Why Piano Lessons Fail

I believe learning piano is really good for almost everybody and science is even proving that. Learning music helps create connections in the brain, improves memory and communication skills, strengthens hand-eye coordination and has a myriad of other benefits, as well. Playing a musical instrument can bring much joy to your life and those around you, but it seems that learning to play the piano is often just frustrating and practicing is even torturous. Most people who start learning to play the piano stop, feeling like a failure because they can’t play “real” songs. Why is that?

 

 

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So Why Do Piano Lessons Fail?

Out-dated Teaching Methods

I can speak from experience here. As a child, learning “Three Blind Mice” and “Long, Long Ago” is just not that thrilling. As an adult, the childish songs you have to begin with can be downright discouraging, too. Practicing was boring and finger exercises–forget it. As a kid, I would rather be climbing trees. I wanted to know how to play the piano, but I wanted to play in a way that sounded good.

There’s a problem with the way so many teach piano still today. The same books are used with the same old songs. We need to realize that music is different today and people’s goals and reasons for learning piano may be different. There is a better way to learn piano.

 

 

High Cost of In-Person One-on-One Piano Lessons

Another reason piano lessons fail is because of the cost. Depending on the area you live in in the U.S. and your level of skill, you could pay between $20 and $50 dollars for a half-hour lesson. You have to commit to weekly lessons, so for just one year, lessons would cost between $1040 and $2600 per year for one person. But of course, progress tends to be slow with the traditional method of learning piano and keyboard, so multiply that by years before you obtain any kind of proficiency.

 

 

 

Boring Piano Practice and Boring Songs

When you have to learn songs you don’t care about and have no connection to, practicing the piano can get pretty boring. A lot of piano teachers focus on form and posture and the more tedious aspects of learning music. The songs in the classic piano lesson books are made-up melodies or old songs–probably because they don’t have copyrights anymore. It would be more fun if a person could play songs they have heard before and have them sound good from the start. I believe there is a way to do this.

Of course, even with the best teacher and the best approach, practice is practice and we have to make a commitment to practicing on a regular basis. This discipline to practice in itself is a learned skill and takes practice. Most of us don’t like discipline and repetitiveness. But that is what it takes to learn an instrument–or any skill.

So expecting a child to have the discipline to practice on their own is usually unrealistic. Parents need to help them form the habit of practicing each day at a certain time so that it isn’t a daily decision and struggle. Make plans on what time piano practice will be and stick with it. Don’t wait until you feel like practicing. 

 

 

 

Guilt

Guilt makes piano lessons fail? I think so. We are all excited about taking lessons at first. We practice every day for a few weeks or months. Then we get distracted or bored or tired or discouraged and then we start to avoid practicing. We show up at lessons unprepared. The teacher notices and comments, encouraging us to practice more. 

We feel guilty and then with each missed practice we add more guilt. Guilt is an uncomfortable feeling that we tend to want to run away from. So then playing or practicing the piano stirs up guilt and going to piano lessons really stirs up the guilty feelings. We are sure we are lazy and the worst piano student ever. Sound familiar?

Of course, it will be good to overcome this guilty feeling. How? Well, giving yourself “grace.” Letting yourself be imperfect. Be real with yourself and your instructor when you are unprepared, forgive yourself, and start over. Just keep starting over. If you miss a day of practice, practice a little more the next day. Stir up your determination to win at learning this amazing instrument.

 

Learning Piano Can Be Frustrating

 A child or an adult learning to play the piano or keyboard the old-fashioned way can easily get frustrated and that leads to giving up. Frustration comes when they learn and practice their lessons, but they still are playing dumbed-down tunes with awkward arrangements–like a person sounding out every letter when they read. We know how the song should sound and we want it to sound pretty, but we don’t know how to get there. It’s easy to give up when we think of how many years it could take to learn how to play that well.

Of course, children–and adults–need to learn to push through some of the challenging times of learning an instrument and just practice anyway. Knowing that, as with most everything in life, learning something new takes time. Remember, we are building new neurological pathways and muscle memory. Like with sports or math or writing or knitting, these things take time.

Having real expectations will help with frustration. If you don’t have a lot of time to practice, progress will be slower. But that’s okay. You are learning the piano for yourself and you can go at your own pace. Enjoy the journey. 

