Piano Pilot

So, you want to learn how to play piano by ear. You think this skill is reserved for those with “special” talent. You’re wrong about that!

What does it mean to play by ear? Simply that the musician understands the fundamentals of diatonic harmony. To understand this, you just need to know a little about chords.

For example, in the Key of C Major we have 7 chords. These are: C Maj. D min. E min. F Maj. G Maj. A min. and B half-diminished.

Notice that these chords are lined up in order and that they are triads. Most harmonic theory in the western world gives a number to these chords using roman numerals. Simply put, we can call the C Major

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A student once asked me; “Can I determine what my favorite piano player is actually doing on the keyboard just by listening?” An excellent question and one that can be answered in the affirmative. Here’s how to do it.

First, figure out what the left-hand is doing. This is the key to understanding what is being done by any piano player, no matter what the style. Let’s take New Age pianist David Lanz as an example. Lanz’s style usually revolves around a left hand that plays an ostinato pattern while the right hand improvises. Very few pianists base their compositions on the right-hand.

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How do you choose the right piano teacher? That’s a question newbies at piano frequently ask. And it’s an important question as well. Let me tell you how to do it.

First, you really have to identify what your goals are. Do you want to play classical piano pieces? If so, you’ll need someone who’s been trained to play this style. Fortunately, the classical style of piano playing has no shortage of piano teachers.

Do you want to play from fake books? If so, you’ll need to find a teacher who knows chords. These teachers exist and can be found as well. While not as abundant as the note reading classical teacher, the chord-based approach is being taught more and more these

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The sound of New Age music can be divided into the 3 parts melody, harmony, and rhythm. The harmony aspect can be thought of simply as chords. Now New Age music does use certain piano chords more than others.

One chord I’m fond of is the 9th chord. All this means is that the ninth note of the scale is used to create the chord with. For example, a triad built from the C Major scale is spelled - c-e-g. If we add the seventh note in the scale (b) we get a seventh chord - C Major 7. It’s spelled - c-e-g-b. Simple enough.

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To the uninitiated, the piano keyboard looks like a sea of black and white. So many keys!

The way most piano teachers handle this problem is to first show students where middle C is - and I agree this should be the first thing newbies learn. But after they learn this visual marker, it’s time to really make the piano keyboard easy to see. How? By showing students how to form chords.

Sure, you could spend your time learning every single note on the piano. And you’d probably still be confused as to how to make music. But if you learn a chord-based approach first, you’ll be able to see piano keys as chords instead of individual notes. And when this happens

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