Keyboards, piano.

brodiesprime

Despite me being almost retired I have been in envy of those that play musical instruments. I have been watching youtube where some of my favourite tunes are played via a Yamaha Tyros, the sounds are fabulous.
I have a keyboard that the wife and I bought for one of our childrens birthday many years ago, it works very well but doesn't produce the sounds of these modern keyboards.
I would like to learn but need a book or two in order for me to learn the basics. Can anyone recommend a good book for starting out, minding that I do not understand a single note of music.


Kind regards
Brodie

tyllwyd

There are lots of books for children to learn keyboards - my dd's piano teacher uses these ones
http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/04040/details.html


But how about going to a website like Online Pianist where they show you how to play by lighting up keys.
http://www.onlinepianist.com/

cookie365

brodiesprime wrote: »

Despite me being almost retired I have been in envy of those that play musical instruments. I have been watching youtube where some of my favourite tunes are played via a Yamaha Tyros, the sounds are fabulous.
I have a keyboard that the wife and I bought for one of our childrens birthday many years ago, it works very well but doesn't produce the sounds of these modern keyboards.
I would like to learn but need a book or two in order for me to learn the basics. Can anyone recommend a good book for starting out, minding that I do not understand a single note of music.


Kind regards
Brodie

You're not going to spend 3 grand on a pro keyboard in order to learn are you? Have a listen to something like a PSR-E443 which should be fine to learn on at less than a tenth of the price.

googler

If you want to learn the basics of piano and keyboard technique, get a basic hammer action touch-sensitive digital piano, something like the Casio CDP-120 and others in that series. Don't bother about something to make fancy sounds until you have some technique under your belt.

Find a piano teacher in your locale and book a few lessons.

What do you WANT to play? Not what sounds do you want to make, but what music do you want to play?

Sooler

Anything is best built on firm foundations – learn How to Read Music and some theory.

As you’re retiring you’ll need something to do, why not embark on Music Theory Exams.


http://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=1058

Grades 1 & 2 will complement learning from scratch

EssexExile

I got a cheap Yamaha off Ebay for about £30 & used YouTube for instruction. Some 2 years later - it's not going well.

datostar

googler wrote: »

If you want to learn the basics of piano and keyboard technique, get a basic hammer action touch-sensitive digital piano, something like the Casio CDP-120 and others in that series. Don't bother about something to make fancy sounds until you have some technique under your belt.

Find a piano teacher in your locale and book a few lessons.

What do you WANT to play? Not what sounds do you want to make, but what music do you want to play?

After several years of piano lessons in my younger days, then a long break, I took up organ and keyboard. The technique is very different, especially for the left hand. The versatility and range of sounds of a modern keyboard are excellent for beginners and it is much quicker to achieve listenable results than when starting from scratch on a piano. Certainly a Yamaha Tyros would be expensive, overly complex overkill for a beginner, but as pointed out by another poster there are some very good instruments in the Yamaha PSR range.

tad1984

It's great that you have decided to learn the piano. I have been teaching piano for ten years or so, mostly children, but adults too. I would recommend you start out with a teacher, because:

A good teacher can help you find the right book for you and set appropriate standard of pieces to learn along the way, help you develop good and effective practise techniques (this is so so important!), they help to keep you motivated, keep you from developing unhelpful habits and generally make the whole learning process more rewarding and fun.

Good luck with the learning, it's a fun journey.