How long does it take to learn piano? The TRUTH 

I was thinking about in two hours

What about skipping the classic part because you're only interested in pop/jazz/blues and don't need to read sheet music but it is an advantage to read chord sheet. The vast majority of piano beginners quit because they were forced down the classic path and completely lost interest because it takes 2 years to play a complex classic piece when they could have learned hundreds of contemporary popular songs that they could play at parties family gatherings and even church. I understand that reading sheet music is important if you go down the classic path but what percentage is that that will succeed (maybe 0.5%). Hardly anyone. The guys that are addressing this like the dude from Piano in 21 days will eventually clean up in my opinion.

I think the first thing a piano teacher needs to find out what the student wants to accomplish with their piano experience. If it is to develop a classical education then fine go that route with all that that entails. If it is to be able to jam with their friends or family or as part of a band then scratch all the pre-classical training and get them familiar with all the basic chords and they can start to see progress very quickly and won't be discouraged and give up. More and more people are entering the piano music world because of the quality of digital pianos over the last decade. You no longer have to fork over $1000s of dollars for an acoustic piano anymore as the quality of the likes of Roland or Yamaha's digital concert piano samplings are more than sufficient as a cheaper replacement for the much more expensive acoustic upright and grand pianos.

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HI Steve Your comment on how time flies by is so true for me . Unlike yourself I was a total a novice with anything musical , after learning a little about how to read music through watching Tims videos I then bought myself a keyboard and started my journey, Great to hear your story which is very sadly to common these days ie I think ALL kids should be giving the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. I now relax by getting ZENED out trying to learn the piano. All the best .

Never too late! Just started violin at 30. I won’t let those 9 year old prodigies hit my self esteem like the piano prodigies did when I was a lad.

hi Steve, i'm looking to buy a new keyboard which one did you purchase and how do you like it?

@@MKisJ MKisJ: I purchased a Yamaha P-125. I looked at and evaluated several keyboards before settling on the Yamaha. I made the purchase about a year and a half ago. I got a bundle which also included a stand and a bench seat. I also purchased a dust cover separately for the keyboard. All items worked out very well for me. The P-125 was not on the absolute cheap end of the spectrum nor was it overly expensive - it hit nicely in the middle. I am very happy with the purchase. I have played it nearly every day for a year and a half. The sound is good, the feel is good, it is easily portable - it is working out very nicely for me. When comparing similarly priced keyboards by several makers there are many features to consider. No single keyboard scored at the top on all features, but the Yamaha scored the best in my opinion. I have not regretted the purchase and would make the same choice again. A nice feature of the Yamaha P-125 is the ability to connect an Apple iPad to it through a USB interface. I downloaded a note-reading app onto the iPad and practice every day doing rapid note reading on the grand staff. The iPad detects (through the USB interface) whether or not I hit the correct note and scores me on accuracy and speed. It has really helped me in my sight-reading training. Good luck with your decision!

Woow that's awesome good for you.. I am kinda beginner (have started 10 years ago for 2 years then stoped and forgot most of it so 😅) Pls can u give me a few sources where i can learn how to play piano and also music theory, books to download or websites...any thing. And thank h so much ^^

@@souha9208 As for how to just sit down and learn to play, I’d recommend just checking RU-vid. Important videos to look for would be on how to read sheet and all the proper hand techniques for playing piano. What books are worth your money depend on what music you want to play. Because all the very very basics of playing piano can be learned on RU-vid. It’s the more genre specific stuff that you may want to turn to books for. I play exclusively jazz piano and my favorite book that I used was The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine. It goes over all but the very basics of harmony and theory in jazz. It will go over important beginner things for theory, like the circle of fifths, different scales and modes, chords and their extensions. These things can be applied to other genres as well. RU-vid channels I watch (they are all very Jazz focused): Noah Kellman, PianoPig, Aimee Nolte, Pianogroove.

Than u so much for your answer and for your time i really appreciate that it was so helpfull.. u remind me of my piano teacher who playrd jazz. Wish u all the best ^^

What books would you suggest for self study?

It took me about 3 years. Didn't have keyboards, RU-vid, apps, etc. back then so it took time to learn.

Sorry to hear about your stroke - don't give up though, I know it must be frustrating, but it will be rewarding for you when you reach each goal! All the best!

On the bright side you are very smart to start over, fight through this and motivate yourself to get back to what you lost and then some. Not only will you find it very rewarding as you progress but you are going to be getting great brain rehab and healing. God bless you.

