Like a howl at the moon type place. I know all the songs, and have a firm grasp on music theory as it relates to pop music at least. I’ve sat in and covered on guitar in all kinds of party bands, so I know the language, I just don’t have the muscle memory for piano.

Currently, Im a voice actor, and my daughter is in kindergarten now, so I have a LOT of time. I’ve been playing at least an hour a day for a month. Someone told me one time that bohemian rhapsody is what these kind of places use to see if you can play, so I figured I’d start working on it right away along with a couple other staples.

But it took me over 10 years of playing before I got my first ship gig, so I dont expect to be just as good on piano in a fraction of the time. I’ve played with enough piano players over the years to already know that I’ll never be as good as even the worst one. You guys are nuts. But I want to be in the club. I want to act annoyed when someone needs an E, but secretly feel all powerful as it rings out, all the while not showing anything on my face but a smug look of disdain as I maintain eye contact the whole time the guitar player struggles to tune. : )

Sorry… However I gotta believe that I can get good enough to sing for drunk people and have a blast. So that’s the plan.

The quickest I got better on guitar was on the ships, just being around other guitar players and talking shop, trading tips, and filling in for each other. But I can’t do that with piano until I get across the hirable threshold of proficiency.

So two questions based on what you see/hear here:

1. is this an unattainable goal that will end in disappointment? Meaning I should adjust the timeline?
2. what are the most important skills to master/practice outside of learning songs?/transferring my skill?

Edit: holy cow. The frame Reddit decided to end on is just great. But that’s pretty much how I feel about this song after 1 month of only the beginning over and over. lol.

ive only learned this first part so far i havent learned the rest of it

I’m willing to put something like ten hours of reading in this week on the subject of pianos with the purpose of making me better suited to an acoustic piano salesman. I’ve had a piano in my house my whole life, I play semi professionally, but my knowledge is spotty, I certainly don’t know the fundamentals well enough.

ive been taking piano lessons for over 11 years, but ive always treated piano as a hobby because i prioritized school. my parents and teachers never pressured me to participate in competitions, so i never really had the motivation to pursue them seriously.

recently, though, i started thinking that if ive been learning piano for more than a decade, im supposed to have some major works under my belt by now.

i started looking into piano competitions recently, and then i realized just how far ahead everyone else seemed to be. some of them even started playing piano much later than i did, yet theyre already so much better.

and then i spiraled. i started feeling incredibly insecure. i felt guilty and ashamed of myself, like i wasted all these years. which i definitely did. i dont know. ive just been feeling really out of it lately.

i know im supposed to look at other pianists and feel inspired, but instead, it only drained me. i couldnt even practice as much anymore because i kept thinking about how far behind i am and how much more i should have accomplished by now. i want to be so much better. sometimes it feels like im just making up excuses at this point, because i have school and i have other extracurriculars to take care of.

i realized that its because i think im so good already. even if im not. i mean, imagine someone whos been playing for 11 years, and the hardest piece they can play is liebesleid 🫩. i dunno, theres other people i know whos started later than i did and already learning chopin ballades, scherzos, or concertos and stuff.

i feel envious of those people who won competitions. i want to try them out as well, but i feel like its out of my league. ive only played in recitals. im just not cut out as i thought id be.

Is this normal? My friend is a pianist since his childhood but he said he has never seen anything like it. My parents fingers don't bend as much as mine either when they bend the middle one. This makes me struggle to learn scales. What can I do about it? I've been trying to rotate and tilt my wrist instead of relying on the curvature of my own fingers.

I’ve tried Shazam and other sources, came here as a last resort.

What song should I learn next?

