Is it too late to start learning a piano?

[Kyla]

The piano was always intriguing to me but I never dared to start practicing.. 

 

I am an active viola player and I love songwriting. Those two were always my favorite things about the music as an art. I also practice other arts as I am active in the theater with small roles and I love pencil drawing. 

 

I was thinking of finally owning up and starting to learn the piano but what if it is too late now? I am no longer even young adult and it was easy for me to learn the viola at the age of 14.

 

What are your thoughts on this? Did any of you try learning the piano in the older age? 

 

I know that I could learn a piano now but could I become really good at it? Does it matter if I wasn't practicing in the childhood? 

[john]

As an artist I’d love to see some of your drawings. I have posted a few of my drawings on here.

 

As to the piano... one of my friends took up piano as his only real instrument (other than a tortured guitar chord or two) in his 30s. Within a couple of years he was playing in bands.

 

I keep learning new instruments. It is something I have always enjoyed Constantly expanding skills and understanding... it just doesn’t get old for me.

[Kyla]

13 hours ago, john said:

As an artist I’d love to see some of your drawings. I have posted a few of my drawings on here.

 

As to the piano... one of my friends took up piano as his only real instrument (other than a tortured guitar chord or two) in his 30s. Within a couple of years he was playing in bands.

 

I keep learning new instruments. It is something I have always enjoyed Constantly expanding skills and understanding... it just doesn’t get old for me.

John, Thank you for your reply!
As my hard drive failed recently and I am in a friends city, visiting, I am unable to post many photos. I have these two but they are not very good scanned images of some of my flower drawings. I like to shade a lot with the pencil and take my time with the drawing. Scanner quality sucks so you won't get a chance to see how it really looks anytime soon unfortunately.. I also tried layering an additional gray layer of 20% opacity in PS because the scanner made them too bright and you could hardly see.
There they are: 

https://ibb.co/hdCavT

https://ibb.co/fRyFvT

I checked out your drawings and they are amazing! Much better than what I can draw. You can reach a higher level of realism, I loved that dog drawing. It really looks as if the dog is alive and has that emotion of the moment. Like he is about to "woof" anytime!  

So your friend is really good with the piano? In the meantime, I was checking out the possible options for the piano. Since I am going to try and do this I will have to have an instrument. The days of acoustics are over because of their high price and lack of features. I read a lot about the digitals yesterday and I am pretty sure that I will be getting a digital piano. The additional features it will provide me will probably keep me attached to the instrument and make the learning far more interesting, which is kind of important for me as I am easily distracted with other things like drawing
Do you happen to know about the digital pianos? I was thinking of going with something like yamaha p-115. I really like the features and people overall say its good. It is in my price range but then there are other manufacturers too. I am actually afraid of buying something just because by my own research it looks good because I was wrong before and this is not a small decision. Basically half of my paycheck will go to it :/ 
Can you tell me if you think, from your experience at least, that this is a good option? Or even better can you ask your friend? Or if he is on the forum, I can send the pm

 

54 minutes ago, Rob Ash said:

 

I assume you are not intrinsically especially gifted, and are not from another more advanced planet far away. These things being true, I feel safe in saying that although Julliard and a career with The Met may be slightly unrealistic, expectation-wise, it is never not possible to learn something new, even when learning a thing involves inherent difficulty. Will drives all, Kyla. If you possess some degree of inherent musicality and musical ability, I would assume you lack nothing major that would prevent you from learning to play piano proficiently.

 

Oh... some small measure of stick-to-it-iveness would help, as well. Skill on piano, for most, does not come overnight.

 

Best of luck if you choose to proceed, and please, by all means, keep us appraised of your progress. Audio links and video posts would be not only appropriate, but welcomed and encouraged.

 

You may have noticed that this is a fine, fine place to share that very sort of thing.

