Photo: Anna Avilova

Should I buy a 40 year old piano?

If the piano is older than 40 years old, generally, take a pass on that piano. The exception to this is owner care. If the owner had the piano service annually, then a 40 year old piano is much better than a 25 year old piano that hasn't been serviced even once. There are multiple factors when considering a piano.

thepianogalshop.com - Why age matters... | Piano Tuning, Music Store & Lessons

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“It’s an antique”, is a phrase I hear often.

The term antique should not be applied to a piano. Think of a piano less in terms of a piece of furniture, and more in terms of a car. A piano may LOOK like a piece of furniture, and in some ways it is i.e. picture frames on top, but it is a complicated musical instrument with a lot of working parts inside. Once a car gets to a certain age, it needs a new engine, a new transmission and stuff like that. As a piano ages, the hammers get hard and wear down to the wood. Also, the wood parts become brittle and break causing the piano not to play correctly, or at all. And the strings become rusty and dusty and no longer create a good sound. There are a multitude of more issues I could discuss, but those factors are pretty huge.

Left alone, pianos do not last forever.

A piano can be reconditioned. A piano can be restored. Both of these involve a great deal of expense and new parts. Unfortunately, the common scenario with a piano that I see most often is that it was purchased, then tuned maybe once or twice over the course of several decades and that’s about it. So, now there is a 60 (or 100!!) year old piano that has all original parts that are worn and dusty and not working well, and the poor piano hasn’t been tuned in ages. Why does this matter to someone else? The biggest issue is that this scenario seems to be the most common one for pianos that are listed on Craigslist and other marketplaces. The owner wants to get rid of it. They think it’s in “great” condition because the furniture part of it (the outside) has been cared for and dusted. However, the piano has rarely been opened in its tenure in that home. I’m going to share some pictures of older pianos in order to illustrate what happens as pianos age. These photos show dust, rust, and wear, which are all things that make a piano sound and feel bad. It isn’t just about it needing to be tuned with a piano. And grabbing a free piano off Craigslist and then having a tuner come and tune is not going to fix these issues (provided the piano can be tuned at all).

When looking to acquire a used piano, age matters.

It matters a lot. Find out how old it is. Pianos always have a serial number and the age can be pulled from that, if the owner doesn’t know how old it is. If the piano is older than 40 years old, generally, take a pass on that piano. The exception to this is owner care. If the owner had the piano service annually, then a 40 year old piano is much better than a 25 year old piano that hasn’t been serviced even once. There are multiple factors when considering a piano. One of the top considerations should be age. Once you know how old it is, then start digging into the condition and other factors.

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Musically,

Marta

The Piano Gal

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What chords do most songs use?

The most commonly used chords (in any key) are the I (1), V (5), vi (6), IV (4). First, it's important to know/remember that chords are notated in piano music by Roman Numerals. Large letter numerals are for Major chords and small letter numerals are for minor chords.

instructables.com - How to Play the Most Commonly Used Chords in Piano Music - Instructables

We hear chords in piano music all of the time without really thinking in detail about how they sound and connect with each other. We just somehow intuitively process the sounds to make sense. We can hear how certain chords create a sound of "beginning and ending" when played together and even when there is an ending missing as we're left with a feeling of "hanging in the air" instead of "landing back on the ground". The connection that these chords have with each other is called a Progression. Chord progressions are simply groups of chords put together in a specific way to create a specific type of sound. There are many many different chord progressions that we end up learning throughout our piano learning. However, there are some that are used over and over again; not only in many different pieces but also in the same piece! If you look at the image above, I have listed just a few examples of songs that are very popular that use this common 4-chord pattern. The most commonly used 4 chords are what we are going to focus on and learn today. You will recognize the sound of these chords and the progression pattern, even if you are new to music theory and learning to play the piano. Let's take a closer look now at those specific chords and what we call them.

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