How To Learn To Play The Piano By Ear 

A large number of modern bands have no idea of how to read music and everything they play is music that they have learned by ear. Playing music by ear is a simple way of saying that they listen to a song, memorized the music and words and then are able to play it in their own way. Those who have has a formal education in music and are able to read and write music still need to be able to play by ear – it is the only way to pick up the finer points of playing styles so that they can be adapted to their way of playing. This is what you will be doing when you learn to play the piano by ear – you need an ear for music and the ability to remember what you hear.


Begin by sitting at a piano and humming a simple tune that you know well and then try and find the keys to produce the notes you want –it will take a lot of time and patience so be prepared to spend time on it. Do not try and maintain the tempo of the melody – it is enough if you are able to work out the right sequence of key to be played.

Once you have the first few seconds of the melody in place, progress to the second part of the tune and so on until you have the first part of it in place. Make sure you record everything you practice and listen carefully to the playback – notice the mistakes you made, the ones that correct themselves and the ones that remain – it gets easier over time. Keep doing the same thing each day until you are able to play a full tune – you will be far from perfect but you will have taken your first steps in learning to play the piano by ear.


Do not force yourself to play the same melody till you are perfect – that will become boring and frustrating. Go on to another melody and practice that till it is recognizable and then go on to the next. As you keep doing this your abilities will improve, you will be able to learn new melodies faster and once you have some degree of confidence, you can start trying to improve your technique. You can become a competent pianist this way and as your skill and comfort levels grow, you will find it becomes easier to hear music, remember it and then play it on the piano.