Learn To Play Piano By Ear

Playing piano is a great way to entertain people, but what happens if you have a piano, but no music? You make your own.

Piano By Ear, Playing Without the Sheet Music

Many professionals have made their mark with no real piano training. What they did instead is follow the music that they heard, and play along with the tones.

If you want to develop this skill, there are a few things that you'll need to do. Playing piano by ear takes a basic knowledge of chords, so gather everything you'll need. Obviously, you will be needing your piano or keyboard. Be sure you have plenty of time to practice, and make sure that your piano is in tune.

Now, take a look at the keyboard on your piano. You will see 88 keys, consisting of twelve notes. There are eight straight notes; A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and there are four variations, called flats or sharps. This group of notes, called an octave, repeats approximately seven times throughout the keyboard, meaning that there are seven octaves.

Now that you have a grasp of the various keys on the piano, you should remember that the C notes are known as Home Keys. If you are having trouble finding the C note, look for the white keys directly in front of groupings of two black keys. If you find the C note in the middle of the keyboard, that would be middle C. This is the first major chord.

To find this chord, place your thumb on middle C. From there, count all of the keys to the right, including black keys. The fifth key will be the second note of the C chord, so place your middle finger on this key. The final note of the C chord will be key number eight from middle C, so place your pinky on this key. Now, play all three notes together, and you will hear an impressive harmony.

Become familiar with this method. You can make dozens of chords by starting with any key and using the 1, 5, 8 counting method. Remember to always count black keys, as well as white. These chords will be used as your roots, and they can even be used to make sharp chords by starting on a sharp note.

Once you have put some practice into these major chords, you can begin to learn minor chords. Minor chords are very simple, once you understand the basic concept of creating chords. All you have to do is change your pattern from 1, 5, 8 to 1, 4, 8. So, for example, if you are playing a C major chord, simply move your middle finger one key to the left and you have created C minor.

Once you learn to really listen, learning to play piano by ear can come easily. You will begin to distinguish between subtle notes, and notice differences in tune.