Online Piano Courses and the Way They Advertise

There are so many online piano courses and especially the ones that have been around for a few years are probably quite good. However, I often find myself getting irritated and annoyed with the way some of these online piano courses are advertised.

The point that several make is that learning to play the piano is easy if you learn their particular method which uses chords. Firstly, I doubt if any of these methods that uses chords are truly original. To a large extent, these courses that teach a chordal approach to learning to play the piano would be very, very similar.

Secondly, I hate it when some of their advertisements claim that it is easier than learning classical piano ( which is true, classical is harder) and they sometimes ask who would ever want to learn boring old classical piano? This really aggravates me because there are many people who would love to be able to play classical piano. Classical music is not everyone’s taste and if you happen to not like it then it would be reasonable for you to not learn the piano via a classical method. However, if you like classical music and you really wish you could play it, then don’t be discouraged from following your passion.

Another problem that I have with the way some of these online piano courses advertise is that they make somewhat wild claims about how fast you can learn to play the piano with their course. Even if you put in many, many hours, you are not going to be playing like a professional in just a matter of weeks. It just doesn’t work like that. Who says that the process should be fast? Why can’t someone take their time to learn and enjoy the process along the way? I took lessons as a kid for twelve years and while I looked forward to progressing, I most definitely enjoyed the process along the way. Also, if you take a few years to gain all the skills you want, aren’t you going to appreciate your piano playing so much more than if it had only taken a few weeks? If learning to play the piano was so quick and easy then no-one would appreciate or admire the abilities of those who play the piano.

I am not saying that learning a chordal approach is wrong or not good enough, just don’t dismiss the legitimacy of classical piano. Whether your interest lies with classical or jazz or a modern chordal approach is what you should be learning. So often I have heard debates about which one is superior and what is worthwhile learning. They all have value and they are all worthwhile learning, if that is where your interest lies. While I am definitely biased towards classical and modern before jazz music, I can still logically appreciate what is not my personal main focus.

So whether any online course is any good or not (and I’m not focusing or endorsing any particular piano course in this article) be aware of any claims of being the easiest or quickest or best piano course available are probably not going to be true.