If you want to teach yourself piano, there are some basic things you’ll want to do in order to guarantee success. You will want to find a piano to use if you don’t own one. If you are going it totally alone, you will need to have some prior knowledge of music no matter what the instrument you studied. You will need to figure out what the keys are on the piano by finding a chart. You may seriously want to at least add some online lessons so if you have no knowledge of musical instruments.

Finding a piano is not as hard as it sounds if you know where to look. If you don’t own a piano, start looking in places known for helping people – your local community center or church are good choices. You can also look in consignment, second chance and thrift stores to see if you can find a used model. And, don’t forget your local music store. While they sell music and musical instruments, they may let you try out and practice a bit on their equipment before they start pressuring you to buy.

If you have absolutely no musical experience, you may want to look at some of the online piano lessons that are free or come at a reasonable fee that will give you the basics. Teaching yourself piano will be extremely difficult if not impossible if you don’t have any idea where to start. The online tutorials can give you a good basis for playing piano and begin to get to know your musical instrument.

You will want to figure out which keys are which on the piano. If you have no musical background, grab a friend or relative who does. They can show you the natural notes which are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. If you start with the note that is located right to the exact left of the first two black keys, these are where you’ll find these notes. The black keys are in between and are flats or sharps. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, but if you’ve never seen them, you could get confused.

Go to your local music store and ask about the beginner books that come with pictures to help you orient yourself with the keyboard. A couple of good ones are Czerny or Hanon. These are centered on developing finger dexterity and strength, and the exercises will act as a core upon which you can build.

One of the most important things you will want to do is find music that you want to play. This may sound obvious, but as you are learning chords, scales and sheet reading, you can keep your motivation high because ultimately, you will be able to play something you love.

Always start with something easy and move up to more challenging musical pieces. Playing piano is a two handed process, and the left hand is used to play harmony or the base line. Find some music with a bass line or look at some books that have ensemble arrangements that are for other musical instruments in the key of C.

By: Lynda Kringel

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