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The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

freepianomethod.com

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Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#41

Post by devthane »

phkahler wrote: post #26
maille wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what kind of cheap keyboard would you recommend?

That part of is definitely poor advice, although prices are lower these days. Get something with at least 61 full sized and weighted keys. None of those light weight organ type keys, they need to feel more like piano keys. Polyphonic - able to play at least 8 notes simultaneously. That would be the bare minimum IMHO. Getting the full 88 keys will probable ensure the rest but maybe not in some cases.

This for certain. The piano is way more fun to play with weighted keys and much more expressive. I bought my first weighted key piano, a Roland FP-30, this year and have been playing almost every day just for the fun of it.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#42

Post by tonystride »

maille wrote: post #24
sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

what kind of cheap keyboard would you recommend?

I would say no cheaper than $500 from Roland, Yamaha, or Casio.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#43

Post by snvzz »

sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

Something properly weighted. $700-1000.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#44

Post by gjulianm »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #35
gjulianm wrote: post #27

For context, I started playing piano when I was a kid with a mix of classes and self-learn, tried to pick up guitar a few years ago and I'm now learning clarinet with a teacher. With this experience, I can say that self-learning an instrument is the most inefficient way to learn it, specially if you haven't already learned another instrument before. Don't bother comparing it to self-learning programming because it's…

That's great advice. I had two piano teachers. One of them made me love going to the lessons and the other made me hate to go there. The latter was first so I quit piano and took a few years break before I found the teacher who gave me inspiration.

That's the main issue with teachers. Bad teachers can really make you quit an instrument, same with parents forcing kids to go to lessons. Luckily I think here in HN most people will be able to choose a teacher and leave it if they don't like it.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#45

Post by markvdb »

actuator wrote: post #6

Has someone here picked a musical instrument seriously for the first time in their 20s and managed to self learn? If yes, it would be helpful if you could point to resources that were helpful to you and any daily practice schedule you followed? I have tried learning piano and I found a lot of stuff irritatingly hard to get right and got bored. Like for some reason I am not able to transition to other keys well when I…

Professional guitar teacher here.

One of the many things a good teacher will help you do is avoid technical pitfalls. If you do this on your own unchecked, chances are you will end up blocked somewhere down the road and having to relearn basic techniques.

Another thing is they will have plenty of interesting musical practice material that suits your skill level and interests.

They'll also help you manage your expectations.

I've got quite a few students who were very uneven in their growth. They've had to learn basic things in one area while very advanced in another. More often than not, they've had to relearn things they learned to do the wrong way from scratch.

Learning to play a musical instrument is usually not easy. If you can afford the investment of time and/or money, get a teacher. The good ones are worth their weight in gold, and the good news for you is, they're relatively cheap. They get paid peanuts in comparison to you as a techie.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#46

Post by bondarchuk »

amelius wrote: post #3

I wish piano methods would offer me the choice of genre (jazz, latin, classical, ...) and that they would start with songs that are perhaps technically simple, but still interesting from a musical viewpoint.

I like First Lessons in Bach for this reason. It's public domain by now so you can get it from archive.org or imslp.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#47

Post by publicola1990 »

gjulianm wrote: post #39
sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

Sorry but I have to disagree a lot. An app is not the best way to learn piano. Piano is not just about pressing keys. Does the app correct your position (important if you don't want to get fatigue and cramps), your volume, fingerings, etc? Does it tell you how to practice the parts where you're struggling? > connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard Please don't do that. I mean, if you just want to give it a try to pi…

Yes but in comparison with the same time spent on a game like 2077, even app lets people make progress.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#48

Post by joegahona »

phkahler wrote: post #26
maille wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what kind of cheap keyboard would you recommend?

That part of is definitely poor advice, although prices are lower these days. Get something with at least 61 full sized and weighted keys. None of those light weight organ type keys, they need to feel more like piano keys. Polyphonic - able to play at least 8 notes simultaneously. That would be the bare minimum IMHO. Getting the full 88 keys will probable ensure the rest but maybe not in some cases.

> Polyphonic - able to play at least 8 notes simultaneously.

Don't you kind of have to go out of your way these days to _not_ get something polyphonic?

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#49

Post by publicola1990 »

maille wrote: post #24
sandGorgon wrote: post #18

I just started learning piano in the COVID lockdown. The best and cheapest way to learn is use an app: Simply Piano(android+ios), Piano Marvel(ios), etc and connect it to an el cheapo midi keyboard. this allows you to spend the next 6 months learning without anyone getting disturbed..while the app gives you realtime feedback about which keys you are pressing. you wont miss the lack of a teacher...especially during th…

what kind of cheap keyboard would you recommend?

I would recommend a casio S300, should cost about 135$. Has touch sensitivity, and about 400 built in sound bank, ear phone jack, light and easy to carry/store as well.

Re: The Mayron Cole Piano Method is now free

#50

Post by gjulianm »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #37
LeSaucy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most method books will touch on a wide variety of genres, usually to illustrate specific topics in music theory. If you can’t reason about intervals/scales, key, and chord progressions, “learning” genres like jazz will be like trying to learn differential calculus before linear algebra.

This is the same kind of logic that leads to whiteboard algorithm questions. Music theory and musicianship are not the same thing. There are many many great musicians who only enough to make the sounds they want to make. Sure they might be better if they took the time to learn, but not necessarily.

> Music theory and musicianship are not the same thing.

No, but it helps a lot to know a language that helps you write down and learn musical concepts.

> There are many many great musicians who only enough to make the sounds they want to make.

Are there great musicians who don't know what a scale, a chord progression or a key is?

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