This is a great course. I'm 67, had to stop playing guitar as I have arthritis in my left hand, preventing me forming chord shapes. I've moved over to piano as I can still finger the notes okay. Nate's chord based lessons are perfect as I love to sing the songs. His Piano Chord Breakthrough course is fantastic, it's laid out well, backed up with videos to support each lesson. I really notice the progress I'm making and it's so satisfying.
I'm 31 and been in and out of music as a hobby for years, I came to same thoughts just recently when I started learning guitar as well. I wish more music classes for kids were about teaching them to play and enjoy music instead of preparing them for classical music school.
My son's piano teacher is amazing. He wrote his own book which has both hands from the very first day and he supplements it with prelim, grade 1 and 2 etc . He said they're the books used for exams but unless he's specifically asked by the client he won't train students for exams as it focusses obsessively on one piece of music rather than getting a variety of techniques. He said he can cover a whole book with a student in the time it takes one to train for one exam.
I've just started to play piano. I play guitar and I can tell you, for me, piano is far easier to learn to play, than when I taught myself guitar. I guess already understanding what goes into making up a chord etc. really helps as I knew nothing when I started guitar. I can't read music or follow the running dots piano tutorials either. Everything I have learned, I either taught myself as you explained, by using chords in my right hand and bass notes in the left or by following a RUclips lesson like yours, with explanation. Finding inversions was like discovering the fountain of knowledge, I love them. I think this is a very useful lesson for people. It certainly helped me by re-enforcing that I am on the right track. Thank you, I really appreciate what you do...
I'm sold!! When my vacation ends on September 7, I will be signing up for Piano Chord Breadkhrougths Can't take the keyboard with me LOL. Thanks for this video Nate.
I started learning late, when I was 36 (1993). I had a lot of breaks, but now, at 67 years old, I practice more intensively... Harmony suits me best, I have the best ear for that, better than rhythm and solos. It's easy for me to find chords in a song, and I can say that my practice is similar to yours to get to the goal as quickly as possible... That's how I increase my repertoire the fastest... Thank you for this video, because it confirms me in my works, that I am on the right path. That's how I worked intuitively myself, as the easiest method for me. All the best!
Going back here to say that this video was life-changing, thank you! I always struggle with learning new pieces and songs because my immediate thought is to find the sheet music, and then, because I can't instantaneously read notes, transcribe each of the notes. I would then try to learn and play it. It took me such a long time just to be able to play one song. Never realized I just needed to learn how to play chords. I played a bunch of songs in one sitting today, for the first time. I'm so glad you made this video. THANK YOU!
Nate this is a breakthrough lesson in bringing any beginning or intermediate piano player to the next level. And it's all here in one video. You're awesome. Thank you!
The best I got w/ sheet staff was one bar @ a time. Most pianists have the sheets in front of them(as a reminder?) . I've seen "Rockers" w/cheat sheets on the stage/floor(including the playlist).@@PianowithNate
41 years old and I glad to hear you just mention your 2nd point. I’ve been using the MIDI approach to teach myself and enjoy the time I spend playing but… I don’t seem to get better and I can never remember anything. It’s nice to know that it’s not only me.
I' am a semi-retired guitarist. I poke around on the piano a bit. I can vouch for what you're saying, re: chord based approach. When I taught myself to play the guitar as a young teenager I was taught some chords by a nun and some songs to play in the church. With a little practice I was able to play the songs fairly quickly and was chosen to play in the folk masses. This was great encouragement and provided a great sense of accomplishment and confidence. I went onto play pro for many years. The value of learning songs quickly by using chords is the best way. Even Paul McCartney has publicly said as much.
Dude, this is gold. I am a drummer and have played guitar for 38 years and just started tinkering with piano and I found this video at the perfect time. This is how I learn songs on guitar so why not on piano!
I'm so glad to hear this! And yes, totally...this approach is so common and generally build in to the way people learn guitar...the piano world needs to catch up!
I usually find myself trying to play a left hand accompaniment with the melody in the right hand and then painstakingly trying to match everything up note for note. For instance, I am currently trying to learn Memory(from Cats) from a lead sheet. It is in 6/8 time, so I am using an arpeggio in the left hand. On its own, not a problem, but when matching up melody notes of different values, I can have trouble coordinating the 2 hands. I am getting it, but yes, it takes a lot longer than it should.
I've been playing guitar for 30 years, and this is exactly how I learn songs on guitar. I'm now learning piano, and have been using some sheet music, and some chord based learning. This video made me realise I should just focus on the latter. Thanks.
I have been playing piano for years but was always reliant on sheet music. I always wanted to learn about playing with chords, my chord knowledge pretty basic up till now! Love your style of teaching, starti g to get the hang of singing over chords, although my right hand keeps wanting to play the melody!! Thank you for your great videos!
