How I Learned to Play the Piano as an Adult (With No Experience)
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- A rundown on How I learned to the play the piano at 25 years old with no prior experience.
About The Learning Project:
On this channel, I like to learn new skills, seek new experiences, attempt interesting challenges, and talk about personal development - drawing from my experience as a teacher and from more than a year of actively putting myself in uncomfortable situations by learning and trying out new things! If you enjoy this type of content, make sure to give the video a like, subscribe and press the notification bell to stay tuned for more! - Sam
Connect with me on Instagram @the.learningproject
All the music I use in my videos: www.epidemicso...
What a lot of people here don't understand is that everybody has a different goal, and for some... It is to just know how to play the pieces they like, and not necessarily become an incredible musician. And, maybe the goal changes along the way and the person does get bad habits etc. But if that's what it takes to love music, go for it. That's what matters, and not to be perfect.
Absolutely!
Sure, but to truly claim you can play the piano, you need to know more than just a few songs. You should have a solid understanding of key signatures, scales, inversions, arpeggios, and advanced chord structures. Without that, all you've really learned are a few specific patterns for a couple of songs. It's like saying you can drive a rally car, but that doesn’t make you a rally driver
As a rank beginner myself (2 months) I find it much easier to learn from sheet music than from synthesia (Reading the music especially helps with the timing between the left and right hands). I can't sight-read, but I can figure it out; and I just learn short passages until I have the whole piece. If one starts out with something like the Alfred's All-In-One Adult Piano Course book, you'll learn everything you need to know, and can go at your own pace and make fast progress. Winging it with synthesia will almost definitely cause you to establish bad habits which will be hard to break....and missing out on the fundamentals and theory will really stunt your growth.
I did Alfred's books one and two and now I'm doing the Faber method and I like it even better. I also signed up for online classes a few days ago.
@@ginabisaillon2894 It was a tough choice between the Faber and Alfred's. I pretty much just flipped a coin. Either way, I think ya learn what ya need to learn- between either one of those methods and online stuff and just figuring stuff out and experimenting. I think the main thing is to just practice. I practice at least an hour a day 6 days a week...and I'm doing better with this than I could ever do with guitar.
My learning was way faster when I learned chords and their inversions.
Once you have mastered the basic concept of chords and shapes, everything fits together. A lot of music both melody and bass lines are often played within chord inversions.
What’s the best way to learn?
@@sonicairmusic And how do u learn those?
This guy is brilliant. Find what you want to play and then do it! Don't let a bunch of scales, theory, sight reading, left/right and independence get in the way. We call all learn a lot from his approach.
Fundamentals of playing the piano is reading, technique, and music theory. If you just learn a bunch of songs you like you will always struggle to learn a new piece of music because your knowledge and skills will be lacking making it harder and take a lot longer to learn. There are really no shortcuts to becoming competent at playing the piano, just lots of study and practice in a structured way will always produce more long-lasting results.
Well there are people practicing and actually playing insanely difficult pieces without being able to read the notes. I’m starting to learn a few songs without reading. In future i should still probably learn it no?
Agree there's no "short cut" to learning to play a musical instrument. However, motivation is the most important element. A structured, classic approach works for many but how many never advance past a few level of proficiency because they just get bored? I learned by figuring out how to play songs I loved. It kept me motivated and obsessive to absorb more knowledge of where I could take my skills next. I developed very advanced skills quickly. Of course this method probably creates a few bad habits but anything I can be re-learned.
From seeing this guy play after one year I must respectfully disagree with you.
As a professional jazz pianist and teacher with a graduate degree and 25+ years teaching experience I will say two things…1. There’s nothing wrong with this approach to learning. 2. It won’t work if you can’t hear what you want to play clearly in your imagination.
To explain more… I’ve had many students successfully start playing by rote(following key patterns and sound like on piano tutorials or by demonstration), but they must have the sound and feel internalized. This is where many people struggle on their own because they don’t correctly perceive the intricacies of the movements of pitch, harmony and rhythm. They need assistance to reframe their understanding and approach to listening and structuring the sound and feel in their imagination. This can be done without theory or notation, and is completely legitimate if you just want to enjoy playing and feel a connection to the music. From there, you can learn to read and understand theory if you want to deepen the connection. But, success with learning this way on your own is largely dependent on natural ability, and from what I’ve experienced, most teachers aren’t effective with this kind of teaching.
