Learning the melody is one thing. You can sing along and really “hear” the notes in your head. But learning the left hand chords by ear is daunting.
Well… Unless you know the secret.
See, the big secret is… when people are playing songs by ear, they're not always playing the “right ” chords. But they're playing chords that sound good. And if it sounds good, that's all that matters.
In fact, most musicians who play by ear can't figure out the harmony by ear. They figure it out using music theory, then confirm that it sounds good with their ear.
Trust me, this will save you loads of time learning to play by ear. Once you've figured out a melody to a song, just follow the system in the video below and harmonize it with chords.
Note: this is a lesson taken straight from the Music Theory/Ear Training Mastery courses (right now they're bundled as one!), so I may reference other lessons in those courses.
Key points from the lesson:
1. Figure out the main notes in a section of the melody and use chords with similar notes.
2. Play the melody with the chords together. If one of the chords sounds out of place, try substituting a different chord in.
3. Figure out the key of the piece if you can. This will limit your choices to 6 chords, so it'll be a lot easier to figure out.
4. Your ear is your greatest asset. Bottom line, if it sounds good, it sounds good. Decide for yourself which chords work best.
Exercise on Harmonizing a Melody:
Pick an easy song (Mary Had a Little Lamb, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, etc.) and harmonize it with chords. Watch the lesson video again if you can't remember the steps to follow.
Downloadable PDFs
Quiz on Harmonizing a Melody:
Click here to take the quiz and test your knowledge!
Action Step:
Time to take action! Find a melody and start harmonizing it! Get melodies from wherever. It could be sheet music, YouTube tutorials, or popular songs you know. Then, sit down and mess around with some chords to make it sound cool.
More on Playing By Ear Mastery
If you want more on playing by ear, I designed a complete course that takes you from nothing to full on playing by ear. And right now, it's bundled with the Music Theory Mastery course. You can find out more here.
And if you're still within your first 7 days of [PSH] use this link to get it 50% off!
Well, I suppose that's the end of the [PSH] course.
I've honestly had a blast teaching you throughout this course. I sincerely hope you got a lot out of it. I've spent countless hours recording videos, creating PDFs, tweaking it, testing it, and just trying to make it better and better. And I just really hope you got something useful out of it.
Even if it was just one tip, technique, or strategy. Just one thing that can save you practice time, or give you a cool left hand pattern to use, or even maybe just to motivate you a bit, I really hope it helped you.
If you ever have any piano related questions, or just want to say, “Hi!”, don't hesitate to shoot me an email! zach@bestpianoclass.com
Your friend,
-Zach
It's much more simple than my more complicated way of trying to memorize an entire song. I can't believe I never thought of it! I think your instruction is just the ticket. You're doing a great job of teaching.
-Sandy D. – [PSH] Member #1012