This is it, excellent video, Nate. And as you mention, this is how so many songs are written. Watch Stevie Nicks show how she wrote “Dreams.” Chord, sings a phrase, chord, sings a phrase. Hands it off to Lindsey and Christine, et voilà, masterpiece. So next video please show us how to do that!😂
Nate: on RUclips search on “Fleetwood Mac classic albums.” The Dreams part is in part 2 at 4:13. The video just of Dreams may come up as well, though only labeled “Fleetwood Mac classic albums,” with Stevie on the thumbnail, about three minutes. long. All 8 parts of the show are mind blowing to me.
Good advice there. I have seen sheet music with chords marked on them and have played the song in simple chords to get an idea of what it sounds like. An app is another good way to learn as the falling notes is accompanied by chords too.
Hello Nate! I´ve tried the first two but as you explain here the third is the one tha is giving me best results, at least for what I´m aming for. Thanks for charing your work and knolwledge.
Adoro suas explicações, não falo inglê, mas acompanho. Você explica super bem. Tenho 68 anos, moro na cidade de São Paulo - Brasil. Sou iniciante no teclado. Obrigada.
Great video. For me, the third method is by far easiest and fastest. My dad, a musician, taught me guitar. It was chord based w/inversions and arpeggios. He played a lot of standards from the 40's and 50's. When I started piano about a year ago, the first song I learned was Let It Be - already knew the chords, etc. from guitar. My piano focus has been on learning chords, their inversions and arpeggios. It's much easier to learn more than one song at a time that way. Your videos have accelerated my learning curve so I really appreciate your approach. The chords names on the screen along w/notes on the keyboard are easy to follow. Your song choices are appealing as I've listened to the Beatles forever. Now I just have to decide on my next song - Live And Let Die, The Long And Winding Road or Here, There And Everywhere.
This is awesome to hear! I do find that a chord based approach is more deeply in the "culture" of learning guitar, so a lot of people who start with guitar more easily find their way with this style
Since I started doing chord based, like with your videos, I've definitely learned songs faster, mainly pop/rock as you mentioned. As I listen to music since then, I realize that the pianist in the band is doing something similar. While I used to think reading sheet music would help in playing the melody line with the song, I'm finding that I don't need the melody line in there to recognize the song and sing along (though I'm still not coordinated enough yet to sing while I play without losing track of what I'm doing).
My experience with the MIDI visualizer route is that 90% of these are great if what you are looking for is to play say House of the Rising Sun for family or friends as a stand alone performer. Rarely are the aligned to play with backing tracks and band an hardly ever with a vocalist. Every now and again one will be advertised as accompaniment but those are few and far between IMO.
Totally. That's a big thing that can be hard for newer players to navigate...selecting (or even finding) an arrangement that is actually good/accurate but also appropriate for the context can be tough.
I think the main difference between the sheet music and chord-based approach is whether you want to play solos or accompaniment. I can't sing and besides, I practice when everyone else is sleeping with headphones on so what I really want to play are solos. But, I believe that maybe learning to chord the whole song first and then concentrate on the individual notes, might be a faster way to learn a whole song. It takes me about a month to memorize a 4 page song and then another month or two to be able to play it without mistakes. I'm 72 and just started learning on my own about 3 years ago. I play keyboard, not piano, but use the piano sounds frequently.
I hear you. For people who want to play in a melodic style...whether that is classical, or playing instrumental arrangements of pop songs with right hand melody, it is not as clear that a chord based approach is superior (as I believe it is for strictly accompaniment playing). As you suggest, I believe working with and understanding the chords approach is still important foundation that will help with understanding the structure of songs in any style, but sheet music may play an important role for you.
Thanks for this Nate!!! I definitely started off learning from the MIDI videos, they were a great jumping off point but I didn’t want to just memorize songs, I wanted to play music. I found your lesson on Waterloo Sunset and it was exactly how I wanted to learn and I quickly began to understand what I was playing and building on it. Now I’m 2 years into my piano journey and I have learned mostly from you. The methods you show here are exactly how I learn songs on my own and I’ve now learned many without any tutorial. I still rely on your lessons for adding that extra layer but I can definitely eke out and sing along to pretty much any song I try on my own. I always enjoy your lessons and genuinely learn and add to my toolkit with each one, I’m so thankful for that and will keep coming back! I have a couple requests!!! I’d love you to do Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo. It’s one I can play but would love to be able to play like she does on the piano version. Second, I’m way late to the game and watching Schitts creek for the first time. I HAVE to learn Simply the Best by Tina Turner or Noah Reid’s version from the show! I’m struggling with it!! Also Piano Chord Breakthroughs is amazing!!
