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Hi, I am fairly new to piano having decided to start it during lockdown.

I've printed off some music scores from sites to play which I enjoy, and have quite enjoyed using Yousician piano app free trial and then 15 mins free allowance daily. However I find I've reached a stage on there where the music speed is getting too fast for me to progress further (there is thankfully a practice option allowing you to slow it down, but you need to complete it at full speed to progress further so I'm basically stuck now).

I'd like to find a proper course where they teach more about technique and finger positioning, not just playing music. I can print out music to play myself after all! I don't particularly like the apps which need to detect your notes either, because the Yousician app at least gave me quite a few errors often when I'm playing the correct notes (and piano has been recently tuned)- it just seems an imperfect system, especially if you need a high% success rate to progress.

Are there some apps people recommend? I had heard good things about Playground sessions and Piano Marvel, but both of their review pages say otherwise (Piano Marvel's reviews being particularly odd- it shows a lot of 5 star reviews, but the only comments in the reviews basically say it's awful and a scam?).

I had considered looking into online teaching but I know that will be a lot costlier and I just like to play piano when I have some spare time during the day, so an app would be best for me if there is a worthwhile one out there. Hope someone can help, thanks smile

This is exactly what you are looking for ....

https://pianoforallrobinhall.com/

Are you sure that's the website you meant to post?

They're selling this for $39 per bottle???

It looks like some sort of a free-riding scam website, unless the guy who put it up just used someone's template and didn't edit it completely....

I've used several apps as a supplement to learning: Piano Marvel (it's not a scam as you suggest above), Playground Sessions, and also Piano in a Flash (which is only for non-classical styles and lead sheet notation).

I tend to get "app burnout" if I only use one app and I shift from app to app depending on the style of music I'm learning. Piano Marvel is best for classical music and traditional music notation. (There is a very long thread on this forum about Piano Marvel where people talk about their progress and ask questions.)

Finally, I know this sounds like a cliche answer to your question, but nothing (and I mean nothing) beats a good human teacher. Apps can teach you how to read music, proper fingering, and they help you strike the right note using the right rhythm. However, they do very little for phrasing, articulation, dynamics, and making your playing sound musical.

Good luck!

I enjoyed Simply Piano as an absolute beginner. It got me to the point I could say "Hey, I can do this!" as well as "I love playing!" After about 6 months of working through the app to where I could sight read both hands in a few different positions I got a teacher to continue. If you're already past the point of where I was then there's probably not much to be gained though I find it still useful to change up my sight reading routines.

Showkey

Yeah .... it is weird.

However, I know it is legit.

I have the product and purchased it from Robin Hall.

I paid much more for it .... 10 years ago.

It is perfect for starting out with quality material that is cheap.



Actually .... here is even a better deal on udemy .....

https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?q=piano

WHOOPS ..... It appears that the good deal (SALE) that was just on there .... disappeared.

Udemy have sales quite often. Just wait a couple of weeks or so and the price will go down.

Udemy has this shady practice. Try to open Udemy.com in a different browser and then search for "Piano" you will see completely different prices. If you don't have another browser just clear all cookies and try again.

Yup. NEVER buy courses from a Udemy at full price. One day, a course might cost $99.99. A few days later, the same course is $14.99. And it’s very often at $14.99.