Is it a crime to say every points?? 😂 I'd say synthesia is like playing guitar hero..... It doesn't convert to the ability of playing actual guitar, but it sure is fun.....
I'm half self-taught. I play with a lot of tension and I'm trying to loose it down and in that regard, my teacher wasn't of much help. Rythm is tough one. The metronome removes you all love of playing piano. For fingering, it's hard to find good litterature or logical explanation except on score. Hymns have no such thing as fingering notation. Regarding bad practicing, I looked at a couple UA-cam video from a guy in Australia that suggested routine for different practice time.
Actually all, I’m sorrt Teacher Jazer 😅😅😅 but my mentor advised me to practice Czerny Op. 599 and Hanon’s Exercises especially for finger independence, I wish to become an organist that could play classical pieces. Your videos are great!
My #1 tip for self taught musicians: Record yourself while playing (a smartphone will do), stop recording and then forget about it. Listen back to the recording the next day and take notes about how you could improve your playing. It may still be shocking to hear yourself but the day in between helps a lot.
At the end of each practice section I play the best performance I can for that day and I like naming my recordings with the date just to keep track of how long is taking me to learn each piece
i did that when i started playing drums 30 years ago. every time i practiced i would get out the boom box and pop in a cassette tape and record my practice. i think it helped me a lot.... i may still have some of those cassettes in my attic right now
My problem with that suggestion is as soon as I press record my playing goes downhill. I've been doing it for months now and have never produced a recording without errors!! Will continue to try.
Getting nervous and playing poorly when the "Recording Light" comes simply tells us that we need to spend more time and "camp out" with the instrument and slowly "get the piano's attention" first as we work out the bugs and learn where the fingers need to got. What Jazer Lee says here is right on the money.
If the piano teacher I had when I was a kid had been teaching like this, I’m sure that I would not have quit. Every word you said made total sense, which is what drives (my) motivation.
My piano teacher was an old strict lady with crazy bad arthritis she had this plastic pointer she would hit me on the knuckles with if I missed a note.her house always smelled like foodand was hot af and the furniture was coverd in plastic. I quit for 15 years just picked I back up a mo th ago ish. Falling back in love with it. That piano app really helped me hit the ground running on learning my notes etc.
I’m 83, took lessons when I was ten for a little more than a year and I’m about to start again with a 61 key keyboard. No teacher yet, but I’m excited.
I’m a piano teacher and whenever I get a young student who has been self taught, I’m almost 100% certain that we are going to need to work on rhythm. I found this video to be informative and well done.
I even get transfer students who have horrible rhythm and fingering. I just started a new student who had another teacher for 4 years and never used warmups/technique excercises! Boggles my mind.
Im self taught and surprisingly Other than reading sheet music I can do all the 4 tips correctly that are said in the video. Like the rhythym. Fingering efficiency and everything. Even I was surprised.
My child has trisomy 21 and plays the piano. He had a solid rhythm instinct right from the beginning. It's like an island talent. It's easy to play four hands with him. After around twenty years he can read sheet music, play with both hands, play over the range of an octave with each hand. He enjoys it, so we continue! He always participates in the music school's concerts on his level and he always gets a lot of applause for his efforts and continuous improvement.
I'm 57 and starting to take up an interest in playing piano. coming from a poor and neglected family, I never get a chance to do this, and I had been slogging at work for decades. Now with my family and finance more at ease, it is time for me to indulge in music that I had yearned for in the past. Thanks to your channel, I will try to learn on my own as I could not pay for expensive personal piano tuition
Just thought I'd mention that in relation to poor counting and rhythm, as someone who has self taught, the reason the beat is inconsistent is lack of confidence and sometimes needing time to think and position my fingers. my advice is just to play the whole piece much slower, even if it sounds weird, until you can confidently change the position of your fingers. :)
@@50bft Yes! I have recently started learning piano and think of it as training your muscle memory to play right notes in the right order and speed up tempo as you progress :)
I have to disagree here, learning to play slowly is nearly equivalent to practicing how to do something the wrong way. At that point you’re subconsciously teaching yourself poor technique. The key is to get over the confidence hurdle by failing forward. Record your play, when you make an error, just continue to push through as if it didn’t happen (this is the hard part, as it will seem like errors pile up once you make one mistake). After you finish, listen back and find where you made your mistakes, and clean up your play. This way it’s like you’re supplementing the feedback an instructor would have given you
@@andreandrews6237i’m going to have to disagree with you actually. when you learn a new song for the first time, if you don’t start out slowly, in small sections, you can’t learn it.
Hi, i would like to suggest a second basic tip to better practice a piece of music: start practising from the end of the piece and work your way gradually backwards all the way to the beginning. With this method, you play with confidence because you are playing towards the parts that you have practised more, therefore that you play with more ease. This is a method that I have found to be very effective-
I've done this decades ago as a teen. I realized that I practiced the beginning of a piece with a lot more motivation than the rest. That's when I decided to start at the end. My teacher was very "classical" and hated this. So I told her I wouldn't do it - but did it nevertheless. And it really improved my play.
@@samel88 😂 I practice the last three bars in the correct order of the sheet music. Then I move one or two bars towards the beginning and practice again three bars. If a piece of music had 20 bars. I would practice in a pattern somewhat similar to this: Bars: 18-19-20 16-17-18 14-15-16 If it's difficult, I use smaller steps, if it's easy and repetitive I might practice larger chunks.
@@mickizurcher7 years training divided- 3 as a young boy, 4 years age 16-20. Teacher left after beginning to teach me Beethoven’s Sonata Pathetique. Played the first movement at my last recital & was crushed. Switched to guitar & eventually 36 years passed. I’m now 55 & just getting back to it. Didn’t realise how much I missed it
Same! 40 now and just getting back into music playing after dropping it during college when I was 20. Clarinet back then, but now piano in order to get into composing.
I think the most amazing thing about these videos is that you are FREELY GIVING in hopes of making others better at what they enjoy. How kind is that? Thank you for that giving spirit!
@@Supermoneygang12selling classes has nothing to do with this free video. Plus even with the ad revenue he could save this info for his classes but here we get it for free even if we have to wait 5 seconds through an ad before we skip it
@@joedwyer3297 "selling classes has nothing to do with this free video." Yes it does, he gets more visibility using this video, and it is especially aimed at beginners.
@@bringbackdislikes3195 in context of the conversation that was being had The original comment said that these videos are being freely given, which they are, we haven't paid a penny to watch it. The second guy was just pointlessly cynical with his response in my opinion *edit But yeah I could have worded that part better youre not wrong
This entire video was excellent. You do not speak too fast. You are clear in your comments. You don't try to be an actor in a movie. You seem very interested in your viewers' success. You are sincere and you know how to encourage your viewers. Well done. Thank you. 👋
I've been self taught for about 15 years, and while I do agree with some of the pitfalls, there are ways to mitigate them. Such as your point on Synthesia, I've used it and while I freely admit I don't have rapid sight reading ability, I can still get where I need to with sheet music, and practice. As to fingering, this while slower than a lesson taught pianist, I've learned from observing other pianists, and correcting my own mistakes. I will say, as to my practice methods, while slow, I continually practice all the same, not because I want to be a master of the piano, but simply because for me practice, and playing is something I do to help with my mental health, as well as giving me something that is mine, and done it by myself. I've only recently come upon your videos, and I do enjoy your content, but as a self taught pianist, I can say with certainty that while I am nowhere near concert level, that's not my primary goal for learning. I play the piano for the love of the piano, and for the enjoyment it gives me expanding my ability at my own pace. Good video all the same, but I will say that it feels a little like all you've established is that a piano is a tool for impressing other people, and not something that you can just do for the enjoyment of it. I enjoyed the video though, as it has highlighted some of the things I do do wrong as a self-taught pianist.
I totally agree with you Daryl. I am also self taught and have been playing for 3 years and loving it, not to impress anyone but to enjoy it myself and it gives me pleasure and a sense of achievement that I can now play something which I thought I could never play before.
@@paullau3835 Me too, there is a great sense of achievement when you play a piece of music for the first time, particularly if it's a piece you thought you would never learn. There is something emotional about being able to sit at the piano and play actual music. I thought I'd never get the hang of hand independence but it's improving. Started off on some easy pieces like Bach's Prelude in C Major and Grade 1 pieces e.g. Melodie by Schumann, rather than attempting pieces that (while I might love to play them) are just beyond my current ability. There is just so much to learn but you'll never be bored once there's a piano in the house. I understand now why it's best to start as a child.
While I understand where you are coming from, as someone who was self taught and then started lessons, I think Jazer did a very good job of not presenting this video in a hoity toity way as many classical-leaning piano teachers do; most will dismiss synthesia out of hand, for instance. So I feel like you may have misinterpreted the video. Seems like he was trying to help self-taught pianists rather than implying these issues couldn't be mitigated by self-learners. Indeed, every single pitfall in this video was something my piano teacher addressed in the first few lessons, and I'm a better pianist for it, but I'm still unlearning some bad habits. I wish I'd seen something like this earlier on in my journey.
@@napilopez Yes. Jajer has no doubt seen just about every type piano player (hack) there is. He not only knows what their weaknesses are but what they need to do to fix the problem. There are lots of people who claim to be piano teachers but most of them are just sitting there collecting your money. this guy could really help those that want to learn. I am sure that many of his students don't know how lucky they are. They could be like many of us who began a adults and just have to fumble around the best we can.
I play for mental health too! I have such gratitude to my parents for getting me piano lessons when I was young. Of course you don’t need piano lessons to improvise but it helps
Thanks Jazer. I really like the tip about repeating smaller chunks of music seven times. I'm from a guitar background, and never had sheet music on stage, I would always learn each song through constant repetition. I find it easier to learn pieces on piano rather than sight-read them, and breaking them down like this will really help.
Totally agree, I think there is always a solution to most of the issues mentioned here. People on this video are on the side of not self-teaching, but I think it's a completely wrong conception, you can self-teach anything these days even the stuff that goes wrong when you self-teach, there is probably a UA-cam video to solve those.
exactly!! having to accompany also makes you play in time a lot easier i think....and i think its more fun then using the metronome (though ofcourse you can use it at times for real accuracy)
Oh my God, this is what the internet is made for, fantastic teachers like you that not only tell what the problem is but the solution that come as well, thank you for your time and effort of Making this channel, you sir are a God send, hope every success for your channel and keep up the good work!!!
I don’t understand how synthesia is thought to be easier. I tried it once and found it a nightmare having to constantly skip back, try to copy, and memorise. Also it’s not just fingering, people who learn from synthesia usually have very little dynamics in their playing as the tool they are using prioritises playing the right notes at the right time and basically disregards anything else. At that point it becomes guitar hero for piano.
I use Synthesia. I do agree that it makes it harder to memorise a piece. The fingering I don't think is a huge issue, the built-in songs all have fingering included, and anything I add myself, I will add the fingerings in myself, which forces me to consider the piece and not simply wing it. And I can easily adjust them if I find an different fingering is easier for me. Dynamics is definitely an issue. By default it's set up to output the correct volume for the note, regardless of how hard you hit. This can be turned off, which helps somewhat. It's still just your own ear, but if you're self learning, that's always going to be the case. It now also comes with the ability to show the sheet music as well as/instead of the falling bars. I feel that the biggest issue with Synthesia hasn't been mentioned at all here. It's the lack of music theory. Bypassing music theory makes it *so* much harder to learn to play. Without it, you're just hitting notes, you're not understanding them. Apart from that, adjusting the settings gets rid of most of the complaints.
I agree, but the thing that it has going for it is that you don’t have to do the 90 degree flip where up and down on the music equates to left and right on the piano. With Synthesia, left and right equals left and right.
I agree. The initial learning curve with sight reading is terribad but I have tried to use Synthesia and couple of times out of interest and found it really difficult to follow. I guess it is a case of you know what you are used to.
With regards to the final point, in Chuan C. Chang's excellent book _Fundamentals of Piano Practice_ he recommends finishing each such short segment, whether it be a single or several bars, with playing the beginning of the ensuing bar as well, in order to properly connect the short segments you're practicing. I've had a lot of success with this.
Thats an excellent book - and its free online. As part of a payback I did some proof reading for the new edition and corresponded with the author. Its piano teachings, scientifically researched, optimised and compiled into proven and improved learning techniques. Schaun.
I think Synthesia is a very useful tool, but even as someone who is terribly slow at reading sheet music, I find that I build muscle memory much more slowly with Synthesia compared to when I force myself to read sheet music. A lot of times it tends to feel like I'm just copying someone's homework and not retaining any of it. Whereas when reading sheet music, I have to actually think about what keys I need to press and it helps reinforce the patterns in my brain
Jazer, regarding fingering, there is a really fantastic hack for playing clunky passages that my concert band conductor taught me a long time ago but I haven't seen on any UA-cam videos. For example if you have a string of eighth notes, practice them in two ways: one dotted eighth and sixteenth repeating, and one sixteenth and dotted eighth repeating. Usually one of these will be harder based on the fingering problems you have, but just practice both. Then, go back to playing straight eighth notes: it will be so much easier, almost like magic. This is because you've trained your fingers to actually make the transition faster than you need to, and the added "dotted eighth" gives you time to prepare.
As a young adult of age 28 I used to self learn for nearly 1 year before getting a proper teacher and I gotta say all your points are valid !! Self learning has no feedback, I didn't even know my scales performed in legato was rather detached, and teacher highlighted that on Day 1 of lesson! There are just too many good reasons to get a teacher if you want to get serious in learning piano - ultimately to avoid practicing your mistakes perfectly.
I dunno, it depends of your goal. I'm above 30, I don't plan to play Moonlight Sonata 3rd in the future, like never. I don't have enough free time in my life for that. So if I'm able to play with not so many mistakes, medium pieces in 2-3 years, it'll be good enough for me.
@@shinpansen I like your perspective, there's no absolute right or wrong. My initial goal was somewhat similar to yours, but it eventually evolved as I listen and learn more about music - my end goal in life is to learn proper classical music with understanding on what I am actually hitting on the piano (chord progression, arpeggios, chromatic scales, cadence, with proper articulation and dynamics) especially during sight-playing, hence my statement above. But I certainly agree with you that everyone has different musical goal in life.
I started 3 months ago at 48 and after a few lessons had to bin my teacher. He really was an excellent player but didn't even bother teaching me the basics. Like stuff that even I as a noob knew from the web. I try to invest an hour a day to practice but see no point in investing more time and money in somebody who just gives me pieces to practice which robs me of even more time without actually explaining anything. Sure I want to progress but must also balance my time with the job and family. I live in Switzerland and have the choice of a) paying a lot for the teacher lottery or b) paying a fortune for a qualified (chamber) pianist for whom I have a travel round-trip of a couple of hours. Not really an option. Therefore, all being told, I'll just put my time in and see how I progress. Every little step is a reward for me 😎
@@monkieie i have exact the same problem. My teacher did not know the Hanon warming up method. And he told me to only use the simple music book. No extra’s no arpeggio, no ladders, no hand independence no nothing else. I like to take practice to the Max, challenges. I life in the netherlands and it is expencive.
I'm a self taught pianist and I recently got a teacher. One of my main weaknesses is sight reading. I have never used synthesia, but for some reason I just like memorising pieces instead of cross checking with the sheet music like other pianists do. My piano teacher said that I am quite a special/odd student since many of his students dream of having memorization skills like me. But my live sight reading needs work. I practice with these books that have excersizes in them that I do every weekday. Each book has a level. Currently I'm on level 4. My piano teacher has tremendously helped me with technuique and fingering issues that I had, and helped me play pieces that I never would've dreamed of playing. To all self taught pianists: If you think getting a teacher isn't worth it, trust me, it is. Getting feedback from someone highly better than you in an encouraging way is such a great thing to have.
Same. It is honestly very annoying. It takes me two to three weeks to get efficient at a piece and memorize it. I can end up memorizing 3 pages of a song and play it at the pace it's supposed to be played, but if you asked me to read along, I'd stumble every note. And it's not even something I always do intentionally. Once I get familiar with the piece, I basically start glossing over the notes and playing from memory.
The tempo one is probably my worst. I just forget the metronome when practising with it cus I'm concentrating on the playing. I really need a thick beat or something to keep me in there
i feel ya, what works for me is learning it without a tempo at a slow pace, so i don't have to 'hyper concentrate' on the individual notes. After that i get the metronome on at a real slow pace to keep it ez, and build it up from there
You really are a truly great teacher, I love how you said "this means you probably don't have as much Finger independence as you *CAN* have" rather than 'as you should have' It is little things like this which make your teaching style truly motivational, and unthreatening. 👍👍 This is helping me as I am going through a dark night of the soul in regards to my own self taught abilities and subsequent weaknesses and drawbacks, I have foolishly only used the technique of playing along to the Radio and my record collection, leaving me disasterous technique but a very perceptive ear. It's not enough!
A lot of self taught pianists and musicians tend to start practicing a piece from the start each time they make a mistake which results in a strong start and a weak end. Great tips!
If I'm struggling with the fingering for something like for a few difficult bars, I like to watch overhead piano videos on youtube of the piece I'm trying to learn, watch how they play it, and put the fingerings in on my score. There's tons of great channels for this, like Rousseau
Yeah it can work when you play it in 0.5 speed, but it twisted the music a bit You can try Jane, she plays it slower naturally. Such video is not very often seen on YT cuz it is pure educational.
There’s a tip i found in an old piano book I was able to find in a retail sale: It says to try striking the keys with the fingertip just behind the fingernail. Don’t overdo it, of course, but it’s very effective with keeping the fingers curved and close to the keys. Hope this helps! 😁
I was self-taught for one year. If I did it over again, I'd definitely do a better job of learning proper finger technique and metronome practice. Every song I played ended up having to be memorized completely instead of sight-read in real time. When I started with a teacher, I had to relearn what I had learned. You're videos have helped me be a more confident pianist. :)
Good tips Jazer. After more years playing at the piano than I care to admit, I recently got an instructor. We are working on every one of the things you mentioned, except tension. The only reason we haven’t talked about tension is because I think she doesn’t want to overwhelm me, because I have that challenge too. Thanks!!!
I am a 76 year ol..., er, uh, older guy with just 6 weeks of self learning from a multitude of sources. This video has been extremely helpful to me as I'm having trouble with all the pitfalls except Tension. With the above tips I feel I can address many of the issues I'm having at this point. Good job helping us understand what us older beginners should be doing to get on track and do better. Will let you know how I'm doing in about 6 weeks. FYI. A tip I got from a book by Josh Kaufman's book about being able to learn many things in only 20 hours has really helped. In his book he states from a research paper that learning things that takes "muscle memory", like piano, should be learned in the roughly 4 hour window before bedtime and will result in better memory/recall of the learned action(s). But one should also still practice at other times in addition to this key nightime period. Nighttime learning and practice has really helped me a lot.
That’s a really cool tip about playing before bed. I’m gonna use it! Thanks for sharing. And you’re right - 76 is not old, just older! I wish you a long healthy life filled with good things and good music.
Synthesia has been incredibly useful for me in learning complex rhythm. Particularly when polyrhythm is combined with three hand technique I have found it useful. It forces you to play in the correct timing. Edit: I still drastically prefer sheet music.
Oh man, counting and rhythm is huge! My piano teacher alwaysade me count out loud at lessons and I thought it was the biggest waste of time and so unnecessary, but now as a mom, that's the thing I harp on my kids more than anything else.
You nailed it. I was 1st taught to read music in my earlier years. Now my brother wants me to learn the number chord system. I feel like I am starting all over again. Love the no 1. Yes all 5 are my pitfalls. You are the best.
I believe tension is my biggest problem for now. I was aware of most of the pitfalls you have mentioned and I have been actively trying to avoid them in my practice sessions. Thank you for the great lesson as always! 🙏
I had the same problem with tension. I eased it by playing a piece I was very comfortable with in various ways - slow, fast, emotionally etc. Just have fun with it rather than get it right :) Maybe it'll work for you too
I'm someone who is seriously considering teaching myself to play the piano. As I watched your video I thought about the pitfalls and I think it may come down to what might be lacking for the self-taught: an instructor and a curriculum. Shocker, right? I think what the self-taught really need is a complete series of comprehensive lesson videos that literally takes you from beginner to master in a logically progressive way based on an established curriculum. Within the context of UA-cam, imagine a professional piano teacher or a pianist who wants to teach creating a complete series of videos based on a complete series of lesson books that can easily be bought at a music store or Amazon. The pianist simply goes through each book, lesson by lesson. If the pianist is a GOOD teacher, the pitfalls will be naturally avoided.
Actually, there is a teacher and channel like that. For Alfred „All in one” Book I follow this guy ua-cam.com/play/PL8hZtgRyL9WRWJLlIUPl-ydiDc8CZ_SJK.html and this kind of content is really helpful.
The thing is, even with the best teacher in the world, each student is different and has different strengths and weaknesses, so something like what you propose would be extremely useful but a good teachers personal advise will always be useful
@@neutralclef6253 definitely agree with this sentiment. It can be a bit much to expect a beginner to be able to critique themselves and recognise when something is working and even more importantly to work out what is going wrong and how to fix it. You can get a long way being self taught, don’t get me wrong, but there will always be knowledge gaps that hold them back in some form in the future. The fear is that they reach this roadblock and give up not knowing how to overcome the difficulty that they can’t identify.
@ I know about the guy you're talking about. I saw some of his videos a few months ago and frankly, I'm not a fan of his personality. I'm looking for someone who is a bit more like Jazer Lee. He or she doesn't necessarily have to be a professional teacher like Jazer but I feel that if I had the guy you're talking about as a professor I would be a little depressed about it. That being said, we all have to be ourselves.
Yeah I definitely need a mentor. The value of having a master on the instrument critiquing your practice and assigning exercises to help you improve weekly is immeasurable.
These tips are spot on. I started learning piano as an adult in my 50s over a decade ago. A good teacher is important, several in fact. Sometimes a particular teacher can only take you so far. It took over five years to learn to read in different keys fluently at a slow speed, and over 10 years to play advanced material. There is a world of great piano pieces at the beginner to intermediate level. Don’t try to rush. It may only increase tension and slow progress. Enjoy the journey! And practice, practice, practice… I never thought I would play the repertoire I do now.
So you'd really advice on getting a proper teacher rather than self teaching through youtube and other sources? I'm 40, and just decided that I want to learn how to play the piano. I used to play guitar (was never good at it though), but can't anymore due to a hand injury. Basically my index finger won't hit the strings in the correct position anymore. I do think I can learn how to play the piano though, as my index finger still works well, it just doesn't hit where it used to on the guitar.
@@WallesWillerWalla yes, a good teacher will ensure proper and efficient technique and prevent poor habits and excessive tension from developing. Piano is challenging. You’re reading two lines of music, learning to balance the hands, perhaps polyrhythms and multiple voices as you progress. Good luck and enjoy!
Tension is probably my biggest pitfall! I had no idea how tense I was in practice. Second would be finger independence. My ring finger hijacks my other fingers. Also, I’ve been practicing chord progressions from another of your videos. I was floored when I stopped looking at the keys, I suddenly got much better. I’m a typist, and type crazy fast until I look at the keyboard and suddenly become a hunt-and-pecker. I so enjoy your lessons!
I just retired a couple of years ago. I had learned to type 30 wpm hunt and peck. Learn how to do it without looking 30 wpm. I just learned 12 of the scales on piano. I can do them without looking.. I can go fast and slow.but I am starting to use metronome and sight reading.. Good luck wish me good luck.
Just the other day I recorded myself (Im a self taught pianist) I was pretty sure I was doing okay for being self taught off of synthesia for a year, but when I listened EVERYTHING was wrong, especially the tempo, this really hit me hard and I really felt sad for a while, but you've really helped me inspire myself to try sheet music, I will start trying to learn sheet music today, thank you for your guidance.
