Easy Songs to Play on Piano

Posted on Feb 19, 2012 in Lessons | 3 comments

 
Here at Songs to Play we are all about encouraging people to start playing an instrument. The piano is the most popular choice for a first instrument and I read an amazing statistic a few days ago. In china there are an estimated 80 millions piano students! I think if I were a piano teacher I would move there almost immediately and set up my own specialist school! Unfortunately, I am an average pianist at best, however, fortunately, a friend of mine is a professional pianist and he has helped me to comprise this article. Anyway, here are some selected piece which we have agreed are the ideal starting point to get you playing songs on the piano.

Bach/ Grounod – Ave Maria

This is one of the most famous and recognised pieces in the whole piano repertoire. Notable recordings have been made by all of the masters of the instrument. There is some confusion about who actually wrote this but it has been agreed that it was a later re-working by Grounod of a Bach composition from one hundred years earlier. The arrangement is simple yet captures most of the subtleties of the original version. The piece is quite long so we have just included the opening and main theme in the score below.

Love me Tender – Elvis Presley

OK, maybe this is little bit less “high-brow” than Bach but Elvis definitely has a place in your musical education! Any song that you can play from start to finish when you are just starting out is a massive achievement and hugely enjoyable experience. The sheet music has been transposed into the key of F so there aren’t so many flats or sharps to put you off. The rhythm has also been simplified somewhat so remember to use some artistic expression in your reading of the rhtyhms. There is nothing worse than listening to someone play every note exactly as a metronome would! More recommended Elvis Chords.

 
Take my Breath Away – Berlin

Again, it’ not exactly Shostakovitch but a bit of Berlin can be another great way to start playing easy songs. This classic 80′s anthem has been arranged as a simple piano version and this particular re-working is really nice. Again, it has been rhythmically and harmonically simplified so that its easy to read. Once you have played it through a few times then you can start experimenting with extra notes and a more fluid rhythmic interpretation. As with the Bach piece, the entire score is reasonably long so we have just included the first and most important themes.

We hope that you find these easy songs for piano useful and will come back to visit us soon at Songs to Play. Or, why not check out some of these great Piano Pieces.

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