Enjoy what you play and be patient

People often ask me how I can play the piano the way that I do. I never need to use sheet music and can sit down at any piano and rattle off many different styles from Boogie Woogie to Beatles Songs to Ragtime.

 My answer is always the same; I did not decide to start playing the piano last week. It is something that I have been working at for over 20 years, and still have a long way to go. The main thing is to enjoy what you are playing, so that practicing is not a chore, its something that you want to do and will make time for.  

A lot of the music I play has taken a lot of time and practice, especially in learning the ‘bluesy New Orleans’ style that I love so much. I have spent many hours listening to all my heroes such as James Booker, Dr John, Jools Holland, and Billy Preston. The list could go on forever!

While listening to these people playing, I work out what it is they are playing and try my best to recreate it. This can take many, many long hours of practising the same patterns and riffs over and over again until its become second nature to play them.

Once I have it under my hand comfortably I can start to play around with it and bring my own interpretation into the mix.

The last thing I tell them, is don’t be limited by rules! The rules are, there are no rules, if it sounds good, then it is good! During my time learning the piano I have never had any training and yet people are genuinely surprised when I tell them that I taught myself how to play the way I do.

The key is to make learning the piano enjoyable, to be patient and persistent, and you will be a natural before you know it!