The Greatest Hit of All Time

To play by ear on the piano you must learn to play the greatest hit of all time.  Every style of music throughout the ages has bowed to it’s overpowering influence in music.  From all the classical masters to the bards out strumming their lutes in the early days.  They all played the greatest hit. 

Chuck Berry was the master that brought the hit to life to cement the foundation of rock and roll.  Before that, the Mississippi delta blues begat field calls that begat African tribal nations whose histories traced back to prehistoric times.  They were probably rattling the bones to the greatest hit even back then . . .

Do you know what it is?  

• It’s a force in the musical universe
• It’s the root of all playing by ear. 
• It is the 1, 4, 5 chords of any key.

Millions, billions and trillions of songs have been written using only these 3 chords and there are a google more songs still yet to be written.  The stark contrast between simplicity in form and the infinite possibilities make up the play-by-ear frame of mind.  The 1 - 4 - 5 chords are the pillars of any key.  When you learn how to play them -for any one of the twelve keys- that key is conquered.

You say “It has to be more than that!” to which I respond “Yes, but what is it that makes a really good play-by-ear musician “really good?”  It is that trillion-song realization that simplicity rules.  It’s the undeniable concept that 1 - 4 - 5 is infused into music 100% of the time.

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Joseph Pingel is a pianist, teacher and musicologist.  Click here to get the free companion book to this blog.  See his other sites at www.KeyedUpPiano.com and www.PlayByEarCentral.com. 

© 2011 Keyed Up Inc

How To Sight-Read Without Reading the Music

 

One of my students showed me this a long time ago and blew my mind.  This particular information gives you a way to read with a much more intelligent and intuitive eye.  Start looking at configurations and mimicking them on the keyboard.  Once you get it, you'll be surprised at how normal this becomes.

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Joseph Pingel is a pianist, teacher and musicologist.  Click here to get the free companion book to this blog.  See his other sites at www.KeyedUpPiano.com and www.PlayByEarCentral.com. 

© 2011 Keyed Up Inc

Scales and Keys - What You Don't Know

Many people believe they already know everything there is to know on this seemingly simple subject of scales and keys.  I'm going to challenge you on your understanding.  I've taught a lot of smart people -probably just like you- to play by ear and never a week went by that I didn't ask them "What's a major scale?"  

Each time, they'd recite back to me the one-dimensional, factual, book-learned answer.  The answer is a LOT more than the basic fact and you've got to look DEEP.  You must be able to grasp the concept of the scale order and use it to teach yourself to get better.  It's a  simple understanding of 8 notes that provides you with all the answers you will ever need.  The major scale is the cornerstone. 

Forget about notes;
Forget about 88 keys;
Forget about Octaves;
Forget about chords;
Forget about all the different key signatures.

You must look at the major scale order as a ruler that merely lays out the order of 8 notes.  Forget keys, sharps and flats . . . everything.  Just concentrate on the single, mathematical fact.  The key to understanding the major scale concept is understanding that this simple 8-note order is the single, unifying principle that spawns infinite possibilities.  It's the big bang in the universe of music.  You must focus your attention on the one unifying principle and not on the infinite possibilities.

You can know the book-learned side of this 101 concept but not really understand the practical applications.  For example, you might want to:

•  figure out a chord;
•  figure the numerical order of a progression;
•  decipher the numerical order of a progression;
•  figure out what the next progressive key is;
•  figure out where to put the next progressive notation on the staff;
•  quickly identify the relative minor;
•  quickly identify the relative major;
•  figure out your best chord options to play by ear;
•  understand how and why a key modulates to another key and back;
•  and the list goes on and on . . . 

Besides the basic facts, the video goes into some conceptual understandings you may have never thought of before.  I challenge you to watch the video and learn something new.  Make comments.

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Joseph Pingel is a pianist, teacher and musicologist.  Click here to get the free companion book to this blog.  See his other sites at www.KeyedUpPiano.com and www.PlayByEarCentral.com. 

© 2011 Keyed Up Inc

"Play Something" The Dreaded Request.

Keyed Up Piano was already a reality when I bought my first piano at age 20.  I found it in a vacant house I was looking at and it won my heart.  It was in tune with a sound so true, I knew immediately it was a rare find.   C. Kurtzmann & Co. was a brand I’d never heard of before.  The owner and I agreed on a price of $165 and scheduled for the piano movers to pick it up, early afternoon.

As I walked up, I heard somebody playing a heavy classical piece.  Upon entering, I saw a young woman playing and an older man looking over her shoulder.  His name was Rudy Shultz who told me he had played piano for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for 25 years and had just retired.  We made small talk while she played on. 

Then, she stopped.

“Now you play something” requested Rudy. 

    Aagh, how could anyone follow that?   

“What do you play?”  Rudy probed on . . .

    “I don’t know . . . Rock and stuff . . .

“Play something.” 

So, feeling very self-conscious, I did.  I pulled out my most advanced stuff and played “The Maple Leaf Rag” which I had learned years before in standard lessons. 

I think I was saved by the piano movers arriving.  I felt quite sheepish in light of my quite advanced company.

RETROSPECTIVE HINDSIGHT

I felt embarrassed when Rudy asked me to play something.  How could I measure up?  But I had nothing to be ashamed of.  I was in COMMAND of the keyboard at that time and played very well.  Not as classically proficient as the student but on the other hand, I would have liked to ask her if she could play by ear. 

•  Was she in COMMAND?

•  Did she know her chords?

•  Could she play by ear like me?

I’ll never know, but I’ve found many advanced classical pianists that don’t know their chords and can’t play by ear.  It’s weird because a lot of piano players want to be able to do what the other guy does.  Classical students wants to play by ear and Play-by-ear musicians want to play like the classical student.

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Joseph Pingel is a pianist, teacher and musicologist.  Click here to get the free companion book to this blog.  See his other sites at www.KeyedUpPiano.com and www.PlayByEarCentral.com. 

© 2011 Keyed Up Inc

Getting Started On The Piano Video

Piano lessons begin somewhere and these are the first rudimentary understandings important to playing. Your first task is to learn the names and locations of the keys on the keyboard.  You can't learn by fumbling around from the beginning.  Learn those piano keys.

This video is fairly short and contains some very good insights, especially talking about sharps and flats. 

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Joseph Pingel is a pianist, teacher and musicologist.  Click here to get the free companion book to this blog.  See his other sites at www.KeyedUpPiano.com and www.PlayByEarCentral.com. 

© 2011 Keyed Up Inc