Thank you for watching! Solve your challenges and accelerate you progress at the piano - get your Free Resources Pack: www.contemporaryschoolofpiano.com/contact/
Wow! Thank you, Tom I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I never imagined that this would be possible for me. I am really encouraged with the sound. Thank you. Richard B.
You picked great songs. Billy is not so easy because he uses so many chords, slash chords, seventh chords and different time signatures. I like how you simplified them.
Just wanted to give you kudos for a magnificent lesson. I've played Billy's songs since I was just out of college in '75. I've got a really good, pro-level ear but piano skills are probably high intermediate. "Always a Woman" always bedeviled me; I could never figure out what the arpeggiations were, and I'd given up hope of ever finding an accurate score. I finally concluded that it had to be simpler than I was trying to make it. Today, I found your video. Watched the "Always a Woman" section for an hour, taking notes. Sat down at my baby grand and played it accurately (at about 4 bpm slower tempo) within half an hour, thanks to your breakdown of how to approach it. Thanks so much!
OMG I didn’t think anything could get close to your iconic 3 Elton John songs but this looks just as magical and your methods are just inspiring me everyday Tom, so thank you so much for this. I have been learning nine months and after your EJ tutorial I just adore the flat chord scales especially E flat and all its possibilities with slash chords and suspended notes. Thank you again, you’re a true inspiration
Watched your 3 Elton John songs video a while back and was impressed by how well you presented it for beginners like me. I've been at it a little over 3 years but enjoyed those EJ tips and tricks. Now you've got me again with Billy Joel songs! Going for the Resources Pack now.
Brilliant lesson! I was playing Piano Man within 10 minutes! You have a dual gift . Playing AND teaching. I really have to dedicate time to learning 6th and 7th chords.
Thanks Tom, you have a great personality for teaching. I liked the presentation with you in the top left corner, it makes following the lesson much easier. Keep up the good work 👍
I loved loved loved this tutorial! Can you please do more like it? I also like how it’s produced with the camera on the hands and the chords transposed on the bottom of the screen. Please strongly consider doing this more going forward. With the Elton video - I kept trying to zoom in on the corner video of your hands and it wouldn’t work. I’m self taught and this type of instruction goes a long way in helping me play better. Thanks so much to you and your team for putting these videos together. I’m sure a lot of thought and hard work goes into them and it’s truly appreciated!
Glorius changes with a big G yes - really loved this and would love to know more about the chord changes - excellent session as usual Tom and inspiring to us all. Not a bad vocal either!
Good shit chap.....The piano had gotten me laid more than once when I was in my 20's. Its like a magnet for woman. Back when I wasn't a broken by a female man and was attracted to women still music was a great way to open things up. hahaha
That was a wonderful choice, explanation and execution in such a short concise 20 min piece. Three more please in part 2 would be even greater...lullaby, ny state of mind, honesty or. The only improvement from a tutorial perspective is to have software visualisation on screen, like so many other great yt channel creators have, why? because you cant see fingering or notes clearly enough when hands get in way. That's not a criticism btw Tom, you are in the top quartile of enjoyable expert tutors on the platform, such 'embellishments' may take you to the top decile or infiniti & beyond...but that's another story if there's no curvature😊
Great suggested tunes for a follow-up tutorial. New York and Lullabye are two absolute favourites of mine. You made a very good point about software Midi visualisation. Thanks for your comment here, its a topic I've been wanting to talk about on this channel. As a music education specialist, I'm concerned from the evidence I've seen that students of Piano have become over reliant on these widgets in a way where it doesn't improve their playing. Playing piano is a touch base activity/motion, and I'm worried these hyper visualized demonstrations obstruct a deeper understanding of exploring and finding chord shapes. At the moment our production is more focused on sitting on a real piano (some of our older videos use the midi visualisations) and we might return to making a few for those who just like watching our videos on TH-cam. To actual students of Piano, I don't think it's a great approach unless potentially a student is extremely visual in their learning (which in that case score reading would be a better approach). I hope that makes sense, we've put a lot of thought into these educational values as we are more so an international piano school rather than "TH-camrs." So, our methods are based on what we've done with real students over many decades rather than more recent online trends.
The problem with scores and fingerings for any pop music, is you never get the chance to learn the chords. And without the chords, you have no context to play these songs successfully, no method book for beginners will bring you to the chords you need to play this music. We have some tutorials on chords for beginners. I strongly suggest you check them out. I'd start with this one; th-cam.com/video/-7vypWO-7lA/w-d-xo.html
I can see you on our system Paul, so it would have been sent out to you on January 30th when you initially contacted us. Can you check your email inbox and check to see if it didn't get moved to spam. The email address is tom@contemporaryschoolofpiano.com - I suggest searching for it in your inbox. It's on the very first email correspondence. I hope this helps.
@@paulwhite5601 it's a pleasure! glad it's all received now, Paul. If anyone else doesn't have any luck receiving it, please let us know at admin@contemporaryschoolofpiano.com - email reliability is not always great with the numerous compliance filters between different accounts.
I know you are trying to simplify it but….. those chords are just wrong for the most part sounds terrible….. and you’re throwing in the little flourish is beautifully, but you’re playing the wrong chords!
I'm probably wasting my time right now (I could be using it to make more helpful tutorials for instance) but I write this comment for any serious piano student trying to play these songs as a beginner/intermediate. This advice I"m going to give you will save you loads of time and heartache. There will be instances where a die-hard purist will get upset by the slightest variation to the original recording in a pop song, for example when a major 7th might be removed from a chord for the sake of a less experienced pianist (or a pianist with different harmonic tastes). The name of this video is "3 Billy Joel Pieces for Beginners". Now to say the chords have been simplified is correct but the simplifications are very limited, and mostly when it does occur on only a few occasions the function of the chord is still exactly the same. For instance, an Abmaj7 chord is still built on the same triad as an Ab chord, so the song still functions as it was originally written. And also to add to that, despite the occasional simplification, Just the Way You Are is actually corrected in this video as opposed to what is on the official sheet music of this piece (which is not what Billy Joel plays). One final comment, playing pop music, is almost an impossible and endlessly frustrating endeavor for the "obsessed purist" - like this poor gentleman here. Even the pop stars they worship, always play their own music completely differently, I saw Billy Joel at Maddison Sq Gardens recently, he is now taking all of his songs down a few keys with reharmonizations everywhere. A pop song is a recording in time, the guitars or string backing will capture other notes not inside the piano chords, the reality is you will never play the exact recording on just a piano, because you are not a band. That's why this obsessive purism, always fails in this type of music. If this video is too easy, I suggest checking out our latest seminar on Beatles Yesterday where we go into harder arrangements of popular music for piano
Thank you for watching! Solve your challenges and accelerate you progress at the piano - get your Free Resources Pack:
www.contemporaryschoolofpiano.com/contact/
Honestly, The best tutorial on the planet! 👍
Thankyou for your kind words! Hopefully, I haven't peaked too early...
@@contemporaryschoolofpiano No, you haven't. There is always room for improvement.
Wow! Thank you, Tom I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I never imagined that this would be possible for me. I am really encouraged with the sound. Thank you. Richard B.
Fantastic, keep up the good work!
Just the way you are is one of my favorite songs from 1978! Thank you!❤
It's one of those all time greats.
You picked great songs. Billy is not so easy because he uses so many chords, slash chords, seventh chords and different time signatures. I like how you simplified them.
Yes he uses such great chords!
this guy is the best
Just wanted to give you kudos for a magnificent lesson. I've played Billy's songs since I was just out of college in '75. I've got a really good, pro-level ear but piano skills are probably high intermediate. "Always a Woman" always bedeviled me; I could never figure out what the arpeggiations were, and I'd given up hope of ever finding an accurate score. I finally concluded that it had to be simpler than I was trying to make it.
Today, I found your video. Watched the "Always a Woman" section for an hour, taking notes. Sat down at my baby grand and played it accurately (at about 4 bpm slower tempo) within half an hour, thanks to your breakdown of how to approach it. Thanks so much!
@geoffcoe4276 many thanks, and an honour to be of help. It's such a wonderful tune. I'm delighted to read this.
OMG I didn’t think anything could get close to your iconic 3 Elton John songs but this looks just as magical and your methods are just inspiring me everyday Tom, so thank you so much for this.
I have been learning nine months and after your EJ tutorial I just adore the flat chord scales especially E flat and all its possibilities with slash chords and suspended notes.
Thank you again, you’re a true inspiration
I couldn't really do an Elton one without doing a Billy one!
And thank you for passionate teaching.
Watched your 3 Elton John songs video a while back and was impressed by how well you presented it for beginners like me. I've been at it a little over 3 years but enjoyed those EJ tips and tricks. Now you've got me again with Billy Joel songs! Going for the Resources Pack now.
Have been wanting to learn a Billy song for ages. Tom comes along and makes it so simple👏🏻👏🏻👍
Glad you enjoyed!
Brilliant lesson! I was playing Piano Man within 10 minutes! You have a dual gift . Playing AND teaching. I really have to dedicate time to learning 6th and 7th chords.
Loved this lesson. I didn’t want it to end. Oh man, I didn’t realize Tom could sing so effortlessly 😂
I'ts a social instrument! I love it😍
Спасибо огромное! Обожаю Билли! Шикарный разбор!
I love it, I am practicing a lot ! 😅 thank you !🙏
Excellent Tutorial. Gee when I play your style I feel like a professional. Many thanks.😊😊😊😊😊
Thanks for explaining these tunes.
I just absolutely love this site. It’s like Toms in my room. Class lessons.
Many thanks!
Yet another wonderful tutorial Tom.
Priceless...thanks. been playing just over year, this is just enough to stretch me a bit.
My next 3 songs...
Thank you for beautiful Billy Joel songs and beautiful singing!
Thanks Tom! Great tunes to get teeth into. Nicely broken down
Enjoy!
Your analysis is valuable even when thinking about guitar backing.
More brilliant tuition, Tom. Many thanks.
Thanks Tom, you have a great personality for teaching. I liked the presentation with you in the top left corner, it makes following the lesson much easier. Keep up the good work 👍
Fabuloso - great lessons …thanks a bunch
Best teacher!
I loved loved loved this tutorial! Can you please do more like it? I also like how it’s produced with the camera on the hands and the chords transposed on the bottom of the screen. Please strongly consider doing this more going forward. With the Elton video - I kept trying to zoom in on the corner video of your hands and it wouldn’t work. I’m self taught and this type of instruction goes a long way in helping me play better. Thanks so much to you and your team for putting these videos together. I’m sure a lot of thought and hard work goes into them and it’s truly appreciated!
Many thanks!
Donald, absolutely love the way you explain things, makes so much sense.
That's great to hear!
Fantastic. Thanks a lot.
Glorius changes with a big G yes - really loved this and would love to know more about the chord changes - excellent session as usual Tom and inspiring to us all. Not a bad vocal either!
Thank you so much!
Good stuff
Good lesson . Lovely voice
Excellent lecture, thank you!
You're very welcome!
Love it!! Thank you
Nice job Tom!!👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏻
you have the right idea for the everyman piano player….
fantastic
I'm killing myself laughing! I love the comment at 6:32 "that'll keep you busy.....". You crack me up, Tom!!
Good shit chap.....The piano had gotten me laid more than once when I was in my 20's. Its like a magnet for woman. Back when I wasn't a broken by a female man and was attracted to women still music was a great way to open things up. hahaha
That was a wonderful choice, explanation and execution in such a short concise 20 min piece. Three more please in part 2 would be even greater...lullaby, ny state of mind, honesty or. The only improvement from a tutorial perspective is to have software visualisation on screen, like so many other great yt channel creators have, why? because you cant see fingering or notes clearly enough when hands get in way. That's not a criticism btw Tom, you are in the top quartile of enjoyable expert tutors on the platform, such 'embellishments' may take you to the top decile or infiniti & beyond...but that's another story if there's no curvature😊
Great suggested tunes for a follow-up tutorial. New York and Lullabye are two absolute favourites of mine. You made a very good point about software Midi visualisation. Thanks for your comment here, its a topic I've been wanting to talk about on this channel. As a music education specialist, I'm concerned from the evidence I've seen that students of Piano have become over reliant on these widgets in a way where it doesn't improve their playing. Playing piano is a touch base activity/motion, and I'm worried these hyper visualized demonstrations obstruct a deeper understanding of exploring and finding chord shapes. At the moment our production is more focused on sitting on a real piano (some of our older videos use the midi visualisations) and we might return to making a few for those who just like watching our videos on TH-cam. To actual students of Piano, I don't think it's a great approach unless potentially a student is extremely visual in their learning (which in that case score reading would be a better approach). I hope that makes sense, we've put a lot of thought into these educational values as we are more so an international piano school rather than "TH-camrs." So, our methods are based on what we've done with real students over many decades rather than more recent online trends.
Cool specs!
So wonderful, but I rely more on scores with fingerings - as a total beginner.
The problem with scores and fingerings for any pop music, is you never get the chance to learn the chords. And without the chords, you have no context to play these songs successfully, no method book for beginners will bring you to the chords you need to play this music. We have some tutorials on chords for beginners. I strongly suggest you check them out. I'd start with this one; th-cam.com/video/-7vypWO-7lA/w-d-xo.html
What online piano courses do you have. And is it with video. Jimmy. Do you have the sheet for this lesson.
Would love to find the chord kit/exercise you mentioned at the beginning, but I just don't see it. There's no contact form at the link, for example.
Just contact us via the site and we will send it to you. If you prefer to email us directly,.it's admin@contemporaryschoolofpiano.com
I'd like to give 5 thumbs up...😅
Dude. Billy Joel is the J.S. Bach of pop music. Too brutal for beginners. But very inspiring! 👍
Poderia me mandar alguns vídeos de dedilhados?
Se atendido ou não , obrigado!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have emailed your school about the resource pack but never had a reply. Disappointed as you are a great teacher
I can see you on our system Paul, so it would have been sent out to you on January 30th when you initially contacted us. Can you check your email inbox and check to see if it didn't get moved to spam. The email address is tom@contemporaryschoolofpiano.com - I suggest searching for it in your inbox. It's on the very first email correspondence. I hope this helps.
Having raised issue Tom resent the resource pack . Excellent service thank you .
@@paulwhite5601 it's a pleasure! glad it's all received now, Paul. If anyone else doesn't have any luck receiving it, please let us know at admin@contemporaryschoolofpiano.com - email reliability is not always great with the numerous compliance filters between different accounts.
piano man is doable for me, forget the others i have tiny hands like Trump 🤣
I know you are trying to simplify it but….. those chords are just wrong for the most part sounds terrible….. and you’re throwing in the little flourish is beautifully, but you’re playing the wrong chords!
I'm probably wasting my time right now (I could be using it to make more helpful tutorials for instance) but I write this comment for any serious piano student trying to play these songs as a beginner/intermediate. This advice I"m going to give you will save you loads of time and heartache. There will be instances where a die-hard purist will get upset by the slightest variation to the original recording in a pop song, for example when a major 7th might be removed from a chord for the sake of a less experienced pianist (or a pianist with different harmonic tastes). The name of this video is "3 Billy Joel Pieces for Beginners". Now to say the chords have been simplified is correct but the simplifications are very limited, and mostly when it does occur on only a few occasions the function of the chord is still exactly the same. For instance, an Abmaj7 chord is still built on the same triad as an Ab chord, so the song still functions as it was originally written. And also to add to that, despite the occasional simplification, Just the Way You Are is actually corrected in this video as opposed to what is on the official sheet music of this piece (which is not what Billy Joel plays). One final comment, playing pop music, is almost an impossible and endlessly frustrating endeavor for the "obsessed purist" - like this poor gentleman here. Even the pop stars they worship, always play their own music completely differently, I saw Billy Joel at Maddison Sq Gardens recently, he is now taking all of his songs down a few keys with reharmonizations everywhere. A pop song is a recording in time, the guitars or string backing will capture other notes not inside the piano chords, the reality is you will never play the exact recording on just a piano, because you are not a band. That's why this obsessive purism, always fails in this type of music. If this video is too easy, I suggest checking out our latest seminar on Beatles Yesterday where we go into harder arrangements of popular music for piano
Nice piano playing but you can’t sing
14:45 Just the way you are