Self-Taught Piano Guide

Disclaimer: if you found this guide, I assume you would like to teach yourself how to
play the piano. In any case, I must say that this is not a professional guide, nor do I
have any academic music qualifications. I'm merely sharing my experience and
listing apps / resources that I found useful during my journey. Take it as a foundation
upon which you can build your own learning journey. Use what you like and think will
help you improve, ignore what you don’t like.

Everyone is different so some things might not apply to you.

Hopefully this guide will save you months of research.

 Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Why do you want to play the piano?

2. FAQ

3. How I learned

4. How I would practice if I was starting today

5. Mistakes to Avoid

6. How to Stay Consistent / Motivated

7. Direct Tips to Learn Faster

8. Indirect Tips to Learn faster

9. How the Pedals Work

10. Hand Position / Posture / Bench Height

11. Resources

If You Would Like To Support Me

Appendix

All Major and Minor Scales

All Major, Minor and 7th Chord Arpeggios

Scales Practice Log

Arpeggios Practice Log

Chords Practice Log

 Introduction

If you’re here, you’ve probably come across one of my piano progress videos:

2.5 Years of Piano Progress / Adult Self-Taught (2000 Hours)

4 Years of Piano Progress / Adult Self-Taught (3000 Hours)

Many of you have asked how I learned and what I would do differently if I was
starting today. Since it's difficult to give a detailed answer in a YouTube comment, I decided
to create this guide. In the first 2.5 years of my journey, my focus was on learning as many
pieces as possible in the shortest amount of time. I was just playing for fun, so I didn’t worry
too much about technique.

In this guide, I’ll address some of the most frequently asked questions, explain how I
learned, and share what I would do differently if I wanted to learn piano more efficiently
today. I’ll also offer tips on staying motivated, learning faster, how to use the pedals, and
highlight useful resources, YouTube channels, and apps that helped guide me along the way.

In the end of the guide, you will find all scales and arpeggios, as well as tables where
you can log and track your practice.

After all, what you can measure you can improve.

Important: This guide may change over time, at the same pace as I evolve as
a musician and gather more information. If you would like to be notified of any major
changes, please insert your email here - Notify Me of Major Updates

(Also, some of the links in this guide are affiliate links. If you buy something using
one of them, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your
support!)

Now let’s get into it.

 1. Why do you want to play the piano?

Before you start your piano journey, try to answer these questions: what makes you
want to play the piano? What would you like to achieve? Do you want to learn pieces for
fun? Do you want to learn how to read music? Do you want to play by ear? Become a
composer? Once you know the answer, you should structure your practice sessions in a
way that will get you closer to your end goal. If you want to be an exceptional
sight-reader it doesn’t make much sense to spend a lot of time playing by ear, and
vice-versa.

2. FAQ

2.1. “What pieces should I play?”

In my opinion, unless you want to be a concert pianist, you should only play the
pieces that you love listening to. That’s one of the reasons why I was able to stay motivated.
Personally, playing something I don’t like just because it’s “what I’m supposed to play at a
certain level” didn’t make me feel motivated. Listen to new pieces often, you will know when
you find one that you want to play.

2.2. “How long do you play per day?”

I average around 2h per day, but the amount of time you practice is not the most
important. Rather, you should focus on using your practice time in the most efficient way
possible. Even if you only have 30 min per day, it adds up over time. That’s 15h per month,
180h per year. No Time to Practice? 5 Powerful Solutions for Lack of Time

2.3. “Which piano should I buy?”

The best beginner piano is one that has 88 keys and weighted keys. If you’re not
sure what piano you should buy, the best thing you can do is go to a piano shop and try a
few of them so you can see and feel the piano yourself. If you don’t want to do that, here’s a
list of pianos that I have tried and would recommend:

Beginner Pianos (UK)

Beginner Pianos (USA)

All pianos mentioned above are digital, as that is usually what beginners go for. If you find
that you love playing piano and know that you can commit to it, upgrading to an acoustic
is your best choice. No digital can replicate the action of an acoustic fully.
 3. How I Learned

If you have watched my progress video, you know that the film “Intouchables” was
the reason why I wanted to start playing the piano. The first scene of the film has “Fly” by
Ludovico Einaudi playing in the background. I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to play it.
I searched for other Ludovico Einaudi pieces and I would listen to them on a daily basis.
Years later, I borrowed my friend’s keyboard and started learning “Nuvole Bianche”.

