20 years old, is it to late?

[rednas]

Hi Guys,

my name is Sander, from the Netherlands and I'm 20 years old. In my free time, I compose various kinds of music, from techno to classical to rock. Recently my interest have gone into the rock and older pop stuff like deep purple, supertramp, toto, that kind of stuff. I noticed how great those keyboardplayers are, and I thought to myself that I have to become a better keyboardplayer to make better music.

I consider myself a mediocre, pretty bad keyboard player. I can play some ballad stuff, some simple Yann Tierssen stuff, but that's it: I'm to slow to play better stuff. Moreover: I don't 'rock' and I don't know how to rock, how to play funky and how to make face-melting solo's. Also my left hand is fairly weak compared to my right hand.

This kinda makes me feel like totally quiting music...I mean, I'm 20, all the John Lords and Jordan Rudess on this planet started when they were 7 or something, so is it to late for me to become a good keyboardplayer?

I thought about taking lessons, but the dilemma is that I don't know whether to take keyboardlessons or piano lessons. I'm afraid that the piano teacher is going to much into the classical stuff and that the keyboard teacher is more into boring auto-accompaniment stuff. I don't want that ! I wanna rock on synths, hammonds and rhodes :D

I am following some Jordan Rudess exercises, but the problem is that he doesn't tell me what I'm doing wrong, so I guess a real life teacher could solve that.

Atm I'm owning some plugins (native instruments B4 II, Electric Piano and some synth plugs) with a midi keyboard (Novation Remote 61 SL). Do you guys think I should invest some money in buying a hammer-action keyboard, to train my fingers?

Many thanks in advance!

[Tiko]

Hi Sander!

I started when I was 18 years old, which was a year and a half ago.
Though I've never taken any lessons I'd say that you should seriously consider piano lessons before excluding that option.

You'll get your technique good with weighted keys and of course after that you can master any type of keybed :wink:
And with piano lessons you'll definitely get your leftie working better too.

I'm not saying that keyboard lessons don't have this as I have no experience, these are just my thoughts.

Any involving theory studies may seem like useless and boring to you,
but when you know the theory believe me it's easier to rock and write the kind of music you want,
even though the theory you study isn't particularly "rock theory"! :smile:

Atm I'm owning some plugins (native instruments B4 II, Electric Piano and some synth plugs) with a midi keyboard (Novation Remote 61 SL). Do you guys think I should invest some money in buying a hammer-action keyboard, to train my fingers?

Well, this is what I did when I was in the same situation and I'd say that it was a really good choice.



As I said these are just my thoughts, not facts. :tongue:

As long as you have enthusiasm for music, you'd be ridiculously stupid to stop playing! So keep playing every day as much as you can and don't give up! :smile:


- Tiko

[JojotoRudess]

I thought about taking lessons, but the dilemma is that I don't know whether to take keyboardlessons or piano lessons. I'm afraid that the piano teacher is going to much into the classical stuff and that the keyboard teacher is more into boring auto-accompaniment stuff. I don't want that ! I wanna rock on synths, hammonds and rhodes :D



I had the exact same doubt when I started playing piano (About 2 years ago, I have 18 years old) and believe me, even though your piano teacher gets into classical stuff, it's better! That way you will learn the technique, you'll improve with your left hand, you'll get used to weighted-keys and you'll learn theory, that believe it or not it's really important and useful! (Of course it may get boring)

All that stuff will help you "rock", how do you think Jordan started? :)

P.D: Sorry about my bad english xD But believe me, lessons are really reaaaaaally useful!!

Jojoto

[Bigs]

You're not to old! Just get a decent (digital) piano and start studying some classical music and jazz. Your technique will improve, definately. You'll never play like JR, but there are probably more reasons for that than just that he's been playing for over 40 years.

Also a good teacher is very important if you have no one to guide you every now and then. He/she can also help you find interesting music and exercises to play. In any case you should realize that building skills takes time: you cannot expect to become a keyboard hero in six months with just 30 minutes of practice each day :)

[gylfih]

Just because you don't a piano teacher might put more emphasis on classical playing than you'd like, doesn't mean that it won't be worthwhile. Give it a go, and you'll be surprised at how much you'll improve, and pick up on general playing technique. I've played since I was 7, but consider myself fairly mediocre. I started in classical as well, and I've only recently moved into jazz (my main playing now), and rock stuff, but I think that getting the technique from those classical lessons, and getting the knowledge from the theory has really helped me. So don't give up just yet. Give lessons a go.

