Seven Tips on Playing the Piano
Unlock your musical potential - why mastering the piano is key for indie artists

As an indie artist, you must be multi-talented. One thing I’ve noticed sets singers over others in music competitions and generally in their careers is the ability to do something other than sing, like playing an instrument. Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars are masters of the drum and piano respectively. Alicia Keys is also known for her prowess on the piano. It’s like a superpower.

In this article, we’ll focus on people who want to play the piano. I can’t teach you how to play it from start to finish, but I will give you seven tips that will help you and recommend a place to go learn. If you’d love to play the piano, you’re in the right place. Let’s begin…

Seven Actionable Piano Tips

Start with the basics

When I started learning how to play the piano, I went online looking for tutorial videos. There was an army of them, and many promised me the impossible. They promised to teach me how four chords are enough to play a thousand songs. Eager to impress, I dove in. Sure enough, I learned how to play several songs with the G, C, A, and F chords. I felt like a pro. Oh, how wrong I was!

Learning a few chords and practicing some songs is nice, but that’s not the best way to learn piano. I later learned that the hard way. Start from the basics. It takes longer, and it can be boring, but that’s the true way to become a pro.

Warm-up

I’ve seen too many people sit to play and just dive straight into the song. That can be dangerous. Every time you sit to play, warm up first. Crack your fingers, practice your hand movements, play some parts of the song, and whatever you add to your warm-up routine. Think of it as soccer. You wouldn’t arrive and just go straight in to play. You have to loosen up first with some warm-up.

It’s no different from playing the piano. You’re sitting to do it, but your fingers will be working hard throughout. It’s a habit you’ll appreciate down the line.

Vary your pace

When you finally start learning how to play songs, you don’t just want to copy the original play, you want to master it so you can adapt it however you want. A great way to start is to practice varying the pace of your song. If it’s a fast song, slow it down in stages until it’s as slow as you can go. If it’s a slow song, make it faster the same way.

Understanding how the pace of a song works and being able to control your speed is a super essential skill if you’re to become a good performer with the piano. The earlier you nail it, the better for you.

Practice regularly

We don’t need to spend much time here. Practice makes perfect is a lesson I learned as a child, and I’ve continued to apply it in my life with great success. If you want to know how to play the piano while squeezing your face as you belt out a crazy note, you have to practice.

Play every day if you can. My usual advice would be to play at least fifteen minutes a day if you’re busy, and as much as thirty minutes if you can afford the time. Some days you’ll be in the mood and go for an hour, but on the days you feel like giving up, have a minimum that you MUST hit.

Listen

Mastering songs comes largely from listening to them, so even when you’re not seated in front of the piano, you can be listening to music. This is why you must enjoy the songs you play because much of your day should involve you listening to them. Singers know their songs lyric for lyric, but that’s not what you’re there to learn. Forget the lyrics and focus on the music.

Eventually, you’ll learn how to ignore the rest of the instruments and focus on the piano because that’s your focus. It’s good to understand how the different instruments relate, of course, so pay attention to that.

First copy, then remix

One of the ways instrumentalists show their talent is by taking a song and putting their spin on it. Singers do the same thing by covering songs by their favorite artists. While putting your spin on a song is a great way to show skill, it’s also an effective way to show the lack of it. To effectively bend the rules, you must first understand the rules.

Likewise, you must first know the song before you can put your spin on it. First copy it chord for chord and key for key. When you can play the song from start to finish in its original form, you can start putting your spin on it little by little until you have a sound that’s probably better than the original.

Play in public

If you’re to become a performer with your piano, you must learn how to play in public. You don’t have to start playing when you’re struggling to learn the basics. When you’re able to learn and reproduce a song from start to finish, though, never pass up the opportunity to play in public. I know you’ve seen videos of people doing incredible things with public pianos online, but don’t be intimidated.

In fact, you could make videos of your own to post. Sharing your learning journey online is one of the most effective ways to build an audience. Your fans will watch you go from playing Silent Night to toying around with Beethoven pieces, and they’ll love you even more for it.

Final Thoughts

Two categories of artists usually come out on top in competitions, instrumentalists, and performers. That’s why Silk Sonic is so successful despite having only one album. This should tell you the two areas of your music you need to focus on developing. Adding the piano to your list of skills will give you an advantage over artists who are just all about vocals.

There’s a Youtube channel that gives superb lessons for beginners. If you’d like to learn, simply head over to Pianote to get the help you need. Or better still, find a physical music school close to you if you can afford it.