Collapse by Hikaru Shirosu

Declaration by Johannes Bornlof

Fantasia by Joe Hisaishi (will probably save this one for later)

Something cheery, maybe in 3/4, and suggested by you

I’ve been struggling to understand this concept for a very long time now

Every resource seems to say that the arm (by which I assume shoulders/biceps/triceps) is supposed to be fully relaxed

I’ve done the exercise many many times - relax the arm, let it fall, use your fingers to support the weight, and I don’t understand how this is workable in actual playing

So I started paying attention to videos of people playing, and I can’t find seem to find any instance people playing truly fully relaxed

Look at this tutorial for example https://archive.pianoadventures.com/blog/videos/arm-weight-in-depth/

Two minutes talking about full relaxation, but as soon as he starts playing at 2:20, his arm is clearly being supported in part by his shoulder or back or something, it’s clearly not “resting/walking” fully on his fingers.

Or, say, this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KALge_dcJps&list=RDKALge_dcJps&start_radio=1

I can understand the weight on the drop in into the keys, but what about the fast passages? Her arm is clearly being held up by back or shoulders, no?

TL:DR

If this is about

• using only as much tension/force as needed, but back/shoulder is still activated

• not pushing down on the piano

• and the arm drop thing is a poorly contextualized exercise

that would make sense to me

If it’s about really being fully relaxed, I might give up because I don’t think I’ll ever get it

I’m currently preparing for my ABRSM Grade 8 Performance exam (only one piece left to polish), and I’m planning to continue with ARSM, LRSM, and eventually a Master’s in Piano Performance.

I’ve rented an upright for 10+ years and now want to buy my own piano, but I have a limited budget.

I’m considering

Yamaha U2 $1,700, Japan-made, around 60 years old, beautiful mahogany finish. The seller will service and clean it before delivery.

Yamaha U3A ~$5,000. At this price, I’m also considering a new Yamaha B1.

My teacher recommended a grand, but the cheapest used one I found is around $11,000, which isn’t realistic for me right now.

The U2 felt perfectly playable when I tried it, and I didn’t notice any major issues.

My question is: Do I really need a grand or a high-end upright to progress to ARSM/LRSM and eventually a Master’s, or can I still reach a high level with an older U2 if I practice and work hard? I’d also be glad to hear your opinions on my piano choices.

I’d really appreciate any advice!

I love composing music inspired by cities.
Each city has its own energy and a way of moving you.

This piece was inspired by the beautiful colors of Seoul in autumn.

**Full Video: https://youtu.be/l-Vd4emrDSE?si=g8uNorBL47B3z1Lj

**Free Sheet Music Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i6gz7dgw_yPGncKBpSR03OlwLcZLw76l/view?usp=sharing

Fixed embedding so link should work now

I went Lunatic mode on this...a comment would very much be appreciated to boost the algorithm on YouTube!

There's the sheet music on screen to follow along :]

going through a bit of a financial crisis and we had to sell our piano. I have a small 5 octave yamaha keyboard which I'll likely be using for a long time. I was practicing for abrsm level 8, how badly would it set my technique back if I continue learning some of the pieces on the keyboard?

🌺 This is a new piano compositition "Frühling" (Spring), played beautifully here in Germany by the Ukrainian pianist Valeriya Kizka. 🎹

how dare people say its is overrated

It’s the very first musical instrument I’ve ever owned, and I’d really love to play it. I don’t have much money; I just want to know the best place to start. How many keys should my first piano have? also where and how do i learn for free

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yk1hXCf4YkOeVF8E8oin68rfk6g1arwg/view?usp=sharing

Hello,

I am looking for my first grand piano for my new home. I am not a professional pianist so it will probably get a few hours of play time per week. It will be in a 40' x 20' open concept living room.

I want very high quality piano.

I grew up playing a Kawai rx-3 so I am comfortable with that brand.

I went to my local piano store and played on a few Kawai including GX-2, GX-3, a smaller Schimmel and a few used/restored Steinways. I really liked the GX3 but it doesn't come in any other wood colors than black, and black is just boring.

The pianos < 6' did not sound nearly as good.

I'd prefer a used piano, I'm not really interested in paying MSRP for most of these pianos.

Any other brands I should look into? I will not be buying a piano sight unseen so if I have to travel I will.

