Skoove Vs Flowkey

If you want to learn to play the piano, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that you don’t necessarily need to attend in-person lessons. Learning piano online has become much more common, and there are plenty of sites for beginners and intermediate players to make progress. Both of these courses are great for learning to play. We’ll dive into the Skoove vs Flowkey question to help you discover which one suits you best.

Introducing The Products

Before we get into the particular features of both Flowkey and Skoove, let us have a brief introduction:

Skoove

Skoove is one of the newer piano apps out there — it was founded in 2014. The founders started it in Germany, and the site is designed to combine music and technology. It’s laid back and fun to use, and it’s available in six languages.

Pros & Cons of Skoove

Pros

• The courses cover a variety of genres, and there’s even a keyboard for producers course
• Each song and lesson shows your sheet music and lights up the notes you need to play on the on-screen keyboard
• You can use a USB or MIDI keyboard, but you also have the option of using an acoustic piano — your device microphone will listen to you play
• Easy to use, intuitive learning interface makes it easy for players of any age to use

Cons

• There’s no way to view or print the complete sheet music for any lesson — you can just see it scroll on the screen
• Depending on your goals, you may find that there’s not enough focus on music theory or on dexterity exercises

Flowkey

Flowkey is also a new online piano site — it was founded in 2015. The site was designed to make learning piano fast, easy, and fun. Because it offers you feedback as you play, it helps you progress faster than you would by simply watching online piano tutorials.

Pros & Cons of Flowkey

Pros

• The song library offers access to a huge variety of songs in virtually every genre.
• You can practice in Slow Mode or Fast Mode, so it’s easier to master a song at a slower tempo first.
• You can choose a portion of a lesson to loop in order to practice it
• It’s easy to use, and you can also take a course of free beginner piano lessons before you sign up

Cons

• Playing with an acoustic piano can be frustrating, as the site’s “listening” through the microphone is not always accurate.
• While Flowkey does teach you some piano techniques, it’s best to have an instructor check your form.

Features Face To Face: Skoove Vs Flowkey

Now that we’ve given you a basic idea of both Skoove and Flowkey, we’ll do a shootout on the individual features of both platforms.

Curriculum

Skoove

When you first visit the Skoove website without signing up, it’s very difficult to see what specific courses they offer. The Skoove curriculum is made of over 300 lessons, and that list is regularly updated. Here are the main courses the site offers:

• Piano Beginner 1 – You’ll learn the basics, focusing on finger numbers and beginning to learn musical notation.
• Piano Beginner 2 – This course will help you start playing with both hands as well as in multiple positions. You’ll also learn more notes.
• Piano Beginner 3 – This course will teach you about intervals, and you’ll learn to play a few songs, too.
• Beginner Theory: Sight Reading – Sight reading is a great skill to have, and this course offers an introduction. Skoove labels it as optional, but it’s a good course to take if you’re serious about learning piano.
• Piano Songs: Beginner – This is more of a song library than a course, and it has 89 songs to learn and practice.
• Piano Intermediate 1 – This course will take you through learning chords and key signatures. It builds on what you learned in the beginner section.
• Piano Intermediate 2 – You’ll learn more about key signatures, chords, and playing dynamics.
• Piano Intermediate 3 – In this section, you’ll dive into both major and minor scales.
• Piano Songs: Intermediate – This song library contains 79 songs that will help you apply what you learned in the intermediate section.
• Classic Piano – This course will introduce you to playing classical music, and you’ll also practice different playing dynamics.
• Pop Piano – This course focuses on pop songs, which make up most of Skoove’s song library. The course will also teach you how to transpose chords.
• Blues and Boogie Woogie Piano – This course introduces the walking bass, and it’s great for improving playing speed.
• Piano Songs: Advanced – These songs aren’t really “advanced” in the traditional sense; they’re just more advanced than the songs in the intermediate section. This course includes 19 to practice.
• Chords and Scales – This builds on your existing knowledge, but it focuses more on teaching these topics by using songs.
• Keyboard for Producers – This useful course teaches you valuable techniques if you want to get into making electronic music.
• Other courses – Skoove also can teach you how to play soundtrack music, holiday songs, and even rock music.

Flowkey

Flowkey’s curriculum is divided into sections, each of which includes several courses:

• Introduction to the Piano (8 courses) – This section will take you through some of the basic concepts you need to get started.
• Playing With Both Hands (7 courses) – This section helps you learn to coordinate using both hands — a tough skill to master.
• Intermediate Piano Playing (6 courses) – This section will teach you more about playing chords, playing dynamics, and relevant music theory.
• Mastering Chords (7 courses) – This section is a deep dive into chords and their inversions.
• Improvising With Chords (5 courses) – This course teaches useful skills if you want to improve your improvisation skills.
• Music Reading Training (8 courses) – This separate section on reading music helps you really dive into it and build mastery.
• Playing Scales (10 courses) – This section will help you improve playing dexterity and deepen your knowledge of scales.
• Playing Scales II (12 courses) – This will build on your knowledge from the first scales course and better understand the notes you are playing.

The Winner: We think this is a toss-up. Skoove is great if you want to play songs right away and learn different playing styles, while Flowkey is better if you want to learn more music theory and get a better foundation to advance your skills.

Lesson Features

Skoove

Skoove is based on a “listen, learn, play” method. You’ll first hear what you’re learning, and when it’s time to play it, notes will be highlighted on the sheet music scroll and the on-screen keyboard.