 

 

Your assumptions are correct lol 
I think I that I am convinced to try learning it! And I will keep you updated once the learning starts! This forum is definitely a place to share the process!
It will not be an overnight thing thats for sure.. But let it be an overYEAR thing and I will be VERY happy

[Rudi]

I cant think of a harder type of instrument to learn than traditional strings. You've done that.

 

I cant think of an easier instrument to learn than keys.

 

Go for it.

[Steve]

I'm  still trying to learn the piano. Why would it be too late? We are all constantly learning something! It might as well be focused on the piano as much as anything else!  Just do it.

[starise]

On 6/24/2018 at 7:56 AM, Rudi said:

I cant think of a harder type of instrument to learn than traditional strings. You've done that.

 

I cant think of an easier instrument to learn than keys.

 

Go for it.

 I'm with Rudi on this one.

Piano is actually one of the easiest instruments to learn and gives results faster than many others. One thing that makes it easy is the keys are repeated in octaves but the fingerings are the same. If you learn fingerings in one octave then you have all others. 

Probably the easiest way to learn is to learn basic chords, then move on to more complex chords.  A major triad is simply the root of the chord, the 3rd and the 5th. Most music is built off of these chords or variations of them. Once you know basic scales and chords you have the building blocks of anything you want to do.

Hint- I would begin with C and G because they are the easiest then move up to D A, B and E scales. Yeah, a good pianist can play in Db off the cuff, but you won't need to do that. The only real reason to play on less popular keys is to make it line up ok with your vocal ranges and in some keys certain music sounds better.

[MikeRobinson]

The thing that always attracted me to piano (and organ) is:  "well, there they [all] are."  Every note is right there, and the black/white pattern of the keys immediately illustrates the "C" scale – but also, the fundamental pattern of every scale.  This appealed to my computer-programming sensibilities, even as an eight-year old.  I never even considered the guitar until I was thirty years old, and "the pianoforte is still my forte."

 

While I treasure the fact that for a time I got to play a 🤩 fifteen-foot Bösendorfer grand piano 🤩  .... ohmygodohmygodohmygod ... at a local church where I was subbing, my instruments today are all electronic.  (I sold the Hammond M-3 that I grew up with to a local band who loves getting "that B-3 sound" in a smaller space.  I still love to watch them play it.)

 

My technique was never really that good – I'm competent enough at Für Elise and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, but that's about it.  However, "I have a digital computer."  Music scoring software, a DAW= "perfect digital word-processor," patience, curiosity, "I consider it a privilege to play music," and a deeply-ingrained habit to "record everything, even when I'm 'just noodling.'"  (And, when composing or writing, "never actually throw anything away.")

Edited July 18, 2018 by MikeRobinson

[Steve]

On 7/18/2018 at 3:30 PM, Rob Ash said:

 

Don't think I've ever mentioned it. Steve, but that's a grand profile pic, bro. I have always assumed that is you, but obviously don't know that it is. Draws a smile every time I see it. That hat is.... attention grabbing, for sure...🙃

 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

 

Thanks Rob. It is indeed me, although the hat is sadly demised!

[Capo3tanya]

I have a question on this topic...

 

I have a piano and I tinker with it.  Taught myself Canon in D (or is it G) and a bit of Moonlight Sonata (have the sheet music not by ear).  I am also self taught on guitar.  Is it a bad idea to continue on the piano without lessons?  I know that teaching myself guitar has limited me terribly.  If I had had lessons beginning at 9 years old instead of me going at it myself... whoah.  Have no idea what I'd be doing right now.  

 

So basically, is it worth it to get piano lessons before I ruin myself?  

Edited July 27, 2018 by Capo3tanya

[starise]

I think that not taking lessons with any instrument can be limiting, only if it's just a few lessons to get started correctly. The main thing with piano is you're supposed to learn the correct fingers to use and ways to roll your fingers over the notes fast. This can usually only be done in certain ways. I took a few lessons but I also took on some bad habits that hurt my playing speed later on. I kept playing for years the wrong way. I can play but any competent teacher would probably stop me in the middle of the music to tell me I'm doing it wrong. Hasn't stopped me from playing but I think it made some things more difficult. I did the same thing with guitar. Learned basic stuff and then did all the rest the wrong way. I'm too old to care about it now. I just enjoy playing.

