20 Online Piano Lessons for Kids (Free and Paid)
There are many reasons parents may choose to find online piano lessons for kids rather than pursuing the traditional teacher/student path. It can be anything from time constraints, budgeting or travel restrictions.
But how do you choose the right one when there’s so many options to choose from? Well, in this article, I’m going to give you my recommendations for the 20 best online piano lessons for children—both free and paid options.
So let’s dive right into it by beginning with free piano lessons for children.
Free Online Piano Lessons for Kids
Let’s begin with Piano Lessons 4 Children.
Piano Lessons 4 Children
Piano Lessons 4 Children is a completely free, easy-to-use website ideally meant for kids, but can be used to teach anyone who has no prior knowledge of piano playing. This website is exclusively meant for beginning players; however, its curriculum ensures a well-rounded musical education including courses about composers and reading music notes as well as thousands of pages free sheet music.
In each video Maria Miller goes over one basic step of learning to play piano starting with how to sit at the piano and recognize the different keys and going to playing popular, well-known children’s songs.
The videos are short and easy to understand making them able to keep kid’s attention and going slow enough that parents are able to help instruct regardless of their piano experience. and allow kids to be able to learn piano at their own pace while also being built to allow parents to be able to help instruct regardless of their piano knowledge.
Hoffman Academy
With almost 300 tutorial videos Hoffman Academy makes it easy for kids to understand beginning and complex musical theory and piano fundamental. The lessons are a bit fast paced, getting students to play their first song (Hot Cross Buns) by the end of the first video, however they are throughout in teaching the curriculum.
The free version of Hoffman Academy additionally offers tools to help track a student’s progress telling them where they left off, what’s next and when they hit important milestones in their piano education.
The free version of Hoffman Academy is a great place for any piano player to get education, however they also offer a paid premium membership plan that will help enhance a student’s learning. Including all the aspects of the free plan, a paid membership gives students access to interactive games that reinforce learnings of the staff, rhythms, and theory. There’s also printable resources, downloadable sheet music and audio tracks.
However, the most impressive aspect of the premium membership is the practice plan. Especially for younger kids, the practice plans means after every lesson the interface gives kids a note saying what they should be practicing and when. It’s a plan that walks kids through exactly what they should be working on each day before they continue to the next lesson.
PianU
PianU is a unique interface that works for students who both own and do not own keyboards. Each lesson comes with an online keyboard set up for the techniques the students will be learning in those units. While obviously this does not replace that of the real-life keyboard and the ability to place chords, it can be nice for those who want to try out piano before investing in their own instrument.
The free version of PianU gives students access to the first few lessons and over almost any song a child can dream of, however the guided lessons and instruction require a paid subscription plan.
PianU uses their guided lessons to teach technique before giving songs that help practice and implement the learned aspects into playing. While the guided lessons are not required for playing the songs, it can help students learn more fundamentals of piano playing rather than simply learning songs.
Zebra Keys
Functioning as a completely free interface, Zebra Keys offers lessons for mostly beginner students. With over 50 piano lessons, each one is divided into five sections of learning songs, chords, theory, improvisation and technique. Students are heavily encouraged to learn techniques such as improvisation and theory to be able to develop their own sense of music style.
Their sheet music section even includes blank sheets for students to compose their own pieces to try out on the piano.
The lessons are written out more than they are videos which can make keeping the attention of younger students difficult, they are laid out in simple terms with animation to help explain what’s happening. While the interface is meant for older students, the lessons are meant for beginning students who wish to focus more on the theory and musical fundamental of piano playing rather than playing techniques.
Piano Nanny
With 32 lessons ranging from the basics of finding ‘C’ on the keyboard to integrating Jazz studies for the more advanced students, Piano Nanny is perfect for students ranging from absolute beginners to relatively advanced studies.
This website allows students to work at their own pace and encourages students to work at their own pace and really understand the material of one lessons before moving on to the next.
Piano Nanny is a completely written lesson plan with no videos to keep younger kids attention, however their lessons are complete and thorough taking 10 lessons before teaching students a major scale.
