Here’s what to do if your piano playing is “stuck in a rut”

If you love playing piano but are stuck at a plateau, the remedy is simple:

Move laterally

Play lots of simple pieces.

Aim for fluency.

Begin improvising, using the C major scale.

Learn just the bass lines to 10 pop songs.

Play 5 Beatles songs using just the chords.

Learn the simplest piece Schumann ever wrote, and enjoy it for its own sake.

Listen to everything your favorite artist ever recorded, in chronological order.

Accompany kids while they sing.

In general, aim for “fluency,” not only complexity. After all, even professionals play easy music; all the time in fact. Learning hard pieces alone will not make you fluent. Rather, it’s the continual experience of playing easy music that will make you fluent.

Moving laterally will help you reconnect with your love of music and give you the fluency to eventually learn challenging music with more ease and understanding.

BTW, if you want to hear me play a very simple piece of music, click HERE

Enjoy, and good luck with your piano playing!

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