The Roadmap to Playing By Ear

When playing the piano by ear, the science of music organizes your musical mind and controls how you get around.  It’s the plan.  It’s what all musicians that play by ear have in common; they all  know how to get around.



While many get lost in the notion that “getting around” is some mysterious skill, it’s not.  The system is the same for everyone who wants to learn it.  It's simple and is based on first knowing the basic major and minor chords (Command) and thinking numbers over tones.   It’s a combination of set, minimum proficiency skills and a focused way of thinking.

Become The Smartest Beginner In The World

You can become the smartest, inexperienced musician in the world with specific training and direction.  Finding your way around the key is a numerical roadmap but that understanding is served up raw.  It only documents how to get from one place to another.

However, it doesn’t convey any style whatsoever to your playing (but that’s a small price to pay for learning the basic chords quickly).  When you reach Command, you are years ahead of others who’ve never even thought about it.  So what if you aren't playing with style after 4 months of concentrated learning?  At the start, giving yourself the tools to go forward is far more important. 

Before You Can Play With Style You Must First Play Without It

Putting yourself in a position where you analyze the chords, their similar fingerings and places on the keyboard, puts you in a different league altogether than other piano students.  When you reach Command you’ll feel great independence knowing chords as a reflex.  At that point you will be able to take it to the next level.

Many neo-piano-methods attempt to teach you to play with style before you are ready.  Often the tips and tricks you learn are out of context to your level of ability.  Though tips and tricks are good, they are most often the mask of being a faker. 

Standard And Faker Lessons Are The Same

You either understand what you are doing or you don’t.  It all starts with learning the positions and recognizing the chords.  If you do that, you will become a diamond in the rough; an inexperienced expert. 

Otherwise, your training is just rote memorization out of context to your  musicianship.  There’s no difference between sight-reading (following) classical music or blues licks when you don’t know what you are doing.

Take time in the beginning to study the roadmap.  Learn how to read it and you'll go directly to where you want to go.  

Treading Water

You need to get to a point where you can tread water in just a few keys and understand how to read the roadmap. That doesn’t make you an Olympic swimmer and likewise, Command alone doesn’t make you a great pianist.  However, it does give you independence and teaches self-reliance (which is the only way of a true musician). 

All you have to do is learn those 24 chords, follow the roadmap and TRY.

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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