1 Year Piano Progress | Adult Beginner | Self-taught
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- čas přidán 30. 07. 2024
- Hey there, I'm Thomas, 22 years old.
In 2019 I decided to pursue one of my long-term goals, to start learning piano. Although I had a big break in between, this video marks me having actively learned for 1 year.
One of the best decisions I've ever made, and I think I'm unlikely to ever completely quit piano in my life.
As a 9 year old kid, I followed piano lessons for a few months -- as did my brother. At this point in time, my parents purchased a second-hand upright piano. Although I didn't touch it for over a decade, I'm lucky it's still around.
It's the very same piano which can be seen in the videos, which I still play on today. It's been an amazing piano to learn on and definitely one of the reasons I was motivated to start.
For the most part, I've learned by myself. That doesn't mean there wasn't any assistance though. From my mom helping me learn to read sheet music, to countless tutorials and forums (shoutout reddit and pianoworld) which helped me in my journey. Without those resources, I wouldn't have gotten far!
Once again, I'm very glad I decided to learn and I hope to have a good next year as well. Thanks for watching!
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00:00 - Intro
01:12 - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
01:45 - John Lennon - Imagine
01:55 - Friedrich Burgmuller - Arabesque No. 100
02:19 - Bach - Musette in D Major
02:34 - Arabesque No. 100 (revisited)
03:01 - Lord of the Rings - Fellowship theme
03:37 - Beethoven - Für Elise
05:05 - Game of Thrones - Rains of Castamere
05:55 - Yiruma - River Flows in You
06:35 - 2 Year Hiatus
07:00 - Naruto - Sadness & Sorrow
07:35 - Sarah Watts - Scary Stuff
08:00 - Beethoven - Eccoissaice in E-flat
08:25 - La La Land - Mia & Sebastian's Theme
09:00 - Mozart - Sonata No. 16 in C-Major (K545)
10:04 - Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit medley
10:52 - Pirates of the Caribbean - He's a Pirate - Hudba
I'm self taught and I know how challenging playing the piano is. I think your progress is amazing 👏 ! Keep up the excellent work Thomas! 👍
Thanks Davina! Learning without direct help is tough for sure but it also feels more rewarding whenever you succeed at something. You keep your journey up too :)
Jesus is the only way man. We are all sinners and headed to hell. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. Much love.
@@BrodyStag knock it off
Great progress Thomas! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Greg, will definitely do that :)
Congrats! You have showed great progress, especially for being self taught! I've been playing piano for 10 years and I love it. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Lindsey, appreciate it! I've watched your progress video as well, you've had quite a long and amazing journey yourself :)
Great job Thomas! I'm really impressed of what you managed to learn during only one year. Even though I don't have so much time to practice (work, kids, etc), I decided to buy a digital piano and start to play. Videos like yours are really motivating. Cheers!
You should be very proud of yourself!! The piano is a beautiful and very pleasuring instrument to be able to play. I like how you played He's a pirate, that theme was the reason, alongside Sadness and Sorrow, I first got interested in playing the piano. Very encouraging!
That's awesome to hear, thanks! Yeah both of those were some of my goal pieces when I started, didn't expect to be reaching so many of my goals so soon into my journey tbh, but then I didn't expect to play as much as I have either.
For me there's a lot more piano goals out there. Enough to spend a lifetime achieving. I hope it's the same for you, good luck on the journey 😉
Looks like you made quite a good amount of progress! Excellent work here Thomas! You've covered a lot of great songs here and it's so cool that you tracked your progress this way. (:
Thanks Kalynn! Yeah I'm happy I chose to track it on video, helped motivate me a bunch throughout the year and it's something I'm sure I'll look back on fondly in a decade.
Jesus is the only way guys. We are all sinners and headed to hell. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. Much love.
well done! definitely felt a bump at Month 4. Thanks so much for sharing!
Sehr schön! Weiterhin viel Spaß und Erfolg! 👍🎹
Wow keep up the good work, so much respect for a fellow musician! I'm a firm believer it's never to late to start music, plus you're still very young. Been playing the piano since I was a kid but just took on the violin this year as a 33yo adult. In fact, my teacher actually started at your age and she's great! I am glad you had the courage and patience to show us your progress. I found a lot of myself in your video.
Fully agree, never too late to start! Taking up a new instrument is something I've considered a few times (and am likely to do in the future), sounds like a lot of fun -- good luck with it.
Also love that story about your teacher, it's nice to see people who don't take the traditional route prove that it's possible by succeeding 😄
So inspiring! Thanks for sharing!
Really very impressed, Thomas … love your choice of music … engaging too. I’m now inspired to give it a go … thanks for posting.
Best wishes,
Steve, Bristol, UK
I appreciate it Steve! I hope you enjoy learning and reach the point you want to get to, good luck :)
You absolutely inspired me. Thank you, good job!!
Thanks Linda, I'm glad to hear it! Good luck on your own learning :)
Wow, I didn't expect this! Amazing job ;)
Thanks very much :)
I love this. I’ve been playing piano since I was 6, and I too am completely self taught. You’re doing a fantastic job so far! Keep playing, I promise you’ll surprise yourself with what you are actually capable of playing when you put in the effort! Great job!