Me too, I rely too much on synthesia and so little on trying to learn sheet music. It sucks when you've come so far and have to go back to square one :(
Same, a major problem that does *not* help beginners at all is that you get synthesia arranged for beginners (here on YT) for free while the matching music sheets usually (sometimes heavily) paywalled.
I tend to rush and try to learn too much at a time and end up not letting the music sink in and becomes my subconscious, which consequently makes my practice hard to keep at a fixed tempo. Thank you so much for the tips🙏 Will break down to smaller segments and do more repeatations before moving on. I only started early this month, a very new newbie😊 Wish all my adult fellow learners the very best! Enjoy✌
Just started yesterday playing small sections of 2 songs that I have been playing a long time not being able to get rid of the mistakes. Playing the weak areas 7 times makes a difference. That has been my biggest takeaway so far. When I mess up on number 6, I start all over counting. I think this has been my biggest obstacle. It will also boost the confidence level to sit and play. Thank you.
I have been playing piano since I was 3 years old. My mother was my first teacher, then I went on to professional lessons. Excellent tips here. I also learned something new - which I will definitely try - which is to practice short sections 7 times and then move on. My tendency is to start "at the beginning" each time - which means that I learn the starting portion very well, and fall down towards the end. I truly appreciate your videos. I have subscribed, and look forward to seeing more. Cheers!
I'm rather inexperienced with playing the piano, but I found that what seems to work for me is finding a piece of music I like playing that has repetitions in it that will naturally get me to play well just because it has sequences that repeat so much. E.g. I am fond of Yann Tiersen and some of his pieces tend to have a lot of repetition in either left or right hand, actually the same goes for Beethoven's Tempest 3rd movement too. Yann Tiersen's Valse D'Amelie starts very simple and progresses to be more complex while retaining the same shorter sequences that get reused in the later parts of the piece. This lends it to learning as you get to progress to the piece, it's not as complicated because you get to re-use what you've learned prior in the piece. And it's a lot of fun because you'd be playing a piano piece that you like.
I was told that the point isn’t to practice till I can play it, but until I can’t play it wrong. I’m still working on that! I try and play through something to get the idea, but then practice tricky bits such as transitions between sections. Never start at the beginning of a section. I also find it helps if I know where I’m going. So work out the fingers for the last section. Then learn that section, then the same for the penultimate section. Then the transition between. Keep going till you get to the beginning. You’ll find that it feels like coming home as you get to more familiar stuff. It also helps the musical line make more sense if you know where it’s going. It shouldn’t be a surprise!
@@dees3179 My teacher always said never practice until you get it right, practice so you never get it wrong. I remember my first lesson with her she told me to go home and play the piece at about 10% tempo, but fingerings need to be the same each time, and no wrong notes allowed. Wrong notes means that the practice was counterproductive, going backwards instead.
@@ThePlaneguys yes, so true. There is a lot to be said for consistency, otherwise it's decision making each time. I never realised before how much planning goes into piano from early on. The other instruments I play it is much less and much later.
I love the small section learning advice. I get so frustrated but it’s probably because I try to take on such big bites of information that it doesn’t get into my subconscious and I’m constantly trying to figure out the notes. I like the wrist placement advice. I’m never quite sure. Also the curved fingers and relaxing. I’m a perfectionist and try really hard to play perfectly and get stressed when I make a mistake. Too many makes me want to quit.
i had my piano lessons for 3 years, over 16 years ago. I have forgotten almost everything my piano teacher taught me, especially reading the notes. But there is also stuff that I completely remember that really helps me now that I am relearning how to play piano by myself, those are how to play the keys properly. From wrist stretching, finger positioning, tempo, and how to practice a piece. Watching this video brought me back ages ago when I started learning how to play piano, because every tip said on the video was the only thing I remembered from those 3 years of piano lessons. And to get this type of education for free is really a steal. Thank you for providing these kinds of videos.
As a self taught musician this was a great reminder to get back to basics. Really appreciate the way you called out the facts with empathy instead of judgment. My hands are much better than my eyes. I can play all the diatonic scales across a bunch of different instruments but I can’t site read to save my life. Do you have videos specific to learning to read sheet music for dummies? I know there’s a million out there but I appreciate your style.
Hi, I just wanna say thank you so much for the tips! I'm a self-taught for only several months and I can relate to a lot of pitfalls you mentioned there. Even though I mainly play/practice piano for my own enjoyment, but lately when I tried to learn harder pieces I felt like I hit certain limit and could not go any further because I missed those important points that you mentioned in the video. And what's used to be an enjoyment for me was no longer a complete enjoyment anymore because whenever I practiced there's this frustrated feeling or tension if I couldn't get certain parts right even though I had practiced them over and over. Thank you, it's enlightening for me!
I’m self taught for the last year, late in life, coming from classical guitar which also was mainly self taught.Your final point for me was the most impactful. After one year I can definitely add something that every body can benefit from. Enjoy making mistakes. Strive to keep the timing/rhythm going no matter how many mistakes you make. Do not just play dead composers music.Strive to discover your own melodies and string them together to make simple yet meaningful compositions employing techniques you can discern from music you have already come to love.I doubt there has ever been any composer who was 100% original in everything they did. Be bold in doing things that no one else is doing or possibly has done before. Even if things sound strange to begin with, a modest amount of passion and consistent application with a short original piece of our own composition is far more rewarding than mere repetitious interpretation of that which has come before. No matter how simple or elementary a persons first composition, a threshold is crossed which brings an enhanced understanding of pieces from composers of great renown . For me, if Mozart was outstanding as a musical genius Beethoven was probably the greatest student amongst all the classical composers to date. Not all beautiful pieces of music are composed by the most prolific composers.Without a measure of passion for playing music and a moderate desire to discover your own music what, will emerge will be merely ‘water under the bridge’!
So glad I found this channel, my hiatus from piano was 51 years! So now that I'm retired it is a bit frustrating that my skill is not coming back as quickly as I had hoped. Left hand cord / changes are really difficult. I subscribed to your channel and so will review the videos to hopefully progress a bit faster!
Always practice trouble areas, do not just default to starting from the top. Repetition is key like you said. When it finally clicks and the trouble parts can be played with high precision, then you work on bringing up speed. Recently learnt to play the piano version of Sonne by Rammstein (that plays at the end of the song Deutschland). Took me a couple weeks but I don't even need the sheet music any more, it's all in memory and I'll probably never forget it.
Very revealing for me. I realized this was a repeating pattern in my life. I’m blessed with a great ear, so therefore, all self taught. But i can barely read simple music which is a very limiting ceiling. I’ve played keyboards in wedding/party band when younger with zero music to read. But i played well enough to get by. Now a senior citizen and getting back to piano, I realized this is how i cook as well-no recipes, only my senses as a guide. It seems that most of my strengths in life gave been guided by feel and senses. Not terrible, but this has probably always been my limitation. Since my grandson is now taking piano lessons, but he also has a great ear, I am stressing to him how he cannot just rest on his talent. So now I’m doing the work, along with him, learning to read like a beginner. Thanks for the great videos you are making as they will be incredibly helpful in my own future journey. I would just add that, if one is blessed with musical genes, and they layer it with hard work, study, and solid practice, the sky is the limit.
I'm a grade 10 pianist and i've been playing for 10 ish years and I still have a lot of trouble reading sheet music. On the other hand, I have really good memory to make up for it. The way I learnt was by reading a bar once, playing it, and memorizing how my fingers look when I play it, so I memorize the piece on the first play through basically, which is very convinient. Still, I wish it didn't take me a few seconds to figure out what a note is on the bar staff.
Hi Jazer, thanks for all those clear and much usefull videos ! Although a few others could be added to the 5 common pitfalls you rightfully noticed, there is one my piano teacher would too often have to warn his beginner-early intermediate students about : NOT SO FAST !! Start slow, you will play right, on a regular pace, and the necessary speed will come up nicely, naturally, and not at the expense of the rest. How true was he !.
When the lockdowns started I decided to use any spare time to focus on three things, working out (down 60 lbs), studying microbiology, and learning to play the piano. Thank you so much for this video. I've been self teaching piano and can definitely see why I was becoming so fatigued after playing for under an hour. I was lifting my fingers too high. I was playing with tension. I was playing with flat (not curved) finger position. I wasn't close enough to the keyboard. After watching this video, I've started to implement changes you suggest. Feels much better already! Thanks so much for posting this!
That last tip is such sound advice (no pun intended). I think the brain naturally likes partitioning / sectioning things as a sort of survival skill when we used to hunt and gather. So if you section a piece of music into bars you learn separately, then when it comes time to gather all of them in one place it just comes naturally. Excellent video!
Great video for a self taught beginner. I took lessons several years ago and quit when I froze at my first recital. After 20 years I have started again. I learned a lot from you in 15 minutes that no teacher ever taught me. I took all 5 lessons to heart. Thanks again.
For me, your tip to practice in small sections for seven times was the most helpful, but I say that only because I try to work on sight reading a lot. Since I know I’ll never get a good as I would like, I will only play the music I want to learn. So sight reading and practicing small sections were the two tips I’ll use most. Thanks
As a visual artist, I see the parallels between the two disciplines. You did a good job of explaining the handicaps inherent in being self-taught. Since no teacher is arguably better than a poor teacher, and a skilled instructor is not always available, being self taught is sometimes the only option. I have always hoped that sheer determination would be enough. I think you would say... probably not?
I feel i'm older now and take more time to learn anything reading or by ear.. repeat repeat, is so good. My teacher gives me 2 lines at a time to learn then go on to the next and the next as i learn each line well.. 🙂
Great video, although I have to disagree witg strictly following the fingerings of scores as people have different hands, I'd recommend thinking about how one can use their hand as efficient as possible, or in other words also be critical of the score when something feels bad or sloppy
I'm a singer. I know how it is to repeat certain notes and phrases over and over before moving to the next piece of the song. This is so exciting to finally learn how to play piano!!! Thank you for being one of my first teachers. I really enjoy listening to your advice and especially your piano playing. Keep doing your thing. Peace.
Hi Jazer!. I am starting my piano journey somewhat late - at the age of 64. I have enjoyed your videos , they are all excellent! Your teaching style is very easy and concise with practical, sensible advice and demonstration - (no manic hype!) Thank You!
Terrific. Thanks Jazer. I'm 74 and I took up piano this year. Your ideas are spot on for me. Actually I started by looking up what is meant by the key of C and went from there to chords and the maths of it all. So I applied that to playing the chords in my ukukele song books. Then started on a couple of piano learning books. That's much harder than playing chords but the way I started was quite motivating. Playing around with the chords. Children can't do it so easily because they don't know all those songs. Now I love doing the piano books and will put into practice your ideas. I've been wondering about a few of the things you talked about. I also have some guitar books which have chords and notes so I sometimes try the chords with the left hand and notes with the right. Thanks heaps.
I'm a self taught pianist and I've been playing from 6 years now. I never learnt how to read sheet music, and I'm still solely relying on synthesia and my ear. Even though my fingering techniques and practicing methods are on point, I feel really slow when I'm learning harder pieces. I recently started learning Moonlight Sonata Movement 3, and now I wish I learnt how to read sheet music. But at this level, I just can't find the motivation to learn to read music and go back to level 0 again.
Dear, very dear Jazer: thank you's do not begin to express my gratitude to you, to your work, and for your generosity in sharing such knowledge with us. All your videos are pure gold. and I am here to thank you for two in particular: 1. "Repeat pieces or portions without mistakes 7X", and 2. "Do not look at the keyboard when playing"; my playing - and expression have improved greatly!!! -Alvaro, Italian in Florida. 🎹🌹❣
Thanks for all advice, my 5 year old son is about to start practicing piano, and hope it’s going to be wonderful journey for him! Thanks for the time you take to give simple explanation even no experience people can understand
Excellent video. I've been playing piano for 18 years and I'm not self taught as I took lessons the first 5 years but my biggest issue is not challenging myself enough, technically. I love film music and that's what I play most... but usually it's not super difficult. I've learned some challenging pieces like the 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata but those are exceptions for me. My plan is to work more on classical music and pay close attention to the fingering, dynamics and my practice routine. Oh, and scales! I have a workbook from David Hicken that has a lot of scales, arpeggios and more technical stuff. Practicing those will help a lot since I lack proficiency there.
