At least you can play the piano which is cool af, I'm trying to learn but I'm hardly making any progress
Speaking of which, do you have any advice for an aspiring player who's studying on his own?
Most people end up feeling frustrating and giving up, even if you don't make progress it's important to keep practising. ''Practice makes perfect'' is real and it applies so much more when you want to learn an instrument. If you aren't very disciplined then follow a schedule, practice at the same time every day or something like that, it's really important to do it every day even if it's only for 15 minutes.
You should invest in private classes even if it's just once a month and the rest of the time you are learning by yourself, even a masterclass once a year it's better than nothing because sometimes we aren't conscious of the mistakes we are making, especially as a beginner, now you can get classes online so try to get as many as you can.
A metronome is your best friend, especially if you don't have a great sense of rhythm, you don't have to buy one, you can search it up in youtube ''metronome 50(just an example, it can be any number you need) bpm''.
You are probably already doing this but watch a lot of videos, both of people just playing and of people teaching how to play, you can find good material.
Don't only practice when you feel like it, even if you are sad or upset you should do it, let the piano soothe you, plus it's great for developing a strong will. You probably won't get really good if you only play when you are happy.
Find creative ways to keep interested and motivated, you can challenge yourself, or even sing up for events where you can play in pubic. It's extremely important to play for an audience as much as you can, and to receive feedback; if you get negative replies use them as motivation instead of letting them bring you down.
Always practise slowly, and once you are already good at the piece you speed it up, how accurate you play is by far more important than how fast yo do it; focus on the difficult parts; sing the melody before you start to play, that really helps, and listen to it a lot.
Listen to piano music constantly, that's the best motivation, also watch important piano competitions (for me the ones with little kids playing perfectly the most difficult pieces are an instant motivation to go practice).
Scales are boring but they are extremely important, practice them every single day
Play music that you actually enjoy, train your ear as much as possible, and try to memorise the music, not just read it. Learn as much music theory as you can, don't think it's not important. And lastly, don't compare yourself to others, and record your playing, so you can see your improvement.