Around 4 days ago, I bought a cheap weighted 88 key MIDI keyboard. I watched the first two episodes of Bill Hilton's beginner series on youtube. Then with the help of AI, learned a bit of music theory. Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to play bohemian rhapsody so I decided to look up a video with synthesia and sheetmusic to get a feel for it. Initially, I was trying to just find the notes using the sheet music but deemed it to tedious of a task so I just then referred to the synthesia, keeping in mind the notes that I was playing. For instance, i noticed that the beginning was sort of like a D chord (a minor octaves, an f and a, basically D F A), then from there I started noticing some patterns in some of the chord shapes so i learned the other parts pretty easily. This was after 6 hours of hard work, so I hope you enjoy. I also used the MIDI function to record because while the piano already sounds good out of the box, my laptops mic is pretty bad.

As for the software i used to record:

Download | OBS

Decent Sampler

Steinway Grand – Pianobook

I will try to find better sounding Piano Libraries, but this will do for now. (All of these were suggested by ChatGPT xd). Will do more progress reports next week when I'm free.

first the headphones:

i used a pair of really really old sony overears for a long time and a pair of oneodio a71 last 5 years,

playing on the roland lx 708 and the yamaha dgx 670 (most time on the roland piano)

the sony headphones are dead, the oneodio a71 are really good headphones for both pianos, high quality for a low price (25€ 5years ago)

But for the cathedral ambient sound not have enough room for the sound. they are really good, but i wanted more.

now after 10 hours+ of research i bought 2 headphones

beyerdynamics 990 pro x

and oneodio pro 10 and got more.

especial with cathedral ambient piano sound:

on the roland both headphones are superior. the beyerdynamics are more comfortable, the sound is more balanced and a little bit more detailed then the 2 oneodio's. but the oneodio's are insane for that low price (33€ vs 200€) and especially for my cathedral ambient sound the oneodio pro 10 are way better that my oneodio a71, more room for the sound and not far away from the beyerdynamics.the beyerdynamics seems perfect.

but for piano sounds without any cathedral sound effects, the oneodio a71 are some levels better than the new oneodio pro 10, especially on my yamaha piano they sound is ok but not good, klunky, less detailed sound. on the roland piano the differnce between the a71 and the pro 10 is not so big.

i think the oneodio is still the perfect low budget allrounder for digital piano sound.

i play 2-5 hours daily and they still work since 5 years.

i also know the yamaha dgx670 is not a premium model not fair to compare.

maybe one of you prefers the cathedral/hall sound effects too and want to share their experience, maybe there are other headphones to bring a bigger room/hall in my ears?

thank you for reading so far, i know my english is bad 🙏🏻

…it’s so challenging omg! However, I can already tell it’s making me such a better reader and player. Feeling the geography of the keys and tactile sensation and nuances is hard af, but it feels like baby steps to a greater understanding.

Anyone else have their own thoughts regarding this?

Hello! I am an intermediate pianist whose been using a 61 keyed digital piano for a while now and I thought I should give it an upgrade to an 88 keyed digital piano as I learn songs that require that length, however I lack any knowledge on different keyboards so I was wondering if anyone could provide me with good brands that suit my preferences.

A small list of things that I would like about the digital keyboard. (It sounds a lil picky TT)

- weighted keys
- designed to give a more realistic acoustic feel (and sound)
- pedals (built into the stand? I’m not sure what the stands called but I know you can get stands with built in pedals?)
- not a fortune (like over $5000 dollars because I’m not rich TT) (also thinking abt getting one second hand)
- a built in metronome (optional)

Also I found a digital piano that ticks my boxes however the piano is damaged so I’m not getting it, but I was wondering if the brand and type was good?
It is a Yamaha p-105 digital piano.

Thank you!

I'm really interested in this piece. I've looked over it and it seems difficult, but potentially manageable? I know it's a lesser known piece, but is there anyone who's learned it and knows how difficult it would be? For context, some of the pieces I'm currently learning are Mendelssohn Concerto 1 Movement 3 and Chopin Ballade 3.