For my first six months, YouTube tutorials were my only teacher. Those falling-bar Synthesia videos where you just copy what you see. Felt efficient. I was learning songs!
Except I wasn't really learning. I was mimicking. The moment I tried to learn a song without a tutorial, I was completely lost.
The dependency problem is real. Synthesia-style tutorials don't teach you to read music. They don't explain why the notes work together. You're following lights, not understanding music. When the lights disappear, so does your ability to learn.
I know people who've been "playing piano" for years and still can't learn a song without a tutorial video. They've built a cage around themselves.
That said, YouTube tutorials aren't all bad. Some channels are genuinely educational. They explain the theory, show you patterns, help you understand what you're playing. These are valuable.
The good stuff: Channels that teach concepts, not just copy-this-note. Tutorials that explain chord progressions and why they work. Teachers who show you how to break down a song yourself. Anything that builds transferable skills.
The bad stuff: Pure Synthesia with no explanation. Anything that just shows you what to press without teaching you why. Tutorials that are way above your level – you can technically copy them but you're not learning.
How to use YouTube well: Watch tutorials for songs slightly above your level – challenging but achievable. Pay attention to patterns, not just individual notes. Try to understand the underlying chords. Then practice reading actual sheet music for easier songs.
My recommendation: Use YouTube to supplement, not replace, actual learning. Spend 60% of time on fundamentals (reading music, theory basics, technique exercises) and 40% on fun tutorial stuff. As you progress, you'll need tutorials less.
The goal: being able to look at sheet music and learn a song yourself. Or hear a song and figure it out by ear. Independence. Tutorials should be training wheels you eventually take off.