Music Blog

For many people, the cost of piano lessons is too expensive. For others, the time required for piano lessons is just too prohibitive. But these factors don’t have to prevent you from learning the piano. You can still enjoy the beauty of the piano. However, playing the piano by ear may be the only option for you.

Playing any instrument by ear requires patience and the ability to match the sounds you hear with the sounds you play. With the piano, you cannot be afraid to test this out. The keys give you an instant result just by pressing them. If you were to play them in order, you would hear a pattern. Sometimes it won’t sound right. When that happens, try pressing some of the black keys. What you playing is a scale.

Place your hands on the keys and get ready to play piano by ear. Start with something simply, like ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’. Hum the tune in your head and then try to match it with the keys beneath your fingers. It may take you a few times, but have patience. It is not that difficult and you will feel very rewarded once you have done it. Know that learning to play any instrument by ear is a process of trial and error.

Some people teach themselves how to play piano by ear by chording. A chord is a group of three notes that sound good together. It sounds right. There are times when chording is all that is needed. It’s more of an accompaniment than the actual melody of the song. If you are patient enough, you can learn to chord the right notes with your left hands and play the melody with your right hand.

As you play piano by ear you will discover that hitting the key with different intensity makes the note soft or loud. Also, the pedal at your feet can sustain a note for a longer length of time. These are common techniques used by composers to give their music flavor. Listen to a piano concerto one day and notice the way the music rolls, loud to soft, long notes to short. These elements are in almost every form of music and they do have proper names.

Whatever happens with your piano playing, remember that the primary goal is to enjoy your music. If you’re not enjoying the music you might as well do something else. But if you’re enjoying the music, don’t quit just because you’re not playing masterpieces yet. Remember that most good pianists have spent more than a decade getting to where they’re at playing the piano, whether they are playing the piano by sight or playing the piano by ear.

I want a digital piano !