TheBoyEllis Blog

YouTube piano lessons: pause, rewind and abandon your teacher!

With my first ever piano lesson rapidly approaching, I’m spending as much time learning pieces as best I can, so that I have a semblance of piano know-how to demonstrate to my teacher come July 27th.

For any other aspiring pianists out there, I can’t recommend YouTube enough if you want an intuitive, no-hassle introduction to learning technique and specific songs.

It can, however, be a frustrating search; lots of lessons mean well enough but usually make one of three critical errors:

1. The camera is placed at such an obscure angle that it is impossible to work out what keys are being pressed.  Sometimes, the camera has adopted that much of a 1970s Batman villain angle, the only reason you know it’s a piano lesson is because you can hear the familiar sound of tinkling ivories.  This is particularly prevalent with female ‘tutors’ who seem far more concerned that the camera picks out their best side.
2. Sound quality comparable to a 1930s grammar phone.  Occasionally, it’s so tinny and devoid of any harmonics that every note sounds the same.  This does not a good music lesson make.
3. They don’t talk.  I’ve found 9 minute videos where they just sit there and play the piece out slowly without muttering a word.  This is about as intuitive as a teacher after nineteen double whiskeys.

In fact, many of them commit all three crimes above simultaenously making the learning process, well, fucking impossible.

Not to worry, though.  I can recommend two fantastic examples of how well it can be done.

Lypur – I believe this young chap is a professional teacher but he is clearly an incredibly acomplished musician.  He covers theory and technique very well and his teaching style is relaxed and inspiring.

Pianojohn113 – My absolute favourite for learning real, living, breathing songs.  If you’re keen on taking up the piano, you can’t ignore The Beatles, Billy Joel and Elton John.  This guy has all three covered and teaches them with no-frills aplomb.

Give YouTube a go.  While it can’t be as intimate as a real one-to-one lesson, the ability to rewind your teacher, pause them and return a day later when you get frustrated is fantastic.

Well, day two of my ‘blog a day’ NaBloPoMo (that’s incredibly frustrating to type) contribution and what do I bore you with today?

Piano.  That’ll do.  It’ll give me chance to explain the title of this post, too, which isn’t a play on words.  I am indeed going back to school.  And no, I’m not referring to the ruler-flicking, head-down-toilet haven we all took for granted as kids – I’ve finally booked some piano lessons.

Having purchased a Korg SP250 a few weeks ago, I have finally summoned the energy to get my ass in front of a teacher and receive some tuition (I considered rephrasing that sentence but will leave it in its ambiguous, inuendo-strewn state).

It does feel like returning to school, though.  I’ve not really been ‘taught’ anything since I left formal education in 1998.  Admittedly, back then I was being forced to dissect awful pieces of literary dirt such as ‘Sumitra’s Story’, or being incorrectly placed in the top set for design and almost vomiting when presented with the task of designing an innovative CD rack in the final exam.  Therefore, this time around, it’s something I genuinely have an urge to learn and become proficient in so, in theory at least, it should be enjoyable.  In fact, I can’t wait.

For any aspiring musicians paying attention this, I will update occasionally on my progress.

Firstly, I must point out that the photo to the left has no bearing on this post.  Well, very little; please disregard the fire and storm trooper pianist.  It was in fact the fourth result in a Google Images search for ‘piano’, therefore: amusing.

After 15 years of tinkering in my home studio and the unavoidable knowledge that time is passing me by at an alarming rate, I have decided to learn the piano.  Properly this time, not keying in random four note chords into Logic and hoping quantisation will do the rest.

I very nearly didn’t bother, worried that the sudden realisation that, with a bit of time and effort, I could sit in front of those black and white keys and know what I was playing, might cause me to slip into a great depression.  Mentally torturing myself for not having started at an early age while my piano-playing dad finally admits he wished I’d done so.  In reality, however, I have never, until now, had the urge to learn, nor the passion.  And my dad certainly isn’t the pushy parent type.

So, I’ll try and keep any aspiring musicians reading this blog up to date on my progress.  I begin this journey (ouch) with some basic knowledge of the keyboard and a couple of little riffs I’ve picked up along the way.  My next step is to purchase an 88-note piano this coming weekend and book my first lessons.

One imediate recommendation I have is a chap called Andrew Furmanczyk who has some fantastic lessons on YouTube.  Check him out, I’ve been through the first six or so and he’s already got me playing some simple scales and has taught some very useful theory: http://www.youtube.com/user/Lypur.