As a both non-native English speaker and a beginner pianist, watching your videos can be very overwhelming to me, haha. Yet as time goes on, as my English and piano skills grew, I came to find out that your videos are so outstanding in that they are so detailed and rich. The only problem is perhaps I need to replay your videos frequently; but once I can grab your points, your lessons provide more depth than most of other channels. Thanks for that.

@BillHilton

3 жыл бұрын

I’m glad to hear you’re finding them useful, Fadhil! The language thing is difficult: I’m well aware that many (perhaps most?) of my viewers don’t speak English as a first language. Because of that, I try to be as clear as I can - but it’s difficult to say everything I want to say in a way that’s completely understandable and sounds completely natural for a non-native speaker. I promise I’ll keep working on it, though. Good luck with your playing, and remember to let me know if you have any questions and need help in any way. It sometimes takes me a little while to reply but I always try to!

@FadhilAsyrafi

3 жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton Whoa... back in here, I am also glad to get my comments replied. Because I made 2 comments, I think I will just answer back the reply here. Actually I just want to make "an interaction" or "a hello" by commenting. It is as a lil' gratitude for giving me nice piano lessons for free. With more comments, I just want to make sure the channel I like knows that it has reached so many people aspiring to be a better pianist, anywhere in any side of the world. Even tho' I secretly wish that sometimes your contents can be more accessible in the technical side, eventually I happen to tolerate it because I kind of like watching stuffs I find very challenging, haha... It forces me to train both my English comprehension and piano terms' familiarities. As for video speed options on KZread, I knew it and I chose not to use it because I think it's more fun this way.

*so many musicians want to perform fast arpeggios and complicated timing ....less is more; simple is a lot better than complicated*

You are one of the best at explaining things

Until I recently purchased your books and started following your videos I had no idea at all that such simple things could sound so wonderful. When I took on this piano obsession in earnest, in March 2020, I thought it was probably beyond me to learn much, as a beginning senior but thanks to you, my knowledge is expanding and growing quickly and I love your teaching style. Thank you Bill.

@BillHilton

2 жыл бұрын

I'm really glad to hear my stuff has been so useful - thanks for taking the time to say so!

Simply the best pedal info ever - wow, simple hint to change my playing sound. So appreciate your video.

I love this style Thank You Mr. Hilton ! I'm going to be using this !!

Thanks for a great practice lesson Bill. A really generous upload. :D) One to keep coming back to.

Thank you so much. I am looking forward to working on these concepts

Thank you so much Bill - you make it so easy to follow along. This is a great "jumping off" point - it will be fun working with this. I have been looking for something like this to practice different chord progressions. I hope this is not the last tutorial of this sort. I just ordered your book as well. Thank you!!

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks Marian, and thanks very much for ordering the book. It's always good to hear when people find my stuff useful! :)

Hi Bill, this is a very great tutorial. Thanks for your efforts, I very much appreciate it.

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Hartmut - glad it was useful!

love this

This is an awesome lesson. loaded with great tips. Have replayed multiple times and continue to pick up more small stuff. Thanks Bill!

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Doug - glad it was useful!

You deserve more likes, as you sincerely made tutorials.

Thank you! Love it!

This really helped me. I'm a beginner struggling to make good sounds and the beginner level was just barely accessible to me. It also gave me ideas as to how to fill in chords and rhythms with common tones and chord movement. Good job.

@HarpreetKaur-oc8kw

5 жыл бұрын

The Ultimate piano Learning Guide WANT TO START LEARNING piano FOR FREE? Get Your FREE 2 Week Kickstart Course Below. PianoLessons99.blogspot.com

Found a gem!

@BillHilton

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Alamgir!

Excellent Teaching!

Addicted to your videos! Very clear and useful

Thanks for this - I found it really useful.

Love it!

You are a great teacher! Thank you!

@BillHilton

4 жыл бұрын

No problem, Pinky - thank you!

Thank you so much! Your voice is so gentle, it made me feel at ease and want to learn from you!.

this was great!

Excellent

Thanks a lot for your video, it really helped a lot. Best part is it gave me a lot of ideas.

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

No problem - glad you found it useful!

