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I suggest that we leave the piano players to "think pianistically" and just leave us guitarists to think guitaristically (?). Our instrument has its own unique set of qualities which we must use to the max and not try to imitate pianists.
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04-20-2015 09:17 AM
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Yes. Compared to physically playing guitar, piano is easier. The harmonic overtones are richer, and feedback is non existent. But each instrument has strengths. If piano is your thing get with a good teacher. You'll develop technique with lots of practice. Once mastering upper structure voicing's piano became much easier, as producing lush chords became child's play. Good luck!
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In many ways I think it is easier to grasp that theory is about the intervals from the tonic and extensions on the piano than on guitar, but developing a great technique and coordinating the hands is harder on piano to me.
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I look at it this way.
Because piano is easier to:
1. make a decent sound
2. visualize the notes
3. play 2 independent parts because of 2 hands
4. has potential to play 10 or more notes
5. address a greater expanse of register (88 notes)
piano starts out easier.
Because of this the music that is composed and improvised on the piano is at times the most difficult music around.
That said, there are easy and challenging things to be done on every instrument and that is determined more by the individuals musical path and abilities.
On an individual level the challenge is to be a little better tomorrow than today and to make movements towards my long term musical goals (that are ever evolving).
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Though this thread is not about violinists, I just want to alert to a great program that is occasionally rebroadcast on NPR which examines the phenomenon that was Jascha Heifitz, who is perhaps the greatest violinist of the last century. Catch it if you can. Be prepared to feel very humble...
Jay
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But which do you really love playing. That's what really counts.
Originally Posted by cantstoplt021
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I could play a little piano, back when my sister was taking lessons. I wish I had gotten a teacher and studied it. Now, though, I find it a big mystery how anyone can play something fluidly on it.
One interesting thing, though, in my little jazz combo, when someone suggests changing the key for playing a certain song (usually the vocalist), no one has any problem but the pianist, who usually says, "you know, I've never played it in that key. I'll have to work on it awhile." Not easy to transpose music to different keys on the keyboard...
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It seems to me that since the keyboard repeats itself 7 times along the board that it should be relatively easy to change keys Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
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Years ago I used to sit at my piano bench with my guitar on my shoulder and trade licks between the two for hours. I have given that up for just playing the guitar since my daughter now plays the piano and we moved it into her room. What I found was that playing both instruments requires the same knowledge, but it is physically easier on my hands and fingers to play the piano. For me anyway.
My problems center around how I need to use my hands during the day. If I am hammering, building, shoveling, lifting, etc. my hands need time afterward to feel good enough to play guitar again. They just get beat up too easily. It is a little easier to make the transition with piano when my hands are really beat up.
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I'm the world's greatest out-of-time pianist. Originally Posted by cantstoplt021
Seriously, I used to use it for composing and orchestrating, and seriously did study w/a great teacher back in the late '80s. I find I don't need it anymore to write, and don't own a keyboard currently. If I start writing for ensembles again I'll get one.
Re playing: I find the guitar more expressive in one way: One can color notes by bending or articulation. And the decay time for a note is fine, especially the lower you go. You can't color a note on piano, other than pedaling. It's orchestral, the 'king of instruments'----and like most guitar players or musicians, I'm a fan of great piano playing. BUT I don't really want to play. Some players, like Ralph Towner or Saul Rubin in NY, are accomplished pianists---and that's great. But for me, you can take any tune and many non-virtuoso arrangements a pianist plays, reduce it to the important notes---and it will be as expressive as piano. That's what counts...
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Dunno know about that. It's really HIS problem. Any professional musician on any instrument needs to transpose, especially if they work w/singers----ESPECIALLY pianists. Are you kidding? If he can only play a song in one, or a few keys shame on him. I found that if I don't know a song in the singers' or other players' keys, I really don't KNOW it. Sorry, don't buy it... Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
Last edited by fasstrack; 07-05-2017 at 02:00 PM.
