What is the Hardest Part of Learning Piano? An Expert Weighs In

Launching Your Piano Learning Journey

Before detailing frustrating skill barriers, as context let’s review fundamentals every beginner must first lock down. Consider these pillars as your foundation to support more complex techniques built on top:

Learning Hand and Finger Positioning

Unlike guitar played using picks, piano involves both hands working in tandem, with assigned finger numbers:

• Right hand: Thumb = 1, Index = 2, Middle = 3, Ring = 4, Pinky = 5
• Left hand: Mirrors the right

Velocity and control come from playing with:

• Finger pad tips – Not flats. Firm final knuckle joint.
• Fingers gently curved – Avoid rigid straight digits.
• Wrists raised – Don’t rest hands/arms on keys hindering flexibility.
• Shoulders relaxed – Reduces tension that limits speed.

This ergonomic hand form may initially feel unnatural but offers the highest agility, accuracy, and stamina long-term.

Reading Sheet Music Notation

Learning the language of written music theory is crucial for identifying what notes match keyboard keys to play. This includes interpreting:

• Clefs – Treble and bass clefs orient the pitch range for respective hands.
• Notes – Symbols on five staff lines indicate pitch and duration.
• Time signature – Sets beats per measure to maintain a steady rhythm.
• Key signatures – Denotes major/minor key and root note at song outset.

When first starting, focus more on hitting the correct keys over perfect timing. Nail down note reading before adding pace expectations. Now equipped with proper context on core fundamentals, let’s explore…

Top 5 Most Frustrating Piano Techniques for Beginners

Having taught hundreds of students spanning kids to seniors, clear patterns emerge around skills typically requiring the most grit and patience to engrain in early stages. Consider these normal piano learning journey hurdles, not demotivating setbacks!

#5: Clean Memorization of Chord Changes

As song complexity advances past basic children’s tunes, remembering the precise order and timing of shifting chord progressions notably challenges newcomers. Without labeled sheet music to provide upcoming patterns, beginners tend to lose track of changing harmonies. This leads to awkward disjointed performances and short-circuiting flow. Specific trouble areas include: Recalling Exact Chord Sequence and Form

• Forgetting the next upcoming harmony
• Messing up several times a progression repeats
• Missing when an inversion or new voicing appears

Struggling With Timing and Rhythm

• Extending some chords too long
• Rushing tempo transitioning between changes
• Fumblingtempo getting back on track after a mistake

Tips to improve slippery chord change memory:

• Utilize method book songs – Chord identities labeled above music
• Practice chord types separately – Isolate major, minor, diminished by root
• Repetition – Ingrain chord changes completely before advancing to new pieces

Cement fundamentals through focused, repetitive drilling. Be methodical – don’t leap ahead performing full songs until essential components feel automatic.

#4: Building Finger Independence

Contrary to the popular assumption that piano should “feel natural”, most beginners struggle mightily to develop individual finger control. Great effort is required to teach digits to operate independently, including challenges like:

• Preventing unintended stray fingers from triggering other notes
• Holding some fingers down on sustained notes while actively striking keys with others
• Avoiding tension when hand spans stretch for wide intervals
• Managing two separate hands seamlessly together

Unfortunately, no shortcuts exist besides practicing targeted finger independence exercises:

• Finger Staccatos – Alternate repeating fingers rapidly
• Finger Glissandos – Smooth chromatic scale finger slides
• Finger Only Playing – Isolate individual digits

Stay determined! This physically uncomfortable phase will pass more quickly through deliberate drilling.

#3: Sightreading Sheet Music with Fluidity

Parsing written notation quickly enough to perform pieces with fluidity and precision is famously challenging for early piano learners. Without the chance to preview music, common sightreading pitfalls include:

• Hesitating frequently – Slowly processing upcoming notes brokenly interrupts harmonic rhythms.
• High mistake rate – Forced to stop, start over once losing place. Difficult recovering.
• Eyes glued down – Impedes watching hand position and movement.

The secret is gradually building sightreading skills by beginning with simpler children’s tunes using mostly one hand at a time. Let accuracy solidify before expecting speed. Mark up new music with sticky notes to guide eyes ahead. Accept a realistic learning curve that accrues through day-by-day practice over months and years.

