“Believer” by Imagine Dragons has a unique meter

The meter, or time signature, is pretty unique, so it presented a great opportunity for me to teach something new. First off, depending on how you look at it, this song really can be written/felt in two different ways. Here, for my arrangement for Playground Sessions, I decided to write it in 6/8, but it could also be felt in 4/4. Here is the main difference:

In 4/4, this song would have a TON of triplets. Pretty much in every single measure of the entire song. And arguably, that would have been a more accurate way to write this. But since we’re talking about an intermediate level arrangement, I didn’t want to overwhelm a student before they even played a note by presenting notation that looked near impossible, stocked full of quick triplets.

So in 4/4, the left hand part in the verse would’ve looked very complicated. But in 6/8, the same exact part can look much more simple. In other words, a group of three 8th-note-triplets in 4/4 time signature is exactly the same as a group of 3 regular 8th notes in 6/8 (so long as the tempo changes between the two are accounted for).

SO. To summarize, I felt this was a great lesson on rhythm, specifically duple vs. triple feel. But whichever way you decide to feel it, whether it’s 4/4 or 6/8, the part is awesome and super fun to play

Wide-ranging right hand melody

All rhythmic talk aside, I just love the range of this melody and it offers a fairly challenging lesson in hand position movement. Half way through the verse melody, we jump up an octave, then we jump right back down. Definitely practice that jump out of context and without the left hand for a while before putting the hands together on this one!

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons… I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

Now it’s your turn to play “Believer” by Imagine Dragons

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Believer” by Imagine Dragons on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

It’s an unwritten law that all Katy Perry fans should learn how to play “Firework” by Katy Perry on piano. This tune is a classic pop song with an awesome dynamic build. It has great energy and tempo, and the melody has a slow build ascension that will leave you feeling uplifted! And not just because the lyrics are so positive and inspiring. I love playing this specific arrangement for a few reasons:

1. “Firework” by Katy Perry’s left hand rhythmic pattern

This is a common approach to playing a left hand chord with some driving rhythm: “1 and 2, 3 and 4.:” It’s almost a full 8th note pattern where we are playing on every strong beat and every up beat, but we do not play on the and of 2 or the and of 4. The resulting effect is that beat 2 and beat 4 feel much stronger because we land on them more definitively. One and TWO. Three and FOUR. 

And there’s another thing that makes 2 and 4 feel stronger, and that is the highest note of each chord outline falls on those strong beats. So we’ve covered what is happening rhythmically, but let’s talk a little about what is happening harmonically: We start with the root in the low octave on beats 1 and 3. The following weak beats, or “upbeats” have the 5th of the chord. And what’s next (beats 2 and 4) are the root again but an octave higher. So we have what I call a “1-5-1” pattern, where we outline the root, fifth, and root again of a given chord.

Beats 2 and 4 are typically where the snare drum or hand claps fall in 4/4, especially in pop, rock, and dance music, so this is a great lesson on grooving with a driving rhythm in the left hand.

2. Syncopations in the right hand on top of the left hand pattern

To make matters more complicated (and therefore more challenging and hopefully therefore more rewarding!), while the left hand is playing its steady driving rhythms, the right hand floats higher above with a somewhat syncopated melody. We have a few instances where the melody ties over the bar line. Meanwhile, the left hand plays a strong beat 1 (see measure 2 and 4 of the selection).

We also have instances where the right hand melody is grouped in rhythmic groupings of 3 8th notes, instead of 2 or 4 like the left hand’s part. What I mean by that is, if we look at measure 6, we see a dotted quarter note (which we know gets three 8th notes), then we see an 8th note tied to a quarter note (which is the same as a dotted quarter note: another grouping of three 8th notes). This is not necessarily difficult to play on its own. However, it’s tricky when put on top of a left hand part rhythmically rooted in groupings of 2’s and 4’s. This is a fantastic lesson on rhythm, subdivision, and syncopations!

Now it’s your turn to play “Firework” by Katy Perry

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons. I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Firework”  at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Firework” by Katy Perry on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

Today I’m going to talk about why I think you should learn how to play “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes on piano. “Treat You Better” is a modern pop song in its purest form. The progression and the melody are straightforward and accessible. That is a formula for a winning lesson for beginners! So I chose to feature our rookie level arrangement in my YouTube lesson, and I did so for a few more specific reasons:

1. The melody Is rhythmically approachable

But in terms of hand positions, there is a change towards the end of this passage! But that’s ok, we don’t want things to be too easy. The balance of accessibility and challenge in this melody is perfect for a beginner level player looking for a something to test their skills. The majority of the melody is spent in one hand position, and the change comes only for the final measure. But luckily, we have an entire measure of rest before that new position comes, so we have plenty of time to move and get ready for the new position, which is a few notes higher than where we’ve been. 

