Chords and How to Play Them

There are all sorts of online piano course that teach you to play the piano by chords, which is a perfectly valid way of learning to play the piano. From what I gather they teach you about various rhythms that you can use but what I have not picked up from their advertising is how … Read more

How Quickly Can Someone Learn to Play a Piece of Piano Music?

Learning to play a piece of piano music is hard to pin down because there are just so many factors that have an influence on how long it takes a person to learn to play a piece of music. How frequently someone practices and how long a person has been playing for are two of … Read more

The Magic Ingredient to Learning to Play the Piano

Over the years, I have had many people be amazed that I can play the piano, when they first meet me. It’s not because they think I am stupid in any way – it is more a case that they cannot fathom how anyone could possibly play the piano. Some people tend to have the … Read more

Why Learning to Read Music is an Important Skill to Gain

Learning to read music is an important skill unless you only ever want to play the piano by ear. It doesn’t matter what style or genre of music that you prefer to play, learning to read music is a very useful skill. If you want to learn to play classical music, then learning to read … Read more

How Important Is It To Play a Piece of Music as Written?

If you are learning or playing jazz on the piano, then the answer to how important is it to play a piece of music as written, is an easy question. The answer is that it is not important. Jazz music values improvisation and reinterpreting pieces of music. Exploration and adaption of keys, chords, notes and … Read more

Are You Practicing Too Much?

I know it seems like a crazy question to ask, but are you practicing too much? Even though the vast majority of piano students don’t practice enough, there are some that are practicing too much. I am not suggesting that this happens very often at all, but there are some circumstances where a person is … Read more

What is the Sustain Pedal and How to Use it Effectively

The sustain pedal, is on the right, whether your piano has 2 pedals or 3 pedals. Sometimes it is referred to as simply ‘the pedal’ because it is used so much more frequently than the left pedal (known as the soft pedal) or the middle pedal ( which is only found on some pianos). As … Read more