I taught myself pretty much everything I know. I started in about 3rd grade, using the books that my mom and aunt got when they took lessons, and my grandma’s piano. In the summer between sixth and seventh grade, my dad bought me a Yamaha PSR 7 keyboard at a yard sale, complete with a bunch of books, from incredibly basic to medium difficulty. Then I inherited most of my grandma’s sheet music when she went to the Alzheimer’s care facility.

I can play all of the songs in the Phantom of the Opera Big Note book, a few from the regular Pirates of the Caribbean sheet music, among a lot of other, easier songs. Plus I can stumble through ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’...the guitar solo on piano sounds pretty cool (right before the “opera part”).

It’s really hard for me to teach myself if I have no idea what the final result is. I already know that the way I’ve learned has set me up with some handicaps if I ever do take lessons. I mainly just want to be able to play this song that is part of my grandma’s sheet music – “Mountain Shower”. I have no idea what it’s supposed to sound like, it’s not really a song, more like “rain” then “lightning”, etc. I think if I could play that, I would be pretty happy with my skills.