Hi Bill, just to say your videos are some of the most informative on KZread for piano. I'm not playing long and some of your tutorials are a bit advanced for me at the moment but the ones I can use for practice are great and always easy to follow. Thanks for your time in making them. I'm watching from Ireland and recommend them to anybody looking to improve their skills. Thanks again - Liam

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much, Liam! I'm always trying to strike a balance between making tutorials for people like yourself who value the less advanced stuff, but also putting material out there for those who are a bit further down the road with the piano. Hopefully the trickier ones will give you a sense of where you might be headed with your piano playing over the next few years. That's the idea, anyway...!

@FOGGYFOO

7 жыл бұрын

Bill Hilton thanks for replying. Also I'm glad you don't use the animated piano accompaniment like other tutorials do. All the best

more grace BILL Lovely

Another superb lesson thank you Bill!

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

No problem Jonathan - glad you liked it!

Hi Bill, thanks for the lesson. The melody sounds very nice. For the chord progression, very often, we just change one finger then the chord alters to another one. (like a magician) Is there any Chord progression flow that we could practise for changing chords and manage to the fingering skills? Indeed, I think the Fingering is the most crucial part when playing the piano. Many thanks.

WOW, This was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I’m looking forward to learning Each of the 3. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING!!!🎉. GOD Bless you!!!

@BillHilton

2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome, Geralyn!

Cool video.. thanks. I think I'll be watching this a few times.

@BillHilton

4 жыл бұрын

No problem Timothy - glad you like it!

Excellent video. Thanks

GREAT videos. Very appreciative.

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

No problem - glad you like them!

Great tut. Just what I was after. 👍

@BillHilton

Жыл бұрын

Thank you - I'm really glad it helped!

thank you so much...

I am loving this perhaps my neighbours don't feel the same but they will ! Thanks

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Patricia!

Great stuff i will try it soon :-)

Great lesson 👍

@BillHilton

8 ай бұрын

Glad you liked it, Andrew - thanks!

Awesome!,,

I like the black n yellow pencil on the keyboard! - my home setup is just like that plus scores and notebooks on the stand and piled next to (only I don't have a nord but a cheap Yamaha) But stylistics aside, a very useful lesson! One interesting point: you use the a minor, i.e. the iii of the scale, which is not a chord used very often (ii and vi being the usual suspects...) By the way, this may be a simple impro but it sounds so beautiful that, with some good lyrics and possible further production, I could easily imagine it being the basis for a pop hit! Lovely stuff!

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much indeed - glad you like it! The iii in major keys is a really interesting chord, because of all the diatonic chords it arguably has the most ambiguous function (i.e., the role in plays in a progression). You've got two notes in there from the tonic chord (E and G if we're in the key of C major and talking about the chord of Em) and two from the dominant (G and B in C major). It's very very flexible and powerful if you're thoughtful (as a songwriting/composer) about how you use it, but pop songwriters (in particular) seem to view it as a weak or problematic chord, hence its (relative) rarity in pop progressions.

i love it

You should put sheets op for the lessons Mr Hilton. It would be so Nice.

That's pretty awesome that kind of sounds like the song you say by Lauren Daigle pretty cool I like listening to your stuff I play by ear a lot I'm a bassist for 30 plus years started playing the piano five years ago I watch a lot of your videos keep doing what you do and what you love

@BillHilton

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Donald - I will, and I hope you will, too!

A great tutorial, as usual. Always very well explained. One little question: what is this piano please? I like the sound of it.

@BillHilton

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Jos! It's a Nord Piano 2 :)

Hi Bill, I've been loving your videos alot (from jazz to here). Was wondering how you figure out which chord progressions "fits" for a certain style, like e.g. the 16 bar that demonstrated sounded nicely for a ballad. In your other videos you also had the 12 bar progression for jazz. Were those inspired/taken from popular songs?

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks Miguel - glad you like them! Progressions vary a lot, but there are also surprising similarities across genres. Some are very obviously tied to particular genres (like the 12-bar, for example), whereas other common progressions - a repeating I - VI - II - V, for example, appear time and time again across pop, jazz, classical music and so on. With jazz the difference is often fairly cosmetic: you have an underlying progression that might work with a pop song, but which is extended, embellished and substituted so it sounds more "jazzy". In general, though, there's a lot of commonality across genres.

You should try turning the volume down on the piano and recording a few seconds of just hitting the keys, then using noise removal if you can't seem to get rid of that sound behind your notes. Very helpful video as always!