Whether you’re playing with a connected digital piano or having your device microphone record an acoustic piano, the site will let you know if a note is played incorrectly. However, the feedback feature doesn’t take rhythm into account. This may be helpful when you’re first figuring out notes, but it can be challenging if you’re trying to improve your rhythm as a player.

Skoove also will let you practice the part for each hand separately before putting them together, which is essential when you’re new to piano.

Flowkey

Flowkey also offers you a screen showing both a pianist playing and a scroll of sheet music. You have the option to play along, which is great for practicing rhythm. But before you’re ready to play along, you may want to use one of Flowkey’s useful practice modes:

• Wait mode – waits for you to play each note before moving on
• Slow mode – you can slow the song to 50% or 75% of the true tempo
• Fast mode – plays the song at its actual tempo

Flowkey also lets you practice one hand at a time before putting them together. And for challenging pieces, you can select a part of the lesson to loop.

The Winner: Thanks to its many practice features, Flowkey wins this one.

Song Library

Skoove

Skoove doesn’t have a particularly large song library, but it has enough to keep players challenged. The hundreds of available songs can be sorted by ability level, but they cannot be sorted by genre. Many of the songs have been previously introduced in Skoove’s piano courses. And while many genres are represented, the site’s song library is very pop-heavy.

Flowkey

Flowkey’s song library has over 1000 songs. They can be sorted by ability level and genre, and there’s a huge array of genres represented. Aside from more typical genres, you can also practice Asian pop music, melancholy songs, and music from video games.

The Winner: Because it includes more songs and more genres, we think Flowkey wins this time.

Piano And Keyboard Compatibility

Skoove

You can start learning the piano on either a keyboard or an acoustic piano — Skoove will work with a USB or MIDI keyboard, but it can also use your device microphone to listen as you play. And if you don’t yet have a piano, you can use the on-screen keyboard (it’s controlled using keys on your computer).

Flowkey

Flowkey also lets you learn piano on a keyboard, electric piano, or acoustic piano. Like Skoove, it lets you connect a USB or MIDI keyboard or will listen to an acoustic via your device microphone.

The Winner: Since Skoove will let you start your piano learning without a piano at all, it wins this one.

Device Compatibility

Skoove

You can use Skoove with many devices. It works on Macs, PCs, and Chromebooks. It will also work with iPhones and iPad as well as Windows tablets. However, it cannot be used on Android devices.

Flowkey

Flowkey can be used on just about every type of device — if you want to use a computer, you can use a PC, a Mac, and even a Chromebook or Pixelbook. It also will work on iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, and Windows tablets.

The Winner: Since Flowkey works with more device types, it wins this one.

Pricing, Membership, And Free Trial

Skoove

Skoove comes with a free 7-day trial, and you can also access limited beginner courses with a free account. If you want to continue playing the piano with Skoove, there are a few premium plans to choose from. You can pay $19.99 per month on the monthly plan. If you want to save a little money, you can pay $39.99 for three months of access. And if you want an annual membership, it’s $119.99 per year.

Flowkey

Flowkey also has a free basic membership that lets you access a beginner course. And if you get Flowkey through an app store, you get a 7-day free trial of the premium membership. If you don’t cancel 4 hours before the trial ends, though, it will convert to an annual membership.

For Flowkey premium, you can pay $19.99 per month. You can also choose a six-month plan for $83.99. An annual plan is $119.99, and a lifetime membership is $329.99.

The Winner: Since Flowkey has a few more options, we think it wins this one.

Stand Out Features

When you’re trying to choose the right online piano lessons, you may find that some sites have features that others do not at all. Skoove and Flowkey are fairly similar in terms of features, but there are some standouts:

On-screen keyboard — This feature is unique to Skoove. It’s generally not advisable to use an on-screen keyboard long-term when you learn piano. However, if you’ve just signed up and are waiting for your digital piano or keyboard to arrive in the mail, it might be a useful option.

Keyboard for Producers — We mentioned this above, but it’s a great feature to emphasize. Most piano learning sites focus on playing the piano or keyboard as it is. But if you want to produce electronic music, this course gives you an excellent head start. This is a course that only Skoove has.

Forums — Online piano lessons certainly have their benefits, but they can feel isolating at times. If you want to talk to other piano learners, you might prefer Flowkey. This site has an active forum where members can connect to talk about piano and other topics.

Feedback from real instructors — Skoove was developed in collaboration with a team of piano teachers, and they understand what it’s like to be stuck on a lesson or topic. If you have a premium membership, you can reach out to real instructors who can answer your questions.

Conclusion

If you’re considering Skoove vs Flowkey, we think either of these sites is a good option. However, to make a decision, you’ll need to think about what you need from piano lessons. Here are our recommendations:

Use Skoove if:

• You prefer a more relaxed, laid-back interface that’s easy to navigate
• You don’t yet have a keyboard or piano
• You prefer learning to play pop songs as opposed to other genres
• You want to avoid a lot of emphasis on theory

Use Flowkey if:

• You want extra practice tools like speed adjustment and looping capability
• You want a larger library of songs to choose from
• You want to learn a little more theory and get better at reading sheet music
• You want in-depth, detailed instruction, especially at the beginner level

If you want to get started on the piano, either of these courses will help you do that.