Hymn Playing: How to Get "Unstuck"

By: Shelly Griffin

Struggling to get out of your piano playing rut? Can't find the motivation to play hymns? You've come to the right place!

I have been more of a self-taught person my whole life, researching and getting my phone out to google a question over paying for music teachers. Learning at my own pace has always been better for me.

Recently, I have been learning how to play church hymns and let me tell you, it is a trip! I go through fazes of rapid learning and then feeling stuck with what I know. They are common feelings, but it often seems there is no one who knows how you feel. If that is you, I will do my very best to help you by sharing what helps me.

First, don't practice every day. It may sound backwards, but hear me out! I could give you a step-by-step practice routine with 5 minutes of scales as a warm-up and 10 minutes of fast arpeggios to practice runs, etc., but it won't help you if you are not having fun. You will cultivate feelings of dread toward a hobby or endeavor that once brought you joy and fulfillment. You may even give up piano all together. Since we don't want to do that, let's find a solution!

I'm going to share a little background so that what I say makes sense. I have struggled with being interested in and starting many projects that I never finish. I've done this my whole life, especially with all the stories I wrote as a kid. I have always wanted to do a New Year's resolution, but could not ever get past the first two weeks before I quit. In December of 2024, I decided I would do a New Year's resolution and make it to the end. My resolution: play the piano everyday. I gave myself some wiggle room and said all I had to do was at least touch the keys and make a sound with them. After all, I had never completed a resolution before.

Some days, that is all I did: touch the keys. Other days, I would play a scale. I would go through fazes of rapid learning and play the piano for hours. I did this the entire year. For once in my life, I had completed something huge! I did a New Year's resolution! I played/touched the piano every single day for 365 days in a row, not missing one day or ruining my "streak." I felt so accomplished. I learned so much and at my own pace.

That was 2025. As I write this in March 2026, I still have not ruined my "streak." I am still playing everyday. It's like I can't stop or I will ruin something good. That is my advice to you: don't practice everyday. Play every day! Play your favorite song or one you're comfortable with or a chord progression and see where it leads.

You will have days of no motivation. Give yourself grace for them. On the days of high motivation, take advantage of that! Make an effort to actually learn something on those days that you can incorporate into all the songs you know, such as: a riff, a scale run, or an octave leap!

Make a goal sheet. What do you want to be able to play? What do you want to be able to add to a hymn? Write down your big goals and break them down into attainable lists you can check off one by one. I will give you an example of what I did:

GOAL: Learn every key.

STEPS:

• Play scales in every key with correct fingering.

• Memorize the key signatures.

• Memorize the diatonic chords of each key.

• Play the 4 main chords of each key.

• Play a simple chord progression and transpose it to each key. (Practice it often and the distances will become muscle memory so that it will not feel like transposing.)

• Use a song you are very comfortable with and try to play it in all the keys. Your ears will tell you what is next. Use your ears to help your fingers find it.

GOAL: Add runs to hymns.

STEPS:

• Pick the hymn you want to add your run to.

• Find where you want to place the run and how many beats it will take.

• Play scales in that key.

• Play arpeggios in that key.

• Play two-octave arpeggios.

• Be able to play evenly and without mistake.

• Slowly build up speed using a metronome or playing at singing speed.

It may take a while to reach your goal, but breaking it down into those smaller, more attainable steps will help your morale and you will move forward instead of being stuck.

In summary, don't practice everyday; play everyday! And I mean EVERYDAY! Create big goals and break them down into smaller steps you can cross off. Listen to other people play hymns how you want to be able to play them. Find your own style. And most of all, never stop learning!

I hope these instructions and ideas were helpful for you. If not, tell me how I can do better at heartfelt.tales23@gmail.com. Happy Playing!