Any piano players here?

I'm learning to play keyboard and I have a question to those of you who can play piano/keyboard. Namely: how do you manage to play with both hands? It's the hardest part of learning.. If I play something with my left hand only - no problem. With right only - even better. But if I want to play it together, I simply cannot sync them both. I focus on one of my hands so much that I can't keep up the right tempo or mess up the notes and everything breaks up. How do you manage to play the right notes with both hands and keep up the right speed? Are there any exercises to learn it? Even if I don't have to play simultaneously, but for example: right, left ends, right, left ends - I have hard time doing that because most often I can't keep up the good tempo. Any suggestions, please? :)

Here's a suggestion, Practice Practice Practice!

You just have to get your hands to work independently, The rhythm will come to you over time.

Oh, I suppose that there is no "golden method" which would allow me to play with both hands in a minute. But maybe a suggestion on which song is the most "both-hand-friendly"? :) Or there is no such?

I am NOT a piano player. I would love to learn though. I do play guitar, which requires two hands, albeit in a slightly different way.

This is the best advice I could give:

Play things you are comfortable with as practice, A LOT. Get that left hand to become automatic. Slowly work up more progressively complex songs that require more and more from your left.

Oh, BTW, I am assuming you're right-handed. I am also making an assumption about piano playing: Left is for bass/root and requires more rythmic/simplistic melodies and right is for the more complex stuff.

That way, you can focus more on your right (and dominate) hand and on the more complex song structure.

Oh, I suppose that there is no "golden method" which would allow me to play with both hands in a minute. But maybe a suggestion on which song is the most "both-hand-friendly"? :) Or there is no such?

Tigro_PL

I'd suggest rhythmic exercises that keep your hands playing in unison and then maybe try variations on those exercises to get use to different rhythms... I'm no piano player, I'm a guitar player :P

We could sure use The pianist in this thread, he'd know what to suggest.

Here's a suggestion, Practice Practice Practice!

You just have to get your hands to work independently, The rhythm will come to you over time.

joesh89

i've played guitar for a long time and i recently took up a bit of piano. i picked it up very quickly, the whole two hands thing. i'd always thought that piano looked easy, and it is.

practice usually helps.

practice and persist. it's a thing with the brain, women are generally better at multitasking(doing one thing with one hand andanother with the other)than men, though having said that I learn the whole thing playing with one hand and then the other and put both together. Start with simple songs before you take on Ludivico Einlaudi or Michael Nyman.

Zeller - I tried to play Beethoven's "Fur Elise" and I doubt there is something easier to play with both hands :) Even though, it's hard to play an E octave and then jump to A octave, E octave, C octave and so on with my left hand. I mean - it's no problem if I play left hand only, but when I play with both, I have to focus on the right to play the melody right and therefore in most of the cases I accidentaly play a G octave instead of A or something like that. However, I bet a bit of practice would help me eliminate those problems ;)

I play piano. If you're just starting to play piano, then play each hand separately. I imagine, at least. Not hard for me, provided I take it slowly a couple times.

Also, I cannot stress this enough: Taking lessons is one of the best things you can do to get better at playing. Lessons and practicing.

I am. Playing piano since 8 and the Salvation Army taught me with free lessons. I played in Star Search and won 2nd place and made it to a professional level. But i havent taken it serious for like 4 years now :(Tjeremiah1988

Ekhm.. Excuse me guys, but this topic is not "Hey people, write something (oh, anything!) if you have been ever playing piano" :P

Well, we've got some problems here - first and foremost is that there is no way you should be attempting Fur Elise as your first piece hands together. It's rated as a grade 7 or 8 piece in the RCM (don't remember exactly, since I hate the piece and never teach it), and is BY NO MEANS a work that should be studied by a beginner. Coordination of the two hands simultaneously IS a challenge, and it needs to be approached in baby steps. You're trying to run before you can crawl.

I've said this in all these threads and I'll say it again - there's no substitute for a competent instructor when learning to play an instrument. Such an instructor can tailor his advice to your specific needs, recommend practice strategies, and most importantly OBSERVE you when you you're too busy caught up with trying to get your fingers in the right place. Without that, your progress will be very slow, and it is inevitable that you will develop a score of bad habits in the desire to cut corners and reach your goals more quickly than you are able. I have taught a number of people who started off with self-study, and every single one of them conformed to that same pattern - a lack of patience that led to uncontrolled technique and tension. And of course, none of them were aware of it, since they had practiced the wrong way long enough to make it feel "natural" to them.

