How effective are piano learning apps?

The best piano app 2020

Those who wanted to learn the piano in the past had to enroll in a music school or go to private tutors for lessons every week in order to begin an elaborate learning process. It meant struggling through boring beginner books and cramming scales. With this old-fashioned method, it took what felt like an eternity before playing the piano was really fun and piano students were able to play their favorite songs, if at all. But months of piano lessons full of strenuous exercises, in which the fun factor is neglected, can quickly lead to the whole thing quickly being given up again.

What has changed since then?

Fortunately times have changed. There are many more ways to learn to play piano thanks to the internet. There are online tutors who offer video lessons. You can skype with your private teacher (who might live on the other side of the world!) - or you can just learn to play the piano with a piano app. Skoove is the best of these apps. The app explains everything you want to know when you start learning to play the piano: the best sitting posture, the correct hand position on the keyboard, right through to two-handed playing of piano songs that you like.

When you learn with Skoove, decide youwhich songs you want to learn on the piano!

Why is learning with a piano app a great thing?

Maybe you can't squeeze a weekly lesson into your already busy schedule? Maybe the next teacher is too far away? Or are the costs for private lessons just too high for you?

If you learn with a piano app, you can you determine, when you learn and how many exercises you want to do per week. How much time you want to spend with the app every day is entirely up to you. The time that you would otherwise spend on the way to and from piano lessons can simply be used to play the piano - and you can decide spontaneously whether you want to play the piano first thing after getting up or in the evening before you go to bed. No piano teacher can offer you something like this!

What are the advantages of learning with a piano app?

  • You can start right away!
  • You don't have to go anywhere, save time and travel costs.
  • You can even practice in your pajamas.
  • You can do as many exercises in one go as you like.
  • You can always take breaks, do other things, and then pick up where you left off.
  • You can learn piano at 3 a.m. if you feel like it.
  • You can repeat any exercise as often as you want.
  • You can also skip units if you think you are fit enough. So you go faster.
  • You can study anywhere, even when traveling, if you have a midi keyboard with you.
  • You no longer have to wait a week for the next lesson, you can start it right away.
  • You no longer need to stick your nose into boring study books - you can play your favorite songs right away.
  • You don't have to practice scales unless you really want to.

If you are motivated and you want to learn independently, a piano app like Skoove is just right for you. Even if you Not So disciplined, Skoove is a good choice. Because with the app you can organize your practice time flexibly.

There are even more good sides to learning piano with a piano app: It's just more fun when there is no pressure from teachers, because nobody looks critically over your shoulder. It's more relaxed and enjoyable to move forward at your own pace. You decide when to continue with the material, when to repeat something and which song to learn next.

And best of all, it's one very inexpensive way to learn piano! Try a free lesson right here!

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What are the downsides?

The main disadvantage of learning with a piano app is the lack of direct feedback from a teacher. Even via Skype, Zoom or FaceTime, teachers only have a limited view of your posture and finger movements. In addition, the sound quality of video transmission is often not always good, because it depends on a stable internet connection.

However, there are no such problems with the Skoove piano app. The app hears actually on how you play and gives you real-time feedback as you play the piano. Skoove shows you whether or not you hit the right note at the right time by showing a red or green color bar in the app.

So if you don't want to do without feedback from a teacher, Skoove is there for you with his feedback.

? If you practice with Skoove every day and see your progress in the progress bar, it will motivate you to keep going.

Complete your piano lessons with a piano app

If you are already taking piano lessons in a music school or with private teachers, you can perfectly complement your exercises there by learning songs with a piano app. Because at Skoove you can learn a lot of modern songs that traditional piano teachers don't offer and you also learn music theory. This way you can make faster progress and expand your repertoire. Practicing can be a lonely business: Sometimes you may feel disoriented because you don't know what to practice next or how your best approach to a particular song. But because practicing with Skoove is so much fun, the app makes you more often and play more productively at home so that you can make faster progress in your next piano lesson.

And of course the teachers are also happy when you return to class with your new skills. Whether with a YouTube tutorial, with an app, played by ear or learned with music books: These are all great ways to practice and improve your piano playing.

For example, if you get a piece in 6/8 time in class, you can search for additional songs with this rhythm in Skoove and thus practice more intensively and learn faster.

