The piano is a difficult instrument to learn, so to help you learn it fast then you need to make sure you have a really good tutor to guide you. Just like with any profession, then there are vastly different skill levels between people, and they will each have distinctly different personalities and teaching styles. You need to consider these things when you are choosing which tutor you want to study with.

Don’t be afraid to go to a few different tutors for 1 lesson each to start with, then choose the one you like after that. If you only go with one tutor based on a recommendation from someone or an advert etc then you can’t compare them to anyone else and you don’t know if another teaching style would help you learn better, so make sure you shop around a bit.

Below are 3 things you should look for in a piano tutor:

Patience: Some people would be prepared to put up with an impatient tutor if they thought he or she was really good and could teach them a lot, but I think patience is a really important trait when trying to teach someone. You will find that an impatient tutor is quite tough to work with, they will always be pushing you to make progress (which can be a good thing) and they will get frustrated when you cannot proceed at their pace or you make mistakes. This means you will probably start to be afraid of making mistakes as you don’t want your tutor scolding you, so you will dread your weekly lessons and stop going, unless someone like a parent is forcing you to go, in which case you will hate going and won’t absorb the lessons anywhere near as well.

Connection: Again this is something that most people dismiss, but we work hardest for people we like, and we want to do well in the eyes of people we like. So if you can find a tutor who you enjoy spending time with then you will push yourself a lot harder and you will learn things willingly, rather than out of fear like you would with an impatient tutor. Also, if you enjoy your lessons and actually look forward to going to them, then you will stick to them for a long time and won’t give up if things get tough.

Experience: This is the thing which people look for first, particularly parents looking for a tutor for their child, but I don’t think you should ignore the 2 things above just because they have a lot of experience. If they do have a lot of experience that means they can help you to develop quicker because they will know the answers to any problems you experience, and they will have a wide range of skills they can teach you as you get better and better.

If you would prefer to learn from a course rather than getting lessons then check out this Learn and Master Piano review.