Q&A for How to Play the Piano

Practice good posture whenever you play. All of your playing power comes from your core, so you want to make sure you're sitting with your back straight and your shoulders down and relaxed. Your hands should be curved with your knuckles up, almost like you're holding a ball, and your elbows should be at or slightly above the keyboard. Then, keep your wrists firm, but they still need to be flexible and not stiff.

It's always best to play piano with short fingernails - I would recommend cutting your nails, otherwise you will hear tapping on the keys!

This is not an ideal situation, particularly if your posture is poor. Your bed likely isn't at the right height for you to play the piano properly. A bed also likely doesn't provide enough support. Look for a used bench at thrift stores, or talk to musicians you know – they might know where to find a used bench. Music stores also often have bulletin boards where customers advertise used music equipment and instruments for sale, so you might check there. You don't even have to get a piano bench specifically, but you should try to find a hard chair that's at the right height for you. Playing with poor posture will put you at higher risk for back injuries and other repetitive motion injuries.

Not at all! To play the piano, you have to use both your left and right hands. People who are right-hand dominant often struggle to play with their left hand. Similarly, you may have more difficulty playing with your right hand, but with practice, you can overcome that.

It's certainly possible that you could learn to play simple pieces with daily practice for 3 or 4 months. This goal is more attainable if you already have some musical background, such as if you already play another instrument.

When you're just learning a new piece, it's a good idea to practice each hand separately, then bring them together only when you can play the 2 parts without errors. That way, you'll be able to focus on coordinating your hands without having to also worry about finding the right notes. Set your metronome at a slow tempo and play the piece. When you can play it at the slow tempo with no errors, speed it up. With more experience, you'll be able to shorten this process.

Scales are the building blocks of chords. Learn scales and then play every other note of the first 3 notes of the scale to form a triad. You can also find chord charts on the internet or download an app that will show you fingering for all of the chords.

You need to work on your finger strength and independence. Doing finger exercises where you move each finger individually will help with this. You can find finger exercises online and do them while you're watching TV. Over time you'll be able to move your pinky independently without your ring finger moving along with it.

Study the bass clef notes so that you know them well and practice the left hand slowly. Only play little sections at a time until you know them well. Don't bite off more than you can chew!

Any person may be able to play piano regardless of their fingers. If you run into any problems, you may be able to rent or buy a piano with modifications so that using the piano is easier. There are people who drum with just their feet, if a person can do that, then a person with different fingers can learn piano.

Unfortunately there is no shortcut to learning the piano. The more time and effort you put into studying and memorizing the notes, the better you will learn them. Practice, practice, practice.

It is difficult but if you really want to get good, put the time and effort into it. Then you should become good in no time.

It would depend on the student's dedication and time spent practicing, but it usually takes years before a good piano student becomes more advanced.

You are never too old to begin learning to play the piano. Go ahead and give it a try. You never know what will happen.

Yes, you could study books, DVDs, or check out some YouTube tutorials.

Not necessarily, but most people prefer it, as it is much more comfortable than standing.

You can, but it is not actually playing the piano, not even close. You probably only use one hand, and even if you use two, the fingering is likely to be wrong, as you would not have the appropriate spacing and as such, you will not learn to play properly. If you learned off a phone app, then say your friend had a piano and they wanted to see you play, you wouldn't do very well, as you wouldn't know the proper sitting positions, hand positions, feet positions or even which pedal to use. However, if you have no access to a piano, it's better than nothing and may persuade a parent to get you a real piano some day.

Depending on the piano, it can cost anywhere from $100 to $100,000+. If you're on a tight budget, search for used pianos online, or keep and eye out for people moving out of your area, as they may need to get rid of a piano and might be easy to negotiate with.

Start practicing easier pieces and playing them a lot until you feel confident enough to move to the next level. It takes a lot of time, so don't get discouraged. Once you get accustomed to the principles, it will get a lot easier.

You can, but it's not recommended as most keyboards don't have the full 88 keys that a piano has. It would be better if you had access to a real piano, but you can practice on a keyboard until Grade 8 if you wish.

The Alfred course is a great series of piano books ranging from easy to hard. I would definitely start with Book One, which has a little bit of the basic stuff, but it also has many songs, too.

Check in with your local music store. If they don't offer lessons there, they will probably have a bulletin board with local instructors' business cards.

Playing by ear is mainly knowing how each note on the keyboard sounds, how the song you're trying to play sounds and going from there. Try starting with the melody and then working on other parts, but it's highly recommended to download sheet music for the song you are trying to play.

Use a metronome to help you keep the tempo. The constant ticking noise can be annoying, but if you get an app, you can personalize it. And no, that isn't unusual.

No, it's not hard to practice the piano, although it might be hard to motivate yourself to practice at times.

Sure! You can take however many lessons per week you feel comfortable with. Personally, I took one lesson per week for a while.

No, game simulation is far different from playing a real piano.

Sit with the middle of your chest facing middle C. If you are a boy, sit with your legs slightly apart (maybe even shoulder width), if you are a girl, do not sit with your legs crossed but do the same and have your legs slightly apart, not quite shoulder width like boys though.

If you don't want to spend too much, purchase a digital piano, as they usually are cheaper and easier to move. The quality of the digital piano depends on your budget. If you want to learn piano and not keyboard, get one with weighted keys and at least a damper (sustaining) pedal or you'll have to upgrade later.

In music theory, chords are clusters of note heads on one stem, the same as all other instruments.