 

My most recent instrument- The violin, has been a real challenge because I made it a point to learn everything the right way. It takes longer to learn the right way...and it's expensive in lessons but I think it's worth it. I'm 2 1/2 years into it and I can play  that instrument, but it will still probably take me another few years to play it without a second thought.

 

For those who aren't close to a teacher or can't take lessons there are online YouTube videos that can help. The main thing is to get a solid foundation in my opinion.

Edited July 27, 2018 by starise

[Capo3tanya]

Awesome advice, thank you! I tend to just sit down in spurts and do my own thing, maybe I should pay more attention to how it's properly done. Sounds nice but I know the technique is allll wrong. 

[ehgore1978]

Totally can learn now infact with the internet (Youtube etc) it is probably easier, just start off with basic chord shapes and continue on from there.  GO FOR IT!

[starise]

On 7/27/2018 at 4:33 PM, Capo3tanya said:

Awesome advice, thank you! I tend to just sit down in spurts and do my own thing, maybe I should pay more attention to how it's properly done. Sounds nice but I know the technique is allll wrong. 

 

Yeah I did that too. Got me into a lot of trouble. I think some people are more inclined to absorb instruction and the rest of us just want to go about making music lol.. I can't sit for more than 5 or 10 minutes of a training video without it loosing me. I need instruction in short amounts. Some people can sit absorbed into a video for hours. 

The whole left brained-right brained thing is applicable. Most of us can't do both well at the same time. Most of us are better at one than the other. I'm "out there" in terms of getting connected to technique. The flip side is we might have a great song idea while the left brainers are tinkering on their computers. There are both advantages and disadvantages.

 

 

[Capo3tanya]

Absolutely true, well put @starise!!!  I'm completely left handed and right brained, I get what you are saying.

[john]

On 8/9/2018 at 3:53 PM, starise said:

 

Yeah I did that too. Got me into a lot of trouble. I think some people are more inclined to absorb instruction and the rest of us just want to go about making music lol.. I can't sit for more than 5 or 10 minutes of a training video without it loosing me. I need instruction in short amounts. Some people can sit absorbed into a video for hours. 

The whole left brained-right brained thing is applicable. Most of us can't do both well at the same time. Most of us are better at one than the other. I'm "out there" in terms of getting connected to technique. The flip side is we might have a great song idea while the left brainers are tinkering on their computers. There are both advantages and disadvantages.

 

 

 

Knowing that, a simple practice regimen that reflects that reality should be easy to put together... learn a bit, play a bit, learn a bit, play a bit blah blah

 

what I often do is, learn a bit, shift to learn something completely different,  shift to learn something else etc.

 

practice for me is also divided up:

 

• play it it slow and accurate
• play it as fast as I can, mistakes be damned! Lol
• play it at the proper speed

 

at each cycle through the 3 I work on different aspects of detail

 

this keeps me fresh and interested. If I do find myself drifting, I play a different song, even a different instrument, and then come back to it.

 

not only does it help my head, it helps me remember it more effectively.

[MikeRobinson]

Something else that's fun to do is ... "play it, and record it in Logic."  Now, look at it.  Maybe you "clammed" a couple notes:  go fix them.  Now listen again.  When you hear a performance, even if it's yours, "suddenly it's not-quite 'yours' anymore."

 

I have never had strong hand-eye coordination, e.g. to "sight read" music as some of my friends can so easily do.  But I've found that I can "give an expressive performance" and then go back and clean it up using that "magical musical word-processor."  And certainly, being able to look at that performance has pointed out to me some of the mistakes that I more commonly make.