How can you learn to play the piano by ear? How did you learn how to play the piano?

To play the piano by ear, requires a talent you are born with. my son is one of those fortunate people. never had a lesson. some people can take piano lessons, but never grasp how to play the piano.

I suppose you could train your ears with intervals I have done this with guitar, DVD I used before even though piano is a different instrument the notes/theory are the same.

Like if you hit a note than play another its an interval basically what much of music is made up as in melodies.

For example C to C#/Db is a half step or minor 2nd it has certain “sound” or pitch to it.

Chords is another thing you can train your ears as well minor,major,dim,7ths etc….

I think you can do it….It also depends on your goal is this for personal enjoyment or do you plan to take this somewhere?

Piano is a great instrument pick up – I learned the basics when I was really young from a pretty brilliant teacher, which was very lucky… that was the basis for all my musical learning… it taught me to sight read and whatnot.

As far as playing “by ear” this is totally something you can learn, but it requires a few different skills. Like Steve said – you need to be able to hear the intervals. You also need to be able to pick out the key of a song – not all the notes, right away, but the key is important. Once you know this, and you know the notes in each key, then you’re on your way because you can pick out the first note, hear the interval – and even if you can’t quite tell if it’s a half step or a whole step, you should know if it’s the next note in the scale, or two away, etc. By-ear playing takes a lot of practice, but it’s certainly a lot of fun. If you’re looking to do more with it than just fun, then I’d say take a few lessons, even if just so you can read and write musical notation. Finding a private teacher that knows how to play by ear might be useful as I bet they have some exercises to aid in learning that.

I guess it depends on what you mean by learning “by ear.” If you just mean that you don’t want formal lessons, then it’s absolutely doable. Get a book or video or a talented friend to help. No matter how much natural talent you have, you have to learn the basics somewhere along the way to become better. It would be awfully extraordinary to be able to play like Mozart without instruction. You can pick out a song here or there with just a piano and your hands and brain, but you need to learn from somewhere, some of the techniques. Reading music would be one thing that I can’t imagine anyone would know how to do without at least reading in a book what notes are what and what all the symbols and terminology mean.

I tried taking piano lessons once, when I was about 7…the teacher made me sing and I was so frustrated with failing at the whole process, I quit.

youtube ” how to play piano” or how to play one of your favorite songs in piano.

If you don’t have the natural talent to play by ear, chances are you will become much more technically accurate because you are learning the music notation, the timing, the special little code words on all the sheet music. And being that you are following the “script” .. you’re playing will likely be much more correct.

I play by ear which makes songs easier to learn, but probably more imperfect.

You can get one of those teaching pianos where the keys light up or just do it! I play piano after suffering 4 years of lessons but taught myself guitar and play very well by ear. I can’t play piano though by ear if my life depended on it. Frustrates me to no end.

I’ve played several instruments for years. However, to this day I have difficulty “playing by ear”. To some point, it is a learnable skill, improvisation in Jazz has some of the same elements after all. Although some simply have a native talent in it that is simply extraordinary and inimitable by those without it. You will never know if you have this skill or not until you take the time to find out.
Best of luck,
-Dan

I use you tube tutorials, listening to a whole ton of music (=]) and also free sheet music from the internet. And I’m only starting to learn to actually read music because I normally listened and watched people because ‘twas easier, but you can write all the notes in after counting up the stave.
I guess also it’s really important to learn songs that you love, because otherwise it feels like nothing and you give up =P.
And as for learning things directly from listening, I don’t know, I can only do that myself with really simple stuff =]

I am self taught, and I urge you to get lessons.
Self taught players are very limited, and you can usually hear it in their playing.

Honestly, most serious players learn how to read music and they also learn a little music theory to go with it. Some people can pick instruments up with no training, but some people can also multiply three digit numbers in their heads. Learn to read music; don’t handicap yourself later.
-Dan