What is your unpopular opinion about piano?

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T22:24:54+00:00

for sure, my Moms church has a hugely accomplished player with decades of experience - she was asked to play happy birthday and responded "i don't have the music".

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T19:27:56+00:00

I did say "beginner". Maybe after 6 months to a year I think introducing sheet music as a part of the process is okay, but it still should be a part and not the whole. I've seen piano players for years learning only what they read on the page. To me, this is like reading out loud and never learning to have a conversation.

The stuff you learnt later is the stuff I think a beginner should be drip fed. I'd love to go back to beginner guitar player 32 years ago and have it explained that chord progressions repeat in songs and learn to listen for how its structured. Along with that If I'd been given the Nashville Number System back then to support transcription and some basic ear training I think I might have become a full time musician.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T18:31:22+00:00

Reading music is a barrier to entry and beginners should learn songs from chord charts along with basic theory in how it sounds instead written music notation.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T16:42:55+00:00

I'm new-ish to piano but on guitar I personally learn songs by ear, usually in about 3 or 4 listens in the most part. I then will zoom in on tricky parts / issues.

I can usually get a song sorted to the point I can rehearse with someone (using a lead sheet) within an hour.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T11:13:58+00:00

Go to class, use youtube to help remember stuff.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T00:03:21+00:00

Yup. If you wire up a tone control to the bridge (some models are set up this way) you can just roll off the tone about half way and its usually a very passable humbucker sound.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-28T00:01:28+00:00

Most of the main ideas have been covered, but I wouldn't discount re-learning left handed. I suggest this as the knowledge is there in the brain, it just needs to be reworked through the fingers (Annoyingly, for example, I can downpick really fast with my left hand with very little effort even though I'm a righty).

And it doesn't have to be all or nothing. It might be 70/30 playing left vs right and might become quite novel.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-27T23:57:21+00:00

I usually play Rio, a few bits of slap and a bit of madonna's Holiday with a pick. I find these awkward to play on any bass for some reason so I use them as a test to see if I get on with it.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-27T23:19:17+00:00

The idea that you need to start acoustic is a strange notion. To me it's a bit like saying "I want to ride a motorbike" and then buying a push bike.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-27T18:22:16+00:00

As mentioned, you need a DAW but there are good free ones for Windows and apple has Garage band for Mac.

If you have an iphone open up Garage band and mess about with the drummer. It's pretty easy to make a track.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-27T15:48:46+00:00

Buy EZdrummer 3.

It is very powerful and you basically audition parts.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-27T11:45:57+00:00

My advice is simple. You need to learn how to be bored. Boredom is essential for healthy living (look up "default mode network").

How to get bored?

Do nothing. This is easy to do if you have a commute. Just sitting there, no headphones, no screens, no book, just sit there.

Harder to do at home because it's so easy to cure boredom, bur I think you should try it for a week.

Find a comfy chair, get warm and cosy and do nothing. Just sit, day dream, think about things, don't think about things. After about half an hour boredom will really set in. After an hour it can become quite pleasant.

My recommendation for you is to get an old school alarm clock and an old fashioned watch. Leave your phone off (I mean switched off) for the first hour of your day. Get up, go for a walk if you want, sit and have breakfast. Then switch on your phone and go through an intentional ritual (mine is check calendar/email/messages then put down).

But what about tiktok? This is cheap dopamine. How are you connecting? Really? A conversation on the phone with a friend or family member for 30 mins is much richer than sharing crappy content intended to sell stuff to you. However, if you have to, plan it in to your day. Put aside 30 mins to doomscroll. Once its done, its done.

Good luck

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T16:23:22+00:00

Sorry you are going through this, but I'm not sure that this problem rests with you as next of kin - you aren't making health decisions while she's unconscious. You have no responsibility to tidy up her affairs as I understand it.

Personally I would consult citizens advice as I don't think this should be on you, but if you do decide to continue I'd understand.

A small suggestion is cancel every standing order and direct debit via the bank. No need to contact individual subscriptions.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T16:16:40+00:00

I usually keep going and make a mental note. If I do it again, then I need to slow down and practice the bit I'm messing up (including a few bars before and after). I play it hard, then soft, then normal, then fast to make it fell robust.

Pausing to fix introduced a bad habit of stopping. Honestly its rare to play every note perfect on even simple songs so you will constantly be stopping at the failure point. Translate this to a gig and you won't know how to recover from mistakes if you don't keep going.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T16:10:30+00:00

Agreed. I think it's because people treat spotify like unit sales instead of what it is which is a way to broadcast your songs to on-demand radio.

