Learning to play the piano has never been more convenient. As is the case with, well, pretty much everything, your smartphone has endless options to get schooled up on any style of piano you want to learn, regardless of your experience level or budget.
Yousician is one of the companies leading this charge, with convenient and affordable app-based lessons for guitar, piano, ukelele, and more. I already tested and reviewed Yousician's guitar learning app, and now, by popular demand (a demand from my boss, that is), I'm back with a full review of Piano by Yousician.
I'm a lifelong musician (primarily a guitarist) with a strong interest in the piano, but lacking in practical education and experience. I really want to learn piano (classical and jazz in particular), and with not much of a budget to speak of, I set off in search of the best piano learning apps out there in order to find the app that would set me on a steady course toward playing the piano like a pro.
Yousician offers a range of different plans for all budgets, as well as an option for families (or friend groups) to create multiple profiles so each member can learn at their own pace. (If budget is of no concern, I still highly recommend you seek out a local instructor for in-person lessons—but I know this is not an option for everyone! Myself very much included.)
There's a huge library of pop and rock songs (including, currently, a Billie Eilish collection) and you're able to start out wherever you're comfortable, based on your input. Pick your favorite genres, goals, and experience level, fire up your keyboard, and start learning right away with their 7-day free trial.
Let's dive in to the review and learn more about whether Yousician is the piano-learning app best suited to your needs.
Quick Overview
Overview
Piano by Yousician features a super user-friendly interface that makes it easy for anyone, including kids, to get started learning the piano.
At first, you don't even need your own piano (there's a built-in keyboard that you can use on your phone screen) but as you might imagine, this option is limited in what it can do. So, really, you're going to need a piano or keyboard of your own (the app's listening accuracy is pretty darn good, but you'll be even better off with a MIDI connection).
You'll start your 7-day free trial (why the heck not), which will send you a reminder on day 5 about your trial ending (uncommonly courteous!), after which you'll be billed $139.99 for a year's worth of lessons ($11.99/month) on the Premium+ membership plan. While there is a Premium membership available for only $89.99/year, you only get a fraction of the features and song library. There's also a family plan that allows for separate user profiles ($209.99 annually).
Yousician Piano Review: Deep Dive
Yousician, in contrast to Simply Piano, allows you to select your experience level when starting out, so players who've spent some time around a keyboard don't have to suffer through stuff they already know to get to the good part. I picked "casual player" for myself—fingers crossed—there's also "first timer," "beginner," "intermediate pianist," and "advanced player," so, lots of options there for more confident players.
You can also select genres you like and set goals for the app to structure your lesson plans around, as well as a pace ("casual," regular," "unstoppable," "not sure yet").
You'll either choose to use your own piano, or a built-in keyboard on the app. You'll need a piano or keyboard eventually, but out of curiosity I selected the built-in keyboard at first. You're shown an intro video, similar to Simply Piano's, explaining the exercise you're about to practice, and then you'll dive into the lesson.
The exercises are similar to Simply Piano's as well, at least at the outset. A song plays with a sidescrolling sheet music staff, displaying the names of the notes as well as their position on the staff (the first song I practiced was "Still D.R.E.," which was pretty funny but also a perfect choice for a first tune—the riff is only two notes).
Perhaps the most conspicuous difference between Yousician and Simply is the option to skip ahead if you think you're ready. I courageously opted to skip to the end of my first unit and tackle some Adele song I haven't heard, and did pretty good at that! Then I skipped ahead even further to a left-hand exercise. At this point I was alerted that I would no longer be able to use the built-in keyboard, so that option, it turns out, is really only good for about a day's worth of practice, if that. Good to know!
I fired up my trusty Casio Privia and proceeded to totally bomb "When The Saints Go Marching In." Guess I skipped ahead too far! But Yousician's interface displayed a really cool feature at this point. Once you integrate the left hand, it shows you the chords that are coming up so you can prepare. The finger positions are also color-coded—could be helpful for some, but there's also kind of a lot to keep track of already, so I'm not sure if this actually just confused me more.
Given a bit more time, I think I could probably nail down "The Saints" using these features. I was, however, kind of confused (and bummed) that the next song coming up was One Direction, considering I selected only Classical, Jazz, and Blues as my preferences, but oh well. I can skip it!
There are three main sections: Learn, Songs, and Challenges. Learn is the central hub of the app, the home of all your structured lessons and progress (Basics up to level 9). Yousician's curriculum, like Simply's, is structured as Path and Workouts. The Songs tab will allow you to select any song of your choosing to try and play along with, using the same visual interface as the lessons. And finally, new Challenges appear weekly adding kind of a fun, timely element to keep things exciting.
What Could Be Improved
The song library seems decent at first glance, with a wide range of genres represented, but it's actually pretty limited in certain genres when you drill down. Rock, Pop, and Classical are the most built-out genres by far, so those seeking extensive Jazz and Blues exercise (like me... womp womp) might do better elsewhere.
That said, there are lots of classic favorites here, and players of all levels can keep busy for a long time getting up to speed on them all for sure.
Alternatives to Yousician
Simply Piano is another piano learning app I've tested and reviewed that specializes in lessons for total beginners. As you can read in my full Simply Piano review, I had a lot of fun working on some beginner exercises, but I was a little frustrated at not being able to skip past some of the more rudimentary exercises at the outset.
Overall, I found Yousician to be pretty comparable to Simply Piano in features, interface, and price point. I would say Simply is the more kid- and beginner-friendly option of the two. Opt for Yousician if you need a family plan, but with more robust curriculum that allows players with some experience to skip ahead.
The Verdict
I found Piano by Yousician to be a pretty useful piano learning app, especially for my intermediate experience level. I was able to brush up on some beginner exercises, but also enjoyed skipping ahead to challenge myself on some more advanced material. While that didn't go so well, it was still fun to push myself a bit, and I think users with a bit more experience will really appreciate that capability too.
I did find the song library to be a bit limited, but just in the areas of my interest (jazz and blues), which are not really considered among the most popular genres these days (Sad!). The rock and pop song library, however, is definitely robust enough to satisfy any fans of those genres looking to learn songs by the likes of Coldplay, Adele, and Aerosmith; plus, there are plenty of classical pieces as well.
All in all, the app is well-designed, there is a broad range of lesson types, and the curriculum is organized in a meaningful and easy-to-use structure. The lessons themselves contain a lot of information (maybe too much if, like me, you skip ahead too far), but at least you're given the freedom to own your journey and learn just as much as you want to, at your own pace.
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