Piano and Voice Training that WORKS.

Kiss Piano Tutorial

In this Kiss Piano Tutorial, I teach you this iconic funky song by Prince.  You'll be singing and playing before you know it!  

Kiss is one of the many iconic songs by singer, songwriter and producer Prince.  It was originally released on Prince and the Revolution’s 1986 studio album Parade.  Kiss became an number one hit and is ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as number 85 on the the 500 Greatest Songs for All Time.

Kiss is a perfect example of a male-identifying singer singing in head register, or falsetto.  I often use this song to get my tenor and baritone students to explore their head register and it is always a huge hit!

I always think of that scene in Pretty Woman, where Julia Roberts’ character sings this in the bathtub while listening on her Walkman tape player.  Anyone else remember that?

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

Simple process to learn Kiss by Prince on Piano

Step #1: Learn the chords

This song uses only three chords:  A7, E7 and D7.  In many ways, this song is very similar to the blues.

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 chords?

Sign up and get my free Ultimate Chord cheat sheets!  Perfect for mastering your chords on piano.

Step #2: Let's play some jazz piano voicings

For my arrangement of Kiss, I chose to use some cool jazz piano voicings.  In this case, I use 7-3-13.

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Step #3: Figure out the groove for Kiss

In this tutorial, I decided to use the Charleston Rhythme to approximate what Prince plays on his recording.  This sounds really cool and isn't terribly difficult to sing and play.

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!

Charleston figure

How to practice The Charleston Rhythm

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

 

Step #4:  Put it all together

Now is the time to learn the guitar introduction and put the entire song together.  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.

That is a great way to make sure that you are really honoring the time and playing the song with the best groove possible.

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