Learn Piano

My hands are small. Like genuinely small. I can barely reach an octave – my pinky has to stretch uncomfortably to hit that eighth note while my thumb holds the first. Forget ninths. Tenths are a fantasy. When I started learning piano at 23, I was convinced this would hold me back forever. Read all […]

June 2020. Five months into learning piano. Hadn't touched my keyboard in eleven days. Wasn't that I'd quit. Kept meaning to practice. Had this goal – one hour every day – and most days I just couldn't. Too tired after work. Other stuff came up. And if I couldn't do a "real" practice session, why

I Googled this question probably 47 times in my first month. Every answer was some version of "it depends" followed by vague platitudes. Super helpful. So here's what nobody would tell me: my actual timeline. Month by month, what I could and couldn't do. Real numbers. Month 1: Chaos. Found middle C. Learned maybe 5

Month two. Trying to play a simple song – melody in right hand, basic chords in left. Right hand doing fine. Left hand just… sitting there. Like it forgot what hands are for. I tell it to play a C chord. Nothing happens. I look at it. It looks back at me. Eventually it plays

Three weeks in, I realized something embarrassing: my ring finger and pinky were basically useless. Like genuinely couldn't move independently. I'd try to lift my ring finger and my whole hand would tense up like I was making a claw. Thought something was wrong with me. Turns out it's normal. Those two fingers share tendons.

Okay. You've got a keyboard. Maybe bought it, borrowed it, found it in your aunt's basement. You're sitting in front of it right now staring at all those keys and you have no idea what to do. Been there. That overwhelm is real. Here's the thing – most "beginner piano" content throws too much at

November 14th, 2019. My 23rd birthday. I'm standing in some guy's garage in Burbank, handing over $147 cash for a Yamaha PSR-E363 that has a sticky D key and smells faintly like cat. He throws in a torn-up sustain pedal. Happy birthday to me. Everyone I told about this purchase gave me the same look.