Not the Songs You Want to Play
After retiring last year, I finally pursued my longtime dream of learning piano and chose Piano In 21 Days because it promised a modern, no-fluff approach — and I hoped it would help me play the songs I loved in a way that sounded musical and true to the original. I spent about 2 hours a day, six days a week, working through the full course over four months — except for a couple of weeks I missed due to illness and a family emergency. Jacques does a good job teaching chords, progressions, inversions, and the basics of music theory. I now understand how to build and move between chords, which is valuable. But the course falls short on one major promise: learning to improvise songs so they sound musical and recognizable. By Day 17, I realized that real improvisation — creating a melody that fits a chord progression, has rhythm, and sounds like a song — is far more complex than the course prepares you for. It felt like being handed a few ingredients and told to cook a gourmet meal with no recipe. I learned improvisation techniques, but they are not enough to help me play the songs I want to play. And that’s a big letdown. Also worth noting: Many of the 5-star reviews online are from people who never finished the course, and most of the YouTube testimonials are several years old. The course gives you a decent foundation in chords, but if your goal is to actually sound like you're playing songs, you will end up disappointed. I came away with useful skills — but not the musical result I was truly aiming for.