How long does it take to learn how to play piano?
The first pieces come in weeks, and the intermediate repertoire, in years. We tell you about the actual stages of the piano and what makes progress faster.
With a weekly class and about 20 to 30 minutes of practice almost every day, most beginners play their first simple pieces with both hands between the second and fourth months, read easy scores without writing the name of the notes to the first year and reach an intermediate repertoire, as sonatines or complete arrangements of songs, between the second and fourth year.
They depend on how and how you practice, how old you are, how old you have at home and especially what it means to you to "know how to play piano": accompanying songs with chords takes months and playing Chopin, years.
To sum up
- With regular practice, the first pieces with both hands usually come between the second and fourth months.
- To read simple scores with some fluidity in a code of sun and a key of fa usually takes about a year.
- The intermediate repertoire, as sonatines or complete arrangements of songs, usually arrives between the second and fourth year.
- What accelerates best is to practice about daily, slow and by fragments, on a keyboard with a real and sensitive size to touch.
- Accompanying songs with chords is a goal of months and an advanced or intermediate classical piano is a goal of years.
The piano and how long each
The piano has an advantage at first: each key sounds clear from day one. That's why the first few weeks feel fast. The challenge really comes after that, when both hands have to do different things and we have to read two keys at once.
| Etapa | What do you get? | Orientation time with regular practice |
|---|---|---|
| First contact | Posture, height of bench, place the central Do, five finger and melodies with one hand. | 2 to 6 weeks |
| First pieces with both hands | Melody at the right and long or simple chord notes at the left and start reading the Fa key. | 2 to 4 months |
| Basic reading and co-ordination | Read easy pieces on both keys without writing note names, an octave scales and accompanying chord songs. | 6 to 12 months |
| Repertory | Simple minuets, first pieces with pedal, dynamic and hands with different rhythms. | 1 to 2 years |
| Repertoire | Sonatines, complete arrangements of popular songs and first reading of simple material. | 2 to 4 years |
| Advanced middle- | Fairy or nocturnal accessibility of Chopin, inventions of Bach and a more demanding technique of scales and arpeggies. | 4 to 7 years or more |
The ranges overlap with purpose. There are people who read very quickly and are late to coordinate their hands and others the other way around. The important thing isn't to get there at board time but to note that every month you can play something you haven't been able to play before.
The most important milestones: coordinate your hands and read
Touch with both hands at once
It's the most common barrier of the first few months. At first the brain wants the left hand to copy to the right, and when the left has to hold a note while the right moves, everything gets broken. It's normal and advanced with a very concrete method:
- Learn every hand independently till you leave without looking at the keyboard so much.
- Unite your hands into a short fragment of one or two bars at a very slow velocity.
- When you get clear three times in a row, add up the next fragment.
- The tempo goes up little by little with a methonomer, only after the passage doesn't get broken.
Read in Sunkey and Fa Key
Most read the sun key before, because the right hand usually carries the melody. The fa key remains behind and appears the temptation to write the name of each note above. It works a few weeks but at long last: your teacher will ask you to read at intervals (if the note goes up or down a step, or leapt) and to use reference notes. If reading is your weak point, how long it takes to learn how to read scores We explain this deeply.
The pedal
Stretching the pedal is easy and tipping and pounding back right after changing chord without the sound getting dirty or cut and takes practice. It usually appears at the end of the first year or during the second year, as the pieces demand.
How many hours of practice do we have to do?
No magic number, but a rule: frequency weighs more than duration. Half an hour 6 days a week adds up to 3 hours and yields more than 3 hours straight on Sunday, because fingers and memory consolidate what they have learned between a session and another.
- Children from 5 to 7 years old: 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes spread at two times.
- Old and adult beginners: 20 to 30 minutes with a scale, a piece fragment and some review.
- Intermediate level: 45 to 60 minutes with technique, two or three works at once and reading at first glance.
- Preparation of an audition: more than an hour, divided into blocks with pauses.
If you want to organize those minutes, in how many hours to practice a day You'll figure out how to share them by your level and age.
That accelerates or challenges your piano advance
| Acelera | Frena |
|---|---|
| Practice about every day, even if it's 20 minutes. | Accumulated practice at a single day of the week. |
| An acoustic or digital piano with 88 matching and touch sensitive keys. | A small keyboard, with no sensitivities and no pedal, that doesn't reach for second year pieces. |
| To practice slow and by fragments, rising the tempo from little to little. | Always play the complete and quick work, dragging the same mistakes. |
| Read from the start, if only slowly. | Learn only by imitating videos of lights, without ever reading. |
| A teacher that fixes posture, digitation and tension from the first classes. | Fairy dolls or flat fingers that later have to be neglected. |
| Repertoire that gets you excited to play. | To spend months with pieces you don't care about. |
The instrument deserves a separate mention. A simple keyboard serves for the first few weeks, but when dynamic and pedal come, light and sensibility keys limit what you can learn. how to choose your first piano or keyboard We explain to you what to review.
Children, adults and different goals
Children
Young children move slower at each session because their care is short and their hands are growing, but they are often very constant when practice is part of the routine, as did school tasks. Musical reading tends to take off as they already read fluently at school.
Adultos
Adults understand the most advanced theory and know why they do every exercise. What puts them more at a halt is their time and their autodemand: they compare their sound with professional recordings and they get discouraged. If you start as an adult, the guide to [Learning an adult piano]](/blog/aprender-piano-de-adulto) It helps you set realistic targets.
Your goal changes the clock
- Accompanying songs with chords, to have his family or his church meetings and to have his place at his place: about 6 to 12 months.
- Play simple classical pieces by reading score: about 1 to 2 years.
- Introduce an admittent hearing to a music race: normally several years of previous training and [preuniversity music]](/preuniversitario-musica) help with the final straight.
How to measure your progress without discouraging you
Learning piano doesn't advance in a straight line. There are weeks that everything goes out and some that you seem to back up. These practices help you to see the whole way:
- Be sure to play the same piece the first day you study and a month later.
- He's got a list of pieces that you can play complete, memory or reading.
- Write down the methonomic tempo that you get clear of every difficult passage.
- Ask your teacher what's his next milestone and what you're working to get to him.
Frequently asked questions
Can you learn piano in 6 months?
It depends how you understand how to learn. In 6 months of regular practice, it's realistic to play simple pieces with both hands, read easy scores and accompany songs with basic chords. What's unrealistic is to get to intermediate level works: that requires years of work accumulated.
Is it more difficult to learn adult piano than as a child?
It's no more difficult, it's different. The adult understands his theory more quickly and better organizes his practice and his child has more time and less fear of wrong. What's more about constancy: an adult who practice 20 minutes most of his or her time and every day often advances more than a child who only practice his or her class's eve.
Can I learn piano with applications or videos only?
You can learn basic songs and concepts and they are a good complement. The risk is that nobody will correct your posture, your digitation and the tension of your dolls and these habits will take months to miss them. Many students will combine videos with a weekly class to have guidance and monitoring.
How many piano classes a week do I need?
For most, a weekly class is sufficient if you practice between classes. piano classes, virtual or at home, the teacher leaves you with concrete targets for the week. Two weekly classes make sense if you prepare an audition or an exam with date.