Hi Ashley!! This is all so great to hear, I'm really happy to have been able to help you make so much progress! Great requests, oh man Simply the Best is such a good idea, can't believe it wasnt already on my list :) Also, that's great you're enjoying Piano Chord Breakthroughs Stay in touch!
at 5:02 can you make a separate video that explains more of this part, the explanation you gave was a bit confusing but it also seemed really interesting
I hear you! I wanted to open the door but inversions is a topic that deserves it's own dedicated focus. Are you familiar with inversions? There are a lot of videos on youtube, I also go into it more in depth in my Piano Chord Breakthroughs course
Hey Nate, I discovered your channel recently and used it to learn “She’s Got a Way”. I was amazed at how fast it went! I’ve since been trying to learn songs using sheet music simply because I want to know how to do so and get better at it. Do you think it would be a viable approach to get good at recognizing chords within sheet music and almost combine methods 1 and 3? So that I could look at sheet music and use it to figure out the basic chords rather than reading through it note by note? Thanks!
Hi Juliana, Great to hear from you, and I'm so happy to hear you found my tutorial so effective! Absolutely, if you already have sheet music skills, once you have a deeper understanding of chord you will start recognizing them in your scores and that makes getting the hang of pieces easier. If you are truly just looking to play with a chord based approach you can often find chord/lyrics charts or lead sheets that already have the chord symbols written in, so in some cases what you're describing here sounds like an unnecessary step. Play around with it and see what is most helpful for your goals given your skillset!
I really would love to learn the accompaniment of 'Don't Shut Me Down' and 'Our Last Summer' by ABBA. Could you maybe do a tutorial on one of these? Or both? :P
Well d'uh! Every guitar player (excepting, as you say, classical and jazz) starts with the chords and his toolkit is ways to work with chords. Just like you, a guitarist first strums the chords, and that alone is enough to sing any song or work with other musicians. Then pick out the top note that works best for each chord; now you have the inversions. (Guitar inversions are not as pure as on piano; you can't necessarily reach every note in order like on piano; we just choose a shape that gives the right top note, and hey, it's just pop music_. Chances are, the original guitar player made most of the same choices.) Then with your left hand making the right shapes, just pick some notes out of each chord that give the melodic flow, and voila, you can perform any song credibly. To get closer to the original performance, it's just a matter of refining the chord shapes and linking them together with a bit of style. Easy peasy. I've been playing guitar for 60 years and learned a thing or two, and the way you teach it, I can cash in all that experience on piano. I already understand your process. Well I think I do. Your Hey Jude lesson made perfect sense to me. Time to get to work; I;ll let you know how it goes. . .
Edit: I'm sorry I didn't listen to the last few minutes. But how do I learn to use my ear? How do I understand when an arpeggio is being used. As an adult I should know these things and as I hear you adjust how you use the things it makes sense but I missed so much of the foundation as a child I don't know how to start.
Hi Lance! So sorry about that. I just tried a couple of test purchases with PayPal and it is currently working, so the issue may be with your account. Is there a particular error message you were getting? Feel free to email me hello@echocitymusiclab.com You can also use a card via the Stripe option. Hopefully we can get this taken care of and get you on your way with the course! 🎹🎹
Nate, I've used your videos to learn several new songs. One thing I notice though is that you often use only one finger on your left hand to play (most of the time it's the bass/root note). After having learned a few songs, I'm beginning to feel a little bored by this style. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not an advanced player, but I feel adding a few fingers to the left hand will make your song sound a little bit richer. In future videos, would you please take it up a notch and teach us how to play the left hand with more than one finger? Thank you.
Hey! Thanks for sharing, I have a few thoughts: This is good feedback for me and I'll think about ways to vary it more in my videos when it makes sense The reason I do it this way in most of my tutorial videos is it is the easiest for most people...I try to keep all my videos at a level that beginners can approach as new people are finding my channel daily. It can be tough to balance wanting people who are doing lots of my videos to not get bored, while also making each video great for someone who lands on it as the very first song they learn from me. For just about any song, you can replace the single finger notes with octaves which allows you to do more rhythms between fingers. Same goes for 5ths. A mix of octaves, fifths, and root - 5th - octave arpeggios will really spice things up. I do go into this all in my Piano Chord Breakthroughs course. In general, dont feel like you have to stick to how I play things in the videos, decorate and embellish them to your liking!
Perhaps in future videos you can also show a quick demo on how to embellish the left hand a little bit after showing the basic one-finger style. This way you can continue to appeal to beginners as well as intermediate players who have been following you awhile and feel they're ready to take it up a notch. Thanks.
