8 Beginner Piano Songs Everyone Should Learn From The Beatles To Coldplay To The Weeknd (2023)

When you start learning a musical instrument, one thing that can put people off is the basic nature of the songs available that will knock you off your feet. Of course, it's logical that the simplest song is the easiest to play, but who wants to learn nursery rhymes when the simple construction of many modern pop songs makes them as easy to play as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"?

When you learn to play pop songs, it's far more likely that you or your kids will be interested in sticking with the keyboard orPiano. With that in mind, we've compiled a list of epic contemporary piano songs for beginners to learn today that will help players focus on a specific skill.

Essential skills every pianist should know

So if you've just unpacked your new oneBeginner keyboardorpiano digital, what should you look for in the songs you learn first? Let's take a look at some of the key attributes that the songs we've selected will help you work on.

Hand/finger independence
Learning how to send different messages from your brain to different hands at the same time is the key to making serious breakthroughs as a keyboard player. So any song that has your left hand playing something different than what your right hand is playing is good practice. It is also important to be able to play separate notes with each finger without mixing them up. The ability to press each finger individually without involving the other fingers in the process is called finger independence. Songs with good melodies to practice at are high on your list when looking for songs to expand your repertoire.

Scale
Everyone knows that scales are an important part of learning the keyboard, but practicing them isn't the most exciting thing in the world. Wouldn't it be so much cooler if you could put scales in the context of playing a real song? Therefore, try to look for songs whose melodies consist of ascending and descending in the major or minor scales to make practicing a little less tedious.

The triad
Triads are the basic three-note chords, made up of a root, a fifth, and a middle minor or major third. Once you've mastered playing triads, you can try a basic version of almost every song in existence. So when you start out finding songs to practice with, it makes sense to look for songs that contain relatively few chords. This way you can play entire songs with just a few chords.

Major/minor chords
Songs with a combination of major and minor chords—which, to be fair, most of them are—will not only teach you how to switch between major and minor chords from a muscle memory perspective, but serve to do so , to illustrate usage Both types can affect the overall sound and mood of a chord progression.

reversals
Inversions are chords where the notes are played in a different order. Root position indicates that the root of the chord is played at the bottom of the stack (the lowest pitch or leftmost of the keyboard), the first inversion places the 3rd at the bottom and the root at the top, and the second inversion places the 5th tonic at the bottom and the third above. Inversions let you string chords together smoothly, so your hands don't have to jump all over the keyboard when playing a progression.

Arpeggien
In arpeggios, the notes of a chord are spaced out and played one at a time, often in a race up and down the keyboard several octaves. Practicing arpeggios is a great way to develop general dexterity and increase familiarity with the notes in a chord and their location in the different octaves of the keyboard.

time and rhythm
When playing pop songs, timing is critical as they are almost always played against a steady beat. So it makes sense to include a rhythmic element in your keyboard practice routine to develop a solid sense of timing. Of course you can use onemetronometo help you keep the beat, but it's a lot more fun to use a programmed drumbeat than oneDAW,electronic batteryor the auto accompaniment section of your keyboard to play along. Both methods allow you to vary the playback speed or tempo; So start slow to make playing with precise timing easier, then speed up as your confidence grows.

When it comes to deciding exactly how to play these songs, arrangement styles will vary based on your playing experience, but there are two main approaches to playing songs on the keyboard. You play low octaves and maybe fifths with your left hand along with a mix of chords and melodic notes with your right hand, or you play chords with your left hand and all melodic notes with your right. When accompanying a singer you will probably gravitate towards the first method, while when playing solo the second technique may be more appropriate.

Of course, the most important thing to consider when choosing a song is that you enjoy playing it. So don't pick a song you don't like just because it has a good mix of minor and major keys. chords, shall we say. After all, it's all about enjoyment!

Piano Songs for Beginners: Complete List and Lessons

1. Imagine - John Lennon

Ideal for: Independence from the fingers of the right hand

One of the easiest classic rock songs to learn on piano. He'll help you solidify your skills in the key of C major and give you some tips for creating melodies from root chords. Not only that, the rhythm of the piano part is a definite back and forth swing between the thumb, third and fifth fingers, great for general hand strength and finger independence, plus there's that little movement that changes the flow of the verse. from chord F to C. Additionally, it's a great song that almost everyone knows, so there's no shortage of people singing along when you play it.

2. Lean on me - Bill Withers

Great For: Moving a fixed form of rope

This one makes the list because of its chord pattern which is very easy to understand. If you start in the key of C major, you can play most of the song by simply making a first inversion of the C major triad (E, G, C) and then moving it back up and down the keyboard , one note of the scale at a time, maintaining the same chord shape throughout. The melody is formed by the top note of each chord, making it a great exercise for moving chords up and down the keyboard in small jumps. This song also serves as an introduction to the basics of diatonic harmony - essentially, the notes of a scale sound good when played together like chords.

3. Clocks - Coldplay

Ideal for: arpeggiated triads

This Coldplay classic is great for practicing arpeggiated triad chords—three-note chords in which the notes are played sequentially rather than all at once—against a steady rock rhythm. Playing the main riff against a backbeat or metronome helps develop a rock-steady sense of time, builds finger strength, and if you're playing in the original key of E flat, you'll also involve a lot of those scary black notes. As a bonus, there are only three main chords throughout the song, so the progression is nice and easy, but it still sounds good.

4. Hello, Delilah - Plain white t-shirts

Ideal for: Fingerpick style guitar imitation

Low key, timelessly cool and romantic, this is an amazing song to learn how to impress a partner. You can go with this one of two ways - you can just focus on the chords and melody, or you can go the slightly more complicated route by trying to replicate the guitar part of the original version with broken chords in the left hand. A simple chord progression, using just three chords most of the time, combined with a beautiful melody that works brilliantly when played solo, makes this a worthy addition to any beginner's repertoire.

5. Let it be - Os Beatles

Great For: Learning the universal 1-5-6-4 progression

Another easy Beatles classic that's a surefire hit - everyone knows it - Let It Be has all the basic classic elements. A simple four chord progression 1-5-6-4, a simple melody made up of just a few notes within a short interval, and an irresistible chant of another in just three chords. One of the most common progressions in the pop world (if you're in the key of C major means 1-5-6-4 C-G-Am-F), do this and you'll literally be able to sing hundreds of others Songs for up. It's like learning 500 songs at once.

6. Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

Great for: Mixing major and minor triads in the left hand

This song uses a repeating progression of the same four chords for each section. In the original key, the chords are Fm - Cm - Eb - Bb. So once you've dialed down the bass progression, it's just a matter of mastering the different right hand melodies that define each section. The chords are a mix of major and minor triads - two of each - great for illustrating how the two qualities of chords can be combined to create an effective and catchy progression. Add this simple, irresistibly catchy lead hook and you have a winner.

7. Believer - Imagine dragons

Ideal for: 12/8 time signature, black notes

Because the drums are an integral part of the melody in the original version of this epic-dramatic number, playing this banger on solo piano takes on a whole new dimension as an acoustic number. The song is actually in 12/8 time and manifests itself in a kind of springy triplet to the main melody, so it's brilliant for escaping that 4/4 brace and introducing the idea of ​​new and different time signatures. It's also good for practicing fast, repeating notes, and in the original key of B flat minor, great for getting your hands on those black notes.

8. All of Me - John Legend

Ideal for: inversions, right fifths

This romantic piano ballad is easy to play thanks to its slow, steady rhythm, melodic repetition, and narrow range of hand movements - the chords can be expressed through inversions, so you only need to slightly adjust the fingers of each hand to achieve chord changes. That iconic intro section alone is good to get used to playing right hand fifths, but play carefully as this song is known to lead to marriage proposals.

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