Piano lessons - what's the best online, self taught method?

[Gypsyblue]

I've been playing "a little" piano for about 30 years but my playing has never evolved the way my guitar playing has.

I'm self taught on both instruments but I'm a much better guitarist - just came more naturally than piano.

I have a nice 100 year old upright piano that I write songs on almost every day.

But I want to get better.

The kind of playing I like is that Gospel/R&B style you hear guys like Mark Cohn, Leon Russell and Ray Charles play.

I can cover some of that but I need a jump start.

Where to start?

Anyone had good luck with online lessons?

[billgennaro]

Blasphemy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[daniel271]

As someone who's been playing piano seriously since the age of 5, my advice would be to get yourself a good book on jazz improvisation and start learning from there. If you can learn jazz, you'll be able to apply your knowledge to any other style. Gospel, R&B, the blues, etc. can all be derived from jazz. Here are two of the best books I've come across:

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...-music/3424127

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...music/19880948

There are a few things you can do develop your technical ability to a level where you are able to play jazz, gospel, etc. The first thing I would recommend is to buy the Hanon Exercises and begin to work through those. They will do wonders for your technique:

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/...-music/3537476

I would also advise that you begin to learn some songs. I can't really give you a good recommendation for a book here because I don't know what level you're currently at. What I can tell you is that in terms of developing straight piano skills, your best bet is to learn by practicing classical music songs like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, etc. Unlike with the guitar where there are thousands of tabs of popular songs all over the internet, there isn't much out there in terms of transcriptions of popular music for piano. There are a number of Piano/Guitar/Chord books, but I would stay away from those. If you really want to learn how to play like Ray Charles or Leon Russell, try and transcribe their songs by ear and analyze what they're doing. This will help your playing tremendously.

I've never taken online lessons, but my gut feeling is that anything you could learn from an online lesson, you could learn from a book at a fraction of the cost. If you want to go the lesson route, I would suggest that you find someone experienced in your area who could teach you.

Good luck as you learn!

[Gypsyblue]

Thanks!

I don't read music. At age 64 I'm not sure I want to learn.

I just want to learn some more licks, and play well enough to continue writing songs but hopefully add some fresh ideas.

But I will check out those books!