I'M beginner ,just learning the right hand notes is tuff job , adding 1 note left is Ok,but adding 2 notes is prettry difficult and requires a lots of practice .I think Nates wants to keep it simple for beginners ,but has frequently mentioned using 2 fingers ,but if he add too many things then beginners get lost and confused discouraged . Nate has one the Best ways of teachings with chords and he's chordie app is the Best ,much better than those lights coming down on notes.. I am finally learning how to play songs ! Thank you so much Nate!
The problem I have with the chord based approach which you and many other u tube teachers use!!! I play piano as a solo instrument and I do not sing, cannot sing>>> When I play a song i must have the melody to sound right. This is the problem, i do not have a good ear, I am old so ,my memory is not the best. I am with Bill , it takes me forever to learn a song.
I hear you! This approach is best for accompanying singing, but not necessarily for classical or anything where the right hand is playing a complex melody
🔷 Learn with a chord-based approach! Nate's 5-Level Piano Course: www.pianochordbreakthroughs.com/ 🟡 Give Nate a Tip: www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=YWK4H7C57P2VE
I started learning the guitar with a teacher of classical music. Lots of scales, had to learn how to read the notes and play some traditional and children's pieces. That was totally not my cup of tea. I asked him " Can you teach me how to play Knocking on Heaven's door" . And he said- pfff- it's primitive stuff - you don't need it." As a result I quit. Your approach works fine in the beginning. But in the end - most of your songs sound the same. And it's kind of boring. No offence meant :)
Hi! I hear you and no offense taken, but I do want to respond... Because people (mostly beginners) find my channel through songs at random (as opposed to doing videos in a certain order), I keep most of my arrangements at a simple and easy level. For example, the left hand approach in my videos is very basic. I hope my channel continues to open the door to this approach for people, even if it's just the first step. If you feel bored of these arrangements, it is because you are ready to progress to more advanced techniques, not necessarily because the chord-based approach itself if boring. If I was arranging these songs just to perform rather than teach to beginners, I would add more in terms of LH arpeggios, rhythms, melodies and decorations to fill out the sound. I suggest looking into courses to teach you more of these techniques, and to learn more about different scales and improvising melodies. Best of luck with your continued piano journey!
![How to play “Unchained Melody” on piano [Piano Accompaniment Tutorial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jDxCkcNk_Cg/mqdefault.jpg)
![Master 5 Hit Songs Today with Just 4 Piano Chords! [Easy Piano Chord Tutorial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/v7pRmUuV3UA/mqdefault.jpg)
This is a great course. I'm 67, had to stop playing guitar as I have arthritis in my left hand, preventing me forming chord shapes. I've moved over to piano as I can still finger the notes okay.
Nate's chord based lessons are perfect as I love to sing the songs. His Piano Chord Breakthrough course is fantastic, it's laid out well, backed up with videos to support each lesson. I really notice the progress I'm making and it's so satisfying.
Thank you so much, it makes me so happy that you've made so much progress with my course!!!
I was "Lucky" to have a Father to teach me "Boogie Woogie". Separate your hands in your brain! Keep playing Everyone, you'll have it forever 🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹
I'm 31 and been in and out of music as a hobby for years, I came to same thoughts just recently when I started learning guitar as well. I wish more music classes for kids were about teaching them to play and enjoy music instead of preparing them for classical music school.
Totally. I do think that is changing overall for the next generation, thankfully
My son's piano teacher is amazing. He wrote his own book which has both hands from the very first day and he supplements it with prelim, grade 1 and 2 etc . He said they're the books used for exams but unless he's specifically asked by the client he won't train students for exams as it focusses obsessively on one piece of music rather than getting a variety of techniques. He said he can cover a whole book with a student in the time it takes one to train for one exam.
I've just started to play piano. I play guitar and I can tell you, for me, piano is far easier to learn to play, than when I taught myself guitar. I guess already understanding what goes into making up a chord etc. really helps as I knew nothing when I started guitar. I can't read music or follow the running dots piano tutorials either. Everything I have learned, I either taught myself as you explained, by using chords in my right hand and bass notes in the left or by following a RUclips lesson like yours, with explanation. Finding inversions was like discovering the fountain of knowledge, I love them. I think this is a very useful lesson for people. It certainly helped me by re-enforcing that I am on the right track. Thank you, I really appreciate what you do...
I'm so glad to hear this, Clive!
Totally agree with your chord based teaching, it has helped me work out songs I know and like.
Rock on!
I'm sold!! When my vacation ends on September 7, I will be signing up for Piano Chord Breadkhrougths Can't take the keyboard with me LOL. Thanks for this video Nate.
Awesome!! Enjoy the rest of your vacation!