One thing not mentioned because I guess it's assumed to be common sense, but constantly work on a new piece just at the outer edge of your current ability, using techniques you have not yet mastered. Get into this habit, and suddenly all of your currently "hard" pieces become so much easier and more fluid.
Everything you have listed is exactly why I went to the trouble of always having a teacher, even though I could have just gone on without one. The fear of learning something the wrong way and then having to try and unlearn it was why I didnt go it alone after I had gained enough basic knowledge and experience to be able to. I also find having a regular lesson even if its only once a month, also helps a lot to keep the momentum of keeping practising when other things in life could distract me. Very useful video, explained extremely well, thank you.
Thank you for the number 7! I often play a small piece a few times and never know when to leave it alone. Now I will try the 7 times thing. My tips are to look through a piece and identify the hard bits. Try to master those bits first instead of beginning and giving up half way through because the music suddenly got difficult. Also try learning the piece by starting at the last few bars.
I started learning piano about a year ago and am presently working on ‘Reverie’ and ‘To a Wild Rose’. Will try to apply the seven time technique to these pieces and see if I’m able to work through them more efficiently. Thank you!
I’m 74 years old, and have played the piano, nearly my whole life by ear with very few lessons. I’ve always taken the easy way out playing almost everything in the key of “C” or A minor. As such, I can relate to almost all five issues you mentioned. There has been a piano in my house ever since I was born, and I’ve owned several pianos. I just inherited a Steinway grand. I love it, and I am trying to actually learn how to play for the first time having having only a couple of unfruitful and frustrating years of lessons when I was much younger. In frustration, I almost always reverted back to listening to songs a few times, and then playing them by ear, all in the key of C. My favorite music is classical and jazz. I am now trying to learn Moonlight Sonata on my own, one, because I love it, and two because it doesn’t sound as challenging as most other classical music. (I DID some easy classical music with a piano teacher when I was in middle school. The most difficult piece was Für Elise and that was a struggle!). of course, I am finding moonlight. Sonata. Much more challenging than I thought, given that it is in the key of C sharp minor and having to remember the black keys, and then the proper fingering. I also have a hard time remembering where the notes are outside of the five line staff. This is when I decided to try to find something online and came across your video, and then realized that I am sadly dealing with all five of the issues you addressed. If I can garner up the patience, I am going to try to work on all five message you describe. Any additional hints that you may have for a 74 year old guy learning to play properly for the first time would be most welcome. Thanks so much.
I am a 68 year old self taught. I took piano lessons for a few months when I was about 8 but was just copying the teacher instead/imitating the teacher instead of actually learning the keys and notes. She very shortly told my dad he was wasting his money. I always regretted it and now in retirement am teaching myself. Videos help a little. I do all 5 but I think finger independence is the most challenging.
I am sorry you experienced tutelage under such a poor teacher. If you could copy/imitate the teacher, it would seem like you had a good ear and sense of rhythm. The teacher should have built on that, then continued to add sight reading. Good luck with your studies.
I had taken piano lessons for about 10 years in my youth, but never was taught about the level of the wrist - I can’t wait to incorporate that into my playing. I really love your videos. They are always so well thought out and clearly stated. Plus, you don’t speak at lightning speed; I so appreciate that. Thank you for all that you do :-)
I’m studying veterinary medicine and don’t have a lot of time or money to devote to a teacher so I’ve been self teaching myself. I really relate to all of these points. I can play quite a lot of songs, some considerably challenging songs but it takes me ages to learn pieces and when I’ve tried to go back and learn music theory properly, it feels so unmotivating. You’ve made some amazing points about how I can be more efficient and still achieve my hobby goals. Thank you!
I'm actually learning to play saxophone but the piano helps me with theory. I can really relate to your smaller chucks idea. I use an app called Anytune. It allows me to loop a lick, line, or phrase so that I can play it repeatedly until I get it correct. I may apply it to piano. I'd love to be able to play the piano but it is really challenging. That two hands, to clefs thing is a beast. Thanks for your lesson videos. They're really well thought out.
I’ve been trying to teach myself music theory for a long time but I’ve always stopped for really long times also and now I’m trying again to learn music theory by myself, without any teacher or course, just watching UA-cam videos. It has been a journey full of highs and lows but now I want to apply this knowledge while I’m learning and play piano the best I possibly can. Thank you so much to give these tips to us self learners. Your help is really appreciated. I love your channel!
You actually give some useful advice to people that are self-tought instead of just pointing out what they are doing wrong. This is a very good and candid video. 👏👏👏
Great teacher and great points. I am guilty unfortunately of all the pitfalls you described in this video. My biggest problem is playing music that is way beyond my skill level and not knowing how to do proper fingering. I am excited to discover this video and hope I can learn other tips from you. BTW, the independent finger exercise (playing each note 8 times) is already helping. Please keep those exercises coming!
I am an electrical engineer, approaching 60. Self-taught and played piano for 30 years without any teacher. I watched few of your video today. They are all wonderful. My progress has been slow. But I really enjoy the music. And it is a stress reliever, especially in the age of working from home. If I get tired of work, I can play some music to relax. Mainly Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart. I can read music sheet very well, but I cannot memorize any of them at all. Need music sheet all the time. Few things I learned from your video that can improve my practice are : 1. practice in smaller section. 2. learn the chord, plus some music theory. 3. practice precisely... By the way, the reason I don't have a teacher is that I don't want to force myself to practice. I am ok with the slow progress since I am not going to play for anyone. Perfectly happy to play on a digital piano with earphone.
Thanks for this video, it was very useful. I have a question, What's the best way to learn piano, like get used to reading sheet music instantly, reading sharps and flats smoothly, and not stopping in-between music to check if your doing it correctly? And also being able to read complicated music, like songs you actually want to play. And finger independence. Thank you very much!
Hi Tuna all the things you mentioned will get gradually get better with time if you practice properly. They do not happen overnight. There are many options to learning piano properly. You can do online courses, use a piano app, learn from a teacher, etc. I personally learnt from a teacher so I recommend it if your budget allows. Hope this helps
There are no shortcuts in piano playing. Talent is 5% of success, 95% is hard work. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, but with piano it must be smart practice too to give good results.
Thank you.. I'm probably guilty of making all five mistakes. It takes me a long time to practice and master a piece of music. Your solutions are on target. You have a unique and articulate way of explaining the problems we have and how to solve them.
I am self-taught and you are right I am struggling now with my piano lessons as I have to delete everything I did for a long time. I am 58 years old and back to school taking up Liturgy and Church Music. Your videos are really helpful!
You are an excellent teacher. Thank you for those great tips! I'd like to mention though the greatest jazz pianist of all time Erroll Garner was self taught and never learned to read music.
Wellll........Errol Garner WAS a great jazz pianist, and he was self-taught. So was Thelonious Monk, and for that matter, so were a number of the greats. However, as far as greatest jazz pianist of all time, I'd have to give that accolade to Art Tatum. Even though his style was routed in the earlier styles of jazz ('20s and '30s) as far as technique and feel go, Art's melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic diversity and complexity has basically never been equaled by anyone, even by the likes of Oscar Peterson. As far as the modernists go, I think they're all great and I love them all, each for his or her individual sound and approach. But Art is like Mount Everest---he towers over everyone. As a side note, for those who don't know, Art did study classically for a couple of years in Toledo as a teenager, so he wasn't completely self-taught, but the bulk of his mature growth was done on his own as an adult. And he was about 98% blind to boot. Interesting side note, although he had blazing technique, he played flat-handed, like Horowitz. There are several great videos of Art on UA-cam, showing what he looked like while he played. And yeah, he never learned to read music, but then neither did George Shearing or Stevie Wonder....
@@peterharrison5833 It's hard to learn correctly after this self taught stuff. I love the vibe of playing by ear. I suspect that what these musicians enjoyed. Interesting post Be well
Jazer: Thank you so much for your advice again. You just Again brought up something l need to be aware of. l take notes and keep them as my practice reminders, really lifetime useful to me
5 Tips: 1.) Choose the most difficult sheet music, challenge yourself, and don’t take the easy way out. 2.) Scales and Arpeggios. Practice fingerings 3.) Practice adding your own embellishments and improvements to every song you play. 4.) Learn new techniques from other musicians 5.) Focus in Dynamics. Like Horowitz said “it’s not how you play the notes. It’s how you play the space between them.”
I have just subscribed to your channel because of this video! I absolutely love your style of teaching. Your love of the music and the instrument really shine through. You are clear, concise, and thoughtful. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us all.
As a self-taught it felt natural to break the piece up into smaller pieces and then repeating it. Then I tried glueing it together to another small piece to expand step by step. It really helps a lot.
Which of these pitfalls can you relate to the most? 🤔🤔
Is it a crime to say every points?? 😂
I'd say synthesia is like playing guitar hero..... It doesn't convert to the ability of playing actual guitar, but it sure is fun.....
I would definitely say practicing inefficiently is my greatest pitfall, so thanks for the tips!
I'm half self-taught.
I play with a lot of tension and I'm trying to loose it down and in that regard, my teacher wasn't of much help. Rythm is tough one. The metronome removes you all love of playing piano. For fingering, it's hard to find good litterature or logical explanation except on score. Hymns have no such thing as fingering notation.
Regarding bad practicing, I looked at a couple UA-cam video from a guy in Australia that suggested routine for different practice time.
Actually all, I’m sorrt Teacher Jazer 😅😅😅 but my mentor advised me to practice Czerny Op. 599 and Hanon’s Exercises especially for finger independence, I wish to become an organist that could play classical pieces. Your videos are great!
Rythm.
My #1 tip for self taught musicians: Record yourself while playing (a smartphone will do), stop recording and then forget about it. Listen back to the recording the next day and take notes about how you could improve your playing. It may still be shocking to hear yourself but the day in between helps a lot.
At the end of each practice section I play the best performance I can for that day and I like naming my recordings with the date just to keep track of how long is taking me to learn each piece
i did that when i started playing drums 30 years ago. every time i practiced i would get out the boom box and pop in a cassette tape and record my practice. i think it helped me a lot.... i may still have some of those cassettes in my attic right now
My problem with that suggestion is as soon as I press record my playing goes downhill. I've been doing it for months now and have never produced a recording without errors!! Will continue to try.
@@mikeuk1954 the same thing happens to me. I can play a piece perfectly but as soon as I hit record I hit the wrong note right off the bat.
Getting nervous and playing poorly when the "Recording Light" comes simply tells us that we need to spend more time and "camp out" with the instrument and slowly "get the piano's attention" first as we work out the bugs and learn where the fingers need to got. What Jazer Lee says here is right on the money.
If the piano teacher I had when I was a kid had been teaching like this, I’m sure that I would not have quit. Every word you said made total sense, which is what drives (my) motivation.
My piano teacher was an old strict lady with crazy bad arthritis she had this plastic pointer she would hit me on the knuckles with if I missed a note.her house always smelled like foodand was hot af and the furniture was coverd in plastic. I quit for 15 years just picked I back up a mo th ago ish. Falling back in love with it. That piano app really helped me hit the ground running on learning my notes etc.
@@luratabb9618 What piano app you're using? I just trying to get back too, so it would be nice to know what works for you
@@grassenjoyer4414 simply piano it's a bit more then other similar apps but well worth it in my opinion
Doesn't matter I have started again at 60. Just jump again
This is true !!!
I’m 83, took lessons when I was ten for a little more than a year and I’m about to start again with a 61 key keyboard. No teacher yet, but I’m excited.
I hope it's all well for you, it's an old comment, but wishing you all the best :)
U old asl
How is it? I'm 17, also trying to start learning self taught!
