by Mark Hansen

Created on: March 09, 2009

I recently saw a cat on the internet who walked on the piano keys and played notes and chords. It was interesting and almost melodic. The piano is very forgiving like that. Without any musical knowledge at all, you can also walk your fingers over the keys and make music. If you use your ear and notice sounds you like, you will even start to produce something tuneful and delightful to you. A few years ago I read about a man who suffered a major loss in his life. One day he sat down at a piano and just started playing whatever poured out of his heart and into his hands. He had never had any piano lessons before the event. Why not try this yourself? Go with the flow and follow your feelings and ear.

On a more formal note, after 20 years of teaching the piano, I know of another way to play the piano instantly without even knowing what middle-C is, or where it lies on the piano keyboard. That method uses an invention called a "Piano Chord Ruler" - you can search for it with Google. This has the exact spacings of chords mapped out on it, so that when you place it on the piano, you can instantly see all the main chord types - Major, Minor, Diminished, Augmented. From there you can play the chord shapes with your hands and never need to know about note names or music notation. In this way the Chord Ruler teaches you chords just like guitar lessons do. On a guitar you learn shapes and patterns and never need to know note names or be able to read music unless you specifically want to.

Once you know a few chord patterns on the piano, you can learn to play them with rhythms, in much the same way as guitarists strum their chords. This innovative approach uses left and right hands both together and separately to create musical styles. The simplest rhythm to learn is the ballad. Take some chord patterns and with both hands together count 1, 2, 3, 4 and play a chord on each number you call out. To vary it count again but this time play your right hand chord on each number but only play a single low note with your left hand on the count of 1. There are many ways to vary these rhythms and I suggest you try to invent some of your own rhythms.

Is it possible to play the piano instantly without any formal training? Yes, but very few people are able to do this and be happy with the results. However, it is certain that you can learn to play the piano without knowing notes names like "middle C" and music notation.

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