I started learning late, when I was 36 (1993). I had a lot of breaks, but now, at 67 years old, I practice more intensively... Harmony suits me best, I have the best ear for that, better than rhythm and solos. It's easy for me to find chords in a song, and I can say that my practice is similar to yours to get to the goal as quickly as possible... That's how I increase my repertoire the fastest...
Thank you for this video, because it confirms me in my works, that I am on the right path. That's how I worked intuitively myself, as the easiest method for me.
All the best!
Awesome to hear this - cheers!
Going back here to say that this video was life-changing, thank you! I always struggle with learning new pieces and songs because my immediate thought is to find the sheet music, and then, because I can't instantaneously read notes, transcribe each of the notes. I would then try to learn and play it. It took me such a long time just to be able to play one song. Never realized I just needed to learn how to play chords. I played a bunch of songs in one sitting today, for the first time. I'm so glad you made this video. THANK YOU!
WOW this is so awesome to hear, Michelle! I'm really happy to have unlocked this for you. You've got some exciting musical times ahead of you :)
Fun! Isn't it? 🎹🎹🎹🎹
Nate this is a breakthrough lesson in bringing any beginning or intermediate piano player to the next level. And it's all here in one video. You're awesome. Thank you!
I'm so glad to hear that! This video is a bit different than my usual and I'm happy it was useful to people :)
The best I got w/ sheet staff was one bar @ a time. Most pianists have the sheets in front of them(as a reminder?) . I've seen "Rockers" w/cheat sheets on the stage/floor(including the playlist).@@PianowithNate
41 years old and I glad to hear you just mention your 2nd point. I’ve been using the MIDI approach to teach myself and enjoy the time I spend playing but… I don’t seem to get better and I can never remember anything. It’s nice to know that it’s not only me.
yeah, learning by chords is definitely way easier as you get to see how the song is structured and its not just a bunch of rectangles
Totally! Brute force memorizing is tough without seeing the big picture "frame/skeleton/scaffolding"
indeed!
I' am a semi-retired guitarist. I poke around on the piano a bit. I can vouch for what you're saying, re: chord based approach. When I taught myself to play the guitar as a young teenager I was taught some chords by a nun and some songs to play in the church. With a little practice I was able to play the songs fairly quickly and was chosen to play in the folk masses. This was great encouragement and provided a great sense of accomplishment and confidence. I went onto play pro for many years. The value of learning songs quickly by using chords is the best way. Even Paul McCartney has publicly said as much.
Awesome - cheers!!
Brilliant! This makes sense of your After The Gold Rush lesson which was beyond my limited capabilities - thanks.
Dude, this is gold. I am a drummer and have played guitar for 38 years and just started tinkering with piano and I found this video at the perfect time. This is how I learn songs on guitar so why not on piano!
I'm so glad to hear this! And yes, totally...this approach is so common and generally build in to the way people learn guitar...the piano world needs to catch up!
Amazing! I've learned three songs within one hour by this method! Thanx :)
Awesome! Keep it up!
I usually find myself trying to play a left hand accompaniment with the melody in the right hand and then painstakingly trying to match everything up note for note. For instance, I am currently trying to learn Memory(from Cats) from a lead sheet. It is in 6/8 time, so I am using an arpeggio in the left hand. On its own, not a problem, but when matching up melody notes of different values, I can have trouble coordinating the 2 hands. I am getting it, but yes, it takes a lot longer than it should.
I've been playing guitar for 30 years, and this is exactly how I learn songs on guitar. I'm now learning piano, and have been using some sheet music, and some chord based learning.
This video made me realise I should just focus on the latter. Thanks.
Awesome! Indeed, this approach is much more common amongst guitar players. Glad I could help point you in the right direction
I am looking forward to learning to play piano from now on .thank you Nate.
Enjoy!!!
You have helped me more than any piano or band teacher I've had in 12 years of music lessons! Thank you!
WOW. I'm so glad to hear this
Nate the Great , slicing thru the B. S. ...U are the MAN ...
🙏🙏
I have been playing piano for years but was always reliant on sheet music. I always wanted to learn about playing with chords, my chord knowledge pretty basic up till now! Love your style of teaching, starti g to get the hang of singing over chords, although my right hand keeps wanting to play the melody!! Thank you for your great videos!
Awesome! Glad you're enjoying my vids
Nate, you’re amazing! I totally agree with you on this 🙌👌
You are the best!
🙏🙏🙏
Your the best Nate 👏👏👏 since the day I watched your videos I can play well ,learn so much from u buddy thank you 🙏❤️😉
I'm so glad to hear it!! 💜
Thank you for this super information!
My pleasure!
Interesting video Nate
Thanks!