Hope you're doing good!
I’m a piano teacher and whenever I get a young student who has been self taught, I’m almost 100% certain that we are going to need to work on rhythm. I found this video to be informative and well done.
I even get transfer students who have horrible rhythm and fingering. I just started a new student who had another teacher for 4 years and never used warmups/technique excercises! Boggles my mind.
Rhythm is exactly my problem and I don't know how to work on it :)
Have you ever had a self-taught student who had excellent rhythm?
Im self taught and surprisingly Other than reading sheet music I can do all the 4 tips correctly that are said in the video. Like the rhythym. Fingering efficiency and everything. Even I was surprised.
My child has trisomy 21 and plays the piano. He had a solid rhythm instinct right from the beginning. It's like an island talent. It's easy to play four hands with him. After around twenty years he can read sheet music, play with both hands, play over the range of an octave with each hand. He enjoys it, so we continue! He always participates in the music school's concerts on his level and he always gets a lot of applause for his efforts and continuous improvement.
I'm 57 and starting to take up an interest in playing piano.
coming from a poor and neglected family, I never get a chance to do this, and I had been slogging at work for decades. Now with my family and finance more at ease, it is time for me to indulge in music that I had yearned for in the past. Thanks to your channel, I will try to learn on my own as I could not pay for expensive personal piano tuition
I'm 58 and finally starting to learn it a bit more proper now! Coming on in leaps and bounds!
you got this bro❤
So beautiful... I wish you all the best!
Good luck man!
Just thought I'd mention that in relation to poor counting and rhythm, as someone who has self taught, the reason the beat is inconsistent is lack of confidence and sometimes needing time to think and position my fingers. my advice is just to play the whole piece much slower, even if it sounds weird, until you can confidently change the position of your fingers. :)
I agree. I think something played properly but at too slow a tempo, sounds better than something played incorrectly at the proper tempo.
This
@@50bft Yes! I have recently started learning piano and think of it as training your muscle memory to play right notes in the right order and speed up tempo as you progress :)
I have to disagree here, learning to play slowly is nearly equivalent to practicing how to do something the wrong way. At that point you’re subconsciously teaching yourself poor technique. The key is to get over the confidence hurdle by failing forward. Record your play, when you make an error, just continue to push through as if it didn’t happen (this is the hard part, as it will seem like errors pile up once you make one mistake).
After you finish, listen back and find where you made your mistakes, and clean up your play. This way it’s like you’re supplementing the feedback an instructor would have given you
@@andreandrews6237i’m going to have to disagree with you actually. when you learn a new song for the first time, if you don’t start out slowly, in small sections, you can’t learn it.
Hi, i would like to suggest a second basic tip to better practice a piece of music: start practising from the end of the piece and work your way gradually backwards all the way to the beginning. With this method, you play with confidence because you are playing towards the parts that you have practised more, therefore that you play with more ease. This is a method that I have found to be very effective-
I do this as of right now. Excellent advice.
I've done this decades ago as a teen. I realized that I practiced the beginning of a piece with a lot more motivation than the rest. That's when I decided to start at the end. My teacher was very "classical" and hated this. So I told her I wouldn't do it - but did it nevertheless. And it really improved my play.
so you play the last note first, play every note backwards, and end on the actual first note?
wow, i use this all the time, youre right!
@@samel88 😂 I practice the last three bars in the correct order of the sheet music. Then I move one or two bars towards the beginning and practice again three bars. If a piece of music had 20 bars. I would practice in a pattern somewhat similar to this:
Bars:
18-19-20
16-17-18
14-15-16
If it's difficult, I use smaller steps, if it's easy and repetitive I might practice larger chunks.
Actually, I work backwards by “phrases”, small sets of a few bars.
I'm turning 40 in 2 days, and relearning piano after 20 years. Had basic training in my 20s, and your videos are giving me motivation to carry on :)
I had 50 years in between study and started again in my late 60s and play better than I ever did when I was young so go for it
@@mickizurcher god bless you man I’m 22 and you gave me a lot of faith going forward all love bro ❤️
Do you still play piano??
@@mickizurcher7 years training divided- 3 as a young boy, 4 years age 16-20. Teacher left after beginning to teach me Beethoven’s Sonata Pathetique. Played the first movement at my last recital & was crushed. Switched to guitar & eventually 36 years passed. I’m now 55 & just getting back to it. Didn’t realise how much I missed it
Same! 40 now and just getting back into music playing after dropping it during college when I was 20. Clarinet back then, but now piano in order to get into composing.
I think the most amazing thing about these videos is that you are FREELY GIVING in hopes of making others better at what they enjoy. How kind is that? Thank you for that giving spirit!
He gets ad revenue and I’m assuming also sells classes lol it’s not exactly a charity
@@Supermoneygang12selling classes has nothing to do with this free video. Plus even with the ad revenue he could save this info for his classes but here we get it for free even if we have to wait 5 seconds through an ad before we skip it
@@joedwyer3297 "selling classes has nothing to do with this free video." Yes it does, he gets more visibility using this video, and it is especially aimed at beginners.
@@bringbackdislikes3195 in context of the conversation that was being had
The original comment said that these videos are being freely given, which they are, we haven't paid a penny to watch it. The second guy was just pointlessly cynical with his response in my opinion
*edit
But yeah I could have worded that part better youre not wrong
I agree. Wholeheartedly.
This entire video was excellent. You do not speak too fast. You are clear in your comments. You don't try to be an actor in a movie. You seem very interested in your viewers' success. You are sincere and you know how to encourage your viewers. Well done. Thank you. 👋
Actor in a movie 😂
Agreed
Agree
No need to add my comment. Your comment says it all. I echo Victor's comments!
Very true!! So glad I found these videos! 🙏
I've been self taught for about 15 years, and while I do agree with some of the pitfalls, there are ways to mitigate them. Such as your point on Synthesia, I've used it and while I freely admit I don't have rapid sight reading ability, I can still get where I need to with sheet music, and practice.
As to fingering, this while slower than a lesson taught pianist, I've learned from observing other pianists, and correcting my own mistakes.
I will say, as to my practice methods, while slow, I continually practice all the same, not because I want to be a master of the piano, but simply because for me practice, and playing is something I do to help with my mental health, as well as giving me something that is mine, and done it by myself.
I've only recently come upon your videos, and I do enjoy your content, but as a self taught pianist, I can say with certainty that while I am nowhere near concert level, that's not my primary goal for learning. I play the piano for the love of the piano, and for the enjoyment it gives me expanding my ability at my own pace.
Good video all the same, but I will say that it feels a little like all you've established is that a piano is a tool for impressing other people, and not something that you can just do for the enjoyment of it. I enjoyed the video though, as it has highlighted some of the things I do do wrong as a self-taught pianist.
I totally agree with you Daryl. I am also self taught and have been playing for 3 years and loving it, not to impress anyone but to enjoy it myself and it gives me pleasure and a sense of achievement that I can now play something which I thought I could never play before.
@@paullau3835 Me too, there is a great sense of achievement when you play a piece of music for the first time, particularly if it's a piece you thought you would never learn. There is something emotional about being able to sit at the piano and play actual music. I thought I'd never get the hang of hand independence but it's improving. Started off on some easy pieces like Bach's Prelude in C Major and Grade 1 pieces e.g. Melodie by Schumann, rather than attempting pieces that (while I might love to play them) are just beyond my current ability. There is just so much to learn but you'll never be bored once there's a piano in the house. I understand now why it's best to start as a child.
While I understand where you are coming from, as someone who was self taught and then started lessons, I think Jazer did a very good job of not presenting this video in a hoity toity way as many classical-leaning piano teachers do; most will dismiss synthesia out of hand, for instance. So I feel like you may have misinterpreted the video. Seems like he was trying to help self-taught pianists rather than implying these issues couldn't be mitigated by self-learners.
Indeed, every single pitfall in this video was something my piano teacher addressed in the first few lessons, and I'm a better pianist for it, but I'm still unlearning some bad habits. I wish I'd seen something like this earlier on in my journey.
@@napilopez Yes. Jajer has no doubt seen just about every type piano player (hack) there is. He not only knows what their weaknesses are but what they need to do to fix the problem. There are lots of people who claim to be piano teachers but most of them are just sitting there collecting your money. this guy could really help those that want to learn. I am sure that many of his students don't know how lucky they are. They could be like many of us who began a adults and just have to fumble around the best we can.
I play for mental health too! I have such gratitude to my parents for getting me piano lessons when I was young. Of course you don’t need piano lessons to improvise but it helps
My number 1 problem is starting a new song without completely finishing the old one
Thanks Jazer. I really like the tip about repeating smaller chunks of music seven times. I'm from a guitar background, and never had sheet music on stage, I would always learn each song through constant repetition. I find it easier to learn pieces on piano rather than sight-read them, and breaking them down like this will really help.
Love your words Mark
As a self-taught pianist, I learned to play with consistent tempo by playing while other(s) sing. That helped a lot!
Totally agree, I think there is always a solution to most of the issues mentioned here. People on this video are on the side of not self-teaching, but I think it's a completely wrong conception, you can self-teach anything these days even the stuff that goes wrong when you self-teach, there is probably a UA-cam video to solve those.
exactly!! having to accompany also makes you play in time a lot easier i think....and i think its more fun then using the metronome (though ofcourse you can use it at times for real accuracy)
Oh my God, this is what the internet is made for, fantastic teachers like you that not only tell what the problem is but the solution that come as well, thank you for your time and effort of Making this channel, you sir are a God send, hope every success for your channel and keep up the good work!!!
YES!!!!
I don’t understand how synthesia is thought to be easier. I tried it once and found it a nightmare having to constantly skip back, try to copy, and memorise. Also it’s not just fingering, people who learn from synthesia usually have very little dynamics in their playing as the tool they are using prioritises playing the right notes at the right time and basically disregards anything else. At that point it becomes guitar hero for piano.
The benefit of Synthesia is the precise timing (assuming it was generated from sheet music, not a live performance.)
I use Synthesia. I do agree that it makes it harder to memorise a piece. The fingering I don't think is a huge issue, the built-in songs all have fingering included, and anything I add myself, I will add the fingerings in myself, which forces me to consider the piece and not simply wing it. And I can easily adjust them if I find an different fingering is easier for me. Dynamics is definitely an issue. By default it's set up to output the correct volume for the note, regardless of how hard you hit. This can be turned off, which helps somewhat. It's still just your own ear, but if you're self learning, that's always going to be the case. It now also comes with the ability to show the sheet music as well as/instead of the falling bars. I feel that the biggest issue with Synthesia hasn't been mentioned at all here. It's the lack of music theory. Bypassing music theory makes it *so* much harder to learn to play. Without it, you're just hitting notes, you're not understanding them. Apart from that, adjusting the settings gets rid of most of the complaints.
I have no idea how people can learn from synthesis it just doesn’t work for me at all
I agree, but the thing that it has going for it is that you don’t have to do the 90 degree flip where up and down on the music equates to left and right on the piano. With Synthesia, left and right equals left and right.
I agree. The initial learning curve with sight reading is terribad but I have tried to use Synthesia and couple of times out of interest and found it really difficult to follow. I guess it is a case of you know what you are used to.
With regards to the final point, in Chuan C. Chang's excellent book _Fundamentals of Piano Practice_ he recommends finishing each such short segment, whether it be a single or several bars, with playing the beginning of the ensuing bar as well, in order to properly connect the short segments you're practicing. I've had a lot of success with this.
100% agree. If I read you right (and think I did) ... absolutely yes
I'll bet this is what Jazer does!
Thats an excellent book - and its free online. As part of a payback I did some proof reading for the new edition and corresponded with the author. Its piano teachings, scientifically researched, optimised and compiled into proven and improved learning techniques.
Schaun.