2. Step-wise left hand part

The left hand part in the majority of our rookie level arrangements tend to be single notes, and are mostly roots of chords. But that doesn’t mean they are always easy, and it definitely doesn’t always mean the notes are next to each other in the scale. But here we have a super friendly left hand part where each note is one note away from the last. This is also known as “Step-wise motion” and it allows us to quickly get this part down so we can focus on the right hand and putting the hands together. 

Now it’s your turn to play “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons… I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out ‘Treat You Better’ at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel.

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

Arguably one of the best Disney soundtracks of all time! I’m very pleased to have been able to arrange and produce a video lesson on this one. Here are a few reasons why, musically, I love it so much as a learning tool:

1. Beautiful harmonic progression!

The chord progression in this is great, and it moves beautifully with the melody. Halfway through we see a dominant 7th chord that is not usually in this major key (we call this a “borrowed harmony”) and that chord allows us to land in a very satisfying way on the 4 chord. I’m talking about a C7 chord which has a Bb in it, but we’re in the key of C which usually doesn’t have any accidentals. And the C7 chord is the 5 chord in the key of F major right? Well, the reason it feels so good to land on the following F major chord is because we’ve borrowed that key’s 5 chord, and the 5-to-1 progression is always the most satisfying resolution. So even within the key of C, we can temporarily stray over to the key of F just for two chords (C7 to F), then we can come back to the key of C with a G7 chord (which of course is the 5 chord in the key of C). Beautiful!

2. Interesting melodic intervals and gestures

There are a few great moments in this melody where we should really take note of the arc. If we think of this melody as being made up of gestures instead of notes, we can trace many ups and downs that are playful and resemble the natural arc of, say, breathing. In other words, there are some grand sweeps of ascending notes followed by descending notes or drops in wide intervals. Take the first phrase for example, in measures 1 and 2. We fly up with E, G, B, C and then immediately drop down by an interval of a 5th to an F. There are a few other instances like this. When we can as composers, we want to mimic the natural flow of things when we’re trying to create a melody that is beautiful. This one is truly worth studying deeper!

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons… I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’ at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel.

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How To play the “Beauty and the Beast” theme on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

There is no denying how ridiculously fun it is to play “Jump” by Van Halen on piano (it’s also a great song to play on drums). I think we can all agree that “Jump” (especially the main synth riff) has made its way into the hall of fame of “best parts to play on the piano or keyboard.” The great news is that in our intermediate level arrangement make it easier than ever to learn to play “Jump.” Now you can have all the piano rock glory without needing to be an advanced player! Here’s what I love about this song and why I wanted to make a lesson video for it:

1. The syncopations and “hemiolas”

That may be a new term for some of you, so let me explain…

“Hemiola” refers to a rhythmic device in which we see notes that, on their own, suggest a certain time signature or meter that is different than what the actual song is written in. In other words, the melody for this passage in rhythmically grouped most of the time in groups of three 8th notes. That alone, played out of the context of the song, might suggest that we are in a triple meter. However, we know that this song is in a strong 4/4, and that is even more apparent when we have the drums playing behind us in the backing track. So we have a syncopated part that suggests a triple meter, on top of a strong rock beat in duple meter.

Let the rhythmic challenge begin!

Luckily the left hand part isn’t playing 8th notes, and instead holding whole notes. However, if you want to really test your skills, check out the “Advanced” arrangement in the app.

2. Great use of “sus” chords

Even though they go by really quickly, the chords at the end of each of the phrases in this passage are crucial to this song’s identity. When I say “sus,” I’m referring to a suspended resolution. This usually appears in the form of a major chord that has the 4th or 2nd scale degree instead of the 3rd. It is a little more open harmonically because the 3rd of a chord is one of the most defining notes in a chord, and when it is omitted that chord’s definition is a little more ambiguous. And we see two “sus” chords in a row here! It’s a great lesson on sus chords and getting your hand used to the odd shapes that they can sometimes have.

So dive in and play “Jump!” Be sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit “subscribe” so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons – I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

Now it’s your turn to play “Jump” by Van Halen

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Jump” by Van Halen at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. 

