learning instruments

[Kiamet]

The best resource you can use for co-ordination and finger strength is Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist: http://books.google.com/books/about/Hanon_The_Virtuoso_Pianist.html?id=h11az0RJiw4C

You say you're stuck with your learning, what style of piano music are you learning? Also sheet music is never a hindrance, it just may be that you need to develop your physical and aural piano skills to move forward.

[Turtle]

Actually, it may be part of the problem that I've never really gone after a specific style - just... piano in general, I guess.

[Kiamet]

Sounds like motivation is the problem. You need to work towards learning songs that you want to play, writing your own music, or playing in a group. If you listen to a particular music style a lot, even if there's no piano in it, that's what you have to focus on. You develop your musicality by building on the language you already know. Otherwise there can be no long-term motivation.

[ectogemia]

The best resource you can use for co-ordination and finger strength is Hanon's Virtuoso Pianist: http://books.google.com/books/about/Hanon_The_Virtuoso_Pianist.html?id=h11az0RJiw4C

You say you're stuck with your learning, what style of piano music are you learning? Also sheet music is never a hindrance, it just may be that you need to develop your physical and aural piano skills to move forward.

Saying that sheet music is never a hindrance is a little absolute. I stopped progressing and being interested because of a reliance on sheet music. I eschewed it in lieu of just using my ear, and music suddenly became interesting again because I was able to make it my own, to improvise using themes others had written (sounds a bit like remixing, eh?). That skill helped me to develop my own musical ideas and write my own music.

[LuketheXjesse]

"toughness" of the strings? Considering many acoustic guitarists like to use nylon (or even gut) strings (both of which are easier on your fingers than steel strings), I'd say that your toughness argument falls flat on its ass. Acoustic guitar is harder to play than electric, I know because I play both, and I play both well. The size/shape of the guitar makes a big difference, the accessibility of the top 12 frets is very different between acoustic and electric guitars, and not only that but you can't hide behind distortion when playing acoustic, so you have to be a better player to pull off the same phrases.

Nailed it. <3 snappleman.

[Kiamet]

Saying that sheet music is never a hindrance is a little absolute. I stopped progressing and being interested because of a reliance on sheet music. I eschewed it in lieu of just using my ear, and music suddenly became interesting again because I was able to make it my own, to improvise using themes others had written (sounds a bit like remixing, eh?). That skill helped me to develop my own musical ideas and write my own music.

Yeah, relying solely on reading and writing music would be a hindrance. After all, you're learning a language - you need to listen and converse as much as you need to read and write. Too often these things are considered to be mutually exclusive learning approaches.

[mickomoo]

So, um, I was debating making a thread about it, but my question would seem to fall under the category of "learning instruments," so here I am.

I've taken piano lessons since about age seven or eight (although there was a period of time where I didn't have any lessons for several months), but for the past year (and probably longer) I've felt that I've hit an impasse. It seems that my skill has not matured much at all for some time. Which isn't to say that I don't know why that is. I know exactly why - I haven't practiced nearly as much as I should, and I'm generally just impatient when I do practice. My question is this: how do I get the most out of my practice time? I've heard "play songs through at a crawl" before, which makes a certain amount of sense. My teacher swore by playing the right and left hands in a song separately, although that never seemed to do much for me. Can anyone recommend ways to exercise my fingers and develop better coordination?

I saw Ectogemia point out that sheet music might be a hindrance rather than a help; is it time I stopped using it?

Or am I over-thinking all of this and do I just need to buckle down and play something as the best way to improve?

Yeah everyone's pretty much right. Try and branch out your playing style. A good thing to do is to start improvising, or making your own rhythms, if you've been playing for awhile you should have some sort of ear. Improving not only improves your spontaneity, but it allows you improve your ear even more.

Honestly, though I'm no where near the piano player I want to be (I took lessons as a kid, lacked motivation then stopped) I'm glad I started improvising then slowly "songwriting." Also, whenever you can study theory.

[Turtle]

Sounds like motivation is the problem. You need to work towards learning songs that you want to play, writing your own music, or playing in a group. If you listen to a particular music style a lot, even if there's no piano in it, that's what you have to focus on. You develop your musicality by building on the language you already know. Otherwise there can be no long-term motivation.

No denying this. Sometimes it's really difficult for me to remember exactly why I'm playing piano in the first place. I really do love to play, and I enjoy that moment when I master a song, but I lack patience and it's been so long since I've taken the time to learn a piece that well.