Yes, I think you should get a hammer action keyboard (whether it's a digital piano, a hammer-action midi controller or a workstation doesn't matter really). This'll help you develop finger strength, which you'll definately notice if you then go back to keyboards with a lighter action (such as organs or your 61 key midi controller).

Also, with theory, remember what's been said many times on this forum: A single DT song will probably be able to be broken down and cover at least one lesson of classical theory. All of the members of DT (probably all musicians who write their own stuff) are very good at theory, so have probably taken theory lessons.

So again, don't give up just yet, and give lessons a go. You'll never know if it'll help you otherwise, and it certainly won't harm your playing.

[rednas]

Thanks guys!

I'm already doing some blues scale and major/minor scale exercises and some other stuff. In the meantime, I'm gonna look for a decent piano teacher. I'm thinking to buy a Yamaha P85, but I'm not sure yet.

[zolhof]

You're not to old! Just get a decent (digital) piano and start studying some classical music and jazz. Your technique will improve, definately. You'll never play like JR, but there are probably more reasons for that than just that he's been playing for over 40 years.

Also a good teacher is very important if you have no one to guide you every now and then. He/she can also help you find interesting music and exercises to play. In any case you should realize that building skills takes time: you cannot expect to become a keyboard hero in six months with just 30 minutes of practice each day :)

amen to that!

it´s not late, i´m 27 and started to play the keyboard 6 months ago, just go for it

[Mush]

A good college level teacher is key. So you aren't wasting time. One who knows the good studies to skip around to. Like, you don't need to do the whole Hanon book, just the few studies that will get you what you need. The rest are just duplicates. Scale and arpeggio practice is needed for pushing your speed. And sight read through everything at your local libraries, all those piano collections of oldies, 20s, Rags, Broadway Hits, Love Songs, Movie Themes, Best of whatever decade. You don't have to like them, just use them as foder to read through.

[Piranha]

Well I'm 19 and I've been playing for 3 years maybe. I learned by myself, on light weighted keys. I probably have horrible technique, and my left hand is terrible compared to my right hand.

But you know, I don't really care, because my passion is composition, at the moment ... and I like what I compose. And I did learn to make funky riffs, or skull crushing riffs. I'll never be a complete pianist, but I don't care because I'm extremely satisfied with what I do.

My point ?

I don't know.

[rednas]

Haha!

Thanks guys, really appreciate the replies. I feel really motivated to find a good teacher and train a lot. My dream is just to play in a band some day. Just as a hobby, don't have to make money (well some money for the beers maybe :D). Right now I'm considering which 88 keyboard to buy, but I guess I'll open an other topic for that.

[linn1000]

Hi Sander.

I think the best thing you can do if you mean bussiness is to have one lesson per week, the main reason for this is to prevent too many bad habits starting, proper tuition will set you on the right track and then you will really notice the difference, you will get great solo skills, but the correct fingering and learning scales is the key to this...


Good luck !!

[Mansight]

IT'S NEVER EVER TOOLATE TO START PLAYING NOW. I STARTED PLAYING SINCE NINE AND NOW I'M ABOUT GOIN' FOR 14.(Srry for starting so early) I come to say that theses things depend on your determination, not age. The more harder you practice, the BETTER YOU WILL GET!!! :smile:

[Adilinar]

Its never too late in my opinion (Unless you're like 90 years old) ...
If you put enough time and dedication into it you will get better at it. You don't need to be playing for over 40 years to be a Jordan Rudess.... Jordan Rudess is more than technique, its about sounds and stuff.
You can become a Jordan Rudess, in your own way, you CAN play like him if you put enough time, dedication and effort into it.
Trust yourself, and practice hard.
Practice is the only road to perfection!

[osiris]

I've always dabbled on keys as we had one of those yamaha accompanying keyboards in the house. I started playing properly about 3 years ago, took classical piano lessons and got some synth gear, can't imagine how much free time I'd have if i didn't take it up :tongue:


If classical isn't your cup of tea, you could always do jazz as other people have suggested. I'm not sure if its common, but both my piano teacher and A level music teacher are organists who happen to be amazing pianists. So if you're lucky you might be able to find a teacher than can teach you jazz organ and piano, just to broaden your experience.

