Piano Learning Question

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Creativemind
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28 Sep 2017

Hi All!

Just a quick question....just started my journey trying to learn the piano again for about the 4th time lol!

To all experienced players...how important is it you remember what note each key is? like every white key to the left of all of the 2 black keys is a C note for instance. does it benefit you in playing chords faster later on?

I know it's very handy knowing which string each string is on the guitar and knowing your A to G# to work certain things out, like starting notes for bass lines etc.

Thanks!
:reason:

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QVprod
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28 Sep 2017

There's only a total of 12 different keys A-G (white keys) with the corresponding sharps/flats (black keys). The pattern repeats visually as well as sonically. There's no reason not to know all of them. Hard to play an E min chord when you don't know where E is. Simply by playing a C major scale (all white keys from C to C), you've already played all of the notes baring sharps/flats.

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Oquasec
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28 Sep 2017

88 pitches in total [90+ for some pianos]
So scales & chords & sheet music.
Producer/Programmer.
Reason, FLS and Cubase NFR user.

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CaliforniaBurrito
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28 Sep 2017

QVprod wrote:
28 Sep 2017
Simply by playing a C major scale (all white keys from C to C), you've already played all of the notes baring sharps/flats.
Too much boring C major out there.

Go with A Minor - all white keys from A to A. :D

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QVprod
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28 Sep 2017

CaliforniaBurrito wrote:
28 Sep 2017
QVprod wrote:
28 Sep 2017
Simply by playing a C major scale (all white keys from C to C), you've already played all of the notes baring sharps/flats.
Too much boring C major out there.

Go with A Minor - all white keys from A to A. :D
:lol: But he already knows where C is. He has to learn where A is to do that first. ;)

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AttenuationHz
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28 Sep 2017

A to G! If you know your alphabet then you're half way there. If you know how to play Guitar then you can bring that across to piano easily because a piano is also a stringed instrument ;)

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Reasonable man
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28 Sep 2017

C, G, D, A and then E (key of the blues) . Then F and Bflat . That could take 6 months minamum to get your head around for a start! But after years of using Reason you are obviously a hardened lateral thinker already, So it shouldn't be too overwhelmimg. I'm sure there must be a realively cheap online tutorial course that would keep you focused.

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Creativemind
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29 Sep 2017

Yeah A is the white key to the left of the 3rd black note of all the 3 black keys (between the 2nd and 3rd black note of the 3)
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
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QVprod
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29 Sep 2017

Creativemind wrote:
29 Sep 2017
Yeah A is the white key to the left of the 3rd black note of all the 3 black keys (between the 2nd and 3rd black note of the 3)
That response was a joke. But if you can identify C and A then you're most of the way there already.

EdGrip
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29 Sep 2017

It's a total cliche, but just write the notes on the keys. Just do one octave, the middle C octave. Then it'll just happen. You'll soon know them with no effort involved.

Yeah, you pretty much have to know them.

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Creativemind
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29 Sep 2017

EdGrip wrote:
29 Sep 2017
It's a total cliche, but just write the notes on the keys. Just do one octave, the middle C octave. Then it'll just happen. You'll soon know them with no effort involved.

Yeah, you pretty much have to know them.
Sounds like a plan.
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
http://soundcloud.com/creativemind75/iv ... soul-mix-3

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AttenuationHz
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29 Sep 2017

Creativemind wrote:
29 Sep 2017
EdGrip wrote:
29 Sep 2017
It's a total cliche, but just write the notes on the keys. Just do one octave, the middle C octave. Then it'll just happen. You'll soon know them with no effort involved.

Yeah, you pretty much have to know them.
Sounds like a plan.
Or better yet crab a few of these in your local stationary shop. Different sizes available and a range of colours. Masking tape would work too!

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avasopht
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30 Sep 2017

Chairs and forks.

The two black notes are the legs of chairs. Chair begins with C. The white note on the left of the two black notes is therefore C.

The three black notes are the tines of a fork. Fork begins with F. The white note on the left of the three black notes is therefore F.

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mcatalao
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03 Oct 2017

Very important, specially if you're REALLY into piano playing.

The idea is to use the black keys as position markers to the rest. You know that you have two groups of black keys, one with 2 keys, and another with 3, at the left of the 2 blacks there C, at the right is E, and so on.

Then it is very important to know your place on the full keyboard, and that's practice on the position technique - there's a right way to sit at the piano and there are 10000000000000000 wrong ways. Generally speaking you should sit at the middle, with your right foot at the side of the right pedal, and from here you can build your positioning for the whole keyboard.

IMHO, you should NOT use stickers (and man, I'll personally beat the crap out of you if you write on the piano keys!!!!). Again If you're really into piano playing at some time you will have to learn sight reading. So think of it, you can't read a book without looking at it, so you can't read a music sheet if you're not looking at the paper because you're looking at the keys. Some of the best keyboard players in the world were blind, and most classical piano musicians, only look at the keys for VERY big complex jumps.

I'm classically trained on piano and flute, and i sight read both instruments (I've improved my sight reading a lot in the last years) and one of the things that helped me was to use these placement techniques.

Good Luck!
MC

lzap
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05 Oct 2017

It is crucial, really. But the thing is, you will learn this "for free", as you will play more and more songs and chords. I started with piano beginning this year (December last year to be honest) and I can tell you that I am able now to find any key right away. If you want to hop from one chord to another, you really need to know where to put your fingers. But this came "for free" as I made thousands mistakes first. The best thing is if you make a mistake, you hear it immediately. So you learn fast.

My piano is lame so far, but at least I can recognize keys, some chords and (very slowly) read notes in C major:




This is Reason and Radical Piano of course :-)

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Exowildebeest
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05 Oct 2017

I can't believe this is a serious question to be honest :shock:

It's like asking how important it is to know which pedal in a car is gas and which is brake - 'approximately' knowing which is which half the time isn't enough to say "I've learned how to drive".

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Creativemind
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05 Oct 2017

Exowildebeest wrote:
05 Oct 2017
I can't believe this is a serious question to be honest :shock:

It's like asking how important it is to know which pedal in a car is gas and which is brake - 'approximately' knowing which is which half the time isn't enough to say "I've learned how to drive".
Well none are gas, one is the accelerator though. :D
:reason:

Reason Studio's 11.3 / Cockos Reaper 6.82 / Cakewalk By Bandlab / Orion 8.6
http://soundcloud.com/creativemind75/iv ... soul-mix-3

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Exowildebeest
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05 Oct 2017

Creativemind wrote:
05 Oct 2017
Exowildebeest wrote:
05 Oct 2017
I can't believe this is a serious question to be honest :shock:

It's like asking how important it is to know which pedal in a car is gas and which is brake - 'approximately' knowing which is which half the time isn't enough to say "I've learned how to drive".
Well none are gas, one is the accelerator though. :D
Okay I shouldn't be talking about cars without a driver's license :lol:

And I can't play piano either, so really, what the hell do I know. Except for where the notes are on a keyboard of course :P

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aeox
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05 Oct 2017

Exowildebeest wrote:
05 Oct 2017
Creativemind wrote:
05 Oct 2017


Well none are gas, one is the accelerator though. :D
Okay I shouldn't be talking about cars without a driver's license :lol:

And I can't play piano either, so really, what the hell do I know. Except for where the notes are on a keyboard of course :P
I can play a little bit but have no clue what keys are what :D Not that I'm some pianist or anything, just enough to come up with some chord progression ideas/melodies.

It's just pattern recognition and muscle memory.

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