When I started learning, I spent anywhere from 1 to 4 hours a day practicing different
pieces using YouTubow to e tutorials. Again, my goal was to learn the maximum amount of
pieces in the shortest amount of time. I did not care about playing them perfectly - in fact, I
thought that if I started playing scales and learning music theory, I would lose the motivation
to play.

I looked for a tutorial of “Nuvole Bianche” on YouTube and I found a channel that
had tutorials on multiple Einaudi pieces, divided in sections. Learning a full piece might seem
like a tall order when you are a beginner, but if you divide it into smaller sections and focus
on one at a time, it is more manageable. Michael Maiber - YouTube - if you are interested,
this is his YouTube channel). For all other pieces, if I couldn’t find a proper tutorial, I used
Synthesia tutorials (as in the image below) to learn and memorize the notes. Believe it or
not, I learned Arabesque no.1 and Fantaisie Impromptu that way.

Hans Zimmer - A Place In The Sky / Missile Launch (Piano Medley)

Looking back, while this is a fast way to learn when you just want to learn songs /
pieces for fun, it’s certainly not ideal if you know that you want to achieve more at the
piano. That is because you aren’t actually learning any valuable / transferable skills,
such as sight reading or playing by ear.
 4. How I Would Practice If I Was Starting Today
After uploading my 2.5 years of piano progress video, I realized I wanted to get more
out of the piano, so I booked a private piano lesson for some guidance.

Although I don’t regret the way I learned (after all that’s what kept me motivated at
the time), I can admit that it was not the most efficient way (unless you exclusively want
to play for fun).

Back in the day, I just wanted to play for fun. Nowadays, I know that I want to
become good at composing my own music, creating epic piano arrangements, being able to
learn my favorite classical pieces using sheet music and even play by ear, so it's important to
learn some music theory.

As a self-taught pianist, I found that most Music Theory books are fragmented and
costly, often split into 5-8 grades at £10 per book, plus separate books to learn scales and
arpeggios. So I decided to create the book I wish I had when I started: an affordable,
all-in-one guide that covers everything from basic music terms and piano anatomy to all
scales and arpeggios, chords, inversions, chord progressions and how to read music.

While this Self-Taught Piano Guide emphasizes practical skills, the Music Theory
eBook offers a solid foundation to help you understand musical concepts more deeply,
enhancing your ability to apply them effectively.

If you’re interested, you can find it here: Music Theory Unlocked (eBook)

If I was starting today, I would divide my piano sessions into 2 sections - practice
and fun. Before actually starting to learn the pieces I wanted to play, I would dedicate
anywhere from 5 - 10% of the practice time to ear training / sight-reading (depending on
whether you want to become better at reading or playing by ear).

Then I would dedicate another 5 - 10% to technique (scales, arpeggios) - you can
find all scales and arpeggios in the appendix of this guide.

Tip: Dedicate the amount of time that you know you can stick to. It doesn’t have to be
5-10% every day. The most important thing is that you can do it consistently.
 4.1. Practical Example

Imagine you want to learn Chopin - Nocturne Op. 72 No.1 and you have 1h:

4.1.1 Find which key the piece is written in - in this case it’s E Minor

4.1.2. Practice sight reading or ear training (or both) in E Minor

a) If being good at sight reading is one of your goals, dedicate 5 - 10% of your
practice time (5 to 10min) to sight reading pieces in E Minor that you have never
played before. That will help develop your ability over time. As you get better,
increase the difficulty of the pieces you’re reading. Once you get comfortable with
that, start doing some sight-reading exercises and increase the difficulty as you get
better.

Free resource to practice sight-reading by levels: Sight-Reading Factory

If you prefer to learn with books: Beginner Sight-Reading Exercises

If you are a total beginner, practice reading the C Major scale while you play it on the
piano. Then move on to arpeggios. Once you feel confident,
start reading easy pieces in C Major.

b) If your goal is to play by ear, dedicate 5 - 10% of your practice time to training your
ear. You can do pitch recognition exercises, interval recognition, learn the most popular
chord progressions, try to identify the chord progressions in popular songs, improvise, put
together your own pieces while practicing chord progressions, etc.

