What advice do you have for anyone just learning how to play the Piano?

Question

is it easier to teach myself or take lessons?

Answer 1

I would strongly suggest taking lessons, even just a couple to get you started.  There are some fundamentals that are best explained in person.  Also, everyone is different, and online lessons won't take into consideration your body, posture, learning style, personality, way of reasoning, etc.  An experienced teacher can give you an idea of how you should approach things.  This might take 3 or 4 lessons, spread out to 1 per week or 1 every other week.  After that, you may decide to go it alone or continue taking lessons.  Even 1 lesson a month is helpful to make sure you aren't doing anything horribly wrong--especially in regards to hand position.  You don't want to develop tendonitis or anything like that!

Two best pieces of advice:

1) make it a part of your daily life.  Even 15 minutes a day is better than 3 or 4 hours on Sat/Sun.

2) enjoy it!  And listen to lots of piano!

Answer 2

Definitely give online lessons a shot first.  I know of a really good site that will get you started.  Visit http://www.zebrakeys.com and go to their lessons section.  It's broken down into beginner to adanced level sections.  

Answer 3

take lessons the later you can start teaching yourself  

Answer 4

With all due respect to the previous poster, I recommend doing the exact opposite. While having a teacher helps at the beginner level, it is not essential. However, as you approach the advanced level, it is absolutely essential that you have a good teacher. As for advice, I recommend completing a beginner's series of lesson books to start out with. After that, the only matter is really to stay motivated. As long as you love what you are doing, everything else will take care of itself. I recommend immersing yourself in the world of classical music and learning as much as you can about it. Youtube is absolutely the best resource for this.