How to Play the Piano by Ear in 7 STEPS! 

As a classical player this is so interesting! Sometimes it's embarassing to be pulling the sheet music out for happy birthday on my phone cause I can't play by ear 😅 after playing a Beethoven sonata

I do it slightly different. I humm a u tube video and pick out scale and then play along. I did this using songs i knew. I suggest 10 15 minutes a day for a month in addition your regular practice. By then you should be quite good at it. For accompiament i use alberti bass of arpegios or chords.

I spent my first two years of learning the piano doing exactly what you did here, but never had a video that explained it like this. So my steps and learning were a lot more jumbled and less organized. Wow! Where was this video when I needed it when I started learning?? It would’ve saved me loads of time. This was fantastic!! Everyone who wants to learn how to play along to songs they like need to watch this video. You have a gift.

watching a ton of beginner videos and this is the first that actually explains the black keys and what sharp and flat means.

You did a great job. Thanks great way to disect a piece of song and figure out how to play by ear.

That's amazing! I'm a sight reader and have always found playing by ear a mystery but now you've shown me the way it's done. It looks hard to me and would take time to do it, so do I have the patience, is more the question but I might give it a go. Thanks so much for all your tutorials!

I am the first who looked for a video like that and the first who searched for it.

I plAy the melody by ear first then try to find the chords

thx for that video it's way more detailed that the older ones i really struggle with the bass note part i've always found the melody in like 10seconds for any song but yeah the bass note is harder idk i was listening on my phone i couldn't really hear it

Thank you Brother Matthew Can you Make a video on how to improvise a song

So this is how my brain do this 😄 i don't know how to read note's so i have always listening to song's first or have the sound of the song in headphones and then try to play the same sound on the piano.

Wow, this video is fantastic! As someone who primarily reads music, I've always found playing by ear to be challenging, but your clear explanations have truly opened my eyes. I appreciate how you break down the steps-it makes it feel more achievable. I’m excited to start practicing and bring the music in my head to life. Thank you for such an inspiring tutorial!

YOU are a wonderful young teacher that knows your material AND guides so well. !!

Me trying this on jazz songs and getting toroughly mindfucked.

Hey Matthew! Thank you very much for your explanation and sharing your knowledge! Great work! This video motivated me finally to learn reading music sheets! Today I just see some signs from a foreign planet on a piece of paper. 😂 Just bought an Alesis recital pro and searching for a teacher near by now. I’d be happy to hear/read from you!

By far the best How to on RU-vid. No bs! Quick, explanatory and pedagogical!

Why add the extra unnecessary step of hearing the notes from the source/record and singing them back to match with the keys on the piano when you can just directly match the notes you’re hearing whilst playing the keys on your keyboard at same time…

This teacher is excellent

Thanks for the help Matt!

Fantastic video! All explained and summed up very good and understandable!! But 🙏🏻please could you make a own video just about ✨level 6✨ and the left hand patterns, arpeggios and rhythmic patterns! Which one are there most important popular and or useful ones. Which to use when? And furthermore things like how to alter for example arpeggios patterns when the left hand would go up and cross and disturb with the left hand. Please please do such a video 🙏🏻🙏🏻🎹💖 that would be amazing!! 🔥

Another fantastic learning video,thanks so much for these instructional tutorials.

just find right hand melody and left hand chords

I need help finding the base note please ❤

can you do advanced version on this

This was really good! The part where you were explaining the triads was wrong though...for example, an E triad would consist of the notes E, G#, B, but you did the Em chord notes E, G, B...you did this for a few other ones like i believe you did it for b as well. Other than that you were really informational and for people who don't know anything about music theory i'm sure this helped them alot!

This isn’t really what playing by ear is, or at least not as I’ve seen it with musicians in Latin America. Many of us have relative pitch; we hear a note, recognize it as, say, “C#”, and go from there. We don’t consciously think of chord progressions, scales, or anything else. Even my cousin, who has perfect pitch, has told me that he doesn’t think in terms of chords or scales. He simply hears it, plays it, and continues based on what he hears. It’s hard to put into words, but when I play saxophone and improvise by ear, something just feels right about the notes I choose. Later, I started using more music theory, which is more aligned with what you’re describing. I would think about what key we were in, then figure out the chord progression, and so on. While this approach is a lot easier, and I don’t rely purely on playing by ear anymore, there have been times when I’ve been asked to play a song and all I needed was to hear the first note to get started. In those cases, I didn’t think about chord progressions or scales; it just happened instinctively, although I’m sure my brain was processing those things subconsciously. That said, I’ve seen the method you’re talking about, where musicians analyze the notes, choose a scale, figure out the chord progression, look for accidentals, consider the time signature, etc. It can take them a while. I remember an event at a church a few years ago where different groups were asked to play a song. Most groups were doing what you described, but my group heard the first note, said “Ah, it’s in D,” and we got the song down much faster than the others. When it came time for refinement, we did add details like “let’s crescendo from piano to forte here,” or “there’s a ritardando there,” and “let’s play more legato at this part.” But to figure out the song, we didn’t go through all that analysis. I’m not sure if anyone else plays by ear like this, but I do think there are two ways to play by ear: one that’s more instinctual and another that’s more theory-based.