If you are an adult beginner and you don't have much free time to research on your
own, you may want to check out Pianoforall - for the price of a 1 on 1 private lesson with
a piano teacher, you get lifetime access (on all your devices) to loads of step by step
video lessons, interactive eBooks and over 1000 audio lessons that will get you from
an absolute beginner to playing your favorite songs. Plus, you have access to dedicated
email support and lifetime free updates.

And the best part - if you are unsatisfied with your purchase, you have a 60 day
money back guarantee - no questions asked. Check it out - Pianoforall
 Alternatively, Rocket Piano is a slightly cheaper course that offers step-by-step
lessons, video demonstrations, and high-quality sound files and ebooks that take you from
beginner to advanced. All in all, both Pianoforall and Rocket Piano are great if you would
like to learn the songs you love by ear and master improvisation.

4.1.3. Practice Technique (Scales, Arpeggios, Chords)

Dedicate 5 - 10% of your practice session to practicing the E Minor Scale - this will
help you develop independence, strength and dexterity.

You can find all scales and arpeggios with fingerings in the appendix of this guide,
You can also find practice sheets in the last 3 pages.

Print them and fill them out each day so you can measure your progress. If you start learning
a piece in another key, repeat the process but in that key. Besides working on your
technique, finger strength and dexterity, you will also learn some music theory.

Example: set your metronome to 60 bpm (or any speed you can play the scale in
comfortably, producing a smooth and even sound and without any tension - be realistic).
Practice the E Minor scale with the right hand until you can play it 4x without mistakes
(ascending and descending, across 2 octaves). Then do the same for the left hand. Then
both hands together. On the following day, increase the metronome speed by 4 - 8bpm and
repeat the process.

There are loads of exercises that you can do to get better. A few examples:

- play with both hands in similar motion

- play with both hands in contrary motion
- play legato / staccato
- both hands together but starting on different notes

How To Practice Piano Scales: 12 fun and different ways to play your scales (short vid…
How to Practice Scales and Arpeggios on the Piano
All 12 Major Scales | Just the Fingerings
 If you want, you can also practice the parallel scale (E Major) or the relative major
scale (G Major).

Note: Relative keys use the same notes but in a different order.
You can check all relative keys through the circle of fifths:

Once you get comfortable with scales, do the same for arpeggios.

4.1.4. And finally, learn to identify chords - triads and 7th chords are very common.
If you learn to identify the patterns, it becomes easier to read music. And if you learn to
identify what they sound like, you become better at playing by ear. Below you can see triads
in root position, as well as the 1st and 2nd inversions:

Whether it’s a major or minor key, triads in root position always look the same (3
consecutive lines or 3 consecutive spaces). Similarly, the 1st and
2nd inversions always look the same.
 After practicing scales, arpeggios, and chords for a while, you'll begin to recognize
common patterns. The good news is that these patterns frequently appear in sheet
music, allowing you to play them more instinctively. Instead of reading individual
notes, focus on identifying patterns - just like how you recognize words without
reading each letter.

4.1.5. - Play whatever you want to play / just have fun

During the time you have left, just play whatever you want to play.

This is the best video I have watched on how to practice pieces correctly (it applies to
all pieces): Correct Piano Practice: a Step-By-Step Holistic Guide. Practicing Chopin's …

And here are some good videos that will help you structure your practice:

1. How to get the MOST of your Practicing Session

2. This Piano Practice Routine Covers EVERYTHING
3. What is the best PRACTICING ROUTINE?
4. No Time to Practice? 5 Powerful Solutions for Lack of Time
5. How to Learn Piano as Fast as Humanly Possible (COMPLETE)

I believe this is a solid way to structure your practice if you are self-taught. Because
you’re only practicing technique / theory / reading / ear training for 10 - 20 min a day,
you don’t feel like it’s a chore and it builds your knowledge up over time.
 5. Mistakes to Avoid
When you’ve reached the point where you’re serious about learning piano,
here are some common mistakes to avoid:

5.1. Playing With Tension

Probably one of the most important things to get right from the beginning. Avoid
tension while playing by regularly scanning your body for tightness and focusing on relaxing
your muscles. Keep your wrists loose and flexible, ensuring they can rotate comfortably as
you play. Maintain good posture and take breaks to stretch, if needed. These habits will
improve your sound and help prevent injury.

