The range and quality of piano apps for smartphones and tablets has burgeoned in recent years and there is a now a plethora of options available. Whether you are looking for step-by-step lessons for beginners, ways to improve you memorisation skills or new repertoire ideas, you can now find an app to meet your goals.

 

 

 

One of the most established and widely used apps for pianists is Yousician, which describes itself as ‘the world’s leading platform to learn and play music’ (pictured above). Launched in 2014 and now available for five instruments including piano, Yousician currently boasts over 20 million users worldwide. It offers two complementary learning pathways, dubbed Missions and Workouts. The Missions run from levels 1 to 9, starting at the beginning of every player’s journey with basics like the C Position and how to read notation. By the time you reach level 5, you should be able to master basic pieces with chords and melodies, accompany yourself and play with others. Workouts help to hone specific skills such as scales and arpeggios, while weekly Challenges offer further opportunities put yourself to the test. Repertoire runs the gamut from classical to pop, including pieces specially commissioned by Yousician. Pricing for a single Premium account starts at £4.99 per month. 

Flowkey was launched in 2015 and since 2020 has been endorsed by Yamaha. Over 10 million pianists from 100 countries have used Flowkey to learn the piano thanks to the wide range of repertoire it offers – from classical to jazz, film music and Asian pop. As well as over 1,500 pieces to choose from, there are eight step-by-step courses that take the player from the basics of the piano to improvising with chords and mastering scales. The app’s split-screen format makes it easy to see how the notation translates to the keyboard, and there are a variety of useful tools for practising hands separately, altering the tempo and repeating difficult passages. Flowkey ‘listens’ to the player via a microphone if using an acoustic piano, or USB/Bluetooth connection for digital pianos, giving real-time feedback on the accuracy of your performance. A monthly Premium subscription costs €19.99. 
 

‘Life is better with music’ says Pianote, which started out as a CD- and DVD-based training course for pianists in 2008. The website followed in 2016. What makes their approach different is a weekly live Q&A session at which students can ask questions or get feedback about video clips of themselves playing. The website also features a wealth of online learning materials based around the Pianote Method. This is divided into 10 Levels, each of which comprises three Courses of 4-8 video Lessons. Digital training packs focus on specific areas of technique, with titles such as ‘Faster Fingers’ and ‘De-Stupefy Your Left Hand’, while the Song Library contains over 1,000 pieces of classical, jazz, pop, gospel and Latin music. An annual subscription costs $197.

 

Piano Marvel is designed to be used with or without a teacher. It features an extensive library of over 25,000 pieces and technical exercises – including method books from leading publishers such as Hal Leonard and Alfred. The curriculum covers six levels, encompassing lessons on Method and Technique. One of the app’s best features is its Sight-Reading Assessment, which requires a score of at least 80 per cent to progress to the next piece. Teachers who use the app can upload lessons to track the progress of their students. A monthly subscription is priced at $15.99, or $110.99 for the year. 

 

German app Skoove makes the bold claim of being ‘the most complete online learning method’. It uses AI to listen to students and provide personalised feedback designed to speed up the learning process. The app’s growing curriculum currently runs to more than 500 online lessons, covering everything from learning notation and developing technique to playing classical repertoire and chart hits. Backing tracks are available for some of the most popular repertoire. Premium subscriptions also include one-on-one support from Skoove’s instructors. An annual subscription costs £10.41 per month. 

 

 

For those looking for a piano app with star appeal, Playground Sessions is the go-to choice (pictured above). Created by the legendary American music producer Quincey Jones, its roster of celebrity teachers includes Harry Connick Jr and David Bowie’s long-time pianist, Mike Garson. The design of the app has a game-like aspect designed to make learning fun. Bootcamp sessions introduce fundamental concepts and techniques while Courses explore specific topics in greater depth. The library of Songs contains over 2,000 popular pieces, many of which are offered in multiple versions for different skill levels. Annual membership is $12.49 per month, or you can sign up for a lifetime for $349.99. 

 

Simply Piano is structured around 27 mini-courses divided into two streams: Soloist and Chords. Lessons in Soloist mode offer a range of basic repertoire, including well-known Classical and Baroque pieces such as Beethoven’s Für Elise and the Minuet in G from Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook. The courses on Chords are designed for players who want to accompany pop, rock and jazz songs. There is also a series of 5-Minute Workout sessions, which reinforce concepts and techniques learnt in the courses. Subscriptions are priced at $149.99 per year, $89.99 for six months or $59.99 for three months. 

 

Players who don’t yet read notation can start to pick up keyboard skills using OnlinePianist, which offers dozens of virtual piano tutorials online. Its split-screen visualiser can be customised to isolate one hand, alter the tempo and add or remove note names from the keys. Lessons on each piece break down the music into manageable sections, and some pieces are offered in multiple arrangements – Beginner and Pro – to suit different skill levels. Sheet music is available to download and print at home via OnlinePianist’s desktop service. Subscriptions costs $59.99 per year, $41.99 for six months or $29.99 for three months.

 

 

 

Visualisation is also key to Pianolytics, which has been designed to aid memorisation at the piano (see above). A series of progressively challenging games focus on notes, chord patterns, intervals and scales in order to help players master the piano step by step. Switch to Lesson mode for guidance or pick Play mode if you already know which game you want to play. Detailed statistics allow you to check you progress over time. The app is free to download and to unlock Analytics Premium costs £22.99 per year, or £2.99 per month.

 

 

Last but by no means least comes OKTAV, a sheet music library that offers users personalised repertoire recommendations from over 20,000 scores, ranging from core classical repertoire to jazz, Broadway, Latin and contemporary crossover music. Leading publishers working with OKTAV include Alfred, Bärenreiter, Faber, Schott, Sony and Universal. The app’s range of learning content features Song Tutorials and play-along arrangements to help players learn pieces from scratch. Premium Learning users can also access over 100 video courses, guidance from expert piano teachers and annotated scores with fingerings. Annual subscriptions start at £9.08 per month.