Learning piano to help with guitar?

[The Raven]

So I've been in a rut with guitar for the past year or so and I feel a big reason for it is my lack of understanding of music theory.

As a result, I decided I want to attempt to learn more music theory and pick up another instrument. I chose the piano because it has always interested me.

The problem I'm finding right now is I'm struggling to understand sheet music and the basic of how to play the piano. All the resources I found for learning are paid and I find that rather annoying. Anyone have any good resources for beginners to piano? I'm hoping a better understanding of a pianos musical scale, as well as sheet music and music theory, can translate well to playing the guitar.

Plus, almost every guitarist I look up to can play piano and I feel there's a connection there.

 

[William B.]

I know that the white keys start with a C note, repeats in octaves every round of notes and the black keys are Sharps/Flats depending on going up or down.
This is with the keyboard.
So it could be like 1-3-5 from a scale , play 1-3-5 on the keyboard and it's also the major chord.
The white keys are I think all full steps and the black keys half steps so that can be related back to the guitar as well.
Hopefully this helps some

 

[Ed Seith]

I'm not sure, raven. I can read music (slowly), but I learned it decades ago. I wonder if @Brian Haner Sr. has any recommendations?

 

[Javier Wienarjati]

I'm not learning piano but my guitar teacher basically is a piano teacher too. So he taught me some basic piano overview. I use David Bennett Piano youtube channel for reference. I like this channel because lots of theory and song references in his videos. These are some examples

 

[Saphyra]

So I've been in a rut with guitar for the past year or so and I feel a big reason for it is my lack of understanding of music theory.

As a result, I decided I want to attempt to learn more music theory and pick up another instrument. I chose the piano because it has always interested me.

The problem I'm finding right now is I'm struggling to understand sheet music and the basic of how to play the piano. All the resources I found for learning are paid and I find that rather annoying. Anyone have any good resources for beginners to piano? I'm hoping a better understanding of a pianos musical scale, as well as sheet music and music theory, can translate well to playing the guitar.

Plus, almost every guitarist I look up to can play piano and I feel there's a connection there.

I can try to explain you the scales on piano if you want
I play piano for a long time

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.
My advice is:
1. Learn the names of the notes on the piano. There are 12 and then they just repeat. C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B (or C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B)
2. Learn all your basic major and minor chords. Root, 3rd, 5th. So a C scale is CDEFGABC. The 1st, 3rd and 5th would be CE&G. To make that a minor you drop the 3rd a half step. So C Eb & G.
3. Learn every inversion of those chords. Major: CEG, EGC, GCE. Minor: CEbG, EbGC, GCEb.
4. Now do that in every key. You don't have to know every Major scale to play the chords, but it helps when trying to figure them out.
4. If you want to pursue more in depth theory - learn and memorize all the major scales. This way you can build more complex chords. Formulas are easy to find on Youtube. Example; CMajor7 = 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th - so C E G B. And of course you should learn all the inversions of that.

All of this is on YouTube. Just search: Major scales. Chord formulas, etc.

The thing about piano is - you MUST know a little theory to play it. It's not like guitar, where you can learn a C scale by learning a pattern and then move it up a fret to play a C# scale - yet have no idea what notes you're playing.. On piano you have to know the actual notes. There is no "moving up a fret".
The up side of this is that it is 100 times easier to learn theory on a piano - because you can't cheat.

I like this guy:

There are tons of videos like this on Youtube. Search out the ones you like and start doing some work.
I can't begin to express what this will do for your musicianship and playing. In my opinion it's the single biggest game changer for a guitarist.
Good luck!
pg

 

[Ed Seith]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.

This absolutely breaks my heart for both reasons. I hope you find your interest again soon. Not for us (though, yeah, BONUS), but for yourself and those around you. But for us, yeah, that 10-video series seems like exactly what's needed to fill in a hole in this site's series of lessons.

The rest of your advice I've copied and pasted into a text document on my desktop to dig into later, and I may have to buy a cheap keyboard to knock around on. I got rid of my last one about 10 years ago.

Merry Christmas, PG!

 

[Saphyra]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.
My advice is:
1. Learn the names of the notes on the piano. There are 12 and then they just repeat. C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B (or C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B)
2. Learn all your basic major and minor chords. Root, 3rd, 5th. So a C scale is CDEFGABC. The 1st, 3rd and 5th would be CE&G. To make that a minor you drop the 3rd a half step. So C Eb & G.
3. Learn every inversion of those chords. Major: CEG, EGC, GCE. Minor: CEbG, EbGC, GCEb.
4. Now do that in every key. You don't have to know every Major scale to play the chords, but it helps when trying to figure them out.
4. If you want to pursue more in depth theory - learn and memorize all the major scales. This way you can build more complex chords. Formulas are easy to find on Youtube. Example; CMajor7 = 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th - so C E G B. And of course you should learn all the inversions of that.

All of this is on YouTube. Just search: Major scales. Chord formulas, etc.

The thing about piano is - you MUST know a little theory to play it. It's not like guitar, where you can learn a C scale by learning a pattern and then move it up a fret to play a C# scale - yet have no idea what notes you're playing.. On piano you have to know the actual notes. There is no "moving up a fret".
The up side of this is that it is 100 times easier to learn theory on a piano - because you can't cheat.

I like this guy:

There are tons of videos like this on Youtube. Search out the ones you like and start doing some work.
I can't begin to express what this will do for your musicianship and playing. In my opinion it's the single biggest game changer for a guitarist.
Good luck!
pg

I am sorry to hear this PG, I hope you can find interest in music again
You advices ablut piano are great, as a pianist, it's really cool that you did these advices for new pianists

Merry Christmas Papa Gates

 

[Chris Johnston]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.

