If you're wanting to get into piano or you've started playing for a couple of weeks and you're
wondering how long it actually takes to learn how to read music to play some simple songs,
this is a perfect video for you. I find a lot of piano teachers get asked this question "How long
does it take to learn piano?" And they often say something like It depends..." I dislike
that response. I think it's unspecific. It's unhelpful. What I want to try to do in this
video is to be more specific and helpful to you by painting a picture. By playing a couple of
examples and also explaining some common mistakes and pitfalls in 4 different sections. I'm gonna
paint a picture of what things will look like with piano in one month, in six months, in 12 months,
and then in 24 months (36 ACTUALLY). So by the end of this video, you'll know what to expect
with piano if you start to learn it. And also you'll get some really good strategies and tips
on what to avoid so you can progress and accelerate even faster than the average.
After playing piano for about one month you're gonna get familiar with things like finger
positions, hand positions ,and also you would have learned how to play some simple songs...
After practicing piano for about a month, you'll be playing pieces that are hand separately but
also beginning to put your hands together. At one month you'll be focusing on things like playing
the correct notes, playing accurately and also playing in time. Some common mistakes to avoid
in the first month of practice: Number 1 is "To not have a consistent practice routine."
If there's one thing I can give you to take away from this video, is I would like you to practice
at least 10 to 15 minutes every single day. If you simply just do that, so if you have whether
it's a stopwatch or an app like Forest that helps you to keep track of how much time you
actually do something without the distraction of a smartphone. If you practice let's say,
15 minutes a day and you do that 6 days a week. That will add up to an hour and a half of practice
per week. Now if you were to do 1 hour and a half practice just on one day, this is not the same
thing as practicing 15 minutes every single day. As you're starting to learn the piano,
something you'll come to realize is that sleep is a very important part of your piano progression.
So every day when you practice something, when you go to sleep your short-term learnings and memory
actually gets transferred into your long-term memory. So it's so important to do a little
bit every day. Sleep every day and improve every day. Rather than just kind of crunching
one and a half hours of practice into just one day. So Common Mistake Number 1 is "Not having
a set and consistent daily practice routine." Mistake Number 2 is "Ignoring the importance of
counting." So for music to be appealing, we need a mixture of longer and shorter notes for example...
This last note here in the right hand and the left
hand part that is longer than the notes that came before it. So look, one....
That last left hand chord and the right hand note play for a total of two counts. As a beginner,
you've heard music all your life. But needing to kind of think deeply about
which notes are shorter and longer, this will take some practice to get used to.
If you find it hard to count or keep the beat, I suggest using a metronome.
[Metronome clicking]
This will act as a guide for you to keep in time. If you want something a bit more high-tech,
you can try something like a metronome watch. So this is from Soundbrenner and
I wear it on my wrist. And what it does is it sends a very strong buzz to my wrist so
I can actually feel the beat, rather than just hear it outside my body. If you're interested,
check out the link below. And a Third Common Mistake for pure beginners is "To
not give attention to hand coordination." So when you're learning to play the piano,
one thing you'll quickly realize is it's pretty hard to do different things with your right and
your left hand. Unfortunately that's what you need exactly when you want to play good piano music.
So as you can see a simple little 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. The right hand was
playing something called the melody which is the kind of recognizable
and singable part of the tune. And the left hand was playing an accompaniment.
It accompanies and it supports the right hand. So right hand and left hand needs to play different
things. But that's pretty difficult as a beginner. If you want some hand coordination help or videos,
you can check out these videos up here. I've also recently filmed a course dedicating entirely to
hand coordination to help beginners get better at playing different things with their right and
their left hand. Stay tuned for that if you want access to this hand coordination course. 🤓 Let's
get to what things look like after 6 months of piano practice. After 6 months of piano practice,
you'll be able to play several simple songs. You will have a basic mastery of piano chords
and you'll also start to develop a really strong sense of pulse and beat. And you
also begin to realize the power of dynamics (which is the power of playing loud and soft)
and how that affects the mood and the feelings of a piece.
So that's Prelude in C by Bach or Petzold. Some common mistakes to avoid in around 6 months of
piano learning: Number 1 is "Skipping sight reading." Lots of people skip sight reading
because it's difficult to do. I compare the skill of sight reading to like learning a new language.
So when you look at a new piece of music, you know it's filled with things like notes,
different lines, and different kind of symbols. At the start, it's pretty hard to know what all of it
means. But step by step, as long as you learn a little bit every day. For example, you can spend
a couple of weeks learning how to read notes. And each new piece that you challenge yourself
with. Just try to Google things or maybe you can buy a sort of beginner book that explains all the
possible musical symbols you need to know on a piece of music. As long as you learn a little bit
every day, I would say you would be able to read sheet music pretty comfortably in about 6 months
of practice. You may not be able to right there and then be able to play everything perfectly. But
you will be able to read it and understand what it's trying to do. Common Mistake Number 2 is "To
play with tension." And tension can happen in a variety of spots. It can happen in your physical
hand, it can happen in your wrists, it can happen in your arm. But if you are experiencing tension
when you're playing at about 6 months, you do want to get that checked out. So you either go
to a piano teacher or maybe look up some online resources to help you with your tension. Because
what I see a lot of people that play about 6 months is... is they,
they are playing with tension. They may know or may not know it. But they almost think
that's normal. And what I want to tell you today is that it is not normal. If you ever
play piano and you're feeling like something is tight, it's because there is a particular
part of your piano technique that currently isn't correct. Look for a teacher or look for
some online resources to help you with your tension so that you're actually playing the
piano correctly. And this is also better for the longevity of your piano learning. We're
now moving on to 12 months of piano playing. At 12 months you'll be able to play more complex
songs. And you'll also have a better foundation in music theory and sight reading. You'll start
to develop your own unique style and you also start to tackle more complex pieces.
