Piano Basics · Chapter 9 of 9

How to Practice, and Your First Tunes

A little practice most days, done slowly and calmly, is how every pianist learns. Here’s how to make your practice count, and seven songs to start with.

How to practice

A little, most days. Ten or fifteen minutes on most days does more than one long session a week. Your hands remember better with regular, short practice.
Warm up. Start with something easy, like C position up and down with each hand.
Slow first. Play a new piece slowly enough that you can get every note right. Speed comes later, and it comes from playing it right many times, not from playing it fast.
Hands separately, then together. Learn the right hand, then the left hand, and only then put them together, slowly.
Use the metronome. A steady click shows you at once when you rush or drag. Start at a slow tempo, and raise it a few beats per minute at a time when the music feels easy. The metronome can even do that for you.
Practice the hard part. Find the few notes that trip you up and play just those, slowly, several times. Then play them with a little of the music before and after.
Stop before you’re tired. End with something you enjoy playing.

Your first song

Here is Hot Cross Buns with the real song player. Press Play to listen first: each note lights up in the music and on the keys. Then turn on Wait for me and press Start. The music waits until you play the right key, so you can go at your own speed.

You don’t need to read the music yet. Follow the lit keys and the letter names. In Reading Music you’ll learn what every mark on the page means.

Remember

Short, regular practice; slow first; hands separately, then together.
Use the metronome, and speed up a little at a time.
Practice the hard spots by themselves, then play them in context.

Seven songs to start with

These beginner songs go in order from easiest. Each one opens in the same player, with letter names, slow tempos, one hand at a time and Wait for me. Learn each one hands separately first.

You finished Piano Basics. Next, learn to read the notes on the page, so you can play any song from its sheet music. Reading Music →