The amount of time it takes to learn how to play the piano is different for everyone.
Some people have a more natural talent for it than others, especially when it comes to their hand coordination. Another factor is the amount of time you can dedicate to learning piano.
Also, it helps if a person has experience playing another instrument.
The average person can acquire the skill of piano playing within a few years if they receive quality piano lessons and put forth the effort in practicing and retaining the knowledge that they learn from them.
Since time is probably limited to you, it is important to create a piano learning schedule for yourself. If you follow the schedule completely, then you can learn piano playing quicker than you think.
To help you get started, we have provided numerous tips below that can help you find the time to learn piano properly.
The Things Which Impede Your Progress
There are several factors which can impede your progress in learning to play piano. If you’re a total newbie and you’re trying to sort out all the lesson material yourself, it can slow you down immensely.
It is why it is better to take professional piano classes for a couple of months with an experienced piano teacher.
A professional teacher will set you on the right path by teaching you the basics of piano playing. A teacher can watch your hand coordination as you are playing and give you advice when you make mistakes.
If you learn piano playing on your own, you will be deprived from real-time feedback . Once you learn enough the basics from them, you can start learning alone to enhance your piano skills.
Another thing you need is, time to practice each day. It is like anything else in life that you want to learn or get better at.
You must spend at least a few hours each day practicing your craft and trying to improve at it. This is how you train your muscle memory to retain your knowledge of the piano keys in conjunction with your hand coordination.
Besides, the more time you spend in front of the piano, the more natural it will feel to play the notes.
It is great to take professional piano classes and continue practicing the piano each day. But if you already have a musical background of any kind, then it is even better.
Knowing how to play any instrument, like the guitar or drums, means that you understand how to sight-read music already.
With this skill, it makes learning the piano so much easier because you already know about notes, staffs, and clefs on a music sheet.
Overall, some people are always going to learn faster than others. It all depends on whether they have a natural talent or not.
Even if you think you do not have a natural talent, do not give up on practicing. It may take you longer than a couple of months to learn, that is okay.
Just try to push yourself each day to learn until you feel comfortable playing the piano in front of your friends and family.
Other Tips for New Piano Players
The advice mentioned above will help get you on the right track at the beginning of your piano playing education.
However, you can implement additional tips and strategies to enhance your start on the piano further.
There is a website called “Piano for All” which offers novices some very honest and straightforward information about how to get started. You should investigate this before doing anything else.
Ear Training
Once you are ready to begin, focus on training your ears to the way music is played.
Listen to master pianists and observe their hand and foot coordination. The more you listen and observe them, the better chance you will have of enhancing your own technique on the piano.
That is why you should practice for a minimum of 60 minutes per day so that you can perfect your technique in this way.
Relax
Next, try not to let your fingers become too stiff while hitting the piano keys. Since you only need to hit the keys lightly, it is better to have flexible fingers and hands as you press down the keys.
Read our How Do You Relax Your Hands While Playing The Piano? blog.
Powerful sounds will still be generated if you do this, so do not worry.
Besides, you need to be flexible on the piano because you will have to move your fingers around quickly to keep up with the notes on the music sheet.
Practice each hand separately
When you first practice your hand coordination, it is better to master your hand movements separately before trying to master them together at the same time.
Memorize the piece
Another key to success on the piano is memorizing the notes of the music piece that you want to play.
If you have never played a particular piece of music before, then you will need to devote more attention to reading the notes on the page while trying to perfect your hand coordination.
But if you already know the notes, then you do not need to focus so much on the music sheet pages. This makes it easier to play the notes correctly and quickly.
You do not need to be on the piano to memorize a piece of music. You can just imagine the notes in your head while moving your fingers as if you are on the piano.
This is an effective technique which can help you gain more piano experience no matter where you are located.
For instance, if you are on your lunch break at work and you want to fit in 20 minutes of piano practice, you can just read a music sheet and practice moving your fingers to the notes on the page. You would be amazed how much better you will become by doing this.
Accuracy is Better Than Speed
When you first learn to play the piano, do not worry so much about speed. It is better to play the notes accurately than it is to play them quickly.
Also, do not try to learn an entire music piece in one sitting if it is long. Start by mastering each section of the music piece first. Once you are comfortable with each section, play them together in consecutive order.
The important thing to remember is not to rush the learning process. Choose a piano piece that is within your skill level.
As you get better with your accuracy, hand coordination and eventually your speed, then you can challenge yourself with more complex music pieces.
Final Thoughts
For now, think about investing in some professional piano classes in order to set yourself on the right path.
Then you can take the basic skills you learn from a professional piano player and apply them to your self-taught piano lessons later on.
