Is picking up piano worth it for music production? + Tips on using both hands?

[[MB]]

Hello there!

As the title suggests, I'm someone who does music production who is possibly looking into learning piano.

I already know basic music theory, and I've picked up a bunch of physical instruments over my life (ukulele and ocarina are my two instruments that I've stuck with over the years, with ocarina being my biggest one) but have very limited practical knowledge of piano beyond simply what keys are what note and stuff that consequentially results from that (how to play chords, scales, etc).

Given that I have so much more time open now with quarantine and all, I was wondering if I should try seriously learning the piano, if only because of how the skills would transfer towards music production. Learning to use both hands I feel like would save a bunch of time instead of separately recording everything comes to mind, and I'm sure that's only the surface of it.

Do you guys think it's worth investing in? Any tips or links to youtube videos? I can't afford lessons (especially since I lost my job due to the virus). It's hard to find stuff for beginners that doesn't treat the viewer as new to music in general.

Thank you!

[Ksamphos]

For learning, sometimes those old methods that you can find some free in pdf are good. Though you need some patience, they usually work well for me, but you need to read sheets.
When you develop through the lessons you'll get better at expression, using both hands, etc. Its all practice, and those step by step, song by song methods are good in my experience.

Piano is my base for music production and it helps a lot, there are sure other ways, but piano is an instrument where you can make Bass, chords and melody at the same time. So you can have much of a production "sketched" in a piano solo version. In guitar and other instruments you can also, but keys seems more practical to use eletronically.

[vurt]

yes, learning any instrument will help.
but, it will take time and cause much frustration...

all of which is worth it

[Bombadil]

Yes, absolutely. With your experience, it will mostly be a case of getting your hands to do what your brain is telling them, which on a piano does take a fair bit of practice to get comfortable with--two hands doing two different things at once is a great skill to have.

[Forgotten]

It tends to be a pretty easy path to improving two handed playing once you start. Some things are pretty straightforward such as playing split chords with your left hand while playing a straightforward quarter note melody with your right, and once you get used to things like that you can start learning more complex things, and you'll be surprised at how quickly you can get to playing things like swing in the left hand while playing straight with the right.

[Bombadil]

It's a ways to 'Für Elise,' though. Especially the middle bit.

[Ksamphos]

When theres an on-going rhythm between the hands, in other words, when right and left "match" is somewhat straightforward.

But on advanced pieces when both hands play disconnected things, i find the singular most difficult thing on piano.

[Forgotten]

It's a ways to 'Für Elise,' though. Especially the middle bit.

It's not so bad to get to the common simplified versions though. It's essentially arpeggios across both hands, which takes a bit of practice, but isn't too difficult to get used to. I'd say anyone should be able to get to Fur Elise within 6 months maybe (assuming it's not the full version with the difficult bits that occur later on).

[fese]

yes, learning any instrument will help.

Except maybe the triangle.

but, it will take time and cause much frustration...

...in others, when they hear you practice the triangle

all of which is worth it

I spent the past twenty years practicing the triangle and got nowhere.
My idea for a triangle orchestra was complete failure. Only one other guy showed up and we didn’t attract any chicks at all. Even my nan refused to come to my triangle solo concert (“Beethoven’s 5th symphony on triangle”)

[Forgotten]

When theres an on-going rhythm between the hands, in other words, when right and left "match" is somewhat straightforward.

But on advanced pieces when both hands play disconnected things, i find the singular most difficult thing on piano.

Definitely, but I think as time progresses and you practice pieces you can kind of set one hand to 'auto pilot', especially if one hand's part is repetitive.

I think one of the things that really helped me to get used to that is just improvising blues piano - playing a 12-bar left hand root/fifth part with swing and then improvising a right hand part without thinking about the left hand part.

[vurt]

yes, learning any instrument will help.

Except maybe the triangle.

but, it will take time and cause much frustration...

...in others, when they hear you practice the triangle

all of which is worth it

I spent the past twenty years practicing the triangle and got nowhere.
My idea for a triangle orchestra was complete failure. Only one other guy showed up and we didn’t attract any chicks at all. Even my nan refused to come to my triangle solo concert (“Beethoven’s 5th symphony on triangle”)

i like a triangle solo.

[foosnark]

At minimum, getting a piano player's perspective will have some intangible benefits.

If you actually play keyboards when making music of course it'll help with your technique. If not, just the coordination training is probably useful anyway!

It'll also give you some more theory and different ways to think about chords and scales (or even not "think," but remember with your hands).

I'm not a very good keyboardist, but I played Rhodes in a high school jazz band and took crash Suzuki piano lessons. (The 16 year old kid following up the precocious 4 year olds and playing the same material... a couple hours after playing jazz standards at school... weird, but effective. Like me! )

And now I make abstract, often atonal stuff, and I still think I got some valuable perspective from the (minimal) piano training.

[Forgotten]

yes, learning any instrument will help.

Except maybe the triangle.

Years ago I knew a guy who played cor anglais and oboe in a symphony orchestra and once had a long conversation with him about playing the triangle in an orchestra. His buddy in the orchestra was a percussionist, and one of the things expected of him was to play the triangle. Apparently there are some pretty difficult parts written for it, but as you can image, they're not very common...

As for playing it, it's difficult to master. Volume is a big problem with it as it's very difficult to vary the volume, and while you can't vary the fundamental pitch of it, the triangle player is expected to find a striking position on the triangle that emphasizes good harmonics to match the music at the point that it's played. The guy I talked with said his buddy considered the triangle to be the most difficult of all the percussion instruments he played in the orchestra.

[foosnark]

The guy I talked with said his buddy considered the triangle to be the most difficult of all the percussion instruments he played in the orchestra.

When I was a taiko drummer, I found that most types of taiko are technically easier to play than the little supplemental instruments that go along with them. (Choreography and endurance are another issue.)

Chappa (hand cymbals) are pretty difficult to play well and expressively (you rub/scrape and tap them against each other, not just clashing them like a wind-up monkey). Those conch shell horns take some training and practice if you've never played brass before. Even claves are trickier than they look, if you want to get a good tone that cuts through.

[Forgotten]

I know claves are difficult as I've tried them. The drummer they belonged to gave me a quick overview and I was surprised that there's so much to learn about playing them, as I thought you just hit them...