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How Long Should You Practice Piano?

Charmaine Li  /  Practice  /  May 15, 2024

It’s a popular question among beginner piano players and while it’s a great question, it’s a difficult one to answer because individual pianists have different needs. So, how long should you practice piano each day?

In general, if you’re a novice to intermediate piano player, practicing 30-45 minutes a day nearly every day is a good rule of thumb. But let’s dive deeper into what this means and how to maximize your practice sessions, no matter how much time you have.

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It’s about quality, not quantity

First things first: not all practice is equal. You can play scales for hours on end, but you shouldn’t do it on autopilot. And you can put hours into playing a song you know really well, but that may not help you progress in other areas.

In general, it’s better to practice in a focused, goal-driven mindset for a short amount of time than it is to play mindlessly for a longer period.

> Goal-setting Tips

How much should you practice as a beginner? As an advanced pianist?

As you progress in piano, your practice time will naturally increase. You’ll play longer songs and learn more complex techniques, but your endurance will also improve.

Based on our survey of more than 1000 piano players, we can comfortably make the following recommendations for daily practice time based on ability level:

  • Beginner and novice pianists should practice 15-45 minutes a day
  • Intermediate pianists should practice 45 minutes to an hour a day
  • Advanced pianists should practice 1-2 hours a day
  • Expert pianists will probably practice 3+ hours a day; however, this may depend on the performance(s) they’re preparing for

…but everyone is different

The great Oscar Peterson once said he practiced eighteen hours a day in his youth. In general, the pros do practice a lot. But this depends.

For example, Adam Stout—a cruise ship pianist we interviewed here—admits he really doesn’t practice that much. Part of the reason is that pianos and private space are hard to come by on a cruise ship. But he also has enough experience to quickly interpret a chord chart or lead sheet on the spot. This is the culmination of years and years of training. (And probably years of practicing for many hours a day!)

So you see? Practice pays off! If you practice a lot now, you may be able to practice less later…

How long should you practice piano? Woman with medium blonde hair playing upright keyboard piano against stairs in home.

What’s better: practicing short chunks often or practicing in one long session once a week?

If you have a busy lifestyle, you may be tempted to block out a large chunk of time during the week to squeeze in all your piano practice. But this won’t be as effective as practicing a little bit every day. Scientific research supports the idea that learning things in short sessions over a longer period of time is more effective than cramming it all in one go. This is called the spacing effect.

Rest is important

Spacing out your practice sessions is also important because your brain actually does a lot of learning while it’s at rest. In one study, “researchers found that during rest the volunteers’ brains rapidly and repeatedly replayed faster versions of the activity seen while they practiced [the task]. The more a volunteer replayed the activity the better they performed during subsequent practice sessions, suggesting rest strengthened memories.” This was called “wakeful rest.”

What if I just don’t have enough time?!

You want to get better at piano, but you’ve got a full-time job, kids, aging parents, volunteering, maybe a night class… How can you possibly make time to practice with all this stuff going on?!

Well, you probably have five minutes every day. Everyone has five minutes! And while five minutes doesn’t seem like much, it’s better than nothing…by a lot. If you practice every day for five minutes each day, that’s 35 minutes a week. Which is nothing to sneeze at!

Man in green blue plaid shirt and grey sweater playing casio keyboard.

Sure, your progress will be much slower than the kid on summer vacation who can practice every day from morning until night. But you’ll still progress. (And have time to deal with your other responsibilities.)

And you’re not alone. In fact, Pianote is passionate about supporting folks like you! Here are some free lessons on getting the most of your practice session, that are 10 minutes or less:

Remember to enjoy yourself

More important than hours spent at the piano is enjoying your practice session. You should want to practice. The more you enjoy practicing, the more you’ll practice, and the better you’ll get!

Try not to see practice as homework but as an opportunity to connect with your instrument and the music you love. It’s how the pros see piano practice.

I want to be creative with everything that I’m doing. And when I’m practicing, I’m always thinking about how I can make this practice creative.

Jordan Rudess, GRAMMY-winning keyboardist for Dream Theater and Music Radar Keyboardist of the Year
Man with goatee smiling and looking up from playing on a silver keyboard.
Woman with short black hair in hot pink dress laughing.

Don’t think of practice as a chore or as work, but instead as a creativity lab where you have time, choice and freedom to discover.

Yuja Wang, GRAMMY winner and widely considered one of the best living classical pianists

The value of an exercise depends on your state of mind. If you don’t find it interesting, then it is not useful.

Madeline Bruser, author of The Art of Practicing

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Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.

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