It's never too late to take up a new hobby. Just go for it. If you've any questions you know you'll find some answers on this forum.

:smile:

[nickm6]

i would definetly consider piano lessons, especially if your teacher gives you a lot of classical music to play. it is the foundation of technique, rudess and other wouldnt have been able to rock out and produce mind blowing solos if it werent for the classical training first.
i have studied classical piano for 16 years (im 20) and i really have to thank this type of training as it has given me the ability to produce half decent solos of my own. the skills are easily transferable between styles. you just need the bread and butter. oh and its never too late to start!

[ironwolg]

find a teacher that is into both classical and electronic music. i introduced my piano teacher to Jordan Rudess's music and she loves it. make sure you get a teacher that will teach you what you want to learn. however, if you can't find a teacher that is into electronic music, go with what's available. learning classical piano will not hurt you at all. you will develope very good technique :)
just remember, it's never too late till you're on your death bed!

[Maximus]

find a teacher that is into both classical and electronic music. i introduced my piano teacher to Jordan Rudess's music and she loves it. make sure you get a teacher that will teach you what you want to learn. however, if you can't find a teacher that is into electronic music, go with what's available. learning classical piano will not hurt you at all. you will develope very good technique :)
just remember, it's never too late till you're on your death bed!

Glad to see you're doing well, keep playing every day

[Delta-1]

My friend, I just want to tell you one thing;
"Never it's too old for make anything you want, if you effort yourself and you have faith, there's nothing impossible."


Cheers,
Izmael.


P.S.: Oh, I almost forget to tell you, the Classical Music it's a Huge Great Step, I have been a classical pianist during 12 years and trust me, it gave me a lot of experience even for understand some of the modern techniques. Now I'm a Prog/Altern Composer and Keyboardist and there's many things that I enjoy so much thanks to my Classical Background, although yep, I confess you, that I had to learn some Jazz/Blues scales and harmony, nevertheless many of my technique it's thanks to the Classical School.

[mlunapiena01]

I want to add that Playing & Composition & Improvisation are 3 different skills (arguably 2) & you have to work on both ...

But anyway, it basically just comes down to the quality hours that you put into getting good at piano & writing & programming (if that's your cup of tea). Theory is pretty essential to learning to do a lot of the things you mentioned (learning to play in different styles), because you have to listen analytically to those styles and figure out how to imitate them (yet another different skill). Learning how to accompany and create accompaniment

But the technical stuff really just comes down to how much do you practice & do you have a teacher?

You also need to define your goals ... for example, if your goal is to be a professional (working) musician, you will need to practice a bare minimum of 3 hours a day & you will still be very behind

On the other hand, if your goal is to get good, you don't have to worry about the fact that you started getting devoted at 20, just stay devoted ... your piano playing is like a temple: the more you put into it, the more you get out.

Hope that helps ... I started my main instrument at 16, I'm 22 now & have been doing professional for the last 3-4 years or so (I would not have been able to do it without studying it in college) ... you can do it


(by the way, I would study classical piano first, then do jazz ... gives you more of a foundation to work off of)

-Mike

[Devnor]

My suggestion is to find a good teacher with a degree in jazz piano. You'll learn to voice chords. With practice anyone can rattle off a piece of sheet music or cop a prog-metal keyboard solo. It's the guys that can voice chords on the fly and make it sound interesting that get the gigs.

[Kala1928]

The upside is that it is never too late to start nor to become good unless your physical limitations start kicking in at around 50-60 old :)
The downside is that you will forever be 5-10 years behind in skill to most (semi)-professional players.

The 15-year old wonderkid pianist from next door isnt good because he is 15 its because he has trained heavily since he was 5. The "natural talent" only exists to some extent. The real reason why good players are good is because they practise practise practise.
One reason that might hinder your motivation and progress is the fact for a 10-year-old who is not supermotivated russian with a piano master as a personal teacher it doesn't really matter that much if he isn't the greatest right off the bat but for a 20-year-old it might annoy to suck at playing in the beginning and even for a couple of years on. A lot of the players at the same age as you are a lot better than you and probably will be for as long as you live since they keep practising and improving while you do so too.
You just have to remember that they are not better at playing the piano or keyboards or whatever instrument for no other reason than the simple fact that hey have been practising for a lot longer.

