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Play Piano By Ear

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"This is Brilliant!
Now I can really play lots of songs BY EAR!"

Here you will find information about how to play piano by ear. We will first practice with finding popular melodies on the piano.

Later on we will learn how to use chords. You can also go directly to the Chord section of course...
In order to play you must first orient yourself on the piano. It's a piece of cake. If you haven't read it, just browse through the layout of piano keys page for a moment and come back when you're done.

"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.



This song contains only three notes. C-D-E. In order to play it we use the C Position which is explained in the Piano fingering page.
for now we use only the first, second and third fingers.



Pay attention


Don't mix fingers! Always press on E with your third finger and on C with your thumb. You wanna improve the independence of your fingers and to be able to follow the answers which are based on these fingerings.

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?
Sing first 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.

TIP: Sometimes when the two other options you've tried sound wrong it just means you have to repeat the tone. 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 exceptional.
Lesson 1 = Merrily We Roll Along(pdf)

, = The end of a musical Phrase
__ = longer notes. the longer the line the longer the tone length


Playing the Melodie on Different Places on the Piano
fooling aroundOn the last part of the file there's a line of Letters which state different keys. The idea is to try to play the melody on 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 too. How about the black key in between? (Wanna know how it's called? click here to find out).
That works well. Keep doing this and circle every letter when you get it right until you have it all circled.
It gets quite challenging but it improves your ability to play piano by ear enormously.

Great Job
Done? Great!
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.


File NamePdf FileMp3 File
AlouetteDownload Play
Bach - MusseteDownload Play
Beatles - With a Little Help From My FriendsDownload Play
Big Ben ChimesDownload Play
Deck the HallsDownload Play
God Save the QueenDownload Play
Jingle BellsDownload Play
KalinkaDownload Play
Lightly Row Download Play
London BridgeDownload Play
Mozart - Sonata in ADownload Play
Ode to JoyDownload Play
Old McdonaldDownload Play
Piano Man (Billy Joel)Download Play
Smoke on the WaterDownload Play
The DonkeyDownload Play
We Three KingsDownload Play
When The Saints Go Marching InDownload Play

Now that you know how to play piano by ear I think you should learn to sit right at the piano. If you feel like playing more melodies by ear visit here again anytime you feel like it.

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