Your child may play a music instrument (like trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, flute, trombone, violin, viola, or cello) in school, so why do they need to learn to play another instrument? Piano and guitar are both instruments that form the base for a lot of music. They can be utilized in different ways to enhance or improve playing. We thought it would be a good idea to share some of our thoughts on why piano or guitar is a great instrument for you or your child to learn to play while also learning to play a band instrument.
1. They’re Easy to Pick Up
Yamaha PSR-EW310 Portable Keyboard
Piano and guitar share the same notes as band and orchestra instruments. Either one is able to easily play along with the same music that the band or orchestra instrument is playing. There isn’t much more learning in terms of reading the music. You would read the music exactly the same as you would any other band or orchestra instrument. This makes it easy to get a head start on playing the piano or guitar. In fact, this applies to almost any instrument. It’s important not to forget that music is a universal language.
Also, in terms of technique, piano and guitar are relatively easy to learn. A piano requires no special technique to get a perfect sound out of a note (compared to the squeaks that can accompany a beginning woodwind player), and a guitar is nearly as easy to pick up.
2. Chords and Theory
Piano and guitar allow students to play chords. This is something that cannot be done by one person playing a band or orchestra instrument. One needs the entire group in a school band or orchestra in order to form the chord structures. Using a guitar or piano teaches chord structure, and opens to door to learning the basics of music theory, which can be hard to grasp when only playing single notes on a wind instrument.
3. New Possibilities
Next, we understand that sometimes students want a little more music in their life beyond band or orchestra. We have seen many times that students want to learn another instrument for fun or because they really want a diverse musical experience. Certain styles of music, like rock n’ roll for example, are typically composed of drums, bass, guitar, piano and vocals. It challenges students because many times you are not just playing one part of the music, but rather many parts at the same time. For example, on the piano you may be playing the melody, the chords, and a bass part all at once. It takes lots of concentration and effort to learn and play the piano or guitar.
Piano and guitar are essentially limitless in terms of application. If you listen to any radio station, for the most part you will hear either a piano or a guitar or both in most songs. The interesting thing is that it is not just one style or genre of music, these two instruments can be used for any style. This will broaden your child’s view on music and not limiting them to just the music they are playing in the school band or orchestra. With piano or guitar they can play anything from rock, jazz, rap, reggae, country, classical and everything in between.
At pemusicstore.com we offer two great selections for those that want to start learning guitar or piano. For those that want to learn to play piano, we have the Yamaha PSR-EW310 76-key digital keyboard. This comes with built in speakers, 76 keys, 154 built-in songs to play with, and 622 different sound voices. At a price of $289.00, this instrument not only is less expensive that many other band or orchestra instruments, but it is versatile. For those wanting to learn to play guitar, we offer the Yamaha GigMaker Guitar Package. This is probably the best student learning guitar on the market with many higher-end features. Included with the Yamaha GigMaker guitar is a tuner, picks, and an instructional guitar lesson DVD. At a price of $219.99, it makes a great birthday or holiday gift.
Learning to play piano or guitar is something that not only challenges students, but also enhances their learning. By learning another instrument, it helps you to understand music outside of the instrument you already are playing. Piano and guitar are two of the most versatile options in musical instruments to play any style of music. If you have any questions, you can give us a call at Paul Effman Music.
For more info the Yamaha GigMaker Guitar Package, check out this video review: