Learning to play the piano - 3 steps to getting started

The piano is a beautiful instrument, there's no doubt about it. And in the hands of someone who knows how to play, it can stir emotions in you that I don't believe any other instrument can. It is one of the only instruments which can accompany itself and still sound good. I'm a fan - can you tell!

So how do you start learning to play the piano and become one of those people who can transform it from a lovely piece of furniture to an emotion-invoking instrument which carries you away somewhere on a musical wave?

3 steps

1. Find a way to learn that works for you

2. Start

3. Keep practicing

That's it!

Let's look at each of these steps in turn:

1. Find a way that works for you - there are probably 3 main ways you can learn the piano (or learn anything, come to think of it)

a. Teach yourself - with no outside help, just sit down at the piano and try out different notes / see how they sound together, and basically play around until you get a feel for what sounds good and what doesn't. Then move on and start trying to listen to whatever type of music you're into, and try and copy it. You will need to be very focussed and try to structure some sort of learning system for yourself, which measures your progress and ensures you're moving in the right direction and developing your playing skills.

b. Buy a Home Study course - these are very readily available these days over the internet, and there are many different options, from CD's to DVD's to watch at home and play along, to learning with an online Beginner Piano Lessons system. This way, as long as you choose a good course of lessons, it will be structured for you, to ensure that you learn the basics, apply them, and you keep developing as long as you keep following the program. You can also move along through the lessons at your own pace

c. Private piano lessons - find a piano teacher local in your area, with whom you believe you can get along with, and go to regular private lessons. They will develop a program for you, and ensure that you develop your skills, although depending on where you live I've found 2 drawbacks:

i. It can be difficult to find a teacher who has any free time to take you on as a student

ii. It can be very expensive - again depending on where you live it can be anywhere between $30 and $100 per hour, which will mount up over a period of time as you progress.

So which type of beginner piano lessons would I recommend?

I'd recommend the last two, in that order. Here's why . . .

1. The first way, of teaching yourself, is fine for a few weeks if you want to mess around, but let's face it, unless you're a highly disciplined, focussed and structured individual, you're not really going to learn anything.

2. A structured home study course of will mean that you can start to learn the basics, develop your piano-playing skills. Some of these piano lesson courses have enough in them to take you from total beginner to an advanced piano player (just be careful about which one you go for - they're not all good), without any help from any teacher. You will have to be disciplined with yourself to go all the way with this, but it is very possible to do so. Another benefit is that you can get hold of a top quality home study course for under $200, less than the cost of a few private lessons, so it's a good way to try it out and see if you're interested in taking it further.

3. Move to the private piano lessons when you feel you're ready. You should learn enough of the basics in the home study course to know that you have an aptitude for it, and that you'd actually like to learn more.

So once you've chosen a Home study course of beginner piano lessons, just go to the next steps - Start, and Keep practicing.

Self-explanatory, really

Enjoy!