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beginner

Best Piano Songs To Learn How To Play As A Beginner

If you have just made the decision to learn how to play the piano, or you are still a beginner, you might be wondering what songs you should try to play. After all, there are only so many scales and drills you can practice without getting bored.

You may have a piano teacher who has given you some suggestions for songs to play. Either way, it always good to know which songs are well-suited for beginners to learn how to play. That way you can get the most out of your practice, play songs that you enjoy, and make fast progress on your way to becoming a skilled pianist. The following are 10 of the best piano songs to learn how to play as a beginner.

  • Prelude To The Well-Tempered Clavichord – Johann Sebastian Bach
  • The Well-Tempered Clavichord by Johann Sebastian Bach is a classic piece for beginner pianists to learn to play. On the left hand, it uses just two notes, which makes it easy for you to get started with. The arpeggios are played by the right hand. The reason why this is such a good song to practice is that you can work on improving your two-hand dynamics and it is a short and sweet piece.

  • Sonata No. 16 (Sonata Facile) – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Mozart actually wrote his Sonata No. 16 for beginning piano players. “Facile” means easy. It is a good piece for beginning and intermediate piano players to learn and much less challenging than many other Mozart pieces.

  • Ode To Joy – Ludwig van Beethoven
  • This is one of the first songs that many beginning pianists learn to play. The notes are played with your left hand and the melody is played with your right hand. Ode To Joy is so easy to play that many beginners learn to play the song by ear.

  • The Entertainer – Scott Joplin
  • The Entertainer by Scott Joplin is a classic song from the Ragtime era. Joplin wrote the song in 1902, and it is still recommended to this day for beginner piano players. It uses basic chord progressions that help to support memorizing this piece. In terms of rhythm, the song offers a great opportunity for studying basic ragtime beats and syncopation. The left-hand patterns bounce back and forth to develop your keyboard awareness, chord-finding ability, and timing. Most important of all, it is a very fun song to play. You can first learn how to play it at a slow tempo, and then over time speed things up.

  • Smoke On The Water – Deep Purple
  • Only four notes are used by this song, so it very easy for beginning pianists to master it. Another thing that makes it easy for beginners to play Deep Purpose is that the hand position does to change. That means the beginner can learn to pay the four notes while practicing them using both hands.

  • Lean On Me – Bill Withers
  • This is one of the most common songs that beginner pianists learn how to play since it has every chord in a major key that all move in a stepwise manner, which makes it easy to remember and learn how to play.

  • Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
  • This classic hit song dates back to 1982 and appeared on Jackson’s “Thriller” album. To play “Bille Jean” your right hand only needs to play three chords. That is the synth part of this song. That makes it easy for beginners to play. With your right hand, you play the following chord sequence: F# minor, G# minor, A minor, and G# minor. Then you can add your left hand in, with the four-note bass line. It will take a bit of practice, but after you have mastered playing this song, you will be able to play the famous riff from this hit song by Michael Jackson.

  • Someone Like You – Adele
  • This song was a huge hit when it was released in 2011. This is also an excellent song for beginning pianists to learn how to play since it has just four chords that continue to repeat: A, E, F# minor and D. The four chords are played in a repeating pattern.

    When you are first learning how to play the song, you can start out slowly, and then continue to increase your speed as you gain confidence until you have the right tempo. After mastering the four-chord sequence played with your right hand, then your left hand can be added to play the intro.

  • All About The Bass – Meghan Trainor
  • Although this song might seem like it would be hard to play, it’s actually a great one for beginning players to learn. Just four chords are used and they repeat throughout the entire song, so after the sequence is mastered, you will be able to play the whole song very easily.

  • Stand By Me – Ben E. King
  • This is a classic beginner’s song due to its highly recognizable melody and easy, repetitive bass line. The main chords of the song are C, Am, F, and G that repeat over and over again.

    Continue To Learn

    After you have mastered these best piano songs for beginners, you can then take on more complicated songs or more complex versions of these songs. Always keep a good selection of songs handy to practice to help you stay motivated and continue to hone your skills. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

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    history

    Learn The History Of The Piano

    Many musicians consider the piano a classical instrument, which is just a way of saying it’s been around for a long time. However, it hasn’t been around forever. If you’re new to the world of the piano as a beginning student, you might not know much about the history of the piano, if anything at all. Correct that now by reading into the following paragraphs to learn some of that.

    Instruments are usually divided into three different categories that are based on the sounds they produce. The first category is a string instrument, the second is wind instruments, and the third is percussion instruments. The ancestry of the piano is primarily string-based, as it can be traced back through instruments such as the dulcimer, harpsichord, and clavichord, and even eventually back to the monochord.

    Instruments have been around for a long time. The King James Version of the Bible mentions a harp and organ in just the fourth chapter of Genesis. The first known keyboard instrument was the Hydraulis. Ancient Greeks built this in the third century B.C., and it was a precursor to the modern organ. It was only several centuries later that organs were used for important festivities and celebrations throughout Greece, and then spread throughout the Roman Empire, as the Romans adopted and spread Greek culture.

    Early keyboards were played using everything from hands, wrists, and fists to feet and knees. Scales were diatonic, like GABCDEF, up until the 1200s, instead of the 12-tone chromatic scale currently in use. Many different stringed keyboard instruments showed up in the 1300s and 1400s. Hammered instruments included the chekker, clavichord, and dulce melos, while plucked instruments included the harpsichord, spinet, and virginal.