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Jump” by Van Halen on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

It might be impossible to watch Jurassic Park and not have the “Jurassic Park Main Theme” by John Williams stuck in your head. I grew up with the original Jurassic Park movie and I would whistle this theme all the time. I have such powerful feelings of nostalgia surrounding the song and movie in general. That’s why it was a blast to tackle this one! But beyond the fond memories, the song itself, with its melody and harmonic progression, is so beautiful and timeless. Here are a few musical reasons I really wanted to bring this one to you guys:

1. Chromatic play in the melody

The melody, and specifically the most iconic moment of the melody (arguably the beginning of the first measure of this passage), simply outlines the tonic, then the leading tone, then back to the tonic. Honestly it doesn’t get more simple than that, but the way in which John Williams played with and harmonized that theme is masterful. Later towards the end of this passage, we see the same idea, but this time outlining the 4 (from Eb down to D and back up… In the key of Eb that would be the tonic, leading tone, tonic). A great study on simple melodies, which can often be the most profound and powerful.

2. Extended cadenza ending

A truly dramatic and cinematic approach to ending a phrase. Williams extends the ending of this passage across 3-4 measures! Here’s a good lesson on patience and taking your time while still playing in time. 

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons… I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

Now it’s your turn to play “Jurassic Park Main Theme”

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Jurassic Park Main Theme” by John Williams at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel.

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Jurassic Park Main Theme” by John Williams on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

Who doesn’t want to learn how to play “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey on piano?!

Yes, I know that it might be considered “overplayed.” But does that mean it’s any less fun to play on piano? Definitely not! Here are a few musical reasons I chose to bring this song arrangement to the masses:

1. Great left hand melody

One of the most iconic and recognizable riff melodies ever! I’d recommend playing this MANY times before adding the right hand — not only because it’s great practice to start with hands separately, but also because it’s a blast to play on repeat.

2. Awesome both-hand syncopation practice

That left hand part is pretty syncopated in the sense that it rarely plays a note on the downbeat of a measure. Instead, we most often see a note from the previous measure tied over the bar line. The fun (and challenging) part is putting the hands together for this section. The right hand is very straightforward 8th notes and always on the downbeat. So, you have a great toggle pattern within the right hand part, but you also have a fun toggle pattern between the hands as you switch to each new measure. 

Playing this classic is purely addicting! I recommend that you try and play the “Don’t Stop Believing” chords and notes on YouTube with me. Afterwards, you should try finishing it out in the Playground Sessions app. When you’re done at the intermediate level, you have to try the Advanced!

Now it’s your turn to play “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Dont Stop Believing” at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. 

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

Why should you learn to play “Clocks” by Coldplay on the piano? Well, because it’s a great song – duh! “Clocks” is the perfect rock piano song and Coldplay is one of the best rock piano bands out there, so I absolutely love teaching students how to play their music. Why?

1. The piano really shines on “Clocks” 

The piano parts in Coldplay’s music are rarely just background filler sounds. Instead, the piano seems to be at the forefront of many of their songs. There are often interludes between sections that feature the vocals of Chris Martin, and in those interludes, we often find a piano taking the lead role. Here, in “Clocks,” that is definitely the case!

2. Complex, but accessible rhythmic pattern

In each of these piano interludes, the right hand melody outlines chord shapes with a specific rhythmic pattern. I call this pattern the ‘3-3-2’ rhythm. This is because the phrases are grouped as such: three 8th notes, three 8th notes, then 2 8th notes. More often than not (especially in pop music), in a measure of 4/4 time signature we’d see the 8th notes grouped in a more symmetrical fashion (2-2-2-2, 4-2-2, etc). But here we have a little bit of a mind trick. It sounds like we are in a triple meter instead of duple because the first two groups are both groups of 3. The final group of 2 rounds us back again to 4/4, completing the group of eight 8th notes instead of continuing in a 3 pattern.

For more on what I  call the “3-3-2” rhythm, check out this YouTube video breaking it down with real song examples, including the “Clocks” riff!

Despite its complex nature, the ‘3-3-2’ rhythm is very easy to internalize. This is because each measure of 3-3-2 groupings outlines the same chord inversion. Start by learning each measure as a block chord so that your hand can get accustomed to the shapes. In other words, play the full Eb major chord in 1st inversion without the 8th note rhythms; then play the whole Bb minor chord in 2nd inversion; play the whole F minor chord in root position. Play along with the video or the accompaniment in the app for a while only using those block chords in whole notes. Then, start to dissect the rhythms and subdivide using the ‘3-3-2’ pattern. Once your hand is very familiar with each shape, I bet you’ll be surprised by how quickly you pick up the rhythms!

