Coen, Author at Piano Couture

Why You Don’t Need to “Finish Learning” Before You Start Creating

Why You Don’t Need to “Finish Learning” Before You Start Creating I talk to a lot of aspiring players who say some version of this: “Once I really get the chords down… then I’ll try making my own stuff.” “Once I’ve finished the course… then I’ll experiment.” But here’s the thing: You don’t get fluent in a ... Read more

How 4 Simple Chords Turn Into The Rich, Soulful "Bad Dreams" Loop

Ever hear a chord loop that should sound simple — but hits way deeper than expected? That’s exactly what’s happening in “Bad Dreams” by Teddy Swims.Just four chords. But the combination of voicings, feel, and flow gives it that unmistakable emotional pull. It’s a groovy pop-soul track, built on nothing more than this 4-chord progression: Cm7 → Ab(add9) ... Read more

The 3 Secrets Pop Pianists Use (That Nobody Tells You About)

The 3 Secrets Pop Pianists Use (That Nobody Tells You About) Pop pianists — the greats — do something different. They play by heart. They play by ear. They play songs you know and love, in ways that feel like magic. And no matter how complex it looks… they’re not reading sheet music. They’re not ... Read more

How Toto’s “Africa” Proves Timing is Everything

How One Simple Trick Turns Basic Chords Into Legendary Riffs The Power of Patterns Timing is everything. In life, but maybe even more so in music. When people think about learning to play the piano, they often focus on the what—which notes to play. But without rhythm, without a clear sense of when to play ... Read more

How To Make Your Chords Flow

After I had been in the rehearsal room with my very first band for about 3 months, it was time for our first show. I was pretty nervous, yet excited to try out my brand new stage piano. Man that thing sounded amazing. Classic vintage sounds and a much more real-to-life piano sound than my ... Read more

On Bernhoft, Program Updates and 🌊

“In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around, but I’ll stand my ground, and I won’t back down." - Tom Petty Hi, In this edition I got for you - a Norwegian master-musician & loop-king to #love; a John Mayer guitar-part-made-piano in CoutCam-view to both #love & #learn; and some exciting updates (+ 🤯 ... Read more

On McComb, Better Than Imagined & Pattern-Application

"Life’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans." - John Lennon Hi there! In this edition I have for you - Donny Hathaway's reincarnation(?) to #love; a hauntingly beautiful Glasper piano vamp in CoutCam view to both #love & #learn; part 2 of the multi-part tutorial for Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are" to ... Read more

On Hunter, Stevie W., Billy J. & Love · Learn · Live

"When you understand the language, loving becomes learning too" - Me Hi there! Welcome to this new season’s first Couturian, after our annual downtime. In this edition, I got a smooth-as-silk vocalist & wonderfull (learnable) CoutCam cover for you to #love; a multi-lesson “best-of-last-season” highlights-reel and one of the greatest piano intros of all time ... Read more

CoutCam - Too Far Away (Loop)

For this week's CoutCam video - a loop from a tune that I wrote called "Too Far Away." Taking the chords I shared with you earlier as the Progression Of The Week, here's my take on adding patterns and groove to that. The progression is very loopable, just steadily played in a groove like ... Read more

[Updated] Song Tutorial: How to Play John Mayer - Stop This Train On Piano.

Stop This Train might very well be my favorite song of all time. Wait. Haven’t I said that before? Well anyway, it’s enough for me to have put in about 20 hours of work to make this Stop This Train piano tutorial - which has become a real shiner. Hi Guys! Back in the day ... Read more

Imagine - Practicing Mentally

Many -successful- people swear by visualization. They truly believe that if they think hard enough about something they want and envision themselves with every fibre of their bodies already having it - how it feels, looks, smells - that they will get it. And the strange thing is (or is it?) - it works. ... Read more

Boogie On Reggae Woman (CoutCam - Loop)

For this week's CoutCam video - an amazing bassline-loop taken from Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae Woman." This tune might have one of the sickest basslines in history. I didn't actually play that entire bassline - originally played on an amazing Moog bass-synth - but just extracted the main groove, so that I could turn ... Read more

Are You Taking Care Of Your Most Important Asset?

You can only perform as good as your body and mind allow for. They are your tools - your instrument. When you regard them as such, taking good care of them makes all the more sense. “A sound mind is in a sound body" "Perfecting the personal regularly leads to success as a professional - ... Read more

Chord Progression Of The Week - Molina & Bear Keyscape Jam

We’re staying in the Neo-Soul vibes for this weeks progression, which is taken from an absolutely mind-blowing impromptu improvisation session between the amazing Emily Bear and the (dare I say it) even more amazing Jesus Molina. The jam originated after Jesus finished a session for a promo video for the software instrument Keyscape, when CEO ... Read more

Steal Like An Artist While Emulating Chefs

It’s hard to argue against the fact that we are constantly being influenced by all that we see in the world around us - consciously, but definitely also unconsciously. Being aware of this and on the lookout for the recyclable building blocks that make something -anything- “great,” allows you to extract those building blocks, ideas ... Read more

Similarity Awareness

Life is essentially a stack of experiences. How you experience and (are able to) do anything is based on previous experiences. Being extra aware of which part of a new experience or challenge might resemble something you’ve handled well or learned in the past - allows you to draw from those past experiences and build ... Read more

CoutCam - Jamie Cullum's All At Sea Vamp

For this week's CoutCam video - a Vamp taken from Jamie Cullum's "All At Sea" A very soothing, highly "loopable" vamp taken from Jamie's Twentysomething album (my favorite). The right hand plays a back-and-forth sixteenth-beats pattern between a "b-flat" & "e-flat" (quarter) and an "a-flat." The left hand changes chords (which makes the function of ... Read more

Chord Progression & Loop Of The Week - "Slick Enough"

Here’s a nice little, (neo)soul-influenced chord progression that I came up with. I’ve also used it in this week’s loop (see below), where you’ll find it actually played with rhythm / patterns. I’d like to challenge you, however, to first try and see what you would come up with as to how to play this ... Read more

Repetition is the mother(-in-law) of skill

It sounds so simple - rehearse. Practice. Repeat whatever it is you want to learn and/or accomplish, consistently, and you will get there. Learn the skill. Reach your goal. Consistency is a term that re-occurs often throughout these nuggets. It’s somewhat of a “theme” if you will. And for good reason. Consistency -as opposed to ... Read more

Routine is the Enemy - Consistency your Friend

Here I’ll talk a bit about the philosophy of alternation, thereby challenging yourself and how we can treat and leverage “growing into something” -“habitifying,” if you will- to actually make ourselves improve more effectively. We’ll look at how we can throw both our bodies and minds off-guard so they adapt to- and adopt a state ... Read more

Happier Than The Morning Sun - Stevie Wonder Cover

Man, how I’ve always loved this beautiful Stevie Wonder tune Happier Than The Morning Sun. Took me some time, but I finally grew a pair and actually covered it.

I made another cover! Finally. 🙂

I’ve been playing around with Happier Than The Morning Sun for some time now and finally decided just to record it. Is it perfect? Hardly. Will it help as a next step to getting me back on track to doing this more often, absolutely.

After putting in tons (8 months+ full-time, 50hrs+ weeks) hours into setting up the new free-to-play Piano Lingo platform (yes, that’s FREE to play, as in: you can learn how to play piano here for free - try it out here) I’m back to creating content. Finally.

Happier Than The Morning Sun has been one of my favorites for so long now, and thus sitting on my list of “to-cover one day” that I thought it was about time now.

I personally really like how the original Clav part translates to the piano this way.

What do you think?

You can find a keys-only, animated-overhead view (or in other words the famous CoutCam video) to learn the keys part perfectly, in the Piano Lingo members area.

What would you like me to cover next?

Hope you’ll enjoy this one.

Cheers,

Coen

Listen

Actively listening, will teach you tons. It implies paying attention to what you hear, without over-analyzing (i.e. thinking about-, or better said, judging it) just yet. Not mixing in your own thoughts, forming an opinion and thereby distracting your attention away from actually absorbing the input. This proves difficult. Here's how to increase the benefits ... Read more

Don't go too fast, too soon.

There is a multitude of things that tend to cloud our judgement of when we’ve mastered -actually mastered- something at a certain level of skill and are ready to progress to the next step. This difficulty of self-assessing our skills, sprinkled with the excitement of reaching that shiny end-goal -mastery- that we have in mind, ... Read more

Record Yourself

When we are in our own head, watching the world from our own perception, things tend to get blurred. When we are doing anything, we can’t actually see ourselves moving as a whole like the world does see us. We don’t hear ourselves like the world hears us. Catch: We tend to have quite a ... Read more

Timing - The Point Out. Controlling Endings and Knowing When to Stop

When we consider “timing,” we often think about the time to start -the point in- but to fill the allocated time correctly, the point out -the release; when to stop- is (almost) equally important. Catch: We tend to pay all of our attention to the “point in,” but timing something perfectly isn’t merely knowing when ... Read more

Prince - How Come You Don't Call Me | Song Tutorial

"How Come You Don’t Call Me (Anymore)," even though it was only released as a B-side, might in my eyes just be the perfect embodiment of the signature characteristics that made Prince such a great musician. I remember the first time when I saw Prince play some live, solo-piano on a Youtube video where he ... Read more

Short Burst Practice - How to make practicing 10x more effective

It's possible to make your practice time 10x more effective, simply by dividing its time over more sessions. Shortening and then multiplying the frequency of study sessions doesn't just do wonders for retention and improvement, but will also prepare you for real-life situations - where you have to be able to execute perfectly, instantly. Catch: ... Read more

Maroon 5 - This Love | Song Tutorial

Maroon 5's This Love was the hit that first brought them fame. It's also their best song to date. Hi Guys! I remember when I first heard Maroon 5's first mega hit song "This Love." I was working at an ice cream parlor, saving up for what would be an awesome next year filled with ... Read more

Elton John - Your Song | Song Tutorial

Your Song by Elton John is one of the benchmark songs of Pop-Piano, placing Piano-driven pop songs firmly on the map. In this tutorial you'll learn the exact piano parts as per played on the record by Sir Elton John himself. And a few variations taken from some of his live renditions of Your Song. ... Read more

Portugal The Man - Feel it Still | Song Tutorial

Feel it Still might very well be the best song of 2017. Heck. Portugal the Man might be the very best band we've seen enter the charts in years! What a track. I definitely feel it still. Hi Guys! How's it going? It was in fact my girlfriend who notified me of a "new song ... Read more

John Mayer - Free Fallin' (Tom Petty Cover) | Guitar-made-piano song tutorial

In this tutorial I'll show you one of the most-viewed acoustic tracks of John Mayer's show "where the light is" - his hauntingly beautiful performance of Tom Petty's Free Fallin' Hi Guys! How's it going? Free Fallin' is an immensely popular song from John Mayer's "Where the light is." A live CD/DVD where John shows ... Read more

Outkast - Roses (Intro) | Piano Lick Galore

Roses by Outkast might just have one of the most awesome piano intros out there. In this lesson we’ll break down that exact piano intro, chord by chord, lick by lick. Hi Guys! What's up? When I myself first heard the tune Roses by Outkast, I couldn't play piano yet. I recall that moment quite ... Read more

Introduction to the Pentatonic Scale | Concept Lesson

The Pentatonic Scale might just be the most usable, recognisable and widely appreciated scale of all. Enter to find out how to understand, play and use the pentatonic scale to amaze and acquire. Mad Piano Skills, that is. Hi Guys! How's it going? Ready to dive into a highly intriguing concept? A scale that is ... Read more

Roland's Official GoPiano Promo Tune | Song Tutorial

I've had the great honour to write the music/theme for the official promo video of Roland's new GoPiano keyboard. Here's how to play it. Hi Guys! Whaddap? It truly was a great honour when world renown keyboard brand Roland asked me to write the soundtrack, the theme if you will, for their newest release: the ... Read more

Billy Joel - She's Always A Woman | Song Tutorial

Billy Joel's "She's Always A Woman" is yet again a perfect embodiment of how to play piano by chords ear and heart. Hi Guys! How's it going? Due to the grand success and enthusiasm displayed regarding the previous Billy Joel lesson, another one of his that maybe even holds my personal preference in terms of ... Read more

Billy Joel - Piano Man | Song Tutorial

Probably the most iconic piano song of all time. Billy Joel's classic "Piano Man" uses hints of Jazz, Blues and Pop-Piano and is an embodiment of Piano Couture's chordal approach to playing piano. Hi Guys! What's up? In a time that's both super-exciting and utterly rough (more in-depth personal story in the newsletter and to ... Read more

Building Chords | Music as a Language Part 3

This is the third of a 7-part intro-series on how to play by piano by learning music as a language - the piano couture approach. access all the lessons in this series by joining the couture (it's free) Hi there! Welcome to lesson three of the Hack the Piano Launchpad, the intro course to playing ... Read more

d'Angelo Sugah Daddy | Lick

In this tutorial I'll show you how to play, understand, use and re-use the lick (and main groove) from d'angelo's sugah daddy. Hi Everybody! How you doin'? This week I extracted a funky little lick from one of Pop-Piano's greatest: d'Angelo. With hints from blues to bebop, this one is sure to groove your socks ... Read more

Music as a Language Intro | The Keyboard

This is the second of a 7-part intro-series on how to play by piano by learning music as a language - the piano couture approach. access all the lessons in this series by joining the couture (it's free) Hi there! Welcome back to the intro course to playing piano by chords, ear and heart. Let’s ... Read more

Pentatonic RunDown | Pattern Lesson

In this tutorial I'll show you a cool and ultra multifuntional (obviously) pentatonic riff, run, lick, pattern, technique and how it transforms color in a multitude of different musical situations. Hi Everybody! What's cookin'? I figured it was time for a nice riff again. When I started conjuring up one, however, I fell into a ... Read more

Music as a Language | How to play piano by chords, ear & heart - 1. Intro

This is the first of a 4-part intro-series on how to play by piano by learning music as a language - the piano couture approach. access all the lessons in this series by joining the Launchpad intro series here (it's free) Hi Everybody! What's up? In this first lesson of my brand-new, "how to play ... Read more

Practice-Awareness - Appreciating the value in everything you study | Concept Lesson

This lesson is all about maximizing overall growth as a musician. Adopting a mindset for seeing potential and leveraging skill re-usability for efficient practice. Do adopt and you might find that you are already a lot better than you actually thought. Hi Everybody! Anything new? After a lot of questions and picking my own brain ... Read more

Ear Training | Part 2 - Getting Practical

This is part 2 of a more extensive dive into the subject of the musical ear - how ear training help you develop the auditory side of the elusive skill of playing by ear Hi Everybody! How are you guys doing? In this second half of my explanation on the subject of "playing by ear" ... Read more

Ed Sheeran - Shape of You | Song Tutorial

Ed Sheeran's Shape of You might be one of the easiest songs you've wanted to learn lately. However, in this sub-5 minute tutorial I'll also show a couple of alternative ways to play this 4 chord loop - perfect for you beginners looking to get some tips on how to "body-up" your chords Hi Guys! ... Read more

MIDI - A Comprehensive Guide | Part 1 - MIDI for Learning

In this post, I'll talk about MIDI. What it is and -more beneficially- how we can use it to our advantage. To create, but in this post mainly - to learn. Hi Everybody! What's up? Have you ever heard of MIDI? Experienced its wonderful benefits? Yes? Great! Let's see if I can show you something ... Read more

Fills, Licks & Riffs - Improvisation Fundamentals | Concept Lesson

Improvising is a subject that's vague and seemingly intangible to many. In this lesson I'll show you how focussing not so much on the tons of different notes, but rather on the rhythm aspect of playing is a great way to break this alluring skill down to comprehension - and then build it right back ... Read more

James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go | Song Tutorial

If you're looking to learn how to play the beautiful "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur on piano - this is your post. Hi Guys! How's it going? This week finally another song tutorial. Has been a while, since I did one of those. This in the light of shifting more towards the ... Read more

Arpeggios and Multifunctionality - Musical Efficiency | Concept Lesson

"Effectifying" your musical vocabulary - how to re-use one seemingly limited technique to maximise your skills & growth. Hi Guys! What's up? In this concept lesson I'll get into a clever little hack for both maximising your practice effectiveness, as well as show you an even more efficient way of using what you can already ... Read more

Alicia's Inversion Run Pattern | Concept Lesson

If you're looking to learn a cool piano run - the one Alicia Keys uses in her acoustic "Empire State of Mind" - you've come to the right address. In this concept lesson, I'll break down the run for you and explain it in a tangible, clear and re-usable way. Hi Guys! Happy New Year ... Read more

Ear Training

Ear Training | Part 1 how to practice your musical ear to improve as an overall musician VIEW LESSON Scroll down In this post (part one of a quite extensive, two-part dive into this subject) I’ll talk about the concept of the “musical ear” and how training it by regularly performing so called “ear training” ... Read more

Bon Iver – re: stacks | Tutorial

re: stacks - as I've already mentioned a few times before, is one of my favorite tracks of all times. However bare and simple the recording (crappy even!), the bed of harmonies, supporting that hauntingly gorgeous melody is just so unbelievably strong. Music in its purest form. Beautiful. So, a few weeks ago, since I was just starting ... Read more

Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber & Mø - Cold Water | Tutorial

COLD WATER - MAJOR LAZER FT. JUSTIN BIEBER & MØ

A Primer! This week, my good buddy and awesome pianist Jeroen breaks the ice, being the very first guest teacher on Piano Couture. He's making his début with Major Lazer & Justin Biebers' hit single - Cold Water; and how! As a professional Pop-Pianist who -like me- solely plays by chords, ear and heart, Jeroen ... Read more

Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely | Tutorial Update

With Isn't She Lovely, Stevie Wonder was an early pioneer, bridging a gap between Jazz -with its heavily extended voicings and 2-5-1's- and Pop -where four chord loops would become the standard. Although premiering this blunt form of turnaround, because of it's juicy implied "V" (the dominant in the "in between" 2-5-1, leading to a ... Read more

The Chainsmokers - Closer | Tutorial

I decided to stick with the big hits one more time this week, so if you're interested in how to play Billboard's current no 1, The Chainsmokers - Closer, this is your tutorial. Consisting out of just 3 - albeit quite juicy extended - chords, this tune once again proves how monotonously minded and sound/production driven ... Read more

Sia - The Greatest | Tutorial

Sia keeps outdoing herself in the field of chart topping pop music. Hit after hit come from her hand and/or throat and I am quite positive that with her (now still new) "The Greatest" she is again shooting for peak position. After hearing the arguably biggest name in current popular music - Sia play her ... Read more

Bon Iver - re: stacks | Cover - Tutorial

In a previous post, I wrote about my *love* for Bon Iver and how "re: stacks" might just be my favorite song of all times. Definitely in the top 10. So, since I've had two vocal coaching sessions / singing lessons already and this tune was received with quite some enthusiasm when I first played it ... Read more

Jamie Cullum – These Are The Days | Tutorial

Jamie’s “These Are The Days” is one of those perfect pop/jazz-piano-mix tunes that holds a TON of valuable skills, licks & techniques to re-use in the rest of your playing. A true treasure trove. I could write a ton about Jamie as a pianist. How awesome, talented and crazy skilled he is on the keys and ... Read more

Bruno Mars - When I Was Your Man | Cover - Tutorial Update

Piano Couture is evolving. Bruno Mars is too. At least; I've evolved my When I Was Your Man tutorial to a full fledged Deluxe Tutorial with all parts now clearly explained. In this post, holding a MUCH requested updated version of this very popular tutorial of mine (over 450,000 Youtube hits at the moment of ... Read more

Justin Timberlake – Can’t Stop The Feeling | Tutorial

How could I not make a solid tutorial of THE summer hit of 2016 -Justin’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling”- when it holds such an extensive amount of funk, groove, fresh- and tightness, mainly because of its killer bassline? Yes I know. I’m a bit on the late side with publishing this one. Sorry for that. However, I felt it ... Read more

Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover | Tutorial

How to play Prince – I Wanna Be Your Lover. Prince is cool. Was cool -sadly-. Super cool. Right? One of those one-in-a-billion musicians of a simply out of this world caliber. Playing in their very own ballpark with the likes of Michael, James, Marvin, Stevie and I could name a few more. But not ... Read more

John Lennon - Jealous Guy | Cover - Tutorial

Yes, I made another cover! This time one of my favorite tracks, John Lennon's fantastic "Jealous Guy" (tip: also check out versions by Donny Hathaway and Gavin DeGraw) is up. Although it's again a snippet, since I was actually just fooling around a bit on the keys when I felt like singing this. Co-incidentally, the ... Read more

Matt Corby – Trick of the Light | Cover

A few months ago, I had the great fortune of seeing one of my personal musical heroes play live. In the spirit of sharing more different kinds of articles and more of my own musical expression and inspiration on Piano Couture, I decided it was time to get back to covering and in conjunction pay tribute ... Read more

The Beatles - Lady Madonna

An iconic Pop-Piano groove written and performed by an even more iconic band. The Beatles have been one of the early definers of pop music (and Pop-Piano with it). Their ingeniously crafted songs as well as trade-mark riffs -like the one on piano that I'll teach you in this lesson- have been an inspiration for generations to come. By ... Read more

Shawn Mendes – Stitches

Yet another fine example in the series “how to translate guitar grooves to the keys,” using a more current hit-song: Shawn Mendes – Stitches Piano Tutorial turned out to be another gem for all of you more beginner Pop-Pianists. For those that know their chords and patterns, this one is actually quite easy to play, though ... Read more

Dire Straits - On Every Street

Dire Straits - On Every Street is one of those songs that makes you wonder where real music has gone these days. When I first heard the beautiful instrumental intermezzo -which later translates into the killer guitar-riff outro of this tune- I must admit there was a brief moment where I suspected angels to be peeing ... Read more

Stevie Wonder – I Was Made To Love Her

Stevie’s “I Was Made To Love Her” is one of those true classics that very few don’t know. On the other hand, very few do know how f’in badd-ass the bass part of this song -played by the great James Jamerson, the founder of “cool” contemporary bass playing in my humble opinion- actually is. The groove is ... Read more

Lukas Graham - 7 Years

A melodic piano riff, left hand chords and a juicy accompaniment part can all be found in this piano tutorial, where I teach you exactly how to play Lukas Graham - 7 years, his current beautiful piano-hit. As always, we'll be tackling the exact piano part(s) as played on the original record. Always nice to see a piano-driven ... Read more

Justin Bieber – Love Yourself | Tutorial

Justin Bieber Love Yourself Piano Tutorial

A Justin Bieber Piano tutorial. Who’d ever thought I’d end up making one of those? Not me. I can tell you that much. What I can also tell you, is that it very likely won’t be the last, ’cause like so many others I’m officially converted and from the hater I once was, I too am now ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Bon Iver

“What I’m listening to” is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Bon Iver. A long-time inspiration of mine, this truly gifted songwriter, arranger, producer, singer and musician, is really something special. ... Read more

Billy Joel – New York State of Mind

When thinking Pop-Piano, it’s hard not to note the awesome influencer, pioneer really, of this style: Billy Joel - and maybe particularly, his iconic song: New York State of Mind. Now Billy has quite a few really nice, iconic Pop-Piano tunes under his singer-songwriter belt, but the out of this world piano intro to this particular ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Corinne Bailey Rae

“What I’m listening to” is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Corinne Bailey Rae. When my mother told me about yet another “awesome new singer that I should have heard about” ... Read more

Behind the Couture 3.

In this series of posts I’m telling the story behind Hack the Piano and Piano Couture as a whole. How it came about. How it develops, runs and grows. In my mind and in the world. It’s a behind-the-scenes. It’s about ideas, failure, success, do’s and don’ts. It’s about the seemingly improbable path of a musician choosing an ... Read more

The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face

If you’re looking to get funky, simulating an out-of-this-world bass part with your left hand -upping your the skills of that hand AND your timing an uncountable amount of levels once aced- than: this is your song. Holy crap I just can’t get enough of the funk in this track by the Weeknd. Really impressed here with ... Read more

W.I.L.T. - Bill Withers

“What I’m listening to” is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Bill Withers. Bill is one of those guys who's name may not instantly ring a bell with a lot of ... Read more

Behind the Couture 2.

Sam Smith - Writing's on the Wall.

Typical Bond-style Orchestration and a Pop-Piano-at-its-finest part, supporting yet another killer vocal-performance from our good friend Sam Smith. Sam oh Sam. You're blowing up man. An f'in BOND theme-song? Wow. But let's be honest: 100% deserved. What a singer. For a Bond theme-song, I think this one's actually a pretty cool tune too, right? Gotta love those Bond vibes. The ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Ben Howard

“What I’m listening to” is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Ben Howard. Keep your head up. Inspirational words set to a real nice guitar-groove driven tune that instantly did something to ... Read more

Hello – Adele

Do not confuse Adele with Lionel. I know. They’re probably literal opposites, but still. It’s a bold move from this British diva choosing a song title that is already… -looking for superlative… found none- quite famous. So they might indeed be opposites as to what meets the eye, however now they also have two major things ... Read more

Behind the Couture 1.

W.I.L.T. - Jamie Cullum

"What I’m listening to" is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Jamie Cullum. Although you don't see much of him in the charts lately, this guy is far from "unknown." Next ... Read more

Rocket Man – Elton John.

Some credit to the “founders” of our style (Pop-Piano), I thought, would for a change be in order again. There’s something about classic tunes.. I mean, who makes songs like these anymore nowadays? Right? A guy, a piano, a strong melody, solid harmonies played in an organic way on our beloved beast of an instrument. ... Read more

James Bay – Let it Go

Every now and then -it’s rare, but it happens- a magician arises from the deep dark depths of music-wonderland. With so many crap pumped out and stuffed in our faces by the wealthy record companies via the main Radio, TV and Internet channels these days, I’m even happier when this happens now than ever before. ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Patrick Watson

"What I’m listening to" is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Patrick Watson. As you know by now, it’s not all piano-only tracks I’m listening to. It’s really just about the ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Labi Siffre

What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Labi Siffre. Every now and then I hear a song playing on the car radio or in some public place ... Read more

Cheerleader – OMI

Easy stuff to play here when you know your chords and patterns, yet very demonstrative showing how cool an simple three-chord part can become when adding a nice basic break-up pattern. Looking for a nice piano-driven track to suit you beginner Pop-Pianists, I felt OMI’s feel-good-summer-vibin’ track “Cheerleader” -which tops this week charts- could not ... Read more

Freedom – Pharell Williams

Get ready to groove your socks off, upping your left hand bass skills while learning this brand new feel-good tune by happy(ness) generator Pharell. He did it again, or in any way is going to do it again. Launching together with and on the recently released Apple Music platform as a feature track, both starring in the official ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Sting

What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Sting. Last weekend we had a little couples diner get together with my best friend and his girlfriend, who in ... Read more

See You Again – Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth

Probably one of my most in-depth, versatile tutorials to date. Obviously I felt the need to put in some extra effort here, since this mega-hit -originally written on a piano by a professional Pop-Pianist (Charlie Puth)- features such an impressive set of Pop-Piano skills and techniques that watching this lesson alone could give you a ... Read more

American Oxygen – Rihanna

What a beast of a piano sound. Quite the cool voicing techniques in this one as well, smoothing that sweet set of chords out over this killer piano-riff intro. I figured it was time to record and post some Rihanna again! The tutorial for this song of hers is suitable for you intermediate players that ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Sly (and the family) Stone

What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some extra attention. This week: Sly (and the Family Stone). I’m a sucker for oldies. Sixties, seventies, those were the decades that pop-piano (and pop-music, ... Read more

W.I.L.T. – Snarky Puppy

What I’m listening to’ is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some attention. This week: Snarky Puppy. Two weeks ago, I got to see this band live when they were playing the first of their two ... Read more

Ellie Goulding – Love me like you do

Althought the chords in this one are quite smooth, since they’re simply laid down this song really isn’t that hard to play.

Quite suitable for beginner pianists that want to get these chords at their fingertips or aspiring singer-pianists that haven’t gotten a tight hold of rhythms & patterns yet, but do want to sing while providing themselves with nice harmonies.

Pop Piano oozing all over this track. Quite a cool one for those of you that are just starting out learning some patterns, or who are trying to get a little closer with 7’s and some other extensions. Pretty decent (doable) level for a ‘accompany yourself’ rehearsal (or even: recital!). I put yet another ‘full ... Read more

W.I.L.T. - Marvin. Tha G.

'[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hat I'm listening to' is a weekly series of music that reigns at the top of my personal playlist. Music that I think is cool and deserves a mention and some attention. This week: Marvin Gaye. I guess it's just one of those weeks. What can I say. One of the greats. Obviously always in ... Read more

Ed Sheeran - Thinking out loud Piano Tutorial

A primer, a ballzy improv of a Pop-Piano part and a full piano tutorial that might go deeper than I've ever gone featuring Ed's current mega-hit.

This song features a piano track (honors shared with the guitar, obviously) that once again exemplifies the capabilities of the Pop-Pianist that works his chord magic perfectly.

Now here's one that is very suited if you're just starting out with Pop-Piano. Yes, I know guys. It's been a while. Quite a while. I wanna start by saying thanks for all of you that have been eagerly waiting and kept faith. Those of you that shot me messages asking, pleading, BEGGING for new ... Read more

Take Me To Church – Hozier

A plethora of holy goodnesses as well a confession that tests the limits of what is acceptable in this post holding a tutorial song that might just take your breath away.

As the title of this track suggests, practicing this monster-hit is indeed an excellent exercise for developing those left-hand bassline skills.

Some serious Pop-Piano riffin’ going on in Sam’s new tune.

Pretty easy to grasp (I hope) whilst VERY illustrative to show how to turn a few simple (but nice ‘eh?) chords into an actual piano part. In other words: how to play Pop-Piano: using chords and patterns, sound cool without limitations and play with heart, soul and ears. Easy does it, as this song shows once again.

It’s been six weeks.
Six weeks of silence.
The longest period of silence in the history of Piano Couture.

Why? Where have I been?

Dance-style tracks often revolve around a fairly simple repetition of a riff and / or the same synth-pumping chord progression over and over, but when the main part of a tune – like with this weeks tutorial featuring mega-hit – is derived from a chord-style driven, organic Pop-Piano part like this… wow. Chris Martin, you’re the man.

Ease comes in many forms. Personally I like the ones that sound good best, but that's just me 😉 . Sometimes the difficulty lays in finding that which is in the end turns out to be easy. Strip the whole shebang down to what's actually essential. Effective. And sometimes that leaves you with just 4 different notes for an entire verse.
Their (changing) mutual harmonic relationship is what is important though. That is what counts. That is what's valuable. Keeping that in mind, this weeks tutorial, however easy it may be, teaches us many chord-skill refining lessons actually, amongst which:

Timeless piano-riffs are those that just ‘ring’. That sound brilliant and get stuck in your mind the very moment you hear 'em. Good old, true Pop-Piano music: music that is driven by one of those masterly crafted riffs, played on our beloved instrument. This is one of ‘em. And guess what I’m gonna show you today? How it’s built (out of chords and patterns of course!) and how to play it.

I don't think you'd really have to be 'into' hiphop to appreciate both the inspiring lyrics and the out-of-this-world, coolness-oozing piano riff that carries the track by this awesome pianist. Let me take you by the hand here and introduce you to the amazing Robert Glasper.

Concept learning. That is what this lesson is all about and that is exactly what I love about- and what for me defines Pop-Piano vs. conventional piano-learning.

Some tunes just have that quality of instantly becoming a true Pop-Piano classic. Driven by one of those killer Piano-riffs (you guessed it, created and played all by- and with Pop-Piano techniques), that are so signature for this awesome band, one might call this song the summum of Pop-Piano music.

Guitar-riffs on piano truly can sound wonderful sometimes. This is yet another example of copying some phrases played on another instrument (yes, you guessed it: guitar), adding some 'piano flavored techniques' (and some of my own sweet and sour taste) to it and creating a unique but awesome piano part.

Ok guys, we've seen quite some nice songs pass the tutorial bridge, sure. We've also had our fair share of fine grooves that -when played IN the groove- made you wanna dance like there is no tomorrow. But this one...

Boogie, soul and funky old school swing at it's finest. It's truly one of those classics that have founded and inspired a whole generation of songs to follow in it's path and beyond. Awesome music.

Old cities have always intrigued me. As have old songs. Don't you feel that music was just a tad better back in the day?

No?

Then I'm left with only these two suggestions:

Where would you rather be? Jess Glynne, the super-talented guest vocalist for this mega-hit by Clean Bandit sings to us there’s no place she’d rather be and frankly so there is for me :). Perfectly happy actually. However, that question might get you (as it got me) thinking about setting some goals for yourself. Preferably piano oriented if I may hand you a suggestion ;). Where would you rather be in regard to your level of playing?

What an extensive, much-to-be-learnt from lesson this turned out to be. A super cool song to start with, of course. Killer track. When I flipped on the camera to film this one I knew it would become quite the tough lesson to learn, but that it would become such a gem of a tutorial … (which is not to brag btw. ‘cause that’s not completely my doing here, just a LOT of different Pop-Piano techniques, -tips, -tricks and -know-how’s come together in this song).

The mega-popular first single of this alternative teenage hit machine has truly left it’s mark in all of the western world’s musical memory, putting Lorde firmly on the charts.

Although Royals’ has also been requested quite a few times, since the song is mainly vocal-oriented -and y’all know it’s quite lame to copy vocal lines on a piano-, I decided to go for this super-nice example of using a few easy triads and inversions from the slightly more advanced key of F#, play ‘em on a cool synthesizer (piano works perfectly fine too, as you’ll hear) in super-easy pattern and shine-follow-up: her second hit ‘Team’.

A simple pattern over our oh so beloved four-chord progression creates this atmospheric keyboard part.

A beautiful piano-ballad which perfectly illustrates and exemplifies how the relationship to the harmony (and thereby sound and atmosphere) of playing the exact same note supported by different chords / bass notes completely changes.

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Sweater Weather - The Neighborhood.

Those of you that have been following me for a longer time know that I just love to play these guitar-riff based songs on the piano.

No piano in the original? Well let's just listen to what the other instruments do and use Chords and Patterns to translate those parts to our much beloved keyboard, creating a piano part ourselves!

An (overly?) produced super-hit that in fact turned out to hold a really (really!) nice piano-part.

When I started to listen what chords this song was built of and make my own piano version out of them by copying some of the synths from the original, I was happily surprised with the beauty of the actual song that came out. Of course, it had already occurred to me that this song had something special when I heard it one of the million-and-some times on the radio wherever I go lately, but translating such a heavily electronic song into an acoustic piano part always does something special to reveal the bare-naked niceness (when it's there) of a tune, doesn't it?

Pop-Piano at it's finest.

Apart from the stunning and heartfelt vocal performance of mister Hiatt on this track, this is one of the greatest examples of just how simple a piano-riff can be to create an atmosphere to melt even the coldest of ices.