Piano Marvel
Piano Marvel is compatible for students of any kind, those playing on acoustic or digital boards and beginners and experienced players alike. The interface offers over 25,000 songs and exercises for students to play and practice. There is also a variety of learning tools on the website from different modes to help learn songs and video lessons to help with learning techniques and practice.
The video lessons are 1 minute or less telling students exactly what they need to know about the song or technique they are about to know making them easy to understand and move along.
Another unique aspect of Piano Marvel is the Standard Assessment of Sight Reading (SASR). With the free plan students get a maximum of 3 SASRs that assess their sight reading abilities while also teaching them ways to improve. Similarly, Piano Marvel offers Assess mode to help students as they play learn to avoid practicing mistakes get detailed, instant feedback on their playing.
Flowkey
Flowkey is an app that can be downloaded from either the Apple Store or the Google Play store and is compatible with any keyboard the student chooses. It is great for students anywhere on the scale of skill and experience have lessons for those just beginning and complex songs for those more advanced.
There is also a function to play well-known songs in different arrangements from easy to advanced so there is no barriers for those just starting out.
There are quite a few functions that Flowkey offers to its users other than just lessons and song playing. Due to its interactive interface, Flowkey has multiple modes to help students engage in corrective practice techniques.
Wait mode listens to students play and waits to move on until they hit the correct note, slow mode reduces the speed of pieces so students can practice correctly, loop mode repeats the difficult pieces of a song until the student perfects it and separate hands mode practices right and left hand separately before putting them together.
Along with lessons and practicing technique Flowkey has videos of expert pianists playing songs and available sheet music for students to follow along. This is another unique feature that many other interfaces don’t have because they are simply videos of a teacher. Flowkey does have a paid premium membership that gives access to more songs and content, however it is not necessary to be able to take full advantage of the app.
YouTube Channels
There are quite a few online piano lessons for kids that are free and mainly video-based. However, there are also great options on YouTube from real piano teachers who make videos teaching piano.
Many of these may be supplemented with resources that require payment, but the videos themselves are great for any beginner who’s just looking to start their piano journey and try out a teacher before committing to paying those lesson fees for real life teachers.
Become a Piano Superhuman
Zach Evans runs the YouTube Channel called Become a Piano Superhuman. The videos are highly accessible including full transcripts within the description box and cover a wide variety of topics.
He caters to all types of students, from those wishing to just play pop songs and impress their friends, to those wishing to learn piano quickly or build up their technique.
Zach additionally has a completely free course that is linked on his YouTube channel. It includes free PDFs to supplement his videos as well as courses that include guided lessons and courses to increase piano playing ability. His courses supplement his YouTube guides to enhance playing and practicing techniques for all students.
The Online Piano and Violin Tutor
Alison Sparrow’s guide of 40 lessons for piano beginners can take any student to an intermediate level. Her method is focused on teaching students how to learn music on their own and eventually be able to teach themselves any pieces they would like to play.
She also has mini-tutorials on how to play certain pop songs for those looking to bypass the fundamentals and foundations and play songs they know well. Alison also has recently started uploading videos to help with practicing strategies teaching students what they should practice and when.
Her full course requires a payment, but the videos of tutorials and lessons are on YouTube for free at her channel.
Andrew Furmanczyk
Andrew Furmanczyk is a very personable YouTube piano player. His channel includes videos for piano beginners with a heavy focus on music theory for learning the staff and scales.
Unlike many of the other YouTube teachers Andrew’s channel has a certain personal quality to it because it talks directly to the camera and likes to tell his own story of piano playing. While it is not a real-life teacher because students can’t ask questions, his tutorials seem like he really cares about teaching piano and are easy to follow; great for no-experience piano players.
He recently released a website called Piano Planet to expand his lesson methods that help teach people piano through technology similar to many of the other websites mentioned. While it’s still in its beta format, it can be another great starting point for beginning players.
Piano Video Lessons
Like most other piano teaching YouTube Channels, Piano Video Lessons has a website to supplement the teaching methods, however, all of the videos found on the website are found on YouTube for free. Lisa has years of videos and teaching methods uploaded to the site and has divided her curriculum into years of practice to give students long term goals in their piano playing.
Her site has paid memberships that can help enhance learning such as live video tutorials that give students access to the teacher 5 days a week as well as ebooks to supplement the learning.
