How Fast Can I Learn to Play a Song or Piece of Music?

If you are an adult who is new to taking music lessons, you have most likely wondered how quickly you can learn a new song. The answer to this question is dependent upon many factors: how much you practice, the level of the piece or song you are learning, the help from your music teacher, and what instrument you are practicing on.

There are many misconceptions about learning music as an adult student. Some people think that the older you are, the slower you learn. This is untrue. If you take piano lessons as a beginner in adulthood, you have a perfect opportunity to learn at the same rate or even faster than a ten year old!

Learning to play music as a child is different than it is as an adult. Kids taking music lessons have an advantage in regards to the speed at which they can mimic and memorize new material. Adults have the advantage of quickly understanding and analyzing music, which fully compensates for the “speed” of the younger brains and muscle memory.

Professional orchestra and band musicians learn music very quickly because they understand the music quickly. If you go to a professional concert, musical, or ballet and look at the players, you will notice that there are adult players of all ages. They are all responsible for quickly learning new repertoire before (or even sometimes during!) rehearsal. They’re very good at sight reading.

Similarly, in the non-professional world of playing music, if you actively work to understand the music as you are learning it, you will progress faster with your musical studies.

Overall, please know that the fear that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” should not stop you from trying to take piano, guitar, or drum lessons. 

You will learn to play songs faster if you practice regularly.

In many activities, you can attend a class once a week, do nothing in between the classes, and still progress. In a group pottery class, for example, your work will be getting a little better every class even though you can’t do pottery between classes. 

It doesn’t work this way with music lessons. It is necessary to do some work on your own in between classes to progress, otherwise you will see none.

Performing arts requires repetition to improve and perfect our body movements. If the time gaps between these repetitions are far too long, then your progress will remain at zero. 

When learning to play a musical instrument, the more repetitions you do, the better. The caveat is that you must do it in a smart way. Don’t try to fit all of your weekly practicing into one session. It’s impossible for practice to be efficient if you try to sit at the piano for 2 hours while you are a novice player. Your muscles will not tolerate it and, more importantly, your mind will simply shut off after 30 minutes max.

It’s best to practice regularly, but spread it out throughout the week, giving yourself 20 minutes every day or every other day. You will be surprised to see how fast you can learn new pieces with this method! 

More difficult songs and pieces will take longer to learn

I have a question I like to ask my new adult piano students. “When you see a pianist performing a solo recital on stage, how long do you think it takes them to learn each piece they play?” The most common answer I receive is “maybe two months?”

In reality, 6 months would be the absolute minimum. A whole year is usually the time needed to perfect each piece both technically and interpretation-wise. Despite the fact that orchestral musicians may be able to learn their pieces quickly, it is important to establish that even in the professional music world there isn’t always a quick deadline for mastering difficult pieces.

If you are working on a piece and it’s taking you longer than you wanted, it is not because there is something wrong with you. It’s because of how our mind and body work. We need a certain amount of time to build new neural connections in our brain and that cannot be rushed beyond our mind’s capabilities.

Despite this, when you start learning a musical instrument, your pieces will not be very difficult. They will not require a whole year to practice! Some short little songs you can do in just a week, others will take a couple of months.

At Riverside Music Studios, we hold student recitals in NYC twice a year – 6 months apart. On average, this is how long it takes to prep more advanced pieces. Before you get to the advanced level, you will be spending anywhere between at least 2 weeks to several months to learn your music.

Once again: don’t focus on how fast the learning is happening. Focus on practicing consistently and staying patient. You will get there!

Learning Songs and Pieces is Faster with a Music Teacher’s Help

We have already mentioned in other articles that it’s theoretically possible to learn to play on your own, but your progress will be around 10 times slower than when you take music lessons with a qualified instructor.

If you are taking weekly or bi-weekly music lessons, don’t try to invent your own systems for practicing. It took musicians hundreds of years to invent, accumulate, and pass along the learning techniques. Use this knowledge to your advantage! Ask your teacher how to practice your pieces and songs, right down exactly what steps to do and follow it in your home practicing.

If you follow the routines, practice becomes simple and effective. For example, a piano student may want to practice 4 measures with right hand 4 times, then left hand 4 times, and then both hands 4 times. Then the same with the next 4 measures and so on.

Structure and discipline is good for practicing and good for us in general. We have less stress and more progress. A music teacher can help you develop the structure and discipline needed to learn how to play songs quicker.

You will learn songs faster on a good instrument

Lastly, the rate of progress depends on what instrument you are using. The cheaper your instrument is – the harder it is to play. If you are taking piano lessons and buy a cheap 66-key keyboard with keys that are not fully weighted, you will eventually plateau and will not be able to progress.

Get good advice from your music teacher about what instrument brand and model to get. Do not rely on just your own research. Your teacher is dearly interested in your good progress. Investing a little more and feeling comfortable will make you learn your music faster!

In conclusion

With the right mindset, instrument, and music teacher, you will be able to learn level appropriate songs and pieces relatively quickly (from a few weeks, to a few months!)

If you’re interested in learning a musical instrument such as piano, violin, voice, guitar, or drums, get in touch with us at Riverside Music Studios. We offer professional music lessons in Midtown Manhattan and we’d love to get you started!

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