Burn - Ellie Goulding.

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?

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Have a little faith in me - John Hiatt.

Pop-Piano at it's finest.ย 

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.

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Timber - Pitbull ft. Ke$ha

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).

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

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What now - Rihanna.

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 hasย 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.

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Counting Stars - OneRepublic

'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.ย 

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Cups โ€“ Anna Kendrick. Intertwined ukulele's and the piano part.

Letโ€™s keep it real..

..that โ€˜cup-beatโ€™ 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 multipleย ukuleleโ€™s (โ€œwhat the heck is that?โ€ you ask? A tiny guitar.) by showing a cool pattern over the ruling harmony at that moment in the song: the extension-chord C6add9.

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bare essential keys to harmony

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