You taught yourself how to play piano when you were 6 yrs old? wow...
@@hotcat6687 I mean it’s not like I was a child prodigy or anything😂I believe I started teaching myself to read sheet music once I was about 8? Up until then I learned everything by ear, and then when I was 8 I applied that to the notes on sheet music in order to learn how to read the notes. I don’t have perfect pitch or anything, just had pure persistence lol.
I started off as an adult without a teacher. It's inspirational to see so many adults like yourself learning songs and enjoying music.
In the video the piece that stands out is Beethoven "Fur Elise" which you included more than half the piece. The rest you only included up to 10 sec opening. You probably enjoy playing this piece more than others.
A few years back I was at a party. At least half the people in the room took piano lessons. Some even passed conservatory levels. There was a keyboard in the room but nobody volunteered to play a song. Many people played for their teachers during lessons but are not comfortable performing in front of others or making recordings. I started making recordings early in the learning process. Not all the recordings sounded great but encouraged me to keep practicing.
Keep up the good work...
Keep it up!!! Thanks for posting!
Thank you, I will definitely keep going! :)
Congrats to you for coming back to the piano! I tackled The Entertainer, my favorite piece, but it was too advanced for me I never really went back. Maybe someday...
Impressive! I started my journey yesterday so I'll see where I'm at in a year, game on 😁
Thank you! Hope yours goes well, good luck 😉
I love your energy and enthusiasm! I think that you have achieved a lot in your year of learning to play the piano. Speaking as a piano teacher myself I would strongly recommend that you have a teacher! Did a lot of self teaching when I was first starting out and I ended up developing some bad habits that turned into strain injuries later down the line. After studying at university with a teacher focussed on technique things got a lot easier for me and I was able to return to a good amount of piano playing. The longer you leave mistakes the harder they become to undo. I can see from the video that there are aspects of your technique that will most likely create problems down the line. Also there are instances where you could be using a different technique to make things easier and more distinct at the piano. A perfect example is the Mozart that you played. You played with fluency and feeling and it came off well but I noticed that you were using your fingers for the Alberti bass passages. You could use a rotary technique instead. This will make it easier for you and also create a greater sense of the separate voices in the music. Your right hand finger technique seems pretty good but there are other aspects to your technique and posture that could really benefit from regular observation by a personal teacher. My strain injuries got so bad that I couldn't play for years and it was soul crushing for me. When I sorted out my technique problems and could go back to playing it was like being born again! Now I teach piano myself and I always focus on technique with the hope that my students won't have to face the same problems that I encountered. If a personal teacher is out of the question there are many videos on CZcams that deal with proper posture and technique. PianoTV, Josh Wright, PianoLab and Graham Fitch and some of my favourite channels. Keep practising and all the best to you! You play with musicality and feeling which will serve you well in years to come but that is only part of the puzzle ;)
Hey, thank you for the compliment, I appreciate it! :)
I hear you on the technique advice. There's definitely some areas where I recognize some tension such as my forearms and wrists, I don't use enough rotation to enable movement but rather just swing my entire arm around the place which isn't sustainable in more challenging pieces. Stiff upper body is another one.
Anyways I do see the benefit in a teacher, however the costs for a qualified teacher here are astronomical. As a student, I can't afford this. You suggested a few channels which can help with this, I know Josh Wright and Graham Fitch but hadn't heard of the other two yet, I'll check them out!
I do take posture and technique seriously as I know how devastating it'd be if an injury prevented me from playing. Will do my best to correct my technique. If I can't manage to do it myself, I might have to opt for a teacher.
@@thomaspiano I find videos by “Learn Piano with Jazer Lee” to be very helpful as well. Find a pianist that inspires you to play as well, they will motivate you to continue to get better. For example, Kyle Landry and Rousseau are my personal CZcams inspirations! Listening to Kyle was what motivated me to work on more difficult pieces after I had plateaued for around 4 or 5 years straight, and then Rousseau inspired me to learn classical pieces.
We’re all headed to hell man. We need to trust in Jesus and that he died for our sins on the cross. I hope you think about this because just like me, you have sinned. And when you have to face God on judgment day you are going to be guilty. This is why you need to trust in Jesus alone and that he died for your sins on the cross. I pray you actually think about this. Much love.
So encouraging, thanks!
Thank you and no problem! Good luck on your learning as well :)
You can do it!
Don't ever give up.
Good luck.
Thank you haha, I won't give up 😁
@@thomaspiano good! You can check my chanell if you want. I also play piano but not much nowadays.😬
Great progress, keep it up!
Thank you, I appreciate that! 😁
You have a beautiful piano there 😄 ahh i can relate so much to that "burnout break"... Glad you found your way back into playing! Love the piece selection. Amazing dedication and effort, you also have a great sense for music looking forward to ur next progress! 😁👍🏻
Thanks Nikola, I appreciate it! Yeah I love the piano, lucky to have it.
As far as burnout goes, I'm really glad I got back into it as well. In some ways, the break helped me figure out which parts of playing I enjoyed and which I didn't, it's definitely the reason I have a more balanced approach to piano these days.
