Gautam Shenoy

Practising long hours won't be beneficial if there the approach is flawed. It will lead to frustration and eventually students give up on it. Develop a strong step by step approach in your practise routines . If you are learning a melody sing along first with correct articulation, see what scale it is in, practise that scale, trying playing it in 2 or 3 other keys and so on. This develops your ear in long run. Always practise short phrases - 1 to 2 measures long. Its better right from the start to focus on depth using small goals than take a big goal and have an vague idea about it. Listen to a lot of music - western classical and jazz music from different eras, pop, rock etc. More importantly develop physical facility through exercises - hanon, czerny pieces etc which are graded by levels. Then move on to advanced repertoire like bach, mozart, beethoven etc. If you are able to follow this approach and practise efficiently for 6-7 hours a week for a year or 2 without losing patience, then you will be surprised what you can play by end of it. And last but not the least, find a good teacher who knows his/her stuff. Hope this answer helps. All the best !