Is It Really Possible To Play The Keyboard By Ear?

Is It Really Possible To Play The Keyboard By Ear?

Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking out the notes as they went along. And even after these musicians master their instruments or a particular song, playing by ear still plays a large role.

Many pop and rock bands don’t play or write their songs based on sheet music, they figure the songs out by playing by ear. It’s even common among non-musicians. Ever sit down a keyboard and mindlessly pick out the tune to “Mary Had a Little Lamb”? What about grabbing a guitar and suddenly finding yourself playing the opening licks to “Smoke on the Water”? That’s playing by ear. You’re able to play part of the song just because you’ve heard it so often.

Playing by ear is a valuable technique for many musicians; learning songs based solely on hearing them is a great way to understand song and chord structure. In fact, a great number of rock and pop musicians learned to play their instruments this way. Instead of picking up a book or taking lessons, they concentrated on figuring out the notes and rhythms to a song until it was mastered. Then they moved on to another song. And another. Gradually, they learned their instrument just by playing by ear — and in the process learned how to effectively structure a song in that particular genre.

Playing by ear is also beneficial in helping a musician develop his or her own style; sure, they’ll at first mimic the style of the song they’re imitating, but the amalgamation of the music that they’re playing by ear will help them create something distinctive, something indicative of them only.

Though classical musicians are generally educated based on tons of music theory and sight reading, some methods rely on playing by ear. The Suzuki method of musical training, for instance, claims that learning music is the same as learning a language; it’s acquired by years of hearing it, eventually coupled with formal training. Just like we pick up our language by listening to our parents and subsequently attending school, we can learn music by playing by ear and later taking formal lessons.

So can the average person ever hope to play their keyboard by ear? Maybe not to the degree that some extremely talented musicians do, but anyone can learn enough about the basics of playing by ear if they learn the following skills:

1.Being able to hear a tune and have a general sense of the contour of the melody — when the tune moves higher or lower as the song progresses.

2.Learning to chart that melody contour either on paper or in their memory.

3.Learning to match the melody to appropriate chords.

Playing by ear is really a combination of of three factors:

1. Using your tonal memory to recall music you have heard:

2. Using your ears and fingers to help you reproduce what you recall;

3. Using “melody contour” (the “shape” of the tune), “chord structure” (how to form the chords on the keyboard to match the tune), and “chord progressions” (the path chords take as they move through a song).

Obviously, the first 2 steps you can take more or less by yourself — you can mentally rehearse recalling a particular tune; you can sit at the keyboard for hours and through trial and error pick out tunes, chords, and rhythms. But the real key to playing by ear is learning how to chart the shape of a tune, learn how to construct chords, and then determine the likelihood of chord progressions — in other words, which chord comes next.

When you get an understanding of step three, you will be in a MUCH better position to understand and profit from steps one and two!
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Extra Keyboard Hands?

LEARN TO USE YOUR ‘EXTRA KEYBOARD HANDS!

What if you had an extra hand or two when you played
keyboard? Would that expand your capabilities? I think so.
Well, pianos and electronic keyboards have a beautiful little
device called a “sustain pedal” that essentially gives you
an extra pair of hands. How?

On a regular piano, it’s the pedal to the far right. On
electronic keyboards, it’s a stand-alone pedal that plugs
into the back of the keyboard.

It allows you to keep notes ringing out, even while your
fingers release the keys and move to other notes.

Try this: Sit at the piano and hit any note repeatedly.
tink, tink, tink… Now, hold down the sustain pedal and
hit the same note repeatedly. Ting, ting, ting… See
what a different feeling each gives?

That is what an extra pair of hands will do for you.

I urge you to experiment with it by playing chords if you
know about chords.
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Lil Wayne- Lollipop (Tutorial Piano Keyboard) Learn to Play Keyboard

LEARN TO PLAY THE KEYBOARD AND IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS. KEYBOARD LESSONS
Lil Wayne- Lollipop (Piano Tutorial)

Check this out if you want….its pretty cool! Piano for All.com

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A Big Keyboard Learning Mistake!

