4 Years of Piano Progress / Adult Self-Taught (3000 Hours)

[@luisgraca]

📜 Free Self-Taught Piano Guide - ko-fi.com/s/2fa1eaada0 📚 Music Theory Unlocked (eBook) - ko-fi.com/s/a465a91dc6 🏫 Self-Taught Piano Discord - discord.com/invite/4bEChkbWHf Thank you to everyone who has supported the channel over the last 4 years! To give back a little, I've put together a few resources that I hope you will find useful: 1. Self-Taught Piano Guide: How I learned, how I would practice if I was starting today, tips to stay consistent / motivated and all resources I found useful during my self-taught piano journey. 2. Music Theory Unlocked (eBook): An affordable, all-in-one eBook to unlock your musical potential - learn how to read and understand music, all scales, arpeggios, intervals and chords. 3. Self-Taught Piano Discord: A Discord server for all of you to interact with each other, share your progress, exchange feedback and tips, keep each other consistent and motivated.

[@Angelwingsworld]

I can see that your fingers muscles feel more relaxing after you attended the private classes😊❤feel great to see your effort and improvement. You are talented!

[@luisgraca]

Indeed! Appreciate it 🙏🏼

[@Flyout91]

Only 7000 hours left until you are an expert. Jk, just watched your 2.5 years progress, waiting for this one, very inspiring as I am looking to start playing at 33. I will definitely not be able to play as much as you, but I want to play things that look fairly easy or intermediate (mostly movie and video game themes) so my end goal is low.

[@luisgraca]

Haha yes, not even halfway there! Nice, appreciate that 👊🏼 definitely go for it, never too late!

[@DanniManni]

actually the 10,000 rule means your are 100% focused for the entire time so its probaably way more than that because nobody can focus for that long

[@luisgraca]

@@DanniManni yeah, true haha

[@Oliver-uh5ze]

I watched your 2.5 years progress video months ago and it was really inspiring. Can't wait to watch how much further you have advanced after that! 👍

[@luisgraca]

Appreciate it! Thanks for sticking around 👊🏼

[@dublefass]

I just watched your 2.5 year video and came to this one. Crazy progress! Love the song and piece choices, we can definitely see better and more fluid movements in your arms and and wrist. The musicality of your own sound is slowly coming out as well! I would love to hear you play some Schubert. I am currently studying Schubert Impromptu Op. 90 n*3. Such a good piece. It's not difficult to read in terms of notes and musical figures, but it is intense in terms of sound and feelings. Keep it up!👏👏

[@luisgraca]

Thanks! I've been working on it. Actually, my latest upload was Schubert's Moment Musical No. 3, check it out. I will listen to the Impromptu as well. Right now I'm practicing Chopin's Nocturne Op.72 No.1, really trying to work on the dynamics

[@Palkay]

I ordered my first piano yesterday and studied 3 hours today (not just practice but also learning very basic note reading stuff). This might be shortest 3 hours I ever put into something. I feel like I can get good in a few years. I wanted to see somebody's progression to hype myself up. I appreciate the post

[@luisgraca]

Nice! It's great that you're also studying some theory from the beginning. Time flies when you enjoy it. You'll make fast progress for sure 🤝🏼

[@dannydayyy]

I started learning by myself two months ago and then I stumbled on your channel. You're awesome man! Really inspirational.

[@luisgraca]

Thanks, Danny! How has it been so far?

[@dannydayyy]

@@luisgraca Not bad! I've been practicing basic pieces in the beginning then I learned how to play "A Thousand Years" By Christina Perri, the easy version. Then I moved on to Canon in D(original) and River Flows in You(original) by Yiruma. I'm currently overseas so it's difficult to find piano books in English. I definitely plan to get the music theory book you recommended in your PDF. One thing I haven't been doing is really practicing scales and chords, which I know I should be doing. Just been focusing on sheet reading.

[@luisgraca]

@@dannydayyy nice! It sounds good so far 👍🏽 great that you're learning how to read, it will be helpful later. If you want to incorporate scales, even 5 min a day before you move on to playing the pieces is great, it adds up. Good luck!

[@dannydayyy]

@@luisgraca Cool. I'll definitely start practicing scales from now. Thanks!

