Working through the ABRSM piano grades

[bass_dinger]

5 hours ago, SumOne said:

@bass_dinger you've inspired me to do ABRSM grades....well, at least to have an introductory lesson with a local teacher that is in a great local Jazz/Funk band.

"If that buffoon @bass_dinger can do it, then surely i can, too!"

 

5 hours ago, SumOne said:

 

My target is to pass Grade 1 within a few months (as it was so long ago I did it I think it'd be worth doing again) and Grade 2 by the end of 2026.

 

If you elect to put yourself through the small Hell that is the face-to-face exam, then the timetable is April and October/November.  So, Grade 2 by the end of 2026 is entirely achievable. 

 

And the really good news is that you can spend the price of a nice bass amplifier on lessons and exams, yet not exclude yourself from the 2026 Gear Abstinence Challenge!

 

However, if it is focus, purpose and a direction that your want, then the ABRSM grades and lessons will give you that.  From reading your musical biography, we both had the same background  - playing chords, but nothing much of the fancy stuff (so, just like an acoustic guitarist, then....).

 

You may find that you can teach yourself a lot of the stuff - with fingering annotations for the scales, it's just a case of working through them, and having a lesson every other week to help you play the pieces. 

 

Well done for taking the leap! 

 

Robert 

 

 

[LawrenceH]

On 20/11/2025 at 15:41, bass_dinger said:

However, if I carry on at the current rate, I will be taking Grade 5 piano by March 2027, so should l want to aim for the Theory exams soon?

 

 

Don't take this as a dampener, but rather a way of avoiding disappointment due to unrealistic expectations - the ABRSM grades are not designed as a linear progression as far as hours put in per grade. The estimated Total Qualification Time for preparing for grade 5 is 3x that for grade 1, with 2x the Guided Learning Time (ie lessons). See page 6 of the piano syllabus if you want more details, or not, because the estimated are optimistic IMO and especially so for an adult learner once you hit the higher grades!

[SumOne]

I'm starting to realise more why Piano is sometimes seen as being a bit posh as to formally learn isn't cheap (and compared with Bass it feels like an instrument that does need formal tuition). Or at least ABRSM certainly know how to extract ££ from students!

 

I'm already upto about grade 2 or 3 level so have been looking at the course books to do some practise before I have my first lesson in 35 years.  If I were to get all of the Grade 3 books:

• Exam Pieces (contains nine of them, can also pay for additional ones on the syllabus)
• Scales and Arpeggios
• Specimen Sight-reading
• Discovering Music Theory Workbook
• Discovering Music Theory Answer Book
• Music Theory in Practice (practice exam papers)

 

...these are short books (e.g. 'exam pieces' is 16 pages) but they cost about £12 each new. It'd be helpful if ABRSM just put them all into one book per Grade rather than extract maximum £ from students. 

 

Probably not all are really needed, but most are - and not only are there lots of them, they've made it so buying second-hand isn't ideal. I've bought a couple on eBay and then found that:

• second hand workbooks have all been written on (have returned twice for replacements and they are still marked-up) so you ideally need a new one.
• the syllabus changes often so at least with the exam pieces you need to get the newest version.
• the 'Music Theory in Practice' and 'Music Theory' workbooks don't give you the answers, so you either need to assume you are right or try to look stuff up online or buy the answer books.

 

So per-grade that is upto about £70 of course books, but that is actually a relatively small part of the overall cost as can add  + £50 Theory exam + £80 Practical exam  = approx £200 total.....and that's before paying for the main cost which is lessons that are approx. £30 per lesson weekly = about £1,500 per year.

 

If it takes roughly a year per grade then it's approx £1,700 per grade all-in, for me to pass grades 3, 4, 5 one per year is perhaps £5k total over 3 years (Grade 5 is probably where I'd stop, at least with theory).  Anyone that casually mentions 'I did upto grade 8 piano when I was young' (as a friend recently mentioned - and he has barely played since) potentially had parents spend >£13k on it. 

 

On the other hand, it is less elitist now as the days of needing a big house with an expensive piano are gone (I have quite a decent home piano keyboard that cost less than £300), and there are loads of free online lessons and piano books from second hand shops so it doesn't necesserily need to cost a lot to learn. However, after 35 years of playing without lessons I haven't really progressed so it does seem that Piano is an instrument that really benefits from some formal tuition and learning structure (as opposed to Bass for instance: I bet if you ask good piano players how many had years of formal tuition and passed grade exams the % would be much higher than if you ask decent Bass players on this forum the same question). 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by SumOne

[LawrenceH]

In terms of cost - the 'right kind' of charity shop (eg Oxfam book shop in posh area) is always worth a look in for sheet music including many grade books. I personally remember only ever getting the main pieces book and the scales and arpeggios one, and even there, I think if you just get the one for a higher grade it contains all the info you need for lower as a default. Meanwhile a single good book on music theory covers everything you need to know up to grade 5 theory for any instrument. Finally, any teacher my or my kids have had would provide photocopies of necessary/useful extras. I even remember using the local library for some stuff.

[BigRedX]

I would think that anyone who learnt piano when they were young would have been at least partially funded by their school, and of course piano lessons and books were a lot cheaper in previous years.

 

In the 70s, my sister who is completely and utterly tone deaf progressed as far through the grades as was possible until her inability to sing or distinguish the pitches of notes counted against her more than her ability to press the right keys at the right time according to the score place in front of her. Our piano at home which was inherited from a relative had several notes seriously out of tune with themselves including at least one that was seemingly in every piece she learnt to play, and which made it painful listening for the more musically inclined members of the family. I'm pretty sure my parents wouldn't have encouraged her as much as they did if it had been costing them any serious money, and if they had the cash then employing a piano tuner would have been a better use for it.