A Big Keyboard Learning Mistake!

The BIGGEST mistake a new keyboard player can make is being
too anxious to go too fast!

Everybody wants to play it like they hear it on the radio…
full speed.  There’s also the kid that ‘pounds through’ his 
keyboard lesson… He’s in a hurry to just get done, so he
slops over the notes (you can hear the rush from the next
room.)

Hey, it’s not just kids that do that.

Here are some valuable hints for getting the best payoff from
your time at the keyboard:

1. Learn a whole song–Instead of jumping around to several
different songs, learning pieces and parts, dig into one
and learn the whole thing.  I know, I know.  There’s that
cool part that you learned early… and it just feels so
good to play it over and over.  (It certainly feels better
than having to learn the parts you don’t know.)

But make yourself learn the whole song.  You get a different 
kind of confidence when you can play a whole song.  That
kind of confidence is crucial for keeping you motivated.
Take my word for it…no one ever said, “Man, I wish I only
knew part of this song.”

2. Play slow, and gradually get faster– Remember the kid
rushing through his lesson?  Sometimes, he just likes the
fact that he can play something.

It never occurs to him that the faster he plays it, the
less feeling it has… and the less ‘musical’ it sounds.
It sounds ‘clunky.’

When you go slowly, you can begin to concentrate on how
a piece of music FEELS.  If you never thought about that
concept, stop right now and observe a moment of silence
as you let it sink in.  Part of why you play music is to
transfer emotion to other people.  So slow down and really
feel it.

3. Learn both hands– Almost all songs require you to use
both hands.  It will sometimes be tempting to just learn
the right hand and then play that over and over.

Force yourself to learn both hand’s parts.  You won’t be
sorry.

I can teach you how to put them both together when you’re
ready.  Click Right Here.

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BUILD A KEYBOARD ‘VOCABULARY’

BUILD A KEYBOARD  ’VOCABULARY’

I know about 3 French words.  So if you want to talk to
me in French, it will be a very short conversation. 
However, I DO speak keyboard…and I don’t mean I speak 
about keyboard.

One of the secrets to my keyboard method is that it reveals
a set of ‘building blocks.’  They eventually become a
player’s ‘vocabulary,’ allowing him or her to musically
express anything they want.

I don’t teach just ‘notes’ or just whole songs. I teach
both of those, but I also have to teach something in
between…

Players need a set of ‘musical words’ in order to speak
their mind on the keyboard. These ‘words’ are things like
chords, rhythms, and short fingering patterns. 

So my tip again is:  start building up a vocabulary of
these elements (even while you’re learning to read
music.)
LET’S TRY THIS

This may be difficult to do via email (DVD’s are easier),
but I want you to do an experiment with the first kind
of ‘word’… chords.

First get on the keyboard and find ‘middle C’ (remember it’s
just to the left of the 2-black-note pair in the middle of
the keyboard.)  Play that with your right thumb.

Now let your middle finger come down on the second white
note up from that.  Then let your pinky come down on the
second note above the middle finger’s note. (There should
be one white key between each finger.)  Play them all at
once.

That’s a chord called ‘C’ (named after the single note it
was built on.)  For now, just forget about what to call
it.

Now I want you to ‘mess with it’ by changing one of its
notes.

Move your middle finger to one of the black notes on either
side of the note its on now.  Play the chord again.

Notice how your feelings change when you hear this new
sound.  That’s because your fingers just ’said’ something
different.  Now you can move that middle finger to the
other black note.  Play the chord again and notice how
it changes the feeling.

You’ve just built a couple words into your keyboard vocabulary!
There are hundreds more where that came from, and I teach
lots of them in PIANO FOR ALL.COM! GET FREE ACCESS HERE! 

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