Recommendations for beginner keyboardist ?

i'm learning to play keys  , and wish to practice on real music, not just playing scales.
what material from rock/blues/jazz you would recommend to learn ? 
repertoire is not limited to prog rock, of course - I also like jazz and blues , any kind of instrumental music

that's some of my choices that I would learn, but some of them are quite complex for beginner:

piano:

Yes - South Side Of the Sky interlude (seems good for me , quite slow-paced piece )
Genesis - First On Fifth intro (quite complex - but I got the scores )

organ:

T.Booker And The MGs - Green Onions ( easy improvisation on blues scale)
Deep Puprle - Lazy intro (easy, blues scale too )
Deep Purple - Child in time intro
Boston - Foreplay/Long time intro (complex, fast arpeggios - but good excersize for the fingers :-) )

synths:

Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pt.II,Pt.IV (Minimoog solo )





Edited by awaken77 - January 29 2010 at 09:22

Dude dude dude....almost all of the ones you mentioned are way too hard for a beginner. ESPECIALLY Firth of Fifth. That will take you literally years to learn, and when you do, because you're technique needs work first, it will sound ropey as hell. It doesn't matter if you have the scores or not.

As far as rock goes, I think the best suited for a beginner keys player would be Clocks - Coldplay. Don't think I'm joking either. By the time you have that completely sorted and learned properly and in time, you will have killed about 2 weeks easily. Then maybe move onto some simple classical tunes. I could suggest some if you want.

And whatever you do, don't push yourself too hard unless you know what you are doing. Hell, attempting Firth of Fifth will probably damage your muscles permanantly and you may never play again. You need to work at this kind of thing, it doesn't come easy. Hell, Tony Banks worked a good decade before he played that solo. You can't just jump in and expect to play advanced music like that without a good few years of work behind you.

I dunno when i started playing guitar I started with yyz, which failed utterly but it did motivate me to play more so that I could play it.

awaken77 wrote: i'm learning to play keys  , and wish to practice on real music, not just playing scales. what material from rock/blues/jazz you would recommend to learn ?  repertoire is not limited to prog rock, of course - I also like jazz and blues , any kind of instrumental music that's some of my choices that I would learn, but some of them are quite complex for beginner: piano: Yes - South Side Of the Sky interlude (seems good for me , quite slow-paced piece ) Genesis - First On Fifth intro (quite complex - but I got the scores ) organ: T.Booker And The MGs - Green Onions ( easy improvisation on blues scale) Deep Puprle - Lazy intro (easy, blues scale too ) Deep Purple - Child in time intro Boston - Foreplay/Long time intro (complex, fast arpeggios - but good excersize for the fingers :-) ) synths: Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pt.II,Pt.IV (Minimoog solo )

I almost posted something like: try E-Mu Vintage Keys Keyboards, lots of pre-progammed classic rock & prog patches, including Mellotrons, Moogs and Hammonds, no need to get deep into sound programming!'

Advices above are good ones. I will add: stick to that, but if you really won't to get your loved prog tunes quickly try someone who is both knowledgable about that type of music, and preferrably your taste and is experienced keyboard player. That way you may get into playing Shine On, Pavlov's Dog, Procol Harum and some simpler (prog) songs/artists relatively quickly (even ELP if you stick to the Fanfare). But again, don't skip lessons and don't expect anything over night...




Edited by clarke2001 - February 02 2010 at 09:13