Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Do you think you are a good pianist?

I am currently the best I can be. And as long as that is the case, I'm satisfied. So let's say... an A-.

I'm not a definite A, B, C, etc. but always an N - Needs improvement. I'm always learning.

I feel fortunate to consider myself a pianist and a musician at all. So far as 'am I good', I tend to focus on the things that other people do better. Since now-a-days we have access to the playing of the greatest masters of all time whenever we wish to hear it, it's pretty hard to even consider yourself competent!

The question is clearly meaningless and IMHO quite silly since good is such a relative term. A pianist in the top 1% could easily be in the non professional level and hence not very "good" compared to the best professionals(or even an average professional).It makes far more sense to ask within a certan group what percentile do you think you are in.

My playing is at least good enough to keep a roof over my head and food on the table.

I probably will never think that I am a good pianist. It's completely subjective, I'll always have places to improve on.

Damn good.

I think that at the moment I'm a BAD pianist (sooo rusty) but hope to attain "reasonable" at some point. I'll never get beyond reasonable. As for musicianship - my knowledge of and love of music is much larger than my current practical ability. But I'm working on it.

probably B-, but who cares? - i play for the love of music!

As a pianist, I'm not as good as I'd like to be.

As a musician, well yes actually I think I am pretty good.

Im so bad youd think it was a one handed monkey playing but i play for myself and for hearing the music come out of MY fingers!

I had better be good, I have only been playing all my life. But, I think that I could be much better, and strive to be, always. I think that most of us are pretty harsh on ourselves. When I was in the conservatory, we used always say (as a pianist and musician because we tried not to separate them) "there will always be someone better than you, but there will always be someone worse than you, too ". I think this helps maintain a healthy self perception with the attitude that we are all more or less in the same place, or on the same journey, which is to find the best within us and try to develop that as much as possible. Cheers!

Nothing is more frustrating than working with many of the world's great pianists (and other musicians) and then seeing how meager my own efforts at playing are. I take solace in the fact that I must be at their level as a technician, or else I would not still be working with them.

My playing is good enough that I have to do something else in the piano industry to qualify for a mortgage.

Whippen boy said

"My playing is at least good enough to keep a roof over my head and food on the table."

Sadly if I had to rely on my piano playing to feed me and the family we'd be getting food parcels sent over from Ethiopia.

Umm, as a pianist technically - c- to d needs a lot of improvement

as a pianist musically - b to b+

As a person musically - a

I feel confident with my musicality in a broad spectrum. From Anarcho-Veg-peace punk philosophies (bands like crass), to instrumentation crunching (like in iron maiden, the band etc), to audio mastering (a lot of 21st century rap has great editing and such, pierre-laurent aimards recording of vignt regards is mastered beautifully), odd rhythms of contemporary music and math metal, and a folk and oldtime heritage.

I feel confident that I could produce any sort of album successfully other than a classical one. Maybe thats why I love classical music so much. It is so hard to sound professional! And it is my true passion! I love it because you'll always have room for improvement.

I don't mean to sound the least bit conceited, but I feel I am musically inclined on a lot of levels. The only problem? - Big BIG technical problem on the piano. Just one more thing to overcome right!

For those of you who consider yourselves "one-handed monkeys" who might (as pro musicians) be eligible for Ethiopian food parcels (!), I have a word of advice:

Continue. Or should I say, don't give up. Ever.

I just think it is wonderful we all have music in our lives and come here to share our experiences.

I feel that I am a good pianist and that there is room for improvement always. When first starting out of course I would compare myself to others and since I started late that was frustrating and challenging to say the least. But now if the audiences applaud plus I get paid that night and there is money in the tip jar that means I did well for the night. If I get a call back then I did even better and if I get a call back and say no but they offer more money then it seems I did a good job and they want more and that is all I could ask for. I guess it depends what you are doing with your music and what your expectations are. DPVJAZZ

I have a lot of room for improvement.
My teacher says I am a pianist. Suppose she thinks it is part of her job to say that.

My signature line was once:
Playing the piano is like sex,you don't have to be the best to have a good time.

That has to be one of the most reassuring things I've read here for a long time.