Master These 7 Piano Skills to Play the Songs You Love at Any Age

Learning to play the piano as an adult can be a rewarding and enjoyable hobby, but it can also be challenging.

One key to making progress and having fun while doing so is to focus on the 7 most important piano skills: playing with chords, counting rhythms, making scales into music, mastering basic left-hand patterns, playing with musicality, spontaneous improvisation, and using notation appropriately.

By mastering these 7 piano skills, an adult piano student can easily play a wide range of music and improvise their own compositions.

In our free Piano Jumpstart course, you’ll learn about these musical elements and how you can use them to play the songs you love.

Piano Skill #1 - Playing with Chords

Chords are groups of three or more notes played together, and they form the foundation of much of the music we hear.

Understanding how to play and create chords on the piano is essential for accompanying melodies and creating harmonies. Combine this one skill with the use of a great fakebook or play-along track and you instantly level up your piano skills.

Piano Skill #2 - Counting Rhythms

Rhythms, or the patterns of long and short sounds and silences in music, add interest and energy to a composition. Being able to play and feel various rhythms is crucial for bringing a piece of music to life.

Learning to count rhythms using a simple method is an essential skill for the piano so you can learn new songs quickly and be able to feel the rhythms you play internally.

Piano Skill #3 - Turning Scales into Music

Scales are sequences of notes played in a specific order, and they are the basis for much of the music we hear.

Knowing how to play scales on the piano is essential for understanding many music theory concepts and for improvising solos and melodies.

When you learn to turn a scale into music it’s no longer just a boring theoretical exercise but instead an alphabet to create the unique musical story you want to tell with your piano playing.

Piano Skill #4 - Mastering Basic Left-Hand Patterns

Patterns, or repeating groups of notes, can be found in many pieces of music and are an important aspect of playing the piano. Recognizing and creating patterns can help a pianist play more smoothly and with greater musicality.

The skill of playing basic patterns with the left hand can help make anyone a better sight reader and able to learn new tunes quickly.

Piano Skill #5 - Playing with Musicality

Musicality, or the ability to express oneself through music, is an important aspect of playing the piano. It involves using dynamics, phrasing, and other musical elements to bring a piece of music to life.

Playing with musicality is a piano skill that transforms your playing from sounding amateur to commanding a listener’s full attention.

Piano Skill #6 - Spontaneous Improvisation

Improvisation, or the act of creating music spontaneously, is a valuable skill for any pianist to have. It allows keyboard musicians to express themselves in unique and creative ways to play solo or spontaneously with others.

Developing improvisation skills at the piano is a great way to not only play the songs you love but make them your own.

Piano Skill #7 - Using Notation Appropriately

Musical notation, or the system of symbols used to write down music, is important for being able to read and play a wide range of music. It is also useful for communicating musical ideas to others efficiently.

But many piano players get caught up in the details of overly complicated music notation and give up too easily on understanding the foundations of notation. Building the skill of reading standard notation using fake books can be simple and rewarding for all levels of piano players.

Ready to Begin Mastering these 7 Essential Piano Skills?

By learning and mastering these 7 piano skills, an adult piano student can improve their playing while having more fun with greater ease. And that’s exactly what we work on during every online group lesson in our VIRTUOSO Piano Club as we work our way through the curriculum of Piano Essentials.