Fastest way to become a virtuoso as a self taught

[f flat minor]

I am self-taught and I would like to become a virtuoso. First of all-
1) Can I attempt pieces which I find extremely difficult? Is it impossible or is it possible but takes long?
2) How do I become a virtuoso?
3) What are the best piano exercises for becoming a virtuoso (not just to improve technique but to become a virtuoso, someone like Hamelin, Katsaris, etc.)?
AND NOTE THAN I WANT TO BE ONLY AN AMATEUR, BECAUSE I HAVE OTHER STUFF TO DO AS WELL WHICH I PRIORITISE.
Thanks for your advice in advance.

[dogperson]

I am self-taught and I would like to become a virtuoso. First of all-
1) Can I attempt pieces which I find extremely difficult? Is it impossible or is it possible but takes long?
2) How do I become a virtuoso?
3) What are the best piano exercises for becoming a virtuoso (not just to improve technique but to become a virtuoso, someone like Hamelin, Katsaris, etc.)?
AND NOTE THAN I WANT TO BE ONLY AN AMATEUR, BECAUSE I HAVE OTHER STUFF TO DO AS WELL WHICH I PRIORITISE.
Thanks for your advice in advance.

The emphasis should be on virtuoso, rather than pro vs amateur. If you would like to become one, either amateur or professional, you will need the same prioritization and focus to reach it.  Do you really think Hamelin ever said ‘I can’t practice today, I need to play a few hours of video games and watch a movie’?   The fact that you state in your post that this will not be a priority is concerning: you need to be totally committed and focused.

The fatest way?  There is no fast way.  Get a teacher, diligently practice every day. Understand that the development of skills will take time, and is progressive. 

You can certainly play any level of pieces, but it is not a shortcut: you not only need the technique required by the music, learning virtuosic repertoire when you are not ready for it, will take you much, much  longer and the end result is not likely to sound like a virtuoso

[faa2010]

First of all, do you like piano?, are you willing to practice and give at least one hour of your day in order to play piano?, which is your goal in piano: a piece you like, playing with a band, an orchestra?, etc. those are important questions because they will be your fuel in your way to become a true pianist, either amateur or professional.

Second, what is the definition of virtuoso?, what do you think a virtuoso is like?, do you know some examples of pianists who are virtuosos?, sometimes the definition of virtuoso is misinterpreted or misunderstood, there are misconceptions like: a virtuoso is a genius, someone who learns and gets everything in short time, specially difficult things, who only needs to have the material in hand and in a few seconds, he/she can do something incredible, or someone who can get famous overnight, etc.

After answering to that, you can begin your path to become a virtuoso, you can choose any piano method book, looking on Internet tutorials, advice, techniques, etc, etc, but sooner or later you will look to contact someone with much more experience who can give you a personal guidance in your path. And like in life and love, there will always be ups and downs, but no matter what happens (of course, your health comes first), you will always be there with the piano, practicing, practicing and practicing, and never giving up.

[f flat minor]

1) I love playing the piano, I would not bother to ask this question if I did not haha
2) A virtuoso, to me, is a person that possesses the skill to play pieces that most people cannot, yet, can articulate them well, with taste.
3) Apart from whatever I do, I get 1.5 hours minimum, which I use to play the piano with full focus.
The hardest pieces I have played (according to myself): Schubert's G major sonata, Liszt's Harmonies du Soir Etude, Schumann's Davidsbundler tanze

If I know of techniques I struggle with, I practise hard cadenzas of such type...

[nightwindsonata]

1) I love playing the piano, I would not bother to ask this question if I did not haha
2) A virtuoso, to me, is a person that possesses the skill to play pieces that most people cannot, yet, can articulate them well, with taste.
3) Apart from whatever I do, I get 1.5 hours minimum, which I use to play the piano with full focus.
The hardest pieces I have played (according to myself): Schubert's G major sonata, Liszt's Harmonies du Soir Etude, Schumann's Davidsbundler tanze

If I know of techniques I struggle with, I practise hard cadenzas of such type...

Those pieces are already at quite a high level! If you want to continue to improve your technique beyond what you find in the likes of Hanon, I suggest studying all 24 Chopin Etudes. Together, they are a comprehensive sourcebook of nearly every technique you will need in music written during the 19th century, and even much of the music written later that is commonly played is derived from 19th-century techniques (though often with more complexity), in which case you should supplement these with some of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin's Etudes as well.

These should be played in slow tempo, with a metronome, every day as part of a warm-up. Also, you should create exercises for yourself based off the techniques you want to master--currently I am trying to master octaves and four-note chord inversions, so I do a little pattern involving a short progression in each key, followed by contrary-motion four-note inversions in both hands. I also have been practicing transposing Hanon exercises into distant keys, such as D-flat or A major. I cannot emphasize this enough--SLOW practice with a metronome will go a long ways to helping you fit together complex pieces that you would not be able to sight-read otherwise.

[f flat minor]

Alright, I appreciate it. Thank all of you for replying and (in advance) those would would reply later. I ought to follow all of these advices. 

[ranjit]

I don't think it's really possible, per your definition of virtuoso. You would basically need to learn an entire school of piano technique, through books, videos and your own intuition. The hand and finger movements are rather foreign, and you often can't tell just by looking or listening because incredibly subtle differences can often make a marked difference in the resultant sound. I don't really see it being possible, if I am being honest. I tried to do so myself, but only got to a point where I could sort of play advanced piano pieces but not quite. You can definitely get better and learn to play things, but it is extremely hard to get the necessary efficiency of motion and consistency, not to mention advanced reading and interpretation skills.

