How long will it take to play the piano well? This is a common question; however, it is one which no one can really answer.

It is really impossible to say how long it will take to play the piano well. It depends on what you mean by "well". Everyone is different: different age, different skills, different amount of practice time, and different expectations as to what is considered "playing well". A child might consider playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" as pretty good work. Yet, an adult might consider playing "Moonlight Sonata" to completion as a measure of good work. Both students play well and do good work, but the latter song takes longer to accomplish.

When students ask me how long it will take for them to play the piano well, I try do discourage them from thinking about piano in this manner. If I taught all my students to play piano the same way, using the same music, then I might be able to predict their progress. However, that is not how I teach. I personalize the lesson depending on how old the student is, the type of music they enjoy, their style of learning, and what they want out of the lesson. As such, everyone progresses at a different rate and in a different way too.

That being said, the question remains in many parents' and students' minds , "How long it will take to learn to play the piano well?" Here are some general guidelines:

If you are a child of age 5, have never played piano before, are enthusiastic and willing to practice every day; then you might play "well" in 1 to 2 months. Here, "well" means being able to play a simple childhood melody like "Row, Row, Row your Boat". You might be able to play a simple melody which you are not familiar with in 3 months. That would be a reasonable guess on how long it takes to play the piano well. The key here is that the child needs to practice, s/he will not progress unless s/he practices.

If you are 9 or 10 years old and have never played the piano but are enthusiastic and willing to practice, you can accomplish a simple melody in less than one month. You will see real progress in 6+ months. There is a dramatic difference from "never having played piano" to "having had 6 months of lessons" for children of this age group. They are old enough to learn and implement their knowledge (as opposed to memorize). Again, practice is important.

If you are an adult and have never played the piano but are enthusiastic and willing to practice, then you might play the piano "well" in 1 to 2 years. "Why so long?" you might ask. It is because, as an adult, you have different expectations as to what is considered "playing well". You can easily learn "Happy Birthday" in a week, but you would not consider this as playing well. It is just a simple jingle that everyone already knows.

For adults, the issue is more complicated: playing "well" often means playing a song from a famous composer or from a famous Broadway hit. These songs are often not the easiest to play so it will take longer to play them well. Adults also have more things to attend to: college studies, a job, children to raise, so they have less time to practice. Sometimes adults do not practice effectively because they are tired or distracted.

There's also the issue of "knowing more shows you how much more there is to learn". An adult who plays "good" after 1 year of lessons can see how much more s/he needs to learn to be "really good". A child might not be able to distinguish from good to even better; but an adult can. So adults who play well after 1 year will often think of themselves as playing "okay" because they see how much more there is still to learn.

In general, an adult can play piano in 1 year and play the piano well in 2 years. It will take many years - perhaps over 10 years - to play really well. Again this depends on your level of commitment.

Once I had a student who wanted to play a song for a wedding. It was his wedding so he wanted to play the piano really well! He had never played music before and his wedding was in 3 months time. Learning only one song is somewhat difficult and even more so if you don't know how to read music. So I assured him that I could not guarantee that he would be able to learn the song in time. He was extremely determined and he was willing to try. After a couple of weeks of lessons, my student was not happy with his progress. He decided to increase lessons to three lessons per week. I agreed to accommodated his wish but wasn't convinced that it would really work. After a week of 3 lessons/week, my student had not really progressed. I asked him to describe to me his practice routine while at home. I was shocked to learn that he was not practicing at home at all - he didn't even have a piano! He had hoped to learn to play his song by using my piano during lesson time, and that was why he wanted more lessons per week. My student was already very busy and distracted with wedding preparations; he had no musical background; and he did not have a piano to practice on. How long would it have taken for him to play the piano well? It may have taken years to learn one song.

As a teacher, I can tell you what to do, but I cannot predict how long it will take you to do it nor can I guarantee that you will be able to do it.

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