5 common beginner musical frustrations (and the new tech that solves them)
At the start of your learning journey, you’re likely to face these musical challenges — here’s how you can overcome them with ROLI.
Learning a new instrument is exciting, at least to begin with. When you first decide to take the plunge, enthusiasm and motivation are at an all-time high. You might imagine yourself effortlessly playing your favourite songs, performing for friends and family, or just enjoying some quiet time practicing by yourself.
That early exuberance can be just what you needed to get started, and the momentum it creates may well carry you through the first days, weeks, or even months of learning.
But, as anyone who has successfully learned an instrument will tell you, that feeling doesn’t last forever. Sooner or later, you’ll hit your first stumbling block. We’re telling you this not to discourage you, but to make sure you’re equipped to handle your first setbacks, overcome them, and keep yourself on the path to piano mastery.
Below, we’ve collected some of the most common musical challenges faced by beginners, along with our top tips on how to move past them. The best bit? The ROLI Learn app is designed to make doing so as easy as possible, helping you to focus on what really matters… like which song to learn next!
Your motivation drops
We all struggle with motivation at one time or another. And it’s especially common with learning a new instrument; once the “honeymoon period” wears off, it can feel like we’re just one skipped practice away from packing the whole thing in.
Thankfully, the ROLI Learn app is built with motivation in mind. To start with, there’s an ever-growing library of hit songs, so you’ll never be short of something new to learn. This keeps things feeling fresh and gives you new short-term goals to aim for as you progress.
Then, there’s the in-built system for tracking progress towards your goals. Sometimes it pays to pause and reflect back on what you’ve already achieved, especially if it feels like you’re making slow progress. You’ll often be surprised at just how far you’ve come.
Really struggling to summon the energy to practice? We understand. Why not take five minutes to relax with a musical game instead? With just a few spare minutes, you can strengthen your muscle memory, keep your streak going, and maybe even beat your high score.
Your fingers begin to feel it
We typically sit down to play piano, and it can certainly be a relaxing pastime, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that many beginners are caught out by just how physically demanding the instrument can be.
While ROLI Piano and Piano M teach skills that transfer directly to an acoustic piano, they’re both a little easier to play. But don’t be fooled; good technique still matters, and bad technique can lead to discomfort or even injury.
That’s why ROLI Learn sets out to teach correct form and fingering from the very beginning. The keys light up, along with the notes on screen, in colours that correspond to different fingers, helping you use the right one every time. Complete your setup with Airwave, and the whole system becomes even smarter, watching what you play to offer real-time feedback and advice.
Ultimately, by getting these basics right from the start, you’ll play more fluidly, have more fun, and progress much faster than you would otherwise.
Sheet music seems like a foreign language
If you’ve tried to learn an instrument the traditional way, or have looked into it in the past, you’ll likely have come up against traditional notation. And for the uninitiated, it can seem for all the world like an indecipherable series of lines and blobs, scattered arbitrarily across the page.
The good news is that it’s really not that bad, and there’s no reason you can’t learn to make sense of it yourself. The even better news is that you don’t have to — and certainly not right away.
With ROLI Piano System, you start out learning in our default Cascade View. In it, color-coded notes scroll down your screen towards the glowing keys of your keyboard. All you have to do is press the right key at the right time, just like a video game.
Using this method, you can play along with your favourite songs from the very first day. Should you still want to learn traditional notation, you can work your way up to it at your own pace by progressing through the four different playing views.
You try to do too much (or not enough)
The process of actually learning a new skill often challenges our initial expectations. A particular song may prove far trickier than you’d imagined, for example, or perhaps your early progress proves you’d underestimated yourself.
As beginners, it’s tough to judge our own level. What are we already capable of? What’s an appropriate challenge? And what might be too much of a stretch right now? ROLI Learn takes away the guesswork. It adapts to your progress, helps you understand your unique strengths and weaknesses, and offers plenty to do, no matter your current level.
Struggling with a tough section of a song? Bring it down to a speed you can manage, then work back up from there. Not sure which songs are at an appropriate level for you? Ask your AI-powered Piano Assistant for some suggestions.
This is another area that Airwave can help with. By watching your hands as you play, it’s able to understand your individual needs and tailor your progression to a pace that’s right for you.
Practice doesn’t equate to progress
We musicians love to “noodle” or to play aimlessly purely for the fun of it. Noodling is great, that’s what Playground Mode is for, but it’s not really what we mean when we say “practice”. Not the efficient kind anyway.
Making real, consistent progress is as much about how you practice as what you practice. ROLI Learn is designed to make sure every session — whether it’s a five-minute exercise, a new song, or a full video course — is maximally effective.
Everything you do in the app is designed to reinforce good habits, teach musical basics, and iteratively build muscle memory. And it all fits within a curriculum designed by expert educators and piano teachers — one that charts a clear pathway to piano progress.
The upshot is that effective, efficient practice sessions still just feel like play.
Start learning today
Ready to set out on your own piano-learning journey? Get started with ROLI Piano or Piano M and a subscription to the ROLI Learn app. Add Airwave for the ultimate piano-learning setup along with a significant saving when you buy as part of a bundle.
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