Author Topic: i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!  (Read 5470 times)

remixx

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« on: July 29, 2007, 06:08:38 pm »
ok so this might sound stupid of whatever so um brace yourself  lol anyway I took piano lessons for about 7 years and never learned ANYTHING.... haha like i know the keys but that's it.

I see people posting like the sheet music for Vanessa's songs and realllllyyy want to know how to interpret and play them myself.  Anyone have like a video or tips or like a BOOK i should buy? Like i have no idea how to tell which octave to start on, that kind of stuff.

any help appreciated.  8O

PianoPlayer12

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2007, 10:20:12 pm »
maybe Piano Playing for Dummies? i unno...i dont have that book..but im guessing its a good one..hahaha

well if you just dont know which octave to be in..then i suggest fining a diagram on the computer that shows the notes on the piano with the corresponding notes on the page :)

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portions.for.foxes

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2007, 09:03:02 am »
There are some piano playing advice and demonstration videos for Vanessa songs up on YouTube. I know there's two videos for White Houses and A Thousand Miles that show you how to play the songs note for note.

That should help you get started at least.

7 years and you still can't read sheet music? Oh man, how'd you get by? lol
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PianoPlayer12

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2007, 05:29:59 pm »
Quote from: "portions.for.foxes"
7 years and you still can't read sheet music? Oh man, how'd you get by? lol


LOL thats what i was thinkin...lmao.

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remixx

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2007, 01:17:49 am »
haha well i learned but i never really GOT IT you know??? like i could do it but i would have to go realllllyyy slow and it would take me forever to learn a song. keep in mind i was like 3-11 years old, lol.

thanks for the suggestions im going to plow through youtube and pick up that book (hahahaha)


 :idea:

VanessaPiana

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #5 on: August 08, 2007, 02:16:07 pm »
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.

remixx

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2007, 02:40:51 am »
OMG thank you SO MUCH for typing all of that up for me!!!!!

it was really inspirational to hear that you did it all by yourself... and it makes me think i can do the same..


so i'm going to really try to commit to it and see what happends. thanks to everyone that replied, especially "vanessapiana"!

i'll update everyone on my progress, lol

NoelleNC

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« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2007, 07:50:59 am »
I also taught myself to play. I am naturally musical anyway, it runs in my family and I've always loved singing, but I never learned how to play an instrument from an instructor. I don't think it's necessary if you have the desire and an ear for it. I'm sure it's easier to get stuck making mistakes of finger placement and things of that nature without an instructor, but for the most part you can do alright.

It's also not impossible to learn sheet music on your own. Just remember the note placements and what the key signatures mean and you aren't doing too bad! Most of the time the little nuances aren't necessary if you already know the song and how it goes :)

PS- Vanessa's songs and most contemporary songs are a great place to start because they tend to be repetitive and simpler since usually someone is singing over the music :)

MeganJane

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Re: i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2007, 10:52:39 pm »
Maybe you didn't learn much because of your teacher....? Different people learn in different ways. Maybe the way they taught you didn't make you feel like you were learning about MUSIC... does that make sense? I cannot learn with levels and exams and pieces I have no interest in... I learn best by experimenting and figuring out how to play songs that I am passionate about... so I would suggest that you print off some nessa sheets, and get someone you know who is nice and patient and can play the piano well to help get you started. Learn that song, and that way you can learn in a way that feels natural to you.  :D
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Twilight_Angel

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i really want to learn to play the piano like vanessa!
« Reply #9 on: August 11, 2007, 05:06:12 am »
erm...what she said.  :lol:

you could just learn via. youtube as i said someone mentioned. Thats how I got started. I havent ever had lessons but I would say im ok at playing at the moment. Oh and get a book that shows you how to read music if you never grasped that properly. Then as Megan Jane said you could just get started and work upwards. well forwards. You get what I mean.

mikepepsi

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« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2007, 07:25:02 am »
I got my first piano a few weeks ago, I can already play Who's to Say, White Houses, some of Afterglow, Heroes & Thieves and some of Best Behaviour.

Not fantastically mind, but i've got the how to down for most of the songs. I can't really read music so well yet - and I'm still trying to perfect that canon of songs before I try to learn anything more.

Definitely hand co-ordination is the hardest thing.

Alli

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« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2007, 08:45:02 am »
I know how to read music, but I'm not fantastic. I don't pick it up like some people do, but love it anyway.

The reason I decided to bring up this thread is that I've found Nessa-music very different to play than some other modern music. Very much of it is more torwards classical, and that's what I love about it. If you quit piano, and play some of her songs, try some classical songs again. You'd be surprised how much better you are!

VanessaPiana

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« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2007, 01:00:10 pm »
Quote from: "remixx"
OMG thank you SO MUCH for typing all of that up for me!!!!!

it was really inspirational to hear that you did it all by yourself... and it makes me think i can do the same..


so i'm going to really try to commit to it and see what happends. thanks to everyone that replied, especially "vanessapiana"!

i'll update everyone on my progress, lol


You're welcome. If you don't get at first, then don't give up; you'll improve. The very first song I learned by VC was 'Afterglow'. For 6 mos. or so, I couldn't get the bridge to the song b/c of how the notes were arranged and the various sharps and flats. Now I can play the entire song along with the recording. I didn't get many parts to 'White Houses' at first [except the simple parts], but I can now play that along with the recording, too. So what I'm sayin' is that if you don't get certain parts of a song right away, then 1. practice until you get it or 2. put it away for a while and take it up again when you're ready and a little more advanced. Sometimes it's months [or even years] before I get a song or certain parts of it.

Alegna

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« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2007, 09:24:44 am »
i play piano since few years now.
i have some difficulty to read the notes but i manage
i never learnt theory music and i don't think it's necessary. you just need to know keys, read notes and i think you can read sheet music no?
wait, you took piano lessons for 7 years and i can't read sheet music ? so when you play piano don't you need sheet music?
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