How to Play Piano by Ear

Whether you’re just beginning to learn piano, or you’ve been playing the instrument for years, learning how to play piano by ear can seem like a lofty goal. However, there’s no reason to think that you’ll have to reach virtuoso-level piano skills before you master playing piano by ear. A more effective approach would be to focus on developing your ear training skills in addition to learning to play the piano, and then apply those skills as you study your instrument. Just like having a great piano teacher will make all the difference in how rapidly your piano-playing skills advance, using a top-notch ear training method or an expert ear training teacher will help you develop your ear training skills more quickly and efficiently.

What does it mean to play piano by ear?

Most piano students start out by learning how to play from sheet music – they read the music, and play the corresponding notes on the keyboard. Playing piano by ear, on the other hand, involves the ability to “hear” the music (coming from a recording of a song, or just your own creativity), understand the notes and chords involved, and then play it on the piano without the aid of written music.

So what does it mean to play the piano by ear? It means that you can play your favorite songs without needing sheet music, or that you can improvise your own music on the fly. It means that you can join a jam session with fellow musicians, and never feel lost without having written music to refer to. In a nutshell, the ability to play piano by ear means that no matter the situation, you can sit down at a keyboard and play just about anything without sheet music – whether it’s from memory, or from the inspiration of the moment.

Why do piano players struggle to play by ear?

Simply put, piano players struggle to play by ear because they’re never taught how to do it. Instead, their training emphasizes playing from sheet music. This is definitely an important skill to learn as a pianist, but it doesn’t contribute to ear training skills. It should be noted that not knowing how to play piano by ear doesn’t mean that you just aren’t cut out for music; It simply means that you haven’t learned this particular set of skills yet. Regardless, it’s definitely important to know that “playing by ear” is an ability that anyone can develop, no matter their age or current level.

How to learn to play piano by ear

If you want to know how to learn to play piano by ear, the answer is pretty simple: use the best ear training method available. No matter what instrument you happen to be learning, ear training skills can be applied to all of them. You don’t need any particular musical aptitude or level of expertise to develop your ear training skills, which means that anyone can do it (by following an effective ear training approach).

Are you tone deaf?

Unless you have a rare congenital condition that affects your ability to perceive music (known as “amusia”), there’s a 99.99% chance that you aren’t tone deaf. Even if you’ve been told your entire life that you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, you’d probably still make a great candidate for ear training. When most people talk about being “tone deaf”, they’re really just talking about an overall lack of musicality – which can be overcome with the proper ear training.

Do you need perfect pitch to play by ear?

Perfect pitch could be useful if you want to play the piano by ear, but it certainly isn’t necessary. Relative pitch skills are more than adequate, and unlike perfect pitch skills (which can only be developed in early childhood), relative pitch skills can be developed no matter your age or current skill level. That being said, it’s crucial to use an effective ear training method; most of the ear training approaches out there have serious flaws that undermine their effectiveness, meaning you’d have a much harder time learning relative pitch skills. Struggling with a total lack of progress due to following an ineffective ear training method is much more common than you might think. In the next section, we’ll discuss some of the consequences of this lack of results.

The main mistakes when playing the piano by ear

If you want to know how to learn to play piano by ear, you’ll have to follow an ear training method that’s right for your specific situation. Many ear training students start with the wrong approach because they simply don’t know any better, resulting in a lack of progress, frustration, and (in many cases) giving up entirely. This is why it’s so important to avoid these common mistakes; it’s all too easy to assume that you’re the problem, and stop trying to develop ear training skills. If you start off on the right foot, however, you’ll have a much better chance of achieving your ear training goals. 

Here are the 2 most common ineffective ear training approaches used by musicians (especially beginners):

• Adopting a trial-and-error approach – On the surface, a trial-and-error approach seems like an unstructured version of basic ear training. It involves hearing a note or chord, and then attempting to replicate what you heard on your instrument. Basically, you play random notes or chords until you stumble upon the right one. Unfortunately, all you’re really doing is learning basic pitch matching skills at best, not developing ear training skills. This approach typically takes several attempts before each note/chord is played correctly, which is a slow and painful strategy that won’t actually advance your ear training skills.

  Another issue with the trial-and-error approach is that it forces you to rely on your instrument, rather than developing your inner sense of musicality. It’s a self-limiting practice method that may seem helpful at first, but isn’t actually capable of producing meaningful results - and won’t allow you to build a strong and reliable musical ear.

• Using an interval-based approach – The interval method teaches students to identify intervals by ear, but there’s a major problem with this approach: it doesn’t acknowledge that each note, interval, or chord will produce a different sensation, depending on where it lies within its harmonic context. Playing C and E (a major third) will sound one way in the key of C, and a totally different way in the key of A, G, or any other key. The interval is the same, and even the notes are the same, but they can sound very stable in one situation (i.e. in the key of C major), and very unstable in another situation (i.e. in the key of F major). The interval method ignores this, so it fails to teach ear training students the “language” of music. It focuses exclusively on atonal exercises, which are often overly complicated, and have little to no practical application in the real world (since real music is tonal, not atonal).

  There are many scientific studies that shed light on the fact that the interval method is far from being a good approach to ear training (especially for beginner and intermediate level students). You can check out an overview of those scientific studies here.

  Just like the trial-and-error approach, an interval-based approach often leads to the student giving up out of frustration, and possibly even blaming themselves rather than the shortcomings of a faulty ear training method. We've seen this happening to hundreds (if not thousands) of students!

Where to start – which ear training method is right for you?

How do you play piano by ear? By both learning how to play the piano, and working on your ear training skills in parallel. As mentioned above, though, you should be just as choosy (if not more) when selecting an ear training method as you are when finding a piano teacher.

A quick online search will give you countless ear training courses or apps to choose from, but unfortunately, most of them will follow an interval-based approach. If you want solid results, you should avoid any ear training method that uses the interval method, for the following reasons:

• It puts too much focus on atonal interval exercises, which have little relevance to music in real life. Great musicians almost never think of intervals when playing by ear, and there’s no reason for you to do it as a student either.

• Interval exercises often aren’t matched to the student’s skill level, resulting in beginner-level students having to struggle through advanced exercises without getting any results out of them.

• Our human brain subconsciously perceives notes, chords, etc. as sounding very different depending on the harmonic context, or tonality (musical key) in which they’re played. However, the interval method doesn’t acknowledge that each interval would have a totally different “sonic sensation” depending on what key it’s played in.

In contrast to the interval method, a tonal approach to ear training encourages a much more natural way of developing ear training skills. (It should be noted that this is different from solfege, which is just a nomenclature system, not an ear training method).

If you chose a top-rated ear training method that follows a tonal approach, the benefits could include:

• Step-by-step exercises and courses, which are appropriate to the skill level of each student. The student’s initial level is thoroughly assessed, and a customized program is assigned.

• Training that’s provided by actual people, having real expertise in helping hundreds (or even thousands) of musicians in developing these skills, and including personalized feedback - something you can’t get from ear training software or apps.

• Much more effective learning due to a science-based approach to ear training.

• A proven track record of success with students of every age, initial skill level, musical background, etc.

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, just keep reading – you’ll find more helpful information below.

Piano ear training process – what to focus on

Ear training is something that can be done whether you’re learning an instrument, taking voice lessons, or just developing your musicality in general. This being the case, ear training for piano will look pretty similar to ear training for guitar, violin, voice, or anything else – the focus is on the ear training itself (which is a mental skill), rather than how it applies to the instrument. Once you have good ear training skills, it’s easy to apply them to every instrument.

Exercises to play piano by ear

If you want to start developing some easy but useful ear training skills, you could benefit from practicing these exercises. They follow a tonal approach, and also help build a connection between your mind and the keyboard.

1. Start by picturing the pattern of a major scale on the keyboard, then play just the tonic note. Next, sing the ascending and descending major scale aloud. Lastly, check to see if you sang the scale accurately by playing it on the keyboard.

2. For a more challenging ear training exercise, start with the first few steps of the previous one: picture the pattern of the scale, play its tonic note, then sing the scale aloud. After that, try to sing degrees of the scale at random, and then use the keyboard to confirm whether or not you were singing the degree you thought you were. This should be done as intentionally and accurately as possible; you should be able to imagine the correct sound for each specific scale degree, and then sing it out loud. It’s important to have a certain level of discipline, and to make sure that you’re only using your instrument to confirm that you sang the correct note. If, on the contrary, you play the scale degree on your instrument before you sing it, you accidentally slip into using the trial-and-error approach. It's important to clarify that this exercise might sound easier than it actually is; If you have a hard time singing scale degrees at random, it's perfectly fine, 90% of ear training students start at this level. Keep reading if you want to know how you can go from there to being proficient at this exercise and progress toward accomplishing much more advanced ear training tasks.

Piano ear training tips

Many people have a lot of questions when they first start developing their ear training skills as piano students. They might want to know how to practice piano ear training exercises, or they could wonder “why do piano players struggle to play by ear so often?”. In most cases, though, their questions can be answered by following these basic tips:

• Focus on ear training exercises that target your weaknesses, not your strengths. For instance, if chord progression recognition comes naturally to you, but recognizing melodies is a bit more difficult to grasp, you should spend more time practicing your melodic recognition skills.

• Really investigate and understand how ear training skills develop from a scientific point of view, so you can avoid practicing ineffective exercises. Keep reading if you want to know how we can help you with that for free.

• Practice ear training exercises that match your current skill level. They should still challenge you, but not to the point where you consider throwing in the towel out of frustration.

• Be consistent with both piano lessons and ear training courses. Regular practice is key, especially if you want to achieve an advanced level of ear training for piano.

How long does it take to play piano by ear?

There’s no precise answer to this question, since there are simply too many variables. In order to know how long it would take to learn to play the piano by ear, you’d have to know the student’s initial skill level, how much time they spent practicing each day, how effective their chosen ear training method was, etc. However, students of the Use Your Ear method take an average of around two years to go from a beginner to an advanced level.

The most effective ear training method for piano players

If you want to master ear training for piano as efficiently as possible, the first step is to choose an ear training method with the right characteristics. It should be science-based, follow a tonal approach, and have a proven track record with students of all musical backgrounds. It should also ideally have multiple options for you to start with. For example, Use Your Ear offers a complete step-by-step, science-based ear training video course that is going to take anyone from zero to advanced ear training skills; a free online ear training workshop that will help you get started with tailored exercises from our science-based, step-by-step ear training method for FREE; and lastly individual online lessons, for those of you that want to get reliable and highly personalized guidance from an expert ear training teacher, qualified in teaching using the Use Your Ear method.

Conclusion

Learning how to play piano by ear is an extremely valuable skill (essential to most musicians), and it’s absolutely accessible to anyone, contrary to what many people might think. You may wonder how many people can play piano by ear; estimates vary wildly, but they’re definitely a lot smaller than the number of people who could play piano by ear after following a proper ear training method. If your goal is to learn how to play piano by ear, just remember that you don’t need any natural musical aptitude or skills; what’s most important is consistency, dedication, and choosing a science-based, step-by-step ear training method.