Bit of a self-reflectation maybe since I've been playing for a long time but mostly on and off and without a teacher except for some short periods of time so my skill-set is sort of one-dimensional and quite limited. But anyway, what I've just recently realized (and read actually) is that its very simple - practise makes you perfect. If you don't do it, you cant just magically get better. So whatever age you are, whatever you've done before, if you want to be a good player you better close the computer and get practising!

edit:

Oh and the teacher part, now there probably are good and bad teachers but its worth a shot since even with a bad teacher you're bound to learn playing and learning methods which make you a better player faster than if you just tried to find out everything out by yourself. Having someone to monitor your progress is also a great motivation to do it.

[skatingbram]

Well I think age doesn't matter, now I had like 1 year of keyboard lessons. and Kinda in the end of the year I did audition to study music. Guess what, I got in. As the first and probably only keyboardist of the whole education. I don't want to brag like, 'Look how good I am' I still have 4-5 years left to develop myself into a professional musician.

What I am trying to say, nothing is impossible, just practice a lot. Eventually, you'll get where you want to be.

[awaken77]

amen to that!

it´s not late, i´m 27 and started to play the keyboard 6 months ago, just go for it

i'm 37 and started 6 months ago :-)


20 is good.

[JBCollinet]

Hi Guys,

my name is Sander, from the Netherlands and I'm 20 years old. In my free time, I compose various kinds of music, from techno to classical to rock. Recently my interest have gone into the rock and older pop stuff like deep purple, supertramp, toto, that kind of stuff. I noticed how great those keyboardplayers are, and I thought to myself that I have to become a better keyboardplayer to make better music.

I consider myself a mediocre, pretty bad keyboard player. I can play some ballad stuff, some simple Yann Tierssen stuff, but that's it: I'm to slow to play better stuff. Moreover: I don't 'rock' and I don't know how to rock, how to play funky and how to make face-melting solo's. Also my left hand is fairly weak compared to my right hand.

This kinda makes me feel like totally quiting music...I mean, I'm 20, all the John Lords and Jordan Rudess on this planet started when they were 7 or something, so is it to late for me to become a good keyboardplayer?

I thought about taking lessons, but the dilemma is that I don't know whether to take keyboardlessons or piano lessons. I'm afraid that the piano teacher is going to much into the classical stuff and that the keyboard teacher is more into boring auto-accompaniment stuff. I don't want that ! I wanna rock on synths, hammonds and rhodes :D

I am following some Jordan Rudess exercises, but the problem is that he doesn't tell me what I'm doing wrong, so I guess a real life teacher could solve that.

Atm I'm owning some plugins (native instruments B4 II, Electric Piano and some synth plugs) with a midi keyboard (Novation Remote 61 SL). Do you guys think I should invest some money in buying a hammer-action keyboard, to train my fingers?

Many thanks in advance!

Hey man! Chillax!

I started KB when I was 4. I'm now over 28.

I had a serious health disease in 1998 which left hand paralized for over ten years. No drama. I'm serious!

I'm still there, fighting each day a neurologic disease which, if was a weak bloke, could have destroyed my life.

I took on drums, bass, guitar, cello, and even if my left hand still aches after practice, I don't care.

If you want it enough, you'll get it.:wink:

I will also point that if you compare yourself to Jordan, you're quite killing yourself.
I mean: he has his background, you have yours and there's no need to feel inferior! There is no competition.

If you can afford it, have two teachers. Let 15 days between each lesson with each teacher. Take it really easy. A grass blade never breaks under the storm, but a huge tree does... Stress not!

Relax, breathe and enjoy what you do, whatever your level is.
Music is all about self-expression, which is as essential as breathing!

I wish you the best in your musical journey: practice, patience, perseverance!
You'll be fine.
:smile:

If you really feel bad, with your left hand, I've got two killer exercises I created. Just ask me, it's free, and if it doesn't help you, just call me douchebag:biggrin:

/JB