Ever wanted to sit at a piano, with no sheet music, and just… play? Do you prefer pop music to classical? Are you bored of a song by the time you've learnt it?
You are not alone.
The traditional approach starts with sheet music, scales and simple classical pieces. Reading music is an incredible skill, but if your goal is to be able to hear a song, then sit down and play a version of it, there is a much more efficient way to get there…
The Pop Piano approach
Pop songs revolve around chord progressions. If you listen carefully, you will notice similar patterns used across a huge proportion of songs. Focussing on chords is therefore crucial to understanding and playing pop songs. Think of it like the "guitar" approach to piano.
In its simplest form, pop piano involves playing the bass notes with the left hand, and chords with the right hand, with a singer handling the melody. To make the sound fuller, the left hand can "roam" and help with the chords or arpeggios, and the right hand can also play parts of the melody and ad-lib.
Chord inversions are also hugely important for a pleasing sound. That means switching the notes of the chord around with the right-hand, while keeping the root note in the bass with the left hand, to avoid hopping around in pitch when changing chords.
How can I learn this method?
This is where things get murkier. The classical route has an incredibly structured path (part of what makes it so appealing), but learning pop piano can feel like you're going "off grid". There is a lot of brilliant content out there, most of it focussed on instructions for the method itself, and tutorials for specific songs. This makes it easy to fall into a big trap: spending a long time memorising specific chords or notes for one song.
This is a trap because although it helps you play that one song (great), it doesn't actually help you understand the song, and it doesn't train your ear. This means that progress is frustratingly slow, and if you don't play the song for a couple of weeks, you will lose it. Sound familiar?
So what does work? After many years of trial-and-error, we believe that you need an approach that combines:
Figuring out songs by ear
This is why you're doing it in the first place, and it's fun and rewarding. We prefer “parts of” songs as you get more variety without the grind of perfecting one thing.
Guided improvisation
This one is counterintuitive and can sound a little scary. We usually think of improv as something only experienced musicians do. Actually, improvising is easy for beginners when it's guided in the right way, and it's not just about training your fingers — it trains your ears too. Through playing around, you internalise the role of particular notes and chords within a scale, and can then recognise them when listening.
Thinking in numbers, not letters
Once you understand that the chord progression for a song is 1–6–4–5, you understand that song on a much deeper level than memorising “G–Em–C–D”. This makes it far easier to remember, and you can play it in any key that you're familiar with.
As well as the above, you need consistency! That means forming a habit of playing a little each day. But modern life is busy — you don't always have the time and energy to search through YouTube for a song tutorial, or watch a long video. Pop Piano Freedom is designed to be your companion on busy days:
Bitesize, fun practice
We believe that building a habit is much more important than practicing for hours at a time — all our sessions are designed to be done in just 5 minutes.
No long videos
We don't want to get in the way of you, your music and your piano! We try to give you just enough help to guide, without becoming yet another distraction.
Once you forgo sheet music, it's easy to get sucked into a YouTube spiral. This app is designed to get you playing pop piano with as little screen time as possible.