The piece selection is very similar to those in your video, I think we have similar taste haha. Some of the pieces you did are ones I'd considered, and I'm actually working on Chopin's Waltz in A minor now which you've also learned.
Likewise to the dedication and effort, will keep progressing and hope to see you around as well :)
@@thomaspiano I totally agree to that 😃 Good luck in learning it! Its beautiful, i always played pieces that i like. Did try to force some but didnt work out so well... One time i felt like i need to practice even if i was not in the mood, that led to frustration and burnout. Now i practice because i love it xD It takes some time to get into right mentality to play the piano :D Thanks man, wish u all the best!
Congrats ! 😊
Thank you! :)
Wow !! Great ! Keep it up💪🏻
Thank you! Will definitely do :)
Great job. Certainly you have the skills -give an experienced teaching program to guide your obvious ability . excellent !😊
Awesome work!! Finally a progression video that's real. You sound great Thomas.👍
Amezing improvements! Keep it.
Thanks Ramon!
Amazing! You are in inspiration.
Thank you, I appreciate that a lot :)
Amazing progress man. Also, I completely forgot about the lotr songs. The fellowship theme sounded so good, definitely will give that a try.
Thanks, appreciate it man! LotR themes are always a banger and absolutely worth the time, good luck with it 😉
Wow this video is really stunning! can's guess how much you practiced and how much you love playing❤️ playing piano as a hobby takes so much effort I respect you!
This is literally me this year! Or at least, it will be me.. at the start of next year :D You did awesome! I hope my progress will be at least as well as yours was.
Hope so too for you, good luck and enjoy your journey!
Hey how’s it going?
I have been watching videos about piano practicing all this Christmas holiday. Maybe I'll start practicing when I get home in couple of days.
Definitely do so, it's a great way to spend your time and lots of fun. If you do, good luck on your learning!
amazing :)))) I am also learning piano on my own! great fun! I like your Mozart 16th Sonata!
Appreciate it! Yeah I love that Mozart sonata, I still play it almost every day haha. Good luck on learning the piano, rooting for your success 😁
All the pieces are good picks. I like your performances a lot.
Thanks Meggie, glad you like the pieces as well!
The music of the beginning is one Liszt study and this is just for talented students with at least 8 or 9 years of study.
Great work mate !
Thanks Luke!
Wonderful, well done.
Thank you, I appreciate that 😃
It's OK to take a piano break I do and have been playing for decades. Yes, Mozart is very transparent. You can't hide any false notes they stick out even for veterans. .
Great I do believe u. If anyone lives to learn and practice daily. Good for u.
Thanks Wendy! I fully agree, if someone puts their all into learning they can achieve a whole lot. Personally, I feel that I could've put more time and effort in than I did, but I'm happy with the result regardless.
Great work Thomas! I watched the whole thing-definitely impressed with your progress. I remember you commented on my video, so I’m returning the favor 😊. Your progress has definitely exceeded my 12 months progress. I love the song choices btw. I’ll eventually learn the La La Land theme and K545, but those are probably slated for year 3 for me. Anyway, keep up the hard work. I expect to see your 2 Year Progress shortly after I post mine sometime next year 😁
Thanks Steven! Yeah I remember your video, lot of my favorite soundtracks and classical pieces in there too -- I appreciate you for stopping by haha.
Both the La La Land theme and K545 are great pieces so absolutely go for them someday. Personally I still play them today, lots of fun. Anyways I'll keep up the work, you too and we'll absolutely be going for round 2 next year :)
It is great that you are not selling any piano method!! An honest video wow! Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you! I consider myself far too inexperienced to be selling any type of advice haha, just wanted to put my experience out there and hopefully inspire or motivate someone.
Well done!
Cheers Manuel, much appreciated!
Good for you! I hope to do the same. Thanks for the tip on Pianoworld.
Good job Thomas..👍👍
Thanks very much, appreciate it! 🙂
So amazing you are taught yourself how to play the piano 🎶💚
Thank you Bonnie! I think anyone can do it with enough effort, lots of resources out there which helped me and many others learn :)
Thanks for sharing!
No problem, appreciate it and thanks for watching 🙂
Well done Thomas, you have made fantastic progress. I’m learning piano along with my 8 year old son, it’s great fun. I love watching these progress videos. I do think some of them are fake. I saw one where the guy was suddenly playing Fantaisie Impromptu seamlessly without making any mistakes. There’s no way that one was genuine.
👏👏👏👏 Bravo!!
Thank you, I'm grateful! 😁
Good job mate
Geaat job, dude!
love to see it
Thanks Roary!
Hello, and thank you for your dedication and for posting this progress video, I think you have made amazing progress in one year. I have been struggling on my own , after maybe 3 years of lessons by a very strict teacher, that I was very nervous to play for, but I didn't give up and have continued on my own even through a bad case of tendonitis, I'm not sure that I can play the Mozart sonata much better, and I practiced the Beethoven "Fur Elis" so much I think that's why I got tendonitis . But it was all worth all of what I went through because I sing in a choir and this helps so much with singing. please post more videos of continued progress !
Thanks Frank, appreciate that sentiment! Seems rough to deal with tendonitis, a recurring issue among pianists sadly. Sounds like you're doing just fine though, if you've learned with a teacher then although the peak pieces you've learned might not be above my level, other skills definitely are.
I can imagine you've put a lot more time into technique, posture, sight reading, etc. than me. All aspects which I'll have to focus on at some point, which will then thwart my progress as far as show pieces go. I don't doubt you're ahead of my level at 3 years with a teacher.
Anyways you're right, piano is such a great instrument to accompany singing skills -- and any other musical skill tbh. Sounds wonderful. I definitely will keep posting!
@@thomaspiano Thank You Thomas
@@thomaspiano You should get at least one online teacher, because (don't take this personally, it's just advice) you didn't play a single piece to a presentable level, they were all 50-60% complete and some of them you'll never complete because the difficulty is in aspects that you don't even know (for example, mozart),
If you want to continue alone
, I recommend that you try some studies (maybe Czerny op.299) and be extremely critical of your playing because you don't have anyone to point out your mistakes, so try to correct them as soon as you notice them. them, with just the basics you will be able to play decently (strict tempo, no random accents,
respect the dynamics and avoid unnecessary tensions)
this is so inspirational ❤ I’m on my first month. 🙌
good luck and best wishes!
Good luck on your journey! Don't forget the real treasure is the journey itself fellow strawhat :)
Great results! Thank you, Thomas, for sharing your journey, it's inspiring! Do you have any advice for somebody who just started learn to play piano and struggles, especially with playing right tempo: metronome freeks me out and I can't play fast enough or the right notes in the beat, so the music piece I'm trying to play does't sounds good and sometimes I can't progress and stuck. Do you know any decent exercises with metronome? I'd be very grateful! Thank you! Sincerely, Lia.
This is an extremely good start! Lots of potential! You might want to get a few lessons with a piano teacher just to work out the kinks and rework some technique. Also to give you some ideas on how to time your pedaling a little better. It's a very admirable effort! Well done! - Sincerely, a piano teacher.
Thank you, appreciate that compliment a lot! You're absolutely right, there's some aspects of my technique and posture that need work. A regular teacher is unfortunately too expensive for me, but your idea is a good one.
I'll definitely look into options to work with a teacher temporarily, with a heavy focus on reworking technique and posture so I can learn without risk of injury, and to enhance my potential in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!
impressive!!
AMAZINNNGGGG!!!!!
Seeing your progress is so inspiring and motivating! I`m looking forward to see your future progress. How long is your practice per day?
It's been very inspiring for me as well. Honestly, for me the piano improvement is only one aspect. Thinking about myself in the first few clips, it's crazy how much has changed in my life since then. Mostly for the better, thankfully.
Currently I'm practicing about 1-1.5 hours per day. It does vary depending on how busy I am and how motivated I am though. For example, if I'm just starting a piece then I could be playing for 3 hours a day or if I'm busy as little as 30 minutes.
Wow this is amazing, I've been playing for a year also but I'm not progressing that fast. 🙂 Are these pieces in a book where did you get the sheet music? thanks
You playing sounds beautiful. Congratulations. What series of books did you use to progress as you have.
wow. Good job. So what was your learning method? What were your learning matrials? keen to know.
Hey Thomas, almost 3 months in and I still play like you in week 2. I can't only dream of this kind of hand coordination!
He had lessons as a kid for months. I think you don't or did you?
Hey, don't sweat it. I did have lessons as a kid for some months as Zandman pointed out, this did help me get started again as I didn't have to spend as long learning a few of the basics. Other than that, keep in mind I probably recorded 10 times to get that take, my average level of play in week 2 was likely much lower than yours now 😅
Keep up your learning and you'll definitely see results, good luck!
Wow! You progressed so much in just a year! Congratulations! I noticed in Arabesque...if there is a sharp, (or flat) it carries through for the entire measure, so if there is a G sharp, then the next G in measure is also a G sharp. Sharp does not need to be written in again. It carries through the whole measure. You played a G sharp then a G natural. Both should have been sharped.
Thanks! And that's interesting, didn't notice that. It makes sense though, my reading of sheets wasn't as good back then -- I imagine I made quite a few other mistakes.
It's still not amazing, can't sight read properly for example, but those basics are down now haha.
how long did it take you to feel you'd memorized the keys layout, to know them by touch, not sight, and have memorized all teh chords? I'm just starting NEW as an adult in my 50's and only been a couple weeks, having fun, but no easy task - I'm a quick study, so curious to how those showed up for you/
This is a video that you can be proud of for sure!
A while ago I started on my own as well, had a few years of music lessons (no instrument) when i was younger. The simple songs went really well, so i quickly bumped up the difficulty onto things like the Canadian anthem and found my expectations of my abilities run past my actual abilities pretty quickly. A bit like what you said happened to you in the video, my practice time went down until today. I feel like i've just lost it all again... although this video works pretty well as an inspiration. Do you consider this as doable for an average person?
(As in, do you think you have a talent for playing the piano?)
Again, really enjoyed the vid :D
Thanks, that means a lot!
To be honest, I think your (and my) story are pretty common. It's easy to get a bit ahead of ourselves, or perhaps we just want to play something challenging. Either way, too much of that is bound to burn you out a little at the least.
Do I think it's doable for the average person? Absolutely. I would say I am an average person as far as piano goes. However, I do have a good amount of experience in learning a similar skill -- largely focused on muscle memory and building precise motor skills. A lot of becoming good at piano (or any skill really) is knowing how, where and when to practice. Much of that experience I had and just needed to adapt to piano. On this front, there's still plenty I didn't do very well so I'm sure others can achieve better results.
I spent about 600 hours throughout the year on playing. That's not accounting for time spent learning away from the piano though. Here's some good examples of what one can do away from the piano, I think these helped me a lot:
1. Looking at a bunch of videos and other tutorials on how to deal with a section or even specific technique. After 5 tutorials, you're bound to come across one you relate to and/or great tips. Not only does this help learn, but also motivates you to try it out.
2. Memorize pieces or sections by going through them in your head. Personally I did this a lot right before bed or while commuting. I recommend doing it right before bed. I can't explain the science behind it, but in my experience it seems to process better when I sleep and I wake up with some vastly improved memory of the piece.
The exact solutions vary for everyone, since everyone is different. However, I do advise to figure out what the smartest way to learn for you is, and apply that. If you manage, I guarantee you can achieve amazing results.
Another thing I'd like to add for the motivation part. Here's my two cents on motivating to get back into and enjoy the piano more than before;
Play anything you want to.
Sounds simple, but tbh there's a lot of guides and people out there who tell you follow a certain order. First play this, then that, they establish an order for improvement. And yeah, that might be best on paper, but ultimately making sure someone keeps playing and enjoying themselves is more important.
Of course I advise against extremely difficult pieces, but generally I've had a great time doing this. Just rewatched a movie and an amazing soundtrack is stuck in your head? Great, find or make an arrangement around your level and play it. In my opinion, focusing purely on enjoyment and sidelining improvement as a 2nd goal is the best way to go about it if you're feeling in a dip. Try to let go of any of the pressure, comparisons to improve, etc..., that will all come if you're enjoying yourself.
I hope you get back into it man, good luck!
The guy played the hardest part of Fur Elise in four months!!! So much TALENT!!
Hello I'm Tomasz and I'm 22 :D and I wanna learn piano as well haha, nice video man :D
Wow..Amazing..
Very kind of you, thanks!
I am really glad you shared that about burn out because I have a tendency to try to do too much at one time. This is good advice to help me avoid the same thing happening to me. My intention is to practice one hour per day and hopefully within a year I will need in good shape but will still have a long way to go. Thank you for sharing. Do you mind if I ask which CZcams training videos you learned from.
Glad to hear it's been helpful to you! I imagine many people struggle with some form of burn-out throughout their journey, I think it's important to share what went right and what didn't.
If you're putting in an hour a day of practice with intent, I'm sure you will make good progress. As for videos, I think channels are a better recommendation -- I have a few that I regularly visited to learn;
- Josh Wright
- Jazer Lee
- Graham Fitch
Now all of these focus on technique, practice methods, general tips and advice. They each have more or less a library of content to consult on your journey. Other than that, I used forums such as pianoworld or the piano subreddit to find a bunch of information regarding pieces, techniques, etc...
Hope that helps, good luck on your learning!
Hey man, you look like a quick learner. Did you follow any particular books to learn the notes? I’m currently leaning myself as well, well not entirely true, I did do an online teacher once.. still have reservations there but any books that you found would be helpful.. I’m going with some method books, boring as hell.
I’ve been self taught for 12 months too and you’re almost at my level,this is believable
Great to hear! I too think it's a realistic result for anyone who puts in the time, despite what others might believe.
Good luck on your journey too!
I there. I'm self taught but better than all three of you. Thank you
I am a self taught pianist and I am better than all four of you
Thats funny, im self taught and better than all five of you, but keep it up guys :)
@@thomaspiano I have a question for all of you who are self taught. Can you pick up a music book and just start playing it? I'm wondering if when your self taught you just practice certain songs but aren't that good at reading music. Or am I wrong? By the way I am a very very new beginner, one month in... Using a piano teacher and learning to read music ect. Im 56 years old.
IF YOU LOVE LOR, YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT WAY! CONGRATS!!!!
Hi Thomas, I guess your daily practice time must have varied quite a bit during this time period, but if you could give a rough estimate, not counting your hiatus? That'd be very interesting!
Some realistic and inspiring progress there👍🏻
Looks like you caught on to the whole hand independence thing rather quickly. Perhaps you were a better listener as a kid than you thought;)
I only had a tiny keyboard and no teacher as a kid and while I did somehow perform Xmas songs in front of the whole class it was all pure memorisation.
Much later I got a 49 key midi board so I could try and play some of my favourite soundtracks. But I was way too ambitious and impatient and sucked at hand independence. So I heavily preferred melody and mostly played right hand only. It's not like the dang thing had any polyphony anyway.
Fast forward many years again and I finally invested in a proper digital piano so I could practice at any time, without feeling conscious about annoying the neighbours with scales for hours.