However, the videos are always free and for absolute beginners with no experience they are a great starting point to try out the instrument and decide if they would like to invest more in their piano experience.
Paid Online Piano Lessons for Kids
Free websites and apps offer a variety of different teaching methods and aspects that are great for any and all students, many of those offer more expansive paid premium subscriptions.
There are also online piano lessons for kids that exclusively require paid subscriptions and can be more beneficial to those looking to invest more in their piano learning experience.
Piano For All
Piano For All is a paid subscription meant for complete beginners to move up to an intermediate level fast. They make sure students develop confidence in themselves by using popular piano rhythms to develop the basics while sounding like a pro.
After that they expand into the more traditional piano styles of playing and eventually go into learning improvisation and playing by ear. They’ve got 200 videos, 9 interactive eBooks that have both visual and audio options, and 500 audio lessons the disposal of its users.
The regular pricing for Piano For All is $79 with a 60 day 100% money-back guaranteed for unsatisfied users.
Playground Sessions
With a team of world class piano instructors behind its piano bootcamp, Playground Sessions is perfect for any and all student levels. While offering packages from rookie to advanced players, Playground Sessions also offers packages that specify into different aspects of piano playing including rhythm, notation and playing by ear.
Using popular songs that many students already know, Playground Sessions is able to demonstrate to new players how much music theory they already know by listening to their daily music choices.
Combined with their hours of video tutorials and hundreds of lessons, Playground Sessions is made for all students to learn and enhance their piano playing and music theory knowledge.
Skoove
Skoove has interactive piano lessons that are great for beginning or advance students. They have options from anything to playing top chart hits or classical pieces as well as lessons for learning proper technique and improvisation techniques.
Additionally, Skoove offers students one-on-one support with piano instructors who are readily available to answer any questions the students may have along the way.
Unique features of Skoove include hand videos to show students how to position their hands and get their technique correct while playing the piano. They also utilize artificial intelligence to listen to students play and improve their playing in real time. Finally, their playalong feature allows students to play their favorite music and songs alongside a full band accompaniment.
After a 7-day free trial, the subscription to Skoove starts at $19.99 a month with discount for bulk buying.
Perfect Praise Music
Perfect Praise Music is not only for online piano lessons given that they offer guitar lessons and in-studio lessons, however they do have accessible online piano lessons for Early Childhood students.
Their online options also include private synchronous lessons with one-on-one student-teacher training as well as asynchronous lessons that allow students to go at their own pace. Rather than organize their lesson plans by skill level, they are organized by age from baby and toddler to 5+ years and adults.
What makes Perfect Praise Music unique is their special needs home music lessons. They have a four step process and daily activities for the students to engage with. By customizing the program for the child’s specific needs and abilities and engaging with the children more and more, Perfect Praise Music allows kids of all abilities and ages to progress through their music education and achieve the goals.
The price for Perfect Praise Music varies based on the modules purchased.
30 Day Piano
As the name suggests, 30 Day Piano will teach the basics of piano and take a beginner up a couple levels in 30 days. It includes all the basic foundations needed to learn piano including, scale patterns and chords to be able to play commonly known songs, reading sheet music and ear training. The website encourages students to watch a lesson a day for 30 days to achieve the desired results, however it is also set up for students who don’t have that much time to commit to their piano studies to go at a pace that works for them.
Because the website is built for beginners and results-driven, students will be missing out on theory education that could thoroughly advance their musical education, but for those who wish to simply learn piano and play pop songs, 30 Day Piano is definitely worth checking out.
They are so confident in their results that if students don’t see results in their playing after completing the course they promise to give them a full refund.
30 Day Piano is a one time fee of $129.
The Domestic Musician
Created by Jessica Peresta, The Domestic Musician is designed as a one-on-one tutoring lesson that is completely asynchronous. There is absolutely no parent involvement needed as Jessica knows how busy parents can be.
The course includes 2 PDF workbooks containing sheet music, music theory homework and practicing techniques as well as 23 video lessons. Each video lesson is downloadable allowing students to be practicing and learning even when not near Wi-Fi.
The Domestic Musician is a personable company that is devoted to the success of students. Jessica is reachable by Facebook or email with any questions or concerns either parents or students may have over the course of working through the lessons.
