Have you ever seen a harp or someone playing the heavenly sound and thought that you’d love to learn how to play it?
It seems complicated, but in this article, we’ll talk about how long does it take to learn the harp and what do you need to do to learn it. All it really takes is practice and commitment.
It might only take you ten minutes to learn your first song in the harp, but we’ll average that it takes around three years to achieve proficiency.
Read on, and maybe once you’ve read this article, you’ll want to try it!
Table of Contents
- What to expect in the beginning
- How many hours should I practice daily to learn the harp?
- How fast can i learn the harp?
- Where are you learning?
- Do I need to know how to read sheet music to play the harp?
- Conclusion
What to expect in the beginning
All it really takes is just 10 minutes a day in the beginning. Start by practicing every single day to get the fundamentals down.
Learning how to play the harp only comes down to three things: passion, time, and commitment.
You need to be really passionate about the harp to learn it. You need to have some time as well because the harp requires constant practice.
Plus, you need to be committed to it: like any other musical instrument, the harp requires patience, and if you’re not committed to learning it, you will never dedicate yourself as well as you should.
If you are passionate, committed and you have time to spare in this new adventure, you have all it takes to succeed.
Other than that, here’s the fun thing: you’ll be able to make it sound excellent from the very beginning. Just plucking the strings will have a soothing effect on you, and it’s quite effortless to produce sound from it.
Although it might seem challenging, don’t let that intimidate you: all it takes is ten minutes per day in the beginning. Try to learn small sections of songs before you venture yourself into playing an entire song.
How many hours should I practice daily to learn the harp?
As we mentioned before, we recommend playing from ten to fifteen minutes every day instead of having long practice sessions.
As with most instruments, it’s better to be consistent in your practice (i.e., playing every single day) rather than try to play for an hour and then feel discouraged because you are getting nowhere in your practice session.
Practicing for up to fifteen minutes a day will help you learn smoothly, and you’ll feel like you’re not making any effort at all.
In the first week, you’ll see that it seems you’re getting nowhere; but by the second week, you’ll notice slight improvements and so it will be for as long as you play the harp.
The longer you have been playing, the better you get; but, as we mentioned above, you’ll find out that even as a beginner you’ll be able to produce a beautiful sound and that will help you get motivated.
Don’t give up!
It’s going to be a long long road and you will have that voice in the back of your mind trying to tell you to give up. But if you just understand what it will take for you to get there then you can make through the other side.
Learning the harp is quite easier than the guitar or the violin, against common misconceptions.
Both the guitar and the violin need at least a few weeks’ practice so that you can start getting a good sound out of them, while the harp sounds fantastic right from the beginning. It seems like a lot of time, but in comparison to other instruments, it’s not.
For example, for achieving proficiency in piano, you’ll need at least five years, which is almost double than it takes for learning the harp. Plus, you don’t need to practice as many hours as you do with piano; piano usually requires over two hours of practice every day, whereas with the harp you can play just fifteen minutes a day and learn the same way.
This difference also has to do with the way you use your fingers: for piano, you need all your ten fingers to play; however, the harp only requires that you use 8 of your fingers. It might not seem like much but it adds up.
Just remember to soak in all the tips you have learned here and stay the course and you’ll be fine but ultimately it’s up to you.
How fast can i learn the harp?
For the hardcore people out there you are wondering how fast can I possibly learn to play the harp and commitment and working hard is already a given then the answer is quite simple.
If you put all of your energy and focus into the harp. Practicing at least 3 hours per day you should become proficient in about one year, although it all depends on how much work and playing time you put in.
Where are you learning?
Are you going to hire a teacher to go step by step with you that’s sitting right beside telling you exactly what you need to do and what you need to change. This is by far the easiest and fastest way to learn any instrument.
But it’s not like guitar where there are hundreds of teachers in each city so you may not be able to even find one.
If that’s the case, the next best option would be teaching yourself. I know it seems daunting but it’s actually pretty easy especially with all the courses and information online whether it’s free or paid, you can totally teach yourself the harp.
Do I need to know how to read sheet music to play the harp?
It takes time to achieve proficiency in the harp, but it’s straightforward to begin and just pluck a few notes. It will help if you already know how to read sheet music, but that’s something you can also learn through online tutorials or even getting some music classes.
Once you manage to learn how to read sheet music, it will be a lot easier for you to play the harp: then, you only have to develop your muscle memory so that you can use your fingers the way you should in order to play correctly.
Conclusion
Reading so far, you probably have concluded that you could, as well, learn the harp. And you’re right! It’s not half as tricky as it seems, it has quite a lovely sound, and you’ll find it doesn’t take too long before you start plucking the strings and making your first sounds with the harp.
Ten to fifteen minutes a day is all it takes, and how long it takes to learn the harp will only depend on your commitment.
Start saving money towards getting your own harp if you want to learn – the good ones tend to be quite expensive. Good luck!
