r/pianolearning

This is gonna be a question mostly for teachers but if anyone has any other input I'm totally coolio with that. I started piano beginning of this year and am pretty motivated to improve, I clock in at least an hour a day and really enjoy it. I do have a classically trained teacher going through the classical methods and am steadily improving.

My main question to teachers is, has any teachers actually seen an adult beginner become a virtuoso? This question is really important to me because I am an adult in my mid 20s and piano is quickly becoming a big part of my life and I have pretty steep aspirations, various Chopin and Liszt etudes to be exact. I'm sure its astronomically rare but if there's even one example out there It would potentially remove any mental block in the future, similar to how as soon as one person breaks the 4 minute mile, immediately after many others broke it and I'm just genuinely curious.

I have tried to find any example but the extreme techniques required for some lizst pieces are seemingly the barrier that prevents a lot of adults from becoming a true virtuose. By extreme techniques I mean rapid lizst style octaves, repeated single notes that jump wildly, wide jumps, 45 trills that you see in many of his etudes. This is as opposed to something like revolutionary etude, a piece you could decently get down just through pure muscle memory on synthesia. Could it be not starting younger makes it impossibly difficult to achieve?

The reason I want this answered from teachers specifically because of course you have your youtuber synthesia superstar prodigy that's learned fantasie impromptu in 1 year, but I'm sure I don't have to explain why I don't want to learn that way. Teachers also have the most amount of data on piano learners and have a general idea of what's normal and not.

My teachers perspective: He doesn't think its realistically possible for most adults, mostly due to time constraints and potential fine motor function loss from not starting earlier. He has stated he thinks its possible for me but will require immense dedication and a minimum 2 hours a day but it's simply too early to tell and I just have to put the work in. An example of a technique that's hard, trills. He has stated that trills is a MAJOR technical barrier for many people just due to weak starting fine motor skills and to play something like 45 trills on la campanella would be a near impossible task for an adult not extraordinarily gifted in the trills department.

anyways, would appreciate any input, thanks.

I got this piano cause I wanna learn how learned how to play piano ( im real young and I wanna play cause of Stevie Wonder , Robert Glasper , ) does have any suggestion or can teach me

i’m not looking to play classical musical or whatever. i just want to learn to play my favorite songs. is simply piano good for that?? i’ve seen mixed reviews and im not sure

Looking back, what's one lesson you wish you had taken seriously from the beginning?

I'm sure beginners (myself included) could learn a lot from everyone's experience.

Hi everyone,

I’m 44 years old. I wanted to start playing the piano when I was young, but I never pursued that opportunity.

I intend to start my journey this year and would like some advice.

I don’t have the money to hire a teacher, so I want to start with an app on my iPad, but there are many choices and it’s a bit overwhelming.

My ultimate goal is to be able to play classical, anime, and video game music, and to learn music theory and sight-reading as well.

I don’t have much space in my home (I need to use my computer desk to install it), so I can only buy a 49-key keyboard to begin with.

The M-AUDIO Keystation 49 MK3 seems to be a good choice within my budget, but if you have any other advice, please let me know.

Have a great evening !

I have been learning piano for ~5 years with spotty practicing and I have had such a hard time with improv and having a song in my head that I have no idea how to translate to piano.

Well I don’t know what happened, but something clicked a couple months ago with chords and the way they stack together and I can suddenly improv ANYTHING now. The freedom is indescribable.

I feel like that bike picture where I have just been pedaling upwards for so long and I’m finally over the hill!

I've been playing piano for nearly 3 years now, but I've learned almost everything through Synthesia/MIDI videos on YouTube where you can see the notes falling onto the keyboard. I can pick up songs pretty well that way, but I barely know how to read sheet music.

I've played in a band before, was in my school's production where I played well known songs, and I'll probably be the keyboardist for our next school production. The problem is that for the upcoming production, I can't just search up a Synthesia video because the keyboard parts are a specific arrangement from the score.

At the moment I only really know one note on the staff, and I know that the treble clef is generally for the right hand and the bass clef is for the left hand. That's about it.

So, what's the best way to actually learn to read sheet music from where I am now? Are there any books, apps, websites, or practice methods you'd recommend? Also, how long did it take you before reading music started to feel natural?

I'd really appreciate any advice, especially from people who learned to play first and only started reading music later.

I'm looking for a beginner keyboard for my kids. We're hoping to put them in piano lessons sooner or later, but not yet.

I understand a few of the key features to look for, but I'm trying to understand the importance of pedals for beginners. I don't want them inhibited or to develop bad habits that they have to unlearn, but I also know they might not end up being serious about piano or music, so I don't know how important it is for them to have a full suite of typical piano features.

I see a lot of the beginner keyboards include a sustain pedal, but not the other two. Should I make a point of ensuring it has the other two (or can expand to the other two) or is it okay to de-emphasize it and wait and see how far they go with music?

I'm somewhat of a beginner and tired of flipping pages... Suggestions? I was planning on getting a large screen android tablet (like 14") and a bluetooth pedal to change pages. I've also heard forScore is a good app for page reading but don't know much about it. I have lots of PDF's for my music already.

Am I missing anything? Or anyone have better ideas? I don't know much about this stuff, trying to spare myself from future frustration.

Thank you!

Hello Everyone! I really want to learn to play the keyboard, and eventually, the Piano. I'm in my 20s with a full time job, so I don't have the time to go for in person classes and there are no music schools/teachers in close proximity to where I stay to begin with. Could any of you kindly help me to start ? I've been looking for resources online, but it's a bit overwhelming because I don't know which is the right course to pick, and I'm not sure if it's beginner friendly. Another reason I would prefer online lessons is because it will be more affordable for me. It would also be great if you could share any tips or information that could help me out as someone who will be learning from scratch. Thank you so much!

!! please reply only if you have actual advice to give !!

I'm a hobbyist and would say I'm an early advanced repertoire player. I currently listened to prokofiev's etude op.2 no.4, visions no.14, and suggestions diabolique. Which one is the hardest, and what are the types of difficulty? And also, I would favor a piece that is liked and respected by juries in competition, like Pathetique sonata which is very respected by judges, not something like Fantaisie impromptu, liebestraum, Allah turca, etc, because in my area they are overplayed and always get mid scores. Do you think a niche piece(prokofiev's) would have a higher chance to get high scores? Thank you.

Someone gave me a keyboard as I wanted to start learning piano for over 3 years now, but now that I’ve got one I’ve no idea what I need to do to actually get into it. What are tips to do for a beginner from scratch and what should I practice first? (Only thing I know is which note which letter is)

I want to learn to play “so lonely” by the police on the piano. Not the original backing track, but play the actual melody with the right hand.
Unfortunately I can’t find any proper resources showing how to play it.
I only found “mart music”s breakdown of his cover but he doesn’t really show which notes to play, he just plays them and I have to pause and look which note he plays when.
I also found a couple of cover videos meaning people are doing it, but most likely they’re very advanced since they were able to figure out the song themselves.

I’m not that advanced. Hardest song I’ve learned so far was the Layla outro. I’d like someone to show me how to play that song. Willing to pay.

When I started learning piano, I spent more time searching YouTube and switching between apps than actually practicing.

I wanted one place where beginners could simply learn scales, understand basic music theory, practice with feedback, and eventually play simple songs.

That idea eventually became Piano Scales.

I'd love to know what features you think every beginner piano app should have. I'm still actively improving it, so feedback from learners is incredibly valuable.

Happy to share the Play Store link if anyone wants to try it.