Im 56 ,semi retired and have my first piano lesson tomorrow...very excited to start this journey....I live in an apartment, so a digital piano (with headphones ) is my obvious choice....if anyone can advise of a good beginners model....much appreciated....
Yamaha P223
I have the Yamaha YDP-144 - been very satisfied with it and it’s not too expensive
Roland FP-10. The key weighting is amazing, and it only costs about £380
@@thebritishindian1 Thank you I actually bought it yesterday, £365 plus stand and headphones.. setting it up this morning and having my first practise session...following on from first lesson on Tuesday... 🤞
Great job 👏
Thank you for your video ! 🙏
Amazing progress in one year!👍👍
Thanks, much appreciated 🙏🏽
I'm learning also, but mostly because I've started making music in a DAW. And the reason I want to learn the piano is not to be able play Mozart like a virtuoso, but to become more familiar with the language of music so I'll know where to go when I'm stuck writing a song. I'm going to take some of your approach and work it into what I'm doing.
You must have a natural talent. I have been seeing a piano tutor for 10 months. I am no where near this level. I have had to learn notes and music theory, dynamics which all takes time. I am only just learning chords. To learn the piano properly I would advocate a tutor to understand piano properly.
So after 10 months you still don't know how to play chords and you're giving advice? Ok there chief.
@ I can play them. I said I am learning them.
Hey man, a month ago I've bought Arturia KeyLab Mk3 to learn how to play in 48. Your enthusiasm kicked me out of bed right now to play something 😃
Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your Piano Journey.
Thats so inspiring .
You are the example for „everything is possible“ ❤✌️
Greatz from Germany
So many gatekeepers in the comments missing the point of this video: have fun
Learning like this and studying theory at the same time sounds like a really cool approach to learn the piano! (At least to me)
it is good!
Thank you for specifying, well done!
Thank you for sharing
I like very much this young man is in a progress track looking at his channel ❤❤❤
This is the best piano vid I've seen so far. Exactly what I needed in my journey.
Thanks Ellen Hoffman
Nice....should have included you playing some of the piano pieces.
All videos are still up on the channel 🙏🏽
W username
I'm doing the same and this sounds valid ngl. Idk music theory and I'm not really focusing on it as much as I should, but I teach myself my favourite songs on the piano. Not because I want to learn the instrument, but because I want to be able to play the songs whenever I don't have music readily available. Sounds dumb but yeah. If I did this everyday for a year I'm pretty sure I'd be able to play any piece given prep time within a year. I'll probably be really bad at improv and an even worst artist (as a whole) but I 100% would be amazing at covers.
thank you
Amazing piano skills love your vids ❤
Thanks 🙏🏽
Wow that’s amazing , I’ve literally just started myself age 51and purchased an electronic piano a couple of days ago. Can you play hans zimmers interstellar or time? I love both of these amazing themes ?
