Can I say "I play a little piano" to mean I am not an advanced player?

Question

Can I say "I play a little " to mean I am not an advanced player? How would a native speaker say they can play a musical instrument but only easy pieces of music?

I searched for an adverb that means "in a beginner way," but google mostly showed information regarding adverbs for beginner English learners.

Answer 1

I'm a native English speaker originally from Canada currently living in the US.

YES, it is perfectly acceptable for you to say "I play a little piano." with the intended meaning that you are not a very skilled player. As explained below, it might help if you emphasize the word "little".

Some more details...

The phrase is somewhat ambiguous, as it may mean either that you are not very skilled or that you do not play very frequently. If you are in the unusual situation that you play lots of piano but are still very bad at it, you might want to consider an alternative phrase: Maybe, "I play piano, but I'm not very good."

It will not be misinterpreted as you misspeaking and claiming that you play a small-sized piano, except that -- because that is a technically possible meaning of the phrase -- someone might make a (terrible) joke: "Yes, I play a little piano." "Do you have a tiny bench, too?" "Ha, ha, ha! I see you made a little joke there." See the "I play a little guitar" meme for another example.

Here are a few random examples in bios, interviews, or blogs of people using the phase with the intended meaning that they don't consider themselves very skilled: "I play a little piano...I have a long way to go" and "I play a little piano and drums but certainly not well enough that I would ever consider playing them live.". Here are some examples of people using the phrase with the probable intended meaning that they don't play very often, usually set in contrast to some other activity: "I play a little piano, but I mainly sing." or "I play a little piano, but mostly guitar"

As someone mentioned in a comment, it is the sort of phrase that may used by someone who is very skilled or plays very often, but is either being modest or ironic. For example, Magnus Carlsen is a very skilled and famous chess player. If someone were to ask if he plays board games, he might jokingly say "Yeah, I play a little chess." Or see "I guess I play a little chess" from an amateur who has played many games.

As noted above, emphasizing the word "little" is likely to make it clear that you are not being modest. It also may indicate that you are talking about skill rather than frequency. If you say "I play a little piano" or "I speak a little English", it will probably be interpreted to mean that you are honestly claiming your skill is limited. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a reference to support this claim. Maybe someone else can find one.

Note that the meaning may be different for other activities, even when "little" is emphasized. If you say "I do a little exercise" or "I watch a little TV", you are more likely to be commenting on frequency rather than personal skill.

Answer 2

To play a little piano (and play piano a little - the position of the adverbial element makes no difference) is relatively "formal" compared to, say, I play the piano a bit.

It's inherently ambiguous whether the intended sense is not often or not expertly (or both, but rest assured no-one would think you meant a small piano! :)

Answer 3

As Yan.Yurkin says, "I play a little piano" sounds as if your piano is small. We (in UK) would say,

I can play the piano a little.

or

I can play the piano a bit.

Or you could say,

I can play the piano, but only simple stuff/things/pieces/songs.

People (especially, I think, in the US) sometimes omit the "the": I play piano...

Answer 4

for me (and I know I do think differently to everyone else) it sounds like false modesty. Imagine the scene

guy with friends talking to woman at a party

Mick: ask Fred he plays the piano
Fred: Oh I only play a little
Woman: oh please play a tune for us

Fred gets up walks to the piano and plays perfect Rachmaninov.
Rachmaninoff : Piano Concerto No. 3

Answer 5

I'm by far not a native speaker but just to make it less ambiguous with playing a small sized pianos i'd rather say

I play a piano a little.

Answer 6

In Australia, a reference to playing 'a little' piano means you play infrequently. But it says nothing about the musicians' level of skill.

A native speaker could say I can play a little bit of piano or I can play the piano a little bit. The key point is the word 'can' - it refers to capability.

Answer 7

As the others have mentioned, I play a little piano may mislead the person you are talking to and confuse them. The message you want to convey is

to mean I am not an advanced player

So, the sentence I play a little piano is not correct in this case.

It is better if you use the sentences given below instead

• I play piano a little.
• I can play piano a little.
• I play piano, but I am still at the basics.
• I play piano, though my skills are mediocre.

If you have started piano recently, you can say the following:

• I started playing piano just a while back.

If you played the piano long ago, but have forgotten the basics over time, you can say the following:

• I played the piano years ago, so I would need to practice playing it again for I have forgotten some of the basics.
  
  

Hope this answer helped you.