The Entertainer is one of the classic Ragtime piano pieces by Scott Joplin. In this The Entertainer piano tutorial, pianists of any level will enjoy playing this impressive and upbeat classic. I teach it to you in a non-traditional way that uses chords rather than fully notated sheet music. Give it a try!
Impress your friends when you play this challenging piece in the simple way I teach it!
Free sheet music for The Entertainer
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But, The Entertainer is too hard to play on piano, you say???
Think again! In this tutorial, I show you my unique method of FAKING the song. You will be playing the song, but instead of using the incredibly difficult fully notated sheet music, you will instead be reading off a lead sheet.
On the left, you'll see one page of the original sheet music. How long do you think that will take you to learn. On the right, you'll see the first page of the lead sheet. WHICH DO YOU THINK YOU COULD PLAY TODAY?
Keep reading along with my The Entertainer Piano Tutorial and you'll see how I put this all together.
The version of The Entertainer sheet music on the left is very challenging to play and would require quite a lot of hand strength, due to the octaves and three note chords in the right hand. There are a lot of octaves in the left hand and it has to jump around to "stride" the parts. Since there are no chord symbols, you would have to be a strong sight reader...or take hours to learn it.
The version of The Entertainer on the RIGHT is a lead sheet, which means only the melody and the chords are notated. All you need to know is your chords and you're good to go! Keep reading to learn the steps of this The Entertainer piano tutorial...
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How to learn The Entertainer on Piano from a lead sheet
Step #1: Learn the melody
Take a moment to learn the melody of The Entertainer. Don't do it all at once! Just take 4-8 bars at a time. If you are concerned about the fingerings, watch the video tutorial a few times as I play with great fingerings!
Step #2: Learn the chords of The Entertainer
Take the time to work out the chords in your left hand. Remember that all of the chords in this song are either major or minor. If you can't play the dominant 7ths chords, you are welcome to just play the triads!
Follow the tutorial carefully so you can see which inversions I use - it will make playing the song much easier!
Step #3: Put the melody and chords together
This step is really helpful so you can coordinate the melody and the chords together. Go slowly!
Step #4: Play The Entertainer "Oom Pah" accompaniment strategy
As I show you in the video, the "Oom pah" accompaniment strategy is simply playing the bass note followed by the rest of the chord in the left hand. That means that you'll be breaking up the chord in the left hand so that the bass note is played first by the pinky finger. This produces the sound of ragtime!
Check out my other classical piano FAKING videos
If you enjoyed this tutorial, you are going to LOVE...
Pachelbel's Canon in D
Fur Elise by Beethoven
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