The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly bits of Simply Piano. Unbiased Review 2024

[@kitsueb]

Your review matched my experience pretty accurately. I grew to really hate the "ding" at the end of a section where I felt like I had failed. And when that happens you have to start the entire section over and retread sometimes very long sections you didn't have an issue with. I also really hate the "practice" mode which for me on Android had no options - it was incredibly ploddingly slow and never practiced what I actually had problems with: playing tricky sections at speed. And yes they are extremely lenient and ignore whole classes of errors, I once cheated past a song I disliked by mashing all the keys... Beside all the annoyances, issues, and not holding be to a high standard, I thought the courses were mostly decent and it kept me challenged and engaged most of the time.

[@pianocam]

Ha I relate to mashing the keys to get through bits you don’t enjoy. Or the other trick is to focus on the hand playing the most notes (usually the right hand) and forget about playing both hands together

[@megapapayt6024]

I have an acoustic piano, and the note recognition is absolutely awful, to the point were i am pressing the same key 10 times and it doesn't input it. I hope they fix it because i really want to try the app

[@pianocam]

That must be frustrating. I wonder if other apps are any better, or if with these apps midi is really the only viable option?

[@nadineritchie3738]

I found some of the exercises too fast, and I made so many mistakes, but it forced through. I could not find a way to go to what I needed to practice. It made me go all the way back, I do enjoy the 5 min practices. Overall, I am enjoying the app

[@pianocam]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. You can just force your way through at times

[@squiggan]

Yes! ..That was EXACTLY my issue: as a beginner absolutely just learning, I soon found that it was not really helping enforce what’s taught and gives you a wholehearted “high five” regardless how horribly I/we messed up. I found this very frustrating absolutely to the point I got a refund for the 3m family plan, for other reasons as well. ..Now, don’t get me wrong, but as you said, it “does” teach a lot and many little things and that’s great. The issue though is that it keeps moving at a pace that if you do not stop, repeat what was went over(you must think to do this as nowhere does it tell us to practice these things, but ofc practice is obviously something needed/must be done and to do) ..it just keeps going regardless minor or some major flaws or no time to have practiced the lesson before moving on, and puts you long term in a spot where you, as I ..thought I should know at least one song ..but no, not even! I’m hard pressed to remember teachings from here, as it’s very much a “keep going” type thing with its motivational aspect, but this makes lessons pass over to quickly and not enough practice, then I found I learn better just taking it as it is and using it as I feel needed, not following how they want it used, as there’s lots to learn and so much practice required. So, what is not going to be memorable or, I do practice, but there’s just no feedback on timing or ..I really am still VERY much a beginner, and I’ve used this since early February, I believe. This app really needs to be more clear in certain things, for example: I was using “numbers” to know what keys to press, at first(nice to know what digits, but also what keys/notes they are: for this I had to mark every key on my keyboard), ..and NOT the actual Key(C, D, E, F, G, A or B) so what I mean is while reading the music, trying to learn, using numbers for my fingers and then having to personally relay what key it is, and keep this in mind while beginning, makes things SO very difficult and a tad confusing especially for absolute beginners, more frustration than need be in my opinion. I’m just glad they DO have a section especially to learn chords, and these include the key notes, not just telling me what finger to use and calling them numbers, and confusing me when referring to numbers, that are letters which are notes required to play, I got flustered. - I do hope that makes sense lol. -Decent beginners guide I must admit: but, the player learning must know to do certain things that are not at all mentioned or brought up, easiest example is practice, regardless a certain part or piece is able to be practiced 1000’s of times over: I wish they’d just say that. I learned about all this the hard way and it costed me valuable time. I hope this helps others, and I’m not “hating on SP” I just do not like the way things started off, personally or how I seemingly wasted time, simply by not having the right info where or when needed, as I flew through one lesson after another and could and still cannot play a single song! 🤷🏼‍♂️ - Good luck in your musical adventures, everyone, and hats off to you in the video, sir! 🤘🏼😎

[@pianocam]

I totally relate to much of what you have said. You are right in that after a number of months using the app I still don’t have a song I would count as learnt - as in if someone asked me to play them something I don’t have a song from SP I know well enough to play

[@ElementalCore]

Thanks for the review. I would have like to seen some more info about how the app actually works. Is it iOS and Mac? Also I only have an Akai MPK Mini MK3 so it's a tiny keyboard, would the app work with that? I was shocked to see your low subscriber count. You are a natural at this, keep going! I subscribed!

