Hi everyone,

It's been a long time since I haven't posted anything here.
I was wondering, it's been a year since I have my piano lessons and sometimes I still get frustrated, I'm not yet able to read everything I want to read.
Well I know that after one year of piano lessons no one can really read whatever they want and play like Gods, but here's my question:

How long did it take you to actually be able to play some decent piano songs?
This question applies to those who started learning piano in their twenties or thirties.

Thanks!Have a great day!

Everybody progresses at different levels/speed. What I would suggest is that you try & find your niche on the piano, so if there is ONE song that you love to play, find another song by the same artist that you like and try and learn that.

We all have our preferences in what we want to play, so if you always ensure its something you have your heart fully set on then you will succeed.

You never stop learning with the piano, and the longer you play the more challenging the piece so it will take you longer to pick it up and learn it to perfection, but don't get frustrated by this...We are all the same in some ways, we want to run before we can walk.

Just do it in small sections hands apart if you need too and you will be there in no time.

It took me about a year to get e repoirtoire of songs that I felt ready to be able to play to an audience.

JUST ENJOY IT, and if you are not enjoying a piece switch to another.

Thanks for the answer


Indeed everybody progress at a different speed, that's true.
I notice that when I work harder on some days then the next few days everything seems to flow naturally (in my playing and reading) so I guess the more work you put into it the quicker you get there.

Thanks for the advice ;-)

have a great day

I've been playing since I was 5 (which makes it 55 years) and I'm just BEGINNING to feel vaguely competent :-)

Seriously, the best way to progress is to have real goals. What do you NEED to be able to play by this time next week? There's demand for pianists at all levels, particularly ones with a "can-do" attitude. Schools, dance classes, retirement homes, churches (if you can tolerate religion:-).... Get out there and find a reason to play!

I have played since I was 5, too. 63 years! Fro me it is just a way of living. I like to practice, but never perform any classical stuff, except maybe just off the cuff. I just like learning piano - hard to explain. I consider it the most complicated and challenging task in the world. I perform all the time in bands, though. I can always play better - I don't know about "well."

I think it depends on what you're after. Even at the outset, I'd argue there's music in any genre as rewarding and of equal merit as the most difficult and complex pieces. I don't have a lot of experience in playing classical but when I started playing it, I was thrilled to find something like Bach's inventions. Not just music to learn by, but great music to learn by. If you want to aim for the highest levels of difficulty, of course that takes a lot of time and practise, but I think there's a wealth of wonderful material available for the beginner and with some effort, you can play it to it's greatest potential. To me, that's Knowing it fluently enough to give it your own interpretation.

Thanks for your answers.
With my teacher we started at first to learn some classical, because he said that it would be a good thing to be able to read scores.
In the end I want to be able to play some pop/rock songs too, we also learn harmony, chords etc.
Learning piano feels so good....;-)

Thanks, I'll keep your advices in mind! xx
Have a great weekend

I'll tell you that I started a student in her thirties and after 3 years she sounded as if she has been playing since she was a child.....but what does that really mean?

The beauty here is you are on a life-long learning quest and if you're busy enjoying it , along the way you will get better while all the while you have been learning and enjoying learning.....then you have the rest of your life to improve....that's great to me.

rada

what does it really mean "play well" ?

play well by whose standards? when playing for people with little or no knowledge of music, they are impressed at how well i can play. however, if i'm playing around some accomplished musicians, they probably think i suck.

in my opinion, i probably play ok for an intermediate level - some days better than others. a lot of it is just allowing yourself to just focus or zone in on the music; when one can shut out the minds chatter and just focus and feel the music it goes fairly well. if i'm playing a piece and start thinking about some work related problem or what's for dinner, then i start messing up or at best, just play mechanical. even a simple piece can be played well. (hey i like that last sentence).

how long did it take? i don't know - it just happens gradually and a lot depends on your apptitude(?) towards music. probably happens quicker with a good teacher.

gw


gw