[@Sophie-lf9zn]

Those lessons did wonders to your technique! Your hard work and dedication are really admirable 👏🏻👏🏻

[@luisgraca]

Indeed! Appreciate it :)

[@akemifujita4167]

This is equally impressive, Luis! I watched your other video just before this one and left a comment. In any case, you asked around 22 minutes into the video what else you can do with your piece. My suggestion is to replace the arpeggios with some chords (like Liszt) and add some syncopated rhythm. It's already sounding great, but it would add a bit of variation. Keep up the great work!

[@luisgraca]

Thank you for the advice, I will look into that! I am now back to learning classical music and music theory so that I don't get stuck playing the same arpeggios in the future

[@Mr.Engine993]

watched the 2.5year progress video of yours yesteday, and now I find THIS. Dude you are simply insanely dedicated and talented. You clearly love it. Never stop playing!

[@luisgraca]

Thanks man, appreciate it! I do love it and I won't stop anytime soon 🤝🏼

[@irinazaman]

So inspiring to see you keep going! Amazing progress, Luís! Loved your original piece (the waltz one), need to check it out!

[@luisgraca]

Thanks a lot, Irina! Appreciate the continued support 🙏🏼 Snowscape i's available on all streaming services :)

[@Oque.Nos.Somoss]

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!

[@luisgraca]

Thank you! 🙏🏽

[@henryauden618]

Your progress is the most inspiring thing on the internet, Luís! Watching you I know 100% that I will be able to make it as well. Thanks for sharing!

[@luisgraca]

Wow, that's a big compliment! I appreciate it! Keep practicing consistently and you will make it for sure 🤜🏼🤛🏼

[@weenaugrad]

i really loved your song snowscape, i think i’ll try to learn it

[@luisgraca]

Thanks 🙏🏼 Tag me if you upload it, I would love to see it!

[@jpopkeys]

Great video ! I like to see the contrast with the previous progress video which is mostly focused on your beginnings and pieces progress, it seems by watching this video that you’ve got a hobby of arranging and composing pieces !

[@luisgraca]

Thanks for sticking around! 👊🏼 I'm definitely enjoying arranging at the moment, but there are still some classical pieces I want to learn for sure!

[@MKPrive]

You’ve inspired me to pick the piano back up again. Incredible progress and dedication 🎉

[@luisgraca]

Let's go! Thanks and good luck 💪🏼

[@pedrofteixeira97]

Love it! 😍 I really relate to this, we have similar beginings with Einaudi and Yan tiersen, following classic music (Tony Ann has some really great and fun scores too (btw, you might love "the heart asks for pleasure" (from the movie), haven't seen you cover this (all those are in the "corny" department 😅) ) ) Let me just share where I went after that and where I'm at. After all that I started looking to some "pro" covers of music I love, it just felt good (those "epic" arrangements). Begining with Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden), November Rain (Guns), The House of the Rising Sun, Riders on the storm, The hedwig theme (Harry potter) etc. You might have bumped into Musescore, this app really changed things for me. Anyway, your classical sheets and cinema covers have inspired me to get back into them. Now, for me, the ultimate skill might just be improvising and have the skill to accompany any song and understand rhythm and chord progression (I don't have any of those relative or absolute pitch and therefore it's really hard for me to hear something and understand how it translates to piano, it might be easier to understand music theory 😅). Anyway, you seem to have the dexterity and the consistency to do pretty much anything you set your mind to (like you said, 2 or 3 bars at a time, rinse and repeat!). Keep us posted, I'll be listening! 😏

[@luisgraca]

Nice! Thanks 🙏🏼 Never heard of "the heart asks for pleasure" but I'll check it out. Isn't it so much faster when you just play the songs / pieces you like? Rock / metal sounds cool on the piano, I'm planning to arrange some of Rammstein's songs in the future. Btw check out Gamazda if you haven't, she's the best at playing that style on the piano. I only use Musescore to write sheet music haha, what else do you use it for? And yeah, that's also my goal and I'm nowhere near being able to just improvise on the spot or accompany any song, but I'll be working on that next year. So much stuff to work on! Thanks again 👊🏼

[@pedrofteixeira97]

