Top 10 Free Piano Lessons for All Ages
From A to Z, everything you need to begin your piano journey
Rose Park
7/8/24 • 4 min read
If you’re just starting your search for the best and affordable (or even free!) piano websites to begin your musical journey, you’ve come to the right place. This list of free online piano resources tells you what’s good about them, who they’re for, how they could be better, and tips on how to make the most of them.
This ultimate guide is for piano players of all ages and levels. We’ll check for: Affordability, Level of professional instruction, Interactive approach, Convenience, and Sustainability.
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Lessons with Live Piano Teachers
Lesson With You is an online lesson website started by two piano graduates from Indiana University. Their main goal is to connect students with top professional piano instructors at affordable prices, using technology to make it convenient. The pricing is reasonable – $35 for a half-hour lesson, $50 for 45 minutes, and $65 for an hour lesson.
The lessons are 1-on-1 with professional piano teachers, and each lesson is personalized for the individual student. A nice thing is that they offer the first lesson for free, so you can try it out before committing. Beyond piano, they offer lessons in 20 different instruments, including vocals.
One of the great features of Lesson With You is that no contract is required. This flexibility makes it appealing for kids over 8 years old all the way up to adults 55 and above, especially those at beginner and intermediate levels looking to pick up a new skill or develop their existing skills.
Who should use it: For ages 7+ and all skill levels looking for flexibility and simplicity.
| Feature | Benefits | Important Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability | ✔️ First free lesson, starting at $35 for a 30-minute lesson | Requires lesson subscriptions after the trial |
| Professional instruction | ✔️ 1:1 lesson with professional piano instructors | All teachers are background checked and hold majors in their instrument field. |
| Interactive feature | ✔️ Taught by live teachers on Zoom | Needs stable internet, laptop, and a digital keyboard/piano |
| Convenience | ✔️ Flexible scheduling, easy to set up from home | You can pause, resume lessons anytime |
| Sustainability | ✔️ Ideal for beginning kids 7+ and adults, good for long-term use | Plan your budget, aim for at least a year |
Written, Pre-recorded Piano Websites
PianoNanny has been around since 1994. It’s a free online piano learning website made by a jazz musician and composer named Clinton S. Clark. It’s free and easily accessible. Plus, it covers theory, music reading, and techniques, just like a well-written textbook.
The problem is, it only offers text-based lessons and sheet music – no video examples at all. This website may not be the best choice for absolute beginners who have just bought keyboards. How can you learn proper hand positions, finger techniques, and key pressure solely by reading about them? Having an instructor demonstrate those basics is really important.
PianoNanny doesn’t have any tools to track your progress or create a customized learning plan for you. Without those features, it’s hard to see if you’re actually improving over time or to set specific practice goals that fit your learning style and pace.
Another major drawback is the lack of exercises, drills, or tips on practice routines. With a live teacher or interactive online tools, you would get guidance on how much to practice different drills and for how long to make efficient progress.
Pianonanny should be used as a supplemental resource when you need to refresh your memory on theory or technical terms, not as your main piano “playing” platform.
Who should use it: Beginners with some experience of under 6 months.
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability | ✔️ Free access | ❌ Limited contents |
| Professional instruction | | ❌ Suitable for self-learning, doesn’t provide professional instruction, not personalized |
| Interactive feature | ✔️ Audio recordings | ❌ Lacks interactive features overall, mostly texts |
| Convenience | ✔️ Accessible anytime, anywhere, easy to set up | ❌ May take a longer time to learn materials without live features |
| Sustainability | ✔️ Ideal for short-term use | ❌ Not sustainable for long-term use due to limited resources and depth of instruction |
This old-school website called ZebraKeys covers a pretty wide range of topics for free – music theory, technique, sight-reading, ear training, and more. It features interactive elements like virtual keyboards and audio samples, taking a structured approach to learning piano. The lessons are categorized into four levels: preparation, beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
One major drawback is the depth of the curriculum at each level. The concepts aren’t explained in as much detail compared to some other piano learning platforms. It also lacks the personalized feedback you’d get from private, in-person lessons. Some users have even found inconsistencies in the quality of lessons, with certain sections being more carefully written than others.
The website itself isn’t the most user-friendly or modern looking as well. It’s a bit outdated and clunky, which kids especially might not like. Zebrakeys could potentially be used as a supplemental tool, but may not be ideal as a start-to-finish primary learning platform for piano students.
Who should use it: Beginners with over 6 months of lesson experience, kids over 9.
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability | ✔️ Free access | ❌ Limited contents |
| Professional instruction | | ❌ Suitable for self-learning, doesn’t provide professional instruction, not personalized |
| Interactive feature | ✔️ Audio recordings | ❌ Lacks interactive features overall, mostly texts |
| Convenience | ✔️ Accessible anytime, anywhere, easy to set up | ❌ May take a longer time to learn materials without live features |
| Sustainability | ✔️ Ideal for short-term use | ❌ Not sustainable for long-term use due to limited resources and depth of instruction |
Free Piano Apps
Many free piano apps often come with free trials and can be useful for learning piano. Just think of them more like fun quizzes or games rather than your main way of learning techniques and musical knowledge. Many of these software apps offer free trials first and then charge for monthly or annual subscriptions.