[lelle]

I am self-taught and I would like to become a virtuoso. First of all-
1) Can I attempt pieces which I find extremely difficult? Is it impossible or is it possible but takes long?
2) How do I become a virtuoso?
3) What are the best piano exercises for becoming a virtuoso (not just to improve technique but to become a virtuoso, someone like Hamelin, Katsaris, etc.)?
AND NOTE THAN I WANT TO BE ONLY AN AMATEUR, BECAUSE I HAVE OTHER STUFF TO DO AS WELL WHICH I PRIORITISE.
Thanks for your advice in advance.

As somebody who's spent quite a lot of time trying to self teach and figure out technique on my own, (and who also has had teachers) my advice would be -

Get a teacher. Please get a teacher.

A good teacher, that is. It'll be much more efficient. There are so many traps you can fall into, and so many things you might not even realize on your own, that can hinder your progress. Unfortunately, just practicing more and more difficult pieces is unlikely to work.

[f flat minor]

Thanks a lot, I'll be studying with a local teacher next month, and I'll tell about my progress.
P.S. Oh, and what I am planning to learn right now are some of the easier sonatas, I might want to seek help with the ranking as well lol (regarding the other poll, sorry to bother)
Hope its not way too difficult for the pieces which I mentioned that I played in the above message.

[dogperson]

Thanks a lot, I'll be studying with a local teacher next month, and I'll tell about my progress.
P.S. Oh, and what I am planning to learn right now are some of the easier sonatas, I might want to seek help with the ranking as well lol (regarding the other poll, sorry to bother)
Hope its not way too difficult for the pieces which I mentioned that I played in the above message.

You post here asking how  to become a self-taught virtuoso and then post a day later that you are taking lessons in February.  Just curious when you decided on and arranged for the lessons. Thanks

[f flat minor]

Oh, it's just that after seeking advice from here, I found a teacher online whom I called and we decided to have classes.

You post here asking how  to become a self-taught virtuoso and then post a day later that you are taking lessons in February.  Just curious when you decided on and arranged for the lessons. Thanks

[dogperson]

Thanks for the info. I’m glad the suggestion for getting a teacher was helpful and that you found one you like,

[pianodannn]

 I was put under the impression that it is not possible, or at least very rare for anybody to become a self taught virtuoso.In fact that it's not possible to advance beyond intermediate without extensive 1 on 1 training with a world class pianist.Whether that is true, who knows.
   In any event a large amount of natural aptitude is indispensible.It cannot be done without it.All the dedication and perseverence in the world is useless without it.
  Then you need a large amount of luck to find a teacher who by chance has a playing concept which gels with your personality, phsyche, physical characteristics.Most teachers have different views regarding how you are even supposed to accomplish such a feat.Ive yet to hear from any 2 that agree on any aspect of how to play or learn the instrument.
     Good luck with your endeavours.

[pianodannn]

 Yes, and as somebody mentioned, there is no fast way, other than inheriting talent.Besides that, you need to be ready to spend 5 hours a day for 6 months just to refine one tiny sub skill such as a trill, or a scale. It will probably take 20 to 30 years assuming your an average adult , given your brain has lost 90% of its neuroplasticity by this late stage of the game.
 In short, be young, be talented and bobs your uncle.Other than that, probably best aspire to something else.

[ranjit]

I was put under the impression that it is not possible, or at least very rare for anybody to become a self taught virtuoso.In fact that it's not possible to advance beyond intermediate without extensive 1 on 1 training with a world class pianist

It depends on how you define intermediate. I do not think you can achieve conservatory levels without any instruction whatsoever. But you can get quite decent in some cases. The issue is that there will always be holes if you don't have teachers to guide you. I haven't seen an exception to this yet. You may learn some things quite well, but even in "prodigies" who are self-taught, you usually see tons of holes in their understanding.

Most teachers have different views regarding how you are even supposed to accomplish such a feat.Ive yet to hear from any 2 that agree on any aspect of how to play or learn the instrument.

This isn't true. There are differences, but commonalities far outweigh the differences especially when it comes to beginner or intermediate players.

[timtim]

Sorry,
but Harmonies du Soir is extremely diffucult, 100% virtuoso etude, one have to ALREADY BE A VIRTUOSO in order to play it.

Do you have recording of yourself playing any of the pieces you mentioned? I have seen many people playing hard pieces, which were difficult to stand for longer than 10 seconds, because the pianists thought they have skills and knowledge to play them, but I encountered very rare occations, where I listened to self learners playing Chopin G minor Ballade and this was a pleasure. Please be aware that this were rather single videos vs what I call norm in former case.

However I am quite surprised that many pianists rank Harmonies as the 3rd most easy etude in whole set.

[jlmap]

Altough I'm not a virtuoso, I think that, as in everything else, the fastest way to do anything is to do the right way from the beginning. Do a lot of ear training. Sing all the notes you play as do, re, mi, etc, or some things like that. Do figured bass exercises. Read about music form, music history, etc. Practice scales and arpeggios.

[pianodannn]

    I really think that unless you have specific talent for piano, nothing you do in terms of training or practice will ever lift you to vituoso level.Even many decades of absolute world class instruction can leave you well short of virtuoso level if you were not made for piano. It really is something only a handfull of people with very rare neurological traits can accomplish. Even having the wrong level of a single hormone circulating in the brain can destroy any possibility of doing well at this task. There is no room at all for any cognitive shortcomings.No forgetfullness, no brain fog, no second guessing anything. The mind must be build like a steel trap.99% of people do not have the prerequisites to accomplish such a goal.You need to convince yourself your in that 1%.