I got it on Halloween, so I'm two months in on my adult journey. This time with a solid method and focus on technique and theory. Mixed in with some CZcams and some of my favourites that are far beyond me but nice challenges.
You do seem to be pretty good at memorisation, I was wondering if that got in the way and how well your sight-reading was at month 7?
I think it would contribute to a burn out if you feel you need to cram everything in there. I know, cuz it's definitely something I was prone to as well xD
You might be right haha, even if it goes in to one ear and out the other, some of it clearly stuck and helped me get started quicker this time around.
Sounds like you have quite the history with piano and wanting to learn yourself. Hope it works out for you this time, you got this!
As for the memorization, you're spot on. I was (still am for a large part tbh) not sight reading and trying to learn pieces where I'd spend a week on a couple of bars. Not sustainable and that led to burnout. My reading has improved but I'd like it to get a lot better, it is one of my goals for the third year especially to dial back my pieces heavily to focus on sight readidng instead.
@@thomaspiano Thx and good luck to you as well👍🏻
It's a tricky beast, the pieces that are easiest to start sight-reading practice on are also easily memorised. I've been trying a couple of apps to practice it at speed with a time limit.
I seem to be getting the hang of the basics at least. I am hoping that it'll give me enough of a foundation to work with once I get to pieces that aren't so easily memorised, yet are quite hard to read as well. As with any language, I'm sure it'll be a lifelong process beyond that anyway.
@@CitizenMio You're definitely right, my work on it so far has been playing through the children's pieces books I have at home. The pieces are easily memorized so having to move on quickly makes it a tough skill to train.
I fully agree with the last comment you made though. Not even just sight reading, piano in general. Consider it as a set of skills you can and should keep training for a lifetime. There's plenty of time to keep making steady progress and revisit certain parts. When I view the whole process of learning piano like that, it's much easier to stay motivated than my initial mindset of expecting quick results.
For reference, what apps would you recommend for sight reading? You seem to have gotten off on the right foot on learning it and I like the idea of using an app since it has nearly unlimited pieces to show you.
@@thomaspiano
Yeah patience is definitely a virtue and one I didn't start out with either xD
I think the trick is to keep it fun, mix up the various subskills, challenge yourself but also chop your goals in little pieces so you can experience many big little rewards.
Anyway, as for your question, I enjoyed the aptly named "Complete Music Reading Trainer" the best. It felt like the right amount of gamification and challenge for me at the moment.
I am on month 4 and still struggling to read music and move to different keys, I was only practising twice a week so putting more work in now.
That’s like practising everyday in one year your playing grade 4 songs when I’m in my grade 4 piano and been playing for 5 years
impressive! for how long each day did you practice to attain these results?
Can you please make a video about which tutorials you have followed ?
I got all my 8 grades before I was 16, piano and theory a long time ago, and I had a piano around from age 3. I’m very confused by these 1 year learning videos. Adults I know really struggle to learn to read music, and when they discover there’s a bass clef to read as well, they’re really defeated. Some even take time to understand where the notes are on the keyboard, and what they’re called, then relate that to what’s on the page in front of them. Then there’s the problem of fingering and not just playing with two fingers, knowing how to use correct fingering is another challenge. Yet most of these one year videos, seem to have already tackled all those things, so how long did it take to do that, before they decided to start timing the beginning of the one year?
Wonderful awesome progress!! By the way I'm self taught too 🎹💖🙌🏻
Thank you, appreciate it! Awesome to see support from other people sharing the same journey, good luck on your learning 😄
@@thomaspiano yes that's so great 🙌🏻🎹💖
Hi Thomas, great progress and congratulations. I may have missed it somewhere but how many hours each day did you practice?
Thank you! Throughout the first year I would say I averaged 2 hours a day of practice. It greatly varied though, there were times when I'd practice 3-5 hours a day (notably near the start and right after my hiatus), but also times where I'd go down to 30 minutes a day.
I've found that practicing every day, even if just 10 minutes, is much more effective than inconsistent longer sessions. Although there are times when I practice less and don't uphold it myself, I do recommend getting a daily session in :)
Reasonable self taught progress. Strengthen your sight read sure helps. It is time to find a good teacher correct your weaknesses
Sounds really nice, and sorry for those who don't believe it -- it totaly is achievable with some hard work. You would benefit a lot from a teacher, to help you with technique and relaxation. Needless to say that Mozart K. 545 is above your level with just one year practice, but it was a nice attempt. I understand because i did just the same, playing pieces that where too hard when I was starting with the piano. Great work so far.
Excellent! Could you share which are the methods or books you are using to learn? Thanks!
Hey there, thank you! I don't follow any established method or book, however I can explain my own method to learning and the online resources I used.
Firstly, my method ever since I restarted after the burnout is as followed: I learn what I like. This means I'll usually have 3-5 pieces, movie soundtracks, etc. I'm listening to on repeat and I will always pick one of those to play. By playing something I genuinely enjoy, I prevent getting bored and burning out.
Aside from that, I always identify what my weak points are as far as technique goes. What have I practiced less or noticeably struggled with recently? I'll try to pick one of the pieces which has that element incorporated, so that I can practice it. Lastly, I'll look for an arrangement that is around my level.
