Posted on 14-02-10, under General.
If you are like me, you often think how great it would be if you knew how to play the piano but you don’t actually think it’s something you could pick up. I thought that way for a long time, but then I came across some unbelievably simple lessons which have proven me wrong. I haven’t stopped practicing the piano since I found this resource!
When I started, I knew what a piano looked like, but I had not really taken notice of how the white and black keys make a pattern. That was the first little bit of instruction that helped me to realize that the piano might be decipherable after all. Since the keyboard could be broken down into sections, I had something to guide me in finding each individual key.
With those first lessons, I was able to start practicing the basic principles of piano playing. I started clapping out rhythms, writing and playing individual notes, and eventually I was tapping out simple melodies. Each lessons taught me something new and I would practice over and over, later on testing myself on each new skill to see how far I had advanced.
I always thought learning the piano was a slow process because that is how children are often taught, but I discovered that moving at my own pace I could advance quite rapidly. That satisfied me enough to make room in my daily life for regular practice sessions. I found wiggle room in my work and home schedule to make this happen.
Eventually, I wanted to play music beyond what I was learning through these lessons. I wanted to play something recognizable and familiar. That is when I headed to the store and purchased exactly what was suggested in my lessons: one Easy Piano Book and one Fake Book.
My Easy Piano Book was filled with familiar Broadway show tunes that I had heard throughout my life, and after learning rather quickly to sight read I was able to actually play many of them quite well.
The Fake Book, on the other hand, was full of modern pop songs. I had read through the lessons and found out how to use a Fake Book, so I quickly began. I did not know all the chords, so I looked up the new ones before I tried to play each song.
Soon I was playing songs that I had heard on the radio. This was just as fun as the Broadway songs, and my friends seemed to like it even better. It was a lot of fun for everyone, me included.
I am so glad that I took the time to learn the basics of piano playing. I am not a pro by any means. It does not matter to me. I never wanted to take the world by storm. I just wanted to learn something that would make me personally a little happier. And that is just what I did.