Ever wonder how long it takes to learn to play the piano or keyboard? In this article we will do a thorough research to answer this question to you readers of my personal blog Kevinbk.
The time it will take you to learn to play the piano will depend on the amount of time you dedicate and the method used to learn. Some prefer to learn the notes and sheet music, while others prefer to learn to play by ear using tools like synthesia.
You may have seen videos of 5 year olds playing absurd things on a piano yourself, while there are others who have been teaching piano for more than 6 years and don't seem to be a piano master.
Many must say that playing the piano is a gift, but there is no such thing as a gift, everything is practical! The problem is that some believe that playing the piano is so easy, they get excited and then give up.
Average time to learn piano and keyboard
Below I am going to share a table that is not at all accurate, but can give you an idea of how long it takes to learn piano. Everything will depend on your dedication of time and the amount of study.
Becoming an Elite Teacher - If you want to become a master at the piano, reaching the maximum level and studying with an elite professional teacher. It will take you about 5 years to reach this maximum level if you study an hour a day.
Learning the basics - If you want to learn the basics, it will take about 1 year studying for an hour a day and with the help of a neighborhood teacher. Depending on your basic idea, it can take a few months to achieve interesting results.
Midway - If you want to reach a level sufficient to read sheet music, play any song, know the notes just by listening, play like a professional and even participate in orchestras. In 3 years you will achieve this result.
The table below shows in detail the time the person takes (average years and months) according to the number of hours per day that he studies and trains. Of course, this time can vary from person to person, but it is an average!
| Time h / d | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced | Professional | Master |
| 15min | 10 months | Four years | 8 years | 15 years | 22 years |
| 30min | 5 months | 2 years | Four years | 8 years | 15 years |
| 60min | 2 months | 1 year | 2 years | 5 years | 8 years |
| Elite 60min | 1 month | 6 months | 1 year | 3 years | 6 years |
Time can gradually increase or decrease according to your routine, teacher, training time, time you spend playing for leisure, time you spend listening to instrumental music, etc. Everything can influence your results, especially your physical and mental state.
Remembering that the time mentioned in this table above, refers only to the time spent on theoretical study, which may include a little exercise. It will take a great deal of time applying your learning to obtain satisfactory results.
Some take more than decades to become a piano master. The cases are different for keyboards, which have slightly different goals. If you want to reach the level of the vineyard, you need decades of playing at least 5 hours a day.
The Piano and Keyboard course you take can also influence the time spent learning to play it.
Piano x Keyboard - Tempo
For some piano and keyboard they are the same instruments, but for musicians, a keyboard allows automatic and easier accompaniment, playing popular rhythms that is not possible with a piano.
Depending on how you intend to use the keyboard, learning the keyboard is much easier than the piano. Some play the keyboard but don't even know how to play those epic songs on the piano, because they only use the keyboard rhythms.
If you want to do the same things you do on a piano on your keyboard, it will probably take as long as someone takes to play the piano. However, if you want to enjoy the keyboard rhythm and learn the lyrics, your time for playing beautiful things can be cut in half.
So I say that if you have a keyboard, you will be able to play any song more easily in less time than a piano. In addition to having other sounds, rhythms and effects to use in your music. The piano function of a keyboard is not its main feature, but it is what many people desire.
The difficulty of time playing the piano and keyboard
Many imagine that piano or keyboard is a very difficult instrument, due to the huge number of keys. I believe that the only real difficulty in learning to play the piano, keyboard or any other instrument is time.
I myself have played the keyboard since my childhood, I learned totally alone using the keyboard instructions, so I never had a good relationship with notes, scores and figures. I still played jaw-dropping songs.
The biggest problem I faced when learning to play the piano is time. Unfortunately, if you don't dedicate yourself daily, you end up forgetting how to play the songs you knew. I myself forgot most of the songs I played in my childhood, with only Canon in D.
Of course, there are many other things to address in relation to time. This also goes for person, effort, patience, procrastination, training, type of training, technique, skill and much more. Everything is a factor that can affect the time of the result and the difficulty.
Keyboards and Pianos to buy on Amazon
As a complement to the article, I want to leave a list of pianos and keyboards from Amazon if you haven't already bought yours. In the middle of the catalog there are also some related books that can be of help to students.
Online Piano and Keyboard Courses
I want to conclude this article with some course recommendations. This time, I'll do the following: we already have an article discussing online piano courses, so I'll just make a list of the courses mentioned in the article. You should visit and draw your own conclusion about which is the best option for you; just click on one of the items below: