{"id":397,"date":"2022-04-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/?p=397"},"modified":"2022-08-18T10:25:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T17:25:12","slug":"how-to-sing-and-play-piano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/how-to-sing-and-play-piano\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Sing And Play Piano"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You\u2019re a singer. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s who you are. But we\u2019re here to tell you that you should absolutely learn how to play the piano as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because if you can play even a little bit of piano, you\u2019ll be able to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Accompany yourself<\/li><li>Train your ear and find harmonies<\/li><li>Practice your vocal exercises without a backing track<\/li><li>Learn the songs you love!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And the good news is that it doesn\u2019t take long to learn enough piano to start. This single lesson is all you need to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Step 1: Navigating The Keyboard<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;piano keyboard&nbsp;may look dizzying with its vast array of keys (88, to be exact). But once you understand the patterns that make it work, it\u2019s actually quite simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-find-middle-c\"><strong>How to Find Middle C<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a look at your keyboard. Notice the black keys\u2014see how there are sets of two and sets of three? We\u2019ll use these sets of twos and threes to find Middle C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:70%\">\n<video playsinline=\"\" autoplay=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/Your%20First%20Lessons\/Your%20First%20Piano%20Lesson\/pianote-qt-lisa-witt-how-to-play-piano-GIF2.mp4\" loop=\"\" muted=\"\" width=\"100%\"><\/video>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Middle C<\/strong>&nbsp;is the first note you\u2019ll learn on the piano. It\u2019s smack dab in the middle of the keyboard, usually where the brand name of the piano is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Find a set of two black keys in the middle and play the white key on the very left: this is Middle C!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember where Middle C is. You\u2019ll use it to orient yourself around the rest of the keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-musical-alphabet\"><strong>The Musical Alphabet<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now for your first theory lesson! In music, we name notes after the alphabet. The white key after C is D, the one after is E, and so on. The musical alphabet stops at G, however, so instead of a note called H we just repeat from C again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=95\/https:\/\/pianote.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2021\/How%20to%20Play%20Piano%20-%20Ultimate%20Guide\/labelled%20keyboard.png\" alt=\"Keyboard diagram with white keys labelled in red: CDEFGABCDEFGAB\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re wondering what all those black keys are called, they&#8217;re <strong>half-steps<\/strong> between the white notes and they&#8217;re called <strong>sharps<\/strong> or <strong>flats<\/strong>.  A <strong>sharp<\/strong> means we <em>raise<\/em> a note up by one half-step. A <strong>flat<\/strong> means we <em>lower<\/em> a note down by one half-step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now let&#8217;s look at how to turn these letters into music. And to do that, we&#8217;ll play some basic chords!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How to Read Chord Charts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Chord charts are the most basic way to start playing songs. They&#8217;re simply a sheet with the words to the songs and little letters written above the words. Those letters tell you what chord to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the easiest way to start playing chords is to learn the <strong>Chord Formula<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing this formula will allow you to play any major or minor chord on the piano. Even ones using the black keys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-a1b998ee-31c0-48f3-bec4-755e2f4a8062\"><br><strong>Major Chord Formula<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-2 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=95\/https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21090934\/C-Major-Triad-Formula-copy-1024x452.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21090934\/C-Major-Triad-Formula-copy-1024x452.png 1024w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21090934\/C-Major-Triad-Formula-copy-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21090934\/C-Major-Triad-Formula-copy-768x339.png 768w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21090934\/C-Major-Triad-Formula-copy.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<p>A major chord is made by counting 4 half-steps above the root note (the note you choose to build a chord upon), and by counting 3 half-steps from the middle note. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-e0812975-9340-46d9-ab5b-f01a4d6c5081\"><strong>Minor Chord Formula<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-3 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"452\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=95\/https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091014\/C-Minor-Triad-Formula-fixed-1024x452.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-401\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091014\/C-Minor-Triad-Formula-fixed-1024x452.png 1024w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091014\/C-Minor-Triad-Formula-fixed-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091014\/C-Minor-Triad-Formula-fixed-768x339.png 768w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091014\/C-Minor-Triad-Formula-fixed.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<p>A minor chord is made by counting 3 half-steps above the root note, and by counting 4 half-steps above the middle note. Notice how different this chord sounds? It&#8217;s much sadder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-8257d767-6217-4620-9f81-36a915cdabbb\">There are other chords on the piano, but for our purposes, these are the two most important to know, and they&#8217;re the two that you&#8217;ll be using most often when you accompany yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find out about all the other types of chords in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pianote.com\/blog\/piano-chords\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">this Pianote lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Download This Reference Guide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It can be tricky to remember all of this when you&#8217;re first starting out. So we&#8217;ve made a handy reference guide that you can download and print!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/d1923uyy6spedc.cloudfront.net\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to download the guide!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"791\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musora.com\/musora-cdn\/image\/quality=95\/https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-791x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-791x1024.png 791w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-232x300.png 232w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-768x994.png 768w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-1187x1536.png 1187w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1-1583x2048.png 1583w, https:\/\/pianote-blog.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/04\/21091817\/qt-piano-chords-1650302395-1.png 1700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 791px) 100vw, 791px\" \/><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a super-handy chord reference guide!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>If You Remember Only One Thing&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You do NOT need to be a virtuoso piano player to start accompanying yourself. You do NOT need to spend years of practice and thousands of dollars on piano lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You can start accompanying yourself right away.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most important thing (as always) is that you have FUN!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So go sit at your piano (if you have one), and give this a try<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Take your singing to the next level<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you enjoyed working on your voice with this guide, you\u2019re in luck! As a Singeo Member you can access:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Step-by-step singing lessons<\/li><li>Daily vocal routines to help you build a better, stronger voice<\/li><li>A FULL library of tracks so you can practice singing your favorite songs<\/li><li>Grammy Award-winning featured coaches<\/li><li>Access to our forum where you can share and work with others on the same journey as you<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026 AND personal feedback from Lisa and our other coaches when you need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not sure if you\u2019re ready for a full membership yet? Give it a try! Access our full gallery of songs, the Singeo Method, and all our coaches for free:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-50 has-custom-font-size has-medium-font-size\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-vivid-purple-background-color has-text-color has-background\" href=\"singeo.com\/trial\">START MY FREE TRIAL<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Singers! You can (and should) learn to play piano. Start accompanying yourself right away with these easy tips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.singeo.com\/chorus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}