Thanks. Sounds great. Reminds me of the piano intro to the song "Mandy" by Barry Manilow. Did they apply this same principle to that song ?

nice tutorial.. often the use of the inversions .. is overlooked by new players.. I was doing a video on what the jumping around sounded like . fortunately I had a good teacher and the Robert Whitford series taught inversions from the get go.. . most songs seem to start on the first inversion e thumb g index and pinky root note. This will fit the hand perfect.

Hey Bill. I'm new to these lessons but they are AMAZING. was wondering if you have a typical favorite chord progression for Dminor that I could try out? I love that key signiture but I'm relatively new to piano. Thanks in advanced! :^)

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

There are a variety of quite useful loops in minor keys. Eg, in D minor you could try a straight descending Dm - C - Bb - A7, which would loop nicely. One I really like at the moment is Dm - A - Bb - F - C#dim which is used for (among other things) the opening number of Hamilton (albeit in a different key, Bm, in that instance).

Very nice 👍👌👌 chords progression tq

I am rewatching this video. Thanks so much for this, it helps us all. I presently have the digital brand tripod that was given to me. Took at the top attachment and it fits the dollar tree selfie threads. I'll send you a picture. I saw your rubber band setup.. it is ingenious. I love it the sock, it all makes sense. when I film presently, I am filming the top of the grand piano. The top cover gets in the way.. also since I have it on a tripod it does go exactly up to the piano with bad stability. Due to the open cover the angles I get truncate the black notes. if I fill from the side the farthest notes are also truncated. I have access to boom Mike's, but I will build mine out of wood. Since I want to find the optimal camera perch, I'll put some boards out in the yard and find the optimal rectangle to film.. My target area is about 5' by about 9". I recently started filming with a two foot wide wood chair.. much more comfortable than a bench, and easier on the back as a back and sides. Sounds it would be restrictive but works. it will be a fixed square with and rotatable center piece.. ideally it would like to have the phone mounted in a routered top and it be rotate able so I can control the camera. I don't own a tripod so I can also use this for doing base guitar and guitar lessons at my house. The total piece should only be about 2 x 4 . we'll see it might not work but as they say nothing beats a try but a failure.. we have some off sayings.

Simplicity is sometimes better than complicated things

Youre the man Bill, out here saving lives man. Keep it going!

I composed a song and it sounds like a ballad. I don’t know how to play it on my keyboard. Luckily, I found this. Thank you.☺️

@BillHilton

2 жыл бұрын

Glad to be of help - give me a shout if you have any questions!

@nekokenshy1432

2 жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton thank you ❤️

Fantastic tutorial. I am new to piano and struggling with chords and stuff. Any notes available for this tutorial or synthesia visual to help me to follow you better?

watched the rest and was hoping you would cover the the sus chords.. I recently have been experimenting with open voicings in kinda of a triplet feel.. which I know would be info overload.. The one thing about improv. is that you can stretch the rules .I improvise a lot but time and experience is your guide. I still can't get into Thelonius Monk's music. He was a pioneer in the outside music..but he knew the advance concepts and was able to step over the cracks. btw what kind of boom do have to get that overhead shot?

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

I love listening to Monk, but as an improviser his style is very challenging - very kind of intense and unforgiving. Re: the boom, it's a standard boom mic stand. You can see my whole setup in this tutorial: kzread.info/dash/bejne/gqKMp7uGpaXUpLA.html

I have watched the beginner session ...now which series I should follow...pls suggest

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

It kind of depends on what sort of path you want to follow, Jakhir - if you need to learn the real basics, including how to read sheet music, then the (ongoing) beginner series is probably your best bet: kzread.info/head/PLpOuhygfD7QnP46wUgQudOySX_z2UOhXs

Interesting. But I'm not clear on which order you play the chord notes in the right hand. For example, with the F broken chord, are you always playing F then A then C? Or is the idea behind the improvisation that you vary this order? Thanks.

Would this be something you could just sit down and play or would it be incorporated into an instrumental section in a song? Silly question sorry

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

It could be either! There's a lot of stuff in here influenced by comping (ie, improvised accompaniment), but it could easily work as a piano solo or a solo section in a song/ensemble performance.

@S24W2

3 жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton Thanks Bill

very interesting, the way this sounds completely does not sound like a couple of simple tricks

@BillHilton

3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you liked it, Oleksandr!

subbed

Noticed that 11:24 minutes, an or flies from the top right screen. Im sure that was a great spirit orb of some kind....

