Sections
- General advice
- Beginner piano course
- The note names
- Intervals
- Chords
- General theory
- Sight reading
- Reading rhythm
- Intermediate classical course
- Other classical arrangements
- Popular arrangements
- Cocktail piano arrangements
- Riffs
- Hip hop riffs
- Every riff from Nas’s Illmatic
- Original compositions
- Listening
- Courses
General advice
- How to get a good piano teacher (5,000 words)
Which piano / keyboard should I buy?
(3,000 words)- The myth of
musical talent
Practice time
vs.playing time
- How to be a better music teacher (5,000 words)
Beginner piano course
New to piano? Start here!
- Part 1 / 89: The first pair of notes in the RH of John Lennon’s
Imagine
- Part 2 / 89: The first 4 pairs of notes in the RH of John Lennon’s
Imagine
- Part 3 / 89: Up & down
- Part 4 / 89: The next 3 pairs of notes in the RH of John Lennon’s
Imagine
- Part 5 / 89: How to practise
- Part 6 / 89: Adding the LH of John Lennon’s
Imagine
- Part 7 / 89: Finger numbers
- Part 8 / 89: The fast bit of John Lennon’s
Imagine
- Part 9 / 89: Playing the riff to John Lennon’s
Imagine
all the way through
The note names
- The best way to learn the note names – Part 1: the white notes
- The best way to learn the note names – Part 2: the black notes
Intervals
Chords
- Root-5th-root chords
- The quickest way to memorize the major triads
- The quickest way to memorize the minor triads
- The simplest way to construct 7th chords
- How to recognise different types of 7th chord
- A trick for working out the root of any triad or 7th chord
General theory
- Should you use American or British musical terms?
- What exactly do
major
andminor
mean anyway? (It’s probably not what you think.) - The circle of 5ths
- One simple rule to work out any key signature
- What’s the real difference between
tonic
androot
?
Sight reading
Reading rhythm
- Part 1: beats, bars, and BPM
- Part 2: notes
- Part 3: counting beats in bars
- Part 4: dotted notes
- Part 5: counting offbeats
- Part 6: playing with a metronome
- Part 7: counting 1⁄4-beats
- Part 8: dotted rhythms
- Part 9: rests
- Part 10: staccato notes
- Part 11: counting 1⁄8-beat notes
- Part 12: time signatures
Intermediate classical course
Scores in order of increasing difficulty.
- Overview (all of the below in one PDF)
- Beethoven – “Ode to Joy”
- Schubert – Impromptu Op.90 No.3
- Brahms – Lullaby
- Haydn – Andante from the “Surprise” Symphony
- Beethoven – Adagio Cantabile (version 1)
- Dvořák – Largo from the “New World” Symphony
- Satie – Gnossienne No. 1
- Purcell – Rondeau
- Verdi – “La donna è mobile” (2 versions)
- Chopin – Nocturne, Op. 9 No. 2
- Puccini – “O mio babbino caro”
- Satie – Gymnopédie No. 1
- Bizet – Toreador Song
- Tchaikovsky – Swan Theme
- Grieg – Arietta
- Satie – “Je te veux”
- Albinoni – Adagio
- Beethoven – Adagio Cantabile (version 2)
- Ponchielli – “Dance of the Hours”
- Saint-Saëns – “The Swan”
Other classical arrangements
Popular arrangements
In approximate order of increasing difficulty.
- The Beatles – “Yesterday” (version 1)
- Leonard Cohen – “Hallelujah”
- Johnny Cash – “Hurt”
- Yann Tiersen – “Comptine d’un autre été”
- Ray Charles – “Hit the Road Jack” (version 1)
- Henry Mancini – “The Pink Panther”
- Hans Zimmer – Time
- The Beatles – “Yesterday” (version 2)
- Elvis Presley – “Always On My Mind”
- Ray Charles – “Hit the Road Jack” (version 2)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”
- David Bowie – “Life on Mars?”
- Aretha Franklin – “I Say a Little Prayer”
- Ray Charles – “What’d I Say?”
- Fats Domino – “Blueberry Hill”
- Art Blakey – “Moanin'”
Cocktail piano arrangements
In approximate order of increasing difficulty.
- Henry Mancini – “Moon River”
- Jerome Kern – “The Way You Look Tonight”
- Herman Hupfeld – “As Time Goes By”
- Hoagy Carmichael – “Georgia on My Mind”
- George Gershwin – “It Ain’t Necessarily So”
Riffs
- Sting – “Shape of My Heart”
- Radiohead – “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”
- Justin Timberlake – “Cry Me a River” (tutorial)
- Mark Ronson – “Bang Bang Bang” (tutorial)
Hip hop riffs
In chronological order.
- The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight” (1979)
- Digital Underground – “Doowutchyalike” (1989)
- Ice Cube – “It Was a Good Day” (1993)
- Wu-Tang Clan – “C.R.E.A.M.” (tutorial) (1994)
- Skee-Lo – “I Wish” (1995)
- Eminem – “My Name Is” (tutorial) (1999)
- Dr. Dre – “What’s the Difference” (1999)
Every riff from Nas’s “Illmatic”
- Overview
- N.Y. State of Mind
- Life’s a B*tch
- The World Is Yours
- Halftime
- Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)
- One Love
- One Time 4 Your Mind
- Represent
- It Ain’t Hard to Tell
- Bonus: Sting – “Shape of My Heart”
