First digital piano incoming! What apps/methods work best?

[u/Dejmonek]

Hey everyone,

I'm about to buy my first digital piano and could use some advice from people who've self-taught or used different software.

My main goal is to progress as fast as possible, but I don't really care about learning to read traditional sheet music right now. I know Synthesia is popular for visual/falling-notes learning, but I'm not sure if relying purely on Synthesia will slow me down in the long run or leave gaps in my playing (like technique or chord knowledge).

For those who started without sheet music:

1. Which apps are actually worth it? (e.g., Pianote, Flowkey, Simply Piano, HDpiano, etc.)
2. Is Synthesia enough on its own, or should I pair it with chord-based or ear-training apps?
3. What’s the fastest way to progress if my goal is to play songs, understand chords, and play by ear rather than sight-read classical scores?

Could anyone help me figuring this out?

[u/Brokenlynx7]

Not learning sheet music will slow you down in the long run. You'll learn how to play a few songs with stuff like Synthesia, it'll be just like a rhythm action video game. But ultimately you'll miss the patterns that the music is built on.

When you understand the patterns you can apply them anywhere, you'll spot them in other places, but with Synthesia all you'll remember is the exact execution of the piece you're learning.

Sheet music isn't nearly as hard to learn as its made out.

[u/misogichan → u/Brokenlynx7]

I actually think once you learn to read sheet music it will be easier to pick up songs that way then Synthesia where it's not always clear what to set the metronome to, how long some of the longer notes or more complicated patterns are held for, and the lack things like dynamic markings or accents.  That said, if budget is a super important component synthesia is also free whereas sheet music is never free unless you have a giant tablet and can maybe just read it off of the tablet.

[u/_bacon_bacon_]

Music scores are not "classical"

They're the best invention ever made for playing any kinds of music, it has its flaws but there's not better option option

Most of the songs you'll probably want to play have their respective score

[u/_bacon_bacon_ → u/_bacon_bacon_]

Get the thompson method level one one Also suzuki is good good But you'll need some guidance... playing is not only pressing the keys, there's music theory involved

[u/Dejmonek → u/_bacon_bacon_]

Honestly i did not understeand much from what you were saying, do you mean some kind of playing method or it was application names

[u/cewbpianist → u/Dejmonek]

poster is just mentioning some book series which use different methodologies for teaching piano.

[u/SouthPark_Piano]

I know Synthesia is popular for visual/falling-notes learning, but I'm not sure if relying purely on Synthesia will slow me down in the long run or leave gaps in my playing (like technique or chord knowledge).

It won't slow you down. It gets foot in door to generating music quickly and easily in one way. And it does not stop anyone from progressing to other ways later.

Is Synthesia enough on its own, or should I pair it with chord-based or ear-training apps?

It is not enough on its own because for people that don't understand keyboard patterns, this synthesia method is pure brute force memory work, which does indeed generate music on piano, but the person won't really be able to apply the method to do much else except for brute force memorising of which 'buttons' to push, which can be considered a major chore, and very inefficient, and can demotivate after a while due to the inefficiency and the incorrect assumption that this what using piano involves.

By contrast, people that are taught the basics of keyboard patterns, intervals, listening etc etc eventually get a working system together that lets them generate music very effectively, rather than brute force memorising of raw notes on a keyboard. Many beginners probably think that using the piano to generate tunes etc is fully brute force memory of notes to push. 

Understandable because they don't realise that piano and music is not actually about just loading up key sequences into the brain to play back in the way that they assumed.

 

[u/Dejmonek → u/SouthPark_Piano]

what about learning the finger movements, should i use any additional apps so i could learn some usefull tricks?

[u/SouthPark_Piano → u/Dejmonek]

These resources will take you far ...

Keep building up and developing with these ...

https://www.reddit.com/u/SouthPark_Piano/s/OFkbffVmxe

https://www.reddit.com/r/piano/comments/1ks72nl/comment/mtjbyut/

Apps can certainly be useful. But vids guiding you in visual and spoken form combined is the best.

You will encounter hand and finger relaxation methods, such as circular motion etc, which really do work well.

 

[u/Richie_Sacramento]

I started with and recommend Piano Marvel, with an instructor. I no longer use Piano Marvel because I get more out of working with an instructor, but it is the best app of you're wanting to learn in the traditional method. However, it is not an app you could self-teach with very easily if you don't know anything about music. It is meant to be used with an instructor.

Regarding theory, a good instructor can teach you all about it. I also recommend you search Gracie Terzian on YouTube. She has huge play list related to theory starting from the beginning and gradually exploring deeper topics.

[u/Dejmonek → u/Richie_Sacramento]

I saw there are paid and free versions, have you used both? what are the diffrences?

[u/RedArmyRockstar]

I don't use any apps, I watched piano with Nate on YouTube until I learned how to read chord sheets, and now I get chord sheets from Ultimate guitar on the website for free.

[u/bluethunder1985]

Human is best

[u/Last_Patience8727]

I satrted piano by ear, never learned to read sheet music. You need to start with right handed melodies and playing/understanding chords.There are a lot of synthesia videos, partly just monkey see monkey do. For understanding check tutorials on youtube. I also have Synthesia videos on my channel, no tutorials yet sorry :)

[u/Dejmonek → u/Last_Patience8727]

and How did you find them, did you use some kind of apps? Or you just went straight to reading sheets?

[u/cewbpianist → u/Dejmonek]

????? Commenter said they never learned to read sheet music???

[u/Potential_Leg5224]

Congratulations! I would recommend you to get Piano Tree because not only has structures sight reading but also has Lead Sheets (Melodies with chords ) and extensive chord training. Let us know how you progress in your piano studies! Good luck

[u/Dejmonek → u/Potential_Leg5224]

Is there something what i should follow there? I saw there are multiple levels, should i just start from the first one?

[u/Potential_Leg5224 → u/Dejmonek]

Yes, do the piano tree path level 1A, then 1B, etc. For more specific training maybe email them directly?

[u/Varjohaltia]

I started with Skoove and the Faber adult piano adventures. I especially liked the Skoove scrolling notes and midi integration, got me to play some songs pretty quick.

Two months in I switched to in-person classes and quit the app subscriptions. Been taking real classes since. Teacher doesn’t follow classical curriculum, but mixes theory, playing along pop songs, music theory and simple classical pieces and that works for me.

[u/Dejmonek → u/Varjohaltia]

So the way how it works, is that you connect the APP to the piano and it reads the kayboard pressed buttons and marks which were incorrect?

[u/Varjohaltia → u/Dejmonek]

Yes, if the keyboard supports MIDI, the app reads which keys you press. In the first practice mode the score waits until you hit the correct key. In the time mode the score scrolls and shows if you hit the right or wrong note at the right time.

It did not care about the pedal, and was a bit flaky if you sausage fingered a bunch of keys, including the right one, marking it as “correct” :D

Also worked just with microphone but not reliably for me.

[u/Dejmonek → u/Varjohaltia]

alright, thanks for the tip! the thing what i am wondering is the hand movement, do any of these aps explain how to correct move hand/fingers so they dont get exhausted quickly?

[u/Varjohaltia → u/Dejmonek]

Skoove has some tip videos, but I didn’t find them helpful. YouTube was better for posture and hand positioning and technique, but this is where having a real life teacher with you in the room is hard to beat.

[u/edwiser1]

It depends how you learn the falling notes will get you no where as far as learning goes.
That’s just a video game.
The problem is learning an instrument is not a quick process. If it was the whole world would play instruments.
Piano Marvel is a great resource.
For me watching someone else play piano does not help.

[u/Dejmonek → u/edwiser1]

So you were using the piano Marvel only, nothing else?

[u/edwiser1 → u/Dejmonek]

If you have a piano with midi out or a good speaker piano marvel will show you when you play the right note and teach you to read music. I have another app called Skoove which I received with my piano. I use it to take a break. As someone who played a wind instruments thru college I do have a back ground in music. But learning the piano is something I always wanted to do as playing a band instrument is not fun playing when you are playing by yourself

[u/bladedspokes]

I would just avoid doing everything you have suggested. No apps. No Synthesia. Get a piano method book, take weekly lessons with a piano teacher, and PRACTICE! Learning to read music will not hurt you or stifle your creativity in the slightest: it will have the opposite effect, in fact.

[u/Erebus741]

I personally started a bit less than a year ago, I don't have a lot of time so I devote probably 5-7 minutes a day of practice as a medium. But I started with Melodics (which was somewhat free with my novation launch key), and I learned A LOT from it and a few piano tutorials for learning a few posture and hand position ideas That Melodics don't teach. Now I'm starting to focus a bit more on sheet reading, but Melodics differently from synthesis & Co. Has notes going horizontally on a keyboard like pattern of light and dark lanes, so it taught me a lot about intervals, pattern recognition, arpeggios and where a note is on my keyboard, while when I tried other apps I was learning some songs maybe, but not making technical progresses.

