Teach Yourself Piano

If you want to teach yourself piano there are plenty of resources available. You just need to decide if you're prepared to learn on your own. Below, I highlight a few of the best courses for learning piano on your own.

Also, here is a list of some good sites with free piano lessons. They are a great way to get started on the piano, but remember, their lesson content is more limited than what you'll find in piano learning products. So, you get what you pay for.

I've also written some useful advice about buying a piano for those who are in the market and need help choosing one.

I've developed my piano talent largely on my own, but I did start out with lessons. However, looking back, I think the lessons didn't really give me any advantage. Practically everything I learned from the teacher I could easily have learned from a home study piano course.

Piano lessons are very expensive, with most teachers charging at least $20 an hour and more often closer to $50. They usually give one lesson per week, but this can add up quickly considering the number of weeks you'll be under their instruction. So, financially, the best option is to find a good study-at-home course. In addition, traditional lessons often make you feel like you're in school because you have to finish the assignments according to the teacher's schedule instead of your own. Personally, I like the idea of being able to learn the piano at my own pace instead of a teacher's.

The following are what I believe to be the best home study piano courses for beginners. Visit the Instrument Guru for in-depth reviews of these excellent ways to teach yourself piano.

In my opinion the best course to teach yourself piano with is Learn and Master Piano, from Legacy Learning Systems. This educational company produces high quality self-teaching packages on a variety of subjects. The numerous awards they have won for their products speaks volumes about their quality. Their piano course is no exception. It's taught by a Grammy Award winning instructor and is great for the beginner or intermediate piano student.

It includes 14 DVD video piano lessons, 5 play-along CD's, an instruction booklet, and dedicated online support. Learn and Master teaches you how to read music, gives you a good foundation in music theory, covers all styles of piano music, and most importantly instills good playing habits in you from the very start. It really does a great job with presenting the concepts of piano playing in an easy to understand way. The amount of knowledge and training included in this DVD course is prodigious. For the cost of 2-3 traditional piano lessons you'll get hours upon hours of instruction that is yours to keep and revisit any time you like.

Another option is piano learning software. These are great ways to learn the piano if you prefer software over video instruction. I would prefer video instruction because you can watch the demonstrations from the TV rather than a smaller computer screen. That is unless you know how to hook your PC up to your television. I don't, but maybe you do, so the choice is yours. However, software does give you added capabilities like a midi interface, lots of interactive features, tools, and ways to measure your progress. The best rated software packages are listed to the right.

A third alternative would be Rocket Piano, which is a a software based video instruction method. They do offer a DVD version of their course, but it is exactly the same as the online version and far more expensive. The online course can be downloaded instantly and consists of over one hundred lessons, tons of audio files, 3 instruction ebooks, and a number of software games to quiz your knowledge. It's quite cheaper than Learn and Master the Piano if price is your major concern. Actually, the price is hard to beat considering the amount of instruction material Rocket Piano contains. At the very least be sure to sign up for their 6 free piano lessons.

A final choice would be to learn the piano with instructional books. This is a little less effective for obvious reasons. Having the feedback from software or video instruction is indispensable in learning to play piano, or any instrument for that matter. Books can give you the knowledge you need, but not necessarily the demonstrations that are so important in learning to play piano. Nevertheless, here are some good choices for books to help you learn the piano.

It must be stated that if you do decide to learn piano on your own and without a teacher there is something that you must remember. One good thing about a piano teacher is that they can prod and push you towards reaching your goals. Without a teacher you have to do this yourself. But, this shouldn't be a problem if you are really enthusiastic about wanting to play piano.

Another thing that you must understand is that if you are hoping to become a professional pianist, then you will most certainly need to seek out a qualified piano instructor at some point, one who is fully versed in piano pedagogy. For most, who want to learn for their own pleasure and don't have any professional aspirations, this won't be necessary. However, even for those of you that want to become professional pianists you can still teach yourself piano now and then seek out a piano teacher in the future.