loading

5 Signs You Have the Piano “Bug”

Not all of us are presented with the same opportunities in life. While some of us were forced against our will to plop down on a piano stool and start playing away, others who have potential and motivation were never even given a chance. So today we’d like to give a shout-out to those who were born to play, have an unquenchable itch to play, but maybe just don’t know it yet or haven’t been able to. In other words, we’ll investigate if you, yes YOU, have the piano bug.

So should you start playing the piano? Let’s check if…

1. You make songs out of the car blinker

You make songs out of the car blinker

Let’s turn on my orchestra!

To some, a blinker is simply a blinker. To others, a blinker is a musical concerto that beautifully and harmoniously accompanies your wondrous invented melodies. If you too never let a turn signal go to waste and always pair it with a whimsical song you’ve just composed, you may have unknowingly contracted the piano bug. Welcome to the family.

2. You don’t know the notes but you’ve tried to recreate a song you like by ear

How many of us are guilty of pretending to have a skill we simply don’t have? It can immensely frustrating to desire to sing like Whitney Houston, but in reality sound like that toad in your backyard. If you’ve been infected with the piano bug, you’ve likely found yourself in front of a piano once or twice, aching for your fingers to magically start prancing away on the keys. But since you sadly can’t become a pianist over night (you can try!), the best you can do without any training is to try to play by ear, and hope for the best. 🙂

Beethoven

Sorry Beethoven, you can’t “play by ear” with us.

3. You jump on the opportunity to learn an easy piano jingle

Do you know exactly one song on the piano? Is that song one-half of “Heart and Soul“? If you jump on any and every opportunity to learn a jingle, even if it’s meant for 3-4 year-olds, it means you crave to feel that tingling sense of achievement when you’ve accomplished mastering a new song. So if managing to play the theme song of Jaws already has you all excited and giddy, just think what conquering Liszt’s Rondo Fantastique will do to you, we shudder to imagine!

Jaws

And repeat.

4. You jealously eyeball any friend with a piano or keyboard

Ah, the green-eyed monster. For each of us, it wakes up at a different time, in different circumstances. For those who are diseased with the piano bug, your green-eyed monster roars with suppressed rage every time you venture to a friend’s house who was blessed with a glorious piano. Your opinion of this said-friend also varies in direct proportion to whether this friend allows you to touch their piano or not. Yep, you’ve been infected hard.

Baby

I am happy for you, honest!

5. You visit OnlinePianist even though you don’t play piano!

So you don’t play the piano? What are you doing here??? (We’re just kidding, of course!) If you’re one of those people who doesn’t know a thing about pianos but lives vicariously by going to sites and stores intended for pianists, it might just mean that you are a secret pianist yourself, you just don’t know it yet. Whether or not you own a piano/keyboard does not determine if you are a pianist, and just because you haven’t yet had the chance to learn doesn’t mean it’s ever too late.

Raining

*sniff* I just want to belong here!

So, in conclusion. If you’ve been in agreement with all the items on this list, all we can say is “Welcome, fellow Piano-Bug-Infected-Friend! You’ve come to the right place to learn.”

So readers, what do you think? Are you infected with the piano bug? Let us know in the comments below!

Share Post


Get the Free Online Pianist App and Start Learning Today

Availble for Web, Tablet & Mobile, iOS & Android

1 Comment

  1. Barbara Haring

    You left out one. When you are outside playing with your friend and their mother calls them to come in and practice their piano and they start walking the other way, you offer to go in and practice for them. That one would be me. It seems that all my friends, no matter how many kids in the family or how financially challenged the family was, they had a piano and at least one of the kids took lessons. Not in my family. I longed to play, but no attention was paid. I loved to sing too and, in spite of the fact they kept looking for the sick cow, I continued to sing. Anywhere, anytime, anything. I had music in my soul and it had to come out someway and my voice was all I had. I belonged to all sorts of choral groups over the years, but alas no piano opportunity. Then my mother-in-law gave us the piano her mother had handed down to her. My daughter played for awhile, but never my son. So it just sat there never being used. Till one day I decided to give it a try. I knew I’d love it and I started teaching myself because I could find no one in my area that would teach an adult. Till, at the ripe old age of 66, a miracle happened. A substitute organist came to our church and she heard me sing. She said I was good, not at all like a sick cow, and she asked if I’d like to take voice lessons. I said sure. During my lessons she was trying figure out how to help me with my vocal exercising at home. I said I had a piano and if she would teach me how to do it, I could accompany myself at home. She said, do you play? I said not really but enough to do this. She said would you like to learn to play. I said are you kidding. Yes, yes, yes!! So now at the ripe old age of 68 I AM PLAYING THE PIANO! And I’m pretty darn good too for only playing two years. I totally would have gone for a music degree if I had had the opportunity when I was young. But the one thing I know for sure. Your never too old, and it’s never to late.

Your Thoughts

Your email address will not be published. All fields required.