- Joined
- Feb 17, 2002
- Messages
- 14,663
- Reaction score
- 105
Since I know we have a few musical folks on the forum, I'd like some pointers. I have always wanted to be able to play keyboard instruments, but never put much time into practice, much less formal lessons. I have "played" them quite a bit for free-form music projects with friends, so my experience is mostly with improv type of stuff. I can read treble clef all right, but when I try to, I still think in terms of trumpet fingering, rather than notes or keys on the keyboard. I can't sight read bass clef at all, and my left hand is considerably less dextrous than my right when it comes to playing keyboards. Also, I've never thought of much but the melody in music, having always been second or first chair trumpet, which doesn't see much harmony time.
My goal is just to be able to play a keyboard (ideally a Rhodes piano, but more realistically it will be a MIDI controller with a hardware or software sampler or soft-synth, and sometimes a synth keyboard) with basic capacity for medium-easy pop songs. Eventually, I'd like to get proficient enough to do more technical improv stuff in the realm of Herbie Hancock or similar jazz/fusion/rock type stuff, and for more ambient work. I can think, (badly) scat-sing, or whistle improv'd notes along with a track pretty well, but putting them down in an instrument is quite another thing.
I guess my question is, what path I should take toward learning this that will get me where I want to be, while keeping me interested? I get bored pretty quickly with drills, but I assume some amount of that is going to be required. I also have pretty bad habits that I'll need to break/not reinforce. Are there any methods/books/programs/whatever anyone can recommend to get me started?
Finally, since I'd love to get an actual Rhodes or other hammer-type electric piano at some point, should I invest in a weighted keyboard to learn on? The vast majority of my playing will undoubtedly be on non-weighted keyboards/controllers, and weighted ones are pretty limited, unwieldy and take up a fair bit of space. For right now I will probably start out with my semi-broken Korg MS2000 (my friend says the DAC is probably fried) since I already have it and the keyboard part is fine, but I'd like something like the Novation Remote SL. I guess the question is, if you learn on unweighted plastic keyboards, how hard is it to play an actual hammer/lever instrument when you have access to one?
Thanks for any advice.
My goal is just to be able to play a keyboard (ideally a Rhodes piano, but more realistically it will be a MIDI controller with a hardware or software sampler or soft-synth, and sometimes a synth keyboard) with basic capacity for medium-easy pop songs. Eventually, I'd like to get proficient enough to do more technical improv stuff in the realm of Herbie Hancock or similar jazz/fusion/rock type stuff, and for more ambient work. I can think, (badly) scat-sing, or whistle improv'd notes along with a track pretty well, but putting them down in an instrument is quite another thing.
I guess my question is, what path I should take toward learning this that will get me where I want to be, while keeping me interested? I get bored pretty quickly with drills, but I assume some amount of that is going to be required. I also have pretty bad habits that I'll need to break/not reinforce. Are there any methods/books/programs/whatever anyone can recommend to get me started?
Finally, since I'd love to get an actual Rhodes or other hammer-type electric piano at some point, should I invest in a weighted keyboard to learn on? The vast majority of my playing will undoubtedly be on non-weighted keyboards/controllers, and weighted ones are pretty limited, unwieldy and take up a fair bit of space. For right now I will probably start out with my semi-broken Korg MS2000 (my friend says the DAC is probably fried) since I already have it and the keyboard part is fine, but I'd like something like the Novation Remote SL. I guess the question is, if you learn on unweighted plastic keyboards, how hard is it to play an actual hammer/lever instrument when you have access to one?
Thanks for any advice.