How To Really Play The Piano - Video Index and Resources

Below is a full index of videos relevant to my book, How To Really Play The Piano. All the videos are hosted on YouTube and completely free to watch - so if you’re wondering whether to buy the book, why not check out some of the videos first? The blues improvisation and introduction to comping series should give you a flavour of the style!

The list below is divided into three sections: first, the video tutorials specific to each part of the book; second, some bonus videos that build on the material in the book and offer extra examples; and third, links to videos of some of the performances I reference in the book.

Videos marked with an asterisk (*) were created before the book was written, and don’t contain specific page refs.

Visiting from Piano World?
Welcome! This page has had a ton of traffic from Piano World since Starr Keys very kindly recommended it in a recent thread.

The listing below is actually designed for buyers of my book. If you’re a PWer, probably the best place to check out my full range of videos is my YouTube channel.

On the subject of my book, How To Really Play The Piano - why not check it out if you have a moment?

Main tutorials

Intro: Getting started and some thoughts about practice

Part 1: Really basic harmony 1
Part 1: Really basic harmony 2
Part 1: Really basic harmony 3
Part 1: Understanding the dominant seventh
Part 1: Chord resolution 1: dominant, subdominant and tonic
Part 2: Chord resolution 2: strong and weak resolution
Part 1: How chord progressions work
Part 1: More complex chords 1: 6 and m7
Part 1: More complex chords 2: maj7
Part 1: More complex chords 3: 9, maj9, m9
Part 1: More complex chords 4: sus/sus4
Part 1: More complex chords 5: augmenteds
Part 1: More complex chords 6: diminisheds
Part 1: Understanding bass voicings

Part 2: Blues tutorial 1*
Part 2: Blues tutorial 2*
Part 2: Blues tutorial 3*

(You might also like to check out a more extensive set of blues tutorials at www.bluespiano.tv.)

Part 3: Introduction to comping
Part 3: Comping early pop/jazz, part 1
Part 3: Comping early pop/jazz, part 2
Part 3: Comping more recent pop (parts 1 and 2)

Appendix: Intervals explained

Bonus videos

There are many extra videos on my YouTube channel page. They include extra tutorials, plus answers to questions people send me. Right now there are 85 videos on there, and I add one or two new ones every week. Click here to visit the page.

I also embed quite a few of them on this site. For example…
Jazz piano improvisation exercise in Cm
Blues piano lick in C
Blues and boogie-woogie piano - 10 tips

Performances mentioned in the book

Nerina Pallot - Geek Love This isn’t the best version available, but several of Pallot’s YouTube vids have been removed recently. If you can find it, there’s a superb version called “Geek Love Live” which is just Pallot in a studio with a piano. This version is still pretty good.

Nerina Pallot - I Don’t Want To Go Out. Song starts about three minutes in.

Tori Amos - Winter.

Elton John - Tiny Dancer. The cover by Ben Folds is also worth a look, not least because you get a clearer view of his hands than of Elton’s.

Ben Folds - Landed. Complex and rhythmical - brilliant stuff.

Ben Folds (with Guster) - Not The Same. Listen to the rhythm! I love this song.

Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin’ - not as hard as he makes it look. Check out the glissandi.

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Fat Boy Slim - Praise You. No keyboard shots, but a great example of a piano loop.

REM - Nightswimming. Fantastic semi-looped piano part.

Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me. If you want to see a really incredible version - albeit one that doesn’t use the vamp I describe in this book - check out this one, with some of the most incredible quasi-classical improvisation you’ll ever see. Bravo!