Magic was just playing by ear. I'm a fan of classical music!

It seems like that would be plenty of time to learn to play, especially when you are so motivated. I rarely hear people sorry they bought a piano, and since you have a child who might someday play, that's a doubly good reason to go ahead with it. I'm not at all familiar with digital pianos, but I'm sure you can read many threads on that topic if you search.

Welcome to the Forums! I'm sure you'll really enjoy this process.

Nancy

Thanks for the rundown on both courses. I am torn between these two. I should clarify - I'm not interested in classical. More popular songs is what I'm after. I like the idea of by ear playing without music sheets but the Sudnow appears to give more background basics from browsing the two sites.

Then there's the Scott Houston course as well which might be good.

Decisions, decisions...

Welcome to the forum, Veeter! The AB forum is full of people very much like you, who took lessons as a child and want to pick it up again, and who are doing very well self-teaching.

If you have any doubts, check out any of our AB forum online recital threads (the most recent one is stickied at the top of the AB page), and see what some people are capable of after just a couple of years.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised, too, at how quickly your technique and music reading skills will come back to you. It won't be like starting completely from scratch.

Piano Magic gives you all the background you need. I'm 30 also, played around for about a year on my own, but only really started learning anything after I joined Piano Magic last August. You can hear some of my recordings (as well as those from other Piano Magic members) in the Online Recitals and Piano Bar threads here at this forum. You can expect to learn how to play like that within, let's say, a year or so (although obviously I can't guarantee that). If anything, Piano Magic is a good foundation for other learning.

(I don't know anything about Sudnow.)

100%

Bob gave you a good rundown on a couple of popular courses. Both have an active community of students that interact with each other as well as the teacher. That can help motivation.

if you do some seaching on here you will find discussion of other courses and books.

Personally I don't think Scott Houston's stuff gets you very far. You can do better.


I love Sudnow's course. I started from scratch in June of 2005 at 44. This year at Christmas I played several songs at the family gathering and people were surprised.

Welcome!!! It is strange seeing another member from my state. Not only the same state but the same city!

An hour a day is plenty of time on the piano. I am into the popular tunes as well. If you are into gospel music, I know a teacher in the area that teaches more or less how to play by ear. Let me know!

one hour per day practice might be enough to make a progress in a long run for you. i would practice 1 hour or more at a 'good' night, not a 'bad' night when i got so tired and had to practice much less time.

hope you enjoy your playing, and i'd recommend you learn to read music as well when you get a chance.

I'm in a similar situation. I took a year of lessons a long time ago and used to horse around with friends but never really was able to play very well. Back in November I finally figured it out. Success means work. Don't expect overnight miracles and stay the course...

I'm using the Alfred Adult book and I find it a very good book for myself. I'm practicing at least an hour a day and have seen some improvement already.

I'm using this place as my form of motivation.

I start formal lessons this month.

Just vision where you will be in 6 mons, a year etc...

Don't get frustrated and view practice as fun...

Best of Luck and keep us posted...

Mark

PS: I'm playing on a junky Casio right now, but my reward for sticking with it will be a new Digital in the near future...

Thanks - good to see a fellow Okie here.

OK so I think I'm going to make a purchase here in the next week or so and start learning how to play. I am debating on the Roland KR-103 or the HPi-6. Not sure yet but I will be posting back here shortly or help on how to use it.

Also, think I'm going with the piano magic course.

kawai ES4 or the really discounted CN3 is really a good start

Veeter, I quit lessons in early 1969 after passing my London College of Music Introductory Exam on 18th December 1968 - I still have the certificate - I scored 80%. I regretted it all my life and this Christmas I bought a Yamaha YDP 131 digital piano and I cannot stay away from it. It comes back to you. This forum is a great source of interest. Good Luck!