Exactly this. It's no good if you know the piece 2 bars at a time but need to think about every transition
I think Synthesia is a very useful tool, but even as someone who is terribly slow at reading sheet music, I find that I build muscle memory much more slowly with Synthesia compared to when I force myself to read sheet music. A lot of times it tends to feel like I'm just copying someone's homework and not retaining any of it. Whereas when reading sheet music, I have to actually think about what keys I need to press and it helps reinforce the patterns in my brain
True, reading synthesia is not wrong, it’s just that reading sheet music brings about more benefits down the line
Carl Czerny's repertoire is really good for sight reading exercises
Jazer, regarding fingering, there is a really fantastic hack for playing clunky passages that my concert band conductor taught me a long time ago but I haven't seen on any UA-cam videos. For example if you have a string of eighth notes, practice them in two ways: one dotted eighth and sixteenth repeating, and one sixteenth and dotted eighth repeating. Usually one of these will be harder based on the fingering problems you have, but just practice both. Then, go back to playing straight eighth notes: it will be so much easier, almost like magic. This is because you've trained your fingers to actually make the transition faster than you need to, and the added "dotted eighth" gives you time to prepare.
As a young adult of age 28 I used to self learn for nearly 1 year before getting a proper teacher and I gotta say all your points are valid !! Self learning has no feedback, I didn't even know my scales performed in legato was rather detached, and teacher highlighted that on Day 1 of lesson! There are just too many good reasons to get a teacher if you want to get serious in learning piano - ultimately to avoid practicing your mistakes perfectly.
I dunno, it depends of your goal. I'm above 30, I don't plan to play Moonlight Sonata 3rd in the future, like never. I don't have enough free time in my life for that. So if I'm able to play with not so many mistakes, medium pieces in 2-3 years, it'll be good enough for me.
@@shinpansen I like your perspective, there's no absolute right or wrong. My initial goal was somewhat similar to yours, but it eventually evolved as I listen and learn more about music - my end goal in life is to learn proper classical music with understanding on what I am actually hitting on the piano (chord progression, arpeggios, chromatic scales, cadence, with proper articulation and dynamics) especially during sight-playing, hence my statement above. But I certainly agree with you that everyone has different musical goal in life.
I started 3 months ago at 48 and after a few lessons had to bin my teacher. He really was an excellent player but didn't even bother teaching me the basics. Like stuff that even I as a noob knew from the web. I try to invest an hour a day to practice but see no point in investing more time and money in somebody who just gives me pieces to practice which robs me of even more time without actually explaining anything. Sure I want to progress but must also balance my time with the job and family. I live in Switzerland and have the choice of a) paying a lot for the teacher lottery or b) paying a fortune for a qualified (chamber) pianist for whom I have a travel round-trip of a couple of hours. Not really an option. Therefore, all being told, I'll just put my time in and see how I progress. Every little step is a reward for me 😎
@@monkieie Try simple pieces like. Dearly beloved (kingdom hearts) or silent hill
@@monkieie i have exact the same problem. My teacher did not know the Hanon warming up method. And he told me to only use the simple music book. No extra’s no arpeggio, no ladders, no hand independence no nothing else. I like to take practice to the Max, challenges. I life in the netherlands and it is expencive.
I m a self taught pianist for many years and ll hardly can afford lessons and I m improving but for now u re my only hope.Gracias from Costa Rica
I'm a self taught pianist and I recently got a teacher. One of my main weaknesses is sight reading. I have never used synthesia, but for some reason I just like memorising pieces instead of cross checking with the sheet music like other pianists do. My piano teacher said that I am quite a special/odd student since many of his students dream of having memorization skills like me. But my live sight reading needs work. I practice with these books that have excersizes in them that I do every weekday. Each book has a level. Currently I'm on level 4. My piano teacher has tremendously helped me with technuique and fingering issues that I had, and helped me play pieces that I never would've dreamed of playing. To all self taught pianists: If you think getting a teacher isn't worth it, trust me, it is. Getting feedback from someone highly better than you in an encouraging way is such a great thing to have.
In my area teachers are hard to find. I tried one and she was not patient with me at all. I left thinking I could never learn how to play😢
I'm the exact way I can memorize the entire moonlight sonata but can barely read sheet music
What a great problem to have, and you're also very smart for not taking the easy way and ignoring sheet music despite this ability of yours
Same. It is honestly very annoying. It takes me two to three weeks to get efficient at a piece and memorize it. I can end up memorizing 3 pages of a song and play it at the pace it's supposed to be played, but if you asked me to read along, I'd stumble every note. And it's not even something I always do intentionally. Once I get familiar with the piece, I basically start glossing over the notes and playing from memory.
I’m exactly the opposite. Very good sight reading skills but I can’t memorize a song worth a darn.
The tempo one is probably my worst. I just forget the metronome when practising with it cus I'm concentrating on the playing. I really need a thick beat or something to keep me in there
You can get a metronome app
You play so fast we cannot tell if it's not the the right tempo mate x)
It doesn’t matter. If you have fun let it be.
i feel ya, what works for me is learning it without a tempo at a slow pace, so i don't have to 'hyper concentrate' on the individual notes. After that i get the metronome on at a real slow pace to keep it ez, and build it up from there
I'm a classically trained pianist and my tempo is still bad without constant correction 🤣 pfft who needs tempo when you have emotion
You really are a truly great teacher, I love how you said "this means you probably don't have as much Finger independence as you *CAN* have" rather than 'as you should have'
It is little things like this which make your teaching style truly motivational, and unthreatening. 👍👍
This is helping me as I am going through a dark night of the soul in regards to my own self taught abilities and subsequent weaknesses and drawbacks, I have foolishly only used the technique of playing along to the Radio and my record collection, leaving me disasterous technique but a very perceptive ear.
It's not enough!
A lot of self taught pianists and musicians tend to start practicing a piece from the start each time they make a mistake which results in a strong start and a weak end.
Great tips!
If I'm struggling with the fingering for something like for a few difficult bars, I like to watch overhead piano videos on youtube of the piece I'm trying to learn, watch how they play it, and put the fingerings in on my score. There's tons of great channels for this, like Rousseau
Yeah it can work when you play it in 0.5 speed, but it twisted the music a bit
You can try Jane, she plays it slower naturally. Such video is not very often seen on YT cuz it is pure educational.
He is the legend
There’s a tip i found in an old piano book I was able to find in a retail sale:
It says to try striking the keys with the fingertip just behind the fingernail. Don’t overdo it, of course, but it’s very effective with keeping the fingers curved and close to the keys.
Hope this helps! 😁
I was self-taught for one year. If I did it over again, I'd definitely do a better job of learning proper finger technique and metronome practice. Every song I played ended up having to be memorized completely instead of sight-read in real time. When I started with a teacher, I had to relearn what I had learned. You're videos have helped me be a more confident pianist. :)
Woow Jazer lee ur genius in piano...i really like ur clarity in diction keep it up...bro...
My Mrs loves my finger technique
Good tips Jazer. After more years playing at the piano than I care to admit, I recently got an instructor. We are working on every one of the things you mentioned, except tension. The only reason we haven’t talked about tension is because I think she doesn’t want to overwhelm me, because I have that challenge too. Thanks!!!
I am a 76 year ol..., er, uh, older guy with just 6 weeks of self learning from a multitude of sources. This video has been extremely helpful to me as I'm having trouble with all the pitfalls except Tension. With the above tips I feel I can address many of the issues I'm having at this point. Good job helping us understand what us older beginners should be doing to get on track and do better. Will let you know how I'm doing in about 6 weeks. FYI. A tip I got from a book by Josh Kaufman's book about being able to learn many things in only 20 hours has really helped. In his book he states from a research paper that learning things that takes "muscle memory", like piano, should be learned in the roughly 4 hour window before bedtime and will result in better memory/recall of the learned action(s). But one should also still practice at other times in addition to this key nightime period. Nighttime learning and practice has really helped me a lot.
That’s a really cool tip about playing before bed. I’m gonna use it! Thanks for sharing.
And you’re right - 76 is not old, just older! I wish you a long healthy life filled with good things and good music.
Synthesia has been incredibly useful for me in learning complex rhythm. Particularly when polyrhythm is combined with three hand technique I have found it useful. It forces you to play in the correct timing.
Edit: I still drastically prefer sheet music.
Oh man, counting and rhythm is huge! My piano teacher alwaysade me count out loud at lessons and I thought it was the biggest waste of time and so unnecessary, but now as a mom, that's the thing I harp on my kids more than anything else.
Counting aloud does so much for both rhythm and tempo keeping I like to sing the counts because why the fuck not
“you don’t have as much finger independence as you can have” the way you said “can” instead of “should” is so encouraging. love your videos
5 Common pitfalls of Self-Taught Pianists
5. Poor technique
4. Poor counting/poor rythm
3. Poor sight reading
2. Poor fingering
1. Poor practicing methods
As a self taught piano, using Bastien's books from primer to level 4 really helped
You nailed it. I was 1st taught to read music in my earlier years. Now my brother wants me to learn the number chord system. I feel like I am starting all over again. Love the no 1. Yes all 5 are my pitfalls. You are the best.
I believe tension is my biggest problem for now. I was aware of most of the pitfalls you have mentioned and I have been actively trying to avoid them in my practice sessions. Thank you for the great lesson as always! 🙏
Same here!!
I had the same problem with tension. I eased it by playing a piece I was very comfortable with in various ways - slow, fast, emotionally etc. Just have fun with it rather than get it right :) Maybe it'll work for you too
I think it happens more often when I am working on speeding up the tempo 😩
Taking video of your playing will help:)
@@sdla690 thank you! I'll try that
I'm someone who is seriously considering teaching myself to play the piano. As I watched your video I thought about the pitfalls and I think it may come down to what might be lacking for the self-taught: an instructor and a curriculum. Shocker, right? I think what the self-taught really need is a complete series of comprehensive lesson videos that literally takes you from beginner to master in a logically progressive way based on an established curriculum. Within the context of UA-cam, imagine a professional piano teacher or a pianist who wants to teach creating a complete series of videos based on a complete series of lesson books that can easily be bought at a music store or Amazon. The pianist simply goes through each book, lesson by lesson. If the pianist is a GOOD teacher, the pitfalls will be naturally avoided.
@@ComandaKronikk Damn... thanks dude
Actually, there is a teacher and channel like that. For Alfred „All in one” Book I follow this guy ua-cam.com/play/PL8hZtgRyL9WRWJLlIUPl-ydiDc8CZ_SJK.html and this kind of content is really helpful.
The thing is, even with the best teacher in the world, each student is different and has different strengths and weaknesses, so something like what you propose would be extremely useful but a good teachers personal advise will always be useful
@@neutralclef6253 definitely agree with this sentiment. It can be a bit much to expect a beginner to be able to critique themselves and recognise when something is working and even more importantly to work out what is going wrong and how to fix it. You can get a long way being self taught, don’t get me wrong, but there will always be knowledge gaps that hold them back in some form in the future. The fear is that they reach this roadblock and give up not knowing how to overcome the difficulty that they can’t identify.
@ I know about the guy you're talking about. I saw some of his videos a few months ago and frankly, I'm not a fan of his personality. I'm looking for someone who is a bit more like Jazer Lee. He or she doesn't necessarily have to be a professional teacher like Jazer but I feel that if I had the guy you're talking about as a professor I would be a little depressed about it. That being said, we all have to be ourselves.
Yeah I definitely need a mentor. The value of having a master on the instrument critiquing your practice and assigning exercises to help you improve weekly is immeasurable.
These tips are spot on. I started learning piano as an adult in my 50s over a decade ago. A good teacher is important, several in fact. Sometimes a particular teacher can only take you so far. It took over five years to learn to read in different keys fluently at a slow speed, and over 10 years to play advanced material. There is a world of great piano pieces at the beginner to intermediate level. Don’t try to rush. It may only increase tension and slow progress. Enjoy the journey! And practice, practice, practice… I never thought I would play the repertoire I do now.
So you'd really advice on getting a proper teacher rather than self teaching through youtube and other sources? I'm 40, and just decided that I want to learn how to play the piano. I used to play guitar (was never good at it though), but can't anymore due to a hand injury. Basically my index finger won't hit the strings in the correct position anymore. I do think I can learn how to play the piano though, as my index finger still works well, it just doesn't hit where it used to on the guitar.