In this lesson of course I'll also explain it's 'origin' - the chords and pattern that the riff are built of - in detail so you'll both understand- and be able to reproduce it in many other ways, just like -as you'll also see later in the tutorial- John does himself later on in the song.

Chart-topping, four chord songs. Haven't we already seen quite a few of those...

This is yet another one of those (melody) riff-based tunes that oh so many of you seem to love (request for this one were off the charts).

Dear darlin',
I just wanted to say,
in the exciting spirit of an upcoming day,
another nice Pop-Piano song for you to learn and play.

A super-easy to play song, yet again grooving steadily on the hip-hop mantra:

The title of this song describes my current situation and that of Piano Couture as a whole quite well, actually.

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Happy - Pharrell Williams.

This one is all about the good fortune, smiles, laughter, joy and super-exciting new Pop-Piano skills to be learnt along with it.

You all know this mega-hit that makes your booty shake like there is no tomorrow and as most of you indicated you'd like to know how to play it too, so here it is, tutorialized all for you: 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.

Our beloved pop-diva Rihanna is on the menu again, with yet another killer Pop-Piano-riff based hit of hers: the awesome 'What Now'.

The intro and verse are obviously very piano oriented. In the first part of the tutorial (up now) I'll explain exactly what's going on and how to play it.
For the second part (coming up Jan. 11), which has a less obvious piano version lurking inside, I created a very own and unique translation-to-the-piano out of all those monstrous synths and beats. (stay tuned).

What a song. Awesome lessons to be learnt here.

'Counting stars' is yet another example of what magic a nice arrangement, -production and - different vocal melodies can do to yet another, mere four chord progression.

In this tutorial I'll show you some various ways of playing them, using some Pop-Piano techniques to both copy the original piano from the record, as to simulate a different instrumental parts and create a unique piano version.

Let’s keep it real..

..that ‘cup-beat’ is definitely awesome, but try and do that with a cup, not a piano ;).

What I WILL teach you in this tutorial is how to play that awesome intro which, on the record, is played by multiple ukulele’s (“what the heck is that?” you ask? A tiny guitar.) by showing a cool pattern over the ruling harmony at that moment in the song: the extension-chord C6add9.

This guy just keeps pumpin' out hits.

In this lesson I'll show you once more how to use Pop-Piano skills to translate guitar parts to piano and create your own unique piano versions.

Add some vocals (optional) and you're good to shine.

This two part tutorial for 'Hey Brother' features:

Talk about a classic.

Michael Jackson... yeah.. I'd really like to write a million words, but nothing that I'd jot down would come even close to doing this man the right he deserves.

He touched, moved, brightened, enlightened, brought joy, tears, moved hips and stirred souls, all through his ground-breaking music.

King of pop. Well, let's just say that sounds like someone that might be fun and educational to learn from! Right?

Yes. This is what being in control of chords and patterns, bringing it back to a fairly basic, but really wonderful piano arrangement means. John Legend is of course a master of the pop-meets-soul-piano-song, and uses the exact methods of playing Pop/Chord/Pattern piano from ‘Hack the Piano‘ to build his beautiful piano songs with. So, for ... Read more

Coldplay - Atlas

And what an absolute magical track this is. As we've seen quite a few times already, Chris Martin (singer and pianist of Coldplay) really knows how to put his chords and patterns to good use. He is a truly marvellous example of a Pop-Pianist.

This new song of theirs, yet again holds a wonderful (and quite extensive, 14 different chords/voicings for just the verse) chord progression using really nice voicings and inversions and a hauntingly beautiful broken-chord pattern.

5 easy chords (just triads with a few inversions used, nothing too advanced here), a killer guitar-strum transformed into a piano pattern and a melodic hook + left hand 'comping' that will seriously challenge and improve your technical skills and voicing-knowledge.

This week I have a very nice one for all you up-tempo lovers, blues-piano style lovers, Motown-feel lovers and Northern-soul fans out there.

John Newman, the up and coming rising star (his first hit "Love me again", has already topped the English charts at peak position no. 1, click here for my lesson featuring that song if you missed it earlier), is about to officially release his second single: 'Cheating' in the first week of October 2013.
However, the official music video on youtube has already reached an outrageous 2 million views in just over three weeks time.

Want to be the first to play this song, even before it is officially released? Well, I got just the thing for you right here! :).

Hi to all you piano-lovers and (aspiring) pop-pianists.

Here is my gift, my free manifesto, written and freely downloadable especially for all of you that:

Are interested in finding out how Pop-Piano actually works
Want to find out what exactly this ‘piano-hacking’ approach is all about
Would like to know the way Pop-Pianist and Pop-Musicians think when they play
Would like to find out about the Pop-Piano mindset and how to use it to learn piano in the fastest way possible
Want to learn the first few chords and tricks that will transform the way you study forever and make your level of playing shoot for the stars

Many of you like her, probably just as many of you don't. However, she's big and she knows how to make her hits.

This lesson teaches those of you that do like her how to play her current biggest hit. For the rest of you it's still a nice exercise of stripping down a monster production and building it back up to a fuller piano-part (chorus).

Yes, we've indeed already been quite funky a few times in the last few weeks, right?

Thing is, this tune just got me noddin' my head right away, the very first time I heard it. As I saw quite a few people around me doing the same whenever this song sounded, I figured the interest for learning how to play it might be quite high.

As there are no keys (piano) in the original, I also thought it might be another fun example / exercise of how to make a piano song out of a non-piano song, copying bass lines (left hand) and harmony parts (in this case a rhythm/funk guitar, right hand).

Super sweet, silky yet jumpy, very nice progression and of course: what a vocal track (not the "lalala", that's a sample, the actual singer. Nice).

Also, as you might have guessed (why else would I put it up??) it's another good, no wait, great example of:

"Few chords yet super-song"
How patterns can completely change up a chord progression (in other words: how to play a completely different thing with the exact same chords)

This week is sort of a 'primer', as I decided to try something new: split up the tutorial.

This week our good friend and super-talented singer-songwriter Tom Odell shows us exactly what can be accomplished on the piano, using chord- and pattern-knowlegde. He truly is another perfect example of somebody that really knows how to put chords and patterns to good use in his music. Both for creating and performing his beautiful songs. ... Read more

Cool trick to find ANY major and minor chord.

Here's a very neat trick to find ANY major and minor chord, extracted and compressed from some of Hack the Piano’s new content.

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John Newman - Love me again

Look, or actually listen, to what an upbeat pattern can do to a very simple, four-chord progression.

Absolutely stunningly danceable tune that's on it's way of conquering the charts.

Pricelessly beautiful music and .. yes.. you've guessed it: involving and revolving around Pop-Piano at it's best.

Since this week, the new All Major and Minor SCALES / KEYS Cheat Sheet was released and is now up for sale, I decided to give away a few by creating a very applicable contest:

Want to win? Here's how:

She's sad.

Guess we should be glad for that... else this song would have never been born, right?

A sweaty, sexy, beast of a beat.

The minimalist approach that we've seen entering the charts many times before is obviously working it's magic for this current monster-hit as well again.

Minimal also implies a not-too-hard to play piano part (which, as I also mention in the end of the video is actually played on a wonderful Rhodes piano).

Yes people, I've gone mad, bad and sadly very, very commercial on this one.

