Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement?

Question:Hey, i'm starting to learn this song now, and i'm wondering how long do you think it will take to fully play it polished and all, and what techniques (Chromatic scales, scales, arpeggios, etc) i will need to help practice.

I've been playing for nearly 8 years now.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Hey, i'm starting to learn this song now, and i'm wondering how long do you think it will take to fully play it polished and all, and what techniques (Chromatic scales, scales, arpeggios, etc) i will need to help practice.

I've been playing for nearly 8 years now.

a few MONTHS? try a little longer than that--I've been playing since i was 5 (so for 11 years), and it took me about 8 months to get it up to standard, and about a year to get it really top-notch. It has a LOT of hard technical passages, but I think that if you really work at it, you can play it. The hardest part is probably about the fourth line, when the bottom hand has like alternating octaves and the top hand has to play syncopated notes. It's not that hard when you practice slow, but it's incredibly hard to play smooth and fast. You will need to practice arpeggios. The third movement isn't as heartfelt as the first, but you need to play with a bravado that isn't anywhere else in the piece--it's the FINALE of an EPIC piece :D
basically, a lot of hard work, and SLOW PRACTICE (omg i cannot emphasize this enough) will allow you to play it well.

a few months i would say, but it depends how fast you learn and understand the music, and how good you really are. You cant really say when you will have it polished because i learned that song 3 or 4 years ago, and im still getting better at it, and it sounds better every time. I would suggest playing it part by part and playing over parts you cant play well very slowly or even with a metronome. Also, dont just play the notes, Moonlight Sonata is a beautiful piece, so put your heart into it. If you feel the music, it will sound much better than just reading what it says.

Oh my GOD... I learned that years ago and still remember it.

My hardest movement to learn was the second movement because the movement is not played as it's written. My mother finally bought a copy of the Moonlight Sonata played by Horwitz and I was amazed at the light, airy, lyrical way HE played it instead of the plodding way I was playing it...