Thanks a lot!. Which keyboard do u use?

@danielsonferguson5347

7 жыл бұрын

Looks like a nord stage 2. Those are expensive and are great stage pianos.

@Unknownapprenticetx

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks, man!

@Koeniwoeni

7 жыл бұрын

Looks like a Nord Piano

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks for chipping in, everyone! It's actually a Nord NP-88, which is kind of a cut-down version of the Stage 2 that focusses on a tighter family of (mostly piano) sounds and doesn't have the same synthesising capacity. I'm very fond of it, though :)

nice video

Como puedo variar un solo en una canción.?...Quiero hacer solos extensos como Rick Wakeman en Close to the Edge o Dave Stewart en Nine Feet Underground. como lo hacen sin aburrir?

Very good🌹🌹🌹🎖

@BillHilton

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much Ahmed!

I just ordered your 2 books. I still can't tell which notes you are playing and how many times you play the note. I have even recorded this video but I still can't figure it out. Please help. This is for the first part of the lesson.

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

Hi June - thanks for buying the books! OK, first step on this video - have you tried adjusting the playback speed? KZread lets you change it: just click the little cog icon, select "speed' and then select 0.5 or 0.25 speed for the sections you're trying to follow. The other thing I would say is don't focus too hard on copying exactly what I do: try to take the general principles I'm talking about, and perhaps the hand positions I'm using, and work up your own rhythms. Let me know how you get on, and I can give you some further advice from there.

wondering...what key will be as the end of a ballad sound

16:03 third section

whats the name of your keyboard

do one tutorial on how to read sheet music fast while playing

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

I don't, I'm afraid, not least because I'm not very good at sightreading at speed myself - it's a pretty rare skill. I keep practising, though, and if one day I actually reach what I think is a decent standard I'll be sure to make a tutorial...!

@sai_tejaa

7 жыл бұрын

Bill Hilton that what make me to search that rare skill I wish u will reach Ur target and make us to learn too from u

Please am ask for prais movement in key of c major

in the process of shopping for a electric piano and was wondering what piano you have here in this video ?

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

It's a Nord Piano 88. It's a great piece of kit. However, a couple of things to bear in mind: first, the Nord is pretty expensive, and part of the reason for that is that it's a stage piano (ie, built to be dragged around gigs and take a lot of punishment). You could get a "home" digital piano that's just as playable - and, perhaps, slightly better suited to home use in terms of keyboard noise, etc - for quite a lot less. If it's purely home use you're interested in, Yamaha is the brand to look at: the DGX series is superb if you're on a budget - you get a lot of bang for your buck - or, if you want to spend a bit more, the Clavinova range is basically the go-to for home digital pianos.

@ravinsain8365

6 жыл бұрын

yes sir had my eye on the DGX 660 . thanks for all the video help Bill .

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

No problem! Yep, the DGX 660 would be a very good buy - I had a 630 for years.

@ravinsain8365

6 жыл бұрын

if you don't mind Bill , your thoughts on the Yamaha P115 ? ( i promise i don't have another keyboard for you to review lol )

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

I haven't played a P115, but I *think* it's the same action and keybed as the DGX series (which is good) and in any case it's a Yamaha, which to my mind is always an indication you're going to get reasonable value for your money. Always happy to answer questions (if I can...!)

Good stuff, well thought out and presented. I wonder if it would be instructive if you say why you picked the key of F instead of C or G? Also, would understanding the Circle of Fifths be helpful in the selection of the progression?

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks Phil! Questions about key choice are always difficult. Outside of a context in which you might be working with singers or other key-limited instrumentalists, strictly speaking it doesn't matter which key you use. However, most pianists share certain preferences (among the majors, C, F, G, Bb) based on easiness. In this instance, I chose (as I always do) a relatively easy key for improvising. There are no particular aesthetic criteria at work - it's very much to do with practicality. In terms of the circle of fifths stuff, there's no much of that going on here - in fact, there are several IV-V resolution and one one clear V-I (the C-->F in bars 14/15).

this video with lot of improvisation not only in chords it improvise every viewer of this video

Sounds like the opening track of the office.

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

If you're referring to the UK version of The Office then the track is Handbags and Gladrags, originally by Mike d'Abo and covered by Rod Stewart and (latterly) Stereophonics. If you think my stuff sounds like that, then that's fine by me!

@GoaWay4Sanity

4 жыл бұрын

*You look like Jeff Lynne and Chuck Norris in your thumbnail*

@saityavuz76

4 жыл бұрын

@@GoaWay4Sanity You look like a buffed version of Stefan Burnett in your thumbnail.

Suspended chords very important in ballad/pop style

@BillHilton

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely - a really key part of the sound. It's another of those things in pop that has its roots in church music (LOTS of suspensions in traditional hymn arrangements).

@S24W2

3 жыл бұрын

@@BillHilton oh really, interesting.

How about playing a worship hillsong?? Can you teach me that

gud one

pls show me how to use jazz chord

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

Try my series of tutorials on jazz piano for beginners, Harry: kzread.info/head/PLpOuhygfD7QmN-lQYtSAULCvdomKraZ1S

Nice socks Bill! :)

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Marks and Spencer's finest, as ever :)

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

I should tie up some sort of deal with them...

@tomaslev

7 жыл бұрын

You should sign a contract :)

I don't have a padel for my electric key board but your padel makes a lot of noise.

Don't you think that instead of the word INVERSIONS, you should have used the word VOICING for the right part of your hand? Cause if the chords were inversions, you would not be playing the root note of the chords in the left hand. Which you are kind of doing in the whole video.

@BillHilton

7 жыл бұрын

Good point, Tanish, and strictly speaking you're right. However, in general usage most pianists will talk about, eg, playing a second inversion chord in the right (irrespective of what's going on in the left...) just because it's easy to picture that right away.

yeah

Good evening when you ask for a hint of green imprisonment, thank you.

I have heard that if you can play something ten1imes in a row perfectly it is your's forever. Very hard to do!

I' m not American so my english those good those i learn on my own:D

11:45 16:01 just making timestamps here

why can you hear the plastic key s being pushed that sucks beautiful sound tho

@BillHilton

5 жыл бұрын

Yep, I know - it's tricky. I could eliminate it by using a head mic, but I _hate_ head mics, and they give an unnatural "voiceover"-type sound. So I try to get a good compromise between a natural voice sound and extraneous background noise like key tapping. It doesn't always work perfectly, I'm afraid!

like...tears...in...rain...cyclone...rich...G...C...E.. base/F...A...C..base...simple.

I'm not knocking your videos in general, and I do think you do a good job, but I would nevertheless take issue with teaching this style of improvisation to beginners. Again, I'm not critiquing you musicianship per say, but this is by quite the margin among the most predictable improvisational methods out there - there is, in the end, not that much improvisation taking place, relatively speaking. Rather than enforcing absolute diatonic parameters, with the intention of progressing from there, improvisation , many would argue, ought to initially be liberated from rigid norms of tonality or articulation. This way most still gravitate toward simpler harmony, not least because of the popular western music they've been exposed to all their lives, but to not facilitate for beginners to early on get a feel for the more dissonant intervals is really doing the musicians and, ultimately, the culture a disservice. The idea of "wrong notes" is honestly rather damaging. It's probably the same thinking which leads parents to play their infants low budget youtube videos of sometimes literally monotone lullabies, you know colorful harmony must be too intense and complex for children and beginner improvisers to deal with... Didn't mean for this rant to sound snarky, but I'm not sober enough to proofread, so I hope it's alright. taa

@BillHilton

6 жыл бұрын

I think you make some fair points there, but I tend to look at it in the wider context of what I'm trying to achieve with my tutorials. Basically, I'm interested in teaching people styles that I like (and I like this style, clichéd though it is) and styles that they want to play - and this is a style that's reliably popular. I'm not really interested in liberating people from norms, firstly because I'm not sure I have the skill to do that, secondly because I think that has to come from individuals themselves, and thirdly because I'm a bit wary - and this applies to all the arts I'm interested in, not just music - of innovation for its own sake. By that I mean innovation that comes purely from a desire for innovation, or from notions of the importance of innovation, rather than innovation that serves the needs of the art. It always strikes me as putting the cart before the horse, because I reckon that the culture, as you put it, is pretty good at looking after itself. I strongly agree with your point about "wrong notes", and try to make it as much as possible. Maybe I didn't make it as clearly as I could have done in this particular tutorial!

Bill. These are great tutorials, but, please do more piano and say less. Thanks.