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hi,

For many years I have messed around with piano and keyboard learning a few things along the way but never making a serious and conscious effort to stick with it. Now that I have finally made the decision to take it seriously I have a few question. Any help is greatly appreciated!

First of all, as I cannot afford formal lessons right now and a lack of desire to start from rock bottom basic piano lesson books, I have decided to teach myself for now.

I have spend the past couple months learning some musical theory (chord construction, scales, major scale modes, circle of fifths) which have helped a great deal in playing by ear. However, when it comes down to applying these with piano technique I am at a loss. I really have no idea what to practice and how to practice.

My questions are:

What is a good practice routine to follow and are there any good online resources (sheet music, etc.).

What are some good technique practicing methods?

My biggest problem is chord and scale fingering especially when it comes to solos and moving up and down the keyboard. I find my fingers 'piling up' when I attempt simple chord shifting.

Basically I do not know what skill level I am at with regards to keyboard playing.

Thanks for any help!

-Jim

Jim,
You don't mention what style of playing that you are interested in, but let's say for the moment that it is along the classical lines. For fingering of scales and chords, I would pick up a basic book like "Sclaes, Chords and Arpeggios" by James Bastian. If you're looking for something a bit more aggressive than this, you can pick up Hanon exercises, but be prepared to feel like a hamster on a wheel. You mentioned technique, but it sounds like fingering is the main problem you need addressing, is this correct? Or do you have other technical issues?

As far as practice routine, you should try to practice very day, and the amount of time is determined by a) what you have time for b) how long you can keep your concentration and c) the level and number of pieces you're working on. Obviously you want to give more time than it takes to just run through each piece you're learning. Instead of doing straight run-throughs, you should focus on dificult areas, doing things like slow practice, hands separate practice, practicing in rhythms (long-short notes, then short-long notes, you can also group in 3s, 4s and 5s), things like that. There are tons of different ways to practice depending on the issue at hand, so it's hard to be specific.

hey thanks for the reply!
i am mainly interested in playing in more of a jazz/rock style (really influenced by Alan Price)

Fingering seems to be my biggest struggle with playing (i don't have thick fingers)

The biggest thing that affects my practice is lack of things to play. I really wanna focus more in improvising and playing by ear.

thanks for the book suggestion. I have a couple bastien books but those are basic things.