So you could say my method is that every piece I pick should be around or above the level of my previous piece, and tackle unique technical aspects which I struggle with. Furthermore, it should be a piece of music I genuinely enjoy listening to outside of playing piano.
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As for online resources, I used all of these regularly throughout my journey and I'd highly recommend them for any advice, tips, tricks, etc...:
- Pianoworld forum
- r/Piano subreddit
- Josh Wright TV (youtube)
- Jazer Lee (youtube)
- Graham Fitch (youtube)
I hope that helps you, good luck on your learning! 😃
I forwarded this to my nephew who is probably about your age, he want to learn to play piano. This will help push him to get started. Great video. Thanks.
That's awesome, thanks very much! Hope he gets into it and enjoys it.
I wish I was as good as you 😕
I started from scratch during lockdown.
Damn your so good at teaching yourself,
Thank you Krishan, great compliment to receive! :)
where did you find that lord of the rings piece? it sounds awesome!
I understand the concept of "self taught" but what resources did you use to teach yourself? Books, online tutorials? I would like to learn but am not sure the best place to start. Thank you.
This is a good question! I'll answer it as in-depth as I can from the top of my memory. Long story short, I used an uncountable amount of resources to aid my learning.
Mostly online resources -- notably youtube tutorials and forums. However, the very beginning of my journey started with an Alfred's basic piano method book. This helped me learn the basics of reading notes and generally build up some basic skills.
I highly recommend searching up and reading about some method books, these can basically serve as a full beginners course for learning the piano.
Here's a list of what resources contributed most to my learning:
1. Alfred basic piano library method book
2. CZcams videos of others playing (lots of examples)
3. CZcams technique tutorials
4. CZcams practice method tutorials
5. Pianoworld forum (massive archive of discussions, posts and questions related to learning piano)
6. Reddit r/piano (same as pianoworld + great source of motivation)
I want to give a specific shoutout to two youtubers in particular; Jazer Lee and Josh Wright. These guys both create videos which focus on optimizing practice. How to practice effectively and efficiently? That's a topic which I learned largely through these guys, and massively impacted my improvement. I recommend checking them out once you get into the groove of learning.
The wonderful thing about the internet is that a google search of any question you have about piano whatsoever, will be answered. That, and of course you can ask the other many pianists out here learning.
Hope that helps you in some way. Good luck on learning 😉
Bravo, warming up for 5 or 10 minutes will keep your fingers more and more agile.
Check out Brian Crain Morning Light album and Piano Opus and Ludivico Einuadi, William Joseph A Mother's Heart and Helen Jane Long as well and Jon Schmidt - His albums before he joined piano guys.
What was your approach? Did you use any apps to learn? I also want to learn but feel that the apps are quite expensive (Flowkey or SimplyPiano).
His approach is he's lying. Do not judge your progress against progress videos you see on youtube almost all of them are fake. Find a good teacher and have fun!
Can you sight read from music scores, and do you?? Is that part of your self-taught learning? For example, could you pick up a church hymnal and start playing any song (not super difficult, but requiring moderate skill level), given your progress to date?? Thanks for vid!!
It depends what you calls sight reading.
Deciphering a music you've never heard before vs playing the proper notes of a music you have in your head is different.
Deciphering isn't hard, just like a 6 year old chil can decipher text speaking syllable by syllable. Very slow, but it works with little knowledge.
Then, there is the part where you play without looking much at your fingers. You can help that by playing the eyes closed some piece you've fully memorised.
Sight reading is nothing more than the ability to decipher + the ability to mostly look at the sheet instead of your fingers.
Then, practice, practice and slowly you'll decipher faster and faster and you'll look less and less at your fingers.
I don't understand why so many people struggle about it and speak of it as something binary "can you sight read".
I could sight read from day one in the beginner book. How else would I play anything? It's just that I was sightreading suuuuuuupeeeerr slowly on super easy pieces.
Since then, my reading speed improved.
Self-taught? Fur Elise and K.545 in one year? Insane progress! I'm a classical musician - those made me very very happy. Also nice subscriber count lmao
I'm not a music and piano professional, but in my opinion and comparing to other progress videos and my experience and progress, you did a really great job. Videos like this motivate me to play the piano more and achieve better results, otherwise I'm pretty lazy and play little and for my own pleasure.
Congratulations on a great result :)
And at the end of the video, you bought a digital piano. Is it a Yamaha P45? And how does it feel to you after an acoustic piano, how similar is it?
That’s music to my ears tbh, glad it motivates you. That’s really what (in my opinion) all these progress videos are about. They’re good for personal motivation, and hopefully someone else’s.
As for the digital, I’ve had it since month 2 of my journey. It’s a Yamaha P35 which I bought secondhand from a friend. Tbh it’s a significant downgrade from the upright in both feel and sound.
That being said, this difference is speaking in hindsight. When I was a complete beginner, the difference wasn’t as noticeable. Furthermore, it’s still a good practice piano and I’ve played on it in mornings and at night a good bit - when I didn’t want to disturb anyone.
