Can I learn some piano as well as the acoustic guitar?

Tuff Gong · #1 04-08-2011, 03:49 PM

I was just wondering whether anyone has any thoughts on whether it is possible to try to learn some piano at the same time as guitar. I've played guitar for a number of years but never progressed as quickly as I have in the last couple of months since I took it up seriously again at Christmas. Now I would like to learn a little piano but wonder if this would impede my progress on the guitar.

I'd like to ask whether it would do any harm to learn some piano chords etc but could it actually benefit my guitar playing? I am self-taught on guitar and would be looking at teaching myself piano. I expect the piano would help me with music theory and it might encourage me to learn to read music but I wonder whether it would be of any benefit to my guitar technique? Thanks.

#2 04-08-2011, 05:49 PM

Many years on guitar, some on keyboard, and I swear I'd be a lot further along on both if I hadn't bothered with each. But, truth be told, it was the black dog of theory that killed the muse in me and left me pining in color-starved alleys and dens of dark silent sadness.

oldgeezer · #3 04-08-2011, 06:11 PM

I play guitar, piano, and bass.
However, I played guitar for 25 years before learning piano, and I had to pretty much set the guitar aside for about a year, and only occasionally play it in order to progress to any great degree on piano. Don't regret it. i love the piano. But after two years on piano I've just recently gone "back to the woodshed" with the guitar.
Right now, i'm learning bass(been playing about a year). If I had set aside guitar and piano, and focused more on bass, I'd be a lot further along. After a year on bass, i consider myself still a rank beginner. Nowhere near where i was on piano after a year.
I have a friend who plays about 5 different instruments. He's primarily a bassist, but has been learning 4 or 5 other instruments for a few years now. He is always bemoaning the fact that he can't spend enough time on them all, and is not satisfied with his progress on any of them.
Short answer IMHO? Unless you have no job, or no other interests, and can devote a great deal of time every day to both instruments you're either going to progress at a normal(not rapid) pace on the piano, while at the same time letting your guitar skills slip. Or keep current on your guitar, and progress extremely slowly on piano.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but you'd need some serious dedication to pull it off well.

donh · #4 04-08-2011, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuff Gong

Can I learn some piano as well as the acoustic guitar?

I give you permission.

It is unlikely to hurt and will be most likely to help. A lot. A real lot.

Minotaur · #5 04-09-2011, 06:52 AM

Fwiw I think it's easier to learn theory on a keyboard, if that's your intent as well learning to play. The keyboard is laid out linear so it's easy to see scales and chords and their inversions.

I took keyboard classes in college many years ago and I wish I had stuck with it. The sad part is the instructor is a concert pianist who still performs. She was one of the nicest people one could ever meet, and a patient teacher. But at 21 years old I peed it away. I think learning guitar might have been easier, having had theory already mastered.

I don't think it can hurt at all, only help. Learning more instruments is never a bad thing, imo.

Tuff Gong · #6 04-10-2011, 03:10 AM

Thanks for your replies all. I'll never be a virtuoso on either instrument at my age, but I'd like to be a bit more versatile musically, and sometimes when I don't feel like playing guitar I still feel like playing music which was why I thought I'd like to learn a few piano chords and things. I think it would definitely make sense of theory for me, though I'll bear in mind what you've said Melodeous. M

My main concern is to the extent it could potentially hold me back on the guitar.

Kerbie · #7 04-10-2011, 08:08 AM

I play both guitar and piano and can't imagine it hurting you at all. I encourage you to learn both and I think piano would definitely help your understanding of theory. I think learning the two instruments could correlate very well... one might help you learn the other. It probably would require dedication of your time and concentration, but I can't imagine piano hurting your guitar-playing. Give it a try... both are beautiful instruments.

mr. beaumont · #8 04-10-2011, 09:21 AM

I think anybody who's serious about music should at least know their way around a piano.

I'm no tinkler of the ivories, but I know the notes and some basic stuff, and it has helped my understanding of the construction of music IMMENSELY.

JonPR · #9 04-12-2011, 10:36 AM

I agree with the above. I taught myself piano soon after I taught myself guitar, just out of curiosity. (I had a book to help me with guitar, but not with piano.)
While it's technically true that any time spent playing piano is time lost for playing the guitar - it depends how precious your time is. Certainly, piano will improve your musicianship immeasurably. Guitar is only one kind of tool for making music - and (much as I love it!) a pretty limited one at that.
The great advantage of piano is that all the notes are there, under your fingers. Unlike guitar, you need NO technical skill whatsoever to play piano. (Obviously, to play it WELL - with both hands! - you need skill, but anyone can pick out a tune one-handed with no training at all.)
It's great for understanding chord theory, and also for playing interesting chords that are impossible on guitar!

Plexiprs · #10 04-12-2011, 11:52 AM

If you read the bio of John Williams (classical guitar maestro) you'll see that for college he couldn't study guitar and had to switch to piano. He seems to play ok ..... for an older guy .....

I also agree that theory seems easier in the beginning on a keyboard. When you get to hearing it without any instrument is when the fun starts!! ;-p

oldhippiegal · #11 04-14-2011, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minotaur

Fwiw I think it's easier to learn theory on a keyboard, if that's your intent as well learning to play. The keyboard is laid out linear so it's easy to see scales and chords and their inversions.

I took keyboard classes in college many years ago and I wish I had stuck with it. The sad part is the instructor is a concert pianist who still performs. She was one of the nicest people one could ever meet, and a patient teacher. But at 21 years old I peed it away. I think learning guitar might have been easier, having had theory already mastered.

I don't think it can hurt at all, only help. Learning more instruments is never a bad thing, imo.

ditto. In fact, with my guitar student, I finally gave up on teaching theory without the piano, made her get a bunch of index cards, and we built the piano keyboard in cards laid out on the carpet. Then it's easy to pull them down for scales, chords, etc.

I played piano for 50 years before picking up the guitar and finally getting past the first confusing bit of "wait, my left hand is backwards and upside down!"

chas52 · #12 04-17-2011, 11:58 PM

IMHO the piano is the greatest tool ever invented for learning music theory on. when I was going to college basic keyboard proficiency was a requirement for music students.
learning basic music theory, chord structure and such is immensely immeasurably helpful.
I should take my own advice and learn more about scales.

stanron · #13 04-18-2011, 01:31 AM

This is all very interesting. As I see it, the piano is essentially linear in character and the guitar is pattern based. But the underlying patterns in music are circular or spiral and neither instrument reflects that ideally. Ideas anyone?

oldhippiegal · #14 04-19-2011, 10:34 AM

the last university/community college system I taught in (in another field utterly) taught music theory without letting the students listen to anything. It was pure mathematics, really, workbook exercises done in silence. I thought this was about the stupidest idea I ever heard (some of these people are pure aural learners, and how does anyever grok the emotional content of a false cadence or harmonic minor or whatever if they aren't also hearing it?!?) However, the music dept. members were all terribly enthusiastic about this concept. go figger

Theory is mathematics and physics at its core. I did introduce my student to intervals by taking a string the length of a guitar string and folding it various ways to "prove" what an octave, fifth, etc. was, to show the physics of the matter. I don't think she was as thrilled as I feel about this, but I'm pretty geeky when it comes to science matters.