@@PianowithNatenp, could you do ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin? There’s no good tutorials for that songs on RUclips unfortunately
This is it, excellent video, Nate. And as you mention, this is how so many songs are written. Watch Stevie Nicks show how she wrote “Dreams.” Chord, sings a phrase, chord, sings a phrase. Hands it off to Lindsey and Christine, et voilà, masterpiece. So next video please show us how to do that!😂
Oh man, I love Dreams. Good idea!
Nate: on RUclips search on “Fleetwood Mac classic albums.” The Dreams part is in part 2 at 4:13. The video just of Dreams may come up as well, though only labeled “Fleetwood Mac classic albums,” with Stevie on the thumbnail, about three minutes. long. All 8 parts of the show are mind blowing to me.
Thank you!!!
Love these extra learning videos, Nate! Appreciate getting to know different elements to increase my understanding alongside learning songs.
Awesome! I'm going to try to switch up my video style and topics more often going forward
Good advice there. I have seen sheet music with chords marked on them and have played the song in simple chords to get an idea of what it sounds like.
An app is another good way to learn as the falling notes is accompanied by chords too.
Good point! A lot of sheet music arrangements will have the chords written in above the measures and that can be really helpful for a hybrid approach
Great video Nate! I've started working through "Let It Be" from your tutorial and I'm pretty surprised how I'm picking it up. Thank you so much!
Great to hear!
Hello, great video, I was wondering if you could do some videos of the Commodores with Lionel Richie. Easy would be a good one. Thanks
Hello Nate! I´ve tried the first two but as you explain here the third is the one tha is giving me best results, at least for what I´m aming for. Thanks for charing your work and knolwledge.
Thanks for sharing!
Adoro suas explicações, não falo inglê, mas acompanho. Você explica super bem. Tenho 68 anos, moro na cidade de São Paulo - Brasil. Sou iniciante no teclado. Obrigada.
🙏🙏🙏
Great VIdeo, Nate!
Thanks!
Thank you so.much
My pleasure!!
Great video.
For me, the third method is by far easiest and fastest.
My dad, a musician, taught me guitar. It was chord based w/inversions and arpeggios. He played a lot of standards from the 40's and 50's.
When I started piano about a year ago, the first song I learned was Let It Be - already knew the chords, etc. from guitar.
My piano focus has been on learning chords, their inversions and arpeggios. It's much easier to learn more than one song at a time that way.
Your videos have accelerated my learning curve so I really appreciate your approach.
The chords names on the screen along w/notes on the keyboard are easy to follow.
Your song choices are appealing as I've listened to the Beatles forever. Now I just have to decide on my next song - Live And Let Die, The Long And Winding Road or Here, There And Everywhere.
This is awesome to hear! I do find that a chord based approach is more deeply in the "culture" of learning guitar, so a lot of people who start with guitar more easily find their way with this style
Thank you Nate! Super helpful and will definitely be following this method and doing the chord breakthroughs course.
Awesome!!
Thanks Nate for sharing your knowledge. ❤
Always!
Very nice observations Nate.
Since I started doing chord based, like with your videos, I've definitely learned songs faster, mainly pop/rock as you mentioned. As I listen to music since then, I realize that the pianist in the band is doing something similar. While I used to think reading sheet music would help in playing the melody line with the song, I'm finding that I don't need the melody line in there to recognize the song and sing along (though I'm still not coordinated enough yet to sing while I play without losing track of what I'm doing).
Totally!
UR doing the right thing 4U !
My experience with the MIDI visualizer route is that 90% of these are great if what you are looking for is to play say House of the Rising Sun for family or friends as a stand alone performer. Rarely are the aligned to play with backing tracks and band an hardly ever with a vocalist. Every now and again one will be advertised as accompaniment but those are few and far between IMO.
Totally. That's a big thing that can be hard for newer players to navigate...selecting (or even finding) an arrangement that is actually good/accurate but also appropriate for the context can be tough.
Either way; it taxes My memory. Great for "play-along" .
Great video Nate! 3rd method for me too, since I'm not a pianist chords and improvising is my way.
Good stuff!
You’re great! I’d like to be your student. You teach very well
Thank you! 😃
Hey Nate can you make a mashup video songs using arpeggios and chords pls
That's a good idea for a video! I am definitely trying to brainstorm video ideas that aren't just learning one song
Hi Nate, thanks for another great video. Is there any change you'd make some Blues/Blues Rock song tutorials? Love what you do.
Hey! I'm actually planning on doing a video this week on the blues scale. Any particular blues *songs* you'd like to learn?
