Sherry has a great question about how to really know a song.
Her words:
“Hi Tim- This is a question that keeps playing in my mind:
After figuring out the inverted chords and the best way for me to play a particular song, I wonder if there is a way to play the song without having to have the chords (that I found online and printed out) sitting in front of me. In other words, I wish I could just sit down and PLAY a song without having to look at a paper to see what chords to play. I know you do this…is it by playing something over and over, or being able to know by ear what comes next, or something else????? I know you said hands remember where to go and I am finding that to be true as far as going to the right place on the keyboard, but I still need the song with the chords noted in front of me in order to play a song. Do you have any thoughts about this you could share with me?
I so appreciate being able to ask questions! Thanks very much,
Sherry”
This is SO common.
And here is my humble, but accurate, opinion.
Chances are Sherry can play the song without the chord chart in front of her.
She most likely hasn’t really tried because she’s still nervous about making mistakes.
The Chord chart becomes a crutch that needs thrown out.
If you love the song you are learning, then you really only need to practice a few times to be able to play it without the chord chart.
It’s only when you don’t care about the song does that become a problem.
I had a buddy come over a few months back to play some songs on his guitar.
He brought over his big book of chord charts to play songs he had played 100 times.
I took it away from him and he turned white as a ghost.
I said, “just start playing, your mind and your hands will remember.”
And he did, and they remembered, and now he only uses the chords charts in the beginning.
It’s okay to make mistakes and not remember, those mistakes are what remind us of what to do next time.
So start getting rid of the chord charts before you really think you can do it.
You will surprise yourself for sure and will really be able to learn to play piano by ear.
And if you don’t already have the Layer Method Of Piano to learn with, then you can get that here:
Here to Serve,
Tim (PianoFool)
