Piano Man is one of Billy Joel’s biggest hits, making it an enjoyable song to learn on harmonica if you understand its rhythms.
In 2005, an unfamiliar wet stranger appeared at the coast of Kent unable to speak and playing beautiful music – hospital staff speculated he may have been an accomplished professional musician.
Keyboard
Billy Joel’s Piano Man is one of his best-loved songs. This semi-autobiographical tale about his experience as a pianist in a bar in L.A. is sure to get audiences singing along; its catchy tune and easy piano arrangement also makes this an easy tune for novice pianists to play! You could add even add some harmonica flair for extra flavor!
Billy Joel is not only an accomplished singer-songwriter and pianist; he is an excellent entertainer as well. Able to mimic accents (especially his own New Yorker twang) he can engage his audiences like no other performer can; making them feel part of the performance and keeping audiences dancing all through his performances! He always manages to keep them enthralled!
Billy Joel began studying piano as a child, with encouragement from his mother that led to him pursuing music as a profession. Soon enough he started writing songs, which led to an early success: his first hit single being “Piano Man” released by Warner Bros. Records in 1973 – marking the beginning of his professional music career.
Since 1967, this musician has been making music. Although he has been producing albums for his fans for 50 years now, he still writes and produces top quality records that capture his unique style of blending rock, pop, and jazz together into one unique sound that has over 33 top 40 hits under his name and five Grammy awards to his credit.
Billy Joel’s music stands out in that it does not require too much technical know-how to understand; yet, practice is required nonetheless. Scales, arpegios, and learning the piano may all need to be practiced regularly as part of Billy’s journey – however his more challenging pieces such as “Angry Young Man” and “Root Beer Rag” present challenges even for experienced musicians.
No matter the level, learning piano can be a challenging but rewarding experience. Luckily, there are numerous resources online available to you that can help get the ball rolling – from video tutorials and step-by-step instructions to private lessons from experienced instructors. But practicing regularly will ultimately be most effective way for you to attain proficiency on this instrument and build up confidence!
Bass
Billy Joel’s piano anthem “Piano Man” has become one of his signature tunes, telling the tale of an amateur pianist playing for free drinks at a bar. Beginner-level musicians will find this song to be both enjoyable and easy to play; simply use your right hand placement, chords and an ear for feeling out this classic waltz and soon enough you will be serenading your friends with it.
Joel was inspired by his personal experiences working at a piano bar in Los Angeles after his first solo album Cold Spring Harbor was met with mixed reviews. Its characters were drawn from real people he encountered during this time. Additionally, its combination of Broadway, singer-songwriter and soft rock styles gave it undeniable charm.
Piano Man stands apart from most of Joel’s songs by not being a ballad; instead it’s an upbeat song celebrating life’s simple pleasures with piano at its center, joined by energetic bass and drum beats; particularly effective is snare drum creating driving rhythm, while bass adds depth and dimension.
Piano Man’s harmony harp solo adds another level to its performance and impresses audiences. Played in C, its key makes learning simple for beginners while its 3/4 time (also known as “waltz time”) harmonica part requires repeated counting to three.
Steve Lungrin is a professional piano teacher and performer who has been teaching piano lessons and performing live concerts for most of his adult life. His lessons are casual yet encouraging; he excels at explaining complex topics simply. You can find him performing live online concerts on Facebook and YouTube every month! For more info visit his website!
Chords
Piano Man by Billy Joel is one of his best-known songs and serves as a nostalgic anthem that chronicles his experiences working at piano bars and the people he met there, along with paying homage to his Steinway pianos he refers to as the women in his life.
Piano Man’s chords are relatively straightforward for beginners to master, though keep in mind that its 3/4 time composition requires you to change chord sequences at various points in the song – using a chord chart can help keep track of these changes and help ensure proper performance of this timeless classic!
This song is an outstanding example of how even simple chord progressions can sound wonderful with a proper strumming pattern. For optimal results, use the bass-string of your guitar to strum each chord; this will bring out its melodic bass line and help your arrangement sound more like the piano version!
Piano Man features various variations of an F chord, played either as a barre chord or open chord. Both versions work equally well, though if you want the closest sound possible to that of piano version use the barre chord instead. Furthermore, experiment with harmonica parts of song by blowing and sucking in to get desired rhythm and tones.
Slash chords can add depth and dimension to your arrangement of Piano Man. These chords, composed by combining major and minor chords, can be used across many types of songs from pop and rock music genres; additionally, slash chords can help create more complex bass lines.
Piano Man’s chords are easy to learn for beginners, though practice will help ensure accurate timing and feel. Listening to recordings of the song while learning its chords will allow you to get a feel of how its composer/performer intended it to be performed.
Lyrics
Piano Man by Billy Joel has become one of his signature songs. Inspired by Joel’s real-life experiences playing piano in bars and the people he met there, Piano Man tells an inspirational tale of someone who loves making others happy by playing his instrument, making everyone around them feel at peace through playing piano – making this an anthem perfect for learning how to play piano!
Piano Man was released as Billy Joel’s breakthrough hit in 1973 and quickly became one of his signature songs. This popular 3/4 time (waltz time) track features an infectiously melodic refrain with catchy rhythm, giving Piano Man an appealing lilting feel and catchy groove reminiscent of its namesake song by Ludwig von Beethoven. When Billy Joel performs it live at his concerts, often people sing along!
To play Piano Man on the piano, it is essential that you first understand both its chords and melodies. Learning its melody should be straightforward – even just your left hand should suffice – while its chords may require additional practice sessions.
Once you’ve mastered the basic chords, use your right hand to add embellishments to the melody with embellishments in your right hand. This is an effective way of personalizing the song by adding flourishes with each chord strummed with left hands while flourishing them with right hands – this also applies when playing Piano Man’s piano riffs between verses which uses chorded intro lick and between verse riffs, both played chording left hands chording intro lick while right hand adds melodic flourishes on basic chords chorded by left hands chorded with left hands while right hand melodic flourishes on basic chords chorded with left hands chorded with both hands, adding individual flair while adding melodic flourishes from right hand playing bass line melodic flourishes of melodic flourishes to basic chord.
Understanding rhythm is key when learning Piano Man; since its composition is in 3/4 time, its melody requires playing it with a waltz beat and counting out loud is recommended to help keep time with its beat. Once you master these fundamentals of playing Piano Man you’ll be ready to start your musical adventure!
Steinway artist Billy Joel will release his new album She’s Got A Way: Love Songs on January 22, featuring some of his enduring classics such as “Piano Man.” Pre-order is currently available and it will be officially released on February 13. Here is the tracklist below: