Can I teach myself to read music?

Question

Particularly sheet music for piano.

I took piano lessons briefly as a child and learned to read music back then, but it's been over a decade so obviously I've forgotten everything.

I've had a look around several websites, but I havent been able to find anything clear and precise (and by that I mean anything I could understand) to help get me started.

Are there any websites that have instructions written for complete morons?

Answer 1

Check with your local library or book store.

I would suggest something like one of the "Dummies" or "Idiots Guide" series such as Piano for Dummies or Complete Idiots Guide To Piano.

These have helped me in the past.

Also, you may want to try Google.com and typing in something like Easy music reading.  Hope this helps.

Answer 2

if you need piano help, it's easy. see, the piano is kind of like a computer keyboard. do you know where "middle c" is? well, it's simply in the middle of the piano. that's where you put your right thumb. lay your fingers down accordingly. from there, you pick up piano books that say "big note" on them. that's what i use, they sound the same, but are perfectly easy enough for anybody. then you start counting and "type" your fingers along the piano. i hope i helped!

Answer 3

maybe you should go to a music store in your area and pick out a beginners book. work up from there.

Answer 4

sure

http://www.google.com/search?client=safa...

Answer 5

yes, you can. there are lots of websites that can explain it to you, i don't know any off the top of my head. but really the concept is not that difficult. what's difficult is doing the practice to ingrain it into your mind.

the biggest difficulty with learning on your own in comparison to having a teacher, apart for fingering, which if you plan on getting really good and playing really fast is important. is that you don't know if you've got it right or wrong. so you need to find slow simple songs that you know well so that it's not too discourage and hard, and you will know if you make a mistake or not.

as for the symbols you'll need to find a resource that explains them and have them handy while you are learning. learning the major or minor scale of the song you are learning to read will make things a little easier to read since most of the notes will be within the scale unless noted with the right symbol. so i would recommend learning the scale well for the song you want to read before learning it. the right resource will tell you how to know what key a song is in by looking at the notation.