Pro Pianist Learns AEROSMITH On The Spot

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Oh, caught me out there.

[00:00:03]>> This week, I'm setting myself a challenge. I'm going to see if I can learn a song on the spot. I'm going to show you my exact process I go through whenever I want to learn a new song.

[00:00:12]It's going to be lots of fun. Let's do it.

[00:00:17]>> Right, someone on the team has gone through and given me just a bunch of random tracks. They're all labeled like track one, track two, track three, so I don't know what they are. Let's have a listen. Let's see which of these we're going to work on. Right, which ones do I already know?

[00:00:32]I know that one. I know this one. Who doesn't know this?

[00:00:45]Bill Withers.

[00:00:47]Yeah.

[00:00:52]>> Oh, let's not get distracted. Let's not get distracted. Right. Not that one.

[00:00:55]Let's see what this next one is. Track two.

[00:01:02]I know this one too.

[00:01:04]James Taylor, your smiling face.

[00:01:07]Got a great walk down this >> smiling face. I have to smile because >> right, okay, we're not doing too well so far. I do know a lot of James Taylor.

[00:01:28]He's one of my absolute favorite artists. So, uh, yeah, let's try track three.

[00:01:34]>> I could stay awake just to hear you breaile while you're far away.

[00:01:48]>> Don't think I know this.

[00:01:49]>> I could spend my life in this sweet surrender.

[00:01:56]Big power ballad. Sounds like it.

[00:02:04]>> Who is this? Who is this? Um, let's have a look. Aerosmith. Don't want to miss a thing. H, I feel a bit embarrassed. Is that Is that a song I should know?

[00:02:12]Anyway, I don't know it. So, let's do this. Let's work it out. What is going on?

[00:02:22]>> I don't want to fall asleep.

[00:02:29]I like it. I don't know.

[00:02:31]>> First thing you want to do when you're learning a song is get the key in your ear. So, let's just work out what key this is in.

[00:02:42]>> Brea.

[00:02:44]>> Yeah.

[00:02:49]>> So, we're in the key of D.

[00:02:53]sound of it is now kind of in my ear.

[00:02:55]And what I'm going to do is I'm going to write a chart out. And this is something I always try and do straight off the bat because sometimes when you're learning a song, it's so much to kind of hold in your head. You want to actually go through and write the chords down as best you can, work them out and see what's really going on. This skill of learning a song by ear is just so useful for us as piano players. We always need to be able to learn songs quickly and not rely on the sheet music for it. We need to we need to use our ears. If this is something that you'd like to learn more about, I've actually put together a full PDF guide on my process for working out a song by ear. It's completely free.

[00:03:28]The link to download that is in the video description, and you can also scan this QR code up here. I'll also throw in my final chord chart, so you can check that out as well. First thing you want to do whenever you're working out a song is to really listen to the bass, cuz so many of the clues of what the harmony is doing actually come from the bass. So, let's have a listen.

[00:03:48]Stay awake just to hear you breathing.

[00:03:53]>> Just going down the scale.

[00:03:55]>> Watch you smile while you are sleeping while you're far away.

[00:04:03]I could spend my life.

[00:04:04]>> She's doing the same thing again. Is it lost in this moment?

[00:04:15]>> Yeah. Okay. Nice. So, it's just going D then like something over C sharp. Sorry about my writing. Blime me. B minor 7 then it's like G something over F. Probably a D over F#.

[00:04:32]I think it's that. Is that right? Let's play this along. Let's check it.

[00:04:39]>> Yeah. A over C#ile.

[00:04:50]>> Yeah. Okay. Nice. So that is A over C sharp and then a D over F sharp.

[00:05:08]that kind of thing. I think that's what I'm gonna play. Interestingly though, if you check it out, there's a little kind of piano little piano riff that's going on through all of that. I think I heard Check it out.

[00:05:19]>> Awake.

[00:05:25]>> Can you hear it?