    All this paved the way to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, who lived from 1655 to 1731 and created the modern piano. He was an expert in making harpsichords and created the first piano somewhere between 1697 and 1701. That keyboard certainly didn’t look like modern pianos though, as the natural keys were of black color with white accidentals. It was actually Sebastian LeBlanc who had the idea of switching the colors around. Only three Cristofori pianos are known to have survived until today, and they all date to the 1720s.

    When Cristofori invented the piano, the clavichord and the harpsichord were the most popular of all keyboard instruments. They also looked much like modern pianos. The primary difference between them and modern pianos is how they produced their sounds. Clavichord strings get struck by tangents, whereas harpsichord strings get plucked by quills.

    The harpsichord had a primary drawback of how it was impossible to control the dynamics of every note. Composers couldn’t convey emotion through music because the softness or loudness wasn’t under the player’s control. An attempt at improving this happened with the clavichord, where strings could keep vibrating as long as their corresponding key was still depressed. Artists could be more expressive, but tones were still too delicate and got drowned out in hall performances.

    Cristofori created the piano to blend the dynamics of the clavichord with the volume of the harpsichord. To do this, he set it up so that the hammer would strike the key but not stay in contact with it. Also, he set it up so that the hammer would return to a rest position without violent bouncing, meaning that the instrument could repeat the same note quickly.

    Interestingly, the first pianos weren’t even called pianos. The original name in Italian was either ‘cavicembalo col piano e forte’ or ‘gravicembalo col piano e forte’. This was literally translated as a harpsichord that was capable of playing normal levels but with more strength.

    The piano was still known as a harpsichord for many years, but by 1732, someone finally shortened the pianoforte name to just piano. The piano hadn’t even been known by many until 1711 when the Italian writer known as Cipione Maffei wrote about it.

    Maffei’s writing caught the attention of organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, who started building pianos but with a predecessor to modern damper pedals. He eventually showed one piano to Johann Sebastian Bach in 1736. Legend has it that Bach hated it to the point of destroying it with an ax. However, a later version in 1747 met Bach’s approval. His use of it in performances for royalty of several nations led to the explosion of its popularity across Europe and then also North American colonies. Eventually, it became a living room staple of many a high-class or cultured home.

    Hopefully, you didn’t skim through this at rocket speed, but even if you did, you likely picked up more about the history of the piano then you knew previously. Use this newfound knowledge to show your piano teacher that you truly appreciate this magnificent instrument and are taking your lessons seriously.

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    learn to play

    The Best Way To Learn To Play The Piano

    If you have been wanting to learn how to play the piano, you are not alone. Many people want to try to learn the piano. When you do play, you will find that it is something wonderous to put your time into.

    Playing the piano is enjoyable and fun and part of the experience of it all is mastering it. When you first begin to play the piano, everything is new so you will need to take your time to learn in the best way possible.

    The Piano Is A Wonderful Instrument To Play

    The piano is a keyboard that is played by hitting keys that will produce sounds that are made by hammers on strings. Each time a key is hit, a different tone will come up.

    There are many ways to play the piano to create lovely music. Once you learn the basics of the piano, you will be able to play more and more intricate pieces that will be impressive. There are also foot pedals that you may use when you are better able to understand all that there is about playing simple pieces.

    Learning In The Best Way

    You must learn to play correctly if you want the right sound to be produced by the instrument. People that do not do this simply give up because they become too frustrated to continue to learn.

    Here is a list of things to consider when learning the piano in the best way.

    1. Obtain A Teacher – For the most part, a person that wants to learn correctly to play the piano will want to work the best teacher that they can. You can ask around to find a teacher in your area that is good at what they do. If you want to, you can search online for finding a teacher that is nearby. Check her reviews to make sure she provides quality instruction.
    2. The Keyboard – Learning the keyboard is completed by understanding the different keys and the notes that they go to. A simple way to learn the piano usually starts with choosing the right instrument and understanding the keyboard by having a diagram that assists them while they are learning.
    3. Notes – Understanding the notes in music is important, especially at the beginning of learning how to play the piano. You will find that there is simple music that will allow you to memorize the treble and bass of the music. Don’t worry if you do not understand it in the beginning because it takes quite a bit of time to get used to it.
    4. Beats – You will also want to get used to the beats of music so that you can play according to them. Many people like to use a metronome to assist them in learning the beats of music. Playing to the metronome will allow you to make your music flow in a better way.
    5. Practice – Nothing takes the place of practicing. You will need to find somewhere to practice where it is quiet so that you can concentrate on what you are doing.

    If you have your own piano, make sure that you can use it when you need to. It always helps that other people in your household understand that you will be practicing and they will try to be quiet or go into another room at the time that you wish to play.

    Playing For Pleasure

    You will always want to make sure that you are playing for pleasure. Playing the piano should be something that you enjoy, so have as much fun with it as you can.

    As you get better at playing, you may wish to get into some competitions. Many people like to be in recitals where they can show off their ability to play the piano to their family and friends. This may be something that will benefit you as you get better at playing.

    The piano is one of the most enjoyable instruments to play. You can start at any time that you like to begin the process of learning the piano. It is all up to you how far you wish to go when you are playing the instrument. Once again, remember that you always want to make sure that it is a fun time for you as you learn. In doing so, it will bring joy and pleasure for many years to come.