3. “Clocks” by Coldplay is the perfect lesson in intermediate inversions

I mentioned above that the right hand melody outlines chord inversions. That’s another reason why this song is a great learning tool for intermediate players! “Clocks” is not in the easiest of key signatures, so each of the chords outlined contains at least one flat. The progression is: Eb, Bbm, Bbm, Fm. If you were to play each of those as root position triads, your hand would be doing a lot of jumping around and moving positions. And that is why inversions are so helpful! Changing the order of the notes in some of the chords within a progression makes it easier to play. The less distance your hand has to travel, the easier it is to physically execute chords!

When we put an Eb major chord in 1st inversions, it is spelled from bottom to top as G, Bb, Eb. But when we put the following chord (Bbm) in 2nd inversion, it is spelled F, Bb, Db. If we analyze the distance from each of the three notes in the first chord to their respective notes in the 2nd chord, we see very minimal movement. G down to F is a whole step; Bb to Bb — no change at all!; Eb down to Db is a whole step. That’s it!

From Bb minor 2nd inversion to F minor root position, we similarly only have to move 2 notes. Note: we don’t always have to invert chords to make a progression easier. Remember, Bb minor 2nd inversion is spelled F, Bb, Db; F minor root position is spelled F, Ab, C. Let’s analyze the distance again: F to F — no change! Bb down to Ab is a whole step; Db down to C is a half step. Again, barely any movement required of the hand to play through this progression when we invert some of the chords.

Now it’s your turn to play “Clocks” by Coldplay

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Clocks” by Coldplay at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. 

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Clocks” by Coldplay on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

I love when hip hop music is melodic and musical. Often, even if the song is great on its own, a rap song will not have many chords or interesting melodies, so it can be difficult to play a good arrangement on the piano.

But this Kanye song, “Love Lockdown” is almost more of an R&B song, with Kanye singing the whole time and with piano chords underneath. So this is a great opportunity to play!

Here are a few other things I love about this arrangement:

Challenging left hand part

We’re not just playing chords here.. we need some rhythm too! So we actually outline the chords with an 8th note toggle pattern which adds difficulty.  We start with C# minor, then an F3minor chord in 2nd inversion, which means we can keep that C# on the bottom as we move from the first chord to the next. After we do the toggle pattern for a while on those chords, we change up the style and play two half notes, before ending with a full arpeggio pattern that spans an octave. It’s a significant left hand workout for intermediate level players!

Now it’s your turn to play “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West 

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West at the Playground Sessions YouTube Channel. 

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Love Lockdown” by Kanye West on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.

Miley’s got a new one, and it sounds much different than her last few! If you ask me that’s a good thing, because this song is fun and melodic. Perfect for an accessible intermediate level arrangement. But it’s not all easy.. The chorus picks things up quite a bit, and that’s why I chose to teach it on YouTube. Here’s how:

Syncopations between hands

The left hand pattern gets fun when the chorus kicks in. Up until this point in the arrangement, we’ve seen block chords, but now at the chorus we see a broken arpeggio pattern. That means we are outlining the chord shapes by playing them one note at a time and with some rhythm. 

So that’s the left hand. But the right hand, even though it’s playing the melody, also has some interesting rhythms to throw in the mix. And those rhythms don’t always match up perfectly with the left hand where our ears want them to. This means we have to really work out the hands together at a very slow tempo to make sure we’re getting the rhythms to match up where they’re actually supposed to!

A great lesson in slowing things down as well as a technical exercise for getting syncopations between the hands to feel comfortable.

So dive in! Make sure to watch the video while you’re at your piano or keyboard so you can play along with me as I guide you through the lesson. And don’t forget to hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other YouTube videos lessons… I’m now doing 2 new videos a week, EVERY WEEK!

Now it’s your turn to play “Malibu” by Miley Cyrus on piano

If you love using your favorite songs to learn the piano, check out ‘MALIBU’ at the Playground Sessions YouTube channel. 

If you like what you see you can download our app to learn the rest of this song with our interactive sheet music.

Subscribe to Playground’s YouTube channel for more song lesson videos.
Download the Playground Sessions piano learning app for full interactive learning.
Thinking about learning piano? Read our complete guide on how to play piano.

The post How to play “Malibu” by Miley Cyrus on piano appeared first on Playground Sessions Blog.