Great vid! Need more vids like this and practice vids. Thanks

Been watching through your vids over the last few days after coming across one of them in my RU-vid feed. It’s mad how alike we are in terms of playing and learning and listening. What you did here in this vid is exactly what I do on a daily basis when listening back to stuff I’m learning. I just thought everyone else that plays does this. I’m starting to learn that maybe I’m only one of a few that is more at an advanced level. I’m not a teacher. I play keys at home every day as a hobby. Playing is really important to me. I just need it in my life. But watching your videos has made me realise I’m probably at a far higher level than I ever thought. I’ve just never thought it. Great content mate

Even though I’ve done piano lessons I find it really useful watching these videos! Thank you

Yeah, you’ve gotten yourself a new subscriber, this was really really good! (Thanks for introducing me to a new song also) I’ve played the piano on and off for more than 20 years and I count myself as barley a intermediate when it comes to playing, thanks to laying down the notes 15 years ago and only playing from either midi or now in recent times, synthesia.. So I need to go back to the basics again I’m afraid. Too bad we live in different countries because I could really use a teacher like you!

Great advices 👍 stuck in the first step though 😅

Thank you for your teaching Mathew brother

Thank you for the video. I would like to ask how to find the difference between E major and A major in a song(e.g. Dynamite by BTS), as in step 2. I can't find the D note in the song. What should I do?

Awesome! Your're able to REALLY narrow down things to the basics, so that everybody can understand. I wish I had seen that earlier. Got quite a chaos in my songs, when I see your explanations, there's quite some room for improvement to my videos.. haha ^^' Oh well.. back to the drawing board. :> Cif ~

This video was informative and simple. I was able to understand the steps to help play by ear. Now, I’m able to make music that comes through my head. 😅 Thank you

What about figuring out the last note of the song…of the vocals. Doesn’t that often give you the key?

*tries to learn winter wind by ear with this method

Thank you for great video Very helpful Very well put together

what in ear headphones are you using and how do you find songs like these, they are so good

Ayy frank tedesco cameo let’s go

Amazing video you always break it down so its so easy to understand you have a real skill. I could pick out bits but the chords to me i couldn't tell a massive difference to be honest. would an easier song help ? i sight read and have struggled with remembering songs which i'm only just starting to manage but one day would love to be able to play by ear.

Can you do a video of playing the same song/melody but in multiple ways? It would be cool to see how the different ways I can play a song when learning to play by ear similar to how you did in this video!

Could you please do the same with a simpler sounding with a melody and harmony only? In the actual song I could hardly make out the melody at all :(

I have a question.Do you have any tips to help me play with both hands cause i've been learning a few songs but my left hand always feels so weird when i try playing with it.

What about playing classical pieces by ear challenge? Also nice video :D

I can play by ear too

Nice video, and it still seems like magic. Maybe because I'm a beginner, it feels like magic when I play music from the notes on a sheet in front of me 😂 Also, "out of nowere" - is that a reference that I missed?

Woah cool tutorial!

Good explanation, but only hold for very basic songs. No mention of minor scales (or modes), nothing of chromatic notes, nothing of borrowed chords or 7th cords etc.

Great video

Hey matt can u please do a vedio on a cheat code to figure out the key of a song by ear without assessing sheet music thx!!

What if the song has sus2 and sus4 chords and any complex chords

I started piano 5 days ago and i don't understand shit but i will do that on day 🔥

Great video, thanks !!!

dang

Another great video Matt!

HE IS A MUSCIAL GENIUS

nah, this is hard

I fricken love Matthew

This is a really good video as i can relate to it alot as this is how ive been learning song for the past 1.5 years in my 4 year piano journey. I have a reccommendation for your next video. Would you be willing to cover on transposition? Meaning, playing a song in one key then transposing into the next key?(thats what i understood by it) An example for this would be, I Want It That Way by the BackStreet Boys. Would be great if you can consider this Or another idea is to do mash up of 2 songs in two different keys, major and minor keys. How to transition from major to minor or vice versa? This is something that ive needed help with Lastly, improvisation. How to improve a song you just learnt by ear without making it unrecognisable by "improvising" it?😅😅 this is sonething i struggle most because ive always had this "Go-To" left hand pattern(octave jump and arpeggio" when i show people that i can play this song they are like, "bro its nice but what song is it?" Its the most crushing words to hear for me lmao😅😅