Keyboard / General

[Romantique Tp]

I think we never had a thread like this before, so I thought it would be ok to start it.

About a month ago I got myself a standard 61 key MIDI controller, and I have been practicing every day by looking at ZUN's MIDIs and playing the notes as they are shown in them. I think I might have improved a little since I first started playing, but so far I can't play anything that requires me to use more than 1 finger at once. Any tips for improving other than "do it until you get it right" ?

Also, when googling for "keyboard basics" I noticed that most sites jump straight to explaining what chords are and sometimes how to play them. I know they are important for rhythm playing, but are they really necessary so early on ? Do you think it would be beneficial to take lessons from someone ? And for the more experienced players here, what was the first thing you learned ?

[Drake]

actual formal piano lessons

fo srs

[Patorikku]

Yeah, formal piano lessons are usually the way to go. Generally, you have to learn to use more than one finger at a time to get anywhere with the keyboard, and playing two hands at the same time is an absolute must. Keyboard and piano players are generally expected to be able to play both a melody and harmony line within a song, which is usually made specifically for keyboards. You generally learn how to do that sort of stuff from formal piano lessons. There are also finger exercises that help prepare your hand for quick playing and such.

The first thing I learned was how to play the melodies to several songs. I think I was about into Grade 1 or Pre-Grade book B before I used both hands.

[KrackoCloud]

Echo-ing the formal lessons idea. It's the best way to go.

But besides that, you honestly shouldn't go straight to ZUN music. It's a big difficulty jump.
Go buy a kids' or beginners' piano book! Endure the boredom. You gotta start simple.

[Drake]

I wouldn't say "don't start with ZUN music" because it's hard because it isn't necessarily; but don't start with it, because it's very unorthodox. Very.

[DX7.EP]

I'm also on the same boat, though with a 49-key (M-Audio Keyrig 49) and 25-key (Akai LPK25) instead. Violin experience has helped me a great bit (especially my left fingers), but I have a tough time with coordinating both hands' actions.

Recommending formal piano lessons and basic rudimentary books, for sure.
Garageband also does a half-decent introduction to piano keyboard if you have Mac, but you don't seem to have it. Those have helped me a good bit.

Though I use it for writing music, sometimes I find myself writing in a very different manner.
Instead of taking out my MIDI Controller keyboard , I often use OpenMPT (a Windows-based tracker program but it works well under WINE) to write down basic loops and melodies. I can then export them to MIDI files and have my DAW take them in, from which I can tweak the rest.
I don't always do this, however, since tracker's heavily geared towards electronic music and isn't as ergonomic for creating melodies (arrangement by patterns and loops).