I would like to talk about a handful of points you’re able to do that will assist you have fun in playing much more and also learn piano much quicker. Actively playing piano is actually very much like every other skill well worth experiencing, it rewards its students who employ correct key points and it rewards them much more rapidly. It can be a big difficult task to learn piano and whether you’ve begun or are planning on it, hopefully this will help you out.
Some of you may have tried at some point and some of you have considered it for some time. If perhaps this is your story, I would really like to offer a bit of help. If it’s something that you want to do, do it. Take the time now to get a teacher or a lesson system and start right now to do something that you enjoy. Only regrets or happy memories follow our decisions to follow or not follow something we want.
Set aside time for practice and playing. It’s amazing how many times in life we can look back and in frustration ask why we aren’t making progress or seem to be stuck. Most of the time we don’t realize that the only reason we haven’t moved forward is because we simply haven’t spent the time to deserve it. It’s easy to be frustrated if you don’t know why something is wrong but it’s easy to set a course of action and get past it quickly when you do.
At least 90% of your time should be spent practicing. Practice with a goal. Focus on mastering notes, pedal, dexterity, a specific section of music, etc. Pianists become great during this time if they carefully and thoughtfully play with an end goal in mind. For every inspiring hour that we get to see great pianists perform there are at least 10 more hours spend behind the scenes in practice.
Don’t play for too long but play frequently. You don’t have to play 8 hours a day as a professional concert pianist. Spending one hour a day, 6 days a week is much better than spending 6 hours in 1 day, 1 day a week. You will develop consistency and focus in your playing if you develop consistency and focus in your practice.
Playing with a metronome will help you to get it right the first time. We all have seen or used them before and if you’re like me you might like playing without one much better but what good is it to play if you cannot get the rhythm and beat right? I have a tendency to speed up on the parts I know well and then slow down on the parts I don’t. Using a metronome helps you discover those parts and forces you to spend the time and practice to fix them and play them right rather than learning songs halfheartedly.
Wait until you have learned the song well before adding the pedal as a last touch. This way you learn coordination and placement of your hands and fingers are shaped to the music. When it sounds good without the peddle you can rest assured that you are playing well. Now that you are familiar you can add the pedal and play it with confidence.
Start trying to improvise. It can be a little frustrating at first but you can just try adding a couple notes here and there to begin with. You will develop a natural feeling for the song more quickly by doing so. It will help you to intuitively avoid mistakes and sound smoother even when you are playing songs without improvisation.
Play songs that you enjoy. Inner drive is defined by and a product of passion. You have no drive when you lose passion or have none. We have a lot of other words to describe it like ambition or desire but each one has its root in what’s inside: passion. When you do something you love it moves you forward.You are automatically propelled forward when you do something you love. It doesn’t require remembering it or dragging it along. If you want a good example of this it’s food. We don’t forget to eat for very long, most people don’t have to schedule it and we all love food. Passion and drive do need to be cultivated and developed but they will move you forward much further than you could ever go without them.
When I started playing I didn’t have much drive because I didn’t have much passion. I wasn’t really playing the songs I wanted and I was the one that spent the 5 hours in one day rather than playing with consistency. I started playing all the time only after I started playing music that I loved. And you know what happened? I enjoyed it too! So take the time to practice and learn theory and all that good stuff but make sure you take the time to play what you want to play too.
The most important thing we can do is start taking action the moment we choose to do something. So if you’ve been waiting to start or get better just go for it. Teachers, books, and programs are all places you can start. If you don’t have the money for a teacher, there’s a lot of really great programs out there. If you want a recommendation there’s a great program I’ve used that is very complete, comes with 12 months worth of material and a ton of songs and bonus material Piano Lessons for Beginners. It costs about the same as a single piano lesson and is extremely comprehensive. I’ve had a lot of books, teachers and programs. I have had some really great teachers and some not so great ones. The closest thing I’ve had to a great teacher would be piano lessons for beginners. It’s an excellent place to start.
Mitch First Hand