I ' d say GOAT if the refs weren ' t currently the best players for Minnesota at this moment , they are truly the GOATS when it comes to fucking teams amirite ! ?<| sep |> I just commented above but I wanted to comment here too . I think that if you were someone trying to play things in a very technically accurate way , and be able to analyze the music and things like that , then you would need a teacher . But if you are not trying to do that , then I think the only cost that will really happen to you is that you will maybe become frustrated over certain technical issues or you will play the music in an interpretation that is not attuned to knowledge of music historystructuretheory . But these things are things where the average layperson in your audience , whoever they may be , will not be able to pick up on it . With some of the technical stuff , they may be able to like the sound buildup I mentioned in the post above but mostly they will not . It ' s more like your technical ability will cap out at a lower point if you do not have a teacher . The people who attend conservatories and have perfect clarity and interpretation almost always have teachers . That said , I don ' t think people on here should necessarily discourage you for playing for enjoyment because that is perfectly ok . Edit remember that a lot of ' classical ' music was written for aristocrats who had 68 hours a day to practice . I used to think about that when I was keeping in perspective the technical detail required to render them perfectly . Also sorry my comment is so long , I ' ve been doing this for a long time and I ' m a nerd .