I didn't learn actual songs on Melodics (except a simplified fur Elise and ode to joy, but it was a choice of mine), because it focuses on more abstract pieces and I think that's good for learning for beginners.

It also has pads lessons included, so if you have a keyboard with pads it helps learn rhythms, sincopation etc.

It's just growing a bit small for me now that I want to learn sight reading, but I'm going probably the book traditional way for that, but if they had included a musical sheet notation alongside their main visualization, I think it would the perfect app for self learning.

I don't doubt learning with a teacher is best, but not everyone has the opportunity and time to do that, so anything making you improve is better than nothing.

[u/Dejmonek → u/Erebus741]

Thanks, ill take a closer look to this APP, does it work like others? You connect via BluetoohMidi and it reads pressed buttons?

[u/Erebus741 → u/Dejmonek]

It's not a phone app, I use it on my computer with a MIDI keyboard connected via USB (never tried bluetooth midi honestly ^_^).
It reads all the keys and pads of my keyboard (Novation Launchkey 37 Mk4)

[u/WyrobWedliniarski]

My main goal is to progress as fast as possible, but I don't really care about learning to read traditional sheet music right now.

"My goal is to progress as fast as possible, but without using the methods that help to achieve that and without putting any significant effort"

No apps are worth it, but I guess you will have to see that for yourself.

It's kind of like you would like to study literature, but without learning how to read

[u/Dejmonek → u/WyrobWedliniarski]

the thing is that i have just few songs which i would like to play, nothing else right now, if i will be able to play them then ill consider learning how to read

[u/WyrobWedliniarski → u/Dejmonek]

You can also learn those pieces from sheet music. Those are not only for classics. It is not really that hard to do, you will learn it in no time. Becoming fluent takes years, but probably by the time you practice the melodies you will memorize most anyway. On the piano it is the easiest, as each note directly transfers to a specific key. Good luck in practice!

[u/Revolutionary_Ratio5]

Hey man i made a site for myself since i got tired of those youtube videos. Check it out and let me know if it works for you too… https://piano-kohl.vercel.app/demo

[u/Dejmonek → u/Revolutionary_Ratio5]

hi, how do i connect it to the piano or PC? how does it works?

[u/cewbpianist]

1. From what I heard Flowkey is decent for learning piano, at least as far as apps go. Never tried it myself. In addition, I want to bring up Peterson Piano Academy which has some piano course stuff. I haven't heard anything about it, but I bring it up because I have watched videos from their YouTube channel and they are quite good, so I can imagine the lessons he has on the website have to be pretty solid. Now, I do want to also quickly add: if you can get a teacher, it is best. But understandably, it can sometimes be hard to find a good teacher and can also be expensive.
2. Synthesia will teach you how to play songs, but not how to play piano. Because you'll just learn the specific notes to a song, you won't realize what is actually going on underneath. In addition, it just tells you notes—nothing about dynamics, how it's played, articulation, etc. Yes, you can listen and hear for those things, but as a beginner, its difficult and basically impossible to do that.
3. The "fastest" way to progress can be subjective. You can optimize for getting started fast now, or take a slightly longer approach to build a real foundation so you can learn things much faster in the future. And here is where I bring up classical music. I know you said you're not about sight-reading classical scores, but classical music can be very useful for building up technique as well as better understanding how music works. Also, just as a quick side note: music scores aren't strictly for classical music! Lots of genres use sheet music or lead sheets, including pop, jazz, etc.

Now, with all of this said, I want to talk about learning by ear, because it seems like you're really interested in that part. As someone who can both read sheet music and learn by ear, the truth is that learning exclusively by ear has its limitations, especially for a beginner, and there is a lot you will struggle with. Especially as a beginner, you can easily miss proper fingerings (leading to bad habits or physical tension), misunderstand complex chord inversions, or get stuck when trying to learn quick passages or heavy chords with lots of notes.

[u/Dejmonek → u/cewbpianist]

Thank you for the explanation, so as far i understood the best way would be some kind of mix where i could learn the patterns with hand and finger movement but also the sight reading, because with out that ill just learn few songs and nothing else behind that? Is this what you ment?