Guides · Practice
A piano practice routine that works
Short, regular, and the same shape every day: a warm-up, some technique, your piece, a little sight reading, and something just for fun. Pick a length and press Start: the timer walks you through it.
Why this shape works
- Warm up with scales. They loosen the hands and train evenness: every scale has its fingering and a button to hear it.
- Technique in small doses. Chords, inversions and progressions build the shapes every piece uses: play them in any key.
- The piece: hard bits first. Don't start at the top every time. Find the bar that goes wrong, play it slowly until it's right three times, then put it back in context. The song player can loop a line and wait for you.
- Read something new. A few minutes of sight reading every day adds up faster than anything else.
- End on music. Finish with a piece you love. It's why you're doing this.
How to practise, not just play
- Slow is fast. Practise at a tempo where it's right; speed comes from repetition done correctly. Use the metronome and go up a few clicks at a time.
- Hands separately, then together. Especially for anything new.
- Listen back. Record yourself on your phone now and then: you'll hear things you can't hear while playing.
The hard part of practising alone is knowing what to fix. Ivory listens while you practise, on any piano, and tells you the one thing that matters most right now: a hand that lands late, a note that keeps slipping, a rhythm that runs away. Then it shows you how it should go.
Questions people ask
How long should I practise piano each day?
Whatever fits your day. Regularity matters more than length: fifteen to thirty minutes most days does more than one long session a week.
What should a piano practice routine include?
A short warm-up (scales), some technique (chords, arpeggios), focused work on your piece, a little sight reading, and something you play just for fun.
How do I practise a hard passage?
Isolate it: just the bar or two that goes wrong. Play it slowly enough to get it right three times in a row, hands separately if needed, then speed up a little at a time with a metronome.
Should I practise with a metronome?
Yes, for scales, technique and hard passages: it keeps you honest about evenness. Then play without it, so the music can breathe.