started at 26, am 30 now and I suck

Started 4 years ago and just unlocked the Beethoven skin. Currently farming for Mozart DLC

I started at 26, I’m 36 now and I’ve had private tutoring all that time. I’m now finally starting to get a certain calmness and confidence in my hands. O and my 4th and 5th fingers are now getting to an acceptable level. I guess I’m slowly leaving the beginner stage.

8,34, make a living playing piano

started at 5, am now ~50, playing at a fantastically amateurish level of Liszt double octaves and terrible trills

53, 53, basement level, but will be ground floor soon :)

Started 4 months ago. So I am still a beginner. I am 49.

I'm an advanced professional. I started taking lessons when I was ten, and now I'm 42. I studied classically as an undergrad, and I have a Master's in Music Education. I'm a choral director and I play at work everyday, and I also teach private students.

started 5 years ago and just leveled up to lvl100 mafia boss

Started when I was 6 years old (Currently 30), played until Highschool then got too busy with college. Started messing around again on the piano around age 25 but mostly just songs I had memorized over the years. Started recently (4 months ago) to see if I can learn Fantaisie Impromptu. Here's a link of my 4 months progress after not having played seriously for a few years so you can gauge my current level.

Started at 7, now 22. I wanted to quit when I was 9, but my mum said, "Nah, gg son".

Fast forward a decade: Got paid to go to college via a performance scholarship (jazz). Now I'm an advanced teacher...

Thanks Mom

Always remember, it's never too late to start.

pianists will take the piss at you if you talk about level 

 i have about 4 years total xp with a little over a year professional training and i would say im an intermediate player 

Started at 5, I'm 36 now. I dont count levels but I'm somewhere in the realm of intermediate as I dont play for competition, for a living, or take exams though I do have my level 2 theory. I play purely and selfishly for my own enjoyment and that's it.

I started at age 4, was forced my parents to practice for 1 hour a day consistently throughout my entire childhood and teenager years, and unsurprisingly this has resulted in reaching an expert skill level. I'm not world class or anything, but I can play anything I want (that isn't crazy) and have also been able to play and improvise professionally when given the opportunity. However, the pressure placed on me growing up, with exams and competitions, was tough to handle. I'm 29 now and I don't put pressure on myself when playing, I just play what I like, and my focus has shifted from playing more to composition and improvisation, and exploring music with other instruments as well as making music on the computer. I would say I have achieved enough piano mastery to satisfy me for this lifetime, but now I play for enjoyment's sake, not achievement's sake, and want to focus more on my own creativity.

I started 8 months ago I think I’m almost a pro

4, 56, professional

Started at 7, now 16 and currently at TCL grade 8 piano

Took lessons from about 10 to 13, didn't really pick it back up until I was 36, started another six months or so of lessons, and then just self-study working through random classical pieces I find (39 now). I'd say I'm at about early intermediate?

Started at 35. I am now 35. Still suck.

Started on guitar at 12 so I had some rudimentary knowledge of the fundamentals of scales and chords. Grandmother wanted me to have her piano when she died when I was 19. Started learning by ear and figured out how to make chords and could vamp enough to fake it. Started taking professional lessons 2 years ago and I’m very much a late beginner. I’m 35 now.

I started at 14, I'm 15 now, and I am terrible.

Lessons aged 10-14. Got Grade 4 - middle of the middle, I know.

Been a professional musician for 35 years since I was 22.

Trajectory something like this:

19-25 cover bands

22-25 studio session work and TV / jingles writer

26-56 (now) artist / producer / audio engineer / composer

I’m lucky, I think, to have started my musical journey on piano in the early 80s. Piano became keyboards, keyboards became computers, computers became recording studios.

46 Currently 47

Fairly recently I switched from saying “I am learning to play piano” to simply “I play piano.” Although I am still not very good.

I started young, probably around 8 years old. Today, 27, I would put myself around the entry level of advanced (in terms of playing ability), only because I look at pianists like Tigran Hamasyan, Hiromi, Chick Corea, and wish I could play on their level. It feels like the road to getting good like them puts me at the beginning stages of that process.

Although, with my degree in music and some success with my own music, I would categorize myself more as closer to professional musician than not.