The thing is, I got such a lot of requests to make a lesson for this song, that, when realising it's actually quite a cool tune to learn for both beginners and 'über-pop'-lovers alike ON TOP OF the fact that it demonstrates what wonders a production can do to a relatively simple a piano part (i.e. turn it into something like this).. I decided to give in to your wish.

Now this one is funky.

I think this lesson demonstrates perfectly, how using and adding different patterns can totally transform a piano-part.

First, using and learning the original piano part from this track (that what the actual piano plays on the record), we'll get to know the chords and how to lay 'em down nicely to provide a beautiful harmony-carpet.

Then, in the second half of the video, I'll show you the 'funky' version. That what is played by one of the Electric-Piano's on the record.

Two songs for the price of one! 😀

An all time favourite of mine. In both versions I might add.

I fell in love with this song as a teenager when I first heard it in 2pac's hip-hop version. What a beat. What a groove. What a sweet, sweet Rhodes.

The Bobby Caldwell version, another absolute classic, currently has a steady place in my very own cover-repertoire.

In this lesson I'll show you both versions.

For those of you that are progressing nicely with the course and / or chord- and pattern-knowledge: here's a nice challenge for ya!

Another beautiful 'advanced' piano song.

Another brilliant guitar song by an absolutely brilliant musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist.

I thought that translating this awesome groove, nice chords and patterns to another home-brewn piano version would be more then welcome for the large majority of you.

This song is absolutely beautiful. It’s also very, very suitable for exemplifying how to awesomely use chords and patterns to create / play a piano part. I hope that -if you don’t already know him- it’ll also introduce you to the great Matt Corby. Those of you that have ‘liked’ and are following the Facebook ... Read more

Key=Bbm. Follow-along, insight-broadening video lesson.

Some keys can be quite challenging.

The key of Bbm, I can imagine, is one of such caliber for many of you.

Here's a quick lesson in which we'll be practicing, exploring and truly getting to know this key (scale) together.

As I've mentioned many times before, when playing Pop-Piano, it's very important to know every stone in every corner of the 'playing-ground' you're in.

The key in which the harmony is flowing at a specific moment in musical time IS your playing-ground. It's notes your cornerstones.

If you know the notes in the scale of every musical situation, you could be able strike off something similar as to what I do @ the end of the video.

The video speaks for itself. Easy to follow, skill-building, technique-developing, insight- and knowledge-broadening AND some very valuable exercises to take you by the hand and guide you throughout this challenging scale.

Hi all!

Piano Grooves, patterns, very nice chords. Educational, fun, funky, groovy I just love this song.

A Prince original, made famous (again) by Alicia Keys a while ago.

Have a lot of fun with it!

Any questions, remarks, suggestions, or just plain ‘hi’s’ to spill? Leave a comment below the post!

How come you don’t call me – Prince / Alicia Keys

Hi All!

This week, another short, highly useful, video-lesson.

It’s meant to -once again- show you the might of patterns and actually learning you a (new) pattern, as well as give you a preview of what you can expect in both the current course, as well as the upcoming, brand new, video-based-six-week bootcamp course to learn pop-piano basics.

A note to my current course followers: you might recognise the pattern from this video, but I think the extra explanation given here can help all of you too.

This is yet another great example of what can be accomplished by knowing your chords and combine them with a nice set of basic-pattern combination.

Bruno really pours his heart out in this song, touching the hearts of ladies all over the world. Bastard. 🙂

Wanna do the same? Play the piano like he does! Here's how.

Hi All! What’s up? This week I have another massively popular song for you, requested to be ‘tutorialized’ a zillion times. It’s piano-based, thus hopefully easy to grasp and recognise. It’s chord / pattern based (as is all music) and although it’s not too hard to play, there are quite a few neat examples of ... Read more

Stay – Great example of simple chord + pattern use

Hi All! How’s everybody doing? This week is a very short, very informative and highly educational lesson featuring Rihanna’s current mega-hit Stay. Again Rihanna?! Yes, for those of you who mind: SORRY, but: She’s immensely popular (so this probably means the bigger part of you DOES enjoy her songs and learning them). This song demonstrates ... Read more

V-log: Add flair to your chords and sound like a pro.

Hi All! How’s everybody doing? First of all: Thanks so much for all the kind, sweet, supporting, enthusiastic and positive responses that I received on last weeks, first V-log try! Success. 🙂 Therefore, hereby my second try (taken into account all the feedback I got, hopefully already a little better than the first one, like ... Read more

V-log: Sus 2 and some cool options to use it.

Hi All! Yes, yes, yes, it’s here! The brand-new post / newsletter format! It’s 4-part newnewnewnew: 1. In stead of the long, text-based lessons, there’s now a VIDEO lesson (oh shizzle, you finally get to see my face!) with me explaining some kind of piano-related technique. It will either be a cool pattern, a lick, ... Read more

Travel practice, Method C.

Hi All! This week I've reached a few very special milestones, that I'd like to share with you who made all of this possible: 500 subscribers on the youtube channel! Yaj! :). Thanks to all you tubers! Please keep sharing and liking the video's. This '500-subscriber-milestone' is one that I've had in ... Read more

Travel Practice, Method B.

Hi all! This week I'll continue where I left of last week, showing you the highly effective method B of our three-part travel practice routine. Method B. Seeing sounds. Where does it work: train, bus, subway, tram, airplane or any other form of public transport + everywhere and every time you have to ... Read more

Locked out of heaven – Bruno Mars

Questions? Remarks? Show me how you play this song! Please leave a comment below! I’m also very curious which tutorial you’d like to see next!

Travel Practice, Method A.

Hi All! How's everybody doing? Please, in the comments below this post, let us know what you're working on and how the playing is coming along! This week, I'll be handing you a very handy, time-saving and fun tip for learning even better and faster: Training piano, without a piano. Wha?! What are ... Read more

Letting go. A step-by-step guide on creating YOUR piano-part.

Hi all! What's up? Today I'm going to devote a lesson to a much requested, follow-up tutorial, to the quite popular youtube video that I made just over a month ago and has already reached over 19000 views in this short period! Wow. Thanks to all you viewers :). By the way, my youtube channel ... Read more

Diamonds are forever (as is this skill).

Hey All! What's up? Anything new you're playing you'd like to share? Anything new you'd like to learn? Please tell us all in the comments, or start a topic at the forum and let the whole piano community help you out! (at least, I will :)). Also check out the contest at the bottom of ... Read more

Untitled (How does it feel) - D'Angelo

Hi all! How’s everybody doing? I must say that I’m a little disappointed and also scared, for I received not even one new-years-piano-goal-resolution, in the comments of last weeks post! Although a few of the emails I received from many of you, did contain a few (which I already told you, I cannot post in the comments ... Read more

Goals, beats and beyond.

Hi All! How was your X-mas? Did you manage to surprise any family members, playing ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’ from last weeks lesson? I sure did. Well, ‘surprised’ might be a bit to big of a word, as they know I can play a bit of piano by now ;), but we sang. Oh did we ... Read more

Still Dre. How a simple pattern turned two chords into a classic.