Because most tension derives from improper technique, you should focus on
developing good technique from the beginning.

Here are some useful videos to watch on technique / relaxation:

1. How to Avoid Piano Injuries | Get Rid of Tension and Pain [Hand, Wrist, …
2. What every Beginner MUST know about Piano Technique
3. Piano Techniques: Finger, Wrist, and Arm Functions - Josh Wright Pian…
4. 3 Tips To Play Piano Faster, Lighter, Tension-Free
5. Quick Technique Fix: CHOPIN Fantasie-Impromptu op.66

5.2. Lack of Musicality

Practice with intention - aim to be able to convey emotions through the pieces you
play, rather than just memorizing how to play notes.

"To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable."

- Ludwig van Beethoven

Secrets of Piano Tone Revealed | Piano Lessons

Play Beautifully and Comfortably

I highly recommend checking out Antune’s channel - his tutorials are

incredible! He not only teaches you how to play the notes but also emphasizes proper
arm, wrist, and finger techniques. If you’re a beginner, I can’t recommend it enough. I
discovered his channel later in my journey, and it was a game-changer in helping me
approach piano playing as more than just finger movements.

Here’s a playlist of his simpler tutorials - Tutorials / Category A - YouTube

 5.3. Practicing Way Too Fast

Avoid the temptation to play pieces too quickly. Practicing at a slow pace allows your
brain to process the information thoroughly and minimizes mistakes. Use a metronome,
starting at a comfortable speed, and gradually increase the tempo. Once you reach your
target tempo, try practicing 10 bpm faster to boost your performance—similar to training with
extra weight, where removing it makes you feel lighter and more agile.

It may seem counterintuitive, but practicing slowly will actually help you improve faster.

How To Practice Slowly and Why It's Important

5.5. Lack of Mindfulness

Minimize distractions during practice and focus on both your body and the sound
you're producing. Avoid mindless repetition - make sure that any repetition is purposeful
to prevent reinforcing mistakes. If your concentration starts to slip, take breaks, as deep
focus is essential. Break your practice into manageable sessions (45-50 minutes with a 5-10
minute break) to stay engaged. It's more effective to practice for 45 minutes with full focus
than to spend 3 hours constantly distracted.

Why REPEATING a spot ENDLESSLY 𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐏 | Better Practicing Strategie…

5.6. Only practicing pieces far beyond your level

It's great to challenge yourself with pieces above your current level, but you may get
burned out quickly if that's all you practice. Try mixing in easier pieces. This helps you
build essential techniques, which will ultimately make tackling the harder pieces more
manageable.
 6. How to Stay Consistent / Motivated

6.1. Remember why you started

Why did you start playing the piano? Why do you want to play the piano? Write this
down and come back to it whenever you feel unmotivated. You can update your “why” as
you go along. When I started, I just wanted to be able to play the pieces I enjoyed listening
to. Then I wanted to compose my own pieces. Right now I want to make epic piano
arrangements. Ultimately I think I would like to become a film composer. Let’s see how that
goes.

6.2. Take inspiration from other artists

Look for artists that you identify with / you want to play like or that simply inspire you.
During my first year of playing the piano, I would listen to many other YouTubers / artists that
I aspired to be like one day.

In the beginning, that was Ludovico Einaudi. Later on, I found Patrik Pietschmann
(film music) - my biggest inspiration to this day. The way Patrik arranges film music for piano
is mindblowing. I recently started making my own piano arrangements so I find myself going
back to his videos for ideas / inspiration.

Check out one of my arrangements here:

Hans Zimmer - A Place In The Sky / Missile Launch (Piano Medley)

This is the piece that took me the most time to learn and play perfectly. Along the
way, it crossed my mind more than a few times that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Whenever I
felt like that, I reminded myself that I needed to silence that voice in my head and practice
much harder if I wanted to even come close to that level.

Another of my biggest inspiration sources is Traum Piano (although I will never reach
that level, it’s incredibly inspiring to know that one can achieve such mastery at anything in
life)
But remember, use them as inspiration, do not compare yourself to them.

6.3. Go to concerts

If you have the chance, go to concerts. Watching your favorite artists play live is
incredibly inspiring. I started composing my own music straight after watching Ludovico
Einaudi live for the first time.
 6.4. Only play the pieces you love listening to

Sometimes I found myself not wanting to practice because I was trying to play
pieces that I didn’t really enjoy listening to. When you play pieces you like, you don’t have
that issue.

6.5. Set realistic goals

If you are self-taught and you aren’t following any plan, it’s easy to lose direction /
motivation. Try to set some short term goals and some long term goals.

Example: in 1 month, you want to learn Nuvole Bianche / a Chopin Prelude, in 3

months you want to learn a slightly more challenging piece and in 1 year you want to learn
10 Einaudi pieces / pass Grade 2 exam. You can choose whatever goal you want. It should
be challenging but realistic. Your short term goals should work in favor of your medium and
long term goals.

You can also set daily goals, such as “today I will learn 2 bars of a piece and I will
practice the A Major scale.”

Also, be realistic with the time it takes to learn complex pieces. Mastering the most
complex classical pieces can take months, so don’t give up if you haven’t learned the 3rd
Movement of Moonlight Sonata in 2 weeks.

6.6. Record yourself

Make a habit of recording yourself. It’s often easy to think you haven’t made any
progress, but if you have a previous recording to compare yourself to, you will quickly realize
that it’s not true.

When you listen to your recordings, critique them as if they were someone else’s.
Would you willingly listen to that player? If not, why not? The answer is what you
need to work on.

(If it’s your thing, start a YouTube channel. Maybe one day you will be sharing your
own progress and inspiring other people.)

6.7. Do not compare yourself to others!

I cannot stress this enough - do not compare yourself to others, especially to those
who have been playing for way longer than you. Everyone has different practice routines,
different habits, different biologies, different sleep schedules, different motivation levels, and
the list goes on. Use other people as motivation, but do not compare yourself to them.
Instead, compare yourself to how you were playing yesterday, last week, last month, last
year. (that’s why recording yourself is important)
 6.8. Play in public

If you have public pianos available where you live, don’t be shy. Go play them! Not
only do you get more confident at playing in public, but most of the time people will
encourage you to keep going. As a bonus, you might meet other people who are on the
same journey as you, as well as others who are more advanced and you can learn from.

If that's too much for you, start by playing for your family/close friends until you
become confident enough to play for strangers. Most of the time people don’t care if
you make mistakes and most people will encourage you just for putting yourself out
there.

6.9. Take occasional lessons for guidance

Piano lessons can be quite expensive, and I believe that’s what prevents a lot of
people from having a teacher. After being self-taught for 2.5 years, I decided to try to have a
few lessons occasionally, mainly when I was struggling with something specific or needed
guidance to progress more quickly. If you take the occasional lesson, it’s no longer that
expensive. Many teachers will help you work on what you want to learn, rather than it being
a rigid practice schedule.

6.10. Make sure you’re doing things that get you closer to your
goal

Once again, if your goal is to be an excellent sight reader, you should spend more of
your practice time on sight reading new pieces, rather than using tutorials. If you want to
learn how to play by ear, you should spend more time training your ear and learning the
most common chord progressions. And so on. It’s easy to lose motivation if you have no
direction.

6.11. Eat healthy, sleep properly, exercise

At one point during my journey I stopped going to the gym to spend all my time
playing the piano. I thought that would help me make progress faster. I started to get
unmotivated and burned out. That changed quickly when I started going to the gym and
paying more attention to what I eat. Healthy body, healthy mind. If health is not one of your
top priorities, you probably won’t be able to feel your best to achieve your other goals.
 6.12. Change Course

If all else fails, if you feel burned out or if your initial goal no longer motivates you,
take a break or try experimenting with other genres. It might be refreshing. I have had to
adjust course multiple times.

6.13. Join a Community

Consider joining a community of people who share the same goals - in this case, a
community of adult / self-taught pianists. Because my progress video has had so many
comments from adult beginners who can relate / were inspired to start playing, I have
created a Discord Server for all of you to interact with each other, share your
progress, exchange feedback and tips, keep each other consistent and motivated.