(NO SHOUTING) *---THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS WHEN LEARNING TO PLAY THE PIANO. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN THE PIANO WITHOUT LEARNING HOW TO READ A SCORE, AT ONE POINT IN THE FUTURE, YOU WILL REGRET DEARLY AVOIDING TO MAKE THE VERY BIG EFFORT THAT IS REQUIRED TO BE ABLE TO FLUENTLY LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO READING A MUSIC SCORE. SYNTHESIA MIGHT GET YOU INTERESTED AT LEARNING TO PLAY THE PIANO BUT IT IS NOT THE PROPER WAY TO BECOME A GOOD PIANIST, IT IS JUST A MOTIVATOR I COULD SAY AS LONG AS TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS NOT THE PROPER WAY TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO!!!*
*---IMAGINE YOU DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH AND IF I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU: "LISTEN, I AM GOING TO TEACH YOU TO SPEAK ENGLISH JUST BY HEARING." YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO READ ANY DOCUMENT IN ENGLISH BUT YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO SPEAK SOME ENGLISH OVER TIME. YOU WOULD TELL ME: "WOOOH, IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE, I SHOULD ALSO BE ABLE TO READ A DOCUMENT IN ENGLISH." AND I WOULD TELL YOU: "I KNOW BUT IT WILL TAKE TOO MUCH TIME TO LEARN NOW TO READ WRITTEN ENGLISH!" YOU WOULD TELL ME: "I DON'T CARE, I WANT TO ALSO BE ABLE TO READ A DOCUMENT IN ENGLISH." THIS IDEA IS THE SAME WITH RESPECT TO LEARNING HOW TO READ A SCORE WHILE LEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE PIANO.*
*---HAVE A GOOD JOURNEY AT LEARNING TO PLAY THE PIANO.*
i can hear the danish accenttt :p anywho great video I'm 18 and wanna start learning how to play piano so bad- I've always wanted to know how to play an instrument
Haha, det bare om at komme i gang, du kan sagtens! 😄
@@the.learningproject tusind tak!! 😊
Exactly (more or less 😏) what I did to learn to play the fiddle. I started with some basic tunes that I could figure out myself, then found some tunes that I wanted to play and found tutorials on them. I have no desire to be a fiddler or violinist for anything other than my own enjoyment and I found that more fun than hours of scales and learning to read music, which you definitely SHOULD do if you actually want to be a good player.
Thanks for the comment man! Couldn’t have said it better - it’s all about enjoying the process 🙏🏽
@@the.learningproject my pleasure ... enjoyed your video mate
Tried that, didn't work for me.
I started this at first but really wanted to understand piano so now have a tutor.
You are doing splendidly. I wonder if there are music teachers making comments. After all if we all do likewise they might see their tuition fees dwindling. 🤣🤣 I’m awaiting a keyboard to refresh my skills having not played the piano for many years. Yes I’m doing it online. Well done. 👍
lmao that's literally what i've been doing for the past month
I love this but I also want to be able to read sheet music. Learning this way teaches you the pieces, which is awesome, but you can’t read the traditional sheet music to play it.
You want to do it the hard way. His achievements are amazing. 👍
@@AB-re1qsit may be the hard way but learning to play any piece of music is my goal. A tutor is best,
Amazing
The thing is, where do you go from here? You've memorised select pieces of music but probably with huge gaps in knowledge. So when it comes time to learn new pieces, it's probably going to continue to take you a very long time. When you don't play this piece for 10 or 20 days and your brain starts to unwire those connections and use them elsewhere, does it not begin to feel like wasted time. Seems more efficient to take a more universal approach to 'learn how to learn'
Learn how to play jazz. If you want to improvise and freedom to express yourself on the piano its the best genre to learn. Along the way you learn your scales, chords, inversions & improv and technique. And you dont need to sight read
what is the model or the name of your pioano ?, it looks very nice
Yamaha YDP-144
This was great, thanks!
What’s the name of the song at 2:01?
Turkish march by Mozart!
Rondo ala Turka
Good video
You blew me away with the introduction and I wondered if you were not telling us the whole story or maybe it was really more than 1 year. But after you explained what you did I believe that yes it can be done that way. I took a different approach. I wanted to learn to play from sheet music and that meant playing hundreds of songs and not trying to polish up any of them. After 6 years I still can't play as well as you did the Turkish March, or whatever it was, but I can stumble through about 500 songs and I can play a song I've never played before almost fluidly the first time now. Here is an example of where I am after 6 years. ua-cam.com/video/3ZtAj76b2ao/v-deo.html
great vid! the true question is , have u ever played a real piano?
i see its all digitals. The thing is u dont truly realise how bad ur pedaling and articulation is on digitals. It ''masks'' most of our mistakes.
I say this from experience... when i purchased an acoustic things changed way more.
Very true - I’ve played real pianos at occasions, and I actually got to play a Steinway and Sons for the first time when I visited the Opera House in Copenhagen recently. That was an exeprience for sure, and while I do like the simplicity and budget-friendliness of digital pianos, I have to agree that it doesn’t compare to the real thing.
@@the.learningproject absolutely agreed. I made the mistake of purchasing a ''high end'' digital piano with all its bells and whisles... It served it's purpose for some time, but since I got an acoustic I had to adjust so many things in my playing... specially pedaling..That was the worst it was sounding diabolical at times lol! From acoustic to acoustic it also varies, I play on my teachers piano and some other pianos in practicing rooms around my city and all of em have a different feel, but I can adapt after a few minutes. Switching from digital to acoustic is a drastic change.
Not an expert here, but aren’t you sitting uncomfortably close to the piano?
Comfort is determined by the individual.
@@Someone.Stole.MyHandlethe reason why I asked is that I’ve been told by my teacher and I’ve read online that you shouldn’t too close to it. But what do I know 🤷🏻♂️
@ totally understandable, but still, it’s a personal preference. Not saying you don’t know what you’ve learned/read, but there are zero steadfast requirements to playing an instrument, especially in the way of what is considered comfortable. That is the musician’s choice. This is why some people do not benefit from traditional training and teachers. The reason I responded is because weighted questions like that are what keep many people from trying to learn because they think “well, sitting the way I’m SUPPOSED to is very uncomfortable, so I must not be built for the piano, and shouldn’t try to learn it”, and a talented musician may walk away before they even uncover their own talent. 🤷🏼♂️
if you're not reading sheet music you're just going to forget the piece and not be able to play it anymore. You also take forever to learn a new piece if you aren't reading sheet music. You're progress is misleading. It's good though that you at least mention it on this video. So props to you! Spend a couple of years not looking at your hands and reading sheet music you'll really feel the joy of playing the piano.
You’ve inspired me, thanks. Wanting to learn how to play in 2025. Love the piano.
Im glad you are inspired to learn the piano, but what's stopping you from learning rn.
@ Time and a house full of kids 😆 I’m researching different pianos and keyboards to see what suits me.
👍👍❤
"Which keys to press". Sigh. Stunting on the keyboard using video gaming skills. I suppose if all you want is to be able to execute a few impressive pieces...
I used Skoove for two weeks and moved on to using adult instruction books, which do teach a bit of theory, nothing like the intimidating graphics you used here. Even that method is geared to goal-obsessed adults. So, you're playing blues pieces and syncopation too early. Ultimately I chose to pay a fluency coach for a deep foundation in basic musicality via super-gradual child-like practice before I even start traditional theory-based performance training. I began this journey at age 66. To each his own.
more power to you but I would be super demotivated and bored very quickly
We dont have that much time now granpa
@@fxseb7 neither does he
Piano is actually a percussion instrument, not a string instrument. 👍
It's string instrument. There are stings inside piano.
@@Critique808It’s technically both. But it’s classified as a percussion because the noise is made by hitting the strings instead of plucking or bowing them.
@megan7292 I have to hit piano 🎹 keys hard for ff and fff like a percussion for hammers to hit strings forte. Yeah, it's like string and percussion instrument .
Hi, you did it YOUR WAY simply because you've forgotten the 'in between': a piano course on INTERNET. THAT'S what AI did and honestly: I WOULD STILL RECOMMEND YOU TO DO THAT. WHY: because from what I've just watch you doing - which granted isn't too bad at all - I nonetheless can easily tell that you've SKIPPED certain VITAL INFORMATION which for sure down the road WILL come back to haunt you. What I mean is: those pieces you're playing: AI play them too. The difference: AI CAN SEE THE 'GRAMMAR' WHICH MAKE 'MEMORIZATION' A MILLION MORE EASY. That is: YOU SEE NOTES..........AI SEE PATTERNS. When AI make a 'grammar-mistake', I'm like: HOW could I be that stupid: of course it should be a B-flat or G-sharp; of course it should be a MAJOR/MINOR CHORD. I'm warning you: YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DISCERN WHAT YOU'RE DOING IN ORDER TO KEEP GROWING. You CAN'T go on 'MEMORIZING'. And by the way: to your knowledge: FANTASSY-IMPROMPTU of Chopin is: ALL GRAMMAR. HEAT MY ADVICE: TAKE AN INTERNET COURSE. YOU'LL NEVER REGRET THAT. I'll leave it there!!
Dansker, lol.. så tydeligt :D