Hey,
Here`s the deal. I`m 17 and have been playing piano since I can remember. I`m self taught, but took lessons last year for a few months. After I stopped with the lessons, I kind of stopped playing altogether. But now, I`m trying to get back into it and learn some new pieces, but it doesn`t seem to be coming to me as easily anymore.

I`m trying to learn Chopin`s Prelude in B-flar minor, and it seems freakishly hard. I`ve been trying at it for a few days and I`m still struggling with the first few lines. Is this piece really that hard, or does being out of practice make that big of a deal? It just seems so hard.

Does anyone play this piece? How long did it take to learn it and how much difficulty did you have with it? I can`t tell if it`s truly a challenging piece, or if I`ve lost my touch. Help!

Yes it is hard. Because I`ve been playing for about two years and I have had lot of practice.And that song is on of hardest I have Tried to learn so far.What I would do is forget the first few bars with the 22 playing in one bar and try the easier bits. Once you have learnt most of the song then worry about the hard bits or play the hard bits a bit different but try to make it so it`s sounds the same.

i`m learning that piece too; it`s extremely hard and you need to do A LOT of slow practise, all the way through, for hours. i know it seems boring, but it`s the only way to master this difficult prelude. my piano teacher has been playing for years, you don`t get many pianists better than her, and it took her a couple of months to learn it. My advice is, keep at it, and only speed it up when you can play it all the way through without a SINGLE wrong note! good luck

awesome. it`s very good to hear that i`m not the only one having trouble with it. hrm... i`m still on the first couple of lines, trying to get them up to speed. perhaps i should take your suggestion and worry about getting it faster after i`ve memorized the whole thing. thanks so much you guys! good luck with your learning endeavors!

don`t learn a little bit, and then speed it up etc. learn it all then speed it up. seriously, trust me. Because if you learn a little bit first, then when you`ve finished the whole thing, some bits will be uneven and some bits will be better than others

hard is what you make it; practice it at a rate where you can play the notes easily, even if you`re playing at an excrutiatingly slow pace. Rythms, slow playing, metronome. You might think the metronome is elementary, but remember that Beethoven himself praised it highly and all of the greatest teachers will make you use it... try it; set it at a rate where you can play it (right hand alone) and click it up 4 or 5 at a time. It`s by far the most efficient way to practice; take it form a cellist`s viewpoint; Janos Starker and Rostropovich both stress the use of metronomes to execute technical challenges, especially crazy sixteenth note lines.

Remember; you`re not playing, you`re practicing. Don`t sit down at a piano to impress yourself with something that`s only half-baked. Good luck

which is harder (just out of interest) prelude no. 16 or prelude no. 24 of Chopin`s 24 preludes??

hey...im not exactly sure..but i believe the storm...number 24 is harder than hades..theyre not as hard as some of his etudes...but the balance is harder to control on number 24 than no 16..