Tell me about learning from scratch on an electric keyboard!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I know I started a guitar-buying advice thread recently, but my aunt just gave me a gently-used electric keyboard, so now I think I’ll just go ahead and learn how to play that for now. It’s a Yamaha Portatone PSR-185, and the instruction manual said it’s from 1995. It definitely isn’t a full 88-key keyboard, and it features several preprogrammed beats and even built-in songs.

However, is it a good keyboard, or a glorified “toy”? I realize it isn’t a professional-level instrument, but it seems like half the beats in hip-hop and R&B music are simple lines written on '80s and '90s-sounding keyboards, so maybe I could at least learn some piano/keyboard fundamentals on it.

Can anyone recommend any good books for teaching myself the right way, with practice exercises? I know what keys correspond to what notes, and I can read music, but I have no idea the “proper” way to play, what fingers belong on what keys, or anything like that. I’d love to learn some Tom Waits songs, as well as enough fundamentals to play some rock, blues, and jazz (or at least fake it).

2

As far as books, I’d just suggest going for beginner level books–the same ones that piano teachers have their students use. The easier level ones will even number the notes so you know which fingering to use, and the level increases gently and you progress through the books. I can’t remember what I used (I have books from a few different series somewhere, but not handy) so I can’t really suggest a particular series. Try the local music store, they’ll probably be able to help you.

As far as learning to play, there’s nothing wrong with using that keyboard most likely. The keys may feel different than a real piano though (eg: it may or may not take force into account, and the keys are often much lighter and sometimes smaller). You don’t really need a full 88-key instrument–you’ll rarely be going that far into the outliers–I know I never have with my 61-note keyboard. As far as the pre-programmed beats…I never figured out what the point of those were. Sometime the songs are fun though, if you have the music so you can play along with the melody.