 

 

 

Forgetting Why We Want to Play the Piano

It’s easy to give up on learning something new when we don’t know why we are doing it. Why do you want to play the piano? Do you want to play just for your own pleasure? To play for friends? To play for money? So you can join a band? So you can accompany yourself while you sing? Playing the piano is a great foundation for learning music, but you need to remember–and keep remembering–why you want to learn it so that you can keep motivated. Piano lessons will definitely fail for you if you don’t keep up your motivation to learn.

 

Quitting

Yeah, quitting causes piano lessons to fail. Haha. That seems funny to say, but it’s true. The process of quitting usually starts early on, actually. We give ourselves permission to quit if it gets too difficult or inconvenient or whatever. 

Setting a time frame–like a year or even two–to practice your new skill and give learning the piano a chance–you will be less likely to fail at learning the piano. Don’t let yourself quit when things get hard. Give yourself–your brain, your fingers–time to figure this piano thing out. Again, remember why you originally wanted to learn to play.

 

 

Would You Like to Sit Down to a Piano or Keyboard and Just Play a Song You Know? A Better Way to Learn Piano

Find a melody and play it with chords just for fun? Play along with a friend who plays guitar? Play a song for your child to sing along? Write your own songs? Be able to play for your child’s class, for your family, for a retirement center, for (you fill in the blank)?  Yes!? How fun would that be?!

 

The Secret to Learning Piano the Easy Way

When I was around 10 years old I learned a few chords and a little pattern with my left hand. I made up some songs and had lots of fun. Later I figured out how to pound out the chords on my left hand and play a melody with my right.  What I discovered was that learning the piano could be fun and much easier if I would learn chords. Once you learn those, along with some patterns to play them, you can play lots of popular songs and sound good.

Most of the pop musicians today are not classically trained. They learn chords. They learn patterns. They know the melodies. And they practice those. Once you have those down, you can add all kinds of fun and interesting transitions and such, but you don’t need them to sound good and have fun.

 

 

 

How to Learn Chords on the Piano

How do you find a piano teacher that teaches chords? I don’t know. I found one for a little while when my kids were young, but then she moved away and I couldn’t find another. It’s difficult to find piano teachers to teach chords because they were not taught that way. I have even talked to piano teachers who don’t know chords or chord patterns and how to play without reading sheet music or to improvise.

 

 

 

That’s Why I Recommend PianoForAll as the Best Way to Learn Piano

Piano for All is a program that will teach you to play the piano or keyboard with chords so that you can sound good right from the start. In the very first lesson, you learn the notes of the piano keys and then learn your first four chords and a pattern. Then he tells you several songs that follow that pattern. And so it goes throughout the books/classes.

What a fun way to learn the piano. I wish I had, had this for myself and for my kids when they were growing up. But it’s not too late. No matter your age, you can learn to play with Pianoforall.

You will learn to play chords, play by ear/improvise and read music all at the same time. When you learn to play with chords you can quickly work up to playing in these many styles shown in the video below.

 

The Cost of Pianoforall

Some really good news is that it is 50% off right now, so you can get it for only $39! That’s a small fraction of the price of traditional piano lessons and you can do it in your own home.

 

What’s Included in the PianoForAll Program

With 10 clearly laid out ebooks, 200 videos, and 500 audio lessons, it is easy to follow but also covers everything. You will learn lots of styles including pop, jazz, classical, blues, ballads, and improvisation.

PianoForAll is for Both Children and Adults

It’s for all ages. As long as the student can read, he or she should be able to follow through the lessons of Playforall. A parent or relative may like to go through the short lessons with the child to make sure that they understand, and then the child can practice on their own.

 

Here is a Sample Lesson from PianoForAll

After learning a few chords, you could sound like this!

 

 

It’s sad that so many of us have failed at piano lessons in the past, but now that I know the best way to learn piano, I’m a believer that nearly anyone can learn to play the piano and have fun doing it.

 

 

 

Download your PianoForAll lessons or order a DVD copy…

…and you will be on your way to having so much fun playing the piano or keyboard. Once you click the link, you can choose to download the lessons or order the DVD. The DVD can be shipped anywhere in the world, and of course, the downloads are available immediately so you can start right away.

The videos and audio lessons are all right in the ebooks. There is no shuffling of books or clicking into different programs. It’s very organized and easy to follow. (Be sure to start with Book one and work your way through them.) There is also a link to print off the written lessons if you prefer.

Another benefit of the program is that you can learn piano or teach it to your kids from home. Since it is a downloadable program, it’s great during a quarantine, for homeschool or even for travel, if you have access to a keyboard.