Play Piano Online

Learn to Play Piano Online

You can play piano online and get your first lessons in minutes!

You'll be excited by the great piano learning software that can help you start learning piano today, right at home.

Everyday, I get emails from beginning pianists... many of them learning on their own, at home. Successfully!

I love helping students overcome challenges, improve their practicing, or understand why their fingers don't always listen! :-)

I consider all my site visitors my online students, so a big welcome to you! I'd love to help you get started, too.

So let's begin by asking some questions about what you want out of your online piano lessons.

Are you looking for:

• classical piano lessons?
• lessons with a master teacher?
• downloadable or DVDs and books?
• lessons that work for very young students?
• something very budget friendly?
• learning to play from chords and fake books?
• something great for homeschoolers?

Think about you, or your child, and how you will best learn and what you want as the result of your lessons. Think about styles of music you love to play. It will help you make a wise choice in the course you choose!

Which online piano course is best for YOU?

Only you can decide! But to help you narrow your choices, here are the only 4 courses available right now that I think are worth your hard-earned money. That's my Official Piano Teacher opinion! ;-)

They are all good courses, but not miraculous. They all have strengths -- see which course seems to fit what you want (sometimes it's just a gut feeling).

Rocket Piano

Rocket Piano is the most popular downloadable piano course on the web. With good reason. You can start from the very beginning -- knowing nothing about music or the keyboard -- and this course contains enough instruction to get you to a solid, intermediate level.

Rocket Piano consists of 3 method books (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), along with great extras: books on jazz and gospel piano, finger exercises and technique, and an advanced learning techniques book.

To supplement the books, there are 57 video lessons, jam tracks to play along with, and some great little software programs to make learning more fun.

The software is awesome, and well worth the price of the course:

• Jayde Musica: learn to read music with a fun game!
• Perfect Your Pitch Pro: learn relative pitch -- AMAZING
• Chordinator: learn to recognize written chords
• Keycellerator: learn to recognize chords on the keyboard
• Metronome: learn to keep time while you play

Read my full Rocket Piano review for more details on this great course.

Best for: pianists on a budget; people who are at ease with downloading various file types
Upside: incredibly inexpensive, plenty of quality lessons

Downside: lots to download

Learn and Master Piano

Honestly, Learn and Master Piano is the very best course available right now for learning piano at home.

This course has 14 lesson DVDs (each has 2 lessons) and 5 jam-along CDs with all the songs you learn in the lessons. Practice your songs with a full band behind you! You also get a written lesson book that corresponds to the DVD lessons.

But, honestly, the best part of the course is Will Barrow. He's a Grammy-winning professional pianist. Will is a friendly, relaxed teacher whose ease at the piano will inspire you during every lesson. The way he structures the lessons and encourages you to really soak it in, learn slowly and with depth, is exactly what beginners learning at home need. And he's so encouraging!

Even better, you can interact with Will and fellow students online at the Learn and Master Piano forums.

There is also a Homeschool Edition of Learn and Master Piano, which adds a teacher's guide, a 2-year course plan, and a resource DVD. I get lots of questions from homeschooling parents about piano courses and this is a great choice, as long as the children are at least 12. (Learn and Master Piano recommends older students, as the lessons aren't designed for smaller hands).

Best for: visual learners; those who would rather have physical DVDs than downloadable files; students who want less of a classical focus
Upside: great quality, free interactive forums, and a master teacher
Downside: physical DVDs mean this course is a bit more expensive (the equivalent of 2 months of lessons in my studio)

Piano Wizard Academy

Piano Wizard Academy starts with the Piano Wizard video game. Piano Wizard blew me away the first time I saw it! Kids play a fun computer game (like Guitar Hero) matching colors on the screen to piano keys, and over time, the game transitions in 4 stages to reading notes on the staff. Without frustration!

Unlike a lot of piano software, Piano Wizard is actually really fun. So much so that your kids will WANT to play it (and you might find yourself playing after they go to bed). But even though it's serious fun, it's also a powerful teaching tool, and it gets students of all ages reading music easily.

Piano Wizard Academy packages are available with or without a 49-key USB piano keyboard. You get DVDs, lesson books, and sheet music for a 50-song repertoire - about a year's worth of piano lessons. You also get the color-coded stickers for your piano keyboard, to help make learning easy.

Read my full Piano Wizard Academy review for more on this award-winning piano learning system.

Best for: children; students with special needs
Upside: incredibly inventive and intuitive method to gently learn the complexities of music reading
Downside: the priciest of the bunch; needs a keyboard hooked up to the computer

Learning to play piano online, at home, does require some self-discipline!

Being a very self-motivated person helps. You're going to be your own teacher, motivator, and cheerleader. It's up to you how often, how much, and just plain how you practice.

Can you put in some practice time even on days when piano doesn't feel like fun at all? Enlist your family and friends to help you stay on track towards your goal of learning to play.

Schedule time for your piano lessons just as if you were going to a lesson with a teacher. A regular schedule will help make learning piano part of your lifestyle. Otherwise, piano might fall to the bottom of your to-do list when life gets crazy (as it always does).

Take the time to really absorb new learning. As a teacher, the biggest mistake I see happening with my students is that they're in too much of a hurry! We are creatures who learn from time and repetition, so use that to your advantage. Don't be in a hurry!

Repeating new learning (practice) over time (daily) will have you playing better much more quickly than trying to learn something new every day.

Make practicing fun. Clean and decorate your piano practice room so that it's a space you love to hang out in.

More on learning to play piano:

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