Simply Piano is an app where you can select your starting level. It offers easy drills and tutorials to teach you the basics of piano playing. It listens to your performance and provides feedback on things like whether you’ve hit the right notes but can’t give detailed guidance like adjusting your hand shape, finger placement, and musical expression.
Compared to written piano lesson websites, this app offers a more interactive learning experience through its modern interface, audio, and graphics.
Like many other apps, Simply Piano offers a free trial at first. But to get access to all the advanced features and content, you’ll need to subscribe which might not be ideal for everyone.
Who should use it: Adult beginners, kids between 10 and 15.
| Feature | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability | ✔️ Free access first | ❌ Users must pay for premium content and additional features |
| Professional instruction | ✔️ Customized learning to some extent | ❌ May not be as effective as lessons with live teachers |
| Interactive feature | ✔️ Many interactive features | ❌ Beginners will need additional materials and detailed guidance |
| Convenience | ✔️ Accessible anytime, anywhere, easy to set up | |
| Sustainability | ✔️ Good as a supplemental, temporary use | ❌ Not great for long-term use due to the limited depth of instruction |
Youtube Channels
Here is a list of beginner-friendly YouTube to look up when learning to play the piano. Relying just on video recordings to learn piano skills isn’t really the way to go, since teaching yourself has many limitations. If you’re interested in using them to supplement your learning journey, that’s perfectly okay.
While self-learning piano isn’t the best way for most beginners, Tim’s videos are quite helpful for those struggling with musical concepts and theory, like counting, note reading, and rhythms. His YouTube channel offers a comprehensive collection of professionally produced videos, providing practice tips and strategies to better understand these concepts.
It’s a great supplementary resource, particularly for any beginners, including kids aged 9 to 14. However, more of his videos on the official website require prepayment for course subscriptions.
Josh Wright, a concert pianist who previously taught piano at the University of Utah, hosts a channel offering a variety of helpful tips on piano techniques and performance aspects. Most of the tutorials focus on practicing know-how and are targeted towards intermediate to advanced pianists with at least six years of piano study.
Each playlist “Beginner” to “Advanced” levels are helpful when you aren’t really sure about certain terms and related techniques to play on the piano. However, the beginner videos might be a bit too advanced for absolute beginners; they’re better suited for players who’ve been playing piano for about a year and a half. The videos are well-made with great sound quality, but they’re more like extra help than complete beginner guides.
Her channel features some great videos addressing common challenges beginners face, such as posture, sound production, and the use of a relaxed wrist. Most of her videos are tutorials, so it’s best to use them once you’ve been playing piano for at least a year and have a good understanding of note reading and music theory basics.
Compared to other channels, PianoCareer’s videos offer a more easily understandable, step-by-step approach, offering detailed demonstrations. Ideal for beginners, ages 9 to 50+ are welcome.
Nahre Sol is a Juilliard graduate turned improviser/composer who shares videos about creative ways to practice piano, as well as how to listen to and understand musical elements like harmonies. Her general content are great for all music fans, but piano-focused videos target intermediate to advanced players.
| YouTube Channel | Professional Instruction? | Interactive? | Convenient? | Sustainable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Piano lessons on the web | △ Limited, less customized contents, no feedback | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | △ Great for short-term use, limited in-depth curriculum |
| Andrew Furmanczyk | △ Limited, needs better video & audio quality, no feedback | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | ❌ Limited beginner’s guides, no recent videos published |
| Josh Wright | ✔️ Yes, ideal for intermediate/ advanced students | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | ❌ Targets certain level of players |
| Graham Fitch (Pianist Magazine) | △ limited step-by-step guides, tutorials on pieces mostly | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | ❌ Not suitable for long-term use due to lack of in-depth instruction |
| PianoCareer | ✔️ Yes, ideal for beginners with over 6 months of experience | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | △ Great for short-term use, limited customized lessons |
| Nahre Sol | △ Limited beginner’s contents, ideal for advanced players | ✔️ Yes, to some extent | ✔️ Yes | △ Fun, engaging contents but limited in-depth tutorials |
Final Thoughts
Finding the right free piano resource, or more likely, the ideal combination of resources, may take time and practice. If you’re looking for well-structured piano lessons and aiming for a steady progress, the best way is to learn piano from live teachers, either online or in-person.
Other budget-friendly resources, like YouTube or written piano websites, are ideal for supplemental and short-term use. You can supplement regular piano lessons by blending these free resources into a hybrid method. Before committing to any one approach, it’s important to know your specific piano goals and budget, so the method aligns with your preferences and helps you become a successful piano player.
For kids between 7 and 11, we suggest starting with private online lessons and switching to a live teacher if your budget allows. For anyone over 11, including adults and seniors, it’s best to begin with live online lessons and stick with them as long as they fit your schedule.
At Lesson With You, you can enjoy a free trial with professionals, without contracts, and the convenience of online piano lessons. Lessons start at only $35.
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Rose Park
Rose Park is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where she studied Piano Performance and Arts Administration, receiving both Bachelor's and Master's degrees before co-founding Lesson With You. As a pianist, Rose was a prizewinner in many international piano competitions and performed at various summer programs and festivals across the United States, Italy, and Japan.