So I'm a self-taught piano player. I went out and bought a piano on a whim about 2 years ago, and just started sitting down every day and playing new music. I do want to get a teacher at some point, but unfortunately money is just too tight right now. Just to give an idea of where I'm at, skill-level wise, here's the last song I taught myself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lokBkOIAuIA

My long term goal is to get into writing my own piano music. A while ago, I started teaching myself music theory, and was actually catching on really quickly. I understand how to build scales, how keys work, how chords and their inversions are built, how chord progressions work, what the circle of 5ths is, etc. The main problem I have is that I sit down at the piano, and it's like I just completely blank out. Sure, I know how to find a chord or a scale, but I have to sit and really think about it. I can't just recall this stuff when I need to. I keep hearing people say the fix is to just keep practicing everything, I just don't know WHAT to practice, though.

I'm just not really sure what type of practicing I need to do to really get this stuff down. It's just frustrating to understand how everything is working, but not be able to actually apply it or recall it when I want to. It's hard to play my own stuff when I'm struggling to remember exactly where the 4th chord in a scale is, things like that. I'm not even really sure how to practice composition, if that makes sense. With no background in it, or a teacher to talk to, I'm just really overwhelmed with everything right now, I guess.

Any advice for me? Just to give an idea of the type of music I'm wanting to make, here's my two favorites lately. I do spend a TON of time listening to piano music, and I can usually hear the general progressions in my head, though I can't always pick out the exact key or anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEOpQ2BEnxw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBImqQl71xs