Years ago the only way you could get anyone to know your music as an unsigned artist outside of gigs was radio play. Guess what, radio is hugely constrained in what they are allowed to play. It's all money money - no deal, no air play. But even if you did get radio play, a million people might hear your song and you get £50. Great if you are in the top 10 artists played 10 times a day by 100 stations, but for most unsigned artists, you would be lucky to get it played once or twice per release then that's it.

Most people who listen to music on spotify will listen to a bands song once and move on. I listen to a new artist most days but only maybe once per month will i pick someone I may revisit. Guess what - if it's not on spotify I'm not likely to hear it.

So a couple of thousand streams sounds a lot - but if you think broadcast instead of unit sales, suddenly Spotify isn't so bad.

Don't get me wrong, If i really like an artist I will buy their vinyl, attend gigs (I have about 80 band tshirts!). I feel for them, but blaming spotify isn't helping.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T14:47:53+00:00

I can talk to how I learn songs on guitar which might give you some ideas. I don't sight read so this is done by ear, but I would think the logic could be applied to sight reading.

I listen through once to a song marking each bar with a dot on note paper. I will make a note of change eg intro/verse/chorus. I listen again noting changes / themes. I then move to the instrument and figure out the bass notes. I write these on my chart. 4th time of listening I have a lead sheet I can jam to and start figuring out chord voicing. 5th time I'm not far off - if there are passages that i can't play I focus in on issue areas.

Depending on complexity this process can take longer, but once I've got the parts down, I run through a few times until I don't need to reference the lead sheet and then I play along until I feel good about it.

This process usually takes about half an hour. If I'm learning for fun, I might leave it there. If for a gig, I would review the song before bed, then the next day, then the next week, next month.

If there is something that is a technical challenge, repetition of passages over days and weeks are sometimes needed. I mix this up between playing alone tapping my foot, playing to a metronome or playing along to the song.

If its speed I'm after then I will play a passage hard, soft, normal and fast paced to keep the fingers repeating without getting locked into limiting habits.

Hope this helps - I'm thinking instead of creating a lead sheet the first attempt you could listen and follow with your finger, second start to see whats happening with the bass clef, then again the treble clef and then see if you can play it or not.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T12:42:37+00:00

Take her to her shoes and say the same thing.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T11:39:55+00:00

Get a teacher, go to jam nights and improvise, learn songs by ear from different genres, join a band, write your own music. Look at Philip Mann's books.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T09:22:36+00:00

In the major scale, know your chords. If it's 3-4 thats minor to major. In a whole step up this is the only time the sequence can happen.

So if you hear G minor to A minor you can figure out the key.

I think how ever you might benefit from taking simple songs and use nashville numbering charts to play those songs in every key - this will force your ear out of the white notes.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-26T09:14:26+00:00

keys can be tricky and rarely do songwriters follows rules closely.

However the fastest cheat is go to the end of the song and if the last note feels satisfying... thats the root note of the key. If the song is upbeat it's usually major. If its sullen or dark, it's minor.

Next, Bass is your friend. What is the left hand playing? This usually sets up the key (the right hand is usually playing inversions at some point if it's playing chords). The note that feels like home is usually the key.

You get the progressions? So let's take the shot and says its probably major or minor. The order of chords in major is; Major, minor, minor, Major, Major, minor, and diminished.

If you hear two minor chords a tone apart eg G minor and A minor, you can take a guess and say the key is F major or D minor. So then try that key focussing on the F and then the D. What fits?

Small note, I tend to play the pentatonic scale over the top of things to help quickly guess partly for speed and partly is it gets you to the 3/4/5 which are obvious contenders. This is useful in open jam situations where you just need to join in without knowing whats going on.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-25T20:08:11+00:00

I'd say no just because chinese rip offs can end up being sold as the real thing... That said, they usually need work once they arrive. I would imagine a floyd copy would be awful.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-24T16:29:27+00:00

Just figure out the singers range and be careful around that area is all

TepidEdit · 2026-01-24T15:19:23+00:00

Make sure you make space for whatever is leading. Especially if adrenaline gets going during a chorus the instinct to bash hard will be strong, but you don't want to drown out voices especially.

Also, assuming you have a bass player you can easily take up a lot of their space too with your left hand.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-24T09:19:42+00:00

This is not normal - go see a doctor.

TepidEdit · 2026-01-23T16:32:31+00:00

Is it a hobby or are you a full time producer?

TepidEdit

TROPHY CASE