Beginner Basics: How to Teach Yourself Piano

Piano Self Learners: How to Teach Yourself Piano

One of the almost common questions our teachers go asked: tin I acquire to play piano by myself? Yes! While nosotros believe the best way to learn piano is from an expert instructor, we're also in full support of students who prefer cocky-learning.

Pianoforte's one of the almost versatile instruments, and then learning how to teach yourself is a skill that will serve y'all in other areas of life. If you lot're truly committed to playing this instrument, use this learning guide to get started.

Step 1) Become Your Own Piano or Keyboard

You can't acquire how to teach yourself piano if yous don't accept i! Even if in that location'southward a public place where yous have access to a piano, it's far better if yous have 1 in the privacy of your abode. That ways it'south time to make an investment.

Acoustic pianos typically range in price from $2,000 to $ten,000 or more for some loftier-quality concert grand pianos. Obviously, as a beginner, you don't need a thou pianoforte, merely you'll at to the lowest degree want a quality instrument to practice on. Acoustic pianos are large and heavy, and require regular tuning to remain playable. Fifty-fifty though these aspects seem like downsides, nothing tin truly replace the sound and feel of a real pianoforte.

If the cost is an issue for yous, notwithstanding, a digital keyboard is a totally acceptable place to start. A full 88-key version starts at about $150. Think, you'll also need a keyboard stand, piano bench, and sustain pedal. The more features you lot desire (UBS bulldoze, audio effects, internal metronome, sample songs, etc.), the higher the investment volition exist. Most importantly, don't be tempted by cheap, low-quality keyboards. Insist on weighted keys, which is the key to achieving different dynamics in the music you lot play.

TakeLessons Live is perfect for beginners. It's an online learning subscription where you get unlimited pianoforte classes in small group settings taught by an expert pianist. Sign up for a free 30-day trial.

2) Beginning by Finding Middle C

So your keyboard is all gear up and you're excited to get going. If you have no musical background, you lot may feel overwhelmed by looking at all those keys – only don't worry! A great place to kickoff is by finding centre C.

Recall of middle C as home base, the place where all beginner pieces work off of. To notice middle C, sit down down in front of your piano and position yourself at the middle. The black keys are arranged in sets of 2 and iii. Middle C is the white key merely to the left of the group of two blackness keys near the middle of the keyboard. Place your right pollex on Centre C, pointer finger on the next white annotation (D), and your eye finger on the white notation next to that (Eastward). Using these three notes, you should exist able to play Mary Had a Picayune Lamb by ear (start with East, D, C…).

Before y'all can expect to play more than than Mary Had a Little Lamb, you lot need to pivot down some good resource that explain how to teach yourself piano. The Internet is one of your best resources, simply certainly not the just one. Here are some helpful resources to get you lot started:

  • DataDragon: Learning to read music is non quite every bit simple or straightforward equally finding Centre C. It's an ongoing process yous must focus on each time you play. DataDragon can help with this; the various lessons cover fourth dimension signatures, types of notes and rests, counting, canvass music symbols, and more.

  • OnlinePianist: Chords (multiple notes played at the same time) and scales (a succession of notes played 1 subsequently the other) are the foundation of piano playing. This resources teaches you how to play every major and small calibration on the piano equally well equally a huge variety of chords. Equally you click through the options, keep in mind that the major and pocket-sized chords are a great place to commencement.

  • Hanon exercises: It's important to build finger strength and improve your musical aptitude. Hanon exercises are an splendid resource for this. The link provided here lets you lot download a free PDF version of each exercise, too equally play a sample so you can hear how the exercise is supposed to sound.

  • MusicNotes: When you're prepare to start playing actual songs, MusicNotes is a great resource to find sheet music for your favorite songs, in a diversity of difficulty levels. A free i-folio sample gives you a experience for the difficulty of the slice before you lot pay for the entire song.

The Upside of Combining Cocky-Learning with (Private or Grouping) Lessons

You may think yous at present know how to teach yourself piano, but just like a New Year's resolution, you lot may only go along it up for a couple of weeks. Working with a private piano teacher can make a drastic difference in your motivation and the speed at which you progress. Your teacher can provide:

  • Individualized instruction: Fifty-fifty with the higher up resources at your disposal, it's difficult to know if you're doing everything right. Are you playing that chord with the right fingers? What if the tempo is off? Is your bad posture the reason you find it tough to play for more than x minutes at a time? No matter how many tutorials you watch or samples yous mind to, many of these questions will remain unanswered unless you have a teacher at your side.