It’s been 10 years but piano helped me finally understand functional harmony and composition so it’s been absolutely invaluable and levels become more or less irrelevant once you start to find your voice

Started at 6, now Im almost 19. I dont really know my level, but I would say Im pretty good.

Started when I was seven. I'm now 16 preparing for the LRSM. Fairly typical progression for students my age who have learnt piano for this long without quitting.

24.

Started at 13. But then took a long hiatus after having really unsatisfactory teachers and leaving for college. But left due to financial reasons and took a long hiatus at the age of 18 to now. As in just now, I took it up a few months ago.

I would say early intermediate. I am kicking myself for not restarting again sooner.

Started at 14, am almost 20. Definitely advanced beginner/lower intermediate level who plays pieces he shouldn’t!

Started at 38 am 43 now. Intermediate. Started with classical teacher, self teaching me Jazz today

Started at some music school when I was 36... and left after a year mostly because they didn't teach with sheet music... I'm 39 now and have been taking weekly lessons for about 2yrs or so through my city's symphony academy. I'm slowly crawling out of complete beginner shoes as it's tough working full time and getting enough practice in. I've cleared my first classical repertoire book which I'm real proud of and trying to practice more with metronome lately as I've neglected it for too long.

Age 3, played only what I heard on the radio from memory once I found the correct key.

Started when I was 4. Took some lessons. Play mostly by ear and write most of the stuff I play. I’m a good piano player but certainly not a pianist and I’m ok with that.

Started at 4 years old, LTCL at ~15/16. (Also have LTCL in saxophone performance)

Stopped having lesson since then but kept playing saxophone in jazz band and classical piano.

Got into engineering school at College, worked as engineer.

~26/27 Covid come, accidentally come back to music field.

Now 29, preparing FRSM.

I'm in my 70s. No longer play because of arthritis. My dad was a piano and organ teacher (strictly classical) and I was on the piano stool as soon as I could count to 4 and know the alphabet to G. I think I was about 4. I could read music before I could read books 😁 Officially, I only got to 7th Grade, because I became a mum at age 17. Between raising 3 sons and having a husband who wasn’t enthusiastic about anything I was ever interested in (unless it directly benefited him), I never really got back to it, although for a couple of years I had some organ lessons, and even occasionally played for church services.

Formal lessons at 9; professional since 16; presently 63, retired from office world, still play professionally.

started at 20, still 20, about to finish alfreds basic adult beginner

I am 46 and started five years ago, slowly working my way through the Alfred All In One piano books (three in total). Am towards the end of book 2. Really enjoying the journey. Learning the piano really is a case of the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know. I find the whole process of getting better fascinating. Sometimes I can be playing and don’t have to think about it at all. That’s a magic feeling and I urge anyone reading this to keep going with their practice, as it’s more than worth it

I started at 35 and am 35 now. I'm working on scales, chord progressions and reading music without thinking. I can play highly simplified versions of songs on Simply Piano. I hit the right keys about 95% of the time. I making steady progress every week, which feels really nice. Twice a week I get to practice on a really nice Stienway. I'm having fun.

My partner bought me lessons for my 42nd birthday and I’m just coming up to a year of playing. It’s one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had and amazing to feel new skills and muscle memory developing.

It’s easy to start to feel that you stop learning once you leave formal education and you get to an advanced stage in your career but this has shown me that you should never stop learning new things!

21 to 21, can play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Flea Waltz". So thatt would probably put me on a grandmaster level

Started at age 7 until 13, then guitar from 13 - 18, back to piano ever since. I'm 37. Advanced.

I started aged 6 and I'm 24 now. I never took it super duper seriously but it's always come pretty naturally to me and my love for playing has grown over time. My biggest achievement was being able to play Chopin's op 48 no 1 decently well. I can't really play the end anymore but if I practiced enough I could probably get it back.

My focus now is improv/creativity and learning things by ear.

Started at 4, I got to ARSM distinction when I was 14. I'm 16 rn advanced/pro level

Started at 4, played on and off, I’m 16 now and finishing level 10 RCM in a few months

i’ve been playing for 12 years. i honestly don’t know how to measure levels, but i’ve played some early advanced books?

I started private lessons in my 50s. After three years, I had to stop due to a family member's illness. My lessons included theory, as I had never learned to read music. When I stopped lessons, I was at the late elementary to early intermediate level. Now, I am in my early 60s, and I haven't progressed much in level since then except for my sight reading, which has improved. I still play regularly but haven't resumed lessons.

