Ask HN: How to learn to play piano? (kids and adults)
Alright here&#x27;s &quot;hacks&quot; and unfortunately there&#x27;s no software or books to help you here, you simply cannot substitute the sheer number of hours needed to get to a point where you can comfortably sight read almost any music. I used to skip several Royal Conservatory of Music grades using these &quot;hacks&quot;. But you are gonna be disappointed because it requires serious commitment, used to practice like 12 hours a day when I was a kid and eventually slowed to a point where I no longer actively play but able to pick it up and play the Rachmaninoff&#x27;s Moment Musicaux from memory, this is the highest point I was able to reach, something that child prodigies master before they turn 10.... ¯\_(ツ)_&#x2F;¯:<p>1) You need to get into the habit of not looking down at the keyboard. This was the very first lesson and took years. Eyes on the sheet music as much as possible. You should not have to move your fingers a lot when starting out.<p>2) This one will be a bit controversial but dont worry too much about form yet, just focus on hitting the right notes first. You do need to address it to avoid physical limitations when at the advanced level, I just didn&#x27;t because I&#x27;m a rebel.<p>3) Practice reading new sheet music until you feel comfortable not looking down at your hand positions other than to check you are in the right octave and placements. You should be able to directly recognize and translate not only bars but entire paraphrases into &quot;guesses&quot;. For a lot of people, those &quot;guesses&quot; are wrong but eventually I got to the point where I could sight read Chopin Waltz. This skill also translated well when I took up cello and was able to join a local orchestra within a half a year. Nobody believed me but being born to an immigrant family, I didn&#x27;t have the luxury of taking things nice and slow. Basically, my mom had only limited budget so I had to somehow make the best out of each lesson and just practice the hell out of it. I did think briefly about a career as a pianist but that fizzled out.<p>4) Now the true hacky bit, which builds upon the previous skill that requires you to translate the notes to finger positioning without thinking. Challenge yourself to sheet music you can barely play both hands. I recommend Bach because it is missing the expressive dynamics and focused on rapid eye hand dexterity. Inventions a Deux voix or Trois voix play two and three separate melodic sequences.<p>4) The biggest break through and the aha! moment in rapidly mastering an instrument was to keep sight reading progressively more challenging pieces. By the time I finished the Bach Inventions, I was tired of the mechanical and depressing themes (the dude had to come up with new material or the guillotine) and naturally gravitated to Chopin.<p>5) Once again I applied the same routine. Finish the Chopin Waltz then the Nocturne and dabbled with Fantasia Improviso where I felt I hit a physical limit due to the horrible hand posturing habit that I developed due to focusing soley on sheet music reading.<p>6) At this point I could take on pretty much any challenge and boy did it take a long ass time. Just being able to play Moment Musicaux No.3 at 3&#x2F;4 of Lugansky&#x27;s speed (I consider to be the best interpretation....not because he&#x27;s russian btw...well have a listen below) took years and years. I still can&#x27;t reach his level. This is where the pros and amateur start to distance.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=WhLDse5R8dQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=WhLDse5R8dQ</a><p>TLDR: Theres just no hack to mastering the piano. It&#x27;s a lot harder than other instruments imho in some ways because you don&#x27;t just play the melody like string instruments although it&#x27;s easier in a sense that all notes are tuned and requires no other effort than striking a key. Not so with cello, without perfect pitch, it&#x27;s tough to know if I&#x27;m in tune or if my &quot;key&quot; is right. When you hear amateur orchestras and professional you can tell the difference immediately because pros are so well synced along with high quality instruments.