[00:05:33]>> That kind of idea, that little repeated riff. I'll try and get that in there when I'm playing. Let's keep it going.

[00:05:38]Let's keep the uh let's keep the track going. See what happens next.

[00:05:52]>> Same thing, isn't it? I could stay lost in this moment >> forever.

[00:06:01]>> Every moment you >> interesting got an extra two little bars at the end of the verse. So it would go F sharp minor 7 G A7 sus4.

[00:06:29]My writing is horrible, isn't it? It's so messy. But sometimes you just need to be able to scribble a chart down quickly. The amount of times I've done this on the train and like on the way to a gig, it's just something you have to kind of get used to doing. So that's our verse and that is our chorus which is coming up now. Let's have a go at just playing this through with the verse. See how it sounds.

[00:06:48]I could stay awake just to hear you breathing.

[00:06:56]Watch you smile while you are sleep.

[00:07:02]>> There's no drum, so it's quite hard to stay in time.

[00:07:11]>> I could stay lost in this moment forever.

[00:07:19]Every moment spent with you is a moment of treure.

[00:07:29]>> Nice. Okay. Right. Let's have a go at this chorus. So, what is the chorus doing? We're going to do a similar kind of process. I'm going to listen to that bass and then kind of work out the chords from there. Let's keep it going.

[00:07:44]Don't want to close my eyes.

[00:07:48]I don't want to fall asleep.

[00:07:53]>> I don't want to miss when I dream.

[00:08:00]>> So, it goes up to E minor 7.

[00:08:11]>> No.

[00:08:13]I think it does that. It goes to a C sharp again. I didn't catch that chord.

[00:08:18]Was it E minor?

[00:08:20]Like Yeah. Like >> I think it's like E minor 11. Is it >> close 11 and I don't want to miss a thing.

[00:08:44]Whatever the tune is, it's kind of a weird form.

[00:09:00]How does it how does it get how does it get out of that chorus into the >> dream?

[00:09:07]So we're here on the E minor 7 D over C sharp again.

[00:09:22]back to the E minor 11. It goes that E minor 11 is such a rich chord.

[00:09:29]It's like that kind of idea. It's interesting.

[00:09:36]There isn't like a huge amount of piano in the chorus and on the track in general. There is like kind of in the verse. So, it's kind of up to me what I play. If I was playing this with a band and they were doing it and there was no piano in the track, you have to kind of work it out. So, I'm thinking like for that chorus, it just needs the kind of energy coming out.

[00:10:07]Just playing the chords with great rhythm. That's what's going to kind of sound good here.

[00:10:19]ly close to you.

[00:10:21]>> Okay, she does another verse.

[00:10:23]>> Heartbeating.

[00:10:32]>> The second time through on a verse, >> you can kind of add a few more fills in and a little bit more personality.

[00:10:42]Something I really like doing actually.

[00:10:48]>> Is it going to do a double bar? No.

[00:10:51]Same.

[00:10:52]>> And we're into the chorus again.

[00:10:55]>> Okay, cool. What happens after the chorus there?

[00:11:01]>> I'm really enjoying this. It's good.

[00:11:06]>> There we go. So, is there going to be a bridge here?

[00:11:10]I don't want to miss.

[00:11:12]>> Oh, okay. It jumps in.

[00:11:14]>> I don't want to miss one kiss.

[00:11:18]I just want to be with you right here.

[00:11:23]Just like this.

[00:11:25]>> So, first of all, it jumped, didn't it?

[00:11:27]It went from the one chord to the flat 7.

[00:11:33]Then I think it did that G over B.

[00:11:36]Sometimes when you're writing a chart out, it's good to just kind of guess and then go back and change it. And then I think it went to I think it went to B flat there, which is a really like bold choice. And I think it went to F over A if I'm right.

[00:11:51]That's kind of a guess, but let's just check it.

[00:12:00]>> We go two four bar. there.