Sorry to hear about your stroke. Hope things will get better for you

I have a suggestion, the way I built strength in my hand to do arpeggios is by learning songs that you play octaves in the left hand. For example never ending story requires you to go pretty fast alternating between your pinky and thumb on your octave and then learn the piano part for a song like Mess Around by Ray Charles. That will built your strength and then move onto 1,5,1 or 1,5,8 (8 being the other side of the octave) Your hand will get stronger 10x faster using this

At least your mind still functions ok. You can always find pieces with easy LH parts playing 1 note at a time or 2 note intervals instead of chords or arpeggios until you regain LH strength. Someone in the family was diagnosed with dementia and completely lost the ability to play an instrument unfortunately.

Thanks for teaching. Mostly, thanks for sharing your love of music.

There's a comment above of somebody saying he only started learning now at age 71 after wanting to learn it all his life. That comment is motivating. You saying "I started at age 5" is, honestly, not. Neither is you saying "It does take a lifetime". I disagree. You still learning new songs, music theory etc. does not mean "it takes a lifetime", it only means that you can improve all your lifetime. Please differenciate.

@@WritersMoment Everyone is entitled to their narrative, he can only give a perspective from his without apology, I appreciate what he had to say, Life is a lifetime.

@@rayaytatatuntatnafurtat2029 I agree. My narrative is, that this does not exactly feel motivating (which I'm simply saying honestly), but I don't mind since I read the other comment. :)

@@WritersMoment ok understood.

Keep going Kathy, definitely a marathon and not a sprint. To be able to play even half decent with music reading and correct fingering is about 2 years at 5 hours a week just like he said, and even then you won't be able to play loads of fancy stuff. I can now play lots of Einaudi pieces and the usual Fur Elise and stuff but it was around 3-4 years for me and I'm taking lessons every week.

Patience, you're still young.......just hang in there, early on is tough, then you'll hit a period of rapid growth if you put in the time and effort. That is the normal cycle as you advance, rest assured, you'll never regret it.

@@johnnyappleseed5029 this was really encouraging learning piano / music theory is like learning a foreign custom or language

I recommend checking out Bartok pitch axis theory if you haven’t already, really useful for chromaticism.

I can say that mastering music theory is super helpful in a couple of ways for a classical pianist: 1. No doubt as a professional pianist you'll probably accompany singers rehearse or perform opera arias and such, where the piano part is often unplayable (or it doesn't actually sound good when played correctly) because the piano transcription has often been made by someone that simply copies the orchestral score down into a piano part without knowledge or care about neither how it actually plays or sounds on a real piano. So frequently you'll have to simplify or alter those things anyway, and thus you need to have a firm grasp what chords and scales and such are appropriate. 2. Singers might occasionally want you to change the key on a piece, so it's useful to be able to transpose a piece. 3. Also, you are occasionally expected to improvise introductions or endings if the singer/soloist, have decided to only sing part of an aria/piece and/or the "real" introduction/ending is very long. Especially in settings such as accompanying students on lessons, or singers on a wedding or such things. Again, you need a firm grasp on music theory to be able to do that. 4. If you get lost in a piece that you play by heart, it's nice to be able to improvise something fitting to either end it or get back to something familiar. And as a church musician I frequently have to end pieces early or keep them going for much longer than they are depending on some other factor that I'm not in control over, like for example how long the communion takes or how long it takes the wedding couple to walk down the aisle, or how long it takes for the guys who are supposed to carry the coffin away to show up or whatever. 5. If you play early music that involves figured bass, again you often see the same problem as with opera transcriptions, they are often made to look good theoretically on paper by someone that doesn't know how it actually plays and sounds on a piano, so you'll frequently feel the urge to alter it, and you are free to do so since the written piano score, except the bass line, isn't actually written by the composer anyway. 6. Music theory makes it easier to memorize stuff.

How is it coming along my dude?

What grade are u in

What grade are u in now and how old r u

As your general level improves, you can relearn previous easier pieces much much faster.

@@Bvic3 Absolutely, I find myself looking over past pieces and sometimes instead of thinking about it too much, I just let my hands go and muscle memory helps me remember it.

I can relate. Hey if you're in a band playing live you could play guitar and also some keys

Some good points there. Maybe there is a market niche for a guide like that. I feel exactly like that. How to structure my practice and approach to make best use of my practice. I too find 2 hours has just gone and wonder what did I actually do. Something must be sinking in.

Hey man keep it up as long as you're enjoying it that's all that matters 😀

I’m right there with you! This is for me!

Check out Pianote!