It is still very basic, but once it has more members I plan to have some challenges
and some other cool stuff. Feel free to send any suggestions, we'll figure it out along the
way. If you're interested, click here to join. I truly hope it's useful.
 7. Direct tips to learn faster

7.1. Again - only play the pieces you love listening to

When you find that piece that connects to you, you pay close attention to it when
you’re playing, so naturally you learn faster.

7.2. Use a metronome

Imagine you are learning a new piece and you found a challenging part. On day 1,
practice that section at 80bpm until you can play it perfectly 4x in a row, then increase the
speed by 10 bpm on the next day (if 10 bpm is too much, increase by 2 or 4, whatever helps
you). Do this until you reach the desired speed. This is much more helpful than trying to play
at full speed and making a lot of mistakes.

In short: don't practice wrong notes.

7.3. Use a timer

If you give yourself a time restriction, you’re more likely to use your time efficiently,
thus reducing the amount of time you need to learn what you want to learn.

7.4. Invest in Individual Piece Courses

If you really want to learn a piece but you can’t afford / don’t want to take lessons, it
might be worth investing into individual piece courses.

Both Josh Wright and Denis Zhdanov have comprehensive tutorials on different
pieces and they are around $15. It might be a great alternative if you don't want to spend
money on lessons or you just want to learn a specific piece. The first 10min of the lessons
are usually free on their YouTube channels.

https://joshwrightpiano.teachable.com/courses/
https://pianoskillsandmagic.teachable.com/courses/

III. PRESTO AGITATO Masterclass from a "Moonlight" Sonata by Beethoven

Tips for Beethoven "Moonlight" Sonata, Op.27 No.2, iii. Presto Agitato (3rd movement)
Never stop learming

7.5. Watch the video below:

How to improve learning speed?

 8. Indirect Tips to Learn faster
(These are more subjective and may not have the same effect on different people.)

8.1. Sleep 7-8h

Imagine you are practicing a section of a piece. Besides all the obvious sleep
benefits, when you are sleeping, your brain will replay that section you were learning at
around 20x the speed. That is why you can play better after a good night of sleep. Learning
is accelerated even more if you dream about it during sleep. Since you get more of your
REM (dream) sleep in the last few hours of rest, aim to get as much of it as possible.

Here’s an incredible science backed podcast on sleep and how it improves learning:
Dr. Matt Walker: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep

And also an incredible book written by a sleep scientist / neuroscience professor on

the benefits of sleep, including learning motor skills:
Why We Sleep (UK) / Why We Sleep (USA)

8.2. Try meditation / non-sleep deep rest protocol / yoga nidra

If you are struggling with a particular section of a piece, practicing it over and over
might not be the best option. There's only so much information your brain can retain.
Instead, try this: set the metronome to a slow speed and practice it for 10 - 20 min. After that,
meditate / follow a non-sleep deep rest protocol for 5 - 10 min. This will give your brain time
to unwind and retain the information.

I have done this multiple times and have noticed an improvement. I don’t do this all
the time, only if there is a specific passage I’m struggling with. It might not work for
everyone, but give it a try and find out.

Here's a good guided meditation / NSDR video you can follow:

#NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest) with Dr. Andrew Huberman

 8.3. Use learning cues (harder to track but might be worth trying)

This might not work for everyone and I’m not 100% sure it works for me, but it
doesn’t hurt to try it.

- Use a metronome during your practice and then sleep with the metronome playing
faintly in the background
- Use perfume while you are learning and then go to sleep with the same perfume on
- Use anything else that activates one of the five senses during your practice and use
that again during sleep

During sleep, while your brain is replaying the practice, learning can be accelerated if
one of the five senses is involved. Here’s an incredible science-backed podcast on
how to learn skills faster: How to Learn Skills Faster | Huberman Lab Podcast

8.4. Visualize yourself playing

If you have some time to kill and you don’t have a piano, you can still practice. Close
your eyes and visualize yourself playing, focusing exactly on the keys that you would play if
you were sitting at the piano. Visualization is not a total replacement for physical practice but
it can support it well and compound the rate of learning.

Additionally, you can visualize playing while lying in bed, preparing to sleep. I’ve
found that this not only helps consolidate my memory of the piece but also allows me to fall
asleep much faster. Give it a try!
 9. How the Pedals Work

Most pianos have three pedals located at the base, as seen in the image above.
From left to right, these are the names and functions:

9.1. Soft Pedal / Una Corda

The left pedal softens the sound by shifting the action of the keys slightly to the side,
so the hammers only strike one or two of the strings per note instead of all three (on grand
pianos).

9.2. Sostenuto / Muffler Pedal

Found on some grand pianos, this middle pedal sustains only the notes that are
being held down when the pedal is pressed, allowing other notes played afterward to sound
without being sustained. An example

9.3. Damper / Sustain Pedal

This pedal, usually the one on the right, sustains the sound of the notes even after
you release the keys. It creates a fuller, more resonant sound. As a rule of thumb, you
release and repress it every time your bass note changes.

If you’re curious to see an in-depth explanation on how a

Grand Piano works, watch these 2 short videos:

1. What Happens When You Press A Key On The Piano

2. What Happens When You Press The Pedals

 10. Hand Position / Posture / Bench Height

Your hand position at the piano should be the same as your natural hand position
when you’re standing with your arms next to your body, relaxed. Your fingers have that
natural curvature. When playing scales, arpeggios, chords, etc., keep your wrists and fingers
relaxed, use your arms and elbows to help move your fingers across the keyboard.

The optimal bench height is one that allows your arms to be approximately parallel to
the floor. Make sure your elbows are neither much higher or much lower than the keyboard.

Useful Videos:

1. The 5 Basic Elements of a Correct Piano Posture

2. The Chopin Method (Posture, Hands, Fingers)
 11. Resources

11.1. Books

Music Theory Unlocked - A Fast Track Guide for Self-Taught Pianists

Other Music Theory Books (UK) / Other Music Theory Books (USA)

11.2. YouTube Channels

Antune - Best Classical Tutorials

Denis Zhdanov - Theory / Technique
PianoCareer - Theory / Technique
Josh Wright - Theory / Technique
Sonata Secrets - Theory / Score Analysis
Piano Secrets - Classical Tutorials
cedarvillemusic - Theory / Technique

Michael Maiber - Ludovico Einaudi pieces

Rousseau - classical music (synthesia)
Patrik Pietschmann - film music (advanced)
Traum Piano - best classical channel (advanced)
Piano Lab - Theory / Technique
Piano From Scratch - for beginners
Piano Lesson With Warren - Theory / Play by Ear
Matthew Cawood - Theory / Play by Ear
LessonsOnTheWeb - Theory / Technique

11.3. Apps / Courses

Active Ear - pitch recognition, interval recognition, inversions, chord progressions

Pianoforall - affordable comprehensive course with video lessons, interactive ebooks and
60 day money back guarantee

Rocket Piano - similar to Pianoforall, slightly cheaper

11.4. Gear / Equipment

Gear / Equipment (UK)

Gear / Equipment (USA)

If You Would Like To Support Me:

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Subscribe / follow me:

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Join my Discord Server:

Discord
 Appendix

All Major Scales

All Harmonic and Melodic Minor Scales
All Major and Minor Arpeggios
All 7th Chord Arpeggios
 Scales Practice Log (Example)

DATE SCALE BPM SPAN COMMENTS

1/1/24 C Major 60 2 octaves, right practiced for 5

hand min

2/1/24 C Major 60 2 octaves, left left hand needs

hand more practice

3/1/24 C Major 60 2 octaves, both repeat

hands tomorrow

4/1/24 C Major 60 2 octaves, both smooth, 70 bpm

hands tomorrow

5/1/24 C Major 70 2 octaves, both smooth, 75 / 80

hands bpm tomorrow

6/1/24

7/1/24

8/1/24

9/1/24

10/1/24

11/1/24

12/1/24

13/1/24

14/1/24
 Scales Practice Log

DATE SCALE BPM SPAN COMMENTS

 Arpeggios Practice Log

DATE ARPEGGIO BPM SPAN COMMENTS

 Chords + Inversions Practice Log

DATE CHORD BPM SPAN COMMENTS