@@WallesWillerWalla yes, a good teacher will ensure proper and efficient technique and prevent poor habits and excessive tension from developing. Piano is challenging. You’re reading two lines of music, learning to balance the hands, perhaps polyrhythms and multiple voices as you progress. Good luck and enjoy!
Tension is probably my biggest pitfall! I had no idea how tense I was in practice. Second would be finger independence. My ring finger hijacks my other fingers. Also, I’ve been practicing chord progressions from another of your videos. I was floored when I stopped looking at the keys, I suddenly got much better. I’m a typist, and type crazy fast until I look at the keyboard and suddenly become a hunt-and-pecker. I so enjoy your lessons!
I just retired a couple of years ago. I had learned to type 30 wpm hunt and peck. Learn how to do it without looking 30 wpm. I just learned 12 of the scales on piano. I can do them without looking.. I can go fast and slow.but I am starting to use metronome and sight reading.. Good luck wish me good luck.
I'm a piano teacher for 40 years. Jazer is one of the very best online teachers. Great tips for all levels! I recommend him to my students.
Just the other day I recorded myself (Im a self taught pianist) I was pretty sure I was doing okay for being self taught off of synthesia for a year, but when I listened EVERYTHING was wrong, especially the tempo, this really hit me hard and I really felt sad for a while, but you've really helped me inspire myself to try sheet music, I will start trying to learn sheet music today, thank you for your guidance.
Me too, I rely too much on synthesia and so little on trying to learn sheet music. It sucks when you've come so far and have to go back to square one :(
Same, a major problem that does *not* help beginners at all is that you get synthesia arranged for beginners (here on YT) for free while the matching music sheets usually (sometimes heavily) paywalled.
I tend to rush and try to learn too much at a time and end up not letting the music sink in and becomes my subconscious, which consequently makes my practice hard to keep at a fixed tempo. Thank you so much for the tips🙏 Will break down to smaller segments and do more repeatations before moving on. I only started early this month, a very new newbie😊 Wish all my adult fellow learners the very best! Enjoy✌
Just started yesterday playing small sections of 2 songs that I have been playing a long time not being able to get rid of the mistakes. Playing the weak areas 7 times makes a difference. That has been my biggest takeaway so far. When I mess up on number 6, I start all over counting. I think this has been my biggest obstacle. It will also boost the confidence level to sit and play. Thank you.
Being a self taught for two years, your five tips are perfect. Just what was needed specifically the metronome and the correct fingering. Thank you.
I have been playing piano since I was 3 years old. My mother was my first teacher, then I went on to professional lessons. Excellent tips here. I also learned something new - which I will definitely try - which is to practice short sections 7 times and then move on. My tendency is to start "at the beginning" each time - which means that I learn the starting portion very well, and fall down towards the end. I truly appreciate your videos. I have subscribed, and look forward to seeing more. Cheers!
I'm rather inexperienced with playing the piano, but I found that what seems to work for me is finding a piece of music I like playing that has repetitions in it that will naturally get me to play well just because it has sequences that repeat so much.
E.g. I am fond of Yann Tiersen and some of his pieces tend to have a lot of repetition in either left or right hand, actually the same goes for Beethoven's Tempest 3rd movement too. Yann Tiersen's Valse D'Amelie starts very simple and progresses to be more complex while retaining the same shorter sequences that get reused in the later parts of the piece. This lends it to learning as you get to progress to the piece, it's not as complicated because you get to re-use what you've learned prior in the piece. And it's a lot of fun because you'd be playing a piano piece that you like.
I love my piano teacher when I was a kid but I think it's also cool to have Jazer as a teacher.
Love the last tip! Often we can get very good at playing the beginning of a piece, but then not so good at other sections.
Words of wisdom, so true Jess
I was told that the point isn’t to practice till I can play it, but until I can’t play it wrong. I’m still working on that!
I try and play through something to get the idea, but then practice tricky bits such as transitions between sections. Never start at the beginning of a section. I also find it helps if I know where I’m going. So work out the fingers for the last section. Then learn that section, then the same for the penultimate section. Then the transition between. Keep going till you get to the beginning. You’ll find that it feels like coming home as you get to more familiar stuff. It also helps the musical line make more sense if you know where it’s going. It shouldn’t be a surprise!
Very much agree... my piano teacher pointed this out...as i was doing just that... often too...
@@dees3179 My teacher always said never practice until you get it right, practice so you never get it wrong. I remember my first lesson with her she told me to go home and play the piece at about 10% tempo, but fingerings need to be the same each time, and no wrong notes allowed. Wrong notes means that the practice was counterproductive, going backwards instead.
@@ThePlaneguys yes, so true. There is a lot to be said for consistency, otherwise it's decision making each time. I never realised before how much planning goes into piano from early on. The other instruments I play it is much less and much later.
I love the small section learning advice. I get so frustrated but it’s probably because I try to take on such big bites of information that it doesn’t get into my subconscious and I’m constantly trying to figure out the notes.
I like the wrist placement advice. I’m never quite sure. Also the curved fingers and relaxing. I’m a perfectionist and try really hard to play perfectly and get stressed when I make a mistake. Too many makes me want to quit.
i had my piano lessons for 3 years, over 16 years ago. I have forgotten almost everything my piano teacher taught me, especially reading the notes. But there is also stuff that I completely remember that really helps me now that I am relearning how to play piano by myself, those are how to play the keys properly. From wrist stretching, finger positioning, tempo, and how to practice a piece. Watching this video brought me back ages ago when I started learning how to play piano, because every tip said on the video was the only thing I remembered from those 3 years of piano lessons. And to get this type of education for free is really a steal. Thank you for providing these kinds of videos.
As a self taught musician this was a great reminder to get back to basics. Really appreciate the way you called out the facts with empathy instead of judgment.
My hands are much better than my eyes. I can play all the diatonic scales across a bunch of different instruments but I can’t site read to save my life.
Do you have videos specific to learning to read sheet music for dummies? I know there’s a million out there but I appreciate your style.
Hi, I just wanna say thank you so much for the tips! I'm a self-taught for only several months and I can relate to a lot of pitfalls you mentioned there. Even though I mainly play/practice piano for my own enjoyment, but lately when I tried to learn harder pieces I felt like I hit certain limit and could not go any further because I missed those important points that you mentioned in the video. And what's used to be an enjoyment for me was no longer a complete enjoyment anymore because whenever I practiced there's this frustrated feeling or tension if I couldn't get certain parts right even though I had practiced them over and over. Thank you, it's enlightening for me!
If you don't mind asking how are you doing now? Have you surpassed your cap? Are you still barely making any major progress?
I’m self taught for the last year, late in life, coming from classical guitar which also was mainly self taught.Your final point for me was the most impactful. After one year I can definitely add something that every body can benefit from. Enjoy making mistakes. Strive to keep the timing/rhythm going no matter how many mistakes you make. Do not just play dead composers music.Strive to discover your own melodies and string them together to make simple yet meaningful compositions employing techniques you can discern from music you have already come to love.I doubt there has ever been any composer who was 100% original in everything they did. Be bold in doing things that no one else is doing or possibly has done before. Even if things sound strange to begin with, a modest amount of passion and consistent application with a short original piece of our own composition is far more rewarding than mere repetitious interpretation of that which has come before. No matter how simple or elementary a persons first composition, a threshold is crossed which brings an enhanced understanding of pieces from composers of great renown . For me, if Mozart was outstanding as a musical genius Beethoven was probably the greatest student amongst all the classical composers to date. Not all beautiful pieces of music are composed by the most prolific composers.Without a measure of passion for playing music and a moderate desire to discover your own music what, will emerge will be merely ‘water under the bridge’!
So glad I found this channel, my hiatus from piano was 51 years! So now that I'm retired it is a bit frustrating that my skill is not coming back as quickly as I had hoped. Left hand cord / changes are really difficult. I subscribed to your channel and so will review the videos to hopefully progress a bit faster!
Always practice trouble areas, do not just default to starting from the top. Repetition is key like you said. When it finally clicks and the trouble parts can be played with high precision, then you work on bringing up speed.
Recently learnt to play the piano version of Sonne by Rammstein (that plays at the end of the song Deutschland). Took me a couple weeks but I don't even need the sheet music any more, it's all in memory and I'll probably never forget it.
Very revealing for me. I realized this was a repeating pattern in my life. I’m blessed with a great ear, so therefore, all self taught. But i can barely read simple music which is a very limiting ceiling. I’ve played keyboards in wedding/party band when younger with zero music to read. But i played well enough to get by. Now a senior citizen and getting back to piano, I realized this is how i cook as well-no recipes, only my senses as a guide. It seems that most of my strengths in life gave been guided by feel and senses. Not terrible, but this has probably always been my limitation. Since my grandson is now taking piano lessons, but he also has a great ear, I am stressing to him how he cannot just rest on his talent. So now I’m doing the work, along with him, learning to read like a beginner. Thanks for the great videos you are making as they will be incredibly helpful in my own future journey. I would just add that, if one is blessed with musical genes, and they layer it with hard work, study, and solid practice, the sky is the limit.
I'm a grade 10 pianist and i've been playing for 10 ish years and I still have a lot of trouble reading sheet music. On the other hand, I have really good memory to make up for it. The way I learnt was by reading a bar once, playing it, and memorizing how my fingers look when I play it, so I memorize the piece on the first play through basically, which is very convinient. Still, I wish it didn't take me a few seconds to figure out what a note is on the bar staff.
Hi Jazer, thanks for all those clear and much usefull videos ! Although a few others could be added to the 5 common pitfalls you rightfully noticed, there is one my piano teacher would too often have to warn his beginner-early intermediate students about : NOT SO FAST !! Start slow, you will play right, on a regular pace, and the necessary speed will come up nicely, naturally, and not at the expense of the rest. How true was he !.
Please thank your parents for me for raising such a generous and outstanding son and teacher...you are an awesome instructor!
When the lockdowns started I decided to use any spare time to focus on three things, working out (down 60 lbs), studying microbiology, and learning to play the piano. Thank you so much for this video. I've been self teaching piano and can definitely see why I was becoming so fatigued after playing for under an hour. I was lifting my fingers too high. I was playing with tension. I was playing with flat (not curved) finger position. I wasn't close enough to the keyboard. After watching this video, I've started to implement changes you suggest. Feels much better already! Thanks so much for posting this!
That last tip is such sound advice (no pun intended). I think the brain naturally likes partitioning / sectioning things as a sort of survival skill when we used to hunt and gather. So if you section a piece of music into bars you learn separately, then when it comes time to gather all of them in one place it just comes naturally. Excellent video!
Great video for a self taught beginner. I took lessons several years ago and quit when I froze at my first recital. After 20 years I have started again. I learned a lot from you in 15 minutes that no teacher ever taught me. I took all 5 lessons to heart. Thanks again.
For me, your tip to practice in small sections for seven times was the most helpful, but I say that only because I try to work on sight reading a lot. Since I know I’ll never get a good as I would like, I will only play the music I want to learn. So sight reading and practicing small sections were the two tips I’ll use most. Thanks
As a visual artist, I see the parallels between the two disciplines. You did a good job of explaining the handicaps inherent in being self-taught. Since no teacher is arguably better than a poor teacher, and a skilled instructor is not always available, being self taught is sometimes the only option. I have always hoped that sheer determination would be enough. I think you would say... probably not?
I feel i'm older now and take more time to learn anything reading or by ear.. repeat repeat, is so good. My teacher gives me 2 lines at a time to learn then go on to the next and the next as i learn each line well.. 🙂
Great video, although I have to disagree witg strictly following the fingerings of scores as people have different hands, I'd recommend thinking about how one can use their hand as efficient as possible, or in other words also be critical of the score when something feels bad or sloppy
I'm a singer.
I know how it is to repeat certain notes and phrases over and over before moving to the next piece of the song.
This is so exciting to finally learn how to play piano!!!
Thank you for being one of my first teachers.
I really enjoy listening to your advice and especially your piano playing.
Keep doing your thing.
Peace.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hi Jazer!. I am starting my piano journey somewhat late - at the age of 64. I have enjoyed your videos , they are all excellent! Your teaching style is very easy and concise with practical, sensible advice and demonstration - (no manic hype!) Thank You!
Terrific. Thanks Jazer. I'm 74 and I took up piano this year. Your ideas are spot on for me. Actually I started by looking up what is meant by the key of C and went from there to chords and the maths of it all. So I applied that to playing the chords in my ukukele song books. Then started on a couple of piano learning books. That's much harder than playing chords but the way I started was quite motivating. Playing around with the chords. Children can't do it so easily because they don't know all those songs. Now I love doing the piano books and will put into practice your ideas. I've been wondering about a few of the things you talked about. I also have some guitar books which have chords and notes so I sometimes try the chords with the left hand and notes with the right. Thanks heaps.
I'm a self taught pianist and I've been playing from 6 years now. I never learnt how to read sheet music, and I'm still solely relying on synthesia and my ear. Even though my fingering techniques and practicing methods are on point, I feel really slow when I'm learning harder pieces. I recently started learning Moonlight Sonata Movement 3, and now I wish I learnt how to read sheet music. But at this level, I just can't find the motivation to learn to read music and go back to level 0 again.
Dear, very dear Jazer: thank you's do not begin to express my gratitude to you, to your work, and for your generosity in sharing such knowledge with us. All your videos are pure gold. and I am here to thank you for two in particular: 1. "Repeat pieces or portions without mistakes 7X", and 2. "Do not look at the keyboard when playing"; my playing - and expression have improved greatly!!! -Alvaro, Italian in Florida. 🎹🌹❣
Thanks for all advice, my 5 year old son is about to start practicing piano, and hope it’s going to be wonderful journey for him! Thanks for the time you take to give simple explanation even no experience people can understand
Excellent video. I've been playing piano for 18 years and I'm not self taught as I took lessons the first 5 years but my biggest issue is not challenging myself enough, technically. I love film music and that's what I play most... but usually it's not super difficult. I've learned some challenging pieces like the 3rd movement of Moonlight Sonata but those are exceptions for me. My plan is to work more on classical music and pay close attention to the fingering, dynamics and my practice routine. Oh, and scales! I have a workbook from David Hicken that has a lot of scales, arpeggios and more technical stuff. Practicing those will help a lot since I lack proficiency there.
One thing not mentioned because I guess it's assumed to be common sense, but constantly work on a new piece just at the outer edge of your current ability, using techniques you have not yet mastered. Get into this habit, and suddenly all of your currently "hard" pieces become so much easier and more fluid.
Everything you have listed is exactly why I went to the trouble of always having a teacher, even though I could have just gone on without one. The fear of learning something the wrong way and then having to try and unlearn it was why I didnt go it alone after I had gained enough basic knowledge and experience to be able to. I also find having a regular lesson even if its only once a month, also helps a lot to keep the momentum of keeping practising when other things in life could distract me. Very useful video, explained extremely well, thank you.
Thank you for the number 7! I often play a small piece a few times and never know when to leave it alone. Now I will try the 7 times thing.
My tips are to look through a piece and identify the hard bits. Try to master those bits first instead of beginning and giving up half way through because the music suddenly got difficult. Also try learning the piece by starting at the last few bars.
I started learning piano about a year ago and am presently working on ‘Reverie’ and ‘To a Wild Rose’. Will try to apply the seven time technique to these pieces and see if I’m able to work through them more efficiently. Thank you!
And after 10month since your comment, how did it go?
I’m 74 years old, and have played the piano, nearly my whole life by ear with very few lessons. I’ve always taken the easy way out playing almost everything in the key of “C” or A minor. As such, I can relate to almost all five issues you mentioned. There has been a piano in my house ever since I was born, and I’ve owned several pianos. I just inherited a Steinway grand. I love it, and I am trying to actually learn how to play for the first time having having only a couple of unfruitful and frustrating years of lessons when I was much younger. In frustration, I almost always reverted back to listening to songs a few times, and then playing them by ear, all in the key of C. My favorite music is classical and jazz. I am now trying to learn Moonlight Sonata on my own, one, because I love it, and two because it doesn’t sound as challenging as most other classical music. (I DID some easy classical music with a piano teacher when I was in middle school. The most difficult piece was Für Elise and that was a struggle!). of course, I am finding moonlight. Sonata. Much more challenging than I thought, given that it is in the key of C sharp minor and having to remember the black keys, and then the proper fingering. I also have a hard time remembering where the notes are outside of the five line staff.
This is when I decided to try to find something online and came across your video, and then realized that I am sadly dealing with all five of the issues you addressed. If I can garner up the patience, I am going to try to work on all five message you describe. Any additional hints that you may have for a 74 year old guy learning to play properly for the first time would be most welcome. Thanks so much.
I am a 68 year old self taught. I took piano lessons for a few months when I was about 8 but was just copying the teacher instead/imitating the teacher instead of actually learning the keys and notes. She very shortly told my dad he was wasting his money. I always regretted it and now in retirement am teaching myself. Videos help a little. I do all 5 but I think finger independence is the most challenging.
I am sorry you experienced tutelage under such a poor teacher. If you could copy/imitate the teacher, it would seem like you had a good ear and sense of rhythm. The teacher should have built on that, then continued to add sight reading. Good luck with your studies.
I had taken piano lessons for about 10 years in my youth, but never was taught about the level of the wrist - I can’t wait to incorporate that into my playing. I really love your videos. They are always so well thought out and clearly stated. Plus, you don’t speak at lightning speed; I so appreciate that. Thank you for all that you do :-)
(:
I’m studying veterinary medicine and don’t have a lot of time or money to devote to a teacher so I’ve been self teaching myself. I really relate to all of these points. I can play quite a lot of songs, some considerably challenging songs but it takes me ages to learn pieces and when I’ve tried to go back and learn music theory properly, it feels so unmotivating. You’ve made some amazing points about how I can be more efficient and still achieve my hobby goals. Thank you!
Im guilty of all 5 pitfalls, it's never too late to correct them. Thanks Jazer!
Perfect!
I'm actually learning to play saxophone but the piano helps me with theory. I can really relate to your smaller chucks idea. I use an app called Anytune. It allows me to loop a lick, line, or phrase so that I can play it repeatedly until I get it correct. I may apply it to piano. I'd love to be able to play the piano but it is really challenging. That two hands, to clefs thing is a beast. Thanks for your lesson videos. They're really well thought out.
You're welcome!
I’ve been trying to teach myself music theory for a long time but I’ve always stopped for really long times also and now I’m trying again to learn music theory by myself, without any teacher or course, just watching UA-cam videos. It has been a journey full of highs and lows but now I want to apply this knowledge while I’m learning and play piano the best I possibly can.
Thank you so much to give these tips to us self learners. Your help is really appreciated. I love your channel!
Awesome tips man! Pitfall 5 is very important to learning more efficiently! As a fellow teacher I really appreciate your take on this 🙏🏾!
You actually give some useful advice to people that are self-tought instead of just pointing out what they are doing wrong. This is a very good and candid video. 👏👏👏
Fantastic timing. I just started teaching myself piano through youtube a week ago and was wondering about what I could be missing. Thank you!
Yup me too..
Great teacher and great points. I am guilty unfortunately of all the pitfalls you described in this video. My biggest problem is playing music that is way beyond my skill level and not knowing how to do proper fingering. I am excited to discover this video and hope I can learn other tips from you. BTW, the independent finger exercise (playing each note 8 times) is already helping. Please keep those exercises coming!
I am an electrical engineer, approaching 60. Self-taught and played piano for 30 years without any teacher. I watched few of your video today. They are all wonderful. My progress has been slow. But I really enjoy the music. And it is a stress reliever, especially in the age of working from home. If I get tired of work, I can play some music to relax. Mainly Beethoven, Chopin and Mozart. I can read music sheet very well, but I cannot memorize any of them at all. Need music sheet all the time. Few things I learned from your video that can improve my practice are : 1. practice in smaller section. 2. learn the chord, plus some music theory. 3. practice precisely...
By the way, the reason I don't have a teacher is that I don't want to force myself to practice. I am ok with the slow progress since I am not going to play for anyone. Perfectly happy to play on a digital piano with earphone.
Thanks for this video, it was very useful. I have a question, What's the best way to learn piano, like get used to reading sheet music instantly, reading sharps and flats smoothly, and not stopping in-between music to check if your doing it correctly? And also being able to read complicated music, like songs you actually want to play. And finger independence. Thank you very much!
Cmon, just use Simply Piano!
I think there is a video about sight reading on the channel.
Hi Tuna all the things you mentioned will get gradually get better with time if you practice properly. They do not happen overnight. There are many options to learning piano properly. You can do online courses, use a piano app, learn from a teacher, etc. I personally learnt from a teacher so I recommend it if your budget allows. Hope this helps
There are no shortcuts in piano playing. Talent is 5% of success, 95% is hard work. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, but with piano it must be smart practice too to give good results.
@@silverlinings3946 thank you
Thank you.. I'm probably guilty of making all five mistakes. It takes me a long time to practice and master a piece of music. Your solutions are on target. You have a unique and articulate way of explaining the problems we have and how to solve them.
I am self-taught and you are right I am struggling now with my piano lessons as I have to delete everything I did for a long time. I am 58 years old and back to school taking up Liturgy and Church Music. Your videos are really helpful!
You are an excellent teacher. Thank you for those great tips! I'd like to mention though the greatest jazz pianist of all time Erroll Garner was self taught and never learned to read music.
What a legend, I want to take lessons from Garner :P
Wellll........Errol Garner WAS a great jazz pianist, and he was self-taught. So was Thelonious Monk, and for that matter, so were a number of the greats. However, as far as greatest jazz pianist of all time, I'd have to give that accolade to Art Tatum. Even though his style was routed in the earlier styles of jazz ('20s and '30s) as far as technique and feel go, Art's melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic diversity and complexity has basically never been equaled by anyone, even by the likes of Oscar Peterson. As far as the modernists go, I think they're all great and I love them all, each for his or her individual sound and approach. But Art is like Mount Everest---he towers over everyone.
As a side note, for those who don't know, Art did study classically for a couple of years in Toledo as a teenager, so he wasn't completely self-taught, but the bulk of his mature growth was done on his own as an adult. And he was about 98% blind to boot.
Interesting side note, although he had blazing technique, he played flat-handed, like Horowitz. There are several great videos of Art on UA-cam, showing what he looked like while he played.
And yeah, he never learned to read music, but then neither did George Shearing or Stevie Wonder....
@@peterharrison5833
It's hard to learn correctly after this self taught stuff.
I love the vibe of playing by ear. I suspect that what these musicians enjoyed.
Interesting post
Be well
@@357CLOUDY Thank you. You too!
Jazer: Thank you so much for your advice again. You just Again brought up something l need to be aware of. l take notes and keep them as my practice reminders, really lifetime useful to me
Keep it up Neko
Glad to hear the way I practice isn’t useless! I usually just practice bits and pieces of different songs at a time
5 Tips:
1.) Choose the most difficult sheet music, challenge yourself, and don’t take the easy way out.
2.) Scales and Arpeggios. Practice fingerings
3.) Practice adding your own embellishments and improvements to every song you play.
4.) Learn new techniques from other musicians
5.) Focus in Dynamics. Like Horowitz said “it’s not how you play the notes. It’s how you play the space between them.”
I have just subscribed to your channel because of this video! I absolutely love your style of teaching. Your love of the music and the instrument really shine through. You are clear, concise, and thoughtful. Thank you so much for sharing your passion with us all.
As a self-taught it felt natural to break the piece up into smaller pieces and then repeating it. Then I tried glueing it together to another small piece to expand step by step. It really helps a lot.
This was an invaluable lesson. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!