I'm a guitarist who has started learning piano. When I was learning guitar I would never have dreamed of placing note name stickers on my fretboard as it is horrible to look at and also stops you learning the fretboard properly. When I started learning piano part of my warm up was to find notes as quick as possible. I started by using the black keys as landmarks but after a week or two finding notes on the piano becomes instinctive and very quick due to the ordered nature of the piano. I honestly think I would be unable to do this had I used note stickers which inevitably ruin some of the beautiful aesthetic of the piano keys that makes me want to sit down and play every time I look at it. Great video you got yourself another subscriber.
Hi Gav, you are right..it’s best to use the black keys when first starting to help you find the notes rather than stickers. I never thought about how the aesthetic of the piano might affect your motivation to play the piano but I think it’s a really good point! Thanks for the comment and the subscribe! I really appreciate it 😃
Yes 100% gav it's all about finding them in relation to the groups of black notes. So quick to learn them that way, drives me mad when i see stickers as it actually holds people back i think
So I can see the stickers being used as a VERY short term tool. Similar to when you play the violin and u put dots or strips to help U learn where your fingers go. I only did this for about 6months and each month after we removed a dot. If I was to use the stickers it would be for very young toddlers/children and as they picked it up and learned it, I’d slowly take them away. As an older child/adult learning the piano- I might utilize a couple of the stickers for quick recognition to help practicing not be as frustrating. But again, slowly removing them- and not using a full key board. Just a thought for someone struggling - it might help
If your aim is sight reading then stickers are the wrong thing. Sight reading is a bit like touch typing in that your focus should be on the text. The position of the keys must be overlearnt so that you do not keep looking at them. It takes a while, but once it is mastered you can focus on touch and interpretation.
My goal is sight reading, I had the stickers on Middle C, D, E, F and G for 1 day then I peeled them all off except for Middle C then ditched that one the next day. I felt like I was cheating myself and wanted to commit everything to memory. 👍🏻🎼🎹
So I learned how to type on a keyboard with letters on a key.. I’m not sure how putting letters on a piano are any different as a learning tool. As long as I am still memorizing based on the 3/2 black keys foundation.. because if you look at the letter long enough you will eventually be able to play without looking just like I did on a computer keyboard. So as an adult I disagree with you when you say an adult should never use stickers because stickers worked great for me when I was learning “as an adult”. I didn’t have any reading/finding the key problems after removing the stickers. Just like I can type without looking at my hands.
Everyone to their own , i started to learn piano 3 months ago , i put marks on where the notes are ,im playing chords and playing songs now. i could not do that 3 months ago and i dont want to be beethoven or chopin and all that crap , i just want to play songs easy as that so its just whats easiest for you . When i started on the bass guitar, i put in felt pen on the neck the notes it helped me lots, then when i went onto guitar i had a book with scales that helped me anything to make it easier .So i totally disagree. if you play without stickers fine if you need stickers no problem, my guess here its a case of one upmanship to which i say up yours.
Interesting perspective..I absolutely agree that people can do what they want to get to wherever they want with it. However, stickers can be a crutch that slows down your recognition of the keys and adds an extra step when trying to learn most processes in music learning (e.g. sheet music reading, finding chords etc.)…it’s easier short term, but harder long term. It’s kind of similar to touch-typing, if you had to look at the keyboard to find each letter…it would take you a long time to write an essay on the computer. There are only the notes A B C D E F and G to learn on the piano (plus the sharps/flats)..so learning to recognise the keys without stickers will help you whether you want to become the next Beethoven or if you just want to learn a couple of chords and songs. Trying to help isn’t one-up-man-ship simply because you don’t care for the advice 😊
No from me to the stickers! I teach the notes as 2 groups surrounding the groups of 2 black notes and 3 black notes, give them animal names (cat, dog, elephant) etc then even a 4 year old can learn and find any white note on the entire piano within 10 mins. It's all about where they are in relation to the groups of black notes.I hate the stickers!!!! Kids with the stickers can be playing for a year and still not independently find the notes. I also hate sticky tape on stringed instruments. If your ears good enough you can hear and find the note, if you need the tape to find it it's not going to workout playing strings long term anyway
Just today i am planning on getting those stickers. So dived into RU-vid just to seek advices on it and here you come. For me i play well to some extent BY HEARING ONCE! But my problem is sight-reading on the spot. I'm very slow and i really need to learn how to read music notes. All i do on sheet i dont know is listen to the song audio, transcribe the sheets into tonic solfa notes then i fire on to play the music without the sheet music. I dont feel happy about this bcos i love to read music. I know all the names of the keys both sharps and flats pls i need help on this. U can even see thru my channel what i sound like. 😢😢😢😢 pls i need help. Thanks and i just subscribed to ur channel ❤
"Learn where the notes are on the piano"...but dont put those ugly stickers on! That's a paradox. THATS WHY THESE STICKERS EXIST TO HELP PEOPLE FIND THE RIGHT KEY! HELLO. It's like learning how to drive a car without looking at the gear shift knob. You're confusing people here.
Definitely not a paradox 😂 it would be a paradox if it was the ONLY way to learn where the notes are and there was no negatives attached. However, that isn’t the case…
