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Do you know about Charlie Parker? He was crap. Six weeks of woodsheding and he more than excelled! That would be hundreds of hours not thousands (and please, no one start quoting the meaningless 10,000 hours rubbish).

I quit.

Go listen to Charlie Parker. Better yet watch and listen!

Talking about M. Argerich:
since she was a pupil of Peter Feuchtwanger (i don't know for how long and to what extent) it surely would be interesting (at least i'm very interested) to know how much influence his teachings had to the development of her incredible technique

It's unlikely. It's only written that he prepared her for the 1965 Chopin competition which she won, but her now brilliant technique was acquired much later.

From what I've read on Wikipedia, it appears much of her basic technique was acquired from her first teacher, Vincenzo Scaramuzza.

I attended a Peter Feuchtwanger workshop, I can see how his work would have lead to Argerich's later brilliance. An OT note: his uncle turned Hitler down for a scenery painting job. Just imagine...

Piano technique is like learning to drive a car you can learn to drive a car but you have to practice in order to really learn so you should drive that car everyday. Nobody knows naturally how to drive a car so it's a skill just like the piano technique.

Actually I've been learning a new piece in the last few days and all the time it's been reminding me of learning to drive. The more you drive the more automatic certain elements get until you sometimes drive and realize you've been unaware for some length of time! Every new piece is like learning to drive again.

"People call me an expert but that is wrong, as I only know the easy parts," as a very clever friend once joked about. (It was about software, not piano playing, but nevertheless it could be applied to anything.)

I believe it was William Westney who pointed out to me that as long as a section feels awkward/difficult to your hands, you don't know it fully. I also believe that a major part of our difficulties are caused by our impatience. We try to play too large chunks too fast. So it all boils down to Graham Fitch's slogan about "the three S": Slow, Separate hands, Small sections.

During the years, I have realized that I must not panic if time leaps and I still sit there with that tricky turn in bar 4, while the whole piece is 96 bars and a little voice inside whispers to me that there are more sections that require my attention and that I must seem very pathetic with this "ridiculously slow progression". You may even feel like the least talented pianist in the world as it cannot be possible that everyone has to work THIS hard with this tiny, tiny section? I mean, so what if your friend seems to learn faster. Or if Lisitsa do it right from first sight-reading. This is YOUR journey, and what counts is the end result, not the start.

When a certain section feels difficult, you must isolate it. You must analyze it and then work with it, separate hands, and so slowly that it is NOT difficult anymore. Your hands will tell you. There will be a moment when you can relax and play without effort, even without thinking. Then you will probably speed up automatically. Just don't make the mistake to leave the three S behind you totally after that. Even if you think you have learned a piece decently well, you must still dismount it regularly and repeat the three S routine, as if it was the first time again. Seasoned concert pianists do it too!

Then there are of course technical exercises - little etudes by Hanon, Czerny, Liszt and so on. Great study material, but don't just play them to keep your hands moving. You can pick one simple exercise, like Hanon 1, and try to be creative with it. Invent variations on your own, experiment with different hand positions, rhythms, intonations. My teacher is a great technique teacher as well. She has forced me to play certain exercises with my fingers resting on the keys all the time, which is a way to develop better finger independence. (And suddenly the "simple" exercise is not that simple anymore ...) She always recommends me to exercise scales, cadenzas and arpeggios in the certain key my present learning piece is in. (At the moment, unfortunately, it is G flat major ... not easy.) And not just that, she wants me to LISTEN as well, to make the scales sound beautiful ... You have to watch your hands carefully during these exercises, you have to analyze how they feel, how your whole body feels, how you breathe. If your hands look like claws, then you know it is not all right!

I believe we have all seen the videos posted by relative beginners, who are very proud to master a piece that really is much above their present skill level. And if you are persistent enough, you can learn a difficult key combination, that is true. But the video audience cringe, because the pianist looks more like a mountain climber than a pianist, and we all understand that this will not end well. And so the good advice drop in: please raise/lower your seat, sit a bit closer/further away, use your arms more, curve your fingers, raise your wrist and so on ... actually you can find these advice all over the web in these days, you just have to realize that they are IMPORTANT.

I think almost all pianists with terrific technique have been taught by excellent teachers. Very few have terrific. high level professional technique without having had terrific instruction.

Just practicing a passage over and over, even very slowly, and even hands separately, will not help that much unless knows what one is doing. There is a lot more to solving a technical problem than repetitive and slow practice. Similarly, just practicing any exercise will not cause a big improvement unless one understands the correct technical approach.

I think almost all pianists with terrific technique have been taught by excellent teachers. Very few have terrific. high level professional technique without having had terrific instruction.

Just practicing a passage over and over, even very slowly, and even hands separately, will not help that much unless knows what one is doing. There is a lot more to solving a technical problem than repetitive and slow practice. Similarly, just practicing any exercise will not cause a big improvement unless one understands the correct technical approach.I think she must have already had brilliant technique when she won the Chopin Competition.

The OP certainly knows who to quote.

I will up the ante to show just how far we have fallen. The same professor's recent lecture, which is in short bits, all very very good:

Dr. John Mortensen on fire

It does not matter how good a teacher you are, if you do not understand the language you recite.

I think there are more than two kinds of pianists and the level of natural technique is a continuum between those with very little and those with a lot. I also think you should at least attempt to ask your teacher for more specific advice on solving technical issues. I think a good teacher should be able to teach the specifics of technique since this is certainly a big part of learning to play the piano. For example, most teachers from Russia will be explaining in great detail the specifics of piano technique from the very beginning if their student is at least reasonably motivated.

YES

Just because he had sensational technique and amazing natural talent doesn't mean he didn't practice a lot to acquire it or that it was learned over night.

Of course this must be true. Although it's possible her technique improved after winning the Chopin Competition, she must have already had sensationally good technique to win it.

Martha Argerich was already brilliant in 1965, and she worked over many years to continually refine her technique. Her technique today is a little different from her technique in the 1970s. It became far more unified in the 80s. There's a lot of people around Argerich who like to say she just has a natural ability, but she herself says she works hard. Obviously in her case it's a combination of both. She has a natural ability and she works hard.

I actually find that the early recording of Argerich have a certain natural freshness which is not always the case for later recordings. For example I much prefer her version of PC1 of Chopin with Abbado rather than with Dutoit and what she played at the Chopin competition (though the record is not of the highest quality) is also wonderful.

The issue with Argerich is that she keeps recording the same staff.

Get a good Tier 2 piano teacher. They can explain technique in a variety of ways, and when they don't know an answer, they go looking for more specific advice. This is what my current teacher does.

Compare this to my 1st teacher: I learned a lot from her, but after a few years, my questions were almost always answered with a demonstration "see how easy it is" or a fingering suggestion, or "practice more and you'll get it". After stopping lessons from her I asked about this; she said that most students either develop their own technique or quit piano.

I'd try out a few teachers with a single lesson to find a good one. I'd bring a piece to play for him/her that I'm having technical difficulties with and see what they suggest. It should be easy to tell the Tier 1 teachers from Tier 2.