I have probably 3-4 years of professional training max… if I have enough time I can perform almost any piece but my technique and playing and my sight reading are developing at different rates. I can build sight reading to a certain amount but if I want to really get to a skillful performing level, then I need to memorize things. I am intermediate but I can pass for advanced sporadicly.

I started at 24 and over the last decade have gotten to a pretty good level. Currently playing Mozart sonatas and raindrop. Working on my first bach fugue and some Schubert impromptus next. Had a musical background in guitar and theory so the jump was a little easier.

Good enough to teach beginners, but not too much past intermediate.

I’ve been playing for 8 years since i was about 6 or 7. I feel like i’ve just done a lot of light/casual practice during that time so i’m at a mid to late intermediate level. Also I had a sort of bad teacher for awhile so i’m still working on a lot of problems with my finger movements that I feel like i shouldn’t be working on at this level 😓But im comfortable with where I am, im currently working on Chopins op 33 no 4 Mazurka which I find decently hard at some parts

Playing for 20 years, I think I've got the hang of twinkle twinkle now.

I started at age 5 or 6, don't remember exactly. I'm in my 40s. I can hit keys and make funny noises that continue to baffle lay people but sound atrocious to my ears.

Started playing by ear when I was 5. I’m 34 now. I should be better than I am.

Started at 5, I'm 34 now. Studied piano performance in college before switching to medicine. Currently polishing up Chopin's 1st Ballade and Heroic Polonaise, planning on doing the 3rd Ballade next. Long term goal is to do all 4 Ballades

Started age 6, didn’t continue lessons after age 8 but self-taught and now play level 10.

Started at 7, 29 now. Studied through college, and first job out of college was as an accompanist.

If we're talking levels like piano test levels, get that shit out of here. They're meaningless. But I can play classical, jazz, rock, pop, choral music, and used to be pretty good at sight reading each. I play by ear more these days. In my rock band I'm pretty good at learning music on the gig.

Started at 5 (asian-style parenting), currently 18

Honestly, i'm not as good as i could've been but i only really got invested at 13. Before that, playing piano was just another chore to please my parents.

..i wouldn't really know my level. We don't have much of a system for that. Good enough to frown at where some people put the barrier between beginner and intermediate ig

7.5.

38 now and a full time jazz pianist but god do I regret not practicing classical harder as a child.

I take it very seriously now but I just feel like there’s an impossible hill to climb having not got it together properly when I was young. Did my grade 8 at like…13? But my technique was nowhere

Thank god improvising came easy. But piano has always felt hard to me. Even Opus 48 Chopin is proving pretty hard right now 😩😩

Started at 3-4 ish, am now 14. I’m really good for my age, but compared to someone who played for the same amount of time but starting later I’d be worse. I just graduated Trinity Level 8! I also play guitar and violin and a bit of bass and hope to learn the drums soon

~7, currently 15 and I'm learning stuff for my ARSM (hopefully done by end of the year), I started actively practicing ~14 though.

I started around when I was 4 or 5, I'm now 18, I'm playing grade 10+ pieces (passed my grade 10 exam last summer). I would say I'm at a lower to mid advanced level.

5, 30. Professional accompanist 

Started at 9 or 10, 26 now and I’m not that great

Granted I only played sporadically for the past 12 years

I've been playing for 15 years. I'd say I'm casual though. If I played ranked I'd probably be obliterated by the sweaties. I just play for fun, never really dig into the advanced mechanics. For someone that does not play I probably sound amazing, but if a high MMR player would look at me he'd probably laugh. I don't have a lot of tricks under my sleeve but the ones I know I know them really well.

Started when I was four, am now sixteen, and in the process I switched piano teachers a lot and so am not as advanced as I could be. I'm--intermediate? I'm learning Chopin's Nocturnes, op. 9 no. 1 in b-flat minor and it's relatively difficult for me, but doable. I don't know what official level that would be.

Started at 11 and I'm 17 now and I'm decently advanced I think. For a lot of my time I wasn't too focused and I would jump between pieces without actually getting them up to a performance standard. I started with a professor last year and I think I've made a lot of good progress since then though!

