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I remember when I was little, I wanted to learn piano, and everyone recommended simple pieces for me to play. They all looked kind of boring, so I printed off the sheet music for Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 10 and started practicing.

I can’t say that my skill is anywhere close to that of a concert pianist, but I also can’t say I would have ever stuck with piano if I was forced to practice that other stuff first.

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As someone who is kind-of sort-of learning piano, in more-or-less this way, thank you for giving me hope! I wasn't sure, based on anecdotal evidence, if just sitting and learning 'too-hard' pieces (and all the scales and arpeggios) would actually get me anywhere.

This is precisely how I learned how to play the piano. I started w/ a Beatles anthology book, but for Christmas got Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Played it 3 times a day until I actually got it down. That rapidly accelerated my learning curve.

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