Piano is no different. People who have always wanted to learn to play, but haven't had a lot of time to devote to it, may be looking for a shortcut, a way to play, at least at a basic level, without a huge investment of time (and money).
So it is no surprise that there would be those who try to capitalize on that desire. They offer books or online courses (even TV shows) that claim "Learn Piano in a Day!" or "Teach Yourself Piano!" They claim to have a method that bypasses all the supposed long hours of lessons and practice. Why would anyone choose the long, possibly difficult path, when there are "shortcuts" available?
Let's explore whether, in fact, there are shortcuts to learning to play the piano.
The shortcuts that you will find all basically boil down to one idea: you learn songs, which of course, being songs, are not originally written to be played on the piano. They are not "piano music." Nevertheless, songs are what a lot of people want to play, because they are familiar with them. You would first need to learn the melody of the songs, played with the right hand, and then you would need to learn chords, or the harmony, played with the left hand. (When people learn to play the guitar, they usually are singing the melody and playing chords on the guitar. It's totally possible and very common to learn to do this on the guitar, at least for simpler songs, providing you can, and want to, sing.)
Let's take each of those elements:
There would be three ways of learning to play the melody. The first is "by ear," which means you just figure it out, using your innate auditory ability, along with some trial and error. Some people can do this but many can't. The second way would be to learn to read music. Musical notation is quite complex, having to convey both the notes and the rhythm, at the very least. So if you can't quite manage to figure out your melodies by ear, you will need to learn to read. Just like when you learned to read English (or any language), you started with VERY simple material and gradually progressed to more complex. Most "shortcut" methods do not teach how to read music, because it takes time and there is really no shortcut. The third way is the "copy me" approach. If your course is online, you would watch the teacher's hands and try to copy exactly. Or, if your book or course has graphics, it may indicate where to place your fingers by means of a dot or other symbol on the key(s) you need to press. Even so, you would need to be quite familiar with the songs, since the dots cannot indicate the rhythm of the melody.
Next, you would want to learn to play chords to harmonize your melody. Again, there are a few ways you might do this. The easiest (or so it may seem) way is for the book or course to just show you which keys to depress for a given chord. Most shortcut approaches will start with three basic chords. There are thousands of songs which can be played with just three or four chords. Or, you could learn to read the chords in actual music notation, but again, reading is a skill that takes time. If you've learned the melody and you only need to use three chords, it seems pretty simple, right? Not necessarily. The two hands doing different things at the same time is the singular challenge of the piano, and you may not be able to master it just by copying someone else. The last method to learn chords -- the best way -- is to really learn the system, the theory, if you will, of chords, which will enable you to learn to construct any chord you want. But again, this takes some time and shortcut approaches wouldn't even try.
I also need to mention that all shortcut approaches will have you playing only in the Key of C, at least for a while, which means you will be playing on all white keys. These approaches will put all the songs you play in that key, which is fine. However, once your course is finished and you find music you want to play that is not in the Key of C, you won't know the chords you will need and won't be able to figure out how to find them.
With shortcut methods, every time you learn a new song you are starting from scratch. You will always need the teacher or the graphics to show you exactly what to play. You won't have learned "the system" or the skills to do it on your own. As soon as the course is done, you may find it difficult, if not impossible, to continue on your own. You may not even be able to remember the songs you have already learned, unless you go back and watch the video again each time.
Another huge problem with all of the above is that no one is watching you, to see if your physical coordination needs help, or if you are doing things in a way which is awkward and prone to give you problems down the road.
It is a classic case of giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish. The shortcut methods give you one fish at a time; they don't teach you the skill of fishing.
My approach to teaching beginners is different. I do stress learning to play melodies by ear, because it is fun, and helps develop your ear, which is essential. (See my post on The Importance of Playing by Ear.) If you are finding it difficult to play by ear, I help you improve that skill. I also teach chords, but I do it by teaching the structure or chords, so you will gradually, over time, be able to find any chord you need. I also teach how to read music. If you already understand chords, for example, it is much easier when you start to read them, because what you are reading will make sense to you.
Learning in this way does take time, dedication, and yes -- money. It is essential to find a highly skilled and intuitive teacher who has an interest in teaching beginners and guiding them through this long -- and rewarding -- process.
It's tempting to find shortcuts. But you may find your shortcut landed you at a brick wall or a dead end.
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