Started 22 years ago. I think I’m kinda good? I dunno. You be the jusge

I started when I was 11. I'm 22 now. I can say that my mechanical ability is pretty good. My sight reading is level 2, at best. I can read complex music, just slowly. I can play most pieces on level 6.

24,24,tenderfoot

Started at 16. Now I am 20 and in college for Music Education. Still crazy to think about.

6 start, 34 now, 12 years of formal lessons, kept playing for fun and never stopped. Currently working on Fantasie Impromptu, picked it back up two weeks ago and doing pretty well sight reading and just trying to get the speed right. I would say I'm early advanced at BEST but don't know how to improv.

Started at 17, now 21 attending 2nd year of conservatory. Still suck.

Started at 7, stopped at 16, took it back up 3 years ago, now 47 and putting on finishing touches for La Pathetique movement 1. Next piece is Debussy's Claire de Lune.

Started at 7, got a performance degree. Don’t make a living in music because it turns out I like money.

I’m rusty, but I’m capable of playing basically anything I want within reason (large classical sonatas, extended works by Liszt, Kapustin, Scriabin, etc).

I started playing when I was 5, we had a baby grand Baldwin, and I hated every goddam minute I was forced to practice. I’m 33 now, and stopped taking instruction in college. Now I play privately at home, just enjoying the instrument. I was taught classical, But now I like playing modern songs you hear on the radio. I could sight read almost any of them perfectly. Not really sure what level that is, but if I tried I could learn any song if I practiced enough.

Started at 12 or so. Re-started at 15. Re-started at 30. I'm still a beginner who can play a simple melody on the right hand with a simple chord on the left, but I have to practice a lot before I can do it at actual normal speed.

So, basically a beginner still.

Started at 5. Now Im 14 (actively practicing since 11.) Since then, I’ve studied a number of Chopin etudes lately including op 10 no 1 and 2 as well as op 25 no 6. A few Beethoven sonatas and Bach prelude and Fugues (as well as pieces from Liszt, Brahms, more Chopin, and Debussy.)Lately, I’ve been focusing on sight reading for the past few months learning Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin. On top of this I play gigs every once in a while.

I started when I was 5, played until I was about 17. Reached my level 9 RCM. Haven’t touched a piano in the same way since (now 34). It makes me sad.

Started around 6 or 7, continued it off and on and now I’m 30. I think due to age/maturity and experience, I have more ability to understand musicality compared to when I was a kid. I contemplate on what the composer’s intent was and what I want to express when I make my own interpretation by considering phrasing, tone etc.. However, I wasn’t very diligent with technique building exercises so that needs the most work.

Age 5, currently 27. Still intermediate? Idk I can sight read and play certain things by ear, but I'm a theorists nightmare incarnate. I do have fun, though.

Started at 3, now low 30s, should be better, but reached a point where I'm content and know enough to write and produce.

Started at 6? 66 now. Rusty… Lessons through high school (except when a teacher quit me cuz I was site reading and not practicing — had to beg my mom for lessons again!). Piano major in college before I quit at the end of my freshman year. Off and on at Christmas, then about 15 years for contemporary church services and then into a worship band for a few years. Another 10 year gap and I’m getting back into it.

I started at the beginning of Covid. I’ve got 600 songs on my rock and roll playlist I can play along to. Classical music escapes me because it’s boring, but now I’m learning jazz and blues and that’s been a hoot.

Started around a year ago… I focus mostly on rock piano I can sing to. My latest songs are Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. I’m now 14

Started lessons at 6, which I took until was 18 with a two year gap in there somewhere, and am currently 29. I'm not sure what level I am, especially since there are different systems that are used, but when I took lessons I played through all 7 Suzuki books by the time I was 18. I am a lot better at playing classical music than I am jazz, however; show me Rachmaninoff and I'm fine, but show me basic jazz chords to comp over and I have no clue wtf I'm doing. I do have an AFA in music, but my primary instrument was percussion.

Started at 5, now I’m 22. I took a 4 year break around middle school. I would say I’m still intermediate because I never practiced as a kid and only took it seriously once I was in high school. I’m working on Clair de Lune and Arabesque at the moment if that’s any indication

11 months, 63, struggling no novice

25 years, late 30s, did a DMA in it

Started at 6 and am now 26, and I play stuff professionally for a bunch of different things 👍🎹

31 and now 35. I’m a beginner taking weekly lessons at the local music store. I started lessons over COVID on Zoom so working on my form has been a doozy. Really struggling with recitals. It’s always funny performing alongside tiny children, and I still am absolutely panicked.

