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Play Piano By Ear
"Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power" ~Joan Didion. RECOGNIZING A TONE
When we play piano by ear we find the first tone of a song and then we compare it with the next tone. We go on and on until we have the whole song. In order to do that we have to distinguish between one note and the other. Let's take the song "Merrily We Roll Along" for example. 
Listen to the song and try to play piano by ear by figuring out which key sounds like the first tone of the song. If you can sing the first tone it's much easier. Try to hum it at least. Did you get it? It's the E key. Now we continue to the next tone and try to figure if it's lower or higher then E. In our case we have only two options. The D and the C. Both or lower... But try to figure which one it is. Do you hear it? It's the D key. Easy huh? Start by singing the "mer" part slowly and then go to "ri". Hear the difference? Great, now continue to the "ly" part. Is it lower then D or higher? It's lower and yep... It's the C key. Continue like this until you have the whole song. Some get it right away and some need some more time before they get the hang of it. TIP: Sometimes when the two other options you've tried sound wrong it just means you have to repeat the same tone you played before. Pay attention to it. Wanna check if you got it right? Do you need some help? Here's a PDF file with the answers. It contains the suitable fingerings and some Letters to indicate the beginning note and some exceptionals that demand your extra attention. Lesson 1 = Merrily We Roll Along(pdf)
Playing the Melodie on Different Places on the Piano There's a line of Letters which state different keys in the last part of the file. The idea is to try to play the melody starting from different keys on the piano.For example... If you play "Merrily" starting the melody (third finger) with B it sound well (using B-A-G). Same goes when we start with A (using the A-G-F). If we start with G for example we get the keys G-F and oops... The E is wrong... Maybe the D then? Nope! It sounds wrong as well. How about the black key in between? (Wanna know how it's called? click here to find out). That works well. Keep going like that and circle every letter when you get it right until you have all letters circled. It gets quite challenging but as you continue to further letter but it improves your ability to play piano by ear enormously. 
Done? Great! Now if you're wondering if there's a good course or a book over playing piano by ear I suggest you check out these books, Cd's and Dvd's I recommend from Ebay. Why should you buy the books "How to Teach Youself Piano" on Ebay?- On eBay you'll find every book from the collection that has ever existed- You know exactly what you're getting (and you know it'll work... ;-) You Can Teach Yousrelf Piano is Ideal for anyone who wants to learn to play the piano quickly. It Teaches how to accompany songs on the piano without music, change key when a song is too low or too high, and provide accompaniment when only the melody and chords are given. Here is a list of many great songs you can practice in order to learn how to play piano by ear. They are arranged in a gradual order.
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Here's where you'll find information on how to play piano by ear. We will first practice finding popular melodies on the piano.
