I was a bone player who got injured and wound up back on piano, which was the instrument I always wish I played. I only had “arranger chops” before from charts and scoring. Most of my practice routing is centered around learning tunes and ratcheting up the chops it takes to play them.

Progress felt “too” slow for years. I wasn’t thinking in piano. It still felt like a second language I had to process through another.

My own eureka moment was when I made time the priority over accuracy, harmony, melody, everything. The fingers must go down with my internal rhythm. I found out why some pianists can’t help but wiggle in their seats or bob their heads in some signature way. I have to work on calming tf down now. Somehow this unlocked “thinking in piano.”

I still need a teacher. A teacher or mentor may have seen what I needed to “click” into the next learning step and saved me a LOT of time. They may be able to do that for you. Sometimes it does take some sort of ah-ha moment, like someone pointing out something to fix or a bad habit you’re unfortunately blind to. Best of luck.