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Piano & Voice With Brenda

Piano and Voice Training that WORKS.

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Free Fallin’ Tom Petty Piano Tutorial

In this Free Fallin' Tom Petty Piano Tutorial, you'll learn how to play this iconic song and sing it at the same time.  So much fun and not that hard! 

Free Fallin’ was one of the great rock hits by Tom Petty.  Released in 1989, it was the first track from his debut solo record Full Moon Fever.  (His many other hits from the 1970s and 1980s were released with his band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers).

This song is really satisfying to play and is a huge crowdpleaser.  If you want to get an entire room full of people singing, this would be a great song to play.  

This song consists of only 4 chords and a simple rhythmic pattern that repeats for the entire song.  Perfect for pianists of any level.

The complete tutorial plus a downloadable printable is available exclusively on The Versatile Musician.  Learn more here.

Simple process to learn Free Fallin' by Tom Petty on Piano

Step #1: Learn the chords

This song uses only three chords:  F, Bb, C and Fsus.

To find a chord chart that includes the lyrics, I recommend using Ultimate Guitar, which I think has the best quality arrangements.

Need to learn more chords?

Sign up and get my FREE Ultimate Chord Cheat Sheets!  Perfect for mastering your chords on piano.

Step #2: Chord Voicings

You are welcome to play root position chords to get started.  In the video, I show you how to play some cool chord voicings that assist in voice leading.  These chord voicings sound really nice and are easy to play.

Sheet music for chords of Free Fallin written in music notation

Step #3: Figure out the groove of Free Fallin'

Free Fallin' has a pretty distinctive rhythmic patter that repeats over and over.  Magically enough, this rhythm contains the Charleston Rhythm which I go into detail about in this blog post.

This rhythm turns up everywhere:  throughout the gambit of jazz styles and in a diverse range of pop songs.  You'll be glad to have added this one to your tool kit!

Sheet music for chords of Free Fallin written in music notation

How to practice the rhythm of Free Fallin'

  1. Clap and count the rhythm
  2. Clap the rhythm and sing the song
  3. Put the rhythm on the piano, adding the metronome as needed
  4. Play and sing.

 

Step #4:  Put it all together

Start out with the basics of our piano accompaniment. Take your time and make sure that you are practicing with the metronome, or better yet a band-in-a-box app like the  iReal Pro.

When you are ready, experiment with adding more rhythms or even some simple fills to make your arrangement even more engaging.  Happy practicing!

The Versatile Musician All-Inclusive Virtual Membership

The Versatile Musician is an all-in-one membership that combines video lessons, print material and live support to help you level up your skills and thrive as a musician and music teacher. 

The Versatile Musician Membership includes:

50 hours of high-quality video lessons

500+ pages of meticulously notated downloadable print material

Live support via monthly live calls and a private member’s forum

Complete access to all of the courses, including

  1. Piano Skills for Singers Levels 1&2
  2. Jazz Piano Accompaniment 
  3. Piano Improvisation for Everyone!
  4. Crash Course in Solfege
  5. The newly released Rhythm Workout

 

Ready to up your piano game?

The Versatile Musician is for YOU.

 

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To learn more, check out https://pianoandvoicewithbrenda.com/membership/

Category: Piano for Singers, Piano Lessons, Tutorials, Uncategorized

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