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It is. Fluidly so. Originally Posted by FZ2017
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With regards to "visualize the notes": I play a little piano and it is easier to play within a key since all one has to know is the number of flats within a key (say key of G, with one in F#\Gb) and then know which black keys are those flat notes. Intervals are also a lot easier to visualize on piano. Originally Posted by bako
But when it comes to playing harmony I have found the piano to be a lot harder. As we all know the guitar was designed to play chords and not, per se, single line solos.
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One of the best musicians I know started on guitar but switched to piano. He found the piano to be less restricting in what chords he could play.
But, I'd find piano restrictive in its ability to "speak" the notes. On the guitar you can use vibrato, slides, bends, whammy, and various hand techniques that can be very expressive. Piano has a little of that too, but it's more subtle.
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Piano is the composition man's instrument. Also interesting is that as distinguished as the piano is it's not an orchestral instrument except for maybe piano concertos. Same with guitar if you're a string player and wanna play in an orchestra you gotta take up double bass or cello. Sorry got a little off topic.
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I love jazz piano, and all types of guitar
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I once saw a demo by a piano instructor in front of an audience illustrating some piano concepts. With a 6 or so year old child he asked the boy to strike one note, a middle "C". The note rang out loud and clear. He went on to say that the best virtuoso piano player could NOT make that one note sound any better.
Then asked the same child to play a single "C" on the low E string of a guitar, and the 6 year old failed to make a note sound.
Therein was his point that initially piano is rewarding to a student because getting bad notes is harder than on a guitar which on a guitar bad notes are rather common for quite a long time to the guitar student.
If nothing else it made me feel better for all the bad notes I played on the guitar :-)
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I go to kids recitals all the time. The kid guitar players usually (always) suck, but, no doubt, remind me of myself when I first picked one up and started learning. The kids playing piano usually sound much more musical.
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learning stuff in all keys is a big deal on the piano, whereas on the guitar its just a fret away. Reading is much easier on the piano, despite reading more polyphonic stuff. Once you have the notes down on the piano, there 's no "how do i play this" question, whereas the guitar always has the fretboard enigma to solve. Everything that has to do with theory is right there in front of your eyes on the piano, on the guitar not so much.
One big difference for me is the sound. The piano has all these sympathetic keys ringing, alll these overtones and this richness of sound that no guitar can really have. A GREAT acoustic or classical guitar can come close though. I mean, just play a fourths voicing on the piano and listen.. On the other hand, not many instruments have such potential for expressiveness and individuality sound wise like the guitar does.
Another thing is the physical aspect of how you play an instrument. Piano, horns, drums, guitar are so different.. i tend to love guitar the most..
Also you can carry a couple of guitars with one hand, i can put 8-9 in my car no problem
Last edited by Alter; 07-18-2017 at 03:43 PM.
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IDK, all my kids studied piano at least a couple of years, and I've heard a lot of bad piano recitals. Originally Posted by lammie200
The worst, by far, is strings...I used to come an hour late to my daughter's cello recitals so that I skipped the beginners.
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It's only a "big deal" if one is lazy and doesn't practice. Many of the greats, Bill Evans etc., and not just piano players, recommended taking songs through all 12 keys. This is common knowledge. Originally Posted by Alter
Try again?
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i meant that its considerably more difficult than on the guitar. By the time you 've learned chords, scales, and arpeggios in all keys, blues and rhythm changes in all keys you 've kind of learned to play the piano..
It takes 1 minute to learn a pentatonic scale on the guitar in all keys..
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You could start as an infant, spend your whole life practicing and performing and still, at the end of your days you will have failed to completely master the tambourine. Nothing is easy.
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to completely master the tambourine
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Originally Posted by Alter
i meant that its considerably more difficult than on the guitar. By the time you 've learned chords, scales, and arpeggios in all keys, blues and rhythm changes in all keys you 've kind of learned to play the piano.. It takes 1 minute to learn a pentatonic scale on the guitar in all keys..
if only the pentatonic scale were the be and end all of music...and no..to REALLY learn the Pent scale (ALL of them) and how to apply them (that's the trick) you will need to practice "many" minutes - every day..and then some..
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