Great resource.

I second @Ed Seith here though. I hope you find some interest again PG - the fact that you're still helping others seems to me that the passion is still there just beneath the surface

You've really helped/motivated me personally a bunch, especially with performance anxiety and I've passed this advice on to my Students -Hope you have a great Christmas (and everyone else reading too!)

 

[Jeremy Healey]

This gives me ideas on possibly doing a stream
I grew up in piano lessons and learned theory and how to read music and all of that. I would have to brush up on some things beforehand but the basics I could certainly do!

Now when it comes to guitar my real core knowledge comes from here, and from there I had the tools to progress at my own (slow) pace.

A little while ago it just kind of clicked for me in how to relate the fretboard to the keys on a piano and now things make so much more sense, and I wish to share that!

 

[The Raven]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.
My advice is:
1. Learn the names of the notes on the piano. There are 12 and then they just repeat. C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B (or C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B)
2. Learn all your basic major and minor chords. Root, 3rd, 5th. So a C scale is CDEFGABC. The 1st, 3rd and 5th would be CE&G. To make that a minor you drop the 3rd a half step. So C Eb & G.
3. Learn every inversion of those chords. Major: CEG, EGC, GCE. Minor: CEbG, EbGC, GCEb.
4. Now do that in every key. You don't have to know every Major scale to play the chords, but it helps when trying to figure them out.
4. If you want to pursue more in depth theory - learn and memorize all the major scales. This way you can build more complex chords. Formulas are easy to find on Youtube. Example; CMajor7 = 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th - so C E G B. And of course you should learn all the inversions of that.

All of this is on YouTube. Just search: Major scales. Chord formulas, etc.

The thing about piano is - you MUST know a little theory to play it. It's not like guitar, where you can learn a C scale by learning a pattern and then move it up a fret to play a C# scale - yet have no idea what notes you're playing.. On piano you have to know the actual notes. There is no "moving up a fret".
The up side of this is that it is 100 times easier to learn theory on a piano - because you can't cheat.

I like this guy:

There are tons of videos like this on Youtube. Search out the ones you like and start doing some work.
I can't begin to express what this will do for your musicianship and playing. In my opinion it's the single biggest game changer for a guitarist.
Good luck!
pg

Thank you for your advice. I'll definitely follow it.

 

[William B.]

I kept thinking about CEG last night gonna try it

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

This absolutely breaks my heart for both reasons. I hope you find your interest again soon. Not for us (though, yeah, BONUS), but for yourself and those around you. But for us, yeah, that 10-video series seems like exactly what's needed to fill in a hole in this site's series of lessons.

The rest of your advice I've copied and pasted into a text document on my desktop to dig into later, and I may have to buy a cheap keyboard to knock around on. I got rid of my last one about 10 years ago.

Merry Christmas, PG!

Thanks Ed. Not a big deal. I've stepped away from music before - even for months at a time. I have a local gig in Vermont and am playing once a week. A duo with my wife. Just cover stuff, but we enjoy it. I'm really taking a step back from recording, live-streams, writing, etc. At some point, I'll get the bug to write and record something - or not. lol. Been going through the yin yang of music for 50 years.
Merry Christmas my friend!

 

[Ed Seith]

Thanks Ed. Not a big deal. I've stepped away from music before - even for months at a time. I have a local gig in Vermont and am playing once a week. A duo with my wife. Just cover stuff, but we enjoy it. I'm really taking a step back from recording, live-streams, writing, etc. At some point, I'll get the bug to write and record something - or not. lol. Been going through the yin yang of music for 50 years.
Merry Christmas my friend!

And to you. You had me worried there. Fa La La La La.

 

[IrisDavidson]

I was thinking of doing a 10 video series of "piano for guitar players" before I lost interest in music.
My advice is:
1. Learn the names of the notes on the piano. There are 12 and then they just repeat. C Db D Eb E F Gb G Ab A Bb B (or C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B)
2. Learn all your basic major and minor chords. Root, 3rd, 5th. So a C scale is CDEFGABC. The 1st, 3rd and 5th would be CE&G. To make that a minor you drop the 3rd a half step. So C Eb & G.
3. Learn every inversion of those chords. Major: CEG, EGC, GCE. Minor: CEbG, EbGC, GCEb.
4. Now do that in every key. You don't have to know every Major scale to play the chords, but it helps when trying to figure them out.
4. If you want to pursue more in depth theory - learn and memorize all the major scales. This way you can build more complex chords. Formulas are easy to find on Youtube. Example; CMajor7 = 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th - so C E G B. And of course you should learn all the inversions of that.

All of this is on YouTube. Just search: Major scales. Chord formulas, etc.

The thing about piano is - you MUST know a little theory to play it. It's not like guitar, where you can learn a C scale by learning a pattern and then move it up a fret to play a C# scale - yet have no idea what notes you're playing.. On piano you have to know the actual notes. There is no "moving up a fret".
The up side of this is that it is 100 times easier to learn theory on a piano - because you can't cheat.

I like this guy:

There are tons of videos like this on Youtube. Search out the ones you like and start doing some work. And if you need help with writing, then http://essaypapers.reviews/ will help you
I can't begin to express what this will do for your musicianship and playing. In my opinion it's the single biggest game changer for a guitarist.
Good luck!
pg

These advises are indeed good. I will use some of them in my learning