It's from the movie "The Piano", worth it 🙌 That was another thing I really related and wished I did in the begining. If you don't like a piece of music, don't be afraid of saying you don't like it and try to learn something similar. (also, don't be quick on saying you don't like, those "uninteresting" pieces sometimes give you lots of needed techniques, sometimes hearing covers or mashups can revive your interest). On that topic, that Yan Tiersen (Comptine d'un autre été) has a Large Version which is awesome to play (give it a listen! xD) Gamazda is awesome!! I started with Vkgoeswild, it's like Gamazda but less... Show off 😅 (Despite Gamazda style, she is really talented and the output is crazy, she has loads of great covers!). About musescore. I'm currently with a roland fp 30x, which I think compares to your Yamaha... P25(right?). Almost any cover I search it's there (in easy, medium or pro difficulty), I connect my phone to piano and lock in 2/3 bars in the music sheet at a time and repeat them until muscle memory kicks in. Also I can mess with tempo, pitch etc. That app led me to create 2 books with all the sheets I play or intend to play, having them printed into a book form also motivated me (I can share the indexes with you, since I really appreciated all your shared pieces 👌) I'm also nowhere near that level (improvising and riffing 😅), but having long term goals like that also serves as motivation 👌

[@luisgraca]

Alright I have now listened to that piece from "The Piano". I feel like I had heard it before haha, it sounds like it could be a piece by Einaudi I have a Clavinova CLP-745 now, but it would work too. Yeah, feel free to share the indexes on instagram or discord!

[@anastasiatereschenko1242]

Hey, thank you for the videos. It was inspiring and I will definitely look into your videos again to select some pieces for practice. In my opinion even though it's practice that makes perfect, you are also incredibly talented. I attended music school as a kid for 7 years with hours of practice daily, but never really enjoyed it as I was forced into it by my mother and the pieces to learn were selected by old-school teachers, so I also did not like the music I played. Only boring classics, I almost never liked what I had to play with no right to select the music I like (maybe only a couple of exceptions). Hours of practice daily instead of spending time with my peers also made me kind of hate the piano, I also often had to skip classes at usual school and I am still lacking some science knowledge as at that time it was "more important" to study piano over usual school subjects. Once graduated the music school - never touched the piano since then. But now I am thinking that maybe all those years weren't for nothing and maybe I should start over again. This time, I can choose the amount of practice hours and most importantly, the music I want to play. Even though after so many years (15 years to be exact) I should learn everything from the very beginning, I believe I have an advantage and can master my skills quickly. I already chose the piano I am going to buy. Who knows, maybe one day I can become a talented composer? Once again, thank you for the motivation. Once I start practicing - I hope to find courage in myself to film my progress to motivate someone else. Best wishes!

[@luisgraca]

Hey, Anastasia! Thanks for your comment, It makes me happy that you found the motivation to get back to playing the piano because of my videos 😃 It is a shame that many kids are forced to follow a strict practice regime and never really enjoy it. For sure it's liberating when you just play the pieces you truly enjoy. And of course because you love the pieces, you will put in more effort into learning them. But I'm sure that in those 7 years you developed some important techniques and music reading abilities, so it was definitely not a waste of time. And it's ok if you want to change style / genre in the future. It doesn't really matter as long as you're having fun / working towards your own goals. I started with Ludovico, then I wanted to play classical. Then I spent almost 1 year doing film music arrangements, and now I want to get back to classical haha. Whatever you play, just make sure it makes you happy. And definitely try composing some pieces! Good luck!

[@sleepy4205]

From discord, cant wait!

[@luisgraca]

Thanks! Soon ⏳

[@soficavalle]

I’m amazed! Fantasie Impromtu in short period of time. How did you start to learn?

[@luisgraca]

I just learned the notes through synthesia tutorials in the beginning

[@kumarsaksham5699]

PART 2 LETS GOOOO

[@luisgraca]

Let's gooo

[@bandaloop3759]

What led light did you get? Awesome idea

[@luisgraca]

I ordered them from here - pianoledshop.com

[@DanniManni]

why not just release it right away man..

[@luisgraca]

A little suspense

[@SanaKhan-vc8xb]

😮😮😮 how how I will learn

[@luisgraca]

What's your goal? Assuming you don't have a teacher, play the pieces you love and stay consistent. Don't overthink it. There are a lot of free resources to learn technique too. Denis Zhdanov, Antune, Josh Wright and PianoCareer are my favourite KZbin channels for that. Also, try to practice scales and arpeggios 5-10min a day to develop your technique, finger dexterity and independence. You can also check my free self-taught piano guide for a more detailed answer - ko-fi.com/s/2fa1eaada0 Good luck 💪🏼

[@PhucBao789]

is the ebook free ?

[@luisgraca]

It will be around £5. The Self-Taught Piano Guide and Discord are free :)