Skip to content
Eight Best Ways to Learn Piano for Beginners
It would be easy to give you a list of the eight best ways to learn piano for beginners. But perhaps the easiest way to explain it is to present someone else's list and consider each point they raise.
Are they true or false?
Here's a list I found on Google. Unfortunately, most of them wrong, mired in the old way of teaching.
I'm talking the 1832 type of "old school." Carl Czerny.
THE LIST
- Learn the Basics. It may seem obvious but start with the basics
- Set a Practice Schedule and Stick With It
- Try to Find Patterns
- Apply the 80/20 Principle
- Play Slow in the Beginning
- Warm Up Before You Practice
- Practice Music You Enjoy.
- Find a Teacher
Let's take the points, one by one.
LEARN THE BASICS
This is somewhat true, and at the same time demonstrably false.
It is true in the sense that obviously the piano is a very technical art, so it is worth exploring the rudiments. The rudiments haven't changed in at least 400 years.
But the rudiments may not be the place for YOU to start, regardless what the "experts" say.
The statement is false because if the rudiments don't appeal to you, you are stuck, and can go no further. So the rudiments won't do you any good unless they interest you.
And most, if not all, piano books make the "rudiments" extremely tedious to learn. I have seen more people give up piano because they thought they had to follow the rules in some book. They don't. Very few succeed using the "old school" approach.
A BETTER APPROACH
First, play only music you have heard and know. Beginner piano books are filled with nameless, anonymous "exercise" pieces that bore children, and they will do the same for you.
Instead, explore the keyboard visually. Which buttons do you have to push?
It's true on a spaceship and it's true on the piano.
Forget reading music. It is the worst way to start. It is tedious, slow, exacting and monumentally difficult.
Find a teacher that will teach by ear, by eye.
If you get a veteran "you must read music first" nut, you will be stuck unless you are miraculously gifted at the arcane art of musical notation.
SET A PRACTICE SCHEDULE
It's fine to set a practice schedule. The hard part is to stick to it. Almost no one can.
A BETTER APPROACH
First, find music you love. What song have you always wanted to play? What song is such a favorite that it makes you want to play piano?
It doesn't matter how hard it is, find a teacher who will simplify it and teach it to you visually. What buttons do you press?
TRY TO FIND PATTERNS
This one is essentially correct.
A BETTER APPROACH
Music is all patterns, so the approach is correct. But trying to find patterns in sheet music will exhaust you, and it takes a lot of expertise to find the patterns since you can't read music very well.
Instead, look at the keyboard. Find the patterns there. The patterns will be more obvious on the keyboard than on the page. You will get lost on the page and give up.
The pattern in the keys is unmistakeable and does not rely on any elements that you do not yet understand (sheet music.)
APPLY THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE
Again, essentially correct: 80% of your problems will be caused by the 20% of the music that is too difficult for you.
A BETTER APPROACH
Once more, you will have 100% problems if you restrict yourself to reading music. It's fine to read music, if you restrict it to 20% of the time you play. The other 80% play what you love, by ear, by eye, any way you can.
PLAY SLOW IN THE BEGINNING
Almost the whole story, but not complete. Let's talk about practicing.
A BETTER APPROACH
Play hands separately, then try to combine.
If you can't play it slowly, you can't play it fast.
Play it without "fingering" first, then find a more efficient way to use your team of five.
Make a mental picture of what your fingers are doing. Try it with your eyes closed.
Play sections of the piece, not the whole piece.
WARM UP BEFORE YOU PRACTICE
Wrong.
A BETTER APPROACH
Just play. Stop following the rules of the professional and just play.
PRACTICE MUSIC YOU ENJOY
Absolutely correct.
A BETTER APPROACH
There isn't one.
FIND A TEACHER
If you can. Maybe you live 100 miles from a town, maybe there are no teachers near you.
A BETTER APPROACH
Ultimately, you are going to be your own teacher. The danger is that the teacher may be wrong, and demands that you master reading music first.
This is fine if you want to play JINGLE BELLS for twenty years.
My advice? Just start playing any way you can, and ignore what seems to defy common sense. Common sense tells you a six year-old will not be able to do algebra, or read music very well.
Get started.
REFERENCES
Introductory
Playing Piano By Number
Playing Piano By Number – Complete
Starting To Play Piano By Number
Beginning Piano Music With Numbers
Beginner Piano Tutorial
Beginner Piano Books for Kids
Introduction To Piano By Number
Music On The Mind: Newsweek Articles
Piano By Number Basics
Piano By Number Is The Missing Step
There Are Many Ways To Start Piano
A History of Piano and Numbers
Basic Piano Skills for Kids
Easy Piano Songs for Beginners with Letters
Easy Piano Notes for Popular Songs