  • Accountability: What are the odds that y'all will concord yourself answerable to consummate your music theory work and Hanon exercises needed to become a better pianist? Without a teacher to report to, y'all may find yourself skipping these important steps after just a few weeks. Your technique is leap to stammer and you lot may find pieces more than difficult to learn without a rock-solid foundation encouraged by a piano instructor.

  • Motivation: Anticipating your next lesson and having a desire to show your teacher how much yous take improved is a huge motivational tool. Even the concept of paying for a teacher is a expert motivator to sit downward and do. If you lot're didactics yourself, you could easily lose your drive if you lot get stuck on a tricky piece. There are simply so many words of encouragement you can give yourself, but a teacher tin can whip y'all back into shape.

  • Right pacing: You lot may be eager to leap into music that is well beyond your skill level. But if you discover that learning a particular song is incredibly difficult, you're likely to get frustrated and give upward. The right instructor volition know how to step you so you're always challenging yourself, merely not to the degree of complete frustration.

  • A broadened perspective: Perhaps the only reason you want to larn how to teach yourself pianoforte is so you tin play Christina Perri and Adele songs. However, a teacher tin can open up your eyes to the dazzler of other genres of music to round out your repertoire. With the right teacher, you'll larn about composers you lot may take never considered on your own.

If you find that learning how to teach yourself piano isn't assuasive yous to progress the way you lot want, try TakeLessons Live or find a piano instructor virtually you and commit to lessons. Yous might be surprised how much yous improve!

After teaching myself piano past ear and memorization, I've learned some of the quickest techniques (hacks in my opinion) to learning piano as quickly as possible! (Aka learning nearly any song you desire - just by post-obit the chords!) Simple and easy to remember!

Are y'all set to commencement learning chords on the pianoforte? This group pianoforte class volition explore playing more than one note at a time and forming note patterns. Y'all'll learn about the various types of intervals and how to apply them your playing. Music theory is an essential function of pianoforte for beginners, and this class will help information technology become 2d nature!

This is not a learning piano class. In this class, we volition talk over how to listen and play the piano notes in Melodic, Natural and Harmonic minor scales, minor, macerated, augmented chords, intervals. Phrygian, Lydian, Aeolian, Whole Tone, Blues, and other scales. We will hash out the syllables of modest Do, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, Li, Ti, Ma, Ta, La, etc. and learn songs and intervals in other keys with Practise, Di, Re, Ri, Mi, Fa, Fi, Sol, Si, La, Li, Ti, Ma, Ta, La phrases. Stephen will likewise play intervals, rhythms and notes with his camera closed and students volition practice distinguishing whether it is high or low, 4ths, 5ths, 3rds, 2d notes, a chord, etc.

In this class nosotros volition acquire the Circle of 5ths chart. It is essential for learning songs with unlike cardinal signatures. It tells yous what music cardinal a vocal is in. (Classical, Jazz, Pop, Stone, Blues, etc) We will view some samples of music using the circumvolve of 5ths and which keys they are in.

This class will emphasize how to play piano exercises and patterns. (Hanon, Hanon in different keys, Bartok, Czerny, Dozen a Day book series, Acclerando, Czerny, Berens, etc.) Scales going clockwise while playing some other scale or same counter clockwise. Playing notes and scales in 2nds, 3rds, 4ths 5ths 6ths and 7ths. The instructor will share or show the practise.

In this class the Stephen will play rhythms with time signatures. The educatee will try to guess the pattern such as quarter notes, 16th, eighth notes, rests, half, dotted half, and whole notes. The teacher will play these on his piano and you will try to estimate what note values they are. We tin also take turns playing a short rhythmic patterns.

In this fun interactive grade, you'll acquire how to play yet another famous piano song! We volition discuss each part of Debussy's Clair de Lune. This is probably i of the most famous songs e'er! It has been featured in many movies and is actually really beautiful! Since learning this song takes a bit of fourth dimension - I've spread it out over a few class parts. In each form, we volition acquire how to play first Correct Hand and Left Hand separately, then together for a section of the slice. Be sure to come to each Part and I'll see you lot in class!!

This form is meant for people who take some basic cognition in piano. You will learn and practice the layout of the pianoforte, Basic songs, annotation length, beats, fingerings with instructor Stephen B. We will work on recurring bug if an private educatee or the group needs time to talk over it. Requirements are a 88/76/61 key keyboard or pianoforte, listening, beingness patient, practicing, short assignments, and asking questions.