We have a Yamaha upright piano. It is my wife's childhood piano and she is now teaching our daughter on it. Our family adores it, and it has created so many memories for multiple generations. We came home to find our toddler found my wives nail block and used it on the piano, this happened in approximately 1 minute her Grandma said.

The most important thing is our little one is fine and it is a valuable lesson. We are wondering if there is anyway to fix this damage?

Thank you all for any insights you may have.

I dread warmups, but I realize that my fingers feel warm and ready to go after 30 minutes of typing. But can it actually be a substitute for warmup?

I myself have about 3-4 years experience. Ive learned amybe 10 pieces so far. But ive seen countless "self taught beginners" say they've learned it in 2 months.. or even little as 3 weeks. I DO understand maybe they dont know all the theory.. but are just playing the notes. But even STILL.. to be able to fully play the entire piece after 4 weeks sounds unrealistic. Yet ive seen most teachers say it takes 6 months to perform it well, or even years. Wow what a difference lol. Ive been practicing truthfully DAILY for 2 months and a week exactly. And I havent even learned the end yet. I cant play full speed and I have pauses and mistakes after 2 months

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently hit my one-year milestone of learning the piano from scratch, and I'm currently polishing Chopin’s Nocturne in Eb Major.

There seem to be gaps that I can't understand and close. I would love to get your general feedback and advice on my playing—whether it's regarding technique, phrasing, or musicality. Any insights are welcome. Thanks!

Hey guys,

I grew up playing piano and was classically trained with some pop recitals thrown in every once in a while. Everything I played was read directly from sheet music. I’ve always thought it would be a great experience to play on stage with a band, but anytime a guitarist handed me a basic chord sheet or tab, my brain would completely shut down. None of it made sense.

The dream to play in a band was put on pause for many years until recently, when I ran into a teacher (Berklee guy) at my local church who showed me a framework to actually read chord sheets.

He showed me this mental model using the Nashville Number System that gave me so much confidence to play in bands. It's a pretty simple right-hand walk-up pattern that is the exact same shape in any key. Once you understand it in the key of C and experiment with the walk-up and shapes in C#, B, or D, it'll instantly click.

I made a 1-page cheat sheet of the left and right-hand voicings to help me memorize it. If you're also classically trained and want to finally learn how to read chord sheets too, just drop a comment and I'll DM you!

I’ve searched older posts, but haven’t seen a great answer to my question. I’m brand new to the piano world— never played, but would really like to learn. I also have 4 young children, and would like to eventually get them playing the piano as well. So I’m looking for a great digital piano option for our family.

I’d love to keep cost as low as possible. That said, technically I can afford up to $7,500. Ideally I’d keep it under $5,000, and gosh, if I can do it for $2,000 that would be great. So I’m looking for the point of diminishing return. I don’t want to be paying for features I don’t really need, want, or won’t notice. Aka I’m not looking to play the trombone (sounds) from my piano.

I’ve researched the 3 major brands: Yamaha, Roland, and Kawai. Initially I thought I’d buy something in the $2-3000 range from Yamaha, but the piano dealers around here have done a great job talking up more expensive models. I can’t tell if it’s just because they’re looking to make a decent commission, or if I really need a CLP875/LX6/CA701. So, I come to you to ask: what should I actually buy??

I guess, summing this all up, I’m looking for a digital piano that will give my family the best chance of success with learning to play (closest to an acoustic so if we love it we can eventually transition to a non-digital) while balancing that with the fact that if none of us actually take to the instrument, we haven’t wasted a ton of money on a very nice decoration.

Thank you so much!

Still new to piano.

Saw you could get these stickers or sheets that show you where the notes are. I was thinking of picking it up but apparently it's not good because you're better off if you remember them in your head.

My question. The reason I'd like to learn piano is I'd like to create my own songs for my video game projects and also make little songs for other indie video game projects, I will learn piano songs for practice ofc.

I don't really intend on learning sheet music, maybe I will? but for my purposes I don't think it's necessary.

Which makes me wonder, why is it better to not use the note stickers/sheets?

I'm sure over time with them you'd still memorize where the notes are, wouldn't this just make it quicker for you to get into playing and making music?

Interested to hear your thoughts.

EDIT

Although some people have been very, unnecessarily rude (it is reddit and the internet so they'll always exist) There have been some amazing and very insightful answers.

I truly appreciate those of you who have taken the time to give me your perspective and help me understand why these stickers or sheets aren't such a great idea.

I can safely say I've been convinced to not buy them and to go at it the traditional way.

Thanks guys.

After like almost 2 months of lessons, I've decided waltz in A minor (easy version from musescore) as my first piece but I can see that the hardest part is the left hand jumps.any way to have an easier time to practice and memorize this?

I am a complete beginner. 32 years old. Had my first lessons. Can't play any songs yet, just a few practice pieces. At the moment, I am learning with my teacher on an acoustic piano and at home on a 20-year-old keyboard that is connected to my PC via MIDI. It feels horrible..

So I was looking for a piano to practice on at home. It had to be an acoustic one, because I just love the “real” sound.

I visited a few piano stores and tried out several pianos. One of them really caught my attention. The sound, the touch, the aesthetics. I just really like it and none of the others came close. I got an offer for €11,000, and the list price is €13,500. I can't find it used anywhere, I've already tried.

I can afford it, but the question always pops up in the back of my mind, “Isn't it crazy to spend so much money right away?”

Has anyone else started out like this? Talk me out of it or confirm my decision. I just need a few thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

Coming from a background in guitar where all major scales can be played using the same movable finger patterns... I am curious, do pianists actually learn each major scale independent from the others? Or do most professional piano players learn the intervals in the major scale well enough to be able to play any major scale based on intervals alone and their fingers will just happen to land on the correct piano key regardless of whether it is a black or a white key?

When I play im literally saying note names in my head and counting out loud sometimes. Watching good pianists looks effortless

At what point does the brain shut up

Ive always wanted to play piano. My dad was an keyboard player and MD for nearly 40 years and my grandad played and used to sit me on his stool and try to show me what to do.

As a teenager I played guitar but was never particularly good and could never read music.

Now I'm mid 30's and my grandad passed away its something I think about a lot and feels "now or never".

But i just watch people playing and think "how on earth do you think and move your hands so fast??"

Plus I just never got anywhere with guitar. And id want to teach myself.

Is there any point me starting or am I just going to fail?

I’m a complete beginner, just got my first keyboard like 4 days ago and I’ve been using simply piano. It’s been well, but I’ve noticed a few problems like not teaching music notes well. I was wondering if I should cancel my subscription and get this book instead. I’m a broke high school student so this would honestly be better than spending 300$ a year on a subscription but I want to be sure it’s a better tool than simply piano. Any suggestions on other methods would help me! Also I am unable to get a teacher as of now so that’s kinda another reason I’m looking at these methods to learn. Thank you for reading!

Help!

I am 50, starting last month with piano lessons and some attitutdes of my teacher just shock me:

​

1. I get laughed at while I struggle during my first two classes to differenciate Treble Clef and Bass Clef musical notes.
2. He uses constantly his smart phone sending messages to other students (even audio). This distracts me.
3. Way too fast for me. I prefer playing child songs just to get better instead of adding each time new layers of complexity. In the end I have to take a Valium before the class starts.
4. He thought that I was joking that I use at home a semi-weighted keyboard instead of a weighted one. By the end of the year I try to "upgrade", but right now I hate the answer "oh this happens because you have a cheap keyboard".

I am still shocked.

Im thinkin of buying one so just drop the one you own and whether you are satisfied with it.

I want to improve and also get some inspiration.

Recently picked piano back up after a 5 or 6 year hiatus, basically started over. In the last 3 or 4 days I've been learning and practicing Mozart's Turkish March. I've always been self-taught, save a year of keyboarding class in middle school, so I've never been taught healthy form.

In practicing this piece. My left hand, wrist and forearm fatigue dramatically throughout practice sessions. I can only imagine this is a technique issue and I'd love to hear input on my playing.

All critique is welcome! Obviously there's some missed notes in here, go ahead and flame me for those. But on addition to form, any articulation I'm missing or even tasteful suggestions absent from the original I'm very open to! TIA!

ETA: my forearm pain really only gets bad when practicing the B theme with the big rolling chords that i seem to have neglected to record here.

Just curious

Hello everyone, something pretty embarassing happened today and I have no one to tell so I'm sharing it here on Reddit.

Before I start, I should mention I've been taking piano lessons for about 4 months now. I'm 17 and still a complete beginner.

So, I was at a piano concert when, out of nowhere, the musician on stage asked if anyone in the audience wanted to come up and play something. I waited, hoping someone else would go, but the audience was full (probably over 500 people) and no one dared to try. My mom encouraged me to go, and even though I was really scared, I somehow agreed.

The people there were very supportive. I started by telling them several times that I was a total beginner and that I'd probably make mistakes. They reassured me, so I began to play.

I played Bach’s Invention No. 4, a piece I had performed at a school concert just last month. Since then, I had been working on something else and only practiced this piece occasionally to keep it fresh.

The first 15 seconds went okay, but as you might expect, performance anxiety quickly took over. The rest of the piece was full of wrong notes, and at one point, my brain completely blanked on a bar, so I had to repeat it several times before I got it right.

Thankfully, I made it to the end, and for some reason, the audience applauded me like it was great. People even came up to congratulate me afterward, impressed that I could play that after only four months of lessons.

What bothers me is that last month I played it perfectly in the theater, but I recognize I haven’t been practicing it as much lately, and I definitely didn’t expect to play in front of such a big crowd. Plus, the pressure was intense.

What do you think? Am I making this seem worse than it really was? Did I do the right thing by going up there? Now that I think about it, it was actually a good experience to get used to playing on stage. It was only my third time, and I know that’s something I have to learn. Or maybe I should have just stayed in my seat?

EDIT: Someone pointed out how the grammar is perfect and it seems like an AI story... What happened is that I wrote the story, but as an Italian I can't write good sentences in English, so I moved everything in ChatGPT to improve how I sound... Didn't think this would make people think I made everything up

I know that most people would recommend a digital piano with weighted keys but I just cant justify a purchase for even a cheaper one since not only do I not know if this is something I'll stick to as I have no experience but also buying one would pretty much empty my savings. (and the other benefits of a keyboard like portability)

In light of this I've decided to just go for a keyboard and decide if I'll upgrade later down the line. I want to know if semi weighted keys is actually worth it? I've looked through a few subreddits and websites and it's always comparing semi weighted and weighting (all insulting semi of course) but I just never see them comparing semi to non weighted. Is there any meaningful difference between semi and non weighted or is semi just completely pointless.

I'm not focusing on dynamics right now for this piece so ignore that. I just want feedback on the speed I've reached after about a year and four months of practice since i felt proud when i was suddenly able to play this fast, but at the same time, I'm not sure if it's really that big of an improvement or something that's already expected at this point. What do you think?

Edit/update- Thanks so much for everyone who took the time to comment and help me mull over some things. I've decided to try to find a piano teacher for him, and one that specializes in children (unlike his past two teachers). I'm hoping a new teacher with a different approach might help us continue with music without it being such a negative experience. If that doesn't work I'm going to let him move on to the violin when he's 7 and see how that goes! Thanks everybody.

So, I'm conflicted here. The kid is 6. But I view music as a second language. I'm American and can not give my kid a "mother tongue" but view learning music as a second language. This isn't just some opinion I've formed, but research has shown distinct parallels.

Yes, 100 percent, part of this is selfish desire. I love that I can play just intermediate level at least.

But, honestly at this point, if i didn't know how good it was for his brain, I would have given up; it's such a huge battle. He says how much he hates learning every time we go to practice.

In my opinion, I view musical knowledge to be on par with learning to read, I wouldn't just fold because he hates it. But at the same time...I know it's also not in a lot of ways.

So should I quit? Am I putting too much on the poor guy? Do some people just truly not like learning music, ya know?

Help a parent out here reddit?