[Music]
Common mistakes to avoid for 12 months of piano playing: Number 1 is "Relying too much on muscle
memory rather than actively reading more and more sheet music." This is similar advice to the
6 months one but it's very important. Most people that learn piano they have 2 or 3 kinds of prized
and trophy pieces that they really want to play. They're those pieces that attracted them to piano
in the first place. And what I find is at about a year when they can start to make it out and play
those pieces, they hang on to those pieces for a long, long time. They only play those pieces. They
only practice those pieces. And they don't work on the skill of learning new kind of stuff. When you
don't practice those sight reading and learning new kinds of ways to coordinate your hands,
new rhythms, and new notes, you tend to get into a bit of a slump. And then piano learning
becomes a not very enjoyable growth kind of experience for you anymore. You're stuck on
playing those 2 or 3 pieces. You play them for 2 months, 3 months and you know by that time,
you start to get bored of it. And you realize you don't have the skills to like upgrade yourself.
So what I recommend instead is obviously play the pieces you love very much but also make
it a point to read new music. Read and play new kinds of music that allows your hands to
do different kinds of things - different kinds of notes, different kinds of ranges, different
kinds of rhythms. Something you really want to prioritize in your piano learning is growth.
If you're always learning and growing in some ways, your piano learning longevity is gonna be
10xed. If you're playing 2, 3 pieces and you don't venture anything outside of that,
eventually I promise you you're going to get bored of those pieces. And then you're
going to find that you're you're getting into a bit of a slump. Three years of piano playing.
That's Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. If you want something a little bit
trickier perhaps you can try the Turkish March by Mozart. [Music]
At about 3 years of playing, you'll start to handle more complex pieces. And you would have
developed a more solid foundation for piano technique. So when you're given a piece that
perhaps has a faster running part or it has a difficult left hand pattern, you will be able
to not fear it and just be able to kind of work it out after a couple of days of practice. You
will have a deeper understanding of Music Theory and you will also start to express yourself more
through the piano. It's a bit of a weird concept but it's almost like I found after about 3 years
of piano playing, I was like one with a piano. When you're really playing a piece you love and
you play it well, and you're delivering the right dynamics and the right phrasing, you almost feel
like you're just one with a piano. You're in this flow zone and there's no time, there's no people.
You're just enjoying the myriad of emotions that the piece brings to you when you're playing it.
It's a beautiful life experience that I hope everyone on earth gets to enjoy. But
you first have to stick with piano. You have to practice diligently before you can get to this,
this sweet masterful point. Common Mistake: Number 1 for people who've played around three
years of piano is "Being stagnant in your practice routine and not seeking new challenges." So I said
earlier in this video, your growth as a pianist is something I want you to prioritize. Because
the growth will foster new creative juices, new ideas, new opportunities. You don't want to just
keep playing the same old pieces again, and again, and again. So find new pieces, get some new books,
find new practice methods. A really good one I can give you right now just off the top of my head is
to 'practice from the back of the piece'. Often when you see people play their pieces, the start
is often the best because that's what they usually start their practice with. I suggest you to start
practicing from the last bar. So when you start at the end and kind of journey back to the start.
The quality of your entire piece will be a lot more even rather than having to start really good
quality and it kind of falling apart by the end. You should seek out new challenges constantly.
Try to ask yourself what's the next harder piece that I can try to tackle. Another Common Mistake
I find for three years of piano playing is to "Not play in front of other people." It's a really good
practice as a musician to be able to execute your piece, not just in the comfort of your own home,
but also to others. Try to find some time to, you know, play casually for your friends,
for your family. As a start, you can also just grab your smartphone, click record and play a
little something, and upload it to your social medias. What you'll find is playing for other
people or whether that's recording on a smartphone, it will expose you to a lot
of the parts that need actually more practice. Whenever I play for others and record myself,
I always tend to mess up during the parts that I haven't practiced enough. So I love playing for
people because it exposes to me what parts I need to work on more. So at about 3 years of playing,
you have enough mastery of the touch of the piano and how this instrument works. I recommend you to
start playing for others. So practice at home. Start to play for other people. Go and play at a
street piano. Or maybe just do a mini performance for friends and family. Or maybe record yourself.
We've come to the end of the video, hopefully this has been helpful for you. Hopefully this
has been helpful for you. I've talked about what you can expect as you progress in piano for your
first couple of years and also some common pitfalls and mistakes that you want to try
to avoid. If you enjoyed this video and you want more piano tutorials, SUBSCRIBE to our
Channel. We have loads of free piano tutorials and tips here on "Learn Piano with Jazer Lee".
Thanks for watching and I'll catch you in our other piano tutorials. See you in the next one!