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I am getting a keyboard for Christmas because I am interested in playing Beatles song on the piano. I don't aspire to be a superintense technical player, but just one that can make up my own stuff in the same vein as other pop pianists. I do play guitar and was wondering if playing guitar helps out playing piano. For someone who just wants to be able to play Beatles songs and pop piano will it be a steep learning curve?

I am just a newbie myself so I am not real qualified to respond, but I have read others say that your prior music experience should help you in the sense that you can read music already.

I am really posting here to suggest that you may also want to post this message on the Adult Beginners' forum. (You may get more responses on that forum.)

If your guitar experience includes being able to read music (not just chords), you will have a huge head start over most new beginners.

But even if you're not reading music, a good knowledge of chords and the music theory you're soaking up by playing standard chord progressions will speed your progress in piano.

I don't think (speaking as a guitarist of 25 years experience) that playing guitar helps all that much.

Most non-classical guitarists read tab because it solves the problem of note versus fret placement (same note playable in several places on guitar - not so on piano). Tab is of no use for piano. And if you read musical notation you still have to cope with the bass stave.

What you will benefit from is a good degree of finger dexterity and strength.

I find the two instruments radically different and almost incomparable (I am mainly a classical pianist and rock guitarist). I thought that guitar would logically help me when I started playing violin, but that is not the case either, mainly because of the very different vibrato technique.

Good luck though. They are both great!

Kind regards

Adrian

You are probably right. As a classical pianist that you are and a guitar player, I'm sure that the two are completely different. I don't have aspirations of playing Vivaldi's four seasons on piano, but rather just play piano for the fun of it. Pop music such as The Beatles and maybe some Elton John (unless his music is too difficult). Basically chord progressions on the piano. And thats seriously as far as I think I wanna go on piano.

Yes! Especially that like the piano, the guitar has polyphonic capabilities. Knowledge based on any instrument will have a certain amount of carry-over to the adoption of the piano as a second instrument, and vice-versa, even instruments that only have single note capabilities. Even percussion. Some elements can always be carried over, whether the basis for the tranference of knowledge is rhythmic, harmonic, or melodic. These elements are universal to all instruments, the nuts and bolts unchanged, only the technical means and nuances of sound production differing from instrument to instrument.