Anton Rubinstein was asked what was the hardest when he learned piano.
– Paying for lessons – was his answer.
No doubt, that one should better learn piano with a personal teacher. No questions about that, no argue. But it is not so easy to do than to say, as the endeavor costs quite a money, taking in additional consideration cost for an adequate instrument, many years of study and huge amount of practice time, which probably would be deducted from your activity to earn those money. Therefore, it is not surprising that many adults start piano by self-teaching, however unproductive and sometimes dangerous it might be.
I went the road of self-teaching for over than 40 years after few years of formal music education in my childhood. It seems that I bumped into all possible walls and fell in all pits on the way, therefore I perhaps became an expert in self-study )) I was really in the dark and alone in those ancient pre-computer and pre-internet times. Actually, I was not even fully aware that I needed a teacher as nobody scared me about possible negative effects. I was sometimes even satisfied that my hands ached after scale runs, which meant to me that I really worked hard for better. It was a luck that I escaped more serious injures than ganglia on both hands and later I managed to repair most of my bad habits, partly because I took a pause for 7 years that time.
Now I feel that I am safe and come to some logical journey destination to my satisfaction. Having got the web, I have read really a lot and tried to implemented all that in my piano learning. I translated many articles and videos for my Russian blog, which are only some minor selections of what I have read. These days I may play whatever I like. I just get music sheets and learn a piece, or transcribe it from audio or improvise. I perform in public (hotel lobby) on regular basis and even are paid for that. Was it not my dream after all?
I feel that now I may share my knowledge with other people with close relation to self-teaching. I may give a fishing rod to those who need it, instead of fish, which is offered by diploma teachers. Again, I will emphasize that I consider studying with an experienced teacher as a robust and secure way to learn piano, and that the fat and delicious fish offered by them might be much better than the skinny roach you would fish out with your rod. Anyway, you will not starve if you keep doing things by yourself.
As you noticed, English is not my native language. I live in Russia and not I Moscow, which makes it possible for me to offer you, adult beginner, piano lessons at lowest possible rate, at least twice as low as in most developed countries. Feel free to contact me for a couple of free lessons via Skype or any questions.
Self-taught piano player 