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Don't Waste Your First Year: Master These 10 Things

Learn Piano with Jazer Lee

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Your first year of piano can set the foundation for everything that follows. In this video, I share the 10 most important things every beginner should master to avoid common mistakes and make faster, more confident progress.

👇 Which of these are you already working on? Let me know in the comments!

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🕘 Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:23 Practice Consistently
1:02 Know your Way Around the Keyboard
1:52 Read Music as Patterns
02:28 Develop Good Rhythm
02:57 Coordinate Bothe Hands
03:43 Play with Good Technique
4:27 Understanding Basic Theory
7:15 Use the Pedal Carefully
8:06 Practice Efficiently
9:13 Choose the Right Pieces

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🎬 Check out my other awesome playlists

Tutorials and Tips:
Tutorials and Tips!

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Easy Songs You Can Learn Right Now

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20 Comments

@jazerleepiano Creator 3 months ago Pinned

Which of these 10 things are the hardest for you? 🤔

@simonepoppe3828 3 months ago

For me, the pedal is the hardest :-)

@brainz4882 3 months ago

No. 11 - sightreading while playing (instead of memorizing) 😃

@musicalmystery1993 2 months ago

Every word of this is GOLD, perfect advice for Year 1 (and beyond!). The only bullet point 11 that was missing and is equally is critical is: PLAY AT THE RIGHT SPEED FOR YOU -- which is HOWEVER slow it needs to be to be able to play it with very few mistakes. You don't have to feel like a failure or pressured that you aren't playing it up to tempo. The more times you play it, speed will naturally come. It is FAR better and PRETTIER to play a piece correctly (slower than "standard"), than to play it SLOPPY with "misses" (incorrect notes) because you are rushing it and playing it faster than your body is currently capable of. This goes hand in hand with what Jazer said about "Playing Relaxed" -- it's highly likely if you are rushing it, your shoulders, hands, wrists are all very tense (because you are pushing your body beyond what it is currently capable of TODAY).

@RoxstarJuicebox 2 days ago

very needed. in my first year I DID learn winter wing idea 10 and the first movement of moonlight sonata. BUT its HORRIBLE because I learned no fundamentals whatsoever. thank you...

@lamusamuse 3 months ago

Two hands!

@trevormartin4193 3 months ago

Practicing on a consistent and regular schedule

@spojce9 3 months ago

i totally agree with the point on gains coming from sleeping, which is super weird. like i'll struggle with something for 20 or 30 mins, sleep , and then next day weirdly be a little better at it

@blossom357 2 months ago

I know that, ultimately, the foundational skills are the same and therefore this shouldn't matter, but it does still bother me how dominated the piano teaching space is by classical music. There is this underlying assumption that I want to play Beethoven, Chopin, or Schubert and, while I do like those guys, it's video game composers like Nobuo Uematsu or keyboardists like Stevie Wonder who really inspired me to start playing.

@MarieLouise-e9c 3 months ago

BRILLIANT TEACHER.
I wish all piano teachers were as good as you.
Thank You. X

@Peakyblinders123T 3 months ago

Unrelated Comment : Jazer is regularly going to gym 💪

@angeladavis891 3 months ago

Rhythm is vital - and if trying to play a known piece of music I like to listen to it several times to get the rhythm locked into my head - as without that the result may not be too successful.

@rgsparber1 3 months ago

I agree with all you said EXCEPT the time table. It took me 3 years to get to where you say I should have been in a year. I practice with full concentration for 90 minutes, 6 days a week. At 75 years old, I’m just a slow learner. Please stop putting a time table on learning. It is discouraging.

@tonystewart5162 3 months ago

This may seem weird but I’m hoping it helps someone.

The difference between major and minor keys to me feel line either an excuse or an explanation. In a minor key it feels like the music is tying
to explain something to you where as a major key feels more honest and is more true. Like it goes in your ear with no doubt, like it’s ment to be this way. Minor keys as good as they sound creates questions. Major keys provide answers.

After reading back what I’ve just wrote I hope you understand what I’m trying to put across. As much as it sounds messed up to read, it totally makes sense to me.

@musicalmystery1993 2 months ago

As a guitarist, it really helped me correctly start using the Pedal to realize that it is really a "Reverb Pedal". Wherever you want to add fullness and body (especially when left hand/bass establishes a chord and the right hand continues to play notes in that chord) you use pedal. When the chord changes you don't want those tones lingering around anymore so you let go of it, otherwise they will clash with the new chord because they don't fit with it. The other reason to periodically let go of the pedal (or not apply it) when within the same chord is simply to make the notes "not resonant" but "crisp" so they stand out more. Or if you have a sticatto section - you wouldn't want fat/long/resonant notes, you want them "short and choppy"/brief.

@alloteydominic3 1 month ago

You are a great piano teacher , thank you

@bongkem2723 1 month ago

1. Concistency
2. Know your keyboard (where the notes are)
3. Read music as patterns (chords)
4. Good rythm (beats)
5. Hands cordination (master each hand then combine)
6. Techniques (fingers curve, body relax)
7. Music theory (scales, keys, intervals, chords, major minor, I IV V)
8. Pedal (when to hold/release at next bar/chord)
9. Isolate parts to play correctly
10. Choose right pieces (easy piece first, medium piece to grow, dream piece)