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There are many piano learning apps out there, but Skoove is the most complete learning app. Starting with the correct sitting posture at the piano up to exercises for attentive listening: both important skills are often ignored by other apps.

Learn to play chords and arpeggios

Not all piano teachers show their protégés how chords and arpeggios are structured. It is a mistake to skip this important information, because every piece of music is made up of these basic building blocks. If you master them, you can easily compose your own music yourself.

? Skoove offers you special exercises for chords. The app shows you how to set them up and how to play them as arpeggios.

If you have learned to play numerous chords and arpeggios with the Piano app, you can easily accompany any piece of music. The left hand is particularly important, the right hand can play the melody. In fact, you don't need to practice that long to achieve these skills. That's why learning the piano is such a great activity: With little effort, you can quickly play lots of new songs.

The advantages of a "piano buddy"

Many people have “gym buddies” to motivate each other to exercise regularly. You can also do that with piano practice. You simply make a pact: Whenever one person does not feel like practicing, the other helps the unmotivated to stick to your plan. You can also watch each other practice to correct mistakes.

Although Skoove has videos that show you exactly how to sit at the piano and how to best hold your hands, it can be difficult to get it right at the beginning. A "buddy" who is also learning the piano, regardless of the level, can be your mirror and help you to find the right posture.

Play together instead of alone

Arrange to meet regularly for joint practice sessions. You can play the new pieces to each other and see if you can do it without stage fright and mistakes, while the piano buddy keeps an eye on the fingers and the hand position. Take turns and correct yourselves if necessary.

Make sure you use the correct fingering

Sometimes you may be so engrossed in the notes, just making sure to find the keys - that you forget to use the recommended fingers. But you can only make it effortlessly over the keyboard and through the piece with the right fingers, as indicated by Skoove's fingering. Your piano buddy can also make sure your fingering is correct and encourage you to use the correct fingers.

? Use Skoove to practice fingering correctly.

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Play for each other - and play with four hands!

You can play the songs you are practicing to your piano buddy. This is how you can get feedback if you want. Take turns and realize that you don't want to compete, but rather motivate each other to learn. It's about progress and mutual incentive!

So you can share your successes and even play duets. Did you know that every song can also be played as a duet? If you have a longer piano bench, it's perfect. You can split your left and right hands and then switch your seats. That is fun!

In the course of time you can slowly dare to play real duets: with notes for four-handed piano playing. There is a wide variety of classic and modern pieces written for two players, and twice as much fun for two! You also train your hearing, your intuition and your sense of rhythm.

Real-time test: live lessons with a teacher versus an app

For a test, I first let two of my new students practice piano lessons on Skoove and then held a piano lesson with them personally. Both found that Skoove was more fun because they felt less pressured. They could take their time and repeat lessons: Either because they wanted to improve or because they just liked it so much.

In real-time piano lessons with me, the piano students felt pressured to play everything right immediately so as not to disappoint me - which of course influenced their joy in playing. They also said that I had too high expectations, that the tasks were more difficult and that they had to work harder.

But it also showed that you shouldn't just skip exercises in the piano app. One student found it too easy, got bored and skipped a few learning steps. In doing so, however, she missed a few important music theory units that would have helped her later. Your feedback is: work each Go through the lesson at least once, even if you first think you don't need it. As a beginner need you usually do.

I also tried Skoove with a six year old student who is mildly autistic. Because Skoove reminded him of a computer game, he was able to concentrate well and got along well with the piano app. The boy was happy that he could then read the notes in “real” piano lessons and find them on the piano again.


Your device should be well charged at the beginning of the Skoove exercise. Nothing is more inappropriate than being torn out of the flow of the game in the middle of the piece because the battery is empty.

If questions arise while learning piano with the app, you can usually find the answers directly on Skoove. If you have a piano teacher, you can of course ask her to explain or show you something in the next lesson. But do you remember all the tips? At Skoove you always have all the answers ready in the piano app.

? Skoove has over 400 songs and 10 courses to choose from, so it's very likely that your favorite music will be there and you'll love learning piano with Skoove. Get started right now!

Author: Georgina St George felt like playing the piano all her life. She has a successful piano school on the south coast of England, where she likes to pass on her passion for music, composing and performing live to her students. Her music has appeared in over 100 television shows, and her musicals have been performed in New York and London's West End.