We just bought a digital piano. Primarily because our ds plays and will be here with us for about six weeks. Definitely a splurge, but it’s beautiful, and I love it, and I am glad we bought it. I am musical myself (play classical guitar), and I took a couple of years of piano lessons when I thought I was going to major in music (I didn’t). I might dabble around with it it a bit and could use any suggestions for adults coming back to piano when they only ever had a modicum of proficiency.
HOWEVER - my MAIN question is for my dh. Now that we have the digital piano, he is thinking he might want to learn how to play. Of course, we had a baby grand piano in our previous, larger home for 20+ years, and he did not learn to play. But, he has a much less demanding job now, and I want to be encouraging. He does NOT read music at all and has had no musical training whatsoever. For any of you who might know, what would be a good way for him to get into piano in a way that will be enjoyable for him?
“Learn to Play Keyboards” by Steve Ashworth. Best book ever and I’ve got quite a few. I have the spiral bound version which makes it easy to lay flat—have not seen the newer hard bound version.
I took a beginning piano course at a local community colleges “emeritus” program. I had learned piano as a child and then played violin in school for many years, so was familiar with reading music. I wanted to refresh my skills unused for decades.
My advice is to look specifically for a keyboard lesson book vs piano. There is much you can learn quickly in play styles, accompianments etc that aren’t as easily learned on piano.
And read your manual! (What did you get out of curiosity?) You’ll learn all the fun stuff you can do.
Just learning some simple chords for left hand and figuring how to set rhythms will let you play a lot of stuff and improvise if you have a decent ear for the tune. Most of my music books are guitar books since they have the chords.
Also love the “fake books” that just provide chord name and melody lines.
A ridiculous splurge, but I wanted the solid walnut and something that looked like a console table when closed. The aesthetic suits our place very well.
So, it’s a Roland, but nothing fancy. I think it has just five or six piano voices. I do need to read the manual. We just got it assembled yesterday.
Very nice! But disregard my advice. This looks very much like a digital piano for piano players rather than a keyboard. My first impression is it won’t be an easy learn for a beginner. Hoping I’m wrong!
There re folks who really specialize in teaching adult beginner piano lessons. Out senior center has a piano teacher and she teaches all levels of students from really really beginner to folks more advanced. Check to see if something like that is available near you.
I’m not really a beginner beginner…I’m a fairly decent musician, just a lousy piano player. I started lessons a year ago, and I love them. I’ll never be terrific…but I enjoy this. The teacher I have asked me a goal…and I told her I wanted to be able to sit down and play some Christmas carols. I’m terrible, but I’m getting there!
So…find an adult piano teacher. Mine comes here…masked…and sits on the other side of the room.
which appears to be a bit more fleshed-out version of the book that @Marilyn recommended.
The one who was ds’s second teacher said she was doing remote lessons now because of Covid. I might take her up on it after the holidays. We played together in our church’s praise band for several years.
I would definitely recommend getting a teacher. I think it’s much harder to learn on your own. And if you pick up bad habits, they’re hard to break.
I played seriously as a kid - almost majored in piano performance but realized I wasn’t good enough to be a soloist so I switched to engineering. We recently had our Steinway (left to my husband by his piano teacher) restored and I’m taking lessons remotely. It is so satisfying!
Warn your husband it will take a lot of hard work to get to the point where he can enjoy playing. It’s worth it but he needs to remember why he wants to play when he gets discouraged. Good luck to him! I really think playing piano improves cognitive skills and concentration. It improves my mood, too.
Another thing…if you find a teacher…there are a lot of adult piano series. Find one that is in the genre you like. For example, when one of my kids was “resistant” to taking piano, his fabulous teacher found some jazz and ragtime books that had pieces that were appealing to him.
Like I said…i want to play Christmas carols…and there are adult series that will get you to that.
If you like classical pieces…go for that.
If a teacher recommends a regular beginner series like John Thompson, find a different series. No adult should have to play hot cross buns!
My son-in-law has been teaching piano and percussion remotely for years, even before Covid, because his students are scattered across a wide geographic area. If you aren’t comfortable with in-person lessons right now, find a local teacher who is experienced with remote learning (it is tricky to teach music remotely) and then, when Covid passes, you could continue in-person lessons. A music school could set this up for you.
I take it all back again. Get a keyboard book. It should not be “a whole lot of hard work” to learn enough to have fun and get going. My Yamaha has weighted keys also but they can also be adjusted as to how hard the touch is. Perhaps yours does also.
Mine is in the middle at the moment. It makes a huge difference for me (like difference between an old typewriter and a computer keyboard).
Guess it really depends on your husband’s goals for himself. Does he want to play traditional piano or does he just want to learn enough to enjoy playing songs (for which learning chords and their inversions rather than the lower staff will definitely speed up the learning curve.)?
@Hoggirl - We once splurged on a Roland keyboard (table top and much less expensive than the link, but for us it was a splurge at the time… the ability to record to diskette was at the time good for some things are son was doing with his piano teacher). No regrets. After he graduated from college, it was the only thing he wanted shipped to him from our home. Shipping was over $100, but it did feel good to send it. We’ll never be able to ship him the real piano, unless he moves away from the damper climate.
My Christmas present is a Yamaha keyboard. I picked it out and bought it but I can’t open it until Christmas. I can take it up to our cabin so I can practice on weekends.
My child started online with a teacher.
It is very convenient and you can track the process.
There are also offline classes, depending on which city you are in.
Look at this site, maybe something will suit you
thebestpianoteachers. com
