I think the reason piano/keyboard feels so unintuitive and difficult to us is because the physical distances between notes isn't constant, the way you move up one half step is different depending on what you're starting from
they should make keyboards with all the keys in a simple pattern, not this weird thing with white and black keys
@eq Can I trade in our current keyboard for one with that layout? |3 I think we'd find it way easier
Strings always came naturally to us, at least more so than keyboard
maybe we should look into getting a guitar instead, sell the keyboard... but having the keyboard as a midi input device is nice (at least in theory. we've never used it as such yet)
@Felthry there used to be these nice keyboards with that layout but i think there aren't any for sale anymore ): it's a real shame, i'd love to have one too
there are these fancy guitar->midi converters people have made that look super nice. i don't know how to play any stringed instruments but they do seem really nice..
@eq We bounced off of piano lessons as a kid, but then later learned to play viola in high school. Viola came really easily to us because of how there's an easy, tangible, linear connection between what you're doing with the string and what note it makes
@Felthry absolutely yeah. i know a Bit™ about music theory and i'm learning to do keyboard things but at the same time i really wish what i want to do could translate nicely onto strings
@eq actually scratch that, it's not linear, but it's intuitive
The length of the string and frequency of the note have a 1/x relationship but since frequency to note is an exponential relationship I think you end up with a linearithmic progression up the string...? I don't know, math stuff
@Felthry it's close /enough/ to linear that yr fingers can feel almost linear at least though yeah
@Felthry I'll happily admit it's not particularly intuitive going in, but there is a method to the madness; the white keys correspond to C major and A minor (empty key signatures in music notation), so a key signature in sheet music will directly tell you which keys to actually use. On top of that, the layout helps provide a reference point for where the notes are, which obviously helps with staying in key no matter what you're playing.
@Thaminga Sure, but that just doesn't mesh well with our brain
having the half step between B and C require different finger motions than the half step between B♭ and B is just unintuitive and weird because they're both the same semitone
@Felthry Fair, I just can't imagine myself trying to play a keyboard instrument with all the same keys either - I'd get lost and start playing out of key in a matter of seconds.
Coloring some of them black in the same pattern as an ordinary piano keyboard would help somewhat, but that'd still be useless to blind players, and all.
@Thaminga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_table_note_layout someone else brought this up which seems handy, and keys could be marked in the same way the f and j keys are marked on keyboards, with slightly different shapes
@Felthry designs for those exist! they're a bit rare though. like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_table_note_layout