A quick search through Google or YouTube uncovers a ton of “lessons” for learning and playing piano. You’ll find a lot of both free and paid information to comb through. Maybe you’ve already tried a few of them (or more than a few). If you still find yourself struggling to play more than one or two simple songs (or the songs just don’t sound right), you’re not alone. This new wave of online information gives lots of tips, lots of theory, but usually not much guidance.
The main reason you are failing to learn piano this way is the lack of a method. See, learning a few tips and tricks is easy to do online, but it doesn’t really TEACH you anything. (Much like WebMD can give you an idea of what’s wrong, but doesn’t really diagnose your problem the way a doctor can). In order for you to learn to play the piano fast and effectively, there has to be a method involved, a step by step process to help you organize all of the theory and guide you towards actually playing it and retaining what you’ve learned.
Think about it. If a kid wanted to learn how to multiply, you can’t just show him a times table chart and say “There you go!”. You would have to explain how multiplication works (and possibly teach him how to add and subtract first). You may take for granted the fact that you know how to do math, but at some point someone had to take you through the process one step at a time.
Learning piano is no different. There’s a common belief that pop music (chord-based music) is easy and doesn’t require any training. Not true. Even if you want to play mostly non-classical music, it’s still more complex than just memorizing a few chords for a song or two. You can learn chord theory just like anything else and apply it to the piano so that you can play ANY song. After all, there are lots of professional rock keyboard players (yours truly among them). You think we just memorized a bunch of chords?
No matter what kind of music you are interested in playing, if you’re looking for how to learn piano fast, take some time and research teachers that will show you a method of learning and not just a few cheap tricks. That way, you’ll be able to play more than a just a few memorized songs.