#2: Infusing Emotion Through Expressive Dynamics

Beyond mechanically striking the correct series of notes and rhythms, imbuing performances with authentic artistic expression represents the zenith of piano mastery…yet the learning journey is peppered with constant reminders of just how distal beginners remain from this musical actualization initially! Approaching a piece holistically by considering elements like:

• Precise crescendos/decrescendos – Gradually raising and lowering volume
• Measured ritardando – Strategically slowing tempo for effect
• Harmonizing pedaling – Depressing sustain pedal to connect tones
• Emphasizing moving lines – Highlighting key melody tones

These impactful techniques require confidence in core technical competency to even focus brain bandwidth on emotional communication atop notes. Begin working dynamics incrementally once technically comfortable performing a piece at a fixed steady volume and speed.

#1: Ingraining Ideal Posture and Hand Structure

As foreshadowed in the fundamentals overview, establishing and sustaining perfect physiological form is pivotal for rapid technical skill development yet extraordinarily vexing for virtually all beginners. Exacerbating matters, poor habits feel deceptively natural making self-diagnosis of issues like these troublesome: Posture

• Slouching – Compresses torso limiting breath and shoulder mobility
• Leaning – Strains neck, wrists and forearms

Hand Structure

• Flat fingers – Reduces control and power descending into keys
• Tight wrists – Limits fluid rotation stunting speed
• Tension – Energy-draining muscle contractions

Commit to vigilant self-checks, using front phone cameras to monitor form. Record videos performing scales or pieces to identify issues of hearing harsh tones resulting from inefficient techniques. Be a self-teacher early and often. Perfect practice makes perfect. Master fundamentals before advancing repertoire.

Smooth Out Your Piano Learning Journey

Hopefully better understanding of the most commonly labeled “hardest” parts of learning piano – be it memorizing progressions, developing independent finger articulation, gracefully sight reading, incorporating expressive musicality, or monitoring foundational form – provides reassurance these hurdles are experienced by all newcomers to varying degrees. You are not alone in finding these fundamentals challenging at the start. This is completely normal! Trust that staying the course utilizing focused method book exercises around problem areas while regularly video recording and watching yourself to celebrate progress works wonders in diffusing the most frustrating barriers. The journey continues, but your skills build every single day. Here are some final tips before signing off: 1. Compare Experiences with Other Students We all secretly think our weaknesses are surely the worst! Discovering peers also struggling makes you feel way more normal. Bond over common hurdles. 2. Record and Catalog Your Achievements Journal your journey highlighting little milestones met. Seeing progressive wins motivates me on tough days. 3. Do Easy Pieces Mindfully Revisit simpler children’s songs applying 100% focus on perfect form, precision, and musicality mastery goals. Learning piano is a monumental and enriching marathon filled with challenges, not a sprint. With grit and patience (mostly with yourself), proficiency will come quicker than imagined. You’ve already taken the first step – commitment! Keep in touch on your journey with any other questions. Now master those fundamentals and unlock your inner musical artistry through steady, mindful determination!

Conclusion

Learning piano can certainly be frustrating starting, with some skills like chord memory, finger control, sight reading accuracy, expressive additions, and posture mastery lagging. Yet seen through a lens of patience focused on celebrating tiny daily growth wins together, initial learning hurdles become far less intimidating. Core foundations patiently built over consistent, mindful practice sessions compound over months into beautiful musical capability reflecting your determined spirit. Trust in this process of incremental advancement, ask peers for support stay motivated, and video record your progress along the winding journey. With a vision toward the artistic heights ahead fueled by appreciation for any growth made today in form and sound, the steep learning curve flattens quicker than imagined. You’ve already begun – now consistently nourish your musical roots day by day. Before you know it, you’ll be harvesting fruits as a confident pianist reaping enjoyment and creative expression for a lifetime.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the top 5 frustrating piano techniques?

Memorizing chord changes, building finger independence, sightreading pieces, playing musically with dynamics, and perfecting hand form/posture ranked most challenging.

Why do finger independence exercises help?

Isolating individual finger repetition builds control stopping unintended key strikes. Changes initially uncomfortable muscle memory.

What sightreading method works well?

Start simpler – children’s tunes or Christmas carols using mostly one hand. Mark tricky intervals with sticky notes. Let accuracy solidify before chasing speed.

When should I add musical dynamics?

Only focus expressions like crescendos once technically comfortable just playing all notes/rhythms correctly at fixed tempo and volume. Baby steps!

How can I check my own posture and hand form?

Use front phone cameras! Record videos of yourself playing simple scales. Audit for tension collapsed wrists, and flat fingers. Compare to good examples.

What if I feel demotivated by the hurdles?

100% normal! Compare struggles with peers. Record/journal small daily improvements. Revisit simpler pieces proving how far you’ve come.

What next steps should I take after learning the basics?

Patience! Rush nothing. Soak up every lesson on fundamentals by applying mindful effort. Little compounds are big over consistent practice over the years.