Piano by Ear?!
Question: Im trying to learn piano by both ear and sheet music. I've been practicing often for about a few months. I've made some progress with the sheet music but don't know where to begin to play by ear. I rather by very good by ear then by technical memory of sheet music. Is there a specific process to tackle the problem of learning to play by ear. Any tips or generalities to follow. How long does it normally take to start seeing progress as long as one practices on schedule? Please people answer if you have experience with this kind of playing or an instructor or piano player yourself. Thanks for the help.
Answers: Im trying to learn piano by both ear and sheet music. I've been practicing often for about a few months. I've made some progress with the sheet music but don't know where to begin to play by ear. I rather by very good by ear then by technical memory of sheet music. Is there a specific process to tackle the problem of learning to play by ear. Any tips or generalities to follow. How long does it normally take to start seeing progress as long as one practices on schedule? Please people answer if you have experience with this kind of playing or an instructor or piano player yourself. Thanks for the help.
You need to know your chords really solidly. A couple things I do to get better. One, I take a major chord and practice making it minor and all other things you can do to a chord, in all keys. Two, I start at C and practice a progression with second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and octaves to get a feel for them and hear what each sounds like in all keys. Third, I take a simple tune with one hand, like Mary Had a Little Lamb and play the simple melody in all keys, trying as hard as I can to not hit wrong notes and just know when a note should be sharp and flat to sound right. This shouldn't be the same song over and over, you should switch it up so you can hear the different keys instead of knowing the song. And the fourth thing I do is to listen to a song I like, and sound out the melody on the piano. Work to eliminate the guess work, so you will be able to simply "hear" the melody in your head and put it on the piano. Once you master all of these, you can start making them more complex (mostly with the last two) like adding the left hand. Good luck!
To play by ear, you need to learn A LOT of chords. Most ear things is chords. Practice jazz music. That's ALL chords. x_x
We play by note and by eat, in my family. In order to play by ear, for myself...............I shut my eyes, HEAR the music in my head...........and let my fingers go. It works for us. When you know the sounds of the piano, just listen, shut your eyes, and make the music.