In the absence of an instructor, the best you can do is find a good method book and work through it on your own. Frankly, I don't know what is available in your country unless your country is Canada, but you can do your own search for an adult beginner series. Bastien or Alfred would fit the bill. Those will get you on solid grounding, and though no book can teach you proper technique, they'll at least present you with challenges that are suitable in nature, giving you a fighting chance of developing some facility at the keyboard on your own.

Well, we've got some problems here - first and foremost is that there is no way you should be attempting Fur Elise as your first piece hands together. It's rated as a grade 7 or 8 piece in the RCM (don't remember exactly, since I hate the piece and never teach it), and is BY NO MEANS a work that should be studied by a beginner. Coordination of the two hands simultaneously IS a challenge, and it needs to be approached in baby steps. You're trying to run before you can crawl.

I've said this in all these threads and I'll say it again - there's no substitute for a competent instructor when learning to play an instrument. Such an instructor can tailor his advice to your specific needs, recommend practice strategies, and most importantly OBSERVE you when you you're too busy caught up with trying to get your fingers in the right place. Without that, your progress will be very slow, and it is inevitable that you will develop a score of bad habits in the desire to cut corners and reach your goals more quickly than you are able. I have taught a number of people who started off with self-study, and every single one of them conformed to that same pattern - a lack of patience that led to uncontrolled technique and tension. And of course, none of them were aware of it, since they had practiced the wrong way long enough to make it feel "natural" to them.

In the absence of an instructor, the best you can do is find a good method book and work through it on your own. Frankly, I don't know what is available in your country unless your country is Canada, but you can do your own search for an adult beginner series. Bastien or Alfred would fit the bill. Those will get you on solid grounding, and though no book can teach you proper technique, they'll at least present you with challenges that are suitable in nature, giving you a fighting chance of developing some facility at the keyboard on your own.

pianist

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the scale? 1-10? (in New York, we have NYSSMA ratings of grades 1-6 music, so I'm wondering what the RCM scale is like)

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the scale? 1-10? (in New York, we have NYSSMA ratings of grades 1-6 music, so I'm wondering what the RCM scale is like)

Ring_of_fire

It's 1-10 + ARCT + Licentiate. The Licentiate is extremely demanding - I would consider it the equivalent of a Master of Music performance degree, but without the academic requirements. But everything through the ARCT can be completed before entering university if the student is dedicated.

Oh, thank you very much Pianist :) So what song would you recommend to play to practice playing with both hands? I mean, which would you consider easy to play for the begginers?

Oh, thank you very much Pianist :) So what song would you recommend to play to practice playing with both hands? I mean, which would you consider easy to play for the begginers?

Tigro_PL

The pieces in the beginner adult method book you pick up. If you were my student and had never attempted to play keyboard before, I would start you with the Primer level of the Bastien piano course, and from there we would move into the RCM - somewhere between preliminary and grade 2, depending on where I think you're at technically when you finish the primer book. Because you've already played a bit, you may jump ahead to level 1 or 2 of the Bastien adult series.

You could use a children's method book, too, if you can't find an adult one. The only difference is that they tend to move a bit slower with the knowledge aspect of music, since children don't remember things as well as adults do. In any event, a good beginner method book will provide you material which is suitable for a beginner. But I stress again - these things aren't replacements for a teacher. If you're serious about learning, take lessons from an ESTABLISHED teacher in your community (i.e. someone who has already got a good track record of teaching people to play well). It'll save you a world of trouble. And they'll understand your nation's music curriculum better than I do. Following that curriculum is the best way to introduce yourself to pieces of an acceptable difficulty level for your current abilities.

Ok, i play piano:D .It isn`t that hard 2 play with both hands. Just practice. First left hand, then right and then together.:>

I am. Playing piano since 8 and the Salvation Army taught me with free lessons. I played in Star Search and won 2nd place and made it to a professional level. But i havent taken it serious for like 4 years now :(Tjeremiah1988

Syncing is the least of the problems, it just takes a week of practice(compared to sycing 7 notes left and 13 notes right, man). After grade 6 that's where the climb starts. Took a year to get there, and after that.... Not quite fast.

ARCT is... meh. I'm satisfied with Gr. 10, since I'm not planning on majoring it.