I have $300 to spend on a digital piano and have one picked out. I do not have a job and sold some of my old stuff to get the money but am having second thoughts. Should i spend that much money on something i may not like. I am to go off to college next year as well so i dont have tons of time to practice. Is playing the piano hard to learn? How long does it take to get good if you play about once a day?
It depends. It’s easy to play, as in get a sound out of (obviously), but you have to practice a lot and have a passion for it if you want to become good or even satisfactory.
Don’t buy the keyboard just yet — you might be able to find practice rooms w/pianos at your high school/college.
You should get a teacher if you want to improve.
musictheory.net might help you learn how to sight read a bit.
And last – listen to a lot of piano music 
Dec
30
Filed under: learning to play the piano
i spent 100 dollar on my keyboard. and i enjoy it . i print music sheet off the internet and learn popular songs i really don’t make my own songs on the keyboard, keyboards are great for learning music theory. but since you will be a college. what i did was i bought a acoustic guitar, and just carried around the campus, and if i felt like practicing i will play it. the good thing about guitar it is portable. plus carry a guitar is a great conversation starter.
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Well, i didn’t find it hard but i’d been self teaching myself for a number of years before i had proper lessons. You’ll need to practice for about 30 mins – 1 hr a day if your wanting to make big progress quickly. Start with easy things like scales before atempting pieces.
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Impossible to answer simply.
The piano, IMHO, is a difficult instrument for some – easy for others. It depends on your ability to play musical instruments. i.e. if you have played a musical instrument before, you will have a leg up. IF you put a gun to my head and said what’s the hardest instrument . . . I’d most likely pick the piano as there’s a lot to the instrument. Then again, I’ve played both piano and guitar for over 20 years and never really had a problem picking it up.
If you plan on practicing once a day – great! Stick with it and you WILL get better and better as time goes on. Remember! Reading music is a major part of playing piano (you can get away with it playing guitar as most either do tabs or learn by ear . . . just the nature of the beast) You will want to take a few lessons.
Honestly, and I speak from experience here, if you’re off to college. . . go hang out in the music building and start talking to students to give you lessons. They need the $$$ just as badly as you do. Heck, I would have done it for a six-pack a lesson
Keep this in mind, music educators need training in teaching music . . . they may do it as a part of their class (if possible)
I’m long windedly trying to say go for it if you want it. ALSO, keep this in mind. You will most likely need a "humanities" or "arts" course OR elective of sorts for your degree. You can take a class piano class and learn the basics and to read music as a part of your studies!!!! Those courses almost always work for one or more of those slots!
I hate to say it but $300 is not a lot of money to spend on an instrument. It’s going to give you an introductory level instrument. Something that manufacturers make for parents and others to buy if they’re on the fence about the owner/child first picking up an instrument. Think about it this way . . . 1 year from now you absolutely HATE playing piano – someone is wanting to try and will buy your instrument via ebay
You’ll get some of your investment back.
Also, consider this, do you always want to be wondering if you shoulda done it????
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I have played piano for 3 years. I think you only need about a week to become good if you practice everyday for about one hour. The piano is one of the easiest things to learn to play. When you learn to play the piano, you can play anything else.
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My piano teacher.
It depends. It’s easy to play, as in get a sound out of (obviously), but you have to practice a lot and have a passion for it if you want to become good or even satisfactory.
Don’t buy the keyboard just yet — you might be able to find practice rooms w/pianos at your high school/college.
You should get a teacher if you want to improve.
musictheory.net might help you learn how to sight read a bit.
And last – listen to a lot of piano music
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10 years of piano experience
If you are playing popular songs then it would be easier, especially if you already knew the tune and can sing along.
Classical pieces would require higher level of skills and techniques, which is quite impossible for adult beginners to achieve within a few months of practices. Most classical pianists start learning since very young age you see.
Since you are going into college next year and might not have much time, I suggest you go for the first option – popular songs / easy classical tunes.
You have the passion for piano, and 300 bucks is not enough but for a beginner it’s a huge bargain – I hate beginners that don’t even bother buying an instrument to practise at their own place. However, having own instrument is also not enough if you never practise. Yes I know most students will practise hard even a few hours a day when they first started learning but as months and years go by they no longer feel the "freshness" and ended up not playing at all. Then "not much time" becomes a very powerful excuse for them to give up.
No instrument is easy. Commitments are important, here I mean long commitments. And I can’t give you an answer on how long it takes "to get good". As I said, it’s a matter of how good you want to be? However if you are saying about "mastering the basics", again, it depends on how well your brain works with your fingers.
And to keep you going, start performing. Say, play a simple "happy birthday to you" tune on your friend’s birthday. It might not be perfect, it has to be not, but you will earn your courage and feel proud of yourself – hey! I can play a tune! although it’s not perfect but I CAN PLAY IT! That will make you love your own music more as day goes by.
All the best ya. Keep the passion burning until you achieve something! Let your fingers flow on the keys!
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I am not a piano teacher but as a beginner who started at the age of 5, I know how it feels to fail on the keyboard and how passion matters to keep one going.
I second clasical music… answer.
Just don’t play something easy and then get cocky.That really puts people off.
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