I think the main difference between the sheet music and chord-based approach is whether you want to play solos or accompaniment. I can't sing and besides, I practice when everyone else is sleeping with headphones on so what I really want to play are solos. But, I believe that maybe learning to chord the whole song first and then concentrate on the individual notes, might be a faster way to learn a whole song. It takes me about a month to memorize a 4 page song and then another month or two to be able to play it without mistakes. I'm 72 and just started learning on my own about 3 years ago. I play keyboard, not piano, but use the piano sounds frequently.
I hear you. For people who want to play in a melodic style...whether that is classical, or playing instrumental arrangements of pop songs with right hand melody, it is not as clear that a chord based approach is superior (as I believe it is for strictly accompaniment playing). As you suggest, I believe working with and understanding the chords approach is still important foundation that will help with understanding the structure of songs in any style, but sheet music may play an important role for you.
Thanks for this Nate!!! I definitely started off learning from the MIDI videos, they were a great jumping off point but I didn’t want to just memorize songs, I wanted to play music. I found your lesson on Waterloo Sunset and it was exactly how I wanted to learn and I quickly began to understand what I was playing and building on it. Now I’m 2 years into my piano journey and I have learned mostly from you. The methods you show here are exactly how I learn songs on my own and I’ve now learned many without any tutorial. I still rely on your lessons for adding that extra layer but I can definitely eke out and sing along to pretty much any song I try on my own. I always enjoy your lessons and genuinely learn and add to my toolkit with each one, I’m so thankful for that and will keep coming back!
I have a couple requests!!!
I’d love you to do Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo. It’s one I can play but would love to be able to play like she does on the piano version.
Second, I’m way late to the game and watching Schitts creek for the first time. I HAVE to learn Simply the Best by Tina Turner or Noah Reid’s version from the show! I’m struggling with it!!
Also Piano Chord Breakthroughs is amazing!!
Hi Ashley!!
This is all so great to hear, I'm really happy to have been able to help you make so much progress! Great requests, oh man Simply the Best is such a good idea, can't believe it wasnt already on my list :)
Also, that's great you're enjoying Piano Chord Breakthroughs
Stay in touch!
@@PianowithNate Such an amazing song and Noah Reids version made me love it even more!
at 5:02 can you make a separate video that explains more of this part, the explanation you gave was a bit confusing but it also seemed really interesting
I hear you! I wanted to open the door but inversions is a topic that deserves it's own dedicated focus. Are you familiar with inversions? There are a lot of videos on youtube, I also go into it more in depth in my Piano Chord Breakthroughs course
@@PianowithNate yes I am familiar with inversions actually but i find it really complex and people tend to have different ways on teaching inversions
Your song pliss ❤ :( Elton John
Hey Nate, I discovered your channel recently and used it to learn “She’s Got a Way”. I was amazed at how fast it went! I’ve since been trying to learn songs using sheet music simply because I want to know how to do so and get better at it. Do you think it would be a viable approach to get good at recognizing chords within sheet music and almost combine methods 1 and 3? So that I could look at sheet music and use it to figure out the basic chords rather than reading through it note by note? Thanks!
Hi Juliana,
Great to hear from you, and I'm so happy to hear you found my tutorial so effective! Absolutely, if you already have sheet music skills, once you have a deeper understanding of chord you will start recognizing them in your scores and that makes getting the hang of pieces easier. If you are truly just looking to play with a chord based approach you can often find chord/lyrics charts or lead sheets that already have the chord symbols written in, so in some cases what you're describing here sounds like an unnecessary step. Play around with it and see what is most helpful for your goals given your skillset!
I really would love to learn the accompaniment of 'Don't Shut Me Down' and 'Our Last Summer' by ABBA. Could you maybe do a tutorial on one of these? Or both? :P
Great suggestion!
@@PianowithNate I love your tutorials by the way! I just started and I learned how to play 'let it be'. Currently I am working on 'unchained melody'
Oh one more thing I forgot haha. I prefer the ABBA version over the Mamma Mia version of Our Last Summer ;)
Chord based approach is also how many people learn guitar
Indeed! Hopefully it will become more popular on piano (i do think that is happenening)
Well d'uh! Every guitar player (excepting, as you say, classical and jazz) starts with the chords and his toolkit is ways to work with chords. Just like you, a guitarist first strums the chords, and that alone is enough to sing any song or work with other musicians. Then pick out the top note that works best for each chord; now you have the inversions. (Guitar inversions are not as pure as on piano; you can't necessarily reach every note in order like on piano; we just choose a shape that gives the right top note, and hey, it's just pop music_. Chances are, the original guitar player made most of the same choices.) Then with your left hand making the right shapes, just pick some notes out of each chord that give the melodic flow, and voila, you can perform any song credibly. To get closer to the original performance, it's just a matter of refining the chord shapes and linking them together with a bit of style. Easy peasy. I've been playing guitar for 60 years and learned a thing or two, and the way you teach it, I can cash in all that experience on piano. I already understand your process. Well I think I do. Your Hey Jude lesson made perfect sense to me. Time to get to work; I;ll let you know how it goes. . .
