Common Mistakes That Beginner Pianists Make

Common Mistakes That Beginner Pianists Make

Every person learning new skills goes through some common pitfalls that may hinder progress. As a beginner pianist, there are certain mistakes that come naturally, but that thankfully can be fixed once you become aware of them. Here are some of the most common mistakes that beginner pianists make and what you can do to try and avoid them:

Playing fast

You’ve listened to the piece you are trying to learn and as you’ve become aware of its speed, you try to recreate it perfectly, ignoring the missing knowledge you need to do so correctly. This is something that everyone does when starting out, after all, going at a snail’s pace is not as exciting.

However, the only way to really teach your hands and fingers how to play something accurately is to start out slowly. Since this allows you to spot any mistakes instantly and correct them before they become a habit.

Bad posture

Now, this is a mistake that even professionals might still make, simply because they never worked on correcting it. Keeping a bad posture when playing by slouching over the piano is not only going to cause back & wrist pain, it’s also going to harm your practice. If your body is in discomfort, your hands and fingers will struggle to flow with the music and the tension will lead to more mistakes.

Every time you notice yourself getting too close to the piano or keeping your wrists below the piano keys, take a moment to re-position yourself correctly.

No consistency

Playing the piano is a skill that requires dedication. The more you go through long periods of not playing, the more you slow down your progress. Then, the next time you find yourself trying to recall everything you last practiced, you end up going back to the starting point, or worse, skipping through things and missing out on important knowledge.

Ultimately, it’s more beneficial to do a little every day than to practice for hours one day and then do nothing for weeks. Especially since the repetition of starting out from zero over and over is bound to demotivate you.

Making things harder

Often, the reason one starts to play the piano is that they are eager to learn how to play a specific piece or song. While that’s a great goal to work towards, some beginners might make the mistake of starting their learning journey by trying to play that piece, ignoring how difficult it might be.

This leads to many hours of practice over something that can’t be possibly learned correctly since there is a lack of previous, important knowledge. Instead, make sure you start things easy and work your way towards whichever piece of music you aim to learn how to play.

These are just some of the most common mistakes that beginner pianists make. Please, don't feel discouraged if you've found yourself doing any of these - it's completely normal and most pianists have gone through these. The important thing is to spot these mistakes early so that you can address them and learn from them! Keep on playing.