My whole life I have lived with the regret of not becoming proficient in a musical instrument. I grew up with a piano and acoustic guitar in my childhood home, and I actually took lessons for both but never committed to practicing or improving. As a result I grew up tinkering with both hit never learned how to read music or actually develop any fundamental techniques to play either.

I am an autodidact and have always felt that with the right resources, and a little discipline, I could at least learn enough to play a few songs on either instrument, and possibly with time become a sight reader.

To that end, I am curious, musicians of ~Tildes, what resources are the best to self-learn piano and guitar? Books, videos, apps, anything that you’ve used or know people have used and actually went from complete novice to reasonably proficient?

Thanks and happy new year!

My aunt is moving to a smaller apartment and her piano does not fit there, so I offered to take it. Not because I intended to play, but she wanted to keep it in the family out of nostalgia and emotional attachment.

It is under renovation and should arrive perfectly tuned.

But now that I have it, I ask myself: why not play it? I had piano lessons as a kid, and I like classical music.

Is there a straightforward way to learn piano by myself that doesn’t feel like much of a chore? Otherwise, the piano will just linger in my living room.

I just love good piano, whether alone, with vocals, or with other instruments. Two of my all-time favorite artists are Vienna Teng and Regina Spektor, both of whom use it to great effect in their music. Anyone have any good recommendations? I'm open to any genre.

Edit: Awesome suggestions, everyone! I've got quite the playlist right now that I plan to explore over the coming week. Thanks all!

Hi everyone,

Each and every hobby has a start. I'm going to learn how to play the piano. For this, I'm planning to buy an electric piano. There's a regular grand piano I have access to, but they come without headphone jacks, and until I get better I want to limit the scope of audible torture to my own ears as much as possible. So, I could do with some of your advice.

This list of requirements is not meant to limit you in your advice, but serves more as a guideline, to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

Hard requirements:

• Headphone jack
• The sound library must contain at least a 'normal' piano sound and an electric piano sound (the more it sounds like a dirty Rhodes, the better!)
• At least 128 voice-polyphony
• At least 76 keys, but preferably 88

Soft requirements:

• Weighted keys
• Simulated hammer action
• High repetition
• Ebony and ivory key feel (don't like the sensation of smooth plastic)
• MIDI support so I can hook it up to a computer to try out other sound libraries

Completely unnecessary but cool:

• USB port
• Bluetooth compatibility

If you've learned to play the piano, especially as an adult, any advice you may have for me would be more than welcome, too.

Thank you!