I've been playing the piano since early May of 2004, about a week after my nephew was born and about 2 months b/f my 19th b-day. For about 9 or 10 months, I was in limbo, not really taking piano seriously. The only thing I knew how to play was 'Auld Lang Syne' in C and E major. I didn't know anything about the other chords of the piano, except those and Eb Major.
By the fall, I'd got some virtual piano chords from various websites that had them and drew them in a tablet as to what the keys to the various chords were, but it wasn't too much help and I still didn't understand major/minor chords. Moreover, a lot of those things were inaccurate, anyway. I would've understood chords and keys sooner had the right person come along and told me about them. But I guess there's a time for everything. Anyway, the very first song I learned on the piano was Alicia Keys' 'If I Ain't Got You' from a 'Diary of Alicia Keys' songbook I purchased from a local Barnes and Noble store after buying and refunding it a coupla times, I finally decided to keep it. I'd gotten frustrated w/ 'Songs In A Minor' [which I got back later that year], so I got DOAK, which is easier.
The first fast song I learned was our very own V's 'Wanted. Since I didn't have the BNN songbook [or the sheetmusic from the Internet], I stumbled upon an interview of V' [from '02 or '03] on NBC [or CBS, I don't exactly remember] and it showed a snippet of her hands as she played Wanted on a piano in the ballet studio where she used to attend ballet school, and that's how I learned most of the song. Even w/ that, it took a while to learn what the chords/notes to the song actually were. I now know the entire song [by ear], except for the second verse.
Since I used public library computers [I just got a computer over the weekend along w/ the Internet today], I had to pay the print out paper. Since I had to economize my print card, I often wrote down the notes to V's songs and that's how I learned the remainder of them... or I just did it by ear. The great part about that was that it allowed artistic freedom, letting me make the songs my own. It also gave me a better ear to learn the songs.
The point is, I wasn't born knowing how to play the piano. For most of my life, I've always wanted to play, but put it on the backburner b/c I didn't think it was possible. Since I couldn't afford lessons, I pretty much taught myself, and people are often shocked when I tell them that. Some people teach theyselves how to play the guitar, don't they? I also learned by watching some of my favorite artists, like Josh Groban, Hanson, Alicia Keys [one of my favorite singer/songwriters], and our very own V'. I even sometimes watched their hands while they played to know what the right notes were to their songs. I also figured out how to work the pedel on my own, and the rest is history. I now consider myself on the intermediate level b/c 1. I still can't seem to get through a song most of the time w/o making a mistake(s) and 2. I'm not that good at reading sheet music unless I either like the song or are familiar with it.
Didn't mean for this post to be this long; I'm just informing potential piano players know of how I got started.
