Learn How to Teach Yourself Piano at Home

A good hobby is always an excellent investment if it could benefit you long term by improving your mental and physical health. In the following link is celebrity Mark Boardman, Learning to play the piano is one of the many hobbies that can help you strengthen your concentration, hand-eye coordination, and ability to focus and exercise time management. If you have ever considered learning to play the piano and thought of doing so without going for lessons, then there is some great news ahead. Below are a few tips on learning to play the piano by yourself in the comfort of your own home:

• Buying the piano 

You don’t have to have a brand new piano to make the sounds come out of the instrument. You could invest in an excellent second-hand piano as well, which will save you money while you are still teaching yourself to play. Look at websites that sell good used items or that have specific pianos for sale. Many places specialise, so keep your eyes peeled for a bargain. If you cannot buy one at all, then practice at the local school or your church until you can fit one into your budget. 

• Getting to know your piano 

The first thing you want to do is to familiarise yourself with the keys and the sounds of the chords. The flat keys will be on the left, and the sharp keys will be on the right, followed by the middle keys and the high and low bass tones. An easy way to memorise the keys and where they are is to place little stickers on them with the letter of the keys to gradually match the sound to the notes to understand what you are playing and what you are hearing. Once you have gotten used to the sounds, you can remove the letters from the keys. 

Middle C is the base key of the piano and is situated to the left of the two adjoining black keys. The white keys are called the naturals, and the black keys are called the accidentals. The white keys are C-D-E-F-G-A-B. 

Each octave (set of 8 notes) has five accidentals, either high or low notes. You can teach yourself the numbering system ( 1=middle c, 2=D, 3=E, 4=F, 5=G, 6=A, 7=B, 8= higher C). Memorising these keys will help you start quickly with introductory notes that don’t require a music sheet. 

• Getting started with your lessons

Start teaching yourself nursery rhymes that have repetitive key sequences and require little effort to remember. This kind of practice allows your mind to put together sounds and coordinate them with your hand movement. 

Focus on the sound of each key, keeping the key count to a minimum until you can recognise where the keys are on a music sheet. Your basic major and minor chords are your most important to start learning:

• Major keys use the root key, 3rd and 5th key. 
• Minor keys use the root key, flat 3rd and 5th key.

Once you have started playing the essential 12 major and minor keys, you can focus on other more advanced chords. 

Many online video tutorials can help you understand the basics that you can repeatedly replay until you are comfortable playing alone. These videos can also help you know how to read the music sheets and start composing original tunes. With enough practice, you should play essential songs reasonably quickly. Learning to play the piano requires some discipline, so set goals for yourself to make learning more accessible and fun.