[00:12:06]>> Oh, this is so nice. I like this bridge.

[00:12:14]>> What's it going to do now?

[00:12:18]>> Oh, we moved to C.

[00:12:22]>> G over B again.

[00:12:26]>> Oh, that's how they're getting back.

[00:12:31]Big ASUS.

[00:12:36]Nice. They've used what I call the get out of jail free chord. Right. What that means is if ever you've gone on a bit of a like a modulation into another key for a bridge or something like that. The way you get out of it is a big five chord in the original keys. They've got back there by A7 sus.

[00:12:55]Really, really nice. So it went like second half it then to D minor 7 and then then to like A7 sus4. It's like it's quite a odd bridge actually. There was a little two four bar in there as well somewhere I think. Oh no, that was up here.

[00:13:18]I'll work it out for the rest of time.

[00:13:29]Yeah. Double.

[00:13:34]>> Love that NOTE AT THE TOP. WHAT is that?

[00:13:36]Ah, D. Blime me. A7 sus4. Look at that.

[00:13:41]Total mess.

[00:13:49]>> Like that.

[00:13:51]>> What is he doing there? What's the chords doing there? I just So, this is like a little extra bit that they've kind of added on. Just like a little a little tweak.

[00:14:02]I think that's what he's doing. Nice.

[00:14:06]Little bluesy bit there. I have to remember.

[00:14:16]>> It's all going, isn't it?

[00:14:19]Strings in there as well.

[00:14:23]Sometimes it's quite useful to try and work out what the string parts are so you can kind of add them into your accompaniment a little bit.

[00:14:33]It doesn't even have to be when they play. It's just if you can kind of reference them a little bit in the track, it really really helps. Right, I think that's it.

[00:14:43]There we go.

[00:14:46]If you'd like to see more of me do these styles of videos where I try and work out a song on the fly, work out stuff by ear, talk you through my process, drop a comment down below. Let me know if you'd like to see me do more of this because I'm well up for it. Okay, let's give it a go.

[00:15:07]>> Brea, watch you smile while you are sleeping.

[00:15:14]While you're far away dreaming, I could spend my life in this sweet surrender.

[00:15:26]I could stay lost in this moment forever.

[00:15:33]Every moment spent with you is a moment I treure.

[00:15:43]Don't want to close my eyes.

[00:15:46]I don't want to fall asleep. Cuz I miss you, baby. And I don't want to miss a thing. Cuz even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream would never do. I still miss you, baby. And I don't want to miss a thing.

[00:16:12]Lying close to you. Feeling your heartbeating.

[00:16:20]And I'm wondering what you're dreaming.

[00:16:24]Wondering if it's me I'll see. Yeah.

[00:16:27]Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together.

[00:16:34]And I just want to stay with you.

[00:16:39]>> Forever forever and ever.

[00:16:44]I don't want to close my eyes.

[00:16:48]I don't want to fall asleep cuz I miss you, baby. And I don't want to miss a thing. Cuz even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do. I still miss you. And I don't want to miss a thing. And I don't want to miss one smile.

[00:17:11]And I don't want to miss one kiss.

[00:17:15]But I just want to be with you right here with you. Just like this.

[00:17:23]I just want to hold you close.

[00:17:26]I feel your heart so close to mine.

[00:17:31]And just be here in this moment for all the rest of time.

[00:17:44]Don't want to close my eyes.

[00:17:48]Don't want to fall asleep cuz I miss you and I don't want to miss a thing. Cuz even when I dream again, the sweetest dream would never do, I still miss you. And I don't miss.

[00:18:07]I don't want to cry.

[00:18:11]I don't want to fall asleep cuz I miss you and I don't want to miss a man.

[00:18:29]>> That was so much fun. I really enjoyed that. If you liked this video, could you drop a comment down below and let me know what song you'd like me to do this with next? And if you'd like to see me take on more of these challenges, I'd be really interested to know. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next