@@thomaspiano As for the digital piano, this model is cheap and old, on more expensive models everything is much better and it's not about P45, which is only slightly better, but at least about Roland FP30X and more expensive.
But, about the sound of the P35, you can connect the piano to your PC and play with VST plugins. The sound and piano can be selected to any taste, the sound quality, as for me, is very decent with good VST's. If you want, I can recommend some good piano plugins.
@@Rikka_71 Yeah I’ve seen some amazing sounding digitals and have considered buying. Probably wouldn’t be a good decision to dish out for one considering I’m lucky enough to have access to an upright haha.
As for VST plugins, that’s also something I’ve considered but been too lazy to look further into. I’d love some recommendations and then I’ll get it set up, would be nice to upgrade the sound a bit 😄
@@thomaspiano
grand pianos: Garritan CFX Concert Grand, The Grandeur, Ravenscroft 275, Galaxy Steinway, Keyscape, Synthogy Ivory II, Pianoteq 7/6
upright: True Keys : German Grand - VI Labs
My favs are The Grandeur, Galaxy Steinway and Garritan CFX. Objectively the best quality is probably Garritan CFX, but I personally prefer the first two a lot more
@@thomaspianoLook at this guy, he plays on Yamaha P45 with VST and plays really cool and the piano sounds nice czcams.com/users/PatrikPietschmann
Week 2 perfect hand posture
Thanks! Had lessons for a few months as a kid, this helped with picking up aspects such as hand posture. Also went through a lot of youtube guides to help with the basics again.
Hi! I have started learning the piano, i want to know how do you get better at hand independence. Do you have any recommended youtube guide or some practice routine?
Hey! First of all that's awesome, hope you achieve all your goals on the keys.
For hand independence there's a bunch of guides out there. Personally I used Hanon exercises to strengthen my hand's individual ability. This took away a lot of issues with hand independence.
Secondly, I recommend practicing hands separate on every piece first. Once you get better this might not be necessary for you anymore. However, it helps with hand independence as you focus on their individual parts before throwing the difficulty of coordination onto it.
Lastly, you can try some improvised exercises. My idea of practicing hand independence is just playing a different pattern or rhythm in both hands. This can start as simple as playing a C on your left hand and a chord on right. Add more notes to it, start playing a slow melody in one hand while pressing a note in the other. Make it a chord in the other, so and so forth. Keep increasing complexity of what each hand is playing when you get comfortable. By playing something wildly different in each hand, it forces you to consider them as separate and train your hands individually.
In general I recommend Jazer Lee and Josh wright as far as piano tutorials and tips go. Don't let that restrict you though, a quick youtube search on hand independence should give you a bunch of guides which may help.
I hope I was of some help, good luck with your learning! 😉
Hand independence is a myth. What exists is hand coordination.
You learn every single finger action. Then you learn every single hand combination of fingers. Then you learn every couple of one left hand finger pattern and one right hand finger pattern.
Then, you learn basic sequences of 2-hand combinations.
And in the end, memorising a piece is memorising a sequence of basic sequences.
The so called finger independence is nothing more than having painfully learning a catalogue of all possible 2-hand finger combinations.
You can start playing with both hands the first few days. What happens afterwards is that your catalogue of combinations grows and grows.
The secret is just to play ultra slowly (one action every 3 seconds), with a very clear idea of what combination you're playing.
After 1 year, do you find you spend a lot of time watching where your hands are? I’ve been playing for almost 1 month and just trying to figure out how much effort I should put into building muscle memory vs memorizing stuff and looking at the keys. Thanks and nice progress!
Hey, thanks for the compliment! In regards to looking at hands; it depends on the difficulty of the piece and section.
Personally, I'm taking on pieces with new technical difficulties every time. So yes, I have to put a lot my focus into ensuring my hands go to the right places on these sections even after memorizing them. This is especially true for jumps more than anything.
However, for easier sections I don't need to look at my hands at all after memorizing. It comes with time. I'd advise you to focus on slow repetition of challenging parts and once you've mastered them, you won't have to look at your hands for everything.
I'm pretty much in an in between phase. I can do a lot without looking at hands, but still have to look at them for a majority of my pieces. Long way to go for me as well!
@@thomaspiano makes sense and it seems to be trending that way. Thanks for the reply! Looking forward to your two year video 😁
I'm 11 months into piano.
During the first 2 months I was spending 90% of the time on my fingers making it painful to read the score.
After 2 months I could play simple pieces the eyes shut, but it required extra focus.
After that, it really depended on the novelty of some fingering techniques. When I started octave chords, I needed to look continuously at my left hand but after a few months I stopped needing it.
Same with arpeggios.
As usual, the hardest part is the first two months because you need to always look at your fingers, while being very slow at sheet reading. After 2 months it gets much nicer and you progress without thinking about it.
Beautiful ❤️ wow 👏👏
how many hours did you practice everyday?
Thanks for the compliment 😀
I'd say I averaged around 2 hours of practice per day throughout the first year. Started off playing 4-5 hours a day, occasionally went as low as 30 mins a day when I wasn't motivated. It varied a lot!
wow! how many hours a day were you practicing?