How to Play Piano - The Fun Way!

The Piano is a beautiful solo instrument that can be played by anyone of almost any age and if played correctly, can give an immense amount of pleasure to both the player and to anybody listening.

The problem for most people who want to learn to play piano, is the thought that they don’t have the necessary skill, talent, dedication or ability to start. To some degree this is probably true, but in my opinion the main reason why most people fail to start or persevere is because they are not motivated or inspired to learn.

Learning to play piano or any other instrument, without doubt, requires that the student is prepared to dedicate sufficient time to learn and practise. This however, should not be viewed as a chore but as a pleasure, necessary to achieve the end result. In other words it should be considered Fun.

The thought of playing endless exercises, scales and learning musical notation of songs that you may never have heard of is not motivational and is likely to put of all but the most hardy of students, especially kids, as they tend to have a short attention span.

Children and adults alike enjoy instant gratification, which can be achieved when they learn to play piano with the right type of instruction and motivation. For instance learning to play a few simple notes or cords that sound familiar will give immediate gratification and encouragement to want to learn more, compared to learning a set of scales or meaningless musical notation.

I am not suggesting that it is not necessary to learn musical notation or scales, quite the contrary, as this is absolutely necessary to future progression with any instrument, but initially it is far better to gain the students interest and provide stimulation by getting them involved from the start with making actual music.

Learning to play piano or keyboard by ear in the beginning is a great way of learning and in my experience can be of great benefit to students in later years. The keyboard player in a band that I used to play in was a great sight reader, but without written music could not play any meaningful music as he could not hear or feel the music. If you learn to play by ear this becomes a natural thing and you are able to hear what notes or chords should be played next.

It is quite common for printed music to be inaccurate, showing wrong notes or chords, but if you have initially learned to play piano by ear you will instantly know this is wrong and be able to correct the mistake.