Totally! This approach is much more commonly taught/understood on guitar.
Edit: I'm sorry I didn't listen to the last few minutes.
But how do I learn to use my ear? How do I understand when an arpeggio is being used. As an adult I should know these things and as I hear you adjust how you use the things it makes sense but I missed so much of the foundation as a child I don't know how to start.
can you do another song by taylor swift?? maybe right where you left me?? please!!!!
Hi Nate I’m trying to buy your course but the PayPal option ain’t working. I tried 3 times
Hi Lance! So sorry about that. I just tried a couple of test purchases with PayPal and it is currently working, so the issue may be with your account. Is there a particular error message you were getting?
Feel free to email me hello@echocitymusiclab.com
You can also use a card via the Stripe option.
Hopefully we can get this taken care of and get you on your way with the course! 🎹🎹
Nate, I've used your videos to learn several new songs. One thing I notice though is that you often use only one finger on your left hand to play (most of the time it's the bass/root note). After having learned a few songs, I'm beginning to feel a little bored by this style. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not an advanced player, but I feel adding a few fingers to the left hand will make your song sound a little bit richer. In future videos, would you please take it up a notch and teach us how to play the left hand with more than one finger? Thank you.
Hey! Thanks for sharing, I have a few thoughts:
This is good feedback for me and I'll think about ways to vary it more in my videos when it makes sense
The reason I do it this way in most of my tutorial videos is it is the easiest for most people...I try to keep all my videos at a level that beginners can approach as new people are finding my channel daily. It can be tough to balance wanting people who are doing lots of my videos to not get bored, while also making each video great for someone who lands on it as the very first song they learn from me.
For just about any song, you can replace the single finger notes with octaves which allows you to do more rhythms between fingers. Same goes for 5ths. A mix of octaves, fifths, and root - 5th - octave arpeggios will really spice things up. I do go into this all in my Piano Chord Breakthroughs course.
In general, dont feel like you have to stick to how I play things in the videos, decorate and embellish them to your liking!
Perhaps in future videos you can also show a quick demo on how to embellish the left hand a little bit after showing the basic one-finger style. This way you can continue to appeal to beginners as well as intermediate players who have been following you awhile and feel they're ready to take it up a notch. Thanks.
@@alanpham9055 Good idea, thanks for the feedback!
I'M beginner ,just learning the right hand notes is tuff job , adding 1 note left is Ok,but adding 2 notes is prettry difficult and requires a lots of practice .I think Nates wants to keep it simple for beginners ,but has frequently mentioned using 2 fingers ,but if he add too many things then beginners get lost and confused discouraged . Nate has one the Best ways of teachings with chords and he's chordie app is the Best ,much better than those lights coming down on notes.. I am finally learning how to play songs ! Thank you so much Nate!
PLEASE do Peanut butter falcon - Running for so long (house a home)
The problem I have with the chord based approach which you and many other u tube teachers use!!! I play piano as a solo instrument and I do not sing, cannot sing>>> When I play a song i must have the melody to sound right. This is the problem, i do not have a good ear, I am old so ,my memory is not the best. I am with Bill , it takes me forever to learn a song.
I hear you! This approach is best for accompanying singing, but not necessarily for classical or anything where the right hand is playing a complex melody
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Chord based always work 4 Me = (guitar / piano).
I started learning the guitar with a teacher of classical music. Lots of scales, had to learn how to read the notes and play some traditional and children's pieces. That was totally not my cup of tea. I asked him " Can you teach me how to play Knocking on Heaven's door" . And he said- pfff- it's primitive stuff - you don't need it." As a result I quit. Your approach works fine in the beginning. But in the end - most of your songs sound the same. And it's kind of boring. No offence meant :)
Hi! I hear you and no offense taken, but I do want to respond...
Because people (mostly beginners) find my channel through songs at random (as opposed to doing videos in a certain order), I keep most of my arrangements at a simple and easy level. For example, the left hand approach in my videos is very basic. I hope my channel continues to open the door to this approach for people, even if it's just the first step.
If you feel bored of these arrangements, it is because you are ready to progress to more advanced techniques, not necessarily because the chord-based approach itself if boring.
If I was arranging these songs just to perform rather than teach to beginners, I would add more in terms of LH arpeggios, rhythms, melodies and decorations to fill out the sound.
I suggest looking into courses to teach you more of these techniques, and to learn more about different scales and improvising melodies. Best of luck with your continued piano journey!
Learn and teach "TARKUS". (just joking 🤪