So a few weeks ago I pulled out my camera tripod, I set it up hovering over my keyboard and with my phone attached to the end, I hit record. I started playing a song, it was Piano Song by Erasure. A song I learned how to play some twenty-plus years ago. A song I taught myself how to play just by listening to the song over and over. A CD player on repeat with my parent’s old upright in the living room of my house growing up. This is something I’ve enjoyed doing ever since I was in grade school to this very day. As the phone recorded while I played through the oh so familiar chords I thought, what if I were to try and teach someone how to play this song? How would I do it? How long would it take to explain? How well do I know the names of all the chords in this song? Do I even play the song correctly? Would people care if it’s not note for note? Would people want to learn how to play this old song from so long ago? Should I post this on YouTube? Aren’t there already a million tutorials all over the Internet already? What difference would one more video really make?
After a couple of takes, hitting record and walking through a simple explanation of the chords for Piano Song, I finally ended up with a take that I thought was decent. Not perfect. But not garbage. I flubbed the chords only once or twice and I didn’t say something completely stupid on that take. I realized it is quite difficult to play piano and talk at the same time (totally different from playing and singing at the same time) especially when the talking breaks up the rhythm and timing of just playing the song beginning to end. And trying to play the piano and speak coherent sentences is no walk in the park either. The main reason it took me so many takes to get just one right. But I was really just playing around at this point. This song would be my “proof of concept” song. I would record it, edit it, add chord descriptions using some form of video editing software (Windows Movie Maker anyone?) and then post it to YouTube and see if I got any bites. This would be the first song, one of many I planned on doing depending if people liked it or not. If it was well received, then maybe I’d do another and another. What if made a video of every song I’ve ever learned how to play? Would people actually watch them? Would people like them? I asked myself all these questions, but ultimately knew there was only one way to find out. I’d have to post it and scariest of all…make it public.
I have to admit though, I am terrified of YouTube. And by that I mean YouTube as a platform for content creators not just for the casual viewer. YouTube is a melting pot for so many different types of people with complex varying interests from all over the world. They get billions of views per day and their market reach is near endless. And the worst part about YouTube is…the comments section. Here you can find the cream of the crop for some of the worst things ever said on the Internet. I just wasn’t interested in playing on that playground. Like the little grade-school boy inside me who liked to play piano instead of sports, the kids here are just too mean. Not to mention the fact that most of the stuff you can find on YouTube showcase people that have spent (what must be the better part of) their entire natural lifetime honing in on a skill that makes them seem almost super human. They have an unnatural ability to outflip, outrun, outplay, outperform, outdive, outrock, out-you-name-it, any talent you actually thought you had. I’m pretty sure there’s a 4-year-old kid that can wipe the floor with my sorry piano-playing skills. Not to mention that one kid who can pick out a Eb-add9-flat5-maj7-11th-over-C# just by hearing the one chord even without any other context (freaking amazing by the way). Makes you pretty much want to crawl back in bed and ask yourself, “What am I doing with my life”? Where comments like, “Kid can do this…I find a Cheeto stuck to my face” are not uncommon. Believe me, I’ve been there, I live there. Not necessarily with the whole Cheeto thing, but as someone who ditched Facebook a decade ago and don’t regret it one bit, I’m definitely not immune to the culture of social comparisons and mentally ranking where I fall in this vast world of talented individuals.
Which brings me back to the piano tutorials. I basically decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. I mean, why not? I’ve got about 100 songs in my back pocket that I’ve played for years that I could record today. And easily hundreds more I plan on figuring out just to grow the channel into hopefully something worthwhile. I don’t admit to being an awesome piano player. And I’m sure I will get comments where people tell me I suck or whatever. But ultimately I just decided, so what? I enjoy playing piano and I really enjoy playing all of the songs I’ve learned how to play. And if I can help even one person learn a great song, a song from a band that we both know and love, then it will be totally worth it to me. And as far as everyone else is concerned, well what can I say, haters gonna hate.
Anyway, the plan is to try and upload at least one video per week so that in one year from now I have 52 reasonably-produced instructional videos showing how to play different songs on the piano. For now my main interest will be to do songs that are originally played on the piano and/or are written for the piano. I don’t like adapting songs played on the guitar or other instruments and converting them into a piano arrangement. While I have done that for a handful of songs, I don’t typically enjoy doing them as much and am never quite happy with the way they turn out. So for now if it’s played on the piano and even better, it is primarily played only on the piano with very little other accompaniment, then that’s my jam. Especially because it’s usually easier for me to pick out subtle nuances in chords and chord variations (like inversions and augmented/diminished chords) if it’s just a solo piano playing without a lot of extra instruments backing it.
So without further adieu, I present the latest in YouTube greatness, Dan’s Piano Tutorials – An instructional video series teaching you how to play all your favorite tunes from the 80’s, 90’s and today. Take a minute to check out my channel which as of this writing has a whopping 5 songs including bands like Erasure, Morrissey, Matt Nathanson, Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay. Click Subscribe to get updates on new videos and be sure to comment on which ones you like best! Also feel free to shoot me suggestions for songs you’d like to see me cover, they can be obscure titles, rare B-sides, deep cuts, or maybe just videos for songs no one has ever done before. I’m always open to a good “figure out this song” challenge. As always, thanks for supporting this blog and I look forward to seeing everyone over on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/user/danaktion/
Sample Playlist of my most recent songs from the Dan Marx Piano Tutorial Channel
