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Do you also play the piano?

Do you play the piano?

  • Yes

    Votes: 160 64.8%

  • No

    Votes: 87 35.2%
  • Total voters
    247
#41
I started teaching myself the piano in 2008. I always wanted to be like Tom Waits.
My technical ability is a travesty and a crime against pianos but the keyboard layout shows you the notes so my musical knowledge has skyrocketed. A working knowledge of the piano with a minimum of technique allows me to write music and my bandmates in our Beatles tribute group even let me play Let It Be very night.
I wish I had an acoustic piano and the time/money to take lessons and fix my technique a bit.
 
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#48
nonohmic said:
Specifically, do you play it with the idea it will help you be a better musician and hence bassist.

if yes, what are your reasons?

If no, any particular reason why not?
Click to expand...
I play piano for several reasons:
- It was my first instrument. Took three years of lessons as a child. Then took lessons again (mandatory) as a music major in college
- IMHO, anyone who wants to play music, regardless of primary instrument, should learn piano because it is the best instrument to visualize scales, chords, intervals, e.g. theory
- I do believe it makes me a better musician overall, if I continue to play
 
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#50
From my sixth till my twelfth. I played my father's organ, every now and then. I learned about chords and progressions. Then I kept silent for a few decades. At fifty I picked up the bass an I bought me a full size keyboard. Apart from the aforementioned instruments, I also play some guitar, however not at gig level.

 
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#51
Music school curriculum includes piano classes even if that's not the primary instrument for the student. Piano has been the primary composing instrument in western music for hundreds of years, so it's necessary to have some competency on piano to be a fully educated musician. Especially if you play a monophonic instrument like a horn.

I was a music major in college at first. One of the reasons I did not sustain that path was that I had almost no piano background and found myself far behind my peers who did. Playing piano is necessary in music school and I could not do it well enough to compete. Alas.

Luckily at the time I was in college, the University of Texas' jazz program was fledgling and there was more opportunity than there were players, especially bass players. I was able to continue playing in all the ensembles I wanted to, and networking with all the same people, as a non-major that I would have as a jazz major. I ended up playing in the top jazz ensemble at the university for a while, which is not an opportunity a non-music major would have there now. But I was taking business courses for my major instead of music theory and piano courses, which worked out well.
 
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#53
I had six years of classical piano before I even picked up a guitar or bass, and school band and chorus as well. To answer the OP: YES!!! a grounding in piano and understanding music theory and how other instruments work has been essential and foundational to being a bass player, so if nothing else, I know what I am supporting in the rest of the band.
 
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#54
Every time I try, my left hand (which is usually fretting notes on a guitar) wants to play the melody, and my right hand (which is usually keeping time by picking, plucking, thumping or strumming [depending on which stringed instrument I happen to be playing]) wants to play the rhythm.

I seem to have a pretty significant mental roadblock when I try to switch the two. So as long as the song has the melody on the lower notes, I tend to do ok - but swap it around and I might as well be trying to play a left handed guitar.

I usually can pick an instrument and at least get a pleasing sound of it even if I don't really know how to play it. But ask me to keep time with my left hand and play melody with my right and it's abject failure.

just my .02
 
#55
dreamadream99 said:
Definitely a better musician. I started on trombone, then took up piano when I was learning music theory in high school. It is invaluable to be able to learn chords laid out chromatically in front of you. Just the simple act of playing through the chords in a song Will, over time, begin to cement your ability to hear inversions, slash chords, chord progressions, chord qualities, and extensions.
.
Click to expand...

This was my thought in picking it up. As I can play through the changes if I learn them first, but I'm not really hearing them. Good to know I'm on the right path.
 
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#56
nonohmic said:
Specifically, do you play it with the idea it will help you be a better musician and hence bassist.

if yes, what are your reasons?
Click to expand...
As many others have mentioned above, there's no better instrument on which to learn music theory than the piano. I didn't fully realize this until I began to develop an interest in jazz, but having some piano skills has definitely helped me to become a more proficient bass player.
 
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