<p>I am interested in learning piano. I was wondering what are the pro and cons of teaching myself piano (there is one in my dorm) versus taking lessons. I played trumpet in grade school, so I can read music (treble at least). I just started college in the fall, so I don’t know how realistic taking lessons while at school would be. I could start lessons over the summer; would taking lessons over one summer be enough to start me off before I head off to school again? My main concern about trying to teach myself piano is forming bad technique, although I don’t know how prevalent that is, plus I don’t know how serious it will end up being. Thanks for any advice you can give.</p>
<p>pros you save loads of money.</p>
<p>cons you can’t add dynamics, and a bunch of other stuff. </p>
<p>if you really try hard you can learn pretty good by yourself tho. it all depends on how good you want to be. is it so you can become a teacher, or just for fuN/?</p>
<p>My D taught herself for two years and this year we started paying for lessons. She practices ALOT and I think that helps.</p>
<p>Lessons will allow you to progress a lot faster.</p>
<p>Having taken lessons for 10 years, there are a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to figure out on my own - how to use practice time and how to approach a new piece, good technique for ornamentation and pedaling, how to add expression to pieces, tricks for coping with random difficulties I had no idea how to tackle, etc. You can learn the basics on your own, but if you already read music and you’re at all serious about piano, you should go for lessons.</p>
<p>I started taking piano in 2nd grade and stopped about a year ago. My rate of progression is nowhere near where it was when I took lessons. There’s also the issue of using the wrong technique. I would definitely invest in some lessons until you know you’re playing correctly and how to use the pedals (although they’re not very hard to use). You’ll also probably learn harder music a lot faster with someone to correct your mistakes early on.</p>
<p>I taught myself piano from some books my mom had- Alfred’s I think they’re called. I’m definitly not a virtuoso or anything, but i can now read music and play pretty well, probably an advanced beginner or intermediate level. Pros you can learn at your own speed and it feels pretty good, but yeah, i have no real technique. If you want to play for your own enjoyment or to accompany christmas carolers or your friends, learn yourself. if you wanna play on stage, invest in lessons.</p>