“I’m going to try to give you something to do that will be self gratifying and make you feel good about it and look to the future and carry on learning” Thats the best approach I have every heard (but often looked for). It's what 99% of the music teachers out there totally miss.
I've been playing music for almost 40 years, and when I first dove into piano, this was basically all I did for quite a while. I've still never learned to read music, and I admit that would be nice. At my age, I doubt I'll ever learn to sight read, though by now I can at least read keys and rhythms on sheet music. Great analogy of drawing and music. Anyone can draw a line and a circle randomly and the more shapes you add, the more it starts to look like....something. You may not be playing Mozart in 5 minutes, but playing slowly and building anyone can start to hear melodies that will start sounding familiar. Well done. I've been starting to apply that to guitar the past year or two, just picking up the instrument. Don't worry about playing all 6 strings, just play a couple of them, and randomly pick a couple frets. Pluck the strings and move around, usually 2 or 3 frets at a time, and a very similar thing happens.
Last time I grabbed a guitar I held it like a bass and started playing it in similar fashion. It actually sounded quite nice and I had a lot of fun doing it. Creating is always fun and it's never too late to to pick up something new!
This series is going to blow up. This was fantastic. I taught a different art form for a living, but this hits all the spots of excellent teaching. Giving a safe point of entry for new people, clear analogies, fun simple demonstrations that help people enjoy the process, and a promotion of the experience as a journey of always learning new things instead of a specific destination or one song or theory. Great work, Jack!
It's like that with whatever you pick up, pretty much. When you first get a basketball you just start swinging at the basket, you miss 90% but you have fun doing it, you want to start hitting the shots so you get on with practicing and whenever you make the next step you feel rewarded and it's fun, so you keep doing it. I teach math to kids and I see similar patterns. When I start with a kid who's really behind, we start with simple stuff and as we get going, somewhere on the way the kid sees a geometry problem, looks at it, recognizes the small steps he needs to start with and bigger patterns and he gets excited, like "wow, id's so easy" or "yeah, I know how to do it!" or "finally I get it" and it's so fucking satisfying for me as a teacher. One thing we need to teach our kids is that learning new things is fun and they will keep learning their entire lives. Isn't it what life's all about in the end?
@@edinatl2008 Agreed mate. I'd love to buy a synth and make noise. But I'm put off by not having any musical knowledge as such. Jack makes it less frightening in this video. Made fun not boring !
Wow. I've already been learning for 1 1/2 years an although i didn't learn anything new in particular, this was still amazing. This is exactly how i am training myself: do exactly what i want, when i want and how i want. And here i am sitting at the piano for at least 2 hours daily without regretting one single second of it :)
I hate the elitism of piano communities online. They have this annoying attitude that makes it feel like if you don't get an expensive piano teacher, you should never touch a piano. This is a far more inspiring way to learn piano.
This might be one of the best piano videos I have ever seen! Holy crap I love it! On another note.... ;) - Have you made videos where you just play your beautiful music?
Fabulous video! Count me (at 62 yrs old) among the many with no musical talent who recently bought a keyboard because I've always wanted one! (Well, wanted a synth but that's essentially what I've done by getting a MIDI controller and associated soft synths). This should be fun, and you at least made it sound like it should be! The only thing I "fear" is that I should be learning things like hand positioning, working on strengthening my weaker fingers like my pinkies, or the difficulty I have on my right hand getting the middle finger and pinky down without having the finger between them strike the key hard enough to make a sound. My "playing around" may be involving me using my "good" fingers in bad ways that will either require me relearning how to play properly or be doomed to simpler stuff my uncoordinated hands and brain can handle. But so far, I've had lots of fun just fooling around, and primarily just with the white keys. I will be tuning into your future videos for beginners, and I hit that SUBSCRIBE button.
Man, i've recently ordered my Roland FP30! Honestly i cannot wait to get my hands on it. I have been watching most of your videos here and seriously Jack i could watch you all day, your personality is fantastic and definitely suited for something like this! PLEASE keep it up! Just so happens that after i have ordered my instrument and it being my birthday today you produce something like this. 100% destiny!
You know this kind of days, you're sneaking around on RU-vid and suddenly ..Baaam. You find a golden nugget. Well, today is one of these days with this series of piano lessons for beginners. THANK YOU and please keep posting. I love this.
My Lumi is literally on the truck as you speak. I may not have 88-keys (yet) but I am looking forward to it. I have a feeling it'll turn into a sequencer controller though.
Hello from Seattle. Thanks for this. I got my piano a few days ago, and while I've started practicing with 'training apps' this sounds like a way to connect with the instrument/music... Thanks Jack
All I can say is Thank you, Jack. Thank you! Didn't come for the lesson. Was just expecting some beautiful playing from Jack. But then both the lesson and the playing make my eyes wide open.
Great intro lesson Jack. I'm considering buying a digital piano and have seen some of your product reviews and lessons. I was thinking about the Roland FP10 as it has great reviews. This lesson (and the following ones) stress the use of the sustain pedal. The FP10 appears to have limited (non continuous?) functionality in that regard. In the blindfold review it didn't seem to work as expected. Is this a detriment as far as a beginner is concerned?