While she does suggest taking a week in between watching each video in order to practice what the student has learned, the downloadable aspect makes it that much easier to take these lessons at the student’s desired pace.
The course is available for $129 guaranteeing lifetime access to all of the resources as well as a 7-day money back guarantee.
Piano Kids
Piano Kids is an interface specifically designed for children 3-6 years old. While this may seem early to start kids learning piano, it is an important part of the online piano lesson community because many of the other options are geared towards older students who may still be beginners.
Piano Kids is meant to keep children’s attention, for example before learning notes on the staff students will learn the notes through colors and numbers. Adding on their interactive online piano games and reward system of stickers and prizes for practicing and improving, this is the perfect option for young students. While it may be on the pricier side, it is one of the only websites geared towards younger students and therefore have the market to increase their pricing.
The annual fee for Piano Kids is $269 with a $17.99/month subscription to piano studio.
Musiah
Musiah is specifically built for students with a digital keyboard because of it’s use of artificial intelligence to administer its teaching methods, but students of any skill level are capable of using it.
The artificial teacher responds in real time to the student’s playing with feedback and can even use a digital arm to point at the sheet music while a student plays. It is a fairly advanced technology making it one of the better apps for advanced students who need detailed feedback to improve.
What makes Musiah unique is its complete music education it gives students. Not only does it teach piano playing and fundamentals along with music theory, but it includes memory training and performance skills that no other online piano lesson offers. This is great for students who may have performance anxiety or those wishing to begin competing later in their piano career.
After a 14-day free trial, Musiah has a monthly price of $24.99 and discounts on bulk buying.
Yousician App
Unlike many of the other options on this list, Yousician is an app downloadable on any smart devices. It is great for students of any skill level and contains lessons and online tutorials created by music teachers and skilled piano players. The techniques that are taught include all the fundamentals of playing such as sight reading, putting hands together and ear training.
Utilizing a color coded piano to see where the keys are help those absolute beginners who have never sat or looked at a piano before learn where the different keys are. Combined with the instant feedback while playing, beginners can be learning piano in no time.
The Yousician app is unique because it takes learning the piano and turns it into a game. Students earn rewards when they reach their goals or level up their piano playing. Because this app encourages students to learn at their own pace, games make it great for younger students who may need more motivation to practice and watch the online lessons.
After a free 1-week trial the premium membership starts at $9.99 a month and includes all the instruments on the app.
Honorable Mention: Pianote
One additonal option I wanted to include here is Pianote. I wrote an very in-depth Pianote review recently, and while it’s not intended for kids, it’s a very high quality online piano course parents can pay for to help their kids learn how to play the piano.
I would just say that, because the course is both long and aimed more at teenagers and adults, you might want to monitor your kids learning sessions if you use Pianote in order to make sure their mind doesn’t wander and that they stay focused on each lesson.
Best Online Piano Lessons
This list offers many choices sure to be a great fit for any type of student, however with so many options the question still remains which ones are the best online piano lessons.
For the free online lessons the top choice is Hoffman Academy.
Hoffman Academy’s 300+ video lessons are great for students of any skill level and piano playing experience. Each one is designed to advance the student’s knowledge, skills and music horizons.
By dividing each unit into a video lesson and a practice session students are encouraged to practice and reinforce what they just learned as well as have a set practice session every time the practice which can be great for younger students.
The assets students can get with a paid premium membership enhance their learning, however the free video lessons do just as well for beginners who may be unsure how much they want to invest in their piano experience.
For best paid online piano lessons the recommendation is Playground Sessions.
By using sections from popular songs to teach music theory, Playground Sessions uses the student’s prior knowledge to teach them piano. It makes the lessons both fun and interesting while expanding the student’s musical education. Their world class instructors make the lessons easy to understand and great for students of any experience level.
With real-time feedback on their playing students can learn where they are struggling and what they need to practice without a doubt. While students do need to a have a digital keyboard to be able to participate in the real time feedback, all the other aspects of the site are available to students of any accessibility.
- If you’re interested in learning how to play piano or keyboard, get your copy of Piano for All today, which features 10 eBooks, 200 video piano lessons and 500 audio piano lessons!
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