“Still Dre” is just a true classic. One of those very well known, can’t get-out-of-your-head hip-hop beats that is as easy to play as it is catchy. As I say in the video, I put three chord pictures up to make it as clarifying as possible, but actually it’s just Am and Em(sus4) where the ... Read more

Wonderful Christmas Time!

I have to be honest: Christmas songs are -by default- cliché, sweeter then honey and more commercially-loaded then all the christmas-sales they provide with their ofter predictable, inspiration-lacking words and melodies. I love ’em. Most of them not for music’s sake though. Almost any musician is disgusted with them, mainly for the above mentioned ... Read more

Maroon 5 - One more night

Questions? Remarks? Show me how you play this song! Please leave a comment below! I'm also very curious which tutorial you'd like to see next! Begrijp je niet wat hier gebeurt en wil je dat wel graag? Leer zelf spelen, -alles wat er gebeurt op deze community en ... Read more

Adele - Skyfall

Passenger - Let her go (part 1)

The intro of a beautiful tune, all instrumental, featuring a right hand melody part. A nice exercise for playing single notes with the right hand and chords with the left.

All the sheets from the video can be found below the video (right-click and save to save).

For a more in-depth tutorial click here. Questions? Remarks? Show me how you play this song! Please leave a comment below! I’m also very curious which tutorial you’d like to see next!

Maroon 5 - Payphone

Chords vs. single notes and more logics on learning.

Hi All! In this post I'll be talking about an unconventional approach that can help you both better understand music and learn it in a faster and more convenient way, by challenging a 'piano-learning status quo': Using the 'single note'-approach as 'the basics' and first step in learning. Could a 'chords-as-a-first-step'-approach to learning music, only ... Read more

Stevie Wonder – I Wish

Here's how to play Stevie Wonder - I Wish! For a more in-depth lesson on this song click here. Questions? Remarks? Show me how you play this song! Please leave a comment below!

Michael Jackson - Billy Jean

For a -waaaayyyyyy- more in-depth lesson of this song take a look here and here. Questions? Remarks? Show me how you play this song! Please leave a comment below! I'm also very curious which tutorial you'd like to see next! Begrijp je niet wat hier gebeurt en wil je dat ... Read more

Coldplay - The Scientist

Ah, the Scientist. What a song. Inspired so many people to start playing pop-piano. Chris Martin (the lead vocalist and piano player of Coldplay) is somebody that knows his pop-piano. Knows his chords, knows his patterns. Mixes them up, combines them and uses the exact techniques that I am trying so hard to teach ... Read more

Practicing the correct preach. A thought on learning + 'Fragile'.

Hi all! This week I have three very cool things for you: 1. A brand new tutorial for a song of one of my all-time favourites: Sting. Wow. As many of you that know this world-famous masterpiece of a song 'Fragile' might recall, the song is not originally played on piano but on guitar. So ... Read more

Choosing wisely: The right pattern for the right feel – Blackbird.

In this lesson I’ll be talking a little more about translating different instrument parts to the piano, and thus: how you can make your very own piano-part for any song (even those that haven’t got any piano in it) using chords and -especially- choosing your patterns wisely. To make sure (or at least enhance the chance) that ... Read more

Timing is everything 1. Stevie Wonder I Wish.

In the previous few lessons, I told you about the importance of bass notes and what ‘optional’ notes arise by using the bass to define the harmony. In this particular lesson, using the famous keyboard groove of Stevie Wonder I Wish Now, as many of you know, I like to approach the ‘theory’ part of ... Read more

Billie Jean part 2: full song++

Last time we finished by taking a quick look at the first and most important part of the whole song: the bass line. Just like the original, this video starts with this 'one-in-a-million', signature part of the song. As I want to teach you about the importance of bass notes, devoting such a major, two-part lesson ... Read more

Unzipping Billy's Jeans - Creating your own harmony 2.

In the previous lesson I started telling you a bit about harmonizing a melody. A skill you can either use to build your very own, unique piano part for a song, or to easily find out what specific instruments are playing on an original recording, for you to copy those parts to the piano. ... Read more

Play ANY song - The first step in creating your own harmony.

As you’ve probably seen in one or more of my video’s -or any of the many other tutorials found on youtube- not all songs that are explained and played on the piano, are songs that are originally played on (just) a piano. Now, how is it possible to play a song that has no ... Read more

Somebody that I used to know – Gotye

What? Just these three simple chords? Most definitely. This tutorial will give you a perfect example of just how complex you can get, by creating / copying different instrumental parts, cross-flowing over- and into each other, when diving into the options that chords give you when combined with different patterns. Using different inversions, the ... Read more

Acoustic Piano - Upright

The ‘regular’ piano. Although it’s sound, ranging from flanging, drunken and out of tune, cowboy-saloon honkey-tonks to bombastic, heavily-compressed rock-slammers, is far from ‘regular’, but closer to both spectacularly beautiful and extremely recognizable, this instrument is what most people think of when hearing the word ‘piano’. It is one of the most popular instruments in ... Read more

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity (dress up chords!)

Begrijp je niet wat hier gebeurt en wil je dat wel graag? Leer zelf spelen, -alles wat er gebreurt op deze community en de piano echt begrijpen met Piano Couture's Basiscursus Pop Piano.

Using chords to see and simplify note relations.

Hi All! To illustrate this lesson, I'll use the song '9 crimes' which features a piano riff of 2 measures (8, 4th-note beats) that starts at the very beginning of the song, and except for very minor variations on the first chord (which wel’ll see in a sec is Amadd9) continues in exactly the same ... Read more

Damien Rice - 9 Crimes

I advice reading the post 'Using chords to see and simplify note relations' before going ahead and learning this song to help you better understand the structure and learn a wise piano lesson from it. Then try and look at the song and see how difficult you find it after that story, when I ... Read more

Call me maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

Playing the piano like a guitarist 1.

In this post I’ll talk a little about the role and the musical approach of guitar players in pop-music and how we can ‘borrow’ certain techniques from these pop-guitarists and use them to our advantage in tackling pop-music on the piano. Campfires, guitars and a contradiction. All of you have probably witnessed one or ... Read more

Paradise - Coldplay

This version (possibly pretty much the closest you can get to the original) of the mighty song 'Paradise" by Coldplay implies a wide array of different techniques and (theoretic) skills all found in the course. Note that the version of this tutorial is quite advanced, but in this lesson I'll also give you ... Read more

Man, how I’ve always loved this beautiful Stevie Wonder tune Happier Than The Morning Sun. Took me some time, but I finally grew a pair and actually covered it.

A primer, a ballzy improv of a Pop-Piano part and a full piano tutorial that might go deeper than I've ever gone featuring Ed's current mega-hit.

A plethora of holy goodnesses as well a confession that tests the limits of what is acceptable in this post holding a tutorial song that might just take your breath away.

As the title of this track suggests, practicing this monster-hit is indeed an excellent exercise for developing those left-hand bassline skills.

Some serious Pop-Piano riffin’ going on in Sam’s new tune.

It’s been six weeks. Six weeks of silence. The longest period of silence in the history of Piano Couture.

Hi to all you piano-lovers and (aspiring) pop-pianists.

It’s been six weeks.
Six weeks of silence.
The longest period of silence in the history of Piano Couture.