[@pianocam]

Thanks for subbing in. I’m not familiar with that keyboard but the app works with any that can play sounds aloud. Having said that, to get the best out of the app it’s best to use midi input. Have a look and see if your keyboard has midi outputs on the back. You can then plug from that into your phone or tablet and you are away laughing. If not you can still use it with a speaker output from the keyboard but other room noise may interfere with the note recognition. It’s basically using sound waves generated by your keyboard rather than digital information via the midi so might not be as perfect all the time.

[@pianocam]

I it’s just iOS and possibly android through the app stores

[@kristaanglen5877]

This was very helpful! Thanks! I was trying Skoove for a bit until it wanted me to pay. haha. Now I'm trying to figure out which is the best for my beginner 10 year old, before I take the plunge! Do you know if Simply Piano ever offers discounts to buy a subscription? That might help sway me lol!

[@pianocam]

Never seen a discount for it, but it’s not something I often check. Not tried Skoove but it’s one I have thought about reviewing. I’d say SP is relatively child friendly. Try them out on a trial. You only get a week but the first module remained unlocked at the end of that week - at least that was the case about a year ago.

[@nibrasalahmady4374]

thank you so much for ur feedback! im a beginner wanting to play the piano and wasnt sure which app to buy since i couldnt get a private teacher, so thank you!

[@pianocam]

Which one did you go with?

[@nibrasalahmady4374]

@@pianocam i decided to use simply piano since it was the one that worked best with me😊

[@nibrasalahmady4374]

but tbh i do struggle a bit but i noticed that im slowly improving playing the sheet music!

[@debbiemcnamara7059]

The only problem I had with Simply Piano is that it does not hear you play. The mic does not come on the iPad.

[@pianocam]

That’s a good point. It’s really best with midi input

[@Tombooksapps]

Hello Cam! Hope you are doing well! I wanted to reach out in order to propose a partnership with Tomplay. What's the best way to contact you directly? 🎹

[@pianocam]

Hi, sorry for the slow reply. Yes please send your proposal to [e-mail]

[@sandrafrancis3631]

Thanks! What's the point of an app that doesn't correct your mistakes and lets you play badly!? Not good, IMO... ??🤔

[@pianocam]

If they just made the mistakes tolerance adjustable it would be awesome

[@flameforge]

having watched both your flowkey and simply piano reviews, which i enjoyed, i now am very confused which to get. haha

[@pianocam]

Ha nice one! If you want an app that feels more like a tuition course, I’d say go with Simply Piano. If you just want to learn some new songs then Flowkey. For the record Simply Piano is the one I currently use and I think it’s pretty good but I’m very focused on improving skills rather than knowing loads of songs.

[@flameforge]

Thank you. I wanna focus on learning how to play the piano so I guess it’s simply piano then.

[@pianocam]

That’s the one

[@fishingpinky3165]

They took your advice. The keyboard I bought at Walmart came with a 2 week trial. Basic beginner here at 65. What I dont like are the numbers it gives you on the sheet music. I find myself cheating and I dont want to play by numbers. I want to learn the notes. I wish I could remove that. Also, after the 1 or 2 week trial do they offer more content or is it all the same if you pay the $149 for the year. Thank you.

[@pianocam]

Glad you took the plunge :). Yes that numbers issue is annoying for some. I know others like it because as the pieces get more complex how you position your hands is important. You could try the sheet music view. I think that may not have numbers. You could also trial flowkey as they just show you a video of the hand movements below the score instead of using numbers. No I think the trial version gives you full assess to all content. Let me know what you decide and how it goes with your learning journey

[@fishingpinky3165]

@@pianocam Thank you for your thorough reply. I will let you know.