Nothing beats a teacher but there are some problematic things with piano teachers IME. (I've had 2 over the past 20 years)
- Piano is super super super biased towards classical music
- Huge emphasis on reading music and playing it back even if you're not understanding it
- Weakness on developing a sense of rhythm and playing by ear
- Weakness on learning to play with others
- The weakness on understanding leads to a difficulty in memorization AFAICT
All this stuff gets ironed out in piano lessons I'm sure but it seems to happen at a pretty late stage that isn't great for an adult beginner. It takes away some of the fun.
I have never taken classical guitar but in contrast to piano your typical guitar lessons are near 100% the other way around. Way more emphasis on using your ears, developing rhythm, playing with others, etc..
The only reason I mention this is a lot of synth music is pop music that has a lot more in common with guitar centric music.
The ridiculous thing is I haven't taken a piano lesson since 2015, I've been taking guitar. My sense of rhythm if I sit down at a keyboard/piano is way better now than when I was playing piano every day and taking classical style lessons. If I went back to some piano now I expect I would improve dramatically from where I was in short order.
FWIW (OP here), I've been playing guitar for years (not great, but fun enough:), have no knowledge of piano, and can have tons of fun with it just mixing up the basic chord progressions and playing around.
I mean, compared to the guitar - the notes are in order! One after another, in a neat sequence! What a concept! :-) :-) :-)
So I think we're in agreement - I feel (rightly or wrongly) that I could take two years of classical piano lessons, and get no closer to what I want to do with a synth than I am today :-/. Whereas I feel just from playing the guitar, I can already do, say, 10-15% of what I want to do with a synth, and want to explore further in _that_ direction...
I agree with all of this, which I why I generally play more guitar than piano. I find it more expressive and I "feel" the music more.
That being said, I think a midi keyboard is the best interface for controlling software synths. Sadly, using guitar as a midi instrument doesn't really work that well and this is an area where the keyboard really shines. Would be curious to hear your thoughts though.
Took a piano 1 class at a nearby college last fall, and I agree with all of your points. I did walk away with a firm grasp on major and minor chords, which is something that escaped me in the 20+ years I'd played music.
- Piano is super super super biased towards classical music
- Huge emphasis on reading music and playing it back even if you're not understanding it
- Weakness on developing a sense of rhythm and playing by ear
- Weakness on learning to play with others
- The weakness on understanding leads to a difficulty in memorization AFAICT
All this stuff gets ironed out in piano lessons I'm sure but it seems to happen at a pretty late stage that isn't great for an adult beginner. It takes away some of the fun.
I have never taken classical guitar but in contrast to piano your typical guitar lessons are near 100% the other way around. Way more emphasis on using your ears, developing rhythm, playing with others, etc..
The only reason I mention this is a lot of synth music is pop music that has a lot more in common with guitar centric music.
The ridiculous thing is I haven't taken a piano lesson since 2015, I've been taking guitar. My sense of rhythm if I sit down at a keyboard/piano is way better now than when I was playing piano every day and taking classical style lessons. If I went back to some piano now I expect I would improve dramatically from where I was in short order.