What fun song can someone who doesn't play piano learn in 3 hours?

January 31, 2022 9:03 PM

I've been learning piano the right way and intend to keep doing so. But, the music I can actually play is incredibly boring. What's a fun, impressive, show-off piece that someone who doesn't actually know what they're doing can master in an afternoon? I mostly want to remind myself that there's a reason I'm learning this instrument, but impressing guests whenever I eventually invite people over would be fun. Classical, jazz, or contemporary orchestral stuff with a strong melody would be ideal, but I'm open to other things.

I'm a reasonably competent amateur musician on other instruments. I can sight read in two clefs on quite a few one-note-at-a-time instruments and noodle around 12 bar blues. Rhythm isn't a challenge. But, I don't know the names of most chords and trying to play three notes at a time is still incredibly frustrating and slow.

Lang Lang's "Piano Book" sounded great. The piano song from Amelie is perfect and I'm now pretty good at it, with a few fewer flourishes than in the recording. Everything else seems either too hard and or too boring. Most of the piano music I love (e.g., Fats Waller) is way beyond my abilities.

posted by eotvos to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

I had fun figuring out 'Fever' by Peggy Lee on the piano by ear when I was a kid, and you sound way more musical than I ever was. Here's a basic tutorial and a more elaborate one. My version was even simpler than the basic version; there's really just a couple of key notes for the melody and you can fudge the rest.
posted by happyfrog at 12:52 AM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]

If you want really quite easy pieces to read through, then this book has a selection of classical pieces that would be appropriate for someone who had gotten beyond the complete beginner stage. There are follow up volumes that get progressively more difficult.

There's also the 'making the grade' series which has classical and pop version (eg pop grade 2). These tend to be simplified classics. I have the grade 3 and 4 classical books and love them.

The grades here refer to the British ABRSM/Trinity system. As a comparator, the easiest pieces in Lang Lang's piano book are apparently about grade 2 in standard, whilst the most difficult are about grade 8. I would say that 'real' piano music is within the average players grasp when they are at about grade 6 or so - before that you're looking at easy pieces or easier arrangements.
posted by plonkee at 1:56 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

And, I've made the assumption that you are interested in learning pieces from sheet music. Learning by ear is also an equally valid way of doing things, but not one I'm very good at.

Also, if it's helpful, a reasonably competent amateur musician starting from scratch on the piano who did a lot of practice (say 1-2 hours per day most days) would probably be able to play Fats Waller after about 3 years. Individual progress can vary a lot, particularly for 2nd and subsequent instruments.
posted by plonkee at 3:03 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

How about the clavinet part from Stevie Wonder's Superstition? It's built around the Eb minor pentatonic scale, so it's nearly all on the black keys, and the main riff is all adjacent notes which sit nicely under your right hand.
posted by offog at 4:26 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

My son played Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag far earlier in his piano education than I would have expected.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:10 AM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]

Try a song with just three chords like Rock and Roll by zepp and play along to the song.

For other songs, you can use a chord chart to figure out the notes in a chord.

Sounds like you’re doing great :)
posted by gt2 at 6:33 AM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

Check out Martha Mier and her several books

(For Superstition, various mini lessons exist)
posted by BWA at 8:13 AM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I liked some of these Faber jazz & blues books.

If you have more specific songs in mind that could be fun, like a pop hit or theme tune (Phantom of the Opera for instance?), you could search for easy books. Or try a 30-day trial of MuseScore and browse simple arrangements by community members - you can preview the sheet music and hear what it sounds like with the piano player tool. Fats Waller for example.

Perhaps boring, but Pachelbel's Canon in D, Rêverie by Debussy, some Bach like minuets or Well-Tempered Clavier, maybe some Erik Satie might not have too many complicated chords for you?
posted by eyeball at 9:58 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm only about halfway through learning it but Gymnopedia 1 by Satie is pretty easy, and it sounds good slow so if you take a while to find the chords with your fingers you can just act like you're playing it "with feeling".

If you're not sick of it "Fur Elise" is pretty easy.

Things that aren't piano songs are great showpieces, I used to play a piano version of "Love Cats" by The Cure and it's very easy and not something people have typically heard before.

"Love Song" by Sara Bareilles.

Mad World by Gary Jules.

The Marble Machine Song.
posted by mmoncur at 5:45 AM on February 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, all. These are great!

I'm very, very slowly working my way through them. (More slowly than I'd like, not because they're bad, but because I'm bad at spending time at the piano.) I appreciate all the answers very much. (I'll add some best answers eventually.)
posted by eotvos at 2:37 PM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]