If you are wanting to learn how to play the piano by ear then this little trick is for you. No more trying to pick out the melody and in the end what your playing doesn’t match what you are hearing. And best of all no more being bound down by sheet music.

Playing the piano by ear is actually very simple if you know the right way to do it. Some people don’t even know where to start they try and fail. And they believe it is only for those with some kind of special talent. But ITS NOT! If you can hear one single note on the piano and you are able to pick it out yourself then you can do this.

Ok so what is my secret on how to play piano by Ear? Well first off to do this you have to not be a beginner. You need to know Scales and Chords, Major, Minor, Diminished and all those beginning basics that you need to know. So if you have come that far or you are just tired of sheet music then give this a try.

What you do is when you are listening to a song, and this will take practice so don’t think you can learn to play songs you hear just after one time right off.

But if you are hearing a song what you do is listen very closely, find the BASS note that the bass player is playing or just the bass note that you are hearing. Ok that is the real secret, not the melody note, the bass note is the foundation to the chord you are hearing at that time. Ok then if you can pick that bass note out on the piano then from there you use the scale that the song is being played in. And I am not going to cover how to pick the key out of a song or the scale the song is in that will be for another lesson.

But say it is in the key of C alright first you hear the C note in the bass so that is off the 1 of the scale. Now if you know your major and minor chords and how they are relevant to each note in the scale you will know that the 1 note of the scale is going to be a major chord.

Ok just so we understand this the 1st note of the scale is going to be a major chord.

The 2nd note of the scale is going to be a minor chord,

The 3rd note is a minor

4th note is a major

5th note is a major

6th note is a minor

7th note is a diminished chord.

Ok so when you are trying to pick out the bass note say you hear the bass note progress from the 1 chord to the 4 chord. Well you will know that if you are in the key of C the song will move from a C major to a F major. And if you want you can put the melody note on tope but if you are singing to it its not necessary.

Ok so now you hear the bass note go from the 6th to the 2nd to the 5th, Ok so you know if you are in the C scale that you are going to play a Am then Dm then G major. Its very simple if you understand it in this way and when you do you can play a song you hear just exactly like you hear it. People that just try to pick out the melody usually end up with a song that sounds kind of like it but leaving a lot out.

What I do is print out the lyrics then I listen to the song and it may take hearing it a couple times or a certain part a couple times. But once I get the bass note then I write the number of that note above the lyrics where that note is in the song. Like for this for instance-

1 4 1

Amazing Grace How sweet the sound

6 2 5

That saved a wretch like me

Se then I go threw the whole song like that So when I am done I look at the lyrics I have and like in Amazing grace I know that the one is a major off the 1st note of the scale then I know the 4th is a major. Then The 6th is a minor chord, 2nd minor chord then the 5th is a major chord. So that song in the Key of C would Be C major moving to F major. Then Back to C major to Am to Dm to G major.

Then you can just put the melody note on top and you will have a chord sound just like what you are hearing and you can add your own stuff to it also.

Ok so how to play piano by ear is very simple if you have not got this far yet to understand chords and progressions then you may not understand this concept. Because after you do this for a few songs you will learn that most songs use the same progressions and movements over and over. Like that 6, 4, 5 that is actually a 6 4 5 chord progression and is used over and over in almost every song there is. Like that 1 to the 4 that is used over and over.

So after you do this you will notice the same number patterns over in almost every song you play but once you put a different melody note on top the song is different. And its also different by the time it changes also and that’s what makes most songs unique.