Where to start (keyboard)?

I make my living teaching piano. Get a good basic beginner book for adults such as the one by Alfreds. Start working with the book and over time you will start being able to branch out and do the things you really want to do.
Learning an instrument is hard work and some of the work is boring and tedious, if you can't handle that then I wouldn't bother.

Re the instrument: Keyboards are pretty cheap these days and are quite good. A 61 key keyboard will last you a long time and should be available new for around $150.
88 key digital pianos are just like the real thing and sound great, they can run up to around $700.
Keyboards do not have touch sensitive heavy keys, but a digital piano does. There are some hybrids that are kind of in between a keyboard and a digital piano.

Edited by Easy Money - April 02 2024 at 14:28

I'm very impatient but I'm learning slowly with Alfreds books also (as easy money said).   I spend more time just practicing my ability to find a note I want immediately and just jamming along to stuff.  Armchair Musician here. 

Thank you all for your answers. I have carefully read them and they will hopefully help me in the future, as I start playing the keyboard.


Edited by Gnik Nosmirc - April 04 2024 at 08:34

octopus-4 wrote: I started playing guitar in 1972, initially practicing at least 4 hours/day. 52 years later I'm still unable to perform Al Di Meola's Mediterranean Sundance, despite many attempts. Nowadays I enjoy keyboard, piano, bass and flute, but none of them well enough to let me say that I'm a musician.  ...

moshkito wrote: moshkito wrote: ... Time out ...  Who says you can not create the Octopus-4 Mediterranean Sundance on the roof with the Riviera Sun? Comparisons, are tough, and they kinda hurt your seeing where to take your own intuition, which seems to think that others got right and you can't. ... Hi, In other words, it's about you finding a "note" that sounds right to you, and you follow it up with this note, and then this other note here ... without worrying about what it is, or isn't, supposed to be, or sound like, because a lot of music teaching says that this must follow this and that! It's about you coloring your inner mind, and view ... and if you say/think that you do not have anything like that inside your head when you play, even better ... go primitive/intuitive, and I guarantee that out of that you will find something special ... a touch, or flow ... that no one can teach you, but you can learn to "follow" by yourself ... because in the end, that is YOU ... not anything else, called music or otherwise! Who inspired you is an illusion, that defines something that you like ... and it does not, necessarily, mean that it is something for you to do. Sometimes a combination of notes feels like this or that ... and all you end up saying is that you have no inner life, and can't find three or 4 notes, that .... ARE YOU ... not someone else. You just have to bang at it ... until each note SPEAKS for you ... not represents someone else! Find yourself through the music ... telling us that this or that is your inspiration only states that you are not quite interested in yourself, and think you are a lesser person for it! That's not a good idea, if you want to play and get better ... and you have to make a decision on that!

Excellent advice from everyone. I don’t claim to know how to play the piano/ keyboards competently or even correctly. But I’m working on it . Pardon my language but sometimes I just like to treat the piano like an old wh@re and bang the crap out of it. You can learn a lot about a piano by going extreme on it. Fast and furious. It’s fun too!   

Also go to you tube and look up backing tracks for lead guitar ( not piano) and play along to them with piano notes. It’s easy, it’s awesome.

Somebody here said “let the music play you” and you are more likely to develop your own personal style for better or worse. The style will be quite simple at first but that’s fine. Many great songs have a rather simple piano line. Also there is a YouTube short called ‘Paul McCartney teaches you how to play piano” . It’s a basic chords lesson described brilliantly. He tells you how easy it is to do (starting at middle C) and all of the things you can do with it from there. I will see if I can find a link to it.

Here it is
https://youtu.be/0-sXAqgP5KE?si=9onYYjucz2gHxDqi

Edited by Valdez1 - May 13 2024 at 08:51

I like my old cheap Yamaha YPG625. 88 weighted and touch sensitive keys. A million other instruments, drums. It’s a workhorse. And the Grand piano setting sounds fantastic.

I own a keyboard but I don't know how to play either. I started to but never really got very far. Now here's the crazy part. I can still shred like a professional keyboard player but I don't really know what I'm doing or why it sounds good. I can't play any actual songs though. I'd like to learn just so I can better and actually play and not just do wild soloing.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - May 13 2024 at 17:42