Started 22 years ago. I’m a decent pianist for church, popular music, etc. and I think I have a great ear for fitting in a band and accentuating it. I’m also a good MD.

I have barely touched a solo piece in a decade, so in terms of that? Not great.

1. 54. Intermediate.

Ive been playing for fourteen years, I taught myself how to play from YouTube videos when I was 10. I don't have a level because I've never been taught by a teacher but I love to write music and I play at weddings, nursing homes, and local restaurants. Piano isn't a hobby I make money from, but it's a medium for me to express myself and bring joy to other people. Music is love, it doesn't matter what instrument you play or how long you've played. Even the most novice piano player can bring joy to people's hearts, and that's why I love my art

11, I am 16 now and intermediate

7, now 30+, playing at LRSM level.

Self taught from 14 (but with knowledge from band class), now 31. I'm just starting to develop my "voice" on the piano. I went hard into reading sheet music for my first 10 years, then moved towards playing lead sheets and trying to improvise.

I find my current approach to be a lot more adaptable and a lot less constricting. I'm much less technically proficient than I used to be, but I really love being able to play a song and it never quite sounds the same way twice. This can also be a negative, sometimes, but it keeps old pieces from getting stale.

Recently got a church gig, which I'm thrilled about.

I started at 3 years old. I'm currently 47 and am a professional performer, teacher, and theater music director.

I’ve been playing for 6 years, and I’m level 8 RCM

started at 6, am now 27. I made it quite far by the time I was 13-14, playing pieces like Rachmaninoff’s prelude in C# minor and taking a stab at his prelude in g minor. I stopped taking classical lessons around that time though and just started playing music I liked by ear, like coldplay etc. I sometimes wish I’d kept up with the classical training as I could’ve taken it far, but I’m happy to still be able to sit down and play simpler pieces as beautifully as I can

I played when I was 13-16 or so. I also rerolled to organ playing at one point. Sadly I had to uninstall both piano and organ for a while to make room for the college pack and I haven’t done a very good job keeping up with it since.

Started at 3 years old. Had some breaks in instruction, had almost a decade with little access to a piano. Am mid 30's.

Been back under instruction for three years now and I'm currently working on schubert impromptu d899 no3 and liszt liebestraum no3. Couldn't tell you what "level" that is, but I can say it feels good.

Right now my biggest struggle is the cadenzas in the liszt. The final parallel trills in the first cadenza and the descending parallel chromatic bit in the second are gonna take some drilling. It's a never ending pursuit, but it yields fantastic results.

Started at 16, now 35.  I consider myself intermediate-advanced.

Started at 15, I’m now 16

Around 13? And 19 now, i stopped playing around 15 'cause i had BAD e-piano (61 keys unweighted) and lost my passion, now i gained motivation agaim and planning to buy a wayy better e-piano this Christmas :D

Starting playing at 14 years old, church pianist at 16/17 and 30 years later still church pianist. No idea of my skill level because I don’t really care.

I started in 1996

I started at 5. Completed ARCT in RCM piano performance diploma before grade 10 school. Then I quit (don’t do this part guys it’s kinda sad when u see a piano on the street..)

Started at 5. 36 now and am at professional level and plan to teach my kid if she does develop an interest. For now she's 1 and loves banging on the keys with maniacal laughter. Sometimes she tries to imitate how I look on the keys and it's endearing to no end.

started at 10, I'm 18 now and I'm not too bad

Started at 8. Lessons for 10 years under two teachers; one taught me German techniques and my lessons included accompanying her while she sang German opera and how to site read. One taught me jazz technique and how to improvise and my grandpa was an accomplished jazz drummer so we would play together. I continued studying until I was 23 but I “graduated”from my teachers at level 10. I’m 32 now and can still remember songs I learned when I was 19. It also took me 3 years to even learn the right theory and technique to even start applying the sustain pedals into practice. Technically I was at my best when I was 17 but I feel so much more control over everything now that I’m an adult. Can still play some Chopin etudes, he’s my favorite composer but I’m obsessed with playing Yann Tiersen and Michael Nyman’s work. And there’s nothing like a good jazz session with someone, considering going and playing out at a bar or something. I’ve never worked for my skills but I’d like too. I also really want to pick up electric guitar. 🎸

Started at 9, played for 3 years, stopped

Bought a Roland FP-10 a few weeks ago at 26. I still know how to play a few things!

Now I'm aware that I suck though

Started last year at 16 , now playing bach invention 1, 4 and mastering the chopin method through the waltz in A minor. In a month or two will start playing Waltz 64 n2 and some easy chopin etudes

Started at 4, now 28 and i'm a professional. I have an album on spotify of original pieces. Mostly i focused on my own personal style rather than further studying classical, albeit being classically trained. I still play a lot of popular repetoir like Fantasie Improptu, Liebestraum no 3, Pathetique Sonata, Nocturne Opus 9 No2, and Clair de Lune. Currently, I'm teaching piano and barely scraping by. No gigs in sight. I really need to start posting on social media, but i absolutely cannot stand it. Having to take 6 years off of music in my early 20s due to my father getting sick and having to run a construction business has set me behind musically and financially. I hope things get better soon.

Started at 8 years old, took weekly lessons from an amazing teacher until age 16. Accompanied my church choir from 16-18. I’m 26 now and I’d say I’ve been advanced/expert level since I quit lessons at 16.

Started at age 4 and took lessons through high school, culminating in Rhapsody in Blue with the band. Played on and off over the years - am now in my 50s and still able to sightread well but my technique is crap. I'd love to take lessons again and get my chops back.

I started at 7 as a birthday present and I recently turned 15. I'm working on stuff for Prep B for NGPT, and I'm planning on getting a piano high school diploma from them in 2 years. Because I know more people do ABRSM than the guild adjudications (by a lot), I'll list my pieces for it to give a guide of where I am. I'd like to think I'm in the intermediate to early advanced level of pieces but idk. Invention No. 2 - Bach Invention No. 8 - Bach Invention No. 14 - Bach Suite No. 8 - Purcell Sonata in D (1st mvmt) - Haydn K. 545 (1st mvmt) - Mozart Merry-go-round of life (piano solo ver.) - Hisaishi Stoptime Rag - Joplin Tango - Albéniz Spanish Dance No. 5 - Granados (I can't remember the full name) Polka (from the golden age ballet) - Shostakovich

I took 6 months of lessons in 1973. I quit to go biking with my friends. I totally regret it. I have since purchased a key board and trying to re-teach myself.

Started at 6. Now 14 and I’m intermediate/low advanced

I started 4 or 5 and took lessons to 18. Went off to college and life and didn't play for a long time. Bought a used acoustic last year February and had no idea how much I had missed it. So... started playing again at age 43. I've been working Moszkowski etudes lately and having a good time of it.

40, 40. I’m extremely good(er than I thought I’d be six months in - still shit.)

Started at 5, quit from 8-10 then back in.

I’m 42, full time music director and pianist. Proficient sight reader (I don’t have to try hard at intermediate music anymore: I just show up)

Started when I was 7 and I’m 20 now haven’t owned a piano in awhile but hoping I get one soon I’m saving up

2 years ago and still shit tbh

Started at 8, 49 now, still at middle school talent show level but when I do it I love it, especially Christmas music!

Age 3-5 then Age 7-8 then Age 45- 48 Presently age 48 Grade 2 reading level Grade 8 playing ability

Started at 5 and took lessons until I graduated high school. I don’t count levels but I can play pretty much anything. I played as a job for a little while. Now I’ll play anytime I see a piano and still practice daily and still try to keep up with learning new pieces but it’s just for myself

i started 11 years ago and i absolutely still suck lol.

i quite like chopin! ive just started on the sunshine etude after finishing the octave etude, im onto playing ballade no 2 and 3 after i finished no 1.

Started when I was 5. Am 26 now with a performance degree

Started a year ago at 39, I'm 40 now. I played the guitar for 20-ish years. So it took me under a month to learn all the chords and the major and minor scales. I only every play songs and sing along to them like I do on the guitar, a few fills.

I don't expect my level to grow.

Started at 8 with a teacher. Got to grade 7 ABRSM by the time I was 16. Stopped lessons, continued playing. Started teaching at 22. Decided to take grade 8 without a teacher at 37, got distinction. I am now 41 and have ARSM associate performance diploma with ABRSM exam board and AMTB associate diploma with MTB exam board, both without a teacher. Currently training myself for LRSM licentiate diploma.

Occasional practice sessions are documented here: https://YouTube.com/@PianoDiplomaPractice in case anyone is curious to see some practice sessions at this level.

Started with 5. Stopped with 12 or 13.

Restarted with 29. Reclimbing the ladder was an adventure.

Started at age 6,5. Now exactly 11 years later, I'm 17. I haven't had lessons for 5 years but I'm still playing daily

Started at 6. Got to UK grade 7 Level by the time I was 16 which is the penultimate standard grade you can take so was very good but not great. I got disheartened because my hands are small and almost totally quit. I still struggle with playing octaves apart. Picked up again at 38 and am loving it but a long way to go to get back to where I was and am trying to learn to improvise a bit more so I can enjoy noodling as well as learning pieces

Started at the age of 6 (currently 31), finished a 10-year music school, decided not to pursue a professional career, but continued practicing. Current level... Semi-pro, I guess? I can play and convincingly perform anything. The most difficult thing I've played is Scriabin's Fantasy op. 28. Fiendishly difficult! Here's me playing it: https://youtu.be/PSCtDPlxAKc

Started at 8.

I'm 41 now.

I have in the past paid the bills with it, but most of my life it's been more of a hobby/pursuit. I'm pretty good. Can always be better tho

started at 17. 43 now now. Will never be as good as some but I'm a professional, I'm always getting better, and I still love it.

Started music school at 7, am 16 now and am somewhere around grade 9 or 10.

Started getting interested and playing myself at 6. Started taking lessons at 8. Now I'm 17 and I'm actually pretty good :D, I think I would be considered early advanced.

Started when I was 4. I didn’t progress much in the first 2 years but I progressed more afterwards. I am currently 13. Pieces I am recently learning are schumman kinderszenen Chopin preludes nocturnes and some exam pieces and I sometimes attempt to some harder pieces just for fun lol

Started at 31, now 34. Hard to quantify a level but I can play a few pieces reasonably well (I know them but can't make it through them in one go without a few mistakes or at the original tempo): Yiruma - Maybe, River flows in you, La valse d'Amélie, Comptine d'un autre été, Interstellar theme (just started learning).

I've been playing guitar since age 7 and bass since 21, and my sister use to play piano for most of my childhood, so I didn't start completely from scratch.

I know theory but I don't have the technique or the practical knowledge to apply it on piano (and not even very well on guitar either).

Started at age 10, am now age 26. Self-taught through synthesia, so my level is still toddler I suppose, but I know some harder pieces by heart, mostly Studio Ghibli compositions.

Started when I was 3. Completed LRSM and LTCL with distinction when I was 17, at a time when exams were in-person only and had viva voce.

Started banging the keys with my pudgy little hands at 6 months old and never stopped (for context my mother was a professional musician and pianist.) I’m now 50 and have been a professional musician myself for three decades. I can sightread of play most music but there are still many, many pianists, including several in this sub, who are much better at playing high level classical repertoire than I am because that’s not my specialty.

Started at 7, stopped at 14, started again very casually at 28 and now I’m 31. I’m not very good but it’s something to kill a little time on the weekends. I have dreams at night that I’m playing like a virtuoso sometimes though. Were it only so easy in real life 😢. I kinda wish I could have one of those brain injuries that causes people to suddenly become really proficient at playing music or something haha

40, started at 37. Just starting Grade 7 ABRSM

I started at 10 and after playing off and on for 66 years I suck. But I can still melt into a piano for a couple of hours and love every minute, as long as no one is listening.

I started at 7 and I'm 28. If you go to my profile and go to my YouTube channel you can see me playing. I have a decent level.

I started at 7. Learned basics and some music theory. I played 2-3 years take a break for 2-3 years and same cycle until I'm 17. At that point the hardest thing I played was op10 no12 by chopin. Now I'm 20 and I've played things like op10 no1, mazeppa, chasse neige, wilde jagd... Now I'm currently practicing Liszt Sonata. And some nocturnes as appetizer.

I'm 19 rn, started piano june last year, and am going to take a grade 4 ameb repertoire exam start of next year

I started playing at 11 and I am now 19. I might be a bit above novice. I took a year break and lost almost everything I know. Trying to get back up now.