Ok, I just purchased a YPT-300 keyboard....is this a good starter keyboard? Oh, and one more thing-how in the world do you play piano? Where should I start? I can play sax, flute, and clarinet and then the string instruments but piano is new to me. I want to self teach myself-its just for fun and composing. So can you guys /girls give me some tips?

Congrats on wanting to learn! Since you are a musician already that cuts in much more quickly.

If you are wanting to the learn the instrument, a book to teach your hands scales would be wise. Hanon makes one that I used back in the day when learning piano. Piano just like any instrument is about your mind and hands adopting to traversing the keys with ease. Spend time daily working those scales until it is natural. This will help...

hello

since you play other instruments, you are not a beginner to music and can obviously read sheet music, so if you found yourself a professional piano tutor, he or she would not have to teach you the rudiments of reading sheet music as well as teaching you to play the piano. You would only have to know how to recognise the notes on a keyboard.

I am a beginner on the piano and cannot play other instruments so my teacher has had to try and teach me to read music as well as get to grips with the piano. I am reading the music pretty well, but my problem is timing. You dont say how advanced you are on the other instruments but if you are a fair way forward then you would only have to get to grips with the actual instrument as opposed to trying to master the art of reading music.

You may want to book into having about 6 music lessons with a professional piano tutor so that you can make sure you learn properly and use the correct fingers on the notes.

Good luck and let us know the outcome

Oh I meant to say that a piano has 88 keys. Some keyboards dont have the full range of notes so if you are playing the instrument and reading the sheet music, you may find it difficult to play some pieces with notes missing. I can never understand why keyboards have less than 88 keys and some are not full size keys either. Makes it a bit difficult to play, its like having a guitar with only two strings lol

My MIDI controller keyboard has 76 keys (A to C), but you can transpose the octaves to suit - either lose the top or the bottom octave from the piano's range (or have a split and lose an octave in the middle). It can run out of steam in theory, but I haven't found it a limitation so far. That said, I don't use it as a piano, other than for occasional late night practice. I do think the full 88 keys is the way to do it, however - it just feels right.

Regarding timing, do you mean things like steadiness of tempo?

I actually give lessons via webcam to students who don't live in my area and I'd be happy to help you out. Check out www.michaeldentonpiano.com to see a bit about me and contact me if you're interested.