Hello from Norway

Hi there
I'm Petter, a starter when it comes to learn playing. As many people i've had a guitar gathering dust in a corner for years. Resently i felt for learn playing the "proper" way, and when looking on internet i stumbled over Andrew's lessons on youtube. Hehe, you might have got me hooked there Andrew, this looks really interesting.
As a start i'm now in contact with a Norwegian store to buy a Yamaha P-95 digital piano. Why digital? well, we can eaven get achoustic pianos for free from private people around the country, but they need to be tuned. I've heard of prices up to around 3200,- euro to get it tuned. I can't afford that so i'm better off with Yamaha P-95 for around 764,- Euro as a starter piano.
Since im saving for this instrument i will be tapping on my table 2 more months i guess. lol. Hopefully im good to go first week in March.

Your lessons is interesting, and im going through them to get an idea what to work with. My taste in music is wide, but when it comes to piano i think i like classic most.. maybe. We have this Norwegian composer i'd like to look closer on (if i get playskills), called Edvard Grieg. But ofcourse i would like to learn many melodies. lol i better take one step a time.

I just want to thank you for giving us a chanse to learn playing and support with lessons.

Petter

Welcome to the forum, Petter (I guess it's a common Norwegian name)! 3200 euros to get a piano tuned? I never heard of such expensive piano tuning. Maybe you mean 320 euros? I searched on Google for piano tuning here in Sweden and I found for example prices of: 990 SEK (110 eur), 1600 SEK (178 eur) and 950 SEK (106 eur). It's not that much when you think about it (you need to tune maybe once or twice a year but ofc the piano may also need services like repairs, hammer voicing etc.). I guess prices are more expensive in Norway though. Well I have a digital piano myself but I think it would be better to get an acoustic one but atm I don't have room for it (or at least not enough room for both a digital one and an acoustic).
Anyways, I recommend that you check out the Fundamentals of Piano Practice:
http://c0431582.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/book.pdf
It's a really good and free book about piano practice methods and I'm sure it will help you practice better and learn faster.

WELCOME to the forum!!!
Since you don't have a piano yet, meanwhile you can read the book Rickard suggested. I think this book is REALLY good. This way when you start to practice in your piano you will have a very good idea of the correct practicing methods.

Thanks for the Welcome and tips
I have downloaded the book, and several sheets so i can practise note reading. Interesting stuff. Think ill buy me some piano music too, so i can get the feeling for how music is played by musicians.

"i've had a guitar gathering dust in a corner for years"

I'm not gonna make you go away from the piano idea, but while you wait you should check out: http://justinguitar.com/

You'll be playing guitar in no time, and I cant think of anything more fun than a guitar. Beside playing the piano or violin. I found the violin to be very playable in the dark, much easier than the piano. Not that I usually play in the dark.

As for the tuningpart of an acoustic piano, it shouldnt be more than 1500 nok. Or you could tune it yourself using a digital tuner to make sure the frequence is right. Alot of strings to tune tho.

Howdy =)
Thanks for your reply Victor
yes, ive been practising a little on the guitar lately for the music theory, and its nice. it helps out. Lol, my nails broke again, but i can still do a little. Also been looking up prises on tuning pianos, i think the one telling me prices must have missed on somethiing. Better not trust all i hear i guess.
I have this acoustic/electric guitar with a Sienna 16 Kustom speaker, wich i tried out for few days now. Whas nice . Only 5 strings, hehe but whas fun to try again. Can play some but not great.
With the theory im now following several types of music on the radio pretty ok and can hear what sort of timesignature the music is in. I could that before too sort of, but never payed attention to it as long as i could play to what i heard. Well, some of the classical pieces is mixing time-signatures, so they can be a bit tricky. But its progress. Also bpm is changing, so have to keep focus on that too. Another thing is that im tapping the rythm while counting. swaping between tapping with both hands, one hands, swaping fingers, and just using "scalepattern" with my fingers, to try make each finger more unindependant from the others. for each day i do this, each of my fingers is more controllable, and i get better feeling for rythms etc. This improves also my guitar playing.
Snce my guitar is electrical too, i'd like to put the piano and the guitar into my computer if i get that good iwth songs, and try record and burn on cd. Lol, but it wil take some time to get that far.
Looking forward to learn more and start palying. Im having fun still with theory =)

Hi Petter,

I agree. Start reading and learning. You'll be surprised at how much you can learn without a piano.

Good luck with the learning when you finally get a piano.

Christmas came early this year =)
Got my Yamaha P95 today, with stand and pedal. The pedal (i got an extra) seems to work fine.. Sustain changes depending on how much i release it. So at last i can start learning scales and hear the tunes. Whas a bit odd feeling of the keys on a piano, hehe compared with guitar-strings. so have to get used to the feel of piano keys. but only a few min i feel a little improvement. now ill be less online and more on the piano... at least thats the plan
The hard part lies ahead i guess. But i'm looking forward to try this out now

Congratulations! Have fun with your piano

Hello Petter and welcome to this forum. Greetings (hilsen) from another Nordic country!

Congratulations on your P95, I have it's predecessor, P85. Got it in Malmö Sweden for 5.000 svenska kronor last summer, about 500 Euros I think. The P95 is supposed to be some improvement over the other one.

Thanks =)
Yes it sounds ok for me as a starter. But then again most thing sounds better than my desk, lol. Got eager here, its 06:00 in the morning, early up >.<
Nice price Pianonoted
I whas lucky too because the store is selling out instruments beacuse of (opphørs salg) they might be closing if they dont get new place to rent to move the store to. So payed about 552 Eur (4300 Nkr) including stand and sound cable to connect to my computer (not midi).
Not impressed by the stand btw, had to buy some wood which i mounted on top of stand to keep the piano steady. but its sorted now. Been practising scales and trying harmonies and a few eeasy melodies.
Actually took me few hours to get sligtly used to the piano keys, but things loosen up when i think of my fingers as hammers, and pressing the key all the way down ( as Andrew talked about in his video )
Still have to improve single key volume, and tempo. lol but this is fun so far

Nice Petter, congrats on the P95, enjoy yourself.

Thanks
I bought a note sheet today "Sonata quasi una Fantasia" - lol 17 pages >.<
Tempo is set to Adagio (52 bpm) in C# Minor - should be slow enough, lol - although im still on page 1. This is fun =)

If you are a beginner then maybe it's better for you to start on pieces in an easier key. Most people start on C major (or A minor, it's relative minor key) which has no sharps or flats, only white keys.

Then you can gradually work your way up according to the circle of fifths. The next key would be G, which has one sharp, F#. Look at Andrew's video on the circle of fifths (again, you've probably seen it.)

I've benefitted from this site here. It has many pieces in nice arrangements in categories ranging from easy to intermediate. I find it best to start with easy pieces and gradually increase the difficulty level.

You can both download the sheet music (PDF) or in MIDI format. You can use a program like Synthesia to play the MIDI files, but beware that you don't learn to read notes from it. I sometimes use it if the piece I'm playing is difficult, lot of hand movement, different lenght of notes and such. Then I try to play the same piece from the sheet music.

Thanks for nice tip im almost done with first page on the sonata, and i agree its better to start with easier things. black keys whasnt too hard, but there are some theory i need to learn more of. It'll take long time to come through this melody, so will work a little on the sonata in between the lessons and easy music. I have made a goal, to learn the Sonata as sort of ... hmmm how do you say it in english?... we call it eksamen in norwegian.. I am gonna complete page 1, since im almost there. then have a break form sonata, yo do other htings like lessons and easier things . lol going slower when i have to learn theory and finger/handcontroll at same time. Still its fun, and continnuing the lessons, i hope to get progress further. its incredible how much we can learn our hands and fingers in the start. Will probably feel slower later on when/if skill raises. Especially when it comes to expression. Using pedal now actively now and then when i feel sort of control with the keys. I am happy that i listened to the guy telling me i should go for piano with weighted keys. its nice to play on.

Think I understand what you mean, it (eksamen) is like when you go to school to take some course, like mathematics, physics, computer programming and when you pass the test (or exam) you get a certificate that you've finished this particular course with some grade, 6, 7, 9 or whatever. You want to learn this sonata and be able to say you can play it (and show that you can.)

It's good to have a piece that you like and work on it along with the easier basic stuff, which sometimes can be boring, I know that. But it pays off in the end because the techniques you learn with the beginner pieces are used in the more difficult ones. Hope it goes well for you.

hehe hopse so. And its good to learn walking before running
Hmm i dont have youtube channel (dont lke the bad quality on youtube) and the annoying adds there. Is there other sites to upload videos wich is free?

There are probably other sites, like vmeo.com. The quality depends on the camera you have, at least I think that's the biggest factor.

Andrew has a $2000 camera, therefore his videos are crystal clear! But I think you can do fine with a 720p camera, there are still photo digital cameras at $150-$200 that can record in 720p.

How's it going? Have you been applying the methods in the Fundamentals of Piano Practice?

Hi again
Nice i'll see if i am adding a vid channel sometime. Lol, my wallet still recovering after purchasing a piano. But there is progress in the playing at least. i have practised some methods of that book , but mostly i follow andrews lessons. Just doing 1 step at a time
also progress in playing the first page of moonlightsonata. Takes time ofc since im taking breaks and working with techniques etc.

Still fun so far