Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

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pavel
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Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by pavel » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:21 am

at which time should I switch off all helping letters (or numbers) and have notes only? level 50? after 3 months?
yea of course general answer will be "it depends" or "when you feel ready" but what is your experience?

andrewwegierski
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by andrewwegierski » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:44 pm

To avoid a general answer, I'm going to refrain from answering. Because I don't have the personal experience myself. I already learned piano skills before joining Playground.

I think it's best to open this up to other users. I know some of them will have great experience to share.
Andrew Wegierski

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support@playgroundsessions.com

andrewwegierski
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by andrewwegierski » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:45 pm

My opinion is that you should do it as soon as possible though, and go back and forth slowly. Then eventually don't use them at all.
Andrew Wegierski

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sw1tch73ch
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by sw1tch73ch » Sat Jan 26, 2019 12:39 am

I do have the personal experience to answer - so I will. :)

My advice, at least after the first few lessons, and when the question comes up in your mind is to do the lesson exercises initially with the numbers on all the way through Rookie Bootcamp. Play the exercises with the numbers to orient your fingers. As soon as you have a decent feel for the finger positions, switch to the letter names. I would keep the letter names there until you've reached 100% for that exercise at least twice (or whichever goal you've set for yourself - I go for 100%). Then turn the notation to the "none" so neither number or letters are shown, and play that until you've managed at least five 100% plays in a row.

There will be exceptions to this advice. Some lessons are meant to teach you how to "Pivot" (watch for that word in the lessons) so keep the finger numbers on for those until you get the 100% scores - then switch to Letters and then none as described before. Don't be afraid that you're failing if you need to turn the numbers back on now and then. But the goal is to use them only to start the lessons and until your have a feel, literally, for where the fingers belong in that exercise.

Now the caveat - as you progress you should tailor these ideas so that they work best for you. If you find you have trouble getting to 100% without finger numbers - go ahead and keep them on until you do - but then still switch to the letters and then none before you consider the lessons mastered. On the other hand you might be ready to run after only one time through an exercise - so go ahead and switch to letters right away. But study the finger positions for at least the "pre-play" portion of the exercise.

Oh! Did I forget to mention the preplay of the lesson? Yes, look at the sheet music, imagining your fingers working as described at least once before trying to play. I actually play through without the "Play" button the first time, just to make sure I understand where the fingers go.
== Just keep playing. Just keep playing. Just keep playing, playing, playing! ==

-- jbs --

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pavel
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by pavel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:57 am

andrewwegierski wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:45 pm
My opinion is that you should do it as soon as possible though, and go back and forth slowly. Then eventually don't use them at all.
I agree completly, ASAP, in my case I realized after 3 months (at Level 53) that I cannot play without letters :( so now I feel like a newbe. And probably (again) I found another bug. I cannot switch off entirely all letters, see figure:
none.png
none.png (12.73 KiB) Viewed 9613 times
apart from flat symbol, which is hilariously funny after several user reports. But still cannot switch them off, why?

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pavel
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by pavel » Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:14 pm

sarcastic post (deleted by user)
Attachments
none2.png
none2.png (14.43 KiB) Viewed 9612 times
Last edited by pavel on Tue Jan 29, 2019 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

andrewwegierski
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by andrewwegierski » Mon Jan 28, 2019 5:34 pm

I didn't know that either. The chord symbols are not considered letter names. Chord symbols appear in almost all popular and jazz piano music for the ease of playing and understanding it. It's much easier to see Dmaj7 as one concept, as opposed to reading the 3 pitches there.

Also, the flats showing as X's is a Windows 10 system font issue. This will be addressed in an update.
Andrew Wegierski

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pavel
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by pavel » Tue Jan 29, 2019 12:08 am

no it is not possible, :( wich is was. I just made picture in Photoshop to ilustrate how cool it would be if you modify it. Really I do not want any help, no letters, no numbers at all. As is written in help:
none3.png
none3.png (18.81 KiB) Viewed 9590 times
I am asking you how to swith off completly.

Laurensss
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by Laurensss » Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:29 am

Pavel, I don't understand why you chose to post these images. Apart from the chord notation (which I agree with Andrew is a really standard feature and unrelated to fingering or note hints) the third button does just what you want:
Screenshot 2019-01-29 at 15.25.23.png
Screenshot 2019-01-29 at 15.25.23.png (31.96 KiB) Viewed 9581 times
No need for Photoshop.
There are much bigger fish to fry IMHO. Why they haven't yet pushed a build fixing the font issue is beyond me.

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pavel
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Re: Time to switch letters vs. numbers vs. none

Post by pavel » Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:59 am

I bought some books with notes, famous songs etc... there is none description for chords, then I found some old classical music sheet, there is none description for chords ....

all what I am saying, if I have a chord description (letters) I will get use to read it instead of reading notes and once I want to play by a book I am in deep trouble :(

for same reason I switched off for notes, now I want to hide for chords. Nothing else. I dont want